JPH0828838B2 - Imaging device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Industrial applications]

The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus, and more particularly to changing an aspect ratio of an image pickup screen.

[Prior art]

In the current television signal system, the aspect ratio or aspect ratio of the television screen is 3: 4. In an image pickup apparatus such as a television camera or a video camera, or a camera unit of a video tape recorder with a built-in camera, it is premised that an imaged screen is displayed on a TV screen having such an aspect ratio. For this reason, the image pickup device of the image pickup apparatus also has an aspect ratio of 3: 4. On the other hand, in general, in a movie for theater, the aspect ratio of the screen is different from the aspect ratio of the television, and it is a horizontally long screen as is well known.
For this reason, when broadcasting a movie on a television, the top and bottom parts of the television screen are blank (black screen) in the vertical direction in accordance with the television screen.
You may broadcast a landscape screen of a movie. By the way, in recent monitor devices such as televisions and video projectors, the screen size has become large, and in CRT-type televisions, there are 30 inches, and in projector devices, there are some that are 100 inches or more. When watching on such a large screen monitor,
For the naked eye, a horizontally long screen with an aspect ratio of 9:16 is easier to see than the current aspect ratio of 3: 4. Also, when watching a movie on a television, it is better to leave the top and bottom of the screen blank so that it feels like a movie. Thus, in order to provide blanks at the top and bottom of the screen for viewing in a movie-like atmosphere, considerable image processing is performed after shooting.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

However, with such a means, the screen being monitored during shooting becomes different from the screen to be monitored or viewed after the blanking process, so that a part of the image necessary for viewing is deleted, or conversely The image part that you do not want to put on the screen may remain. The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and provides an image capturing apparatus capable of monitoring images after blanking at the top and bottom of the screen during image capturing and appropriately performing image capturing corresponding to the screen on which blanking is performed. The purpose is to do.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

According to the present invention, in an image pickup apparatus which captures a desired image and obtains an image signal thereof, a first blanking signal indicating a first blanking period including a horizontal erasing period and a vertical erasing period, and a first blanking signal. A blanking signal generating means for selectively generating a second blanking signal indicating a second blanking period including a desired period including a ranking period and a desired period at the top and bottom of the display screen of the captured image, and a first blanking signal generating unit.
Alternatively, it is provided with a blanking means for performing a blanking process on the image signal based on a second blanking signal, and a finder means for performing an image display based on the image signal after the blanking process by the blanking process. , A normal image is displayed based on the image signal subjected to the blanking processing only in the horizontal erasing period and the vertical erasing period by the first blanking signal, and in the second mode,
The desired width above and below the screen is blanked and displayed with respect to the normal image based on the image signal which has been subjected to the blanking process in the desired period above and below the screen together with the horizontal erasing period and the vertical period by the second blanking signal. It is characterized by doing so.

[Action]

According to the present invention, blanking is performed above and below the display screen, and the aspect ratio of the screen is changed. The changed view is displayed on the finder means of the image pickup apparatus.

