JPH11237654A - Image pickup device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image pickup device having a vibrationproof effect even to the shake of wide-range frequency and capable of realizing vibrationproofing to large fluctuation. SOLUTION: A lens barrel 101, an image pickup element 102 and a sensor holding member 108 are integrated and supported to be in suspension structure in an outside case member 113 through a rubber washer. Electronic vibrationproofing or optical vibrationproofing is performed in accordance with output from a sensor. By such constitution, the vibration of high frequency is isolated by the rubber washer and the vibration (camera shake) of low frequency is isolated by the electronic vibrationproofing or the optical vibrationproofing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus such as a video camera having an image stabilization (also called image stabilization or image stabilization) function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a video camera equipped with an image stabilizing function equipped with a camera shake preventing means is generally used. As methods of the camera shake prevention function, there are optical correction and electronic correction.

[0003] In optical camera shake correction, a prism or lens member capable of displacing the optical axis is arranged in the middle of the optical path of the photographing light incident on the image pickup device, and the optical axis is displaced in accordance with camera shake, thereby correcting the camera shake. I do. As an optical shake detection means, an angular velocity sensor such as a vibration gyro is used,
It is general to detect a shake component directly applied to the camera and to detect the angular displacement of the camera by integrating the output.

On the other hand, electronic image stabilization is often used together with a motion vector detection method in which a camera motion amount is calculated from a change in a video signal between fields and is used as a shake signal. The stored image in the field memory is corrected by extracting a part of the memory image so that the motion is removed.

As another system for electronic camera shake correction, a sensor is used for camera shake detection, only a part of an image received by the image sensor is cut out, and the cutout position is controlled in accordance with the detected camera shake. There are also types that perform blur correction.

In the case of the electronic type, since the electric correction is performed on the video signal, the correction period is the field period, and the camera shake during the exposure time cannot be removed. There is. In addition, by using a high-density large-sized image sensor, the resolution of a captured image extracted from a clip or extracted from a memory is increased, and image quality degradation, which is disadvantageous compared to an optical image sensor, is being improved.

[0007]

However, in the camera shake correction means as in the above-mentioned conventional example, the object to be removed is camera shake (frequency is about 3 to 8 Hz) regardless of the method.
It is 20H that there is a correction effect even if the
This is up to about z, and it was not possible to isolate vibrations at frequencies higher than z. In the case of a video camera, it is merely a "camera shake correction function", not a "vibration-proof function" that can remove any vibration transmitted to the camera. In particular, in the case of the electronic type, since the correction period is the field period, a frequency equal to or less than 1/2 of the field period (30% for NTSC).
If the camera is installed on a bridge girder such as a pedestrian bridge, or on a tripod on a car or ship, the camera cannot be compensated in principle. In some cases, there is a problem that the phase delay is caused due to the response characteristic of the correction system, and conversely, vibration is caused.

Further, in the case of electronic image stabilization, there is a problem that the effect of correcting large vibrations is lower than that of optical image stabilization, and the correction range is small. This is because, in principle, the smaller the ratio of the size of the extracted image to the entire captured image, the larger the fluctuation can be corrected, but by reducing the size of the extracted image, the number of pixels is reduced. This is because image quality is greatly deteriorated due to the necessity of electronic enlargement processing and the like, and therefore, priority is given to image quality mainly at the expense of image stabilization effects.

The present invention has been made under such a circumstance, and has an image stabilizing effect even for a wide range of frequency shake in order to bring the image stabilization function closer to the "image stabilization function".
It is another object of the present invention to provide an image pickup apparatus capable of preventing vibrations even with a larger shake.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, according to the present invention, an imaging apparatus is configured as described in the following (1) to (9).

(1) An image pickup means, a detection means for detecting a shake of the image pickup means, fixed to the image pickup means, and a correction means for correcting the shake detected by the detection means. An image pickup apparatus comprising: an image stabilizing support unit that supports the fixed image pickup unit and the detection unit in a vibration-proof manner with respect to an exterior member of the image pickup apparatus main body.

(2) Image pickup means, detection means for detecting the movement of the photographed image output from the image pickup means, correction means for correcting the movement of the photographed image detected by the detection means, and the image pickup means An image pickup apparatus comprising: a vibration-proof support unit that supports the image pickup apparatus body in a vibration-proof manner with respect to an exterior member.

(3) The image pickup apparatus according to the above (1) or (2), wherein the vibration proof support means has a vibration absorbing material such as a rubber material.

(4) In the image pickup apparatus described in (1) or (2) above, the anti-vibration support means has an anti-vibration effect against a vibration having a frequency higher than a vibration frequency that can be corrected by the correction means. Imaging device.

