JP2531713B2 - Electronic camera - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an electronic camera capable of recording still images and audio signals.

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, instead of a silver salt camera, an electronic camera that converts an image into an electric signal and records it in a video Floppy along with audio has been proposed, and an image taken without a work such as development and printing can be immediately displayed on a monitor or the like. You can play it back or print it out and send it to a remote location, etc.
It has rapidly become popular because many functions that cannot be obtained from silver halide cameras have been realized.

In such an electronic camera, by operating the release switch at the time of shooting, the image signal taken into the image pickup means and converted into an electric signal is subjected to signal processing in a recordable form, and then to a track on the magnetic disk. Make a field or frame recording. As for the audio signal, the signal for the time corresponding to the selected recording time mode (for example, 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 20 seconds mode) is taken in, A / D converted through the noise reduction, and the recording time mode is set. It is configured to be time-compressed at a corresponding compression ratio, D / A-converted, and recorded on a track on a disk. Therefore, during playback, the video signal is generated from the specified track of the magnetic disk device, and the audio signal is also A / D converted and read into the memory, and then read again at the specified rate to perform D / A conversion.
The data is converted and expanded according to the compression rate at the time of recording and output.

By the way, cameras, including silver halide cameras, usually have a self-timer.The self-timer delays the time until the shutter is actually opened after the release operation. The photographer who has performed the release operation can also become the subject, and the range of shooting is expanded by the variable shooting timing by the self-timer, which is one of the indispensable functions of the camera. There is.

Then, while the self-timer is operating, it is necessary to display a beep sound by an electronic buzzer or the like, light emission or blinking by an LED or the like in order to let the user recognize that the self-timer is operating.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

However, as described above, if the self-timer operation is displayed by a dial tone, etc., during voice recording, the dial tone itself for displaying the voice is picked up by the microphone and is input into the device together with the voice signal, causing noise. However, there is a drawback that the data is recorded on the recording medium.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention has been made for the purpose of eliminating the above-mentioned drawbacks, and it is possible to record an image signal obtained from an image pickup means and an audio signal taken from the outside onto a recording medium, and to take a photographing timing for a predetermined time. In an electronic camera having a delaying self-timer, a sounding means for indicating that the self-timer is operating by sounding and a subtracting means for subtracting a sounding signal component in the sounding means from the sound signal are provided. By doing so, even if the dial tone for operation display of the self-timer is picked up by the voice signal input means such as a microphone and mixed into the voice signal, the component of the dial tone is subtracted from the voice signal and recorded as noise. It is designed so that it can be prevented.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the electronic camera of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electronic camera of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is a lens, 2 is an aperture, 3 is a shutter, 4 is an aperture / shutter control circuit for controlling the aperture and shutter, and 5 is a lens. A solid-state image pickup device as an image pickup means for converting the subject image formed on the image pickup surface into an electric signal and outputting the electric signal, 6 is a drive circuit for driving the solid-state image pickup device 5,
Reference numeral 7 is a video signal processing circuit for converting the signal output from the solid-state image sensor 5 into a form suitable for recording operation, 8 is a microphone for taking in an audio signal from the outside, and 9 is a microphone. An audio signal processing circuit that compresses the audio signal on the time axis so that it can be recorded on video floppy, 10 is an audio signal memory that stores the audio signal information at the time of time axis compression, and 11 is a system control circuit described later. And a switching circuit for selectively switching the output of the video signal processing circuit 7 and the output of the audio signal processing circuit 9 to supply to a recording amplifier described later, 12 is a storage amplifier, 13 is a magnetic head, and D is Video floppy, 14 is a switch for selecting the audio recording time. According to the unified standard of this kind of electronic camera, there are three modes of time axis compression rate of 320 times, 640 times and 1280 times when recording the audio signal, and the actual recording time is 5 seconds and 10 seconds respectively. , 20 seconds recording is possible. 15 is a motor for video floppy rotation, 16 is a motor servo circuit for rotating the motor 15, 17 is a system control circuit for controlling the operation of the entire camera,
18 is a mode selection switch for selecting an audio recording mode in which an audio signal is recorded on the video floppy D together with image information and an audio non-recording mode in which only an image is recorded without recording the audio signal, and 19 is a shutter release switch. , 20 is a self-timer circuit for delaying image capture by operating the shutter 3 after a lapse of a predetermined time after operating the shutter release switch 19, 21 is a switch for controlling ON / OFF of the operation of the self-timer circuit 20, 22 is a timer time setting switch for setting the operation time of the self-timer,
L is an operation display light emitting diode for displaying the operation of the self-timer circuit 20, 23 is a sounding circuit for making the user recognize the operation of the self-timer circuit 20 by sound, 24
Is a small speaker or small buzzer as a sounding body, 25 is a photometric sensor, 26 is a photometric circuit that performs photometry based on the output of the photometric sensor 25, and 27 is an autofocus for controlling the lens 1 to perform focus adjustment. A control circuit, 28 is a control signal generating circuit for controlling the start timing of capturing the audio signal, and 29 is a delay circuit for delaying the output of the control signal generating circuit by a time T as described later.