【Example】

Hereinafter, embodiments of an image pickup apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. <First Embodiment> First, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. a. Overall Configuration of First Embodiment First, the overall configuration of the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the figure, the output side of the image sensor 10 is connected to the input side of the camera process circuit 12. The Y signal (luminance signal) output side of the camera process circuit 12 is connected to the input side of the white clip circuit 14, and the R (red) -Y, B (blue) -Y color difference signal output side is modulated. They are connected to the modulation signal input sides of the circuits 16 and 18, respectively. To these modulations 16 and 18, color subcarriers S10 and S12, which are modulated signals having a phase difference of 90 degrees, are input, and their output sides are connected to the input side of the mixing circuit 20, respectively. ing. Next, the output side of the white clip circuit 14 described above is
The blanking circuit 22 and the fader circuit 24 are respectively connected to the input side of the mixing circuit 26, and the Y signal is output from the mixing circuit 26. On the other hand, the output side of the mixing circuit 20 is the blanking circuit 2
8, a fader circuit 30, a C signal (color signal or chroma signal) amplifier circuit 32, and a burst mixing circuit 34 are connected to the input side of a bandpass filter 36. The C signal is output from the bandpass filter 36. Next, the output side of the fader control circuit 38 to which the fader control signal S14 is input is connected to the fader circuits 24 and 30 described above. Mixing circuit
The synchronizing signal S16 is input to 26, and the combined blanking signal S18 is input to the blanking circuits 22 and 28 from the blanking signal generating circuit shown in FIG. . Further, the burst gate signal S20 is input to the control input side of the burst gate circuit 40, and the phase shift circuit 42 includes color subcarriers S10 and S1.
Burst phase signal S generated from 2 through variable resistor 45
22 has been entered. The output side of the phase shift circuit 42 is connected to the input side of the burst gate circuit 40.
The output side of 40 is connected to the input side of the burst mixing circuit 34. It should be noted that a signal for operation is output from the signal generation circuit 44 to each of the above-mentioned units as necessary. To explain the schematic operation of the above circuit, first, for the Y signal, white level limitation by the white clip circuit 14, horizontal and vertical blanking processing by the blanking circuit 22, fade processing by the fader circuit 24,
The synchronization signals are added in order by the mixing circuit 26 and output. On the other hand, for the C signal, the modulation circuit
Quadrature two-phase modulation by 16, 18 and mixing circuit 20, horizontal and vertical blanking processing by blanking circuit 28, fade processing by fader circuit 30, burst gate circuit 40, phase shift circuit 42 and burst by burst mixing circuit 34 The signal addition and the filtering by the band pass filter 36 are sequentially performed and output. The basic operation is the same as the conventional one, but the operations of the blanking circuits 22 and 28 are different from the conventional one. This change of operation is performed by a composite blanking signal S18 output from a blanking signal generating circuit described later. That is, in the conventional video camera, horizontal and vertical blanking is performed, but in the present embodiment, horizontal and vertical blanking as well as vertical blanking of the screen are performed. b. Configuration of Blanking Signal Generation Circuit Next, referring to FIG.
The configuration of the blanking signal generation circuit that generates S18 will be described. In the figure, a terminal T10 is provided with a cinema mode signal S24 for instructing an operation for blanking the upper and lower parts of the screen.
Is input, and the vertical synchronizing signal S26 is input to the terminal T12. Also, terminal T
A normal horizontal / vertical blanking signal S28 is input to 14 and a fringe signal S30 indicating a character is input to a terminal T16. Of these, terminals T12 and T14 are connected directly and to inverter 5
They are connected to the switching terminals of switches 54 and 56 via 0 and 52, respectively. Switching of these switches 54, 56 is done by the terminal T
This is performed by the polarity adjustment signals S32 and S34 which are respectively input to 18 and T20. The output side of the fringe mixing circuit 58, which will be described later, also has the same configuration with the inverter 60 and the switch 62. This is because it is predetermined whether the circuit shown in the figure operates at the rising edge or the falling edge of the signal, so the input vertical synchronizing signal S26 (vertical synchronizing signal of the video camera to which this embodiment is applied). This is because it is necessary to invert them and take them in depending on the polarity such as. Therefore, the polarity adjustment signals S32 and S34 are used to switch the switches 54 and 56 to perform the polarity adjustment. The same applies to the output of the fringe mixing circuit 58, and the switch 62 is switched by the polarity adjusting signal S34 so that the polarity of the combined blanking signal is desired. Switch 56,62
Are switched by the same polarity adjustment signal S34, so that the polarities of the horizontal and vertical blanking signal S28 input to the terminal T14 and the combined blanking signal S18 output from the terminal T24 are matched. It has become. Next, the above-mentioned terminal T10 is connected to the switching terminal side of the inverting output switch 64, and the switching is performed by the cinema mode signal of the terminal T10. One switching input side of the inverting output switch 64 is grounded, and the other switching input side is connected to the output side of the switch 54. In addition, its inverting output side is a counter
Connected to the reset terminals of 66 and 68, respectively. Next, the output side of the switch 56 is connected on one side to the common terminal side of the switch 70, and on the other side to the input side of the OR circuit 72. Also, switch 70
One of the switching output sides is connected to the clock terminal of the counter 66, and the other switching output side is connected to the switching input side of the switch 74. The other switching input side of the switch 74 is grounded, and the common terminal side is connected to the clock terminal of the counter 68. Next, the NTSC logic circuit 7 is connected to the output side of each of the counters 66 and 68.