(5) In the imaging device according to the above (1) or (2), the anti-vibration support means attenuates a swing amplitude transmitted to the imaging means more than the imaging apparatus main body, so that the correction means is originally provided. An image pickup apparatus capable of correcting a shake even for a large shake that cannot be completely corrected by only an image pickup apparatus.

(6) In the imaging device described in the above (1), the swing detecting means is a swing detecting means such as a vibration type angular velocity sensor or an acceleration sensor.

(7) In the image pickup apparatus described in (2) above, the shake detecting means obtains a correlation of a photographed image between fields through an output image from the image pickup means via a memory means such as a field memory. , An imaging device that is a motion vector detecting unit that extracts a motion vector.

(8) The image pickup apparatus according to the above (1) or (2), wherein the correction means calculates an image shift amount on the image pickup element due to a swing from an output of the detection means, An image pickup device configured to cut out a part of an image from all the picked-up images and change the cut-out position so as to suppress the displacement of the image based on the output of the calculating means.

(9) The imaging apparatus according to the above (1) or (2), wherein the correction means is an optical shake correction means driven in accordance with an output of the detection means.

[0020]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to examples of a video camera. Although the embodiment is an apparatus for photographing a moving image, the present invention can be similarly applied to a so-called digital camera for photographing a still image, a silver halide film camera, and the like.

[0021]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the structure of a "video camera" according to a first embodiment. FIG. 1A is a front view of the video camera main body, showing a state in which a front cover member is removed (a cross-sectional view taken along a plane BB ′ in FIG. 1B). FIG. 1 (b)
(A) is a cross-sectional view of the figure cut by plane AA.
2B, light from a subject passes through a lens barrel 101, forms an image on an image sensor 102 such as a CCD, and is transmitted via a signal line 103 to a substrate 104 having a signal processing circuit. It is processed as a video signal, and is recorded by the magnetic recording device 105 or displayed on the finder 106 as necessary. Reference numeral 107 denotes a microphone, and reference numeral 108 denotes a sensor holding member to which angular velocity sensors 111 and 112 such as a vibrating gyro are fixed, and a detection signal is sent to the substrate 104 via signal lines 109 and 110, respectively. Angular velocity sensor 111,
Reference numeral 112 denotes a sensor holding member 108, which is fixed to the lens barrel 101 and integrated.

Reference numeral 113 denotes an exterior (also referred to as a housing) member of the video camera body. As a feature of the present embodiment, the lens barrel 101, the imaging element 102, and the holding member 108 of the angular velocity sensor are integrated and connected to the exterior member 113 via the rubber seat 114 as a vibration absorbing material. The shaking detection unit has a structure that is not easily affected by disturbance such as camera shake.

In the present embodiment, the magnetic recording device 105 and the substrate 104 are structured to be directly fixed to the exterior member 113. However, vibrations are absorbed by flexible portions of the signal lines 103 and 110, and an image pickup unit and a shake detection unit are provided. 101, 102, 108
There is no effect on The structure of the present embodiment may be such that at least the integrated imaging units 101 and 102 and the swing detection unit 108 are connected to the main body exterior member 113 via the vibration absorbing material 114, and the substrate 104, the magnetic recording device 105, and the like. Is also integrated with the imaging unit, and the entire video camera body is an exterior member 1.
13, a structure in which a rubber seat is connected may be used.

Referring to FIG. 1A, a method of connecting the lens barrel 101 and the exterior member 113 via the rubber seat 114 will be described. The rubber seat 114 is fixed to the lens barrel 101 and the sensor holding member 108 (the pitch angular velocity sensor 111 and the yaw angular velocity sensor 112 are fixed to the sensor holding member 108).
Screws may be used, but in the present embodiment, it is assumed that they are fixed with an adhesive for simplicity). In the rubber seat 114,
A stop hole 114a having a diameter larger than the diameter of the screw 115 screwed from the exterior is open. This rubber hole 114
The lens barrel 101 is held by the exterior member 111 on the contact surface between the a and the screw 115, and the lens barrel 101 has a suspended structure.

With this suspension structure, the imaging system (101, 1
02) and the vibration transmitted to the vibration detection system (111, 112), the vibration amplitude becomes small due to the damping action of the rubber seat 114, and the vibration having a high vibration frequency is removed.
Therefore, the large-amplitude and high-frequency swing components that the camera shake correction unit is not good at can be removed by the rubber, and the shake components that cannot be removed by the rubber can be easily corrected by the camera shake correction unit.

Next, the electronic image stabilization will be described with reference to FIG.
Reference numeral 101 denotes a lens barrel, and 102 denotes an image sensor such as a CCD. An image on the image sensor 102 is photoelectrically converted, amplified to an optimum level by an amplifier 201 via a signal line 103 which is wired flexibly, input to a camera signal processing circuit 202, and converted into a standard television signal.

