JPH10341373A - Image-pickup device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image-pickup device with which an object can be surely and easily photographed, even in the case of frequent movements. SOLUTION: A photographing part 10 photographs an object 200. An inside positioning illumination 103 at an illuminating part 20, and an outside positioning illumination 104 emit light in different colors on a surface 201 of object 200, so as to overlap the object 200 and the photographing part 10 in the case of coincidence of the distance between them and a focal distance. When the distance between the object 200 and the photographing part 10 is shorter or longer than the focal distance, the patterns of projection parts by the inside and outside positioning illuminations 103 and 104 are made different and from this difference of patterns, a photographer recognizes the distance between the object 200 and the photographing part 10. Moreover, since the projection parts are made symmetric with respect to a main optical axis 300, the object 200 is located between two projection parts so that the object can be surely photographed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus capable of obtaining a good image even with a rapidly moving subject.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a video camera for photographing a subject is well known which includes a viewfinder for adjusting the focal length of the subject or capturing the subject within a photographing range.

Also, as disclosed in, for example, JP-A-8-9204, an image being photographed is displayed in addition to a viewfinder in order to eliminate inconvenience of camera work due to a narrow field of view during photographing. 2. Description of the Related Art There has been an imaging device that is provided with a large-sized liquid crystal display device and shoots a subject while looking at the liquid crystal display device to check whether the subject is reliably shot.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional image pickup apparatus, the photographing must always be performed while looking at the viewfinder or the liquid crystal display device. for that reason,
The photographer's eyes are concentrated on the camera. Therefore, for example, when the subject moves and goes out of the frame, it is necessary to perform an operation of once removing the line of sight from the viewfinder or the liquid crystal display device, capturing the subject with the naked eye, and then again looking into the viewfinder or the liquid crystal display device. There is. For this reason, it has been difficult with a conventional imaging apparatus to reliably photograph a rapidly moving subject.

[0005] In view of the above, there has been a demand for an imaging apparatus capable of surely and easily photographing even a rapidly moving subject.

[0006]

The present invention employs the following structure to solve the above-mentioned problems. <Structure of Claim 1> A photographing section for optically photographing a subject, and a projection pattern composed of a plurality of lights perpendicular to the optical axis of the photographing section and on the same plane as the subject, centered on the optical axis. And an illumination unit for recognizing the distance between the subject and the imaging unit in a projection pattern.

<Explanation of Claim 1> The subject targeted by the invention of claim 1 is, for example, human or animal eyes, but may be any other object. The image to be photographed may be either a moving image or a still image. Furthermore, the pattern of light projected by the illumination unit is, for example, a plurality of spot lights or a plurality of annular lights, but any pattern may be used as long as the distance to the subject can be determined by the projection pattern. Also, on the same plane as the subject, for example, the subject is the human eye and the same plane is the surface of the face, such as a mathematically perfect plane, the distance between the subject and the projected part is not a mathematically perfect plane. If it is a plane that can be determined, it includes a certain degree of unevenness.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is not necessary to look into a viewfinder or a liquid crystal display device for focusing on a subject. That is, by positioning the subject between the symmetrical projection patterns, the subject can be positioned within the frame, and the focusing can be performed simultaneously in that state. Can be used to perform positioning within the frame and focusing. Therefore, even if a frequently moving subject goes out of the frame, the imaging device can be immediately moved to put the subject in the field of view and bring the subject into focus.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, a plurality of light beams having different colors are irradiated on the same plane as the object, and a plurality of color patterns are formed according to a distance between the plane and the photographing unit. An imaging apparatus comprising: an illumination unit that illuminates so as to change.

<Explanation of Claim 2> In the invention of claim 2, the projection pattern is a combination of a plurality of different colors. For example, when the plurality of colors are two colors of red and blue, the projection units of the two colors match when the object is in focus, and the projection units are shifted when the object is far and near, and ,
The color arrangement (= pattern) is reversed.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, a plurality of lights of different colors are radiated concentrically around the optical axis on the same plane as the object, and the distance between the plane and the photographing unit is increased. An imaging apparatus comprising: an illumination unit that performs illumination so that a plurality of circle patterns change in response to the illumination.

