JPH09184986A - Focusing method for binoculars and binoculars with focusing means - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable automatic focusing so that the intention of a user is reflected in a body and composition by finding the angle at which the body is viewed with both the eyes from line of sight information from two line of sight detecting means, obtaining body distance information by using the view angle, and performing focusing operation based on the body distance information. SOLUTION: When a body is viewed through the binoculars, since the angle at which the body is viewed with both the eyes varies with the position of a virtual image with parallax, so the angle of rotation of both the eyeballs are detected to judge whether the body is near or far. Through a combination of CCD image pickup elements 26a and 26b and a line of sight angle detecting circuit 31, a focus range determining circuit 32 finds whether the user tries to see the near or far body from Φa A and Φb A or Φa B and Φb B in which an image A" or B" is viewed by the left and right eyes 21a and 21b and ocular interval data from an eye width data generator 38, and sends information on that to an arithmetic control part, which places an automatic focus mechanism 37 in respective ranges to perform focusing operation.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a focusing method for binoculars and a binocular having a focusing means, and is particularly suitable for viewing an observation object which is difficult to focus by a conventional method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional autofocus mechanism is available from
The Institute of Television Engineers: Handbook of Television and Image Information Engineering, '90 .11.30, 1st edition, 1st edition, p.194, for example, it is constructed as shown in FIG. That is, the focus detection unit detects the distance to the subject or the state of focus, and then the signal processing unit performs signal processing such as amplification, detection, and AD conversion, and then the calculation control unit needs the focal length of the zoom lens and The focus information necessary for focus control is calculated by combining the additional information such as exposure and the like, and the focus lens is driven by the lens driving unit. As the focus detection method used at this time, there are various methods as shown in FIG.

[0003]

However, when the binoculars having the autofocus function are constructed, as shown in FIG.
Among the various focus detection methods shown in Figure 1, if the distance measurement method is adopted, the reflection of infrared rays and ultrasonic waves will be used for focus detection, and if the focus detection method is adopted, the contrast and micro in the specific spatial frequency region will be used. The shift of the image forming position by the lens is used for focus detection. Therefore, for example, in FIG.
When an object having the same reflectance with respect to infrared rays and ultrasonic waves and the same contrast in a specific spatial frequency region exists in the near and far in a landscape as shown in Fig. 6, the autofocus device having the configuration shown in Fig. 6 is used. However, regardless of the user's intention, there is a problem that either the far object or the near object is focused or the both objects are alternately moved by the initial setting of the focus detection unit.

An object of the present invention is to detect an eye-gaze of an observer for both eyes and obtain an angle at which the observer looks at an object image from the eyes, thereby making it possible to detect an object or a composition which is conventionally difficult to focus. Also provides a binoculars having a focusing method and focusing means for binoculars that enables auto-focusing reflecting the user's intention.

[0005]

The focusing method of binoculars according to the present invention is as follows: (1-1-1) The angle of view of both eyes is obtained from the line-of-sight information from the two line-of-sight detecting means, and the angle of view is used. The object distance information is obtained, and the focusing operation is performed based on the object distance information. (1-1-2) The left and right telescopes forming the binoculars are respectively provided with line-of-sight detection means, and the right and left line-of-sight detection means of the right and left eyes of an observer observing a virtual image formed by each telescope The distance between the direction of the line of sight and the distance between the eyepieces of the left and right telescopes is detected and the distance to the virtual image gazed by the observer is obtained by the determining means, and the focusing state of the binoculars is controlled based on the result. It is characterized by

Further, the binoculars having the focusing means of the present invention are as follows: (1-2-1) The viewing angle is detected by the viewing angle detecting circuit from the viewing information from the two viewing detecting means, and the viewing angle is calculated. The object range information is obtained by the focus range determination circuit using, and the calculation control unit performs the focusing operation based on the object distance information. (1-2-2) The left and right telescopes forming the binoculars are respectively provided with line-of-sight detection means, and the left and right line-of-sight detection means detect the lines of sight of the right and left eyes of the observer observing the virtual image formed by each telescope. The distance to the virtual image gazed at by the observer is determined by the determination means based on the direction of the line of sight and the eyepiece distance data from the interpupillary adjustment means, and the result is transmitted to the autofocus mechanism, and the autofocus mechanism is detected. Controls the focusing distance of the binoculars. It is characterized by

[0007]

1 is a schematic view of the essential portions of Embodiment 1 of the binoculars of the present invention. This embodiment is an autofocus binocular, and FIG. 1 (A) is its top view and FIG. 1 (B) is its side view. Each element in FIG. 1 will be described. Elements with a in the element number indicate the element on the right side of the telescope or right eye, and elements with the element number b indicate the element on the left side in the telescope or left eye, respectively.

