JPH1042169A - Video camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a video camera by which character signals are fed independently each other to a video signal outputted to an electronic view finder and an auxiliary output terminal. SOLUTION: The camera is provided with an electronic view finder 3, auxiliary output terminals such as a test signal output terminal 4 and a remote terminal 6, a character signal generator 12, and character signal changeover switches 16, 17, 18, 19 through which a character signal 12a is fed independently to a test signal 14 resulting from superimposing the character signal 12a generated by the character signal generator 12 onto a video signal to be picked up and outputting the result to the electronic view finder 3 and the auxiliary output terminal. The presence/absence of display of characters to the electronic view finder 3 and the auxiliary output terminal is freely selected by operating independently the character signal changeover switches.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video camera, and more particularly to a video camera capable of superimposing a character signal or the like on a video signal output to an electronic viewfinder and an auxiliary output terminal such as a test signal output terminal and a remote terminal of the video camera. About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Modern video cameras have various auxiliary output terminals. FIG. 5 shows a video camera and its peripheral devices. As shown in FIG.
Is a color image pickup means 2 having a lens and the like, an electronic viewfinder 3 (hereinafter referred to as a viewfinder 3) having a built-in cathode ray tube having a black and white screen, and a test signal output terminal to which a test monitor 5 is connected. 4, an auxiliary output terminal such as a remote terminal 6 to which a remote controller 7 and a remote monitor 8 are connected, and a video output terminal 10 to which a video tape recorder 9 used for editing or the like is connected.

The video camera 1 is provided with a view finder 3 and a test signal for notifying various information and warnings while operating the video camera 1 or items and numerical values for adjusting and setting the video camera 1. The output terminal 4 has a function of superimposing these as a character signal on the video signal.

Hereinafter, an example of a circuit configuration for supplying various signals to the auxiliary output terminal of the video camera 1 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, a microprocessor 11 for controlling the entire video camera 1 writes character data 11a corresponding to various information to a character signal generator 12 based on a clock 11b, and outputs a character data according to the state of the video camera 1. The data 11a is deleted or updated.

The character signal generator 12 outputs a character signal 12a and a blanking signal 12b corresponding to the character data 11a written from the microprocessor 11. The character signal 12
“a” is superimposed on a test signal 14 which is one of the auxiliary signals synthesized from the color imaging means 2 via the signal processing circuit 13 and supplied to the test signal output terminal 4 and the viewfinder 3.

When the superposition of the character signal 12a is enabled by the character signal supply changeover switches 16, 17, 18 and 19 described later by the character control signal 15, the viewfinder 3 and the test signal output terminal 4 The video signal mixed with the character signal 12a is output according to the blanking signal 12b, and the image on which the character is superimposed is displayed on the viewfinder 3 and the test monitor 5.

Hereinafter, the character signal switching operation of the video camera provided with the character signal supply changeover switches 16, 17, 18 and 19 will be described in detail. The optical image 20 input through the color imaging means 2 of the video camera 1 is photoelectrically converted, and a color video signal 22 is obtained through a signal processing circuit 13 for performing signal processing such as gamma correction and a color encoder 21.

On the other hand, from the signal processing circuit 13, a test signal 14 for monitoring a monochrome signal for the viewfinder 3 and an R, G or B channel signal is obtained. Then, from the microprocessor 11 for controlling the entire video camera, character data 11a corresponding to various display characters is written into the character signal generator 12 in synchronization with the clock 11b.

The character signal generator 12 outputs a character signal 12a and a blanking signal 12b corresponding to the written character data 11a.
These character signal 12a and blanking signal 12b
And the test signal 14 is the character control signal 15
Are input to an addition circuit 23 and a signal changeover switch 24 through character signal supply changeover switches 16 and 17 which are turned on and off.

The character signal 12a passed through the test signal, the character signal supply switch 16 and the character signal supply switch 17,
And the blanking signal 12b are supplied to the signal switching circuit 2
5 to the viewfinder 3.

At the same time, the character signal supply changeover switch 18 and the character signal supply changeover switch 19 are also turned on by the character control signal 15, and the switch 28 is turned to the addition circuit 27 side and the switch 26 is turned on.
Is switched to the test signal 14, and the character signal 12a, the blanking signal 12b, and the test signal 14 that have passed through the switch 28 are supplied to the test signal output terminal 4 and the remote terminal 6. Also, the color video signal 22
Are output directly to the video output terminal 10.

