JPH07131798A - Color picture input device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain image pickup at a high speed by using color R,G,B LEDs for lighting light source and combining a monochromatic camera use CCD as an image pickup element to the LEDs so as to use only one system of a camera module. CONSTITUTION:A red light emitting element LED of R, G, B three-color LED lamp block 1 is lighted for nearly 1/30sec by a control command from a control means 5. An optical image transmitted through a color picture 10 is picked up by a CCD 20 and a monochromatic CCD camera module 2 via a lens 11. Then the red color light emitting element LED of the block 1 goes off and a red light emitting element LED is lighted and the light is picked up by the module 2 similarly. Furthermore, a blue light emitting element LED is lighted to pick up an image similarly. Succeedingly, the picture is stored in a predetermined storage area of a frame memory 4 via an A/D converter 3. Then picture data stored in the memory 4 are received by a computer 6 via an I/O device 60.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a color image input device, and more particularly to a color image input device for a television receiver or a personal computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a device for displaying an image of an optical 35 mm negative film or a positive film on a display of a television receiver or a personal computer or recording it on a video tape has been developed. As an image input device used for such a purpose, there is a device using a line sensor (line CCD) as an image pickup device for reading an image on a negative film or a positive film. When reading a monochrome image, a monochrome sensor is used as the line sensor itself, and when reading a color image, a color sensor is selected and used as the line sensor itself. Further, as a light source for illuminating an image to be read, a monochromatic (red or yellow-green) LED array, or an R. G. A B LED array is used. All of the image input devices including such a combination of devices are so-called "scanners".

On the other hand, it is conceivable to use a camera area sensor as an image input device of this type. In this case, three monochrome CCD camera modules are used to form a color image input device. The light image from the color image to be read is scanned by R.P. G. B. It is conceivable to divide the image into three components, and image the optical image of each of these components with the corresponding monochrome CCD camera module.

It is also conceivable to construct a color image input device by using one area color sensor instead of using three monochrome CCD camera modules.

[0005]

In the scanner type image input device using the conventional line sensor described above, it is necessary to move the line sensor itself in order to obtain a certain resolution, and there is a problem that it takes time to input. there were. For example, it takes about 1 to 3 minutes to read an image on a 35 mm film and input the image.

On the other hand, when a color image input device is constructed by using three monochrome CCD camera modules as described above, the image can be input in an instant, but the entire device is very expensive. Will be.

Further, when a color image input device is constructed by using one area color sensor, a total of 4
50,000 pixels with 3 color separation prism, R (red), G
Since it has to be assigned to each component of (green) and B (blue) and used, only an image having a resolution equivalent to about 140,000 pixels, which is one-third of the total number of pixels, can be input. The image quality will be poor.

An object of the present invention is to provide a color image input device which solves the above-mentioned problems of the prior art.

[0009]

A color image input device according to the present invention is illuminated by a color image illuminating light source capable of switching and lighting among red light emission, green light emission and blue light emission, and the light source for color image illumination. A monochrome camera area sensor for receiving an optical image from a color image, an A / D converter for converting image data by the monochrome camera area sensor into a digital image signal, and the A / D converter
A frame memory for storing a digital image signal from a D converter, switching lighting of the light source for color image illumination, and a digital image signal from the A / D converter to a predetermined storage location in the frame memory. The color image illumination light source, so that the color image digital signal is stored in the frame memory by performing storage in synchronization with each other,
The monochrome camera area sensor, the A / D converter, and the control unit for controlling the operations of the frame memory are provided.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a color image input apparatus as an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the color image input device of this embodiment is
R.I. is a light transmission type system, and is mainly used as a light source for color image illumination. G. B. A three-color LED lamp block 1, an optical lens 11, a CCD 20 which is an area sensor for a monochrome camera, a monochrome CCD camera module 2 as an analog system, and an A / D converter 3 and a frame memory 4 as a digital system. And I /
The control unit 5 includes an O device, a CPU, and a DMA device (direct memory access device).

This color image input device is shown as being connected to a computer 6 in FIG. The computer 6 may be the one provided with the SCSI I / O device 60 or the one attached thereto. Here, SCSI is a small
Abbreviation for computer system interface, which is well known as a kind of peripheral device interface for small computers. SCSI has a function of converting command data from a personal computer into command data for peripheral devices such as magnetic disk devices and printers, and is characterized in that the controller on the peripheral device side converts the data. Reduce the burden on the side.

