JPH10186457A - Finder device and its diopter adjusting method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simplify the operation and to improve the maneuverability by making the diopter adjustment corresponding to each operator automatically performable with high accuracy just by that the operator looks into an ocular part. SOLUTION: Infrared rays are radiated to the cornea of the operator from a diode 11 and reflected light is formed into an image on a CCD driving circuit 14. Then, an image-formation point corresponding to the curvature of the cornea of the operator is calculated according to the level of detecting light on the circuit 14. In accordance with the calculated value, a driving motor 26 is driven and controlled through a motor driving circuit 17 so as so move a slide part 15, whereby the visibility is adjusted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a finder device mounted as a component of a video camera or the like, and more particularly to a finder device having diopter adjusting means and a diopter adjusting method therefor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Heretofore, a finder device mounted as a component of a video camera or the like manually adjusts the diopter. FIG. 6 shows an example of such a finder device. The finder device includes a lens barrel 101 serving as a housing-like storage unit, an eyepiece 102 disposed in the lens barrel 101 near an eyepiece part of an operator, and a diopter adjusting unit 1.
03 is provided.

The diopter adjusting means 103 includes a liquid crystal display section 111 provided in the lens barrel 101, a backlight 112 of the liquid crystal display section 111, and a backlight driving circuit 113.
, A liquid crystal display unit 111, a backlight 112, and a backlight driving circuit 113 are fixed, and a slide-type barrel 114 that moves substantially parallel to the visual axis of the operator with respect to the barrel 101.
Is attached to the outer shell of the lens barrel 101, and the volume 12
1 and an adjusting section 115 having a shaft 122.

In this viewfinder device, the operator manually adjusts the diopter by turning the volume 121 of the adjustment unit 115 to move the slide-type lens barrel 114 to a desired position.

Alternatively, in order to adjust the diopter, instead of providing the diopter adjusting means 103 as described above, a diopter adjusting correction lens suitable for each individual is inserted at a predetermined position in the lens barrel 101. There is also a technique.

[0006]

As described above, in the conventional finder device, it is necessary to adjust the diopter manually or to insert a correction lens for adjusting the diopter according to the operator. However, there is a problem that the operation is complicated and the mobility is poor.

Therefore, the present invention makes it possible to adjust the diopter according to each operator automatically and with high accuracy only by looking into the eyepiece, thereby simplifying the operation and improving mobility. It is an object of the present invention to provide a finder device and a diopter adjustment method for improving the finder.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A finder device according to the present invention is a device for performing various operations while an operator gazes at a formed object image, and irradiates an operator's eyeball with insensitive light. Then, the reflected light from the eyeball is detected, an imaging point corresponding to the curvature of the eyeball is calculated based on the detected value level, and the diopter is automatically adjusted according to the calculated value.

In one embodiment of the finder device of the present invention, the light is infrared light.

The finder device according to the present invention comprises an eyeball irradiating means for irradiating the operator's eyeball with insensitive light, a reflected light detecting means for detecting reflected light from the eyeball, and adjusting a distance between the eyeball and the eyeball. A diopter adjusting means for adjusting diopter, and an imaging point corresponding to a curvature of the eyeball based on a detected value level of the reflected light in the reflected light detecting means, and the diopter is calculated according to the calculated value. Control means for controlling the adjusting means.

In one embodiment of the finder device of the present invention, the eyeball irradiating means has a light emitting diode for irradiating insensitive infrared light.

In one embodiment of the finder device according to the present invention, the reflected light detecting means includes an image pickup device provided with a plurality of pixels for photoelectrically converting the reflected light.

In one embodiment of the finder device according to the present invention, the diopter adjusting means includes a diopter correction unit having at least a liquid crystal display mechanism, and the diopter correction unit is provided on a visual axis of the operator. And a translation drive unit that moves substantially in parallel.

Here, the diopter correction section further includes at least a single optical lens, the liquid crystal display mechanism is fixed, and the optical lens is moved relative to the liquid crystal display mechanism by driving the translation drive section. It is preferable that they move relatively.

In one embodiment of the finder device according to the present invention, the diopter adjusting means includes a diopter correction section having at least a single optical lens, and the diopter correction section includes a diopter axis of the operator. And a translation drive unit that moves in substantially parallel.

In one embodiment of the finder device according to the present invention, the diopter correction unit of the eyeball irradiating means, the reflected light detecting means and the diopter adjusting means includes a housing together with an eyepiece disposed at an eyepiece part. It is housed in a predetermined part in the shape of the accommodation means.