The camera shown in FIG. 2 has an electronic image stabilizing function.
This is performed by detecting the state of No. 11. The angular velocity sensors 111 and 112 detect the swing angular velocity of the image pickup unit including the lens barrel 101 and the image pickup element 102, and the amplifiers 207 and 2
After the amplification in step 08, the integrators 209 and 210 integrate the angular velocity signal and convert it into angular displacement.
05. The microcomputer 205 calculates the obtained angular displacement,
That is, according to the swing angle θ and the focal length f of the optical system, the imaging device 1
The shake correction is performed by moving the pixel movement amount (approximately f · tan θ) due to the shake on O2 in the direction opposite to the movement direction due to the shake. Note that the angular velocity sensors 111 and 112 are connected to the amplifiers 207 and 208 (in the substrate 104) via signal lines 110 which are flexibly wired.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining image areas extracted by electronic image stabilization control. In FIG. 3A, reference numeral 301 denotes an effective pixel area of the image sensor 102, and only a part of the area 302 is extracted to correct the shaking.
Is moved to the start point (x0, y0) within the range of 301, image stabilization is performed, and only the area 302 is displayed on the monitor 106 such as a TV or a finder or recorded on the magnetic recording device 105 (FIG. b)).

As a method for this purpose, an image of the area 301 is temporarily stored using a field memory, and while only the image of the area 302 is read out, while being enlarged so as to have a size of 303, the horizontal and vertical scanning lines Is interpolated to 30
3 and the extraction area 302 is set in advance to the standard TV.
There is a method of using a high-density, high-pixel type, large-sized CCD as an image sensor so as to satisfy the number of scanning lines required for signals. Both the former and the latter are expensive field memories and large CCs
Since D is required, in this embodiment, a general-purpose PAL CCD is used for an NTSC camera. PA
Since the CCD for L has a high pixel density in the vertical direction, the vertical scanning direction is controlled by a CCD driving circuit such as a timing generator.
If the number of lines to be swept at high speed is changed in accordance with the angular displacement within the range of the number of extra lines with respect to the NTSC standard, the position of the cutout image in the vertical direction can be changed. Also, in the horizontal scanning direction, when the relationship between the pixel start position for writing to the line memory and the pixel position for start of reading is changed while performing the enlargement process by the V / W ratio with the configuration of the line memory and the memory control circuit, the horizontal direction is obtained. The screen position can be changed, and an inexpensive shake correction device can be realized.

FIG. 2 shows a configuration of such a correction system, in which the microcomputer 205 moves pixels in the vertical scanning direction by using the CC.
By controlling the D drive circuit 206 to perform high-speed sweeping control, a desired scanning area is extracted, and pixel movement in the horizontal scanning direction is performed by capturing a video signal processed by the camera signal processing circuit 202. 203 and the memory control circuit 204 perform enlargement processing (change the memory readout rate) to match the vertical / horizontal ratio while changing the readout position of the stored horizontal scan image in accordance with the shake correction pixel movement amount, and Signal to camera signal processing circuit 2
02 is returned to a standard TV signal by performing a color process or the like.

By arranging the video camera having the anti-vibration system shown in FIG. 2 in the configuration shown in FIG. 1, two main advantages can be obtained.

On the one hand, a high frequency vibration component can be removed by a passive vibration isolating effect of a vibration isolating member such as a rubber seat, and an active vibration isolating system including a shake detecting system and an electronic correction system. In addition, low frequency vibration components can be removed, and the effects of camera shake and vibration can be removed over a wide frequency band. FIG. 4 shows this state. FIG. 4 shows the effect of suppressing the vibration frequency. The characteristics of the electronic vibration isolating system are shown at 401, and the characteristics of the vibration absorbing member are shown at 402.

As a second advantage, since the amplitude of camera shake and vibration can be attenuated by the vibration absorbing member, the swing angle (converted into the camera rotation angle on the optical axis, which can be corrected by the electronic vibration isolation system: maximum correction) Angle θ = Tan ⁻¹ (maximum amount of movement of the cut-out position on the CCD / focal length) Even when a shake greater than or equal to the camera body is applied, vibration can be prevented.

Although the present embodiment has been described with respect to the configuration using the PAL CCD and the line memory, the correction may be performed by controlling the position of the extracted image using the field memory, or the enlargement control may be performed. A large-sized or super-high-pixel type CCD that does not need to be used may be used. The invention is not limited to the electronic correction system, but may be an optical camera shake correction system. In this case, the optical correction system may be connected to the camera exterior via a vibration absorbing member. In this embodiment, an angular velocity sensor is used as the shake detecting means. However, an acceleration sensor may be used. In that case, the integration process may be performed once inside or outside the anti-shake control microcomputer. Also, the calculation of the swing angle displacement amount has been described in FIG. 2 as a hardware configuration, but may be processed by software. In addition, although the rubber material has been described as an example of the vibration absorbing member, the present invention is not limited to this, and any material having a high elastic modulus capable of absorbing vibration can be used.