Further, 30 is provided between the microphone 8 and the audio signal processing circuit 9, and is a subtraction circuit for supplying the audio processing circuit 9 with a signal obtained by subtracting the output signal component of the sounding circuit 23 from the audio output signal of the microphone 8. Is. By this, the sounding body
Even if the dial tone for self-timer operation output from 24 is mixed into the voice signal via the microphone 8, the component is canceled by the subtraction circuit, so it is recorded as noise with the voice signal. Can be prevented in advance.

The electronic camera of the present invention is configured as described above,
Next, the operation will be described.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are timing charts for explaining the operation sequence for explaining the operation of the electronic camera described above, and show the recording sequence for only the image signal and the recording sequence for the image and audio signals, respectively. The following description will be made step by step with reference to FIG.

When recording only the video signal, the mode selection switch 18 is turned off in Fig. 1 to select the video only mode, and the self-timer ON / OFF switch 21 is turned on to set the self-timer circuit 20 to standby. Put in a state.
At this time, the operating time of the self-timer is set by the operating time setting switch 22.

In FIG. 2, after the focus is adjusted by the focus control circuit 27, the shutter release switch 19 is activated at time t ₀ .
By operating, the system control circuit 17 causes the self-timer circuit 20 to start operating. At the same time, the light emitting diode L starts blinking and the sounding circuit 23 is activated to drive the sounding body 24, and it is indicated by light and sound that the self-timer is operating.
When the switch 18 is OFF, the audio signal processing circuit 9 does not operate and audio is not captured.

When the system control circuit 17 detects that the operation time of the self-timer circuit 20 has elapsed and the time t ₄ is reached, the system control circuit 17 causes the diaphragm / shutter control circuit 4 and the solid-state image sensor 5 to operate. Control signals are output to the drive circuit 6, respectively, and the diaphragm 2, shutter 3, and solid-state image sensor 5 are operated. At time t ₃ preceding the time t _{4 at} which the self-timer operation ends, the photometric circuit 26 is driven and photometry is performed from the light incident on the photometric sensor 25 to set the optimum aperture value and shutter speed.

Further, the video floppy rotation motor 15 having the slowest start-up starts to rotate by a control signal being applied from the system control circuit 17 to the motor servo circuit 16 at a time t ₂ which is further ahead, and the self-timer Time t _{4 when the} operation ends and the image acquisition operation starts
Is configured to be in a safe rotating state.

At time t ₄ , the self-timer operation ends and shutter release is performed, and an image is captured and recorded in the solid-state image sensor 5. The video signal output from the solid-state image sensor 5 is processed by the video signal processing circuit 7 into a predetermined shape and FM-modulated, and the switching circuit
The video signal is recorded as a video signal for one track of the video floppy D through the recording amplifier 12, the recording amplifier 12, and the magnetic head 13. In this case, the switching circuit 11 is controlled by the system control circuit 17 so as to connect the input of the recording amplifier 12 to the output of the video signal processing circuit 7 during the period from time t ₄ to time t ₅ when the video signal is recorded. There is. Then, after the recording of the video is completed at time t ₅ , the motor 15 is stopped and the recording sequence is completed.

Next, the case of recording an audio signal together with an image signal together with an audio signal will be described using the timing chart of FIG.

In FIG. 1, by turning on the mode selection switch 18, the audio recording mode is performed in which the audio signal is recorded together with the image recording. And the voice recording time selection switch
Select the voice recording time with 14 (5 seconds, 10 seconds or 20 seconds). Similarly to the image recording mode shown in FIG. 2, when the self-timer is used, the self-timer ON / OFF switch 21 is turned on to put the self-timer circuit 20 in the standby state. At the same time self-timer operating time setting switch 22
To set the operating time of the self-timer.

