JP7187219B2 - Operating device, optical device, and imaging device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an operating device, an optical device, and an imaging device.

2. Description of the Related Art Focus adjustment (focusing) of a lens device in an imaging device such as a television camera is controlled by a control system including a drive section such as a motor. In order to give commands to the control system, an operation device (also called focus demand or focus controller) including an operation member 101 as shown in FIG. 9 is used. Since the operation device 101 is rotatably supported within a predetermined rotation angle range, the relationship between the rotation angle and the command can be intuitively grasped. An operation device is known that enables fine focus adjustment by setting operation sensitivity (operation characteristics) in a specific object distance range and generating a command within the object distance range (Patent Document 1). ).

JP 2018-084667 A

The operating device disclosed in the above patent documents does not consider the case where the operating sensitivity before the setting is variable. Therefore, if the operation sensitivity after the setting is unchanged, the manner in which the operation sensitivity changes before and after the setting changes in accordance with the operation sensitivity before the setting. In that case, the operator may feel uncomfortable with the operation. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention, for example, to provide an operating device that is advantageous for fine adjustment of optical characteristics of a lens device.

One aspect of the present invention provides an operating member for operating a movable optical element in a lens apparatus;
a detection unit that detects the amount of operation of the operation member;
a processing unit that generates a command for the lens device based on the manipulated variable;
a first setting unit that sets the operation sensitivity of the operation member according to the amount of operation of the operation member;
a second setting unit that sets a coefficient for reducing the operation sensitivity of the operation member set by the first setting unit;
Having an input unit for validating the setting by the second setting unit,
In a case where the operation sensitivity changes according to the operation amount, the processing unit performs the operation according to the operation amount of the operation member when the setting by the second setting unit is validated by the input unit. The operating device is characterized in that the operating sensitivity of the operating member is changed based on the operating sensitivity of the member and the coefficient.

According to the present invention, for example, it is possible to provide an operation device that is advantageous for fine adjustment of optical characteristics of a lens device.

1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of an operating device according to Embodiment 1; FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram exemplifying a plurality of operation modes with mutually different operation characteristics; FIG. 11 is a diagram exemplifying the flow of processing related to changing operation characteristics; Diagram exemplifying the flow of processing related to command generation Diagram illustrating operating characteristics The figure which shows the structural example of the operating device which concerns on Embodiment 2. A diagram exemplifying the flow of processing related to display Diagram showing a display example A diagram illustrating an operation member A diagram showing a configuration example of an imaging device

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In principle (unless otherwise noted), the same members and the like are given the same reference numerals throughout the drawings for describing the embodiments, and repeated description thereof will be omitted.

[Embodiment 1]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an operating device according to Embodiment 1. FIG. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes an operating device (here, also called a focus controller or focus demand). 20 is a lens device. The operating device 10 is for controlling a movable optical element (here, a lens) to adjust the optical properties of the lens device 20 . The manipulation device 10 and the lens device 20 may constitute a larger optical device or optical system. The optical device or optical system may further constitute, for example, an imaging device, which will be described later. Reference numeral 101 denotes an operation member (also referred to as a knob) operated by a user (for example, a cameraman) to generate a command (command value) for the control. The optical element is here for adjusting the object distance as an optical characteristic of the lens device 20 . FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an operating member. The operating member 101 can be the one in FIG. The operating member 101 here is to be rotated. A detection unit 102 detects the amount of operation of the operation member 101, and may include, for example, a potentiometer or a rotary encoder.

Reference numeral 103 denotes an operation mode switching unit, which can include a user interface (UI) including switches and the like. The operation mode switching unit 103 here switches between a plurality of operation modes having different operation characteristics for adjusting the object distance. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a plurality of operation modes having different operation characteristics. In the figure, the multiple operation modes include Standard mode, Near mode, and Far mode. In the graph of the figure, the horizontal axis indicates the manipulated variable (for example, 0° to 100°), and the vertical axis indicates the command (for example, 0 to 10000). Here, the commands are normalized such that 0 corresponds to the closest distance (M.O.D.) and 10000 to infinity (INF.). Standard mode is an operation mode in which the command is directly proportional to the operation amount (rotational angle, for example) of the operation member or is a linear function. The Near mode is an operation mode in which the command is a non-linear function (for example, a high-order function) with respect to the manipulated variable so that the object distance can be finely adjusted at the minimum object distance (closest distance) and close object distances. be. The Far mode is an operation mode in which the command is a non-linear function (for example, a higher-order function) with respect to the manipulated variable so that the object distance can be finely adjusted at or near infinity. Each mode can be switched according to the application of the lens device 20 .

