JPH05308607A - Still camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a still camera with high picture quality and without generating duffing deterioration and with low unit price per image and capable of recording and reproducing sound by adding a microphone. CONSTITUTION:A video signal outputted from a video camera unit 1 is band- limited by an LPF 2 when photography is performed, and is A/D-converted by an A/D converter 3, and is stored in frame memory 4. A recorded signal is converted to a signal recordable on a DAT by a DAT interface circuit 5, and is recorded on a DAT unit 6. Each circuit is controlled by the instruction of an operating key 10 and a control circuit 7 receiving a reference clock from a CK generator 8. A display part 9 displays the instruction of the operating key 10 and the operating mode of this still camera.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a still camera,
More specifically, digital audio tape (hereinafter DAT
The present invention relates to a still camera in which a digital audio recorder (hereinafter abbreviated as DAR) (hereinafter abbreviated as DAR) is built in a main body, a camera image is electrically stored, and can be displayed on a television at the time of reproduction.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a still camera detects an optical image obtained by an optical mechanism such as a lens as an electric signal using an image pickup device such as a CCD and converts the electric signal into a video signal which can be displayed on a television, and the video signal is reproduced by a floppy disk. It was recorded and played back on a disk in analog or digital. recently,
With the increase in memory capacity and speed, some semiconductor memories such as RAM cards have been used instead of floppy disks for recording and reproduction.

[0003]

However, since a still camera has a small capacity even if it is a floppy or a RAM card, the number of images that can be stored in one image is small,
There is a problem that the unit price per image is high. RAM
The card type is particularly expensive and poses a serious problem. Further, since the floppy type is an analog recording, there is a problem that the image quality is seriously deteriorated when dubbing or copying. Also, there is a problem that it is difficult to record audio like a video movie because of its small capacity.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and has high image quality and no dubbing deterioration.
Moreover, it is an object of the present invention to provide a still camera having a large recording capacity and a low unit price per image. Another object is to provide a multifunctional still camera in which voice can be recorded and reproduced by adding a microphone.

[0005]

In order to achieve this object, the still camera of the present invention obtains an optical image by an optical mechanism including an optical element such as a lens in the main body, and the optical image is obtained by an image pickup element such as CCD. A video camera unit for converting into an electric signal and converting it into a video signal which can be displayed on a television, and a DAR unit for digitally recording and reproducing sound for recording and reproduction,
The DAR unit is provided with a DAR interface circuit which converts the video signal so that the DAR unit can be recorded, and converts a digital signal output from the DAR unit into a video signal for reproduction by a television when reproducing.

[0006]

In the still camera of the present invention having the above-mentioned structure, an optical image is obtained by an optical element such as a lens in the video camera unit at the time of photographing, and the optical image is converted into an electric signal by the image pickup element such as CCD. , Converted into a form of video signal that can be displayed on the television. And the video signal is
Band limiting, A / D conversion,
Processing such as parallel-serial conversion is performed and converted into a signal that can be recorded by the DAR unit. The signal is then recorded in the DAR unit.

At the time of reproduction, the digital signal reproduced from the DAR unit is processed by the DAR interface circuit in the opposite manner to that at the time of recording and converted into a still image for one frame. Then, it is driven to a low impedance so that it can be displayed on a television, and then output.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

With reference to FIG. 1, FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, a specific configuration and operation when the DAT of the still camera of the present invention is used will be sequentially described.

First, referring to FIG. 1, the structure and operation of a still camera which does not have a reproducing function in the main body will be described. The still camera forms an optical image by an optical mechanism composed of optical elements such as lenses. Then, the optical image is converted into an electric signal by an image pickup device such as a CCD and output as a video signal, a LPF 2 which is a low-pass filter for removing unnecessary high frequency signals, and an analog signal is converted to a digital signal. Conversion (hereinafter abbreviated as A / D conversion)
A / D converter 3, a frame memory 4 capable of storing / reading an image signal for one frame, a DAT interface circuit 5 for converting a signal read from the frame memory into a signal conforming to DAT, and a signal for a DAT tape. A DAT unit 6 for recording, a control circuit 7 for controlling each circuit, a CK generator 8 for generating a reference system clock, a display section 9 for displaying an operation and an operation mode, and an operation key 10 for instructing the operation. It consists of and.