The signal switching circuit 25 is a circuit for switching a video signal other than an input video signal at the time of photographing to the viewfinder 3, and includes, for example, a reproduced video signal (VTR-V).
PB signal), a video signal (CCU-RET signal) for confirming an image actually broadcast at the time of shooting on the viewfinder 3 via the remote controller, and an external video signal to be confirmed are selected from a setting menu of the video camera. This has a function of switching a video signal (CAM-RET signal) to be confirmed on the viewfinder 3 and is mainly attached to a video camera for business use such as broadcasting.

[0013]

In the above conventional configuration, the on / off effect of the character signal supply changeover switches 16, 17, 18 and 19 which are turned on / off by the character control signal 15 is determined by the test signal output terminal 4.
And the viewfinder 3 simultaneously.

For this reason, if the signal to the test signal output terminal 4 and the signal to the viewfinder 3 are to be used for different purposes, for example, a video engineer warns at the test signal output terminal 4 at a shooting site such as video recording. However, since this signal is also sent to the viewfinder 3 side, such a warning interferes with the photographing of the photographer. Therefore, the display of the character cannot be avoided.

According to the present invention, when a character signal is superimposed on a video signal output to an auxiliary output terminal such as the test signal output terminal 4 or the remote terminal 6 and a video signal output to the viewfinder 3, they interfere with each other. Another object of the present invention is to provide a video camera having a function that does not require a video camera.

[0016]

The video camera of the present invention comprises:
Character signal supply switching means for independently supplying a character signal to a video signal output to the auxiliary output terminal and a video signal output to the electronic viewfinder is provided. By independently switching and supplying the character signals, it is not necessary to superimpose mutually unnecessary character signals on the video signal.

[0017]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention. Note that the same reference numerals are given to components whose functions are not different from those of the related art. As shown in FIG. 1, an optical image 20 input to a color imaging unit 2 of a video camera is converted by a color imaging unit 2 and processed by a signal processing circuit 13 and a color encoder 21 for performing signal processing such as gamma correction. A color video signal 22 is obtained.

On the other hand, from the signal processing circuit 13, a test signal 14 for monitoring a black and white signal for a viewfinder and a signal of R, G or B channel is obtained. And a microprocessor 1 for controlling the entire video camera.
1 to the character signal generator 12 to write character data 11a corresponding to various display characters in synchronization with the clock 11b.

The character signal 1 corresponding to the character data 11a written in the character signal generator 12
2a and a blanking signal 12b. The character signal 12a and the blanking signal 12b are
The signals are input to the addition circuit 23 and the signal switch 24 through the character signal supply changeover switches 16 and 17, respectively. The input to the addition circuit 23 and the changeover switch 24 of the character signal supply changeover switches 16 and 17 is controlled by a viewfinder character control signal 29. The test signal 14 from the signal processing circuit 13 is output to the viewfinder 3 via the switch 24 and the signal switching circuit 25.

On the other hand, the character signal 12a and the blanking signal 12b are also wired to other provided character signal supply changeover switches 18 and 19, and are inputted to an addition circuit 27 and a signal changeover switch 28. The character signal supply changeover switches 18 and 19 are turned on and off by a test signal output character control signal 30, and inputs to the addition circuit 27 and the changeover switch 28 are controlled.

Further, the test signal 14 is
Alternatively, the video signal 22 is selected, and the selected signal is output to the test signal output terminal 4 or the remote terminal 6 via the switch 28. Further, the color video signal 22
Are output directly to the video signal output terminal 10.

The operation of the video camera having the above configuration will now be described.
9, the character signal supply switch 16
When the character signal supply changeover switch 17 is in the off state as shown in the figure, the switch 24 is switched to the state shown in the figure for passing the test signal 14, and even if the test signal 14 is selected by the signal switching circuit 25. No character signal is sent to the viewfinder 3.

On the other hand, when the character signal supply switch 16 and the character signal supply switch 17 are on, the character signal 12a is input to the addition circuit 23 and the test signal 14 is added at an appropriate ratio. Is done. The added signal is switched by the switch 24 according to the blanking signal 12b, and an image in which a character is superimposed is displayed on the viewfinder 3.

Further, the character signal supply switch 16 and the character signal supply switch 17 are turned off, and the character signal supply switch 18 and the character signal supply switch 19 are turned on by the test signal output character control signal 30. Thus, the character signal 12a can be output to the test signal output terminal 4 and the remote terminal 6.