In one embodiment of the finder device according to the present invention, a portion to be irradiated with the insensitive light is a cornea of the eyeball, and an image point corresponding to a curvature of the cornea is calculated.

The diopter adjusting method of the finder device according to the present invention is a method for adjusting diopter according to each operator,
Irradiating the operator's eyeball with insensitive light, detecting reflected light from the eyeball, calculating an imaging point corresponding to the curvature of the eyeball based on the detected value level, and This is a method of automatically adjusting the diopter.

In one embodiment of the diopter adjusting method of the finder device of the present invention, the light is infrared light.

In one embodiment of the diopter adjusting method of the finder device according to the present invention, a portion to be irradiated with the insensitive light is the cornea of the eyeball, and an image point corresponding to the curvature of the cornea is calculated.

[0021]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the finder device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the finder device according to this embodiment has a lens barrel 1 which is a housing-like storage unit, and is a constituent element of the cornea irradiation means 2, and is provided on the cornea of the operator. A light emitting diode 11 for irradiating insensitive infrared light,
An eyepiece 3 disposed in the lens barrel 1 near an eyepiece of an operator, and a dichroic mirror 4 for reflecting only infrared light
An imaging lens 5 for imaging reflected light from the cornea;
The reflected light is incident and is a component of the reflected light detecting means 6, a CCD image pickup device 13 having a plurality of pixels for photoelectrically converting the reflected light, and a component of the diopter adjusting means 7. A slide portion 15 that can move substantially parallel to the visual axis of the operator is disposed at a predetermined position in the lens barrel 1.

The corneal irradiating means 2 includes a plurality of light emitting diodes 11 described above and an IRED drive circuit 12 for controlling the light emitting diodes 11. Each light emitting diode 11 is arranged substantially symmetrically in the horizontal direction with respect to the optical axis of the imaging lens 5 or slightly below in the vertical direction, and irradiates the cornea of the operator under the control of the IRED drive circuit 12. .

The reflected light detecting means 6 includes the above-described CCD image pickup device 13 and a C
And a CD drive circuit 14.

The diopter adjusting means 7 includes a liquid crystal display unit 22, a backlight 23, and a backlight drive circuit 24 in a slide-type lens barrel 21 movable substantially in parallel to the visual axis of the operator with respect to the lens barrel 1. The slide unit 15 described above, which is fixed.
And an adjustment unit 16 attached to the outer shell of the lens barrel 1 and having a drive motor 27 for rotating the gear 25 and the shaft 26 and the gear 25 to move the slide unit 15, and a motor for controlling the drive of the drive motor 27 And a drive circuit 17.

The operation of the corneal irradiating means 2 and the reflected light detecting means 6 is managed, and an image point corresponding to the curvature of the cornea is calculated based on the detected light level in the CCD drive circuit 14, and the calculated value is calculated. Motor drive circuit 1 according to
A microcomputer 8 for controlling the drive of the drive motor 26 through 7 is provided to constitute the finder device of the present embodiment.

In this finder device,
As shown in FIG. 2, instead of the slide portion 15, a slide in which an optical lens 31 is fixed in a slide type lens barrel 21 and is movable with respect to the lens barrel 1 substantially in parallel with the visual axis of the operator. It is also suitable to provide the part 18.

Hereinafter, a diopter measuring method using the finder device of the present embodiment will be described. First, the principle of a corneal curvature detection method using corneal reflection light, which is one of the eyeball reflection lights, will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 3, C is the center of curvature of the cornea of the operator, S is the distance from the corneal surface to the real image (light source),
S ′ is the distance from the corneal surface to the virtual image (Purkinje image),
r is the radius of curvature of the cornea, f is the virtual image focal point at infinity, f ′ is the virtual image focal point when the distance from the corneal surface to the real image is S,
y is a real image, and y 'is a virtual image reflected on the corneal surface. Also,
In FIG. 3, it is assumed that the optical axis and the visual axis coincide.

From FIG. 3, the following equations hold. 1 / S + 1 / S ′ = 2 / r (1) β = y ′ / y = −S ′ / S (2) When S = ∞, f = f ′ = r / 2. (3) From equation (2), y ′ = βy = −S′y / S (4), and the coordinate value (imaging point) of the virtual image can be calculated.

From equation (1), the radius of curvature r of the cornea is given by: r = 2S'S / (S '+ S) (5) Thus, the radius of curvature r of the cornea from the corneal surface to the real image is It is obtained as a function expression of the distance S and the distance S ′ from the corneal surface to the virtual image.