Next, the operation will be described. In the video camera unit 1, an optical image is obtained by an optical mechanism composed of optical elements such as lenses, and the optical image is CCD.
It is converted into an electric signal by an image pickup device such as the above and is output as a video signal. Since the DAT unit 6 cannot record the digital video signal in real time, the video signal is limited to an appropriate signal band by the LPF 2 and the A / D
It is A / D converted by the converter 3 and is temporarily stored in the frame memory 4. Then, the stored signal is read out from the frame memory 4 at a frequency that matches the sampling frequency of DAT, and is converted into 16-bit serial data in a signal form that can be recorded and reproduced by DAT in the DAT interface circuit 5. It is converted and sent at a transfer rate suitable for the DAT unit 6. Then, the data is recorded in the DAT unit 6.

Each circuit is controlled by the control circuit 7 which receives a command from the operation key 10 and a reference clock from the CK generator 8. The display unit 9 displays commands of the operation keys 10 and operation modes of the still camera.

Next, referring to FIG. 2, the structure and operation of the reproducing apparatus (still player) corresponding to the still camera having no reproducing function described in FIG. 1 will be described.
The still player has a DAT unit 11 which is a device for reproducing a DAT tape, and a DAT interface which operates in reverse to the interface circuit 5 for converting a signal reproduced from the DAT unit 11 so that it can be stored in the frame memory 13. Circuit 12 and frame memory 13 capable of storing and reading one frame of image signal
And convert the digital signal to an analog signal (hereinafter D / A
A D / A converter 14 that performs abbreviated conversion), a LPF 15 that is a low-pass filter, a video driver 16 that drives to a low impedance so that it can be displayed on a television monitor, a control circuit 17 that controls each circuit, and a reference system. A CK generator 18 for generating a clock,
The display unit 19 displays the operation and the operation mode, and the operation key 20 for instructing the operation.

Next, the operation of the present still player will be described. A reproduction signal is output from the DAT unit 11, the DAT interface circuit 12 performs a process reverse to that at the time of recording, is converted into 8-bit parallel data, and is stored in the frame memory 13. Sequentially stored. When the image data for one frame is stored, it is read from the frame memory 13 at the same frequency as the digitized video signal at the time of shooting by the A / D converter. The read signal is converted into an analog signal by the D / A converter 14,
The band is limited by the LPF 15, the signal level is adjusted by the video driver 16, and the signal is driven to a low impedance and output so that it can be displayed on a television monitor. Each circuit is controlled by the control circuit 17 which receives a command from the operation key 20 and a reference clock from the CK generator 18. The display unit 19 displays commands from the operation keys 20 and operation modes of the still player.

The still camera described with reference to FIG. 1 is used in combination with the still player described with reference to FIG.

Next, referring to FIG. 3, the structure and operation of a multifunctional still camera capable of recording and reproducing both images and sounds will be described. The still camera comprises a video camera unit 21, an LPF 22, and an A / D. Converter 23,
The frame memory 24 and the signal read from the frame memory 24 are converted into a signal compatible with DAT,
A DAT interface circuit 25, which serves as an interface between the frame memory 24 and the DAT unit 27 for converting a signal reproduced from the DAT unit 27 into a signal which can be stored in the frame memory 24.
A DAT unit 27 which is a device for recording / reproducing a DAT tape, a D / A converter 32, and an LPF 33.
A video driver 34, a CK generator 29, a control circuit 28, a display section 30, an operation key 31, a synthesizing / separating circuit 26 for synthesizing and separating audio data and image data, and an external device. Microphone 35 for detecting voice
An amplifier 36 for amplifying the detected weak sound, an LPF 37 for removing an unnecessary high frequency signal, an A / D converter 38 for A / D converting the sound, and a D / A for D / A converting the sound data. It is composed of a converter 39 and an amplifier 40 that amplifies the output signal thereof and drives a headphone or the like.

In the above description of the configuration, the video camera unit 21, the LPF 22, and the A / D converter 23.
, Frame memory 24, and D / A converter 32
, LPF 33, video driver 34, CK generator 29, control circuit 28, display unit 30, and operation keys 3
1 has the same name as the constituent element described in FIGS. 1 and 2 and has substantially the same operation, and thus the description of the operation is omitted.

Next, the operation will be described. First, the time of shooting will be described. In the video camera unit 21, an optical image is formed by an optical mechanism including an optical element such as a lens, and the optical image is photoelectrically converted by an image pickup element such as a CCD to obtain a video signal. Is output. And DAT
Since the unit 27 cannot record a digital video signal in real time, the video signal is band-limited by the LPF 22, A / D converted by the A / D converter 23, and temporarily stored in the frame memory 24. Then, the stored signal is read from the frame memory 24 at a frequency that matches the sample frequency of DAT,
The DAT interface circuit 25 converts the signal into 16-bit serial data in a signal format that can be recorded and reproduced by DAT, and sends the 16-bit serial data to the synthesis / separation circuit 26.

