JPH0888833A - Converter, reverse converter and slow-motion display device provided with them - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a converter for converting image data image picked up by a high-speed video camera into standard video signals, to restore the image data recorded in a standard video recording and reproducing device to the ones before conversion and to display slow-motion video images at a monitor. CONSTITUTION: The standard video recording and reproducing device 4 records the standard video signals from a modulator 3 for arranging the respective image data for which a part of the image data outputted from the high-speed video camera 2 is reduced to a portion equivalent to the display dot number of one divided screen at the time of dividing one screen of a monitor standard screen into a required number together on one screen of the monitor standard screen and converting them into the standard video signals. For the image data of a demodulator 5 for reading the image data of the standard video recording and reproducing device 4, restoring them to the ones before the conversion by the modulator 3 and then, enlarging the image data for one divided screen to the image data for one screen of the monitor standard screen, the standard video recording and reproducing device is operated in a frame feed reproducing mode and the slow-motion video images are displayed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a slow-motion display device for shooting a high-speed moving body or a high-speed phenomenon at a high speed with a high-speed video camera such as a CCD type and displaying it on a monitor in slow motion. The present invention relates to a conversion device, an inverse conversion device, and a slow-motion display device equipped with these, which reduce cost by recording a large amount of continuous image data captured at high speed by a video camera in a standard video recording / reproducing device that is usually easily available. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, slow-motion images of high-speed moving bodies and high-speed phenomena are used to analyze the motion of the human body in sports, and to analyze high-speed moving bodies and high-speed phenomena in the fields of science and engineering research and industrial production activities. Is used as an effective means to.

Conventionally, such slow-motion images are first realized by a movie technique. This is a high speed (for example, 48 to 10,000 F) faster than a normal shooting speed (for example, 24 FPS (square / second)) for an object such as a high speed moving object or a high speed phenomenon by an optical high speed camera for projection film.
PS), record it on film, and then form this film on a projection film after a series of processing such as development and printing, and project this film on a screen at a normal projection speed (eg 24 FPS) with a projector and throw it. Motion images are displayed.

However, in recent years, with the development of VTRs (video tape recorders), electronics, etc., video recording / reproducing devices using recording media or devices such as video disks, semiconductor memories (DRAM or VRAM), disk array devices, etc. With a video camera equipped with a CCD (charge-coupled device) and a monitor such as a television receiver, slow-motion images can be recorded and reproduced.

That is, high-speed moving objects and high-speed phenomena are photographed at high speed by a high-speed video camera, and the image data is recorded by moving a video tape of a high-speed video recording / reproducing device at high speed and rotating a magnetic head at high speed. On the other hand, this video tape can be played back at standard speed to display slow motion video on the monitor.

[0006]

However, when recording image data in the VTR of this high-speed video recording / reproducing apparatus, the video tape and the magnetic head run at high speed corresponding to the imaging speed of the high-speed video camera. On the other hand, when reproducing the recorded image, the monitor standard speed is, for example, 30 frames per second (30 FPS) at the frame rate of the NTSC system adopted in the United States and Japan, and the PAL system adopted in Europe and the like. It is necessary to run the video tape at 25 FPS to change the tape running speed at the time of recording and at the time of playing, and since the mechanism is special, it is expensive and there is a problem of durability due to abrasion.

A video recording apparatus using a semiconductor memory instead of a tape as a recording medium is good because it does not have a mechanical moving part and therefore has a small amount of consumable parts. However, since the semiconductor memory is expensive, it is necessary to record for a long time. There was a problem that was not easy.

On the other hand, a standard VT that is usually commercially available
In the example of R, the video tape is normally run at a standard speed of 30 frames per second, has a feed-back reproducing function, and is a mass-produced product, so it is inexpensive and the recording / reproducing operation is simple.

