JP2006345276A - Imaging apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an imaging apparatus capable of simply and accurately executing required operation by photographer's line of sight in photographing and having high operability. <P>SOLUTION: The imaging apparatus is provided with a finder part through which a photographer views a subject, an operation part to be manually operated by the photographer, a line of sight detection means for detecting the position of a photographer's line of sight and discriminating whether the position of the line of sight is included in a release area regulated in the finder part or not, and a control part for receiving a photographing signal indicating that the position of the photographer's line of sight is included in the release area from the line of sight detection means and executing photographing and constituted so that the line of sight detection means is started on the basis of an operation signal from the operation part in the photographing and a release mode for detecting the position of photographer's line of sight is started. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus, and more particularly to an imaging apparatus capable of performing a predetermined operation by detecting a photographer's visual field.

  Conventionally, in an imaging apparatus such as a camera, when a photographer takes a picture, the photographer looks into the viewfinder, confirms the position and angle of the subject, the focus of the subject, etc., and operates the release switch to take an image by releasing the shutter. It was broken. However, when operating the release switch, the position of the subject may be displaced due to camera shake of the photographer. Therefore, conventionally, as disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2 below, there has been proposed an imaging apparatus that performs a release operation by the movement of the line of sight of a photographer who is looking through a finder unit during photographing.

JP-A-4-156526 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-5

However, in the above-mentioned Patent Documents 1 and 2, there is a concern that an operation such as an unintended release may be performed by erroneously recognizing the movement of the line of sight due to the photographer's unconsciousness at the time of shooting.
In addition, in order to prevent the execution of operations due to such misrecognition of the line of sight, a method of manually setting a mode in which the release operation due to the movement of the line of sight is prohibited at the time of shooting and preventing an unintended operation from being performed is also proposed. ing. However, since there are more procedures for setting a mode for prohibiting the release operation at the time of shooting, there is room for improvement in that it is easy to miss the shutter release timing.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an easy-to-use imaging apparatus that can easily and accurately execute a desired operation according to a photographer's line of sight during imaging.

  The above object of the present invention is to detect the position of the shooter's line of sight at the time of shooting, the finder section where the photographer visually recognizes the subject, the operation section operated manually by the photographer, and the position of the line of sight. Line-of-sight detection means for determining that the image is located in the release area defined in the viewfinder section, and control for receiving a photographing signal from the line-of-sight detection means that the position of the line of sight is in the release area and executing photographing And an imaging device characterized in that the line-of-sight detection means is activated and a release mode for detecting the position of the line of sight is started based on an operation signal of the operation unit during photographing. .

  The present invention starts a release mode in which a photographer operates a manual operation such as half-pressing the operation unit during photographing to detect a gaze by a gaze detection unit. Thereafter, the position of the photographer's line of sight in the viewfinder is detected by the line-of-sight detection means. For this reason, when the photographer does not start the release mode and simply looks into the viewfinder to check the subject, the line-of-sight detection means is not activated, so the photographer's unconscious line of sight No movement is detected. For this reason, it is possible to avoid an unintended operation from being performed due to erroneous recognition of the line of sight by the line-of-sight detection means. Further, when performing the release, the photographer only needs to move the line of sight to the release area, and it is not necessary to separately perform settings such as prohibition and release of the release immediately before photographing, so at the timing desired by the photographer. Imaging can be performed. Furthermore, the release can be executed by a simple operation such as the photographer moving the line of sight to the release area, which is convenient and can reliably prevent the captured image from being displaced due to camera shake during shooting.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, a desired operation | movement can be performed easily and correctly according to a photographer's eyes | visual_axis at the time of imaging | photography, and a user-friendly imaging device can be provided.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of an imaging apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an imaging apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The imaging apparatus 100 includes a release button 26 as an operation unit, a line-of-sight detection unit 50 as a line-of-sight detection unit, a CPU 24 as a control unit, and an exposure unit in addition to a later-described finder unit included in a general imaging device. 44, a shutter 46, and an aperture 12.

  The release button 26 is a push button for releasing the imaging apparatus. The line-of-sight detection unit 50 functions to detect the position of the line of sight of the photographer at the time of shooting, and to determine that the position of the line of sight is located in a later-described release area defined in the finder unit.

  The line-of-sight detection unit 50, for example, as described in Patent Document 2 above, reflects the output from the light receiving unit and the reflected light that forms the first Purkinje image with the fundus reflected light-corresponding output component corresponding to the reflected light from the fundus. For example, a line-of-sight detection optical system that separates the output component corresponding to the first Purkinje image formation reflected light and determines the line-of-sight direction of the eye from the position of the center of gravity of each component is used.

  The CPU 24 functions to receive a shooting signal indicating that the line of sight is located in the release area from the line-of-sight detection unit 50 and execute shooting. The CPU 24 controls the overall system operation of the imaging apparatus 100. Although not shown, the CPU 24 is provided with a read-only ROM, RAM, and the like that store programs and data for the system operation control.

  The exposure means 44 functions to control the speed of the shutter 46 and the aperture 12 based on the exposure information determined by the CPU in accordance with the operation output of the release button 26 and the line-of-sight detection output.

