JPH02212809A - Image input device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a high-definition image of a subject which has depth by a simple mechanism by rotating the distance ring of an image pickup lens by a motor by every specific steps from a shortest-distance angle to an infinite- distance angle, and performing processing by an image processing circuit repeatedly in the respective steps. CONSTITUTION:The image input device consists of the motor, the image pickup lens 1, an image pickup part 4, 1st and 2nd image storage parts 6, the image processing circuit 7, and a control circuit 8. The distance ring of the image pickup lens is rotated by the motor by every specific steps from the shortest- distance angle to the infinite-distance angle, and the image processing circuit repeats the processing in the respective steps. Consequently, the high-definition image of the subject which has depth is obtained and the image pickup lens need not be stopped down extremely, and photographic conditions are not so complicate and the simple, inexpensive image input device with good operability is obtained.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Industrial Application Field) The present invention includes an imaging unit that captures an optical image of a subject, photoelectrically converts it, and outputs an image signal; an image storage unit that inputs and stores the image signal; The present invention relates to an image input device that includes an image processing circuit for processing the image, and can be used particularly when attempting to obtain a two-dimensional, high-definition image from a subject with great depth.

(Prior art) Conventionally, in order to obtain a high-definition image from a subject with depth, the aperture of the lens of the image carrier W of a camera or the like is sufficiently narrowed down to deepen the depth of field and the image is taken. Or, a method is used that utilizes the tilt operation of the film or lens, which is often used in large format film cameras.

Aori refers to the second and third figures of a film camera.
As shown in the figure, this is an operation in which the lens section or film section is rotated or moved (tilt/swing) vertically, horizontally, or diagonally to break the relationship in which the optical axis of the lens intersects at the center point of the film. Using this tilt operation, you can create expressive effects such as correcting and exaggerating vertical/horizontal lines, adjusting the depth of field, and changing the shooting range. Among these, by adjusting the depth of field, you can sharply focus from the foreground to the distance, and obtain images with BNI [I] from objects with depth.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, the above-described conventional technology has the following problems.

In this method, the subject image becomes dark, so it is necessary to brighten the illumination, use a highly sensitive imaging device, or lengthen the exposure time. Since these means are usually used in combination, knowledge of many types of equipment and their combinations is required. Therefore, operation of the imaging device becomes complicated and complicated.

With this method, even if you decide on the focus and M4 diagram at the beginning, the shift will occur when you tilt the camera, so you will need to make adjustments again. In order to solve this problem, a more complicated mechanism is required, which increases the cost of the device. Furthermore, when shooting using tilt control, there are restrictions on the subject and composition.

Therefore, the present invention solves the problems of the conventional technology described above,
To provide an image input device which can obtain a high-definition image from a subject with depth, has a simple mechanism, has good operability, and is inexpensive.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a motor [21] and a distance ring [1a] rotationally driven by the motor.
an imaging unit [41] to which this imaging lens is attached, which captures an optical image of a subject that enters through the imaging lens, photoelectrically converts it, and outputs an image signal; The first step is to sample and store the output image signal of
from the first image storage section and the second image storage section; The content of the corresponding pixel and the content of the adjacent pixel are read out, and the focus state is determined based on the droplet group based on the content, and if the content of the pixel in the first image storage unit is in a better focus state, the an image processing circuit [7] that performs a process of uniformly changing the content of a corresponding pixel in the second image storage unit with the content of that pixel in the first image storage unit; and rotational driving of the motor;
It is composed of a control circuit [8] that controls the optical i1 conversion scanning in the imaging unit, writing and reading in the first and second image storage units, and timing of the above processing in the image processing circuit, respectively. , the distance ring of the imaging lens is rotated in predetermined steps from the shortest distance angle to the infinite distance angle by the motor;
The present invention provides an image processing apparatus characterized in that the above processing by the image processing circuit is repeatedly performed for each step.

(Function) In the image input device configured as described above, the image processing circuit changes the distance ring of the image carrier lens from the shortest distance angle to the infinite distance angle, and calculates the contents of the pixels in the well-focused portion at each step. After the image is written in the second image storage section and the self-writing in all steps is completed, all parts of one screen written in the second image storage section are in the best focus state.

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of an image input Ill according to the present invention.

In the figure, an imaging lens 1 includes a distance ring 1a and an aperture ring 1b, and forms an optical image of a subject onto the light receiving surface of an m-image element such as a charge-coupled device (COD) in an m-image section 2.

The motor 2 is rotationally driven via a motor drive circuit 3 under drive control by an IIJ control circuit 8, which will be described later.
Rotate the distance ring 1a of the lens 1.

The image section 4 is equipped with an image carrying lens 1, carries an incoming optical object image through the imaging lens 1, photoelectrically converts the image information of the optical object image, and converts the two-dimensional image into a two-dimensional image. It is output as an image signal and supplied to the first image storage section 5.