Moreover, since such a standard video recording / reproducing apparatus is now widely used in general industries, schools, etc., continuous image data from a high-speed video camera should be recorded by this standard video recording / reproducing apparatus. If you can
The cost can be reduced.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in consideration of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to convert image data picked up at a high speed by a high speed video camera so that it can be recorded by a standard video recording / reproducing apparatus. Conversion device, an inverse conversion device that restores the image data recorded on this standard video recording / reproducing device before conversion and displays slow-motion video on the monitor by feeding forward, and an inexpensive and simple slow-motion device having these And a display device.

[0011]

According to the present invention, a part of a large amount of time-series image data from a high speed video camera is reduced by a known data reduction method such as thinning or compression,
The standard video recording / reproducing apparatus records the image data by reducing the image data to be recorded. Next, the principle of the present invention will be described.

The standard video recording / reproducing apparatus receives a standard video signal of a predetermined standard and records it in order to display an image on the monitor according to the standard, for example, NTS.
In the case of the C signal, as shown in FIG. 1 (A), the monitor standard screen S is expressed as a set of bright points of 640 dots in the horizontal direction and 480 dots in the vertical direction, which is 30 times per second (frame).
Is displayed. In other words, the standard video recorder has "640 x
It has a recording capacity of “480 × 30 dots / second”. Therefore, as long as the total display dot numerical value is satisfied, recording can be performed using the standard video recording / reproducing device even if the position or arrangement of dot bright spots or the number of displayed images per second is changed. That is, in order to increase the number of shots per second, which is a requirement for slow motion video, using a standard video recording / playback device, it is realized by reducing the number of display dots (pixels) per image. FIG. 1B illustrates a method of reducing the number of pixels in the vertical direction to 1/2, and FIG. 1C to 1/4 to increase the shooting speed.

By the way, since interlacing is performed in the current standard television system, the one-frame standard screen S shown in FIG. 2A is substantially "640.times.240 dots" as shown in FIG. 2B. Field is 6 per second
0 is displayed. That is, the odd-numbered display field Sa shown in FIG. 2 (B) and the even-numbered display field Sb shown in FIG. 2 (C) are alternately shifted in the vertical direction for scanning.
These two fields make up one frame.

However, when such a field screen is used for the purpose of image measurement, the difference in position between the odd-numbered screen Sa and the even-numbered screen Sb causes various problems, which is not desirable. Only the odd screen Sa is often used as the field screen. Therefore, in many cases, only the screen of “640 × 240 dots × 30 sheets / second” is used. For this reason, it is possible to record 60 field screens per second with a normal recording system. Considering this as a reference, in the case of the quarter screen of “320 × 120 dots” shown in FIG. 4, the standard screen (640 × 240 dots) S shown in FIG.
0 sheets / second (30 × 4), “160 × 6” shown in FIG.
480 sheets / second (30 dots
The image of x16) can be recorded. When this is played back at a normal speed of 30 fields / sec, it is possible to extend the time by 4 times and 16 times, that is, record a slow motion image. The high-speed video camera is "64
0x240x30 sheets / second "30 sheets / second or more 60 sheets /
In addition to efforts to increase the image pickup speed such as 120 seconds / second, the number of image pickup dots in the horizontal direction or the vertical direction is reduced to further increase the image pickup speed. Therefore, by designing the high-speed video camera and the present invention integrally, it becomes possible to develop a superior product. The present invention is configured as follows based on the above principle.

The invention according to claim 1 of the present application (hereinafter, referred to as the first
Invention) is a 1-split screen when one screen of the monitor standard screen is divided into a required number of continuous image data that exceeds the standard display frame number per second output from the high-speed video camera in time series. Image data reducing means for reducing the number of display dots and the image data reduced by the image data reducing means are arranged all together on one screen of the monitor standard screen, and the data recording speed is standard. And a means for converting into a standard video signal recordable by a standard video recording / reproducing apparatus having a feeding / reproducing function.