R. G. B. The three-color LED lamp block 1 includes an R.I. G. B. It is the main source that provides the system with brightness as. In this example, the LE to be used
Although D is used for transmission, it may be used for reflection as in another embodiment described later. In any case, it is used to illuminate a color image which is desired to be input to a television receiver or a computer.

Next, the CCD 20 and the monochrome CCD camera module 2 are preferably compatible with either the usual EIA type having 410,000 pixels or more or the CCIR type having 470,000 pixels or more. Of course, in the present invention, 3C
Since it is not necessary to make a CD, a camera module for one monochrome system is sufficient. In the monochrome CCD camera module 2, a vertical driver, a horizontal driver, a shutter control for operating the monochrome CCD 20, or a timing generation IC, a synchronization signal generation IC, and a signal processing circuit from the CCD for them ( Processor) is included. By the signal processing circuit,
A normal luminance signal (video signal) can be obtained.

The A / D converter 3 in the digital system is for converting an analog luminance signal obtained from the monochrome CCD camera module 2 in the analog system into a digital signal. Further, the frame memory 4 captures and stores the digital signal from the A / D converter 3,
The data is transferred to the computer 6 side via the I / O device 60. The frame memory 4 may be one frame (about 1 MB depending on the frame size).

In this embodiment, the CPU as the control means 5 is provided internally so that the command from the computer 6 side can be processed at high speed, and the DMA is also used to transfer the subsequent image data. It is possible. Directly A without transferring image data via CPU
Transfer from the / D converter 3 to the frame memory 4 is also possible.

Next, the operation of the color image input device of the present invention having such a configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When it is desired to input a color image (subject) 10 such as a 35 mm film to a computer, first, as shown in FIG. 1, an R.V. G. B. 3 color L
It is arranged at a position between the ED lamp block 1 and the optical lens 11.

Then, as shown in step 101 of the flow chart of FIG. 4, the R.R. G. B. The red light emitting LED of the three-color LED lamp block 1 is turned on. For example, this lighting time is
It is about 1/30 second. At the same timing as this lighting, as shown in step 102, the light image transmitted through the color image 10 is received by the CCD 20 and the monochrome CCD camera module 2 via the lens 11 and imaged.
At the same time, according to the control command from the control means 5, step 1
As shown in 03, the image data taken by the CCD and the monochrome CCD camera module 2 is converted into a digital signal by the A / D converter 3 for each pixel and stored in a predetermined storage location of the frame memory 4. I will let you.

Next, according to a control command from the control means 5,
R. G. B. After turning off the red light emitting LEDs of the three-color LED lamp block 1, a predetermined time has passed, for example,
After about 2/30 seconds, as shown in step 104 of the flowchart of FIG. G. B. The green LED of the three-color LED lamp block 1 is turned on. For example,
The lighting time is about 1/30 second. At the same timing as this lighting, as shown in step 105, the light image transmitted through the color image 10 is received by the CCD 20 and the monochrome CCD camera module 2 via the lens 11 and imaged. At the same time, in accordance with a control command from the control means 5, as shown in step 106, the image data captured by the CCD and the monochrome CCD camera module 2 is converted into a digital signal by the A / D converter 3 for each pixel. Then, it is stored in a predetermined storage location of the frame memory 4. The predetermined storage location of the frame memory at this time is different from the predetermined storage location when the red light emitting LED is turned on.

Next, according to a control command from the control means 5,
R. G. B. Turn off the green LED of the three-color LED lamp block 1, and after a predetermined time, for example,
After about 2/30 seconds, as shown in step 107 of the flowchart of FIG. G. B. The blue LED of the three-color LED lamp block 1 is turned on. For example,
The lighting time is about 1/30 second. At the same timing as this lighting, as shown in step 108, the light image transmitted through the color image 10 is received by the CCD 20 and the monochrome CCD camera module 2 via the lens 11 and imaged. At the same time, according to a control command from the control means 5, as shown in step 109, the image data picked up by the CCD and the monochrome CCD camera module 2 is converted into a digital signal by the A / D converter 3 for each pixel. Then, it is stored in a predetermined storage location of the frame memory 4. The predetermined storage location of the frame memory at this time is different from the predetermined storage location when the red light emitting LED is turned on and the predetermined storage location when the green light emitting LED is turned on.

In this way, in the frame memory 4,
For example, in about 7/30 seconds, R.S. of all pixels as color image data of the color image 10 is obtained. G. B. A color image digital signal representing the luminance information of the component can be stored in the frame memory 4. Then step 1
As shown in 10, by the control command of the control means 5, the color image digital signal stored in the frame memory 4 is
It is loaded into the computer 6 via the SCSI I / O device 60.

