JPH08191410A - Image input unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To improve the efficiency of a large capacity recording medium by selecting the usual camera mode recording an image onto an electronic development recording medium, the scanner mode reading the image from the recording medium or the hard disk mode. CONSTITUTION: An image picked up by a camera having an image pickup optical system or the like is recorded in an electronic development recording medium 30, and when no interface cable is connected to an interface circuit 65, the usual camera mode is selected through a system control circuit 20. When the interface cable is connected to the interface circuit 65 and a computer is connected to the circuit 65, the scanner mode is selected similarly through a scanner optical system 43 and a line sensor 44 and image read from the medium 30 is fed to the computer. Further when a large capacity external image recorder 67 such as a hard disk drive(HDD) is connected, the HDD mode is selected, the camera is used for an external recording device for the computer so as to enhance more the efficiency of the large capacity recording medium.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image input device provided with an electro-developing recording medium capable of holding an optical image obtained by a taking lens as a visible image.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a silver salt photographic material has been widely used as a material for recording an optical image. The silver salt photographic material has features such as high photosensitivity and resolution and excellent economic efficiency, but not only is the development process complicated,
There is also a drawback that a visible image cannot be obtained at the same time as the shooting. Although a dry developing method has been developed to simplify the developing process, even with this developing method, immediate development, that is, obtaining a visible image at the time of photographing is impossible.

On the other hand, electrophotographic materials, diazo photographic materials, free radical photographic materials and the like are known as non-silver photographic materials. However, none of these photographic materials has the characteristics of silver salt photographic materials and is capable of immediate development. Since electrophotographic materials can be dry-developed and an electrostatic latent image obtained by exposure can be immediately developed with toner or the like, they have been widely used mainly in copying machines.

In the electrophotographic technique, a photographic material, such as a silver salt photographic material, in which the recording medium itself is directly electronically developed and the developed visible image is immediately obtained, has been developed in recent years. Is coming. Such an electronically developed recording medium is referred to as an electro-developing recording medium in this specification.

For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-2280 discloses a recording medium in which an electrostatic information recording medium and a charge holding medium are combined, and the electrostatic information recording medium comprises a photoconductive layer and an inorganic oxide layer. In addition, the charge holding medium has a liquid crystal display element. In this configuration, when the electrostatic information recording medium is exposed while voltage is applied to the electrostatic information recording medium and the charge holding medium, electric charges according to the amount of incident light are generated in the electrostatic information recording medium. Since the strength of the electric field applied to the liquid crystal display element arranged facing the electrostatic information recording medium changes according to the generated charge, an image according to the light amount distribution is displayed or developed on the liquid crystal display element. .

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 5-150251 discloses a dispersion type liquid crystal display element in which an image displayed on the liquid crystal display element is retained even when the electric field applied to the liquid crystal display element is removed.

[0007]

The image input device provided with such an electro-developing recording medium is preferably provided with a large capacity recording medium such as a hard disk in order to record an image composed of a large amount of data.

An object of the present invention is to further improve the utilization efficiency of a large-capacity recording medium in an image input device equipped with an electro-developing recording medium.

[0009]

An image input apparatus according to the present invention comprises an electro-developing recording medium for electronically holding an image,
A line sensor for sub-scanning the electro-developing recording medium to detect an image, a sub-scanning control unit capable of controlling sub-scanning of the line sensor, and image data corresponding to the image detected by the line sensor can be recorded. In addition, according to a large-capacity recording medium that can be used as an external storage device of a computer and a command input from the computer,
A recording medium writing unit capable of controlling a writing operation on a large capacity recording medium is provided.

[0010]

The present invention will be described below with reference to illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 is an external view of a still video camera to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

When the camera body 11 is viewed from the front, an image pickup optical system 12 having a photographing lens and the like is provided at the substantially center of the front surface, and a strobe 13 is provided above and to the right of the image pickup optical system 12. A release switch 14 is provided on the side opposite to the strobe 13. The finder 15 is provided at the center of the upper surface of the camera body 11, and operation switches such as the scan start switch 16 are provided on the side of the finder 15. Since the image signal obtained by this camera is output to an external recording device or the like, the camera body 11
An output terminal 17 is provided on the lower portion of the side surface of the. A switch 19 for setting the operation mode of the still video camera is provided on the side of the output terminal 17. The changeover switch 19 will be described in detail later.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a still video camera. The system control circuit 20 is a microcomputer and controls the entire still video camera.