A parameter setting unit 104 can include a user interface (UI) including switches and the like. The parameter setting unit 104 sets parameters for determining the amount of change in the command with respect to the operation amount of the operation member 101 (that is, the operation sensitivity of the operation member 101) based on the input via the UI. Reference numeral 105 denotes an operation sensitivity changing unit, which can include a user interface (UI) including switches and the like. The operation sensitivity changing unit 105 validates the parameter set by the parameter setting unit 104 based on the input via the UI, and reduces the operation sensitivity in the current operation mode based on the parameter. By reducing the operational sensitivity, it is possible to finely adjust the optical characteristics.

A command generation unit 106 generates a command for an optical element 204 (described later) based on the operation amount detected by the detection unit 102 and the operation mode switched by the operation mode switching unit 103 . Note that when the operation sensitivity is reduced by the operation sensitivity changing unit 105 as described above, the command generation unit 106 issues a command based on the reduced operation sensitivity and the operation amount detected by the detection unit 102. Generate. Details of the processing for generating the command will be described later. A communication unit 107 converts (encodes) the command generated by the command generation unit 106 into data (information) in a communication command format, and transmits the data (information) to the communication unit of the lens device 20 . Note that at least the command generation unit 106 can be configured including a processor such as a CPU, and is also called a processing unit.

In the lens device 20 , 201 is the communication unit of the lens device 20 described above, and communicates with the communication unit 107 in the operation device 10 . Upon receiving the command data in the communication command format, the communication unit 201 decodes the data and sends it to 202 . A target generation unit 202 generates a target (target value) for controlling the optical element based on the received command information. Reference numeral 204 denotes the optical element, which is used here to adjust the object distance of the lens device 20 . 203 is a control unit to which the target is input. The control unit 203 controls the optical element 204 . A position detection unit 205 detects the position of the optical element 204 . The control section 203 is configured including a position detection section 205 . Based on the target generated by the target generation unit 202 and the position of the optical element 204 detected by the position detection unit 205, the control unit 203 gives an operation amount to an actuator (driving unit) included in the control unit, Control the position of the element 204 . The manipulated variable here is the manipulated variable as a control engineering term. The control unit 203 here performs so-called feedback control based on the target and the control amount (the position of the optical element 204).

Here, FIG. 3 is a diagram exemplifying the flow of processing related to changing operation characteristics. This processing is executed by at least the command generation unit 106 (processing unit) when the above-described parameters are validated by the operation sensitivity change unit 105 . In the figure, first, in step S101, the operation amount of the operation member 101 is acquired from the detection unit 102. FIG. In the next step S102, the current operation mode is acquired from the operation mode switching unit 103. FIG. In step S103, a command is generated based on the operation amount and the operation mode. In the subsequent step S104, the operation sensitivity (first sensitivity) at the current operation amount is acquired. Acquisition of the operation sensitivity can be performed from a combination of a current operation amount and a command and a combination of a past operation amount and a command, but is not limited to this. For example, the acquisition may be based on the ratio of the amount of change in the command to the amount of change in the manipulated variable, and the timing of acquiring the manipulated variable and the manipulation sensitivity are not limited to those described above.

In step S105, it is determined whether the operational sensitivity obtained in step S104 is equal to or greater than a threshold. As the threshold value, one stored in advance in (the processing unit of) the operation device 10 or one acquired from the lens device 20 via the communication unit 107 can be used. The threshold may also be based on the depth of field of the lens system. If the operational sensitivity is less than the threshold, the process proceeds to step S106, and if the operational sensitivity is equal to or greater than the threshold, the process proceeds to step S107. In step S106, the threshold value is overwritten on the operation sensitivity. When the change of the operation sensitivity in step S106 is completed, the process proceeds to step S107. In the following step S107, the operation sensitivity is multiplied by the parameter (real number coefficient or scale factor less than 1) set by the parameter setting unit 104 to reduce the operation sensitivity. In step S108, at the current operation amount (input), a command (output) that matches the command generated in step S103 is generated based on the reduced manipulation sensitivity (second sensitivity). output characteristics). After generating the operation characteristics, the flow of this process ends. By the above processing, the operation sensitivity can be reduced from that in the previous operation mode.