In FIG. 1, 11 (11a, 11b) is an objective lens barrel,
12 (12a, 12b) is an eyepiece lens barrel, 13 (13a, 13b) is an objective lens, 14 (14a, 14b) is an eyepiece, 16 is a rotary knob for manual focusing, and 17 is a rotary knob 16. The meshing gear, 18 is a worm gear directly connected to the gear 17, and changes the relative position of the objective side lens barrel 11 and the eyepiece side lens barrel 12. Numeral 19 is an interpupillary adjustment means that changes the distance D between the two telescopes.

Reference numeral 21a is the right eyeball of the observer, and 21b is the left eyeball. Reference numeral 23 is an infrared light source (infrared light emitting diode), and two infrared light sources 23a ₁ and 23a for illuminating the right eyeball 21a.
₂ and two infrared light sources 23b ₁ and 23b for illuminating the left eyeball 21b
_It consists of _two . 24 (24a, 24b) is an infrared reflecting mirror, 25 (25a, 25b) is an imaging lens for autofocus, 26
(26a, 26b) are CCD image sensors, 27 (27a, 27b) are corneas, 28 (2
8a, 28b) is a fovea centralis, 31 is a line-of-sight angle detection circuit, 32 is a focus range determination circuit (determination means), 33 is an arithmetic control unit, and 34 (3
Reference numeral 4a, 34b) is a motor, 35 (35a, 35b) is a worm gear directly connected to the motor 34, 36 (36a, 36b) is a moving table that fixes the objective lens 13, and 38 is a pupil distance data generator. 41 is a power supply for driving the entire electric system.

D is the distance between the eyepieces of the left and right telescopes, and this distance D can be adjusted by the interpupillary distance adjusting means 19. Then, the eye distance adjusting means outputs the eyepiece lens interval data at that time to the focus range determination circuit 32 via the eye distance data generator 38.

Among the above-mentioned elements, the infrared light source 23, the eyepiece lens 14, the infrared light reflecting mirror 24, the otofocus imaging lens 25, the CCD image pickup device 26, the line-of-sight angle detecting circuit 31, etc. are one of the line-of-sight detecting means. Consists of elements.

Further, the arithmetic control unit 33, the motor 34, the worm gear 35, the moving base 36, etc. constitute one element of the autofocus mechanism 37.

FIG. 2 is an image forming optical path diagram of this embodiment. This will explain the imaging action of the telescope. As shown in FIG. 2, the telescope is composed of an objective lens Lo having a long focal length and an eyepiece lens Le having a short focal length. Then, a distant observation object A has a real image A'formed by the objective lens Lo, which is magnified by the eyepiece Le to form a virtual image A ", and the observer observes this virtual image A". The virtual image A '
It is usual to use two right-angle prisms in order to make erect, but here, these prisms are omitted for consideration.

An object B at a short distance has a real image B'formed by an objective lens Lo, which is magnified by an eyepiece Le to form a virtual image B ", which an observer observes.

If the observation object B is closer than A, the virtual image B "is the virtual image A" even in the virtual image area formed by the telescope.
Formed closer than.

In binoculars in which two identical small telescopes are arranged in parallel and observed with both eyes, a virtual image obtained by the right telescope and a virtual image obtained by the left telescope form a virtual image with parallax. .

When the virtual image B "of the observed object at a short distance is out of the range of the clear vision of the observer, the virtual image B" is clearly visible if the eyepiece lens Le is moved to the observer side as shown in the figure. Will be formed in the range of.

On the other hand, the eyeball that sees the virtual image formed by the eyepiece lens Le has a narrow area with the highest visual acuity called the fovea on the retina. When a human tries to gaze at a specific object, he or she has the property of controlling the rotation of the direction of the eyeball so that the target object is imaged in this fovea. When viewing an observation object with binoculars, the angles viewed by both eyes change depending on the position of the virtual image having the parallax. Therefore, if the rotation angle of both eyes can be detected, it is possible to determine the perspective of the observation object.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the principle of visual distance detection according to the present invention. In FIG. 3, 55a and 55b are image pickup image frames (imaging range) of the CCD image pickup device, 56a and 56b are eyes of an observer, 57a and 57b are pupils, and 58a and 58b are two infrared light sources 23a ₁ and 23a _{2 respectively.}
23b ₁ and 23b ₂ are images of corneal surface reflection.

The operation of this embodiment will be described. In the configuration shown in FIG. 1, the observer inserts the eyeballs 21a and 21b into the eyepiece lens barrels 12a and 1b.
When observing the object (A or B in FIG. 2) close to 2b, the power of the power source 41 is turned on, the outputs of the infrared light sources 23a ₁ and 23a ₂ illuminate the right eyeball 21a, and the infrared light sources 23b ₁ and 23b ₂ emit light. The output illuminates the left eye 21b, and the image of the cornea 27a, 27b is
Infrared light reflecting mirror 24a, passing through eyepieces 14a, 14b
It is reflected by 24b and projected onto CCD image pickup devices 26a, 26b by imaging lenses 25a, 25b.