The image pickup optical system 12 includes a plurality of lens groups,
A diaphragm 12a is provided. An electro-developing recording medium 30 which will be described later is arranged behind the imaging optical system 12, and a quick return mirror 21 is provided between the imaging optical system 12 and the electro-developing recording medium 30. A shutter 22 is provided between the electro-developing recording medium 30.
Is provided. A focus plate 23 a of the finder optical system 23 is arranged above the quick return mirror 21.

Aperture 12a, quick return mirror 21
And the shutter 22 are respectively the iris drive circuit 2
4, driven by a mirror drive circuit 25 and a shutter drive circuit 26, and these circuits 24, 25, 26 are controlled by an exposure control circuit 27. The exposure control circuit 27 operates according to a command signal output from the system control circuit 20. That is, during exposure control, the photometric sensor 2
According to the control of the exposure control circuit 27 based on the output signal from 8, the aperture of the diaphragm 12a is adjusted by the iris drive circuit 24. The quick return mirror 21 is normally set to the down position (inclined state shown by the solid line) and guides the light that has passed through the image pickup optical system 12 to the finder optical system 23. However, during the shooting operation, the exposure control circuit 27 controls it. Accordingly, it is rotated upward by the mirror drive circuit 25 to be set at the up position (horizontal state shown by the broken line). The shutter 22 is normally closed, but during the shooting operation,
Under the control of the exposure control circuit 27, the shutter drive circuit 2
It is opened for a predetermined time by 6, so that the imaging optical system 1
The light passing through 2 is applied to the light receiving surface of the electro-developing recording medium 30.

A voltage is applied to the electro-developing recording medium 30 under the control of the recording-medium driving circuit 41, and the electro-developing recording medium 30 is exposed during the voltage application.
As described later, the image formed by the imaging optical system 12 is developed as a visible image. The recording medium drive circuit 41 operates according to a command signal output from the system control circuit 20.

A sub-scanning mechanism 50 is provided near the electro-developing recording medium 30. The sub-scanning mechanism 50 supports a light source 42 including, for example, a fluorescent lamp, a scanner optical system 43, and a line sensor 44, which are sub-scanned by the sub-scanning mechanism 50 to perform electro-development type recording medium 3.
Move along 0. The line sensor 44 is, for example, 20
A 00 pixel CCD one-dimensional sensor or the like can be used. The light source 42 is movable along the front surface of the shutter 22, that is, the front surface of the electro-developing recording medium 30, and the line sensor 44 is movable along the back surface of the electro-developing recording medium 30. The scanner optical system 43 is provided between the light source 42 and the line sensor 44. In the sub-scanning by the sub-scanning mechanism 50, the light source 42 is the electro-developing recording medium 30.
The image developed by the electro-developing recording medium 30 is located on the side opposite to the line sensor 44 with respect to
It is illuminated by the light source 42 and is imaged on the light receiving surface of the line sensor 44 by the action of the scanner optical system 43. That is, the scanner optical system 43 is provided in the middle of the path of the light transmitted through the electro-developing recording medium 30, and the line sensor 4
Reference numeral 4 moves on the image forming surface of the image by the scanner optical system 43.

The on / off control of the light source 42 is performed by the illumination light source drive circuit 45, and the control of the read operation of the pixel signal generated in the line sensor 44 and the like is performed by the line sensor drive circuit 47.
It is performed by The movement control of the sub-scanning mechanism 50 is performed by the scanner drive circuit 46. These circuits 45,
46 and 47 are controlled by the system control circuit 20.

The pixel signal read from the line sensor 44 is amplified by the amplifier 61 and converted into a digital signal by the A / D converter 62. The digital pixel signal is stored in the memory 64 under the control of the system control circuit 20 and is subjected to processing such as shading correction, dropout correction and gamma correction in the image processing circuit 63, and then as interface data 65 as image data. It is input to the recording device control circuit 66.

In the interface circuit 65, the image data is subjected to predetermined processing such as format conversion,
It is possible to output to an external personal computer (not shown) or the like via the output terminal 17. The image data is
The recording device control circuit 66 performs a predetermined process such as image compression or format conversion, and the image recording device 67 can record on a recording medium such as a hard disk or an IC memory card. The interface circuit 65 and the recording device control circuit 66 operate according to a command signal from the system control circuit 20.

