JPH0884280A - Head mount type video camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To allow a camera to pickup an image of even a moving object by detecting the sight direction of a photographer and moving the image pickup direction of an image pickup section based on the sight direction so as to prevent an image pickup position from being changed even when the head of the photographer is moved during image pickup. CONSTITUTION: When a control section 8 receives an image pickup start command from a remote commander 8 via a light receiving device 7, a sight detection section 4 is set and an image pickup section 1 is set in the sight detection state to allow a recording section 9 to pickup an image. The sight detection section 4 is made up of sensors 4A, 4B of potential change, retina reflection or strong reflection type to detect the sight direction of the left eye of a photographer 3. When the change in the sight direction detected by the sensors 4A, 4B is higher than a threshold level, the image pickup moving section 5 regards it to be a moved noted point to change the direction of the image pickup section 1 vertically and horizontally. The control section 6 obtains motion information of eyeballs and position information of the image pickup moving section 5 for each sampling period T to apply tracking control of the image pickup position of the image pickup section 1 to an object.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fixed head type video camera in which an image pickup unit is fixed to the head of a photographer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as disclosed in Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 3-62356, a head-fixing type video camera has been proposed in which a small-sized image pickup unit is attached to a head-fixing tool in the shape of, for example, spectacles. Has been done. Then, a tape or the like is attached to one of the left and right lens portions of the spectacle-shaped head fixing tool to form a frame portion, and the frame portion is imaged by the imaging unit,
That is, it is used as a means for making the image pickup person recognize the image pickup angle of view.

[0003] Such a video camera has an advantage that the photographer does not need to have an image pickup unit at the time of taking an image, so that both hands are free and an image can be taken while performing other work.

However, in such a conventional video camera, when the photographer moves the head, the image pickup position also changes accordingly. Therefore, when capturing an image at a certain fixed position, there is a problem that the imager cannot move the head during the image capturing period.

Further, when a certain subject is photographed, it is necessary to move the head so that the subject is located within a frame portion for recognizing the image pickup angle of view. However, it usually takes some time to move the head to position the subject in the frame, and it is difficult to immediately image the desired subject. Especially for a fast-moving subject, it is difficult to make the imaging position follow the subject.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, and the image pickup position is stable even if the photographer moves his / her head during the image pickup period. An object of the present invention is to provide a fixed head type video camera.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a head fixed video camera which can instantly adjust the image pickup position to a subject and can easily photograph a moving subject. It is a thing.

[0008]

A head fixed video camera according to the present invention comprises an image pickup section and a head fixing tool for fixing the image pickup section to the head of the image pickup person. Is provided, and an image pickup moving unit that moves the image pickup direction of the image pickup unit based on the line-of-sight direction detected by the line-of-sight detection unit.

Further, in the head-fixed video camera according to the present invention, when the change amount of the line-of-sight direction detected by the line-of-sight detection unit is smaller than a predetermined value, the control unit for controlling the image pickup moving unit not to operate. To provide.

[0010]

According to the above construction, the image pickup position of the image pickup section is determined by the line-of-sight position of the photographer.

Further, when the amount of change in the line-of-sight direction is smaller than a predetermined value, the image-pickup direction is not moved, and therefore the image-pickup position does not change due to a slight movement of the photographer's pupil.

[0012]

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

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the outer appearance of a head-fixing type video camera of this embodiment.

The head-fixing type video camera of this embodiment comprises a small-sized image pickup section 1 and eyeglasses (head fixing tool) 2 for fixing the image pickup section 1 to the head of a photographer. There is.
The image pickup unit 1 is movably attached to the outside of the side frame 2a on the left side of the spectacles 2 so that the image pickup window 1a faces forward and the angle of the image pickup window 1a changes vertically and horizontally. Further, the left-eye lens 2b of the spectacles 2 is provided with line-of-sight detectors 4A and 4B for detecting the line-of-sight direction of the left eye of the photographer 3.

The line-of-sight detectors 4A and 4B use an EOG (Electro-Oc) that utilizes changes in the electric potential of the cornea with respect to the retina.
ulography) method, a corneal reflection method that detects the movement of a virtual image that occurs inside the cornea when a spotlight is incident on the eyeball, and that when the eye is irradiated with infrared rays, the amount of reflected light differs between the white eye part and the black eye part. The line-of-sight direction of the left eye of the observer 3 is detected by the strong reflection method or the like used.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the overall circuit configuration of the fixed head type video camera of this embodiment.

In the figure, 4 is a line-of-sight detection unit consisting of the line-of-sight detectors 4A and 4B, 5 is an image pickup moving unit for changing the direction of the image pickup unit 1, and 6 is from the line-of-sight detection unit 4 and the image pickup moving unit 5. A control unit for obtaining movement information of the eyeball of the imager's left eye and position information of the imaging unit, a light receiving unit for receiving a signal from a remote controller, a remote controller for sending a control signal to the light receiving unit 7,
Reference numeral 9 is a recording unit for recording the video signal sent from the image pickup unit 1 according to an instruction from the control unit. Among these, the line-of-sight detection unit 4, the imaging movement unit 5, the control unit 6, the light receiving unit 7, and the imaging unit 1 are fixed to the head of the image pickup person 3.

Next, the operation of the fixed head type video camera of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the control unit 5, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing changes in the orientation of the image pickup unit 1 with respect to the movement of the line of sight of the image pickup person 3.

When the imager 3 wants to image a certain object,
The image-capturing person 3 makes a line of sight to the certain object and turns on the image-capturing start button of the remote controller 8. The light receiving unit 7 receives the image pickup start signal from the remote controller 9, converts the image pickup start signal into an electric signal, and outputs the electric signal to the control unit 6.