The invention according to claim 2 of the present application (hereinafter referred to as the second invention) reproduces each image data converted by the conversion device according to claim 1 and recorded in the standard video recording / reproducing apparatus. Sometimes a means for reading in time series in the forward reproduction, a restoring means for restoring the image data read by this means to the image data before the conversion by the converting device, and one split screen portion restored by the restoring means The image data is enlarged to one screen of the monitor standard screen and is displayed on the monitor.

Further, the invention according to claim 3 of the present application (hereinafter referred to as the third invention) integrally includes the conversion device according to claim 1 and the inverse conversion device according to claim 2 in one unit. It is characterized by being assembled.

Furthermore, in the invention according to claim 4 of the present application (hereinafter referred to as the fourth invention), the object to be photographed is photographed at a high speed, and continuous image data exceeding the standard image recording speed is output in time series. The high-speed video camera and the image data output from this high-speed video camera in time series are reduced so as to correspond to the number of display dots in one divided screen when one screen of the monitor standard screen is divided into the required number. The reduced image data are arranged on one screen of the monitor standard screen, and are converted into a standard video signal which can be recorded in a video recording / reproducing apparatus having a standard image recording speed and a feed / reproduce function. And a standard video recording / reproducing apparatus for receiving the standard video signal from the converting apparatus, recording the image data at a standard recording speed, and reproducing the image data in a forward mode. Each image data recorded in the video recording / reproducing device is read out in time series and restored to the image data before conversion by the conversion device, and then the image data for one split screen is enlarged to one screen of the monitor standard screen. It has a conversion device and a monitor for displaying the image data from the inverse conversion device on the standard screen.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention (hereinafter referred to as the fifth aspect), the high-speed video camera has means for reducing the image data by scanning only a predetermined area of the image pickup surface. Characterize.

[0020]

[Action]

<First Invention> A large amount of image data of a high-speed moving body or a high-speed phenomenon captured by a high-speed video camera is divided into one screen (one frame or one field) of a monitor standard screen by a conversion device. Since the number of display dots corresponding to the screen is reduced and converted to a standard video signal, these image data can be recorded on a standard video recording / playback device that is relatively small in capacity and inexpensive, and is dedicated to expensive slow motion. Since it is not necessary to use the high-speed video recording device, it is possible to reduce the cost.

<Second to Fifth Inventions> The conversion device according to the first invention reduces the number of display dots corresponding to one divided screen when the standard screen is divided into a required number, for example.
A large amount of image data such as a high-speed moving body or a high-speed phenomenon recorded in a standard video recording device is restored by the inverse conversion device before the conversion, and each of these split screens is converted into one standard screen (one frame or one frame or Since it is expanded to one field) and converted into a standard video signal, a slow motion image of a high-speed moving body or a high-speed phenomenon can be displayed on the monitor by feeding back and reproducing the monitor on this monitor. Further, since the present invention does not use an expensive high speed video recording device, the cost can be reduced.

[0022]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 6 to 14, the same or corresponding parts are designated by the same reference numerals.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the overall construction of an embodiment of the present invention. In this figure, a slow motion display device 1 is a high speed video camera 2, a modulator 3 which is a conversion device, and a video tape recorder ( VTR) or a standard video recording / reproducing device such as a video disc 4, a demodulator 5 which is an inverse conversion device, a CRT (cathode ray tube) or L
NTS having a display such as a CD (liquid crystal display)
A C-television system monitor 6 is electrically connected sequentially in this order, and a high-speed video camera 2 is used for high-speed (for example, 4
The high-speed moving body and high-speed phenomenon photographed at 8 to 10,000 FPS) are displayed on the monitor 6 in slow motion.

The high-speed video camera 2 is a conventionally known high-speed video camera for slow motion. The high-speed video camera 2 images a high-speed moving body or a high-speed phenomenon at a high speed of 48 to 10000 FPS, for example, and outputs continuous image data D in time series. This is given to the modulator 3 in the next stage.

The modulator 3 thins and compresses a large amount of time-sequential image data D from the high-speed video camera 2 so as to reduce the number of display dots thereof as shown in FIGS. One has a means to reduce the amount so that it can be restored.