A release switch 14 and a scan start switch 16 are connected to the system control circuit 20, and according to the operation of these switches 14 and 16,
An image capturing operation, an image signal reading operation, and the like are performed. Further, a mode switch 19 is connected to the system control circuit 20. This mode switch 1
9 is provided to switch the operation mode of the still video camera between the first operation mode and the second operation mode. The first operation mode is a mode in which the large-capacity recording medium mounted in the image recording device 67 is used as an external storage device of a computer connected through the output terminal 17, and the second operation mode is an electronic mode. In this mode, the image recorded on the development-type recording medium 30 is output to the computer via the output terminal 17 rather than via the mounted large-capacity recording medium.

The system control circuit 20 also includes
A display element 68 for displaying various setting states of the still video camera and a strobe driving circuit 69 for controlling light emission of the strobe 13 are connected.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the structure of the electro-developing recording medium 30, which is the same as that disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-2280. That is, the electro-developing recording medium 3
0 is the electrostatic information recording medium 31, the charge holding medium 32, and the power source 3
3 is provided. The electrostatic information recording medium 31 is the substrate 3
4, electrode layer 35, inorganic oxide layer 36 and photoconductive layer 37
The photoconductive layer 37 is formed by polymerizing a charge generation layer 37a and a charge transport layer 37b. The charge holding medium 32 is formed between the liquid crystal support 38 and the liquid crystal electrode layer 39.
It is configured by enclosing 0. The charge transport layer 37b of the electrostatic information recording medium 31 and the liquid crystal support 38 of the charge holding medium 32 face each other with a minute gap.

The power supply 33 is on / off controlled by the recording medium drive circuit 41. When the power supply 33 is in the on state, the electrode layer 3
5 and the liquid crystal electrode layer 39, that is, the electrostatic information recording medium 3
A voltage is applied to 1 and the charge holding medium 32. When the electrostatic information recording medium 31 is exposed in this voltage applied state, charges are generated on the electrostatic information recording medium 31 according to the image. Since the strength of the electric field acting on the liquid crystal 40 changes according to this charge, the image is displayed on the liquid crystal 40 as a visible image, and the subject image is developed. The charge holding medium 32 is a dispersion type liquid crystal display element, and the developed visible image is held even if the electric field is removed. The dispersed liquid crystal display element can erase the developed visible image by heating it to a predetermined temperature using a heating device (not shown). In that case, the same recording medium can be repeatedly used. it can.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart showing an image pickup operation and a pixel signal read operation from the line sensor 44.

When the depression of the release switch 14 is detected (reference S11), the output signal from the photometric sensor 28, that is, the photometric value is detected. The exposure calculation is started based on this photometric value (reference S12). Further, after a predetermined time has elapsed since the release switch 14 was pressed, a recording medium activation signal is output from the recording medium drive circuit 41 (reference S13), whereby the power source 33 is turned on and electrostatic information recording is performed. A voltage is applied to the medium 31 and the charge holding medium 32. Next, when it is confirmed that the exposure calculation is completed (reference S14), the imaging operation is performed according to the calculation result.

The opening of the diaphragm 12a changes from the fully open state to a predetermined opening (reference S15), and the quick return mirror 21 changes from the down state to the up state (reference S).
16). Change of mirror 21 to up state and diaphragm 12a
When it is confirmed that the opening adjustment of the shutter has been completed, the shutter 2
2 is opened (reference S17). When the exposure period obtained by the exposure calculation has passed and it is detected that the exposure is completed, the shutter 22 is closed (reference S18). Upon completion of the closing operation of the shutter 22, the mirror 21 is changed to the down state (reference S19), the diaphragm 12a is opened to the fully open state (reference S20), and the output of the recording medium activation signal is stopped ( Reference sign S21).

That is, the recording medium activation signal is output at least while the shutter 22 is open, and during this period, a predetermined voltage is applied to the electro-developing recording medium 30. Then, by exposing in this state, the subject image is developed as a visible image on the electro-developing recording medium 30. This visible image is retained even when the output of the recording medium activation signal is stopped.

