JPH029510B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention is used in an imaging device for inspecting the outside world in a so-called moving object such as a vehicle, a ship, or an aircraft, and is capable of controlling vibrations that occur when the moving object moves. The present invention relates to an image stabilizing device that stabilizes captured images.

First, a conventional device of this type will be explained with reference to FIG.

In Figure 1, 1 is a vehicle, 2 is a mount, 3 is a gear, 4 is a turntable, 5 is a television camera, and 6
is the TV monitor, 7 is the dial, 8 is the controller, 9
is the motor. Note that the gyro 7, controller 8, and motor 9 constitute a space stabilizer 10.

Next, the operation of the conventional image stabilizing device configured as described above will be explained. A space stabilizer 10 attached to a moving vehicle 1 is composed of a gyro 7 that detects the movement of a turntable 4, a controller 8, and a motor 9, and a pedestal 2 attached to the vehicle 1;
It is used with a turntable 4 that is rotatable with respect to the pedestal 2, and drives a gear 3 in a direction that cancels out the rocking of the turntable 4 caused by the movement of the vehicle 1, and directs the turntable 4 in a certain spatial direction. Control as follows.

Since the turntable 4 is controlled by the spatial stabilizer 10 to face in a spatially constant direction, the output image of the television camera 5 attached to the turntable 4 remains in a constant direction even if the vehicle 1 moves. Outputs a still image facing the camera.

The output of the television camera 5 is input to a television monitor 6 and displayed as a video.

However, in the conventional apparatus configured as described above, the stability of the image depends on the stability accuracy of the spatial stabilizer 10, and the vibration of the turntable 4 caused by the stability error of the spatial stabilizer 10 is caused by the vibration of the television camera 5. This causes blur in the output image and deteriorates the image quality.

The present invention was made to eliminate such drawbacks in conventional devices, and provides an image stabilizing device with less image blur.

This will be explained in detail below using FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the present invention, in which numerals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 are the same as in FIG. 1.

Reference numeral 11 denotes an image memory that stores images from the television camera 5.

Next, the operation of this image stabilizing device will be explained.

The image memory 11 receives an output image from the television camera 5 and temporarily stores this image.

On the other hand, the output of the gyro 7 that detects the movement of the turntable 4 is input to the image memory 11. The read timing when reading an image from the image memory 11 is changed according to the output of the gyro 7. Thereby, image blur caused by the shake of the turntable 4 can be canceled out.

Further, details of the operation will be explained using FIGS. 3 to 10.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the direction of the television camera 5 attached to the turntable 4, where 12 is the target, 1
3 indicates the center line of the television camera 5.

In FIG. 3, the center line 13 of the television camera 5
is facing the direction of target 12. At this time, the output voltage of the gyro 7 is zero.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an image on the television monitor 6 when the center line 13 of the television camera 5 is pointing in the direction of the target, and 14 is the image.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a part of the horizontal scanning line including the target of the output image read out from the image memory 11. In the figure, 15 is the horizontal synchronization signal, C is the timing of reading out the image, and D is the horizontal synchronization. Target 12 from the signal
This is the time until.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the direction of the television camera 5 when the turntable 4 is shaken, and A indicates the angle at which the turntable 4 is shaken. At this time, Jairo 7
generates a voltage B proportional to the angle A of blur.

FIG. 7 shows an image when the turntable 4 is shaken, and the target 12 moves to the left compared to the position shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing one horizontal scanning line including the target of the output image read out from the image memory 10 when the turntable 4 is shaken;
-E indicates the time from the horizontal synchronization signal 15 to the target 12.

Due to the shake of the turntable 4, the position of the target 12 becomes a position DE from the horizontal synchronizing signal 15, and changes by E compared to the position shown in FIG. 5 where the turntable 4 is stationary.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a part of a horizontal scanning line when the timing of reading out an image from the image memory 11 is changed using the output B of the gyro 7 according to the present invention, and the output voltage B of the gyro 7 is 11, it is converted into time E, and the timing for reading out the image is changed to C+E using this time E. As a result, the position of the target 12 becomes DE+E=D, which is the same position as before the turntable 4 was shaken, and the image does not blur due to the shake of the turntable 4.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an image in which the image blur caused by the shake of the turntable 4 has been corrected and the blur has been cancelled, according to the present invention.

As described above, according to the present invention, the image blur of the television camera due to the stability error of the spatial stabilizer is canceled out by the gyro and the image memory, and there is no deterioration in image quality due to the image blur.

Further, according to the present invention, even if the stability error of the spatial stabilizer becomes large, the image quality is not impaired, so a simple spatial stabilizer can be used, and an inexpensive image stabilizing device can be provided. can.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a configuration diagram of a conventional image stabilization device;
3 is a diagram showing the configuration of an image stabilizing device according to the present invention, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the orientation of a television camera, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an image, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing horizontal scanning lines.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the direction of the television camera, FIG. 7 is a diagram showing images, FIG. 8 is a diagram showing horizontal scanning lines, FIG. 9 is a diagram showing horizontal scanning lines, and FIG. 10 is a diagram showing horizontal scanning lines. is a diagram showing an image, in which 1 is a vehicle and 2 is a diagram showing a video.
is the stand, 3 is the gear, 4 is the turntable, 5 is the TV camera, 6 is the TV monitor, 7 is the gyro,
8 is a controller, 9 is a motor, 10 is a space stabilizer, 1
1 is an image memory, 12 is a target, 13 is the center line of the television camera, 14 is an image, 15 is a horizontal synchronization signal,
A is the shake angle, C is the readout timing, D is the target position, and E is the target shake position. It should be noted that the same or corresponding parts in the drawings are designated by the same reference numerals.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A gyroscope installed on a turntable rotatably attached to a moving body to detect the movement of the turntable, a motor for driving the turntable, and a gyroscope that uses the output of the gyroscope to detect movement of the movable body. a space stabilizer comprising a controller that drives the motor in a direction to cancel the rocking of the turntable and controls the turntable to face in a certain spatial direction; and a television set on the turntable. comprising a camera and an image memory for storing an output image of the television camera, and changing the timing of reading out the image of the image memory according to the output of the gyro;
An image stabilizing device characterized in that it removes image blurring of the television camera caused by a stability error of the spatial stabilizer.