Further, the voice detected by the microphone 35 is amplified by the amplifier 36 and band-limited to an appropriate band by the LPF 37. Then, the band-limited signal is A
A / D conversion is performed by the / D converter 38, and the result is sent to the synthesis / separation circuit 26. Then, the signals of the two systems are combined by the combining / separating circuit 26 and recorded in the DAT unit 27.
The recording time per frame of an image differs depending on the number of pixels, but also differs depending on the image compression method. In this embodiment, the case where no image compression is applied is taken as an example.
Further, in the present embodiment, the A / D converter 38 is assumed to be a serial output. Parallel output A /
When the D converter is used, a block for converting a parallel signal into a serial signal is required.

Next, a description will be given of the reproducing operation. The reproducing signal is output from the DAT unit 27, and the synthesizing / separating circuit 2
At 6, the audio data and the image data are separated, the audio data is converted to analog by the D / A converter 39, amplified by the amplifier 40, and output. Further, the digital signal is output as it is without being converted into analog. On the other hand, the image data is processed in the DAT interface circuit 25 in the opposite manner to that at the time of recording, converted into 8-bit parallel data, and sequentially stored in the frame memory 24. When the image data for one frame is stored, the video signal at the time of shooting is read from the frame memory 24 at the frequency digitized by the A / D converter. The read signal is D / A
Converted into an analog signal by the converter 32, and the LPF 33
The band is limited by, the signal level is adjusted by the video driver 7, and the signal is driven to a low impedance so that it can be displayed on a TV monitor and output.

During shooting and reproduction, each circuit is controlled by the control circuit 28 which receives the command from the operation key 31 and the reference clock from the CK generator 29. The display unit 30 displays commands of the operation keys 31 and operation modes of the still camera.

An ordinary still camera which does not record voice is shown in FIG. 3 as circuits 26, 35, 36, 37 and 3 in FIG.
This can be configured by omitting 8, 39 and 40 and directly connecting the circuit 25 and the circuit 27.

In any of the examples shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3,
The recording time per frame varies depending on the number of pixels and the voice synthesis method.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described in detail above, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, in the present embodiment, the case where image compression is not performed is taken as an example, but for example, the frame memory 24 and the DAT interface circuit 2 are used.
An image compression circuit may be inserted between 5 and 5 to perform image compression so that more images can be recorded. In that case,
The recording / reproducing time of the image is different as compared with the case where the image is not compressed.

In the still camera of this embodiment, as described above, the recording time changes depending on the image quality and the like. In other words, any high-quality camera can be constructed if it takes time. For example, it is possible to configure a high-quality camera in which a high-definition image such as a high-definition image is accompanied by sound.

In this embodiment, a DA for recording / reproducing is used.
Although T is taken as an example, a recordable CD, a digital compact cassette (DCC), a mini disk such as a magneto-optical disk, or the like can be configured by only slightly changing the control circuit.

[0027]

As is apparent from the above description, the still camera according to the present invention has an interface circuit capable of recording and reproducing video / audio in a digital audio recorder and a digital audio recorder built in the camera body. By making it possible to record and reproduce still images digitally, the number of images that can be recorded on one tape or one disk is very large, and the unit price per image is very low. In addition, it is possible to obtain a still image with good image quality and without deterioration during dubbing.
In addition, it has become possible to achieve multi-functionality that voice can be recorded and reproduced in combination with images.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a still camera that does not have a reproducing function using a DAT according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a still player corresponding to the still camera described in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a still camera using DAT capable of recording / reproducing both images and sounds according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Video Camera Unit 2 LPF (Low Pass Filter) 3 A / D Converter 4 Frame Memory 5 DAT Interface Circuit 6 DAT Unit

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location H04N 5/92 H 8324-5C

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A still camera in which a captured still image is electrically recorded, and a camera unit and a recording unit are integrated, an optical image is obtained by an optical mechanism such as a lens, and the optical image is CCD.
A video camera unit that captures a still image with an image pickup device such as a TV, and converts it into a video signal that can be displayed on a television, a digital audio recorder that is a device that digitally records and reproduces sound, and a digital audio recorder that records the video signal during recording. A still camera, which is composed of an interface circuit that converts the digital signal output from the digital audio recorder into a video signal that can be displayed on a television and that enables a television display during playback. ..