JPH11289486A - Video camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent an object from being lost even in the case of photographing with zooming at a high magnification and to prevent an image resulting from repetitive zoom-in/zoom-out from being recorded. SOLUTION: The video camera is provided with an electronic zoom 31 that receives a photographed image, segments a zoom area from the received image, magnifies and interpolates the segmented zoom area to form a magnified image. Then the video camera is also provided with a switch circuit 40, by which an image magnified by the electronic zoom 31 or the image not magnified by the electronic zoom 31 is selectively displayed on a finder. Thus, in the case that an object is photographed by using the electronic zoom and an image of the object is lost from the finder screen, the image that is not magnified is displayed on the finder and then the image of the object is immediately found out.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video camera in which a photographed still image or moving image is digitized and recorded on a recording medium, and more particularly to a video camera having an electronic zoom mechanism.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, digital cameras that digitize a still image captured by a video camera and record the digitalized image on a recording medium such as a semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk have been rapidly spread. By using such a digital camera, the captured screen can be reproduced on the spot, and the video data can be easily taken in a personal computer for editing and processing.

Further, among such digital cameras, those capable of recording not only still images but also moving images have been developed. 2. Description of the Related Art In a digital camera capable of recording a moving image, a video signal of a moving image photographed by the video camera is digitized and, for example, an MPEG (Moving P
(icture Experts Group) or MPEG2. The digital video signal thus compressed is recorded on a recording medium such as a semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk, and an optical disk.

As described above, in a digital video camera capable of recording a moving image, the number of data to be recorded becomes enormous, so that a large-capacity recording medium is demanded. In addition, since such digital cameras are often carried outside and used, it is desirable that they be small and easy to handle.

Therefore, the applicant of the present invention has proposed to use an MD (Mini Disc) as a recording medium in which a recording capacity and a data rate are improved by improving physical characteristics and signal processing. ing.

[0006] As is well known, the MD is an optical disk or a magneto-optical disk having a diameter of 64 mm housed in a cartridge. Conventional MD format (MD-DATA
In 1), the recording capacity for recording data is 140M.
B, and the data rate is 133 kB / s. Such a conventional MD is not sufficient for recording moving image data.

A new MD format (MD-DAT)
In A2), the recording capacity is 650 MB and the data rate is 5
89 kB / s. As described above, in the new MD format, a recording capacity and a data rate that are four times or more than those of the conventional format can be obtained, which is sufficient for recording moving image data. Also, since the MD is an optical disk (or a magneto-optical disk), the access speed is high,
It is already widely used for music recording and has high reliability. Therefore, it is suitable for recording moving image data in a digital video camera.

As described above, in a digital camera for recording a moving image, an MD is suitable as a recording medium, and a digital camera for recording a moving image using the MD as a recording medium is being developed.

In a digital video camera using an MD as a recording medium, a camera signal processing section for processing a screen signal picked up by a CCD image pickup device, and video data from the camera signal processing section are converted to a high efficiency video signal such as MPEG2. It has an encoding unit for compressing by codes and a recording unit for recording the compressed video data on the MD. And
It is conceivable to provide an electronic zoom mechanism that realizes zooming by image processing, in addition to an optical zoom mechanism using a zoom lens.

The optical zoom mechanism uses a zoom lens that can continuously change the focal length.
There is a limit to the zoom magnification. On the other hand, the electronic zoom mechanism stores an imaging screen in an image memory, sets a zoom area in the image memory, cuts out data of the zoom area from the image memory, and forms an enlarged screen from the data in the zoom area. Then, the zoom function is realized. For this reason, it is possible to realize a high-magnification zoom as compared with an optical zoom.

[0011]

A video camera is provided with a finder for monitoring an image screen. Since the finder monitors an imaged screen, in a conventional video camera, the same screen as that displayed on the finder is recorded on a recording medium.

However, if an electronic zoom mechanism is used, it is possible to realize a considerably high-magnification zoom. For this reason, in the electronic zoom, since the magnification becomes very high, the subject image is often out of the viewfinder screen due to camera shake or the like, and