Here, FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the flow of processing related to command generation. This processing is processing executed by the command generation unit 106 (processing unit) when the operation sensitivity is reduced by the processing described with reference to FIG. First, in step S<b>201 , the operation amount of the operation member 101 is acquired from the detection unit 102 . In the subsequent step S202, a command is generated based on the operation amount and the operation characteristic generated in step S108. In this way, optical element 204 can be controlled with reduced operational sensitivity.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating operation characteristics. In the graph of FIG. 2, as in the graph of FIG. 2, the horizontal axis indicates the manipulated variable (rotation angle), and the vertical axis indicates the command. Here, a case is exemplified in which the operation characteristics are changed from those of the Far mode so as to reduce the operation sensitivity. At present, the operation amount of the operation member is A, and the command is B. Let C be the intercept on the vertical axis of the straight line (dashed line) representing the operation sensitivity before the change (current time), and let D be the intercept on the vertical axis of the straight line (thick line) representing the operation characteristic after the change. The operation sensitivity before the change (current time) is obtained from the operation characteristics of the Far mode, and the reduced operation sensitivity after the change is obtained based on the operation sensitivity and the above-described parameter (real number coefficient or scale factor less than 1). Then, the post-change operation characteristic (bold line) is generated that has the operation sensitivity after the reduction and that the command is B when the operation amount of the operation member 101 is A. By doing so, it is possible to finely adjust the optical characteristics of the optical device by changing the operation amount from the current operation amount without changing the command (B) corresponding to the current operation amount (A).

Here, the operation characteristic before change is represented by the following equation (1).

Further, the operation characteristics after conversion are represented by the following equation (2).

The relationship between intercept C and intercept D depends on the parameters set in parameter setting section 104 . The relationship is represented by the following equation (3), for example, where the parameter is 1/N (N is a positive real number greater than 1).

In this way, it is possible to finely adjust the optical characteristics of the optical device according to the parameters set by the parameter setting unit 104 .

Note that after the operation sensitivity change unit 105 reduces the operation sensitivity in the current operation mode based on the input via the UI, the operation sensitivity change unit 105 also adjusts the operation sensitivity before the reduction based on the input via the UI. A return to mode may be possible. At the time of the return, the command may change depending on the operation amount of the operation member 101 at the time of the return, but if the operation amount is A or about A, the change in the command is zero or about zero. becomes.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the optical characteristics of the lens apparatus can be finely adjusted by reducing the operational sensitivity from the current operational sensitivity of the operating device that is variable based on the operational mode and the operational amount. It can be carried out. Thus, according to this embodiment, it is possible to provide an operating device that is advantageous for fine adjustment of the optical characteristics of a lens device, for example.

[Embodiment 2]
From here, Embodiment 2 will be described. In this embodiment, the lens device 20 is the same as that in the first embodiment, so the description is omitted. Here, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the operating device according to the second embodiment. This figure has a configuration in which 108 and 109 are added to the configuration of the operating device in FIG. 108 is an information generation unit. The information generation unit 108 generates information regarding the range of commands that can be generated by the operation member 101 in a state where the operation sensitivity is reduced. The information generation unit 108 can constitute the processing unit described in the first embodiment. 109 is a display unit. The display unit 109 may include a device such as a liquid crystal display, and may be any device as long as it presents information to the user. Display unit 109 displays the information generated by information generation unit 108 . The information generated by the information generation unit 108 can be configured to be transmitted to an external device (for example, the camera device 30 described later). Also, the information transmitted to the external device can be displayed by the display section of the external device.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the flow of processing related to display. This processing is executed by the information generation unit 108 (processing unit) when the operation sensitivity is changed (reduced) by the operation sensitivity change unit 105 . In FIG. 7, first, in step S301, the range of commands that can be generated by operating the operation member 101 is obtained based on the above-described formula (2). The range can be obtained by sequentially substituting the manipulated variable=0 and the manipulated variable=100 into the equation (2). Then, information about the range (for example, information for displaying the range on the display unit 109) is generated. In the following step S302, the information generated in step S302 is displayed on the display unit 109. FIG. With this processing, the user can be notified of the range of commands that can be generated by operating the operation member 101 .

Here, FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a display example. This figure shows a display example on the display unit 109 in step S302. In (a) of FIG. O. D to INF. The band extending to represents the full range of commands (first range) corresponding to the full range of optical properties (here object distance) adjustable by the optical device. On the other hand, the band extending from B to A represents the range (second range) of commands that can be generated by operating the operating member 101 in a state where the operating sensitivity is reduced. Here, the second range is displayed in a mode (for example, at least one of brightness, color, and pattern) different from the other ranges in the first range. Furthermore, it is preferable to display an indicator (for example, a mark like an arrow shown in the figure) indicating a command based on the current operation amount in the second range so that the user can visually recognize it. In addition, in (b) of the figure, the correspondence relationship between the entire range of the manipulated variable (here, 0 to 100) and the second range (here, B to A) is displayed in the form of a graph. Also, the correspondence relationship between the operation amount at the present time and the command based thereon is indicated by a one-dot chain line.