The first image recording section 5 performs analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion on the input image signal, and converts the input image signal into a sampled image signal.
According to the control signal inputted from the lI@ circuit 8, the data is sequentially stored and accumulated in the internal memory element in association with the position on the image.

The second image storage section 6 is composed of a memory element having the same number of pixels as the first image storage section 5 described above.

The image processing circuit 7 reads out the contents (image data) of the pixel at the same address and the contents (image data) of the adjacent pixels from the first image storage section 5 and the second image storage section 6, and reads out the contents (image data) of the pixel at the same address and the contents (image data) of the pixels adjacent thereto. The contents of the pixel and the contents of the adjacent pixels are calculated as described above to obtain a value representing the focus state, and the magnitude of the values is compared to determine the focus state. ) is in better focus, the content of that pixel is used to copy the image (second image 2).
Rewrite the corresponding pixel content (image data) of 11 part 6).

Here, the subject image is expressed as multi-tone image data.
It is stored in the second image storage section 5.6. To express the focus state of the subject image using this image data, for example, spatial differentiation is used. That is, the difference in image data values between adjacent pixels is calculated, and the quality of the focus state is determined based on the size of the chain.

One control circuit 8 is an image processing circuit 7 for all pixels in the first im* storage section 5 (that is, for one screen).
When the processing by
Rotate by step) i, +ia. Furthermore, this 11 control circuit 8 performs photoelectric conversion scanning in the imaging section 4,
It controls the data loading and reading in the first and second 1i image memories 5.6 and the timing of the above processing in the image processing circuit 7, respectively.

Note that the reset switch 9 connected to the control circuit 8 is
When this is turned on, the motor 2 is rotated to the position of the distance ring Iala (initial state), and at the same time, the contents of the pixels (pixel data) stored in the first image storage section 6 are This is for clearing.

In the image input device configured as described above, the distance ring 1a of the image lens 1 is rotated by a small amount ff1 (1 step), and each time the distance ring 1a is rotated by 1 step,
The image signal output from the image section 5 is stored in the first image storage section 5.
The image processing circuit 7 is operated to compare the accumulated image in the second image storage section 6 and the focus state for each pixel to determine the focus state. For areas that are in good focus, the pixels of that area are used to
The contents of the image storage unit 6 are rewritten.

Note that in the first step of the above operation, no image information is written in the second image storage section 6, so as a result, the image information in the first image storage section 5 is written as is ( be transcribed).

This series of operations is repeated for each step of the distance ring 1a from the angle of 1w1 distance to the angle of infinity, and the contents of the pixels in the portion that is in good focus at every step are stored in the second image storage unit 6. After the image is absorbed, all parts of one screen written in the second image storage section 6 will be in the best focus state i.

Even when photographing a subject with depth, when each part of the screen is in focus, that partial image is stored in the second image storage unit 6, so the lens aperture cannot be set to the extreme. High-definition images can be obtained without the use of special lead imaging equipment that allows for aperture or tilt control.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the image input device of the present invention, a high-definition image can be obtained from a subject with depth, and the aperture of the R-image lens does not have to be narrowed down to an extreme degree, and It is not very complicated, and since there is no need for tilting and tilting, there are no restrictions on the subject or composition. It also has the advantage of being very easy to operate.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the human-powered image processing apparatus according to the present invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are diagrams for explaining tilting. 1...Imaging lens, 1a...Distance ring, 1b...
- Aperture ring, 2... Motor, 3... Motor drive circuit, 4... Imaging unit, 5... First image storage unit, 6...
...Second image storage unit, 7...Image processing circuit, 8...
・lltIll circuit, 9...reset switch. Patent Applicant: Japan Victor Co., Ltd. Representative Kakiki
Kunio

Claims (1)

[Claims] A motor; an imaging lens having a distance ring rotationally driven by the motor; and an imaging lens that is attached with the imaging lens, and that captures an optical image of a subject that enters through the imaging lens and photoelectrically converts the image. An imaging unit that outputs an image signal, a first image storage unit that samples and stores the output image signal of the imaging unit, and a second image storage unit that has the same number of pixels as the first image storage unit. and reading the contents of the corresponding pixel and the contents of its adjacent pixels from the first image storage section and the second image storage section, and determining the focus state by calculation from those contents,
When the content of a pixel in the first image storage unit is in better focus, processing for rewriting the content of a corresponding pixel in the second image storage unit with the content of that pixel in the first image storage unit. an image processing circuit that performs rotational driving of the motor, photoelectric conversion scanning in the imaging section, writing and reading in the first and second image storage sections, and timing of the above processing in the image processing circuit. The motor rotates the distance ring of the imaging lens from the shortest distance angle to the infinite distance angle in predetermined steps, and at each step, the image processing circuit performs the above operations. An image input device characterized by repeatedly performing processing.