The control unit 6 which has received the image pickup start signal from the light receiving unit 7 determines whether or not to take an image in step S1 of FIG. Then, in this case, it is determined that shooting is performed (Yes), and the process proceeds to step S2.

Next, in step S2, the control unit 6 determines whether or not the line-of-sight detection unit 4 is already in the line-of-sight detection state.
And detecting whether or not the image pickup unit 1 is already in the image pickup state, and determining that at least the line-of-sight detection unit 4 has not detected the line of sight or the image pickup unit 1 has not taken an image. (No), the process proceeds to step S3.

In step S3, the control section 6
If the line-of-sight detection unit 4 is not detecting the line-of-sight, the line-of-sight detection unit 4 is turned on to enter the line-of-sight detection state, and if the image pickup unit 1 is not picking up an image, the image pickup unit 1 is turned on to enter the imaging state, and the process proceeds to step S4.

If it is determined in step S2 that the line-of-sight detection unit 4 is in the state of detecting the line-of-sight and the image pickup unit 1 is in the state of picking up an image (Yes), then directly. , And proceeds to step S4.

The control section 6 determines in step S4 that
The line-of-sight direction of the left eye of the image-capturing person 3 is detected based on the input signal from the line-of-sight detection unit 4, and it is determined whether the gazing point of the left eye has moved. Then, when it is determined that the gazing point has moved (Yes), the process proceeds to step S5, and when it is determined that the gazing point has not moved (No), the process proceeds to step S6.

The determination as to whether or not the gaze point has moved is made by determining that the gaze point has moved when the amount of change in the line-of-sight direction of the left eye of the photographer 3 is larger than a predetermined threshold value. ,
If it is smaller than the threshold value, it is determined that the gazing point has not moved. The threshold value is, for example, the product (T × V) of the sampling period T when the line of sight is detected and the threshold velocity V. As described above, when the change in the line-of-sight direction is smaller than the threshold value, it is determined that the gazing point is not moving, so that the fine movement of the pupil is removed from the detection of the gazing point movement.

When it is determined in step S4 that the gazing point has moved, the control section 6 causes the image pickup direction of the image pickup section 1 to face the same direction as the new line-of-sight direction in step S5, as shown in FIG. Then, a control signal is output to the image pickup moving section 5. The image pickup moving unit 5 moves in accordance with this control signal and directs the image pickup direction of the image pickup unit 1 to a new line-of-sight direction. In FIG. 4, X1 is the line-of-sight direction when moving the gazing point, and X1 is
Reference numeral 2 is the line-of-sight direction after the movement of the gazing point, Y1 is the imaging direction before the movement, and Y2 is the imaging direction after the movement. That is, when the line-of-sight direction of the gazing point of the image pickup person 3 moves from X1 to X2, the image pickup direction of the image pickup unit 1 moves from Y1 to Y2 accordingly. Then, when this operation ends, the process returns to step S1.

When it is determined in step S4 that the gazing point has not moved, the control section 6 returns to step S1 without moving the image pickup section.

The control section 6 repeats the above steps S1 to S5 until an image pickup stop signal is inputted from the light receiving section 7. As a result, while the image capturing unit 1 is performing an image capturing operation, the orientation of the image capturing unit 1 also moves according to the movement of the gaze point of the image capturing person in the line-of-sight direction, and the image capturing position of the image capturing person 3 is always the image capturing position.

When the photographer wants to stop photographing, the photographer 3
Presses the imaging stop button on the remote control 8. The light receiving section 7 receives the image pickup stop signal sent from the remote controller 8, converts it into an electric signal, and outputs it to the control section 6.

The control unit 6, which has received the image pickup stop signal, judges that the image pickup is not performed in step S1 (No),
Go to step S6. Then, in step S6,
The operations of the line-of-sight detection unit 4 and the imaging unit 1 are stopped.

In the head fixed video camera according to the present embodiment as described above, the image pickup position is determined by the line-of-sight direction of the image-capturing person. If it does not change, the position of the imaging unit 1 is stable.

Further, even when the subject is moving, the image-capturing person 3 simply moves his or her line of sight to the subject,
The imaging position of the imaging unit 1 can be made to follow the subject.

[0033]

According to the present invention, even if the photographer moves his / her head during the image pickup, he / she can continue to take the image of the subject if his / her line of sight is aligned with the subject, and is stable even if the body is moved during the image pickup. It is possible to provide a fixed head type video camera capable of performing the above-mentioned imaging.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a fixed head type video camera in which the imaging position is prevented from becoming unstable due to a slight movement of the photographer's pupil.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the external appearance of a head-mounted video camera of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a head fixed video camera of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of the head fixed video camera of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an operation of an image pickup unit of the head fixed video camera of the present invention.

[Description of sign]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Imaging part 2 Glasses (head fixing tool) 3 Imager 4 Gaze detection part 5 Imaging movement part 6 Control part

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Katsumi Terada 2-5-5 Keihanhondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka Sanyo Denki Co., Ltd. (72) Keiichi Kanaya 2-chome, Keihanhondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka No. 5-5 Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A head fixed video camera comprising an image pickup section and a head fixing tool for fixing the image pickup section to the head of the image pickup person, and a line-of-sight detection section for detecting the line-of-sight direction of the image pickup person. A fixed head type video camera, comprising: an imaging moving unit that moves the imaging direction of the imaging unit based on the line-of-sight direction detected by the line-of-sight detection unit. 2. The control unit for controlling the imaging moving unit not to operate when the amount of change in the line-of-sight direction detected by the line-of-sight detection unit is smaller than a predetermined value. Fixed head type video camera.