<Explanation of Claim 3> In the invention of claim 3, the projection pattern is a plurality of annular lights. Thus, if the subject is located inside the projected annular light,
The subject can be reliably positioned within the frame,
Further, in this state, it is possible to perform focusing with the subject based on the arrangement of the colors of the annular light. When the optical axis is inclined with respect to the subject, the projection pattern becomes elliptical, so that the photographer can easily grasp this state.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in order to determine a distance from a plane including an object from a plurality of light projection pattern images captured by the imaging unit and focus the image. An image pickup apparatus comprising: an image processing unit that determines a moving direction of a moving image; and a display unit that displays the moving direction based on a result of the image processing unit.

<Explanation of Claim 4> According to the invention of claim 4, the pattern projected on the same plane as the subject is subjected to image processing, and the moving direction of the imaging device is displayed. Here, the display method of the moving direction may be any one of an image and a sound, and various specific display means can be selected.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. << Specific Example 1 >><Structure> FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing a specific example 1 of the image pickup apparatus of the present invention. Prior to this, the overall structure will be described.

FIG. 2 is an external view of the image pickup apparatus. The illustrated device includes a filter 100, a lens 101, and illumination light 10.
2. Inner positioning illumination 103, outer positioning illumination 10
4. It consists of a handle 105 and a main body 106. Filter 10
Numeral 0 is attached to the front surface of the lens 101 and controls the wavelength and intensity of the incident light. The lens 101 is
The lens is disposed on the front surface of the main body 106 and takes in an image of the subject 200. The lens and the filter 100 constitute a part of a photographing unit 10 shown in FIG. The illumination light 102 is for illuminating the subject 200. Note that this specific example shows a case where the subject 200 is human eyes, for example, for use in iris recognition processing.

The inner positioning illumination 103 and the outer positioning illumination 104 are illuminations that constitute the illumination unit 20 in FIG. 1 described later, and are arranged symmetrically up, down, left, and right with the optical axis of the lens 101 as the center. Are composed of different colors or different forms of illumination. These inner positioning light 103 and outer positioning light 104 are
The projection pattern is formed on a plane including the subject 200, and the subject 2
It has a function of indicating to the photographer the distance between 00 and the imaging device.

The handle 105 is attached to the main body 106, and the photographer grips the main body 106 and moves the main body 106 up, down, left, and right, or tilts the camera to obtain the best image quality for photographing the subject 200 with the image pickup apparatus. It is intended to be arranged at the position where it is set. In addition, in the main body 106,
An image pickup device for picking up an image and a power supply (not shown) for the illumination light 102, the inner positioning light 103, and the outer positioning light 104 are mounted.

Next, the details of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 107 denotes a CCD which is an image sensor.
Thus, the imaging unit 10 is configured together with the lens 101 and the filter 100. The illumination unit 20 is configured by the inner positioning illumination 103 and the outer positioning illumination 104.

The image of the subject 200 is projected on the CCD 107 by the lens 101. Here, the lens 10
The object distance from 1 to the subject 200 is f, and the optical axis of the lens 101 is called a main optical axis 300. In the illustrated example, it is assumed that the imaging apparatus is located on a perpendicular line to the object surface 201 including the subject 200, and that the perpendicular line and the main optical axis 300 are equal. As a result, the subject 200 is set to be in focus when located at a distance f from the lens 101. In this specific example, the description will be made on the assumption that the imaging unit 10 has a fixed focus.

The inner positioning illumination 103 and the outer positioning illumination 104 are respectively composed of an inner light source 109 and an inner lens 108, and an outer light source 111 and an outer lens 110.
It consists of. The focal lengths f1 and f2 of the inner lens 108 and the outer lens 110 are given by f1 ² = (M1−L) ² + f ² (1) f2 ² = (M2−L) ² + f ² (2) Here, M1 is the inner lens 10
8, the distance from the main optical axis 300, M2 is the outer lens 11
The distance from the main optical axis 300 is 0. L is the main optical axis 300 of the point S where the images from the inner positioning illumination 103 and the outer positioning illumination 104 are formed on the object surface 201 at one point.
Is the distance from Note that the object surface 201 is located perpendicular to the main optical axis 300 for forming an image of the subject 200 on the CCD 107.