6, 78 and PAL logic circuits 80, 82 are connected to each other, and the output sides of these logic circuits are connected to the switching terminal sides of the switches 84, 86, respectively. These logic circuits 76,78,80,8
2 outputs a logical value "L" when the counters 66 and 68 are reset, and outputs a logical value "H" signal when the count value reaches a predetermined value in each method. is there. As a result, the blanking width at the top and bottom of the screen is set by this count value. A system identification signal S36 indicating the system from NTSC to PAL is input to the switches 84 and 86 from an input terminal T26, whereby a logic circuit output of a desired system can be obtained. The output side of the switch 84 is connected not only to the control input side of the switch 70 but also to the input side of the OR circuit 90 via the inverter 88. On the other hand, the output side of the switch 86 is connected to the control input side of the switch 74 and the other input side of the OR circuit 90. The output side of this OR circuit 90 is D
Connected to the input of flip-flop 92. Next, at the clock terminal of the D-flip-flop 92,
The horizontal synchronizing signal S38 is input from the terminal T28, and the output of the inverting output switch 64 is input to the reset terminal. The output side of the D-flip-flop 92 is connected to the other input side of the OR circuit 72. The connection shown by the broken line in the figure with the AND circuit 94 is the second
This will be described later as an example. Also, "H" and "L" shown at the switching terminals of each switch indicate the logical value of the control signal when the switch is selected. c. Operation of Blanking Signal Generation Circuit Next, the operation of the blanking signal generation circuit configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG.
In the following explanation, NT implemented in Japan etc.
It is assumed that the SC system is selected by the system identification signal S36. First, the case of a normal operation mode in which blanking at the top and bottom of the screen is not performed will be described. In this case, since the cinema mode signal S24 has the logical value "L", the switch 64 is switched to the ground side. Because of this, the counter
A logic "H" signal is input to the reset terminals of 66 and 68, and both are reset and the counting operation is not performed. At the same time, the D-flip-flop 92 is also reset and the output becomes the logical value "L". Therefore, the OR circuit 72 outputs the horizontal / vertical blanking signal input to the terminal T14 as it is,
This is the blanking circuit 22,2 from terminal T24 as signal S18.
Will be supplied to 8. Next, the case of the cinema mode in which the upper and lower parts of the screen are blanked will be described. Note that FIG. 3 (A) shows an outline of a general video signal, and the vertical synchronizing signal S26 and the horizontal synchronizing signal S38 of this video signal are shown in FIG. 3 (B) and (C), respectively. Like ΔV in these figures
Is a vertical scanning period, and ΔH is a horizontal scanning period. In this case, the cinema mode signal S24 becomes the logical value "H". Therefore, the inverting output switch 64 comes to be connected to the vertical synchronizing signal side, and the vertical synchronizing signal S26
(See FIG. 9B) is inverted and input to the reset terminals of the counters 66, 68 and D-flip-flop 92. Therefore, at the timing of the fall of the vertical synchronizing signal S26, each reset terminal becomes the logical value "H", and the counters 66, 68 and the D-flip-flop 92 are all reset. Furthermore, along with this, NTSC logic circuit 7
The outputs of the 6, 78 and PAL logic circuits 80 and 82 are all at the logical value "L". Then, the switch 70 is switched to the counter 66 side,
The counter 66 starts counting with the horizontal / vertical blanking signal S28 (see FIG. 7D) as a clock. It should be noted that the counter 68 does not perform a counting operation because no signal is input to the clock terminal. Then, the count value by the counter 66 is the NTSC logic circuit.
When the value set in 76 is reached (see ΔTA in FIG. 6E), the output, that is, the output of the switch 84 becomes the logical value “H”. Therefore, the switch 70 is switched to the switch 74 side. On the other hand, the output of switch 86 is the counter
The switch 74 is switched to the switch 70 side because it remains “L” when the 68 is reset. Therefore, the horizontal and vertical blanking signal S28 is
8 will be entered. This allows counter 66
Count operation is stopped by the
The count operation by 68 is started. Then, as in the case described above, the count value by the counter 68 is NTSC.
When the value set in the logic circuit 78 is reached ((F) in the figure)
(See ΔTB), its output, that is, the output of the switch 86 becomes a logical value “H”. At this time, since the switch 74 is switched to the ground side, the counting operation of the counter 68 is stopped. Next, the output signal of the switch 84 (see (E) in the figure) obtained as described above is inverted by the inverter 88 and input to the OR circuit 90. The output signal of the switch 86 is directly input to the OR circuit 90, and the operation result is D
-Supplied to flip-flop 92. In the D-flip-flop 92, the pulse edge portion is shaped by the horizontal synchronizing signal S38 (see FIG. 7C) input to the clock terminal. This is to prevent a trigger-like pulse from occurring during the calculation by the OR circuit 72. The output of the D-flip-flop 92 is as shown in FIG. In this figure, ΔTA almost corresponds to the blank on the upper side of the screen, ΔTB corresponds to the display portion at the center of the screen, and ΔTC almost corresponds to the blank on the lower side of the screen. The blank period at the top and bottom of the screen is set by this signal. Next, in the OR circuit 72, such a signal and the horizontal and vertical blanking signals are added, and the normal horizontal blanking signal is inserted in the central portion of the screen (see FIG. 7H). Then, the composite blanking signal S18 obtained in this way is output from the terminal T24 to the blanking circuits 22 and 28, respectively. If a character or the like is inserted in the upper and lower parts of the screen, the fringe signal indicating it is displayed.