(Embodiment 2) In the first embodiment, the case where a shaking sensor is used as the shaking detecting means has been described as an example. However, in the second embodiment, a so-called motion for detecting a shaking amount of an image pickup system from a change in a photographed image. This is an example in the case where a vector detection unit is used.

In this case, only the image pickup system including the lens barrel and the image pickup device may be used as the suspension structure from the exterior member via the vibration absorbing member. The configuration shown in FIG. Similar effects can be obtained. FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of the anti-vibration system. In FIG. 6, portions having the same configuration as in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description is omitted.

The video signal from the camera signal processing circuit 202 is supplied to a field memory 301 and a motion detection circuit 303.
Sent to The motion detection circuit 303 extracts a changed portion of the subject from a continuous video signal (for example, between fields) and outputs the extracted portion to the image stabilization control unit 304. The image stabilization control unit 304 determines whether the movement is a part of the screen or the movement of the entire screen according to the motion signal (whether or not the camera is moving), and corrects the movement in the latter case. The correction command to be output to the memory control circuit 302. Memory control circuit 302
Then, an area selected in accordance with the correction signal is extracted from the video information stored in the field memory 301, and the signal is returned to the camera signal processing circuit 202 and subjected to color processing or the like to be converted into a standard TV signal. Field memory 301
In the image stabilizing system using the above, there is no need to perform vertical image clipping by high-speed sweeping control by the CCD drive circuit 206.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to provide an imaging device that has an effect of suppressing vibrations in a wide range of frequencies and is capable of preventing vibrations even when the vibrations are larger. More specifically, at least the imaging system and the shake detection sensor connected to the imaging system (only the imaging system may be used in the case of motion vector detection) are supported via a vibration absorbing material from a housing member that is the exterior of the imaging device. By doing so, high-frequency components transmitted from the imaging apparatus main body to the imaging system are removed, and low-frequency fluctuation components transmitted to the imaging system are suppressed by the fluctuation detecting unit and the correcting unit. Therefore, it is possible to provide a comfortable imaging device that eliminates disturbance of a photographed image due to camera shake and vibration in all photographing conditions, from handheld photographing, tripod photographing on a car or a ship, photographing a bridge girder of a pedestrian bridge, and so on. Becomes possible.

In particular, since the vibration amplitude transmitted from the main body to the image pickup system can be sharply attenuated by interposing the vibration absorbing material, even in a photographing situation where the vibration is large,
The swing to the image pickup system has a small amplitude, and the vibration can be prevented. As a result, it is possible to provide an imaging apparatus capable of expanding the shake correction range, obtaining a stable shot image without blur, and realizing comfortable shooting.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a main part of the first embodiment;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of electronic vibration isolation.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing vibration isolation characteristics.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part of the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Lens barrel 102 Image sensor 108 Sensor holding member 114 Rubber seat (vibration absorbing member)

Claims (9)

[Claims] An image pickup unit, a detection unit for detecting a shake of the image pickup unit, the detection unit fixed to the image pickup unit, and a correction unit for correcting the shake detected by the detection unit. An image pickup apparatus, comprising: a vibration-proof support means for supporting the image pickup means and the detection means provided in a vibration-proof manner on an exterior member of the image pickup apparatus main body. 2. An image pickup means, a detection means for detecting a movement of a photographed image output from the image pickup means, a correction means for correcting the movement of the photographed image detected by the detection means, and the image pickup means An image pickup apparatus comprising: an image stabilizing support unit that supports the image pickup apparatus body in a vibration-proof manner with respect to an exterior member. 3. An imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said vibration-proof supporting means has a vibration absorbing material such as a rubber material. 4. An image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said vibration-proof supporting means has a vibration-proof effect against a vibration having a frequency higher than a vibration frequency which can be corrected by said correction means. An imaging device, comprising: 5. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image stabilizing support unit attenuates a swing amplitude transmitted to the image pickup unit from an image pickup unit main body.
An imaging apparatus characterized in that shake correction can be performed even for a large shake that cannot be corrected by the correction means alone. 6. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said swing detecting means is a swing detecting means such as a vibration type angular velocity sensor or an acceleration sensor. 7. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the shaking detecting means obtains a correlation between the captured images between fields by using an output image from the image capturing means via a memory means such as a field memory. An imaging device, which is a motion vector detecting means for extracting a vector. 8. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said correction means calculates an image shift amount on the image pickup element due to shaking from an output of said detection means, and said calculation means In order to suppress the displacement of the image based on the output of the means, a part of the image from the entire captured image is cut out,
An imaging device comprising: means for changing the cutout position. 9. An imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said correction means is an optical shake correction means driven in accordance with an output of said detection means. .