Further, the angle between the optical axis of the inner positioning illumination 103 (hereinafter, referred to as the inner optical axis 401) and the main optical axis 300 is α1, and the optical axis of the outer positioning illumination 104 (hereinafter, the outer optical axis 402). ) And the main optical axis 300 are given by tan (α1) = (M1-L) / f (3) tan (α2) = (M2-L) / f (4) Can be

Here, the inner light source 109 and the outer light source 111
Rays emitted in parallel from the object are refracted by the lenses 108 and 110,
Collected in points. As a result, the subject 200 is
It will be at a distance f from 01. That is, only when the subject 200 is clearly imaged on the CCD 107, the inner positioning illumination 103 and the outer positioning illumination 1
A light ray from the object 04 is formed at one point at a distance L from the center of the subject 200 (in this case, the main optical axis 300). Therefore, by determining the positional relationship of the light projected from the inner positioning illumination 103 and the outer positioning illumination 104 to the vicinity of the subject 200 and performing operations such as moving the imaging device closer or farther from the subject 200, the photographer can focus on the subject. You can know where it fits.

In the above example, the inner positioning illumination 103
Although the outer positioning light 104 is composed of the inner light source 109 and the lens 108 and the outer light source 111 and the lens 110, the lenses 108 and 110 are not required if the light source can irradiate spot light.

<Operation> Next, the operation of the imaging apparatus thus configured will be described. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an operation determination method. In the case shown, the inside positioning illumination 1
03 shows a configuration in which the outside positioning illumination 104 is red and the outside positioning illumination 104 is red. In FIG. 3A, when the distance between the imaging device and the subject 200 is shorter than the object distance f,
(B) is equal (in focus), (c)
Is a pattern for a long case.

For example, when the object 200 is in focus as shown in FIG. 3B, the object 200 is located at the object distance f of the image pickup apparatus, so that the light emitted from the inner positioning light 103 and the outer positioning light 104 is emitted. Is, as shown in FIG.
Nearly one point, in fact, converges within the size of the circle of least confusion. On the other hand, in the case of FIG.
Is located at a distance shorter than the object distance f, the blue light from the inner positioning illumination 103 is located near the subject 200, and the red light from the outer positioning illumination 104 is located outside (distant from the subject 200). Is projected. Conversely, as shown in FIG. 3C, red light from the outer positioning illumination 104 is projected near the object 200, and blue light from the inner positioning illumination 103 is projected outside (a position farther than the object 200). . Thus, the photographer can know whether to move the imaging device closer or farther in order to adjust the focal length only by looking at the positional relationship between the light from the inner positioning illumination 103 and the light from the outer positioning illumination 104.

In the above example, the case where the main optical axis 300 of the image pickup apparatus coincides with the perpendicular of the object surface 201 has been described.
In an actual environment, when the subject 200 moves, the object surface 201 may be three-dimensionally inclined.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a case where the object surface 201 is inclined with respect to the imaging apparatus. A in the figure shows a case where the imaging device is located to the right of the main optical axis 300 (perpendicular line) toward the object surface 201, and B shows a case where it is located above the main optical axis 300. I have.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are explanatory diagrams showing projection patterns when the object surface 201 is inclined with respect to the image pickup apparatus. FIGS. 5A and 5B show FIGS. 4A and 4B, respectively. b)
3 shows a projection pattern in the case of.

In FIG. 5A, the projection pattern on the left side of the subject 200 has a distance from the inner positioning illumination 103 and the outer positioning illumination 104 to the object plane 201 which is longer than the object distance f. The pattern of c) is shown. Conversely, the pattern on the right is the inner positioning illumination 10
FIG. 3A shows the pattern shown in FIG. 3A because the distance from the third positioning illumination 104 to the object plane 201 is shorter than the object distance f.