It should be noted that, in the above-described embodiment, placing a predetermined time interval (about 2/30 seconds) between turning off and turning on each color LED does not have an adverse effect due to the afterimage effect between each color illumination. To do so. In addition, in the above-described embodiment, R. G. B. The lighting order of the LEDs of the respective colors of the three-color LED lamp block 1 is set to the order of red, green, and blue, but the present invention is not limited to this order.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing another embodiment of the color image input apparatus of the present invention, and shows the constitution of only the analog system of the apparatus. Since the digital system may be the same as the digital system of the embodiment of FIG. 1, it is not shown repeatedly and its explanation is omitted. In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the device of FIG. 1 is made to be a reflection type instead of a transmission type. That is, the color image 10 to be input as an image
, R. G. B. It is illuminated by the 3-color LED lamp block 1 and the optical image reflected from it is illuminated by the optical lens 1
1 is the same as that of the embodiment of FIG. 1 except that the image is taken by the CCD 20 and the monochrome CCD camera module 2 via 1.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view similar to FIG. 1 showing still another embodiment of the color image input apparatus of the present invention. This embodiment is also of the transmissive type similar to the embodiment of FIG.
The configuration differs from the embodiment of FIG. 1 in the following points.
That is, in the embodiment of FIG. 3, the analog system is almost eliminated, and the A / D converter 3 directly converts the A / D signal from the CCD 20.
In this embodiment, the digital signal processing unit (DSPU) 7 is used after the A / D conversion in the embodiment shown in FIG. I am going to do it in.

With this DSPU 7, it is possible to easily perform image inversion, rotation, γ correction, etc., which was not possible even with the analog type, and it is possible to achieve high functionality. In addition, higher image quality can be expected because the analog system can be further omitted. There are advantages such as easy adjustment during mass production, and cost advantages can be fully expected. Other configurations and operations are substantially the same as those described with reference to the embodiment of FIG.

[0026]

EFFECT OF THE INVENTION Color R.I. G. B. LED
By combining the CCD for monochrome cameras as an image sensor, the camera module can be integrated into one system, and high-speed shooting, which is a feature of CCDs for cameras, is also possible, resulting in low cost and high speed. it can.

Even though the camera module is for one system, it is possible to obtain a resolution equivalent to that when three CCD cameras are used, and high image quality can be achieved.

High-speed data transfer is possible by connecting to the computer side by SCSI (the CCD is an area sensor, so that it is possible to display images in real time in a circuit manner).

When using three CCD cameras,
Although three digital A / D converters are also required, the color image input device of the present invention only needs to provide one A / D converter, and therefore cost reduction can be achieved in this respect as well. .

R. G. B. The lighting order of the LED lamps can be controlled by the CPU in the main body, or can be automatically controlled by a computer.

DMA for image data transfer in digital system
By providing the above, it becomes possible to perform high-speed data transfer between the A / D converter and the frame memory, and it is possible to display a near real-time image on the display screen of the computer.

According to the configuration of the color image input device of the present invention, the transfer capability of SCSI for connecting to a computer and the fetching speed required for image input can be exquisitely matched.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration of a color image input device as an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration of an analog system of a color image input device as another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration of a color image input device as still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a flowchart for explaining the operation of the color image input device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 R. G. B. 3 color LED lamp block 2 monochrome CCD camera module 3 A / D converter 4 frame memory 5 control means 6 computer 7 digital signal processing unit 10 subject 11 optical lens 20 CCD 60 SCSI I / O device

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A light source for color image illumination capable of switching lighting among red light emission, green light emission, and blue light emission, and an area sensor for a monochrome camera for receiving an optical image from a color image illuminated by the light source for color image illumination. And an A / D converter for converting image data by the area sensor for the monochrome camera into a digital image signal,
A frame memory for storing the digital image signal from the A / D converter, switching lighting of the light source for color image illumination, and a predetermined storage location of the frame memory for the digital image signal from the A / D converter. So as to store the color image digital signal in the frame memory in synchronization with the storage of the color image illumination light source, the monochrome camera area sensor, and the A / D.
A color image input device, comprising: a converter and control means for controlling the operation of the frame memory. 2. The color image input device according to claim 1, wherein the color image illumination light source includes a red light emitting LED block, a green light emitting LED block and a blue light emitting LED block, and the monochrome camera area sensor is a CCD. .