Next, the principle of parallax measurement by the finder device of this embodiment based on the above-described corneal curvature detection method will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 4, L is the light emitting diode 1
1 to the center of curvature C of the cornea, Syi is the distance from the visual axis (X coordinate) of the light emitting diode 11 (corresponding to the y), and δy is the Y coordinate component of the virtual image on the CCD 13 (the y coordinate). Sxi is the distance (corresponding to S) from the projection position of the light emitting diode 11 on the visual axis to the corneal surface.

The infrared light emitted from the light emitting diode 11 irradiates the cornea of the operator, and the cornea reflection image formed by the reflected light is condensed on the coupling lens 5 and forms an image on the CCD image pickup device 13. . Again, assuming that the visual axis and the optical axis coincide, the following equations hold. L: (r−S ′) = Syi: δy (6) L = {(r + Sxi) ² + Syi ² ｝ ^1/2 (7) From the equations (6) and (7), The radius of curvature r can be determined. There is an individual difference in the radius of curvature of the cornea, and the curvature tends to be small for myopia and large for hyperopia. Therefore, it is possible to adjust the diopter using the S (Sxi) and S 'as parameters.

Although the principle of the corneal curvature detection method has been described above, the diopter can be adjusted by detecting reflected light not only from the cornea but also from the crystalline lens.

Next, a description will be given of a diopter adjustment method using the finder device of the present embodiment based on the principle of the corneal curvature detection method described above. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a diopter adjustment method using the microcomputer 8 by the finder device for each step.

First, the finder device is set to a diopter adjustment state. Insensitive infrared light is emitted from the light emitting diode 11 (step S1), and this infrared light is reflected on the surface of the cornea of the operator, and a part of the reflected light is projected onto the CCD imaging device 13 by the imaging lens 5. An image is formed, and the position of the formed reflected light is detected (step S2).

Here, according to the curvature of the cornea of the operator, C
The imaging points (coordinate values) formed on the CD imaging device 13 are different. The microcomputer 8 determines and corrects the deviation amount from the detected coordinate values as described below.

First, it is determined whether or not the deviation amount is a positive value (+ value) (step S3). If the value is a positive value, the motor drive circuit 17 controls the drive motor 2 under the control of the microcomputer 8.
7 is controlled to move the slide unit 15 (slide unit 18) in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. 1 (FIG. 2) (step S).
4). On the other hand, if the deviation amount is not a positive value, it is further determined whether or not the deviation amount is a negative value (-value) (step S).
5).

Next, in step S4, the slide unit 1
After moving 5 (sliding section 18) in the negative direction, it is determined whether or not the deviation amount is 0 (step S6). Here, when the deviation amount is 0, it is determined that the diopter adjustment has been properly performed, and the irradiation of the light emitting diode 11 is turned off under the control of the IRED drive circuit 12 (step S8).
finish. On the other hand, if the shift amount is not 0, the process is executed again from step S1.

If the displacement is a negative value in step S5, the slide portion 15 (slide portion 18) is moved in the + direction of the arrow in FIG. 1 (FIG. 2) by drive control of the motor drive circuit 17. (Step S7). On the other hand, if the shift amount is not a negative value, it is determined in step S6 whether the shift amount is zero. Here, when the deviation amount is 0, it is determined that the diopter adjustment has been properly performed, and the IR is determined.
The irradiation of the light emitting diode 11 is turned off by the control of the ED drive circuit 12 (step S8), and the process ends. On the other hand, if the shift amount is not 0, the process is executed again from step S1.

Next, in step S7, the slide unit 1
After moving 5 (slide 18) in the + direction, it is determined in step S6 whether or not the amount of deviation is zero.
Here, when the deviation amount is 0, it is determined that the diopter adjustment has been properly performed, and the irradiation of the light emitting diode 11 is turned off under the control of the IRED drive circuit 12 (step S).
8) End. On the other hand, if the shift amount is not 0, the process is executed again from step S1.

As described above, according to the finder device of the present embodiment, the curvature of the cornea of the operator is calculated only by the operator looking into the eyepiece, and the diopter adjustment is automatically performed based on the calculated curvature. Done properly. Therefore, the manual diopter adjustment operation as in the related art is omitted, the operation is extremely simplified, and high mobility can be obtained.

Note that, in order to operate various devices so as to realize the functions of the above-described embodiment (the operations of the respective steps shown in FIG. 5), an apparatus connected to the various devices or a computer in the system is required. On the other hand, a program implemented by supplying a program code of software for realizing the function of the above-described embodiment and operating the various devices according to a program stored in a computer (CPU or MPU) of the system or the apparatus is also provided. It is included in the category of the present invention.