Output images of the CCD image pickup devices 26a and 26b are shown in FIG.
It becomes like the inside of the frames 55a and 55b by the broken line of, and the observer's right eye 56a and left eye 56b are projected. Two small white dots 58a in the hatched pupils 57a, 57b,
58b is two infrared light sources 23a ₁ , 23a ₂ or 23b ₁ , 2
It is a virtual image (Purkinje image) due to the reflection of the corneal surface 27a or 27b of 3b ₂ . Pupil center 59a, the relative position between 59b and Purkinje image rotation angle phi _a of the eye, because it is in fixed relationship with phi _b, the right eye, the gaze direction of the left eye obtained by the future image processing. This gaze detection method is disclosed by
The technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-109029 is used.

[0022] and Figure binocular interval, as shown in 3, i.e. the eye width adjusting means 19 gaze direction phi _a of the right and left eyes and ocular distance D adjusted, the following equation from _{φ b: E = D / (} tanφ a + tanφ _b ) (where φ _a and φ _b are the angles within the plane including the optical axes of the left and right telescopes), it is possible to obtain the viewing distance E of the virtual image being gazed.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, by combining the CCD image pickup devices 26a, 26b and the line-of-sight angle detection circuit 31, the line-of-sight directions _φaA , _φbA or _{φbA for seeing the} image A "or B" from the left and right eyes 21a, 21b or Based on φ _aB and φ _bB and the eyepiece distance data from the pupil distance data generator 38, the object A
The focus range determination circuit 32 can determine whether the user is trying to view the object B or the near object B. The focus range determination circuit 32 transmits to the next arithmetic control unit 33 the information on which range of the three stages of the close range to 5 m, 5 to 20 m, 20 m to infinity the object to be focused is transmitted to the arithmetic control unit 33. 33 operates the autofocus mechanism 37 within each range.

According to the present embodiment, there are a plurality of near and far objects having the same reflectance with respect to infrared rays and ultrasonic waves and the same contrast in a specific spatial frequency region. Even when it is difficult to focus, the gaze direction is detected for both eyes, the focus range is calculated from the binocular direction and the eyepiece lens interval data, and the autofocus operation is performed according to this result to obtain perspective. It is possible to selectively and automatically focus an observation object at an arbitrary distance from the target objects according to the user's intention.

[0025]

According to the present invention, with the above configuration, the line-of-sight of the observer is detected for both eyes, and the angle at which the observer looks at the object image is obtained to obtain an object which has been difficult to focus on. (EN) A binoculars having a focusing method and focusing means for binoculars that enables auto-focusing in which the user's intention is reflected in the composition.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a main part of an embodiment of binoculars of the present invention.

[Fig. 2] Imaging optical path of the telescope

FIG. 3 Principle of visual distance detection according to the present invention

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a focus range determination method according to the present invention.

[Fig. 5] Composition with perspective objects at the same time in the field of view

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram of a conventional autofocus mechanism.

[Fig. 7] Classification of autofocus methods

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Objective-side lens barrel 12 Eyepiece-side lens barrel 13 Objective lens 14 Eyepiece lens 19 Interpupillary adjustment means 23 Infrared light emitting diode 24 Infrared light reflecting mirror 25 Autofocus imaging lens 26 CCD image sensor 27 Cornea 28 Fovea 31 Gaze angle Detection circuit 32 Focus range determination circuit 33 Arithmetic control unit 34 Motor 35 Worm gear 36 Moving stand 37 Autofocus mechanism 38 Eye width data generator 41 Power supply

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An angle to be seen by both eyes is obtained from line-of-sight information from two line-of-sight detecting means, object distance information is obtained using the angle of sight, and a focusing operation is performed based on the object distance information. A method for focusing binoculars, which is characterized in that 2. The left and right telescopes forming the binoculars are respectively provided with line-of-sight detection means, and the left and right line-of-sight detection means detect the lines of sight of the right and left eyes of an observer observing a virtual image formed by each telescope. A distance to a virtual image gazed at by the observer is determined from the distance between the direction of the line of sight and the left and right eyepieces of the telescope by the determination means, and the focusing state of the binoculars is controlled based on the result. How to focus binoculars. 3. The angle of sight of both eyes is obtained by the line-of-sight angle detection circuit from the line-of-sight information from the two line-of-sight detection means, the object range information is obtained by the focus range determination circuit using the line-of-sight angle, and the object distance information is obtained. Binoculars having a focusing means characterized in that a focusing operation is performed by a calculation control section based on the above. 4. The left and right telescopes constituting the binoculars are respectively provided with line-of-sight detection means, and the left and right line-of-sight detection means detect the lines of sight of the right and left eyes of an observer observing a virtual image formed by each telescope. , The distance to the virtual image gazed at by the observer is determined by the determination means from the direction of the line of sight and the eyepiece distance data from the interpupillary adjustment means, the result is transmitted to the autofocus mechanism, and the autofocus mechanism detects the distance. Binoculars having a focusing means characterized by controlling a focusing distance of the binoculars.