Similarly, in FIG. 5B, the lower projection pattern shows the pattern of FIG. 3C and the upper projection pattern shows the pattern of FIG. . Therefore, by moving or tilting the imaging device up, down, left, and right so as to match each projection pattern in FIG. 3, the imaging device is perpendicular to the object surface 201 (the main optical axis 30).
0) It is possible to position on top. Subject 200
Is positioned on the main optical axis 300, the imaging device can be moved back and forth to find a position where the projection patterns from the inner positioning illumination 103 and the outer positioning illumination 104 overlap at that time, so that the image can be taken at the focal position. Becomes

<Effects> As described above, according to the specific example,
Different colors of light are illuminated on the same plane of the subject, and the distance between the image pickup device and the subject can be recognized with this projection pattern. For focusing on the subject, a viewfinder or liquid crystal display device is used. There is no need to look into the like. That is,
By positioning the subject between the symmetrical projection patterns, the subject can be positioned within the frame of the frame, and the focusing can be performed simultaneously in that state. Positioning and focusing can be performed. Therefore, even if a frequently moving subject goes out of the frame, the imaging device is immediately moved to place the subject in the field of view,
It can be in focus. In particular, if the imaging device is used for imaging when performing iris recognition of human or animal eyes, even a frequently moving subject such as a child or an animal,
High quality images can be obtained. In addition, in the imaging device of this specific example, a movable portion for focusing is not required, so that the reliability of the device can be increased.

<< Specific Example 2 >> In the specific example 2, in addition to the configuration of the specific example 1, a projection pattern on the object surface 201 is read by image processing, and based on this, an imaging device and a subject 200 are read.
Is displayed.

<Structure> FIG. 6 is an external view of an image pickup apparatus according to the second embodiment. In the figure, reference numeral 30 denotes an image processing unit, which is provided in the imaging apparatus main body. This image processing unit 30
Is a functional unit that determines the positional relationship between the imaging device and the subject 200 from the image of the projection pattern captured by the imaging unit 10, and is configured as follows.

FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram of the image processing unit 30. The image processing unit 30 includes an initial setting unit 31, a red region extracting unit 32, a blue region extracting unit 33, and a positional relationship determining unit 3.
4. An output unit 35. These initial setting sections 31 to output section 35 are configured to perform the following operations.

As shown in FIG. 3, when the main optical axis 300 of the imaging apparatus overlaps with the perpendicular of the object surface 201, the initial setting unit 31 determines the distance between the lens 101 and the subject 200 as the object distance f. Inner positioning illumination 103 and outer positioning illumination 1 for closer, equal, and distant cases
The size of the projection pattern 04, the distance between the projection patterns, and the positional relationship are measured in advance. The size of the red and blue projection patterns is smaller than a preset size, and
If the distance between the two patterns is smaller than a preset distance, the distance between the lens 101 and the subject 200 becomes equal to the object distance f.
Is determined to be equal to

The red area extracting section 32 extracts a red area from the image and within the size range obtained by the initial setting section 31, and illuminates each area with the inner positioning illuminations located at the top, bottom, left and right of the lens. Correspond to the projection pattern from 103.
The blue region extraction unit 33 performs the same processing as that performed by the red region extraction unit 32 on the blue region in the image. The positional relationship determination unit 34 includes a red region extraction unit 32 and a blue region extraction unit 33
Based on the size and positional relationship of the projection patterns of the inner positioning illumination 103 and the outer positioning illumination 104 obtained in the above, it is determined whether the entire imaging device or each of the upper, lower, left, and right parts of the imaging device is closer to or farther from the subject 200. I do. The output unit 35 includes a positional relationship determination unit 34
This is a functional unit that outputs to the display unit the instruction to the photographer determined in. Here, when the display unit is configured by an audio display unit, the output unit 35 performs audio output. When the display unit is configured by an image display unit, the output unit 35 performs image output.

In FIG. 6, the other configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment, and the corresponding parts are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.

<Operation> Inner positioning illumination 10 of imaging apparatus
The operation when the projection pattern appears on the object surface 201 according to the positional relationship as shown in FIG. 3 by the third and outer positioning illuminations 104 is the same as that of the first embodiment.

An image including such a projection pattern is subjected to image processing by the image processing section 30. For example, when the obtained image is as shown in FIG. 5A, blue, red, blue, and red are arranged in order from the left projection pattern to the right. Therefore, it is determined from the example of the projection pattern in FIG. Then, it is determined that the left blue and red projection patterns correspond to cases where the distance is longer than the object distance, and the right blue and red projection patterns correspond to cases where the object pattern is closer than the object distance. Therefore, in this case, an instruction is given to move the left side of the imaging apparatus closer to the subject 200 and move the right side away.
Similar processing is performed for the projection patterns arranged in FIG. 5B.