As described above, the operation device according to the present embodiment has a function of displaying the range of commands that can be generated by operating the operation member 101 in a state in which the operation sensitivity is reduced. It is advantageous in terms of Thus, according to this embodiment, it is possible to provide an operating device that is advantageous for fine adjustment of the optical characteristics of a lens device, for example.

[Embodiment of Imaging Apparatus]
FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an imaging device. The image pickup apparatus includes the operation device 10 illustrated above, the lens device 20, and a camera device (image pickup section) 30 having an image pickup element 30a disposed on the image plane of the lens device 20. According to the imaging device according to the present embodiment, for example, it is possible to provide an imaging device that is advantageous for fine adjustment of the optical characteristics of the lens device. Here, the operation device 10 and the lens device 20 or the optical element 204 in the lens device 20 constitute an optical device. Therefore, the image plane of the lens device 20 or the image plane of the optical element 204 is also referred to as the image plane of the optical device.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various modifications and changes are possible within the scope of the gist. For example, the optical element (lens) movable for adjusting the object distance has been exemplified above as the optical element movable for adjusting the optical characteristics of the lens device. However, the optical element is not so limited. That is, the optical element is, for example, a movable optical element (lens) for adjusting the focal length of the lens device (magnifying), or a diaphragm for adjusting the F number (F number) or aperture ratio of the lens device. A diaphragm member (aperture diaphragm) whose blades are movable can be used. Further, the display unit 109 may be provided inside the lens device 20 or the camera device 30 instead of inside the operation device 10 . If the display is in the camera device 30, it may be, for example, in the viewfinder of the camera device. Further, in the above description, the processing unit generates a command based on one of a plurality of operation modes that differ from each other in the relationship between the control command and the operation amount and the operation amount. Then, the operation sensitivity is changed from the first sensitivity to the second sensitivity, which is lower than the first sensitivity, with respect to the current operation amount of the operation member in one of the plurality of operation modes. However, it is not limited to this. That is, the processing unit generates a command based on the relationship between the operation amount and the command, and the operation amount, in which the operation sensitivity as a ratio of the change in the command for control with respect to the change in the operation amount is not constant. shall be allowed. In that case, the processing unit can change the operation sensitivity from the first sensitivity to the second sensitivity, which is lower than the first sensitivity, with respect to the current operation amount of the operation member based on the relationship.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 operating device 101 operating member 102 detection unit 106 command generation unit (processing unit)

Claims (12)

an operating member for operating a movable optical element in the lens apparatus;
a detection unit that detects the amount of operation of the operation member;
a processing unit that generates a command for the lens device based on the manipulated variable;
a first setting unit that sets the operation sensitivity of the operation member according to the amount of operation of the operation member;
a second setting unit that sets a coefficient for reducing the operation sensitivity of the operation member set by the first setting unit;
Having an input unit for validating the setting by the second setting unit,
In a case where the operation sensitivity changes according to the operation amount, the processing unit performs the operation according to the operation amount of the operation member when the setting by the second setting unit is validated by the input unit. An operating device, wherein the operating sensitivity of the operating member is changed based on the operating sensitivity of the member and the coefficient. When the operation sensitivity of the operation member is equal to or greater than a threshold, the processing unit changes the operation sensitivity of the operation member based on the operation sensitivity of the operation member according to the operation amount of the operation member and the coefficient. The operating device according to claim 1, characterized by: 3. The operating device according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit obtains information regarding a range of the command that can be generated by operating the operating member when the operating sensitivity of the operating member is changed. . 4. The operating device according to claim 3, wherein the processing unit transmits the information to an external device. 4. The operating device according to claim 3, wherein the processing section causes a display section to display the information. 6. The operating device according to claim 5, further comprising the display section. 7. The processing unit according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the processing unit changes the operational sensitivity of the operating member by multiplying the operational sensitivity of the operating member by the coefficient. operating device. 8. An operating device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the optical element is movable for adjusting an object distance in the lens system. the optical element is movable to adjust an object distance in the lens arrangement;
3. The operating device according to claim 2, wherein the processing unit changes the threshold based on depth of field. 10. The operating device according to any one of claims 1 to 9, further comprising a communication section that communicates with the lens device. an operating device according to any one of claims 1 to 10;
and a lens device including a movable optical element operated by the operating device. an optical device according to claim 11;
and an imaging device arranged on the image plane of the lens device.

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