7 to 9 show one screen when the screen data D for one screen from the high speed video camera 2 is equally divided into 1/16 of the standard screen S as shown in FIG. / 16 screen (Sd) display dot number, that is (160
× 60) Three examples of methods for reducing the number of dots are shown.

In FIG. 7, the number of display dots indicated by black circles in the figure is reduced to 1/16 of the standard screen S, that is, (160 × 60), but these reduced display dots are almost entirely distributed over the standard screen S. A method of compressing image data so as to be evenly distributed is shown, and a compression algorithm such as DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform) is well known. According to this, although the resolution of the display screen is reduced, the entire image can be displayed. In addition,
In FIG. 7, only a part of the number of display dots indicated by black circles is shown, but the number of display dots is (160 ×
60) It is assumed that there are dots.

FIG. 8 shows a screen Sd which is 1/16 of the standard screen S.
(160 × 60 dots) is fixed to the center O part of the standard screen S, and only the required area of the center part of the image is displayed with the same number of display dots as the standard screen S. According to this, although the whole image cannot be displayed, the central part can be displayed in detail. However, by appropriately adjusting the zoom of the optical system of the high-speed video camera between the wide angle and the telephoto, it is possible to display a part of the image to the entire image on the 1/16 screen Sd at any time. Further, the 1/16 screen Sd may not be fixed to the central portion of the image, but may be appropriately moved to an arbitrary position on the standard screen S by the operation of an appropriate operation means such as a joystick or a trackball. Further, the high-speed video camera 2 itself may be configured to scan only a predetermined area of the image pickup screen to reduce the image data and then apply the image data to the modulator 3.

FIG. 9 shows that the entire 1/16 screen Sd is, so to speak, one display dot, and the average value of the total number of dots (160 × 60) is the display level of the entire 1/16 screen. Since the entire standard screen S is displayed with 16 dots, the number of display dots can be greatly saved.

The modulator 3 has, for example, two frame buffers 3A and 3B as shown in FIG. These frame buffers 3A and 3B are, for example, the above 1
16 pieces of image data of 6 screens Sd are temporarily accumulated in a time series on one piece of standard screen S, and while writing image data to one frame buffer, for example, 3A, from the other frame buffer 3B, Image data that has already been written is converted into a standard video signal for each 1/16 screen Sd and then given to the standard video recording / reproducing device 4 at a standard speed (3 per second).
Record at 0 frame). That is, the inputs of the frame buffers 3A and 3B are alternately switched every 1/30 seconds (1 / standard speed) between the output side of the high-speed video camera 2 and the input side of the standard video recording / reproducing device 4. Recording and reading of the image data of both frame buffers 3A and 3B are alternately performed with the input side of the standard video recording / reproducing apparatus 4 every 1/30 seconds.

FIG. 11 shows such a frame buffer 3A.
A method of writing image data for 16 sheets of the 1/16 screen Sd (that is, one sheet of the standard screen S) is shown. This image data is displayed on the display dot row indicated by the horizontal line in the figure of the standard screen S,
Data is sequentially written for each 1/16 screen Sd in accordance with the order indicated by the circled numbers. On the other hand, the standard video recording / reproducing apparatus 4 reads out the image data in the order shown by the circled numbers in FIG. 12 and records it on a video tape, a video disk or the like.

However, according to the numerical order of circles in FIG.
When 16 pieces of image data of 6 screens Sd are written in the frame buffer 3A, the reading order of the standard video recording / reproducing apparatus 4 shown in FIG. 12 is the same, and thus the other frame buffer 3B can be omitted. . Further, when the image data converted by the modulator 3 is transferred to the standard video recording / reproducing apparatus 4 according to the order of the circled numbers in FIG. 13 without being temporarily stored, both the frame buffers 3A and 3B can be omitted. .

Therefore, when transferring to the standard video recording / reproducing apparatus 4, both the frame buffers 3A and 3B can be omitted.