According to this embodiment, the supply of the on / off control signal to the character signal supply changeover switches 16 and 17 of the viewfinder character control signal 29 and the character signal supply changeover switch 18 of the test signal output character control signal 30 are provided. By individually controlling the supply of the on / off control signal to the terminal 19, the superposition of the character signal on the viewfinder 3 and the superposition of the character signal on the auxiliary output terminals such as the test signal output terminal 4 to the remote terminal 6 can be performed. Each can be performed independently.

That is, unlike the related art, the character signal 12a can be output to only one of the viewfinder 3 and the test output terminal 4 and the on / off control can be performed so as not to output the character signal 12a to the other. Is not displayed on the viewfinder 3, so that the trouble of the monitor at the time of shooting can be eliminated.

Next, an embodiment in which two character signal generators are provided to generate different character signals by partially changing the above embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, two character signal generators, a character signal generator 12 and a character signal generator 31, are provided. Then, wires 11c and 11d from the microprocessor 11 to the character generator 19 and the character signal generator 31 are prepared, and the character signal generator 1 is connected through these wires 11c or 11d.
2 or the character signal generator 31 is enabled, and different character data 11a and character data 11e
In synchronism with 1b, they are separately written in the character signal generator 12 and the character signal generator 31, respectively.

The character signal 12a and the character signal 31a generated by the character signal generator 12 and the character signal generator 31, respectively, are added to the test signal 14 by the addition circuit 23 and the addition circuit 27, respectively, and the blanking signal 12b Are switched by the switches 24 and 28 in accordance with the blanking signal 31b, and different character signals are output to the viewfinder 3, the test signal output terminal 4 and the remote terminal 6, respectively.

Also in this case, the character signal supply changeover switches 16 and 17 and the character signal supply changeover switches 18 and 19 can be independently turned on / off independently of the first embodiment. In the above-described two embodiments, the character signal supply switch is independently switched to supply the character signal to the viewfinder 3, the test output terminal 4, and the like. However, either the character signal generator 12 or the character signal generator 31 is used. When the configuration in which no character data is written is adopted, it is equivalent to releasing the character signal supply changeover switches 16 and 17 and the switches 18 and 19 by the respective character control signals 29 and 30. The character signal supply switch can be omitted to control the supply of the character signal.

In the embodiment in which these character signal supply changeover switches are omitted, as shown in FIG. 3, a viewfinder character control for outputting a character signal to any of the viewfinder 3, the test signal output terminal 4 and the remote terminal 6, as shown in FIG. The signal 29 or the test signal output character control signal 30 is selected by the microprocessor 11, the character signal generator 12 or the character signal generator 31 is enabled through the wiring 11c or 11d, and the character data 11a is enabled. Just write to the generator.

Then, the character signal 12a or 31a generated by the enabled character signal generator is generated.
Is the test signal 14 and the addition circuit 23 or the addition circuit 27
Are switched by the switch 24 or 28 in accordance with the blanking signal 12b or 31b, and a character signal is output to the viewfinder 3 or one of the test output terminal 4 and the remote terminal 6.

[0032]

According to the present invention, a photographer who performs photographing using a viewfinder and a video for checking and setting the image of a video signal supplied from a test signal output terminal or a remote terminal are provided. According to the position of the engineer, both can freely select whether to display the character or not to display the character without obstructing their work.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a video camera according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a video camera according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a video camera according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an example of a block configuration diagram of a conventional video camera.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of an auxiliary output terminal and a peripheral device of a general video camera.

[Description of Signs] 11. Microprocessor 12, 31 Character signal generator 12a, 31a Character signal 12b Blanking signal 14. Test signal 16, 17, 18, 19 Character signal supply switching switch

Claims (4)

[Claims] An electronic viewfinder, an auxiliary output terminal, a character signal generator for generating a character signal, and a video signal output to the electronic viewfinder and a video signal output to the auxiliary output terminal. A video camera, comprising: character signal supply switching means for independently supplying a character signal generated by the character signal generator. 2. The video camera according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of character signal generators for supplying different character signals to said viewfinder and said auxiliary output terminal. 3. The video camera according to claim 1, wherein said auxiliary output terminal is a test signal output terminal. 4. The video camera according to claim 1, wherein said auxiliary output terminal is a remote terminal.