In this case, the program code of the software implements the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the program code itself and means for supplying the program code to the computer are provided.
For example, a storage medium storing such a program code constitutes the present invention. As a storage medium for storing such a program code, for example, a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM,
A magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.

When the computer executes the supplied program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the OS (Operating System) or other operating system running on the computer. Needless to say, the program code is also included in the embodiment of the present invention when the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized in cooperation with application software or the like.

Further, after the supplied program code is stored in a memory provided in a function expansion board of a computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion board or the function expansion unit is specified based on an instruction of the program code. It is needless to say that the present invention also includes a case where a CPU or the like provided in the first embodiment performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

[0048]

According to the image pickup apparatus of the present invention, the diopter adjustment according to each operator can be automatically performed with high precision only by looking into the eyepiece, thereby simplifying the operation. To improve mobility.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a finder device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing another example of the finder device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating the principle of a corneal curvature detection method.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the principle of parallax measurement by the finder device according to the embodiment of the present invention based on the principle of the corneal curvature detection method.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a diopter adjustment method performed by the finder device according to the embodiment of the present invention in the order of steps.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing a conventional finder device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 lens barrel 2 cornea irradiation means 3 eyepiece lens 4 dichroic mirror 5 imaging lens 6 reflected light detection means 7 diopter adjustment means 8 microcomputer 11 light emitting diode 12 IRED drive circuit 13 CCD image pickup device 14 CCD drive circuit 15, 18 slide section DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 16 Adjustment part 17 Motor drive circuit 21 Sliding lens barrel 22 Liquid crystal display part 23 Backlight 24 Backlight drive circuit 25 Gear 26 Shaft 27 Drive motor 31 Optical lens

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A finder device for performing various operations while an operator gazes at a formed object image, wherein the operator irradiates an insensitive light to an eyeball of the operator, and detects reflected light from the eyeball. A finder device that calculates an imaging point according to the curvature of the eyeball based on the detected value level and automatically adjusts the diopter according to the calculated value. 2. The finder device according to claim 1, wherein the light is infrared light. 3. An eyeball irradiating means for irradiating an insensitive light to an operator's eyeball; a reflected light detecting means for detecting reflected light from the eyeball; and adjusting a diopter by adjusting a distance to the eyeball. Diopter adjusting means, calculating an imaging point corresponding to the curvature of the eyeball based on the level of the detected value of the reflected light in the reflected light detecting means, and controlling the diopter adjusting means according to the calculated value A finder device comprising control means. 4. The finder device according to claim 3, wherein said eyeball irradiating means has a light emitting diode for irradiating insensitive infrared light. 5. The finder device according to claim 3, wherein said reflected light detecting means includes an image pickup device provided with a plurality of pixels for photoelectrically converting said reflected light. 6. The diopter adjustment unit includes a diopter correction unit having at least a liquid crystal display mechanism, and a translation drive unit that moves the diopter correction unit substantially in parallel with a visual axis of the operator. The finder device according to claim 3, further comprising: 7. The diopter correction unit further includes at least a single optical lens, the liquid crystal display mechanism is fixed, and the optical lens is moved relative to the liquid crystal display mechanism by driving the translation drive unit. The finder device according to claim 6, wherein the finder device relatively moves. 8. The diopter adjustment unit includes a diopter correction unit having at least a single optical lens, and a translation drive unit that moves the diopter correction unit substantially in parallel with a visual axis of the operator. The finder device according to claim 3, comprising: 9. The diopter correction unit of the eyeball irradiating means, the reflected light detecting means and the diopter adjusting means is housed in a predetermined portion in a housing-like housing means together with an eyepiece disposed in an eyepiece portion. The finder device according to any one of claims 3 to 8, wherein the finder device is provided. 10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a portion to be irradiated with the insensitive light is a cornea of the eyeball, and an image forming point corresponding to a curvature of the cornea is calculated. Viewfinder device. 11. A diopter adjustment method for a finder device that adjusts diopter according to each operator, comprising: irradiating an insensitive light to the operator's eyeball; detecting reflected light from the eyeball; A diopter adjustment method for a finder device, comprising: calculating an imaging point corresponding to the curvature of the eyeball based on the detected value level; and automatically adjusting the diopter according to the calculated value. 12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the light is infrared light. 13. The viewfinder according to claim 11, wherein a portion irradiated with the insensitive light is a cornea of the eyeball, and an imaging point corresponding to a curvature of the cornea is calculated. Degree adjustment method.