Thus, the 1/16 standard screen Sd for 16 standard screens is recorded on the video tape 12 of the standard video recording / reproducing apparatus 4 for one standard screen Sd.
The recording speed is 16 times, and if the 1/16 screen Sa is one area, the recording speed is 480 (16 × 30) areas / second, and the recording capacity of the image data D is 16 times.

On the other hand, the demodulator 5 has a read-only frame buffer 5a shown in FIG. 14, and temporarily stores the image data read from the standard video stick 4 in the frame buffer 5a and then outputs it as a standard video signal. It has a standard video signal output terminal 5b.

When the monitor 6 is directly connected to the standard video signal output terminal 5b, an image in which 16 1/16 screens Sd are simply arranged in one frame of the standard screen S is displayed on the monitor 6 for 1/30 seconds (1 / Standard speed) is continuously displayed, and a screen slightly different from the slow motion screen is displayed.

Therefore, the demodulator 5 is provided with a video zoomer 5c and its output terminal 5d separately from the standard video signal output terminal 5b, and a personal computer zoomer 5e and its output terminal 5f separately or together.

The video zoomer 5c is a kind of scan converter, and the 1/16 screen Sd is restored before conversion by the modulator 3 by a well-known complement method such as scan line complement of image data, and then 1/16 screen by scan conversion. Sd is sequentially expanded in time series to the image of one frame of the standard screen S.

Therefore, this video zoom output terminal 5
Connect the monitor 6 to d and connect the standard video recording / playback device 4 to 1.
/ By operating in the forward feed mode with the speed equal to the number of split screens, the 1/16 screen Sd is originally expanded to one frame of the standard screen S and is displayed on the monitor 6 as a slow motion video with 16 times speed. It

Similarly, on the monitor for a personal computer by the scan converter 5e for a personal computer, the 1/16 screen Sd is originally enlarged to one frame of the standard screen S and is displayed as a slow motion of 16 times the speed. .

That is, according to the present embodiment, the recording / reproducing apparatus such as the VTR of the inexpensive standard video recording / reproducing apparatus 4 or the video disk, the semiconductor memory device or the like is used without using the expensive high-speed video apparatus dedicated to the slow motion. Thus, since a high-speed moving body and a high-speed phenomenon can be recorded and reproduced and can be displayed on the monitor 6 as a slow motion image, a significant cost reduction can be achieved.

In the above embodiment, the case where each frame of image data from the high-speed video camera 2 is reduced to display dots of 1/16 screen of 1 frame of the standard screen S has been described. Is not limited to the screen size and the frame, and image data may be reduced by thinning or the like so as to divide one frame or one field of the standard screen into a required number.

[0043]

As described above, according to the first invention of the present application, a large amount of image data of a high-speed moving body, a high-speed phenomenon, and the like captured by a high-speed video camera is converted into one screen of a monitor standard screen (1 Since the number of display dots corresponding to one divided screen for dividing the required number of frames or one field) is reduced and converted into a standard video signal, these image data are recorded in a standard video recording / reproducing apparatus which has a small capacity and is inexpensive. Since it is not necessary to use an expensive high-speed video recording device exclusively for slow motion, cost reduction can be achieved.

Further, the second to fifth inventions of the present application are based on the first invention.
With the conversion device according to the invention, for example, a high-speed moving body or a high-speed phenomenon recorded in the standard video recording device after being reduced to the number of display dots corresponding to one divided screen when the standard screen is divided into a required number A large amount of image data of is restored before the conversion by an inverse conversion device, and each of these divided screens is expanded to one screen (one frame or one field) of the standard screen and converted to a standard video signal. By connecting a monitor to the inverse conversion device and feeding and reproducing the standard video recording device, a slow motion image of a high speed moving body or a high speed phenomenon can be displayed on the monitor.
Also, in the present invention, an expensive high-speed video device can be omitted, so that the cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

1A is a schematic front view showing the number of display dots in one frame of a monitor standard screen, FIG. 1B is a schematic front view of a half screen of the standard screen, and FIG. 1C is a quarter of the standard screen. The front schematic diagram of a screen.