S30 is input to the fringe mixing circuit 58, and its addition is performed. In this case, the blanking of the upper and lower portions of the screen is such that the signal becomes a logical value "L" for that portion and blanking is not performed. After the above operation, when the vertical synchronizing signal S26 is input again, the counters 66 and 68 are reset and the same operation is repeated. As described above, in the blanking signal generation circuit, the normal horizontal / vertical blanking signal S28 is used in the normal operation mode.
Is output, and in the cinema mode, the synthetic blanking signal S18 including the blank periods at the top and bottom of the screen is output. d. Overall Operation of First Embodiment Next, the overall operation of the first embodiment will be described. The signal output from the image sensor 10 is output to the camera process circuit 12
Is supplied to. The camera process circuit 12 generates and outputs a luminance signal Y and color difference signals RY and BY. Of these, the luminance signal Y is supplied to the white clip circuit 14 where the white level is limited to a constant value. Then, after that, the blanking circuit 22
Is output to On the other hand, the two color difference signals are respectively input to the modulation circuits 16 and 18, where the color buzzer carrier S10 having a 90-degree phase difference,
Quadrature two-phase modulation is performed on S12. The modulated signal is mixed by the mixing circuit 20 and then output to the blanking circuit 28. Next, in the blanking circuits 22 and 28, in the normal operation mode, since the horizontal / vertical blanking signal S28 is input from the blanking signal generating circuit (see FIG. 2), normal blanking processing is performed. . That is, blanking is performed only in the horizontal and vertical blanking periods. However, in the cinema mode, since the composite blanking signal S18 (see FIG. 3 (H)) is input, blanking processing for the top and bottom of the screen is also performed. That is, the period indicated by ΔTA and ΔTC in the figure becomes colorless and black blank. Next, the Y signal processed by the blanking circuit 22 is output after fade processing by the fader circuit 24 and addition of a synchronizing signal by the mixing circuit 26. Further, the C signal processed by the blanking circuit 28 is output after fade processing by the fader circuit 30 and addition of a burst signal by the burst mixing circuit 34. These Y signal and C signal are supplied to a video tape recorder (not shown) and recorded on a magnetic medium. Further, the Y and C signals supplied from these video cameras or the Y and C signals (EE outputs) output from the video tape recorder section are also supplied to the viewfinder of the video camera. Therefore, in the cinema mode, an image in which the upper and lower parts of the screen are blank can be monitored even during shooting. That is, imaging is performed while monitoring in the same state as a movie. <Second Embodiment> Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 4. In this embodiment, an AND circuit 94 is connected as shown by the broken line in FIG. That is, the output side of the D-flip-flop 92 and the output side of the inverter 52 are connected to the input side of the AND circuit 94. The output side of the AND circuit 94 is connected to the terminal T50, and the switching signal S50 is output. As shown in FIG. 4, this switching signal S50 is input to the control side of a switch 96 connected between the fader circuit 24 and the mixing circuit 26. switch
The output side of the fader circuit 24 is connected to one switching input side of 96, and the variable power source 98 is connected to the other switching input side. The output side of the switch 96 is connected to the input side of the mixing circuit 26. The horizontal / vertical blanking signal S28 is input to the blanking circuit 22, and the combined blanking signal S18 is input to the blanking circuit 28. The other components are the same as those in the first embodiment described above. Next, the operation of the second embodiment as described above will be described. First, in the blanking signal generating circuit shown in FIG. 2, the synthetic blanking signal S18 is generated in the same manner as in the first embodiment described above. In the AND circuit 94, D-
Output of flip-flop 82 and horizontal and vertical blanking signals
An AND operation is performed with the inverted signal of S28. As a result, a switching signal S50 having a logical value of "H" is generated in the video signal portion in the upper and lower parts of the screen and is output to the switch 96. Next, in the overall circuit of FIG. 4, white clipping for the Y signal, blanking by the normal horizontal and vertical blanking signal S28, and fade processing by the fader circuit 24 are respectively performed in the same manner as in the conventional case, and are supplied to the switch 96. .
The switch signal S50 described above is supplied to the switch 96. Therefore, the switching signal S50 has a logical value of "L".
In the case of, the Y signal is output as it is, and when the logical value is “H”, the set voltage in the variable power source 98 is output. By the way, as described above, the switching signal S50 is a signal that becomes a logical value "H" in the video signal portion in the blanks at the top and bottom of the screen. Therefore, a constant voltage is output from the variable power source 98 in the blank image portions above and below the screen. In other words, the switch 96 outputs the Y signal that makes the luminance of the blank portions above and below the screen constant. On the other hand, the C signal is subjected to blanking processing by the combined blanking signal S18 in the same manner as in the first embodiment described above. As a result, the blank portions at the top and bottom of the screen have a constant brightness. That is, on the viewfinder of the video camera or the reproduction screen, the blank portions at the top and bottom of the screen are blanked with brightness other than the black level. As described above, according to the present embodiment, blanking is performed for the Y signal and the C signal separately, so that it is possible to easily perform graying or white flanking other than the blanking blank at the black level. <Other Embodiments> The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and for example, the circuit configuration shown in the drawings can be modified in various ways so as to achieve the same operation. Also included in the present invention. In particular, in the blanking signal generation circuit of FIG. 2, the blanking width at the top and bottom of the screen can be arbitrarily changed by changing the set count number in the logic circuits 76, 78, 80, 82. You may make it possible to freely make such changes.