In the above state, after performing focus adjustment and the like, time t ₀
When the shutter release switch 19 is operated at 1, the system control circuit 17 causes the self-timer circuit 20 to start operating. At the same time, the light emitting diode L starts to blink, and the sounding circuit 23 is activated, the sounding body 24 is driven, and the fact that the self-timer is in operation is indicated by a dial tone.

Also, with the start of the self-timer operation (time t ₀ ),
Control signal generation circuit 28 by system control circuit 17
Is activated, its output becomes ENABLE, and a start signal is sent to the audio signal processing circuit 9, but it is delayed by the time T by the delay circuit 29. Actually, the time after the elapse of the time T from the time t ₀ is reached. At t ₁ , a signal for starting the voice capturing is supplied to the voice signal processing circuit 9, and the microphone 8 starts the voice signal capturing operation.

Then, as in the image-only recording sequence shown in FIG. 2, the system control circuit 17 has reached the time t ₄ after the operation delay time of the self-timer circuit 20 has elapsed.
Detected by the system controller
A diaphragm from 17, a shutter control circuit 4 and a solid-state image sensor 5
A control signal is output to each of the driving circuits 6 and the diaphragm 2, the shutter 3, and the solid-state image sensor 5 are operated. Also, at time t ₃ preceding the time t _{4 at} which the self-timer operation ends, the photometric circuit 26 is driven, and photometry is performed from the light incident on the photometric sensor 25 to set the optimum aperture value and shutter speed.

Further, the video floppy rotation motor 15 having the slowest start-up starts to rotate by a control signal being applied from the system control circuit 17 to the motor servo circuit 16 at a time t ₂ which is further ahead, and the self-timer Time t _{4 when the} operation ends and the image acquisition operation starts
Is configured to be in a stable rotation state.

At time t ₄ , the self-timer operation ends and shutter release is performed, and an image is captured and recorded in the solid-state image sensor 5. The video signal output from the solid-state image sensor 5 is processed by the video signal processing circuit 7 into a predetermined shape and FM-modulated, and the switching circuit
A video signal is recorded on one track of the video floppy 14 via the recording amplifier 12, the recording head 12 and the magnetic head 13. In this case, the switching circuit 11 is controlled by the system control circuit 17 so as to connect the input of the recording amplifier 12 to the output of the video signal processing circuit 7 during the period from time t ₄ to time t ₅ when the video signal is recorded. There is.

On the other hand, the recording of the audio signal will be described. The audio signal which is started to be taken into the audio signal processing circuit 9 at time t ₁ is converted into a digital signal by a built-in A / D converter (not shown) and is stored in the memory 10. Is stored. Then, the data in the memory 10 is read out at a predetermined rate and converted into an analog signal by the D / A converter incorporated in the audio signal processing circuit 9, and then the time is displayed on the video floppy via the recording amplifier 12. It is designed to be axially compressed, FM modulated, and recorded. Therefore, the compression / expansion on the time axis can be performed by changing the rate of reading the data from the memory 10 (three modes of the time axis compression rates of 320 times, 640 times, and 1280 times can be selected.

As is clear from FIG. 3, the time after the elapse of time T from the start of the operation of the self-timer circuit 20 at time t _0.
At t ₁ , the signal for starting the operation of the self-timer circuit 20 and the start of capturing the sound generated by the output of the control signal generation circuit 28 becoming ENABLE is passed through the delay circuit 29. Is supplied to the audio signal processing circuit 9 to start the audio signal processing, and the signal input from the microphone 8 is taken into the audio signal processing circuit 9 and recorded corresponding to the preselected temporal compression rate. The time audio signal is A / D converted and stored in the memory 10 (audio signal processing 1).

Further, in the above-described voice capturing operation, the dial tone output from the self-timer operation display sounding body 24 is naturally picked up by the microphone 8 and mixed into the voice signal. Since the output signal component of the sounding circuit is subtracted from the output signal of the microphone 8, only the sound signal from which the sound component of the sounding body 24 has been removed is supplied to the sound signal processing circuit 9, and the sound signal is recorded as noise. Can be prevented in advance.

In other words, since sound and light can be displayed by the sounding body 24 and the light emitting diode L even during the operation of capturing the audio signal, it is extremely effective as a self-timer operation display and has high utility value. .