2A is a schematic front view of one field of a monitor standard screen, FIG. 2B is a schematic front view of an odd number field of the same, FIG.
(C) is a schematic front view of the even-numbered field.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the number of display dots on a monitor standard screen.

FIG. 4 is a quarter of the standard screen shown in FIG.
The schematic diagram which shows the number of display dots of a screen.

FIG. 5: 1 / of the standard screen shown in FIG. 3 divided into 16 equal parts
The schematic diagram which shows the number of display dots of 16 screens.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a slow motion display device according to the present invention.

7 is a diagram showing an example in which the number of display dots of image data is reduced by the modulator shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing another example in which the number of display dots of image data is reduced by the modulator shown in FIG.

9 is a diagram showing still another example in which the number of display dots of image data is reduced by the modulator shown in FIG.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged view mainly showing a part of the modulator shown in FIG. 6;

11 is a diagram showing an example of a method for writing image data in a frame buffer of the modulator shown in FIG.

12 is a diagram showing an example of a method of reading image data from the frame buffer of the modulator shown in FIG.

13 is a diagram showing another example of a method of reading image data from the frame buffer of the modulator shown in FIG.

FIG. 14 is an enlarged schematic diagram showing a part of the demodulator shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Slow Motion Device 2 High Speed Video Camera 3 Modulator (Conversion Device) 3A, 3B Frame Buffer 4 Standard Video Deck 5 Demodulator (Inverse Conversion Device) 5c Video Zoomer 5e Personal Computer Scan Converter 6 Monitor S Monitor Standard Screen Sa 1/2 Screen Sb, Sc 1/4 screen Sd 1/16 screen

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A display of a one-split screen when one screen of a monitor standard screen is divided into a required number of continuous image data that exceeds the standard display frame number per second output from a high-speed video camera in time series. Image data reducing means for reducing the number of dots corresponding to the number of dots and each image data reduced by this image data reducing means are arranged all together on one screen of the monitor standard screen, and the data recording speed is standard. And a means for converting into a standard video signal recordable by a standard video recording and reproducing apparatus having a feeding and reproducing function. 2. A means for reading each image data converted by the converting apparatus according to claim 1 and recorded in a standard video recording / reproducing apparatus in time series by forward feeding during reproduction, and image data read by this means. And a restoring means for restoring the image data before conversion by the converting device, and an enlarging means for enlarging the image data for one split screen restored by the restoring means to one screen of the monitor standard screen and displaying it on the monitor. And an inverse transform device. 3. A conversion unit, wherein the conversion device according to claim 1 and the inverse conversion device according to claim 2 are integrally assembled into one unit. 4. A high-speed video camera which outputs a continuous image data in a time series which exceeds a standard image recording speed by shooting an object to be imaged at a high speed, and image data output from the high-speed video camera in a time series. , The monitor standard screen is reduced so that it corresponds to the number of display dots of the one divided screen when one screen is divided into the required number, and each reduced image data is reduced to 1 of the monitor standard screen.
A conversion device for arranging them collectively on a screen and converting them into a standard video signal which has a standard image recording speed and can be recorded by a video recording / reproducing device having a feeding / reproducing function, and the standard video signal from the converting device. In response to this, a standard video recording / reproducing apparatus for recording the image data at a standard recording speed and reproducing it in the forward feed mode, and each of the image data recorded in the standard video recording / reproducing apparatus are read out in time series and the conversion apparatus The inverse conversion device that restores the image data before conversion by 1 to the image data of one split screen to the one screen of the standard screen, and the monitor that displays the image data from this inverse conversion device on the standard screen And a slow-motion display device. 5. The slow motion display apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the high-speed video camera has means for scanning only a predetermined area of the imaging surface to reduce the image data.