The output section 35 outputs such an instruction by voice. As this audio display, for example, a method of notifying how to move the imaging device with a predetermined tone or interval of a beep sound or displaying a moving direction such as “right” or “left” by voice is used. Used.

The output unit 35 may be used as an image display, and may be provided in the main body 106. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing such an image display unit. As shown in the figure, the image display unit shows lamps for up, down, left and right movements. In each lamp, the color of the lamp indicates that the upper, lower, left, and right portions of the imaging device are closer to or farther from the subject 200. For example, when one of the upper, lower, left, and right is far, the display blinks yellow, and when it is close, the display blinks green.

Further, as a display method, an image display as shown in FIG. 8 may be projected on a portion different from the projection pattern by the inner positioning illumination 103 and the outer positioning illumination 104 on the object surface 201. In this case, the projection pattern may be an arrow indicating the moving direction.

By displaying such a moving direction, the photographer can accurately know the in-focus object position by moving the imaging device up, down, left and right in accordance with the instruction.

<Effect> According to the specific example 2 as described above,
Since the combination of the projection patterns is read by image processing and the result of the determination is displayed, the photographer can tilt the imaging device up, down, left, right, or close to the subject necessary to obtain a focused image. It is possible to know the moving direction such as whether or not to move away.

In the specific examples 1 and 2, four (inside and outside) sets of the inside positioning lights 10 are used as the lighting section 20.
Although 3 and the outer positioning illumination 104 are used, the number of illuminations is not limited to this. Further, the inner positioning illumination 103 is blue and the outer positioning illumination 104 is red, but these colors can be selected as appropriate.

Further, in each of the above specific examples, the projection patterns from the inner positioning illumination 103 and the outer positioning illumination 104 have been described in the case of using spot illumination which forms an image at one point on the object surface 201. Alternatively, for example, ring illumination can be used. In this case, the projection patterns of the inner positioning illumination 103 and the outer positioning illumination 104 form concentric double circles when the imaging device is located on a perpendicular to the object surface 201, and the circles overlap at the focal length. To do. If the projection pattern is away from the perpendicular, the projection pattern is transformed into an ellipse. In this case, since the direction of the deviation from the perpendicular is reflected as the major axis direction of the ellipse, the inclination of the imaging device can be corrected based on this.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example 1 of an imaging device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an external view of a specific example 1 of the imaging apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an operation determination method in a specific example 1 of the imaging apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a case where an object surface is inclined with respect to the imaging device in the specific example 1 of the imaging device of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a projection pattern in a case where an object surface is inclined with respect to the imaging device in the specific example 1 of the imaging device of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an external view of a specific example 2 of the imaging apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image processing unit in a specific example 2 of the imaging apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a display unit in a specific example 2 of the imaging apparatus of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 imaging unit 20 illumination unit 30 image processing unit 103 inner positioning illumination 104 outer positioning illumination 200 subject 201 object plane 300 main optical axis

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI H04N 5/238 H04N 5/238 Z

Claims (4)

[Claims] A photographing unit for optically photographing a subject; and a projection pattern composed of a plurality of lights perpendicular to an optical axis of the photographing unit and on the same plane as the subject. An imaging apparatus, which is symmetrically formed as a center and includes an illumination unit for recognizing a distance between the subject and the imaging unit in the projection pattern. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of lights having different colors are irradiated on the same plane as the subject.
And an illumination unit for illuminating so that the pattern of the plurality of colors changes according to the distance between the plane and the imaging unit. 3. The device according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of lights of different colors are radiated concentrically around an optical axis on the same plane as the subject, and the plurality of lights are arranged in accordance with a distance between the plane and a photographing unit. An imaging apparatus comprising: an illumination unit that performs illumination so that the pattern of the circle changes. 4. A moving direction for focusing is determined by determining a distance from a plane including a subject from images of a plurality of light projection patterns photographed by a photographing unit. An image pickup apparatus, comprising: an image processing unit that performs a moving operation; and a display unit that displays a moving direction based on a result of the image processing unit.