  FIG. 2 conceptually shows the form of the finder section 54 in the imaging apparatus 100 of the present invention. In the figure, the finder unit 54 has a finder frame F, and a field frame (imaging region) V is provided in the finder frame F. An area between the viewfinder frame F and the field frame V is a release area R that enables the release of the imaging apparatus. Note that P is the position of the line of sight of the photographer in the field frame V and the release area R.

Next, the release operation performed with the CPU 24 as the center in the imaging apparatus 100 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
First, the CPU 24 determines whether or not the release button 26 is half-pressed by the photographer (step S101). This half-press detects the photographer's line of sight within the shooting screen (field frame), identifies the subject intended by the photographer, and uses this to automatically and accurately perform focus control and exposure control. Made for.

  When the release button 26 is half-pressed, the CPU 24 determines that the photographer's line-of-sight position P detected by the line-of-sight detection means 50 is within the field frame V shown in FIG. It is determined whether or not there is (step S102).

  If the photographer's line-of-sight position P is not within the field frame V, the process waits until the next operation of the release button 26. On the other hand, if it is within the field frame V, the CPU 24 subsequently determines whether or not the photographer's line-of-sight position is located within the release region R shown in FIG. 2 (step S103). Here, it is determined whether or not the photographer has intentionally moved his / her line of sight from within the field frame V to the release region R in any arrow direction.

  If the result of this determination is that the line of sight has not moved to the release region R, the process waits until the line of sight moves to the release region R. On the other hand, when the line of sight enters the release region R in the half-pressed state of the release button 26, the CPU 24 causes the exposure means 44 to perform exposure with the shutter 46 and the aperture 12 (step S104). In this way, the imaging device 100 is released, and for example, one image of the subject is captured. In the present embodiment, the release button 26 is set to a half-pressed state to trigger a gaze detection start. However, the release button 26 may be set to a fully-pressed state to trigger a gaze detection start. In addition, an operation switch for outputting a trigger signal for starting line-of-sight detection may be provided separately.

  If shooting is performed according to such a procedure, the line-of-sight detection means 50 is not activated when the release button 26 is not operated and the photographer simply looks through the viewfinder 54 and selects a subject. . For this reason, the movement detection of an unconscious line of sight of the photographer is not performed. For this reason, the automatic release operation by the line-of-sight movement not intended by the photographer is not executed.

  On the other hand, when the release of the imaging apparatus 100 is executed, it is automatically performed by half-pressing the release button 26 and moving the photographer's conscious line of sight to the release area. For this reason, unlike the prior art, it is possible to realize a shot at a desired optimum timing without requiring the photographer to perform troublesome settings and operations such as prohibition or release of the release.

  In addition, since the release is automatically performed by moving the line of sight without being operated by the release button, the usability as the photographing apparatus 100 is improved, and camera shake during photographing can be surely prevented. Therefore, it is possible to avoid the occurrence of deviation or the like in the captured image.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the finder unit 54 where the photographer visually recognizes the subject, the operation unit 26 operated manually by the photographer, and the position of the photographer's line of sight at the time of photographing are detected. The line-of-sight detection means 50 for determining that the position of the line of sight is located in the release region R defined by the finder unit 54, and an imaging signal indicating that the position of the line of sight has moved to the release region R from the line-of-sight detection unit 50. And a control unit 24 that receives and performs photographing, and a release mode for detecting the position of the line of sight is started by activating the line-of-sight detecting unit 50 based on an operation signal of the operation unit 26 at the time of photographing. The configuration is as follows. For this reason, in the state where the subject is confirmed by simply looking through the viewfinder 54, the unintentional movement of the line of sight of the photographer is not detected, and an unintended operation is avoided. Can do. Further, when executing the release, the photographer can move the line of sight to the release area, and thus can take an image at a timing desired by the photographer. Therefore, it is easy to use, and it is possible to reliably prevent the captured image from being shifted due to camera shake during shooting.

  The image pickup apparatus of the present invention has an effect that a desired operation can be easily and accurately performed by a photographer's line of sight at the time of shooting, and the usability can be improved, and by detecting the line of sight of the photographer. This is useful for an imaging device or the like that is intended to perform a predetermined operation.

It is a block diagram which shows an example of the imaging device which concerns on this invention. It is a figure explaining the movement of the eyes | visual_axis in a finder part. It is a flowchart explaining the procedure at the time of imaging | photography.

Explanation of symbols

24 CPU (control unit)
26 Release button (operation unit)
50 Gaze detection unit (Gaze detection means)
54 Viewfinder section 100 Imaging device F Viewfinder frame P Line-of-sight position

Claims (2)

A viewfinder that allows the photographer to view the subject,
An operation unit operated manually by the photographer;
A line-of-sight detection means for detecting the position of the line of sight of the photographer at the time of shooting, and determining that the position of the line of sight is located in a release region defined in the viewfinder;
A control unit that receives a shooting signal indicating that the position of the line of sight is in the release area from the line-of-sight detection unit, and executes shooting, and
An image pickup apparatus, wherein the line-of-sight detection unit is activated based on an operation signal of the operation unit at the time of shooting, and a release mode for detecting the position of the line of sight is started.   The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the operation unit includes a release button that activates the line-of-sight detection unit when operated by a photographer during shooting.

Images