Then, at time t ₄ when the operation of the self-timer is finished, the video signal is recorded in a predetermined track on the video floppy D, but the audio signal is recorded at time t ₄ at the time t _{4 when} the video signal processing and recording are finished. Even after ₅ , recording and processing of the audio signal are continued until the audio signal for the set recording time is stored in the memory 10, and recording is performed by the switching circuit 11 at time t ₆ when the acquisition of the audio signal is completed. Connect the amplifier 12 to the audio signal processing circuit 9
The audio signal data stored in 10 is read out at a rate according to the set time-base compression rate and subjected to predetermined signal processing (audio signal processing 2), and then the above-mentioned video signal on the video floppy D is recorded. It is recorded in the next track recorded. This track change is performed by the system control circuit 17 between the time t ₅ and the time t ₆ when the video signal recording is finished.
This is done by operating a head moving mechanism (not shown) based on the above command to move the head 13. Then, at time t _{7 when} the recording of the audio signal is completed, the motor 15 is stopped, and the sequence of continuous recording of the video signal and the audio signal is completed.

As described above, the video signal is recorded by the self-timer circuit.
It is performed when the timer operation time by 20 has elapsed, and the audio signal starts to capture the audio signal for the selected audio recording time from the time delayed by the predetermined time after the operation of the self-timer and starts recording the video signal. After going, the track can be changed to record the audio signal.

Therefore, by properly selecting the voice recording time and the operation time of the self-timer, the voice signal can be taken in at any timing. For example, assuming that the delay time of the delay circuit 29 is 5 seconds, if the operation time of the self-timer is set to 10 seconds and the voice recording time mode is also set to 10 seconds, recording is performed for 5 seconds before and after shooting (time t ₄ ). be able to. If you switch to the 20-second mode, 5 seconds before shooting,
If the mode is 15 seconds after shooting and 5 seconds, it is possible to record the sound for 5 seconds before shooting.

The sound quality becomes better as the recording time becomes shorter, that is, the time-axis compression rate becomes smaller, so that the sound quality can be appropriately selected as necessary. In addition, the self-timer time can be varied to allow more applications.

Incidentally, if the delay time of the delay circuit 29 is made variable in addition to the above-mentioned configuration, a larger number of voice capturing patterns are possible.

Further, in the above embodiment, the subtraction circuit 30
Although the output signal of the sounding circuit 23 is subtracted from the output signal of the microphone 8, as shown in FIG.
It is also possible to dispose the generated dial tone in the vicinity of the sounding body 23 and pick it up with the microphone 31, supply the output signal of the microphone 31 to the subtraction circuit 30, and subtract it from the voice output signal of the microphone 8. This way, the sound generator 23
Because you can catch the sound actually emitted,
It is less susceptible to level fluctuations and the like, and the dial tone can be more accurately subtracted from the voice signal.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the electronic camera of the present invention, in the electronic camera capable of recording the image signal and the audio signal on the recording medium and including the self-timer,
The self-timer is provided with a sounding means for indicating by sounding and a subtracting means for subtracting a sounding signal component in the sounding means from the sound signal, so that the sound signal can be simultaneously captured. Since it is possible to remove the above-mentioned sound signal component, it is possible to display by sound that the self-timer is operating, and as a result, the dial tone for display is captured from the outside together with the sound signal. However, the noise component is not recorded as noise, and the noise component can be removed. Therefore, since the operation display of the self-timer can be displayed not only by the light of the light emitting diode or the like but also by the sound even during voice recording, it is possible to provide an effective and easily recognizable display for the user. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the electronic camera of the present invention, FIGS. 2 and 3 are timing charts for explaining the operation in the configuration of FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is another example of the present invention. It is a block diagram of a portion showing an example. 5 ... Solid-state image sensor 7 ... Video signal processing circuit 8 ... Microphone 9 ... Audio signal processing circuit 10 ... Memory 11 ... Switching circuit 12 ... Recording amplifier 13 ... Magnetic head 14 ... Audio recording time selection Switch 15 …… Motor 16 …… Motor servo circuit 17 …… System control circuit 18 …… Voice recording mode selection switch 19 …… Shutter release switch 20 …… Self timer circuit 21 …… Self timer ON / OFF switch 22 …… Operation time setting switch 23 …… Sound generator 24 …… Sound generator 28 …… Start / stop signal generating circuit 29 …… Delay circuit 30 …… Subtractor circuit 31 …… Microphone D …… Video Froppy L …… Light emitting diode

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An electronic camera comprising a self-timer capable of recording an image signal obtained by an image pickup means and an audio signal taken in from the outside on a recording medium and delaying a photographing timing by a predetermined time. An electronic camera, comprising: a sounding means for indicating by sounding that the self-timer is operating, and a subtracting means for subtracting a sounding signal component in the sounding means from the sound signal.