As described above, according to the image pickup apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to perform the blanking on the upper and lower sides of the screen and to monitor the image after the blanking. There is an effect that the corresponding shooting can be performed well.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of an image pickup apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a blanking signal generating circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is the blanking signal generating circuit. FIG. 4 is a time chart showing the operation of the circuit, and FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the second embodiment of the present invention. 10 ... Image sensor, 12 ... Camera process circuit, 14 ... White clip circuit, 16, 18 ... Modulation circuit, 20, 26 ... Mixing circuit, 22, 28 ... Blanking circuit (blanking means), 2
4, 30 ... Fader circuit, 32 ... C signal amplifying circuit, 34 ... Burst mixing circuit, 54, 56, 62, 64, 70, 74, 84, 86, 96 ... Switch, 66, 68 ... Counter, 76, 78, 80, 82 ... Logic circuit, 72 ...
OR circuit, 90 ... OR circuit, 92 ... D-flip-flop (blanking signal generating means), 94 ... AND circuit, 98 ...
Variable power supply, S18 ... Synthetic blanking signal, S24 ... Cinema mode signal, S26 ... Vertical sync signal, S28 ... Horizontal vertical blanking signal, S38 ... Horizontal sync signal, S50 ... Switching signal.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An image pickup apparatus for capturing a desired image to obtain an image signal thereof, comprising: a first blanking signal indicating a first blanking period including a horizontal erasing period and a vertical erasing period; and a first blanking signal. Blanking signal generating means for selectively generating a blanking period and a second blanking signal indicating a second blanking period including a desired period at the top and bottom of the display screen of the captured video, and the first blanking signal generating means. Alternatively, it is provided with a blanking means for performing a blanking process on the image signal based on a second blanking signal, and a finder means for displaying an image on the basis of the image signal after the blanking process by the first blanking signal. Then, based on the image signal subjected to the blanking process only in the horizontal erasing period and the vertical erasing period by the first blanking signal, a normal image is generated. Is displayed. In the second mode, the screen is displayed on the normal image based on the image signal which has been subjected to the blanking process of the horizontal blanking period and the vertical blanking period as well as the desired blanking period at the top and bottom of the screen by the second blanking signal. An image pickup device characterized in that a desired width above and below is blanked and displayed.