After that, when it is confirmed that the mirror 21 and the diaphragm 12a have returned to the initial state, the mirror 21 and the diaphragm 1
The driving of 2a is stopped, and this imaging operation is completed.

Then, when the scan start switch 16 is pressed, the sub-scanning by the sub-scanning mechanism 50 is started, and the reading operation described below is performed.

When it is confirmed that the scanner drive command signal is output (reference S31), the shutter 22 is opened (reference S32), and the light source 42 is turned on (reference S3).
3). Then, the scanner drive signal is output (reference S
34), the scan drive motor 55 rotates in the normal direction, and the moving member 52 of the sub-scanning mechanism 50 starts to move up (reference S35). In addition, the line sensor driving power source is turned on almost at the same time when the driving of the sub-scanning mechanism 50 is started (reference S36).

When it is confirmed that the line sensor 44 is set at the reading start position, the output of the scanner drive signal is stopped (reference S37), and the scan drive motor 55.
Are stopped (reference S38). As a result, the line sensor 44 is positioned at, for example, the lower end of the recording area of the electro-developing recording medium 30. Such a stopping operation is controlled by, for example, counting pulse signals for rotationally driving the scan driving motor 55.

Next, the exposure to the line sensor 44 is started, and the charge is stored (reference S39). When it is confirmed that the exposure of the line sensor 44 is completed after a predetermined time has elapsed, the reading scanning of the line sensor 44 is started, and the output of the pixel signal for one horizontal scanning line is started (reference S40). Then, a scanner system drive signal for rotating the scan drive motor 55 in the forward direction is output (reference S41), and the moving member 52 starts to further rise (reference S42). During this raising operation, the pixel signal is stored in the memory 64.

When it is confirmed that the pixel signal for one horizontal scanning line is read from the line sensor 44 and stored in the memory 64a during the movement of the moving member 52, the reading scanning is stopped ( Reference sign S43). The end of the read scanning is controlled by counting the pulse signals for driving the line sensor 44 output from the line sensor drive circuit 47, for example.

When it is confirmed that the line sensor 44 is set at the position of the next horizontal scanning line, the output of the scanner system drive signal is stopped (reference S44), and the scan drive motor 55 is stopped (reference S45). ). This stop operation is controlled by, for example, counting pulse signals for rotationally driving the scan drive motor 55.

As described above, in this embodiment, the line sensor 4
4 scans the image forming surface by the scanner optical system 43 while repeatedly stopping for a predetermined time and moving by a predetermined amount by the sub-scanning mechanism 50, and the image signal developed by the electro-developing recording medium 30 is read. Be done.

When the reading of all the horizontal scanning lines is completed in this way (reference S51), the drive power source of the line sensor 44 is switched to the OFF state and the light source 42 is turned off (reference S52). Then, the shutter 22 is closed (reference S53), a scanner system drive signal for reversing the scan drive motor 55 is output (reference S54), and the moving member 52 begins to descend (reference S55).

When it is confirmed that the line sensor 44 has returned to the initial position during the lowering operation of the moving member 52,
The output of the scanner drive signal is stopped (reference S56),
The scan drive motor 55 is stopped (reference S57).
The initial position detection operation is performed based on a signal output when a part of the moving member 52 crosses a photo interrupter (not shown), for example.

The still video camera of the present embodiment can operate in various operation modes, and can be used as an external storage device of a computer connected via the output terminal 17, for example. Next, the operation mode of this still video camera will be described with reference to FIG.

The program shown in FIG. 5 is started by turning on the power of the still video camera. In step 101, it is judged whether or not the interface cable is connected to the output terminal 17, that is, whether or not the computer is connected. When the interface cable is not connected, the process proceeds to step 102 and the normal camera mode is set. That is, a subject image is formed and recorded on the electro-developing recording medium 30 via the image pickup optical system 12, and when the scan start switch 16 is turned on, the image on the electro-developing recording medium 30 is read by the line sensor 44 and mounted. It can be used as a normal camera for recording image data on a large-capacity recording medium.

When it is determined in step 101 that the interface cable is connected, it is determined in step 103 whether the removable hard disk is attached to the image recording device 67. That is, this hard disk is removable from the still video camera, and when it is not installed, the scanner mode is set in step 104.

The scanner mode is a mode in which an external computer uses the still video camera as a scanner, and an image recorded on the electro-developing recording medium 30 is read out by the control of the computer, and is used as a monitor of the computer, for example. Can be output. That is, the computer outputs the "INQUIRY" command to the still video camera when using the SCSI interface, and accordingly, the still video camera is set to the scanner mode when the hard disk is not mounted. Is output to the computer. Accordingly, the computer recognizes that the still video camera is set to the scanner mode, and the still video camera follows the "SCAN" command input from the computer to scan the sub scanning mechanism 50.
Is controlled, trimming processing is performed in accordance with the "SET WINDOW" command, an image within a predetermined frame of one screen is selected, and unnecessary data is thinned out and output to the computer.

When it is determined in step 103 that the hard disk is mounted, it is determined in step 105 which of the first operation mode and the second operation mode the mode selector switch 19 is switched to. When the mode switch 19 is switched to the first operation mode, step 106 described below is executed, and when it is switched to the second operation mode,
Step 104 is performed. That is, the second operation mode is the scanner mode.

In step 106, the first operation mode, that is, the external hard disk mode is set. The external hard disk mode is a mode in which the computer uses this still video camera as an external storage device.
That is, the computer outputs, for example, an "INQUIRY" command to the still video camera, and in response to this, the still video camera responds to the changeover switch 19 being set to the second operation mode in response to the external hard disk. The data indicating that the mode is set is output to the computer. This allows the computer to tell the still video camera "READ CAPACI
Controls the hard disk by outputting commands such as "TY", "FORM UNIT", etc. In this operation mode, the still video camera can also perform "SET WIND".
Commands such as the "OW" command are no longer accepted, and all scanning operations and trimming processing are prohibited.

As described above, according to this embodiment, a large-capacity recording medium such as a hard disk mounted on a still video camera can be used by an external computer,
Utilization efficiency of a still video camera and a large-capacity recording medium is improved.

The electro-developing recording medium 30 is not limited to the one having the above-mentioned structure, and may have any other structure as long as it electronically develops an image.

The recording medium mounted on the image recording device 67 may be a magneto-optical recording medium such as a magneto-optical disk.

[0047]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to further improve the utilization efficiency of a large-capacity recording medium in an image input device provided with an electro-developing recording medium.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of a still video camera to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of the still video camera shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of an electro-developing recording medium.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart showing an imaging operation and a pixel signal reading operation from a line sensor.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a program for setting an operation mode of a still video camera.

[Explanation of symbols]

 30 Electro-Development Type Recording Medium 50 Sub-scanning Mechanism 42 Light Source 43 Scanner Optical System 44 Line Sensor 67 Image Recording Device

Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Office reference number FI technical display location // G03B 7/097 G03G 5/02 101

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An electro-developing recording medium for electronically holding an image, a line sensor for sub-scanning the electro-developing recording medium to detect the image, and a sub-scan for the line sensor can be controlled. A sub-scanning control means, a large-capacity recording medium capable of recording image data corresponding to the image detected by the line sensor, usable as an external storage device of a computer, and a command input from the computer. Accordingly, the image input device is provided with a recording medium writing unit capable of controlling a writing operation on the large-capacity recording medium. 2. The recording medium writing means prohibits a trimming process for selecting data to be recorded from the image data when a large capacity recording medium is used as an external storage device of the computer. The image input device according to claim 1. 3. A mode switching means for switching between a first operation mode in which the large-capacity recording medium is used as an external storage device of the computer and a second operation mode in which the image data is output to the computer. The image input device according to claim 1, wherein: 4. The image input according to claim 3, further comprising means for executing a trimming process for selecting data to be recorded from the image data when the second operation mode is set. apparatus. 5. The large capacity recording medium is detachable,
The mode switching unit selects the first operation mode or the second operation mode when a large capacity recording medium is loaded, and selects the second operation mode when a large capacity recording medium is not loaded. The image input device according to claim 3, wherein 6. The electro-developing recording medium comprises an electrostatic information recording medium on which electric charges are generated according to an image, and a visible image is generated according to the electric charges, and a charge holding medium capable of holding the visible image. The image input device according to claim 1, further comprising a medium. 7. The image input device according to claim 6, wherein the charge holding medium is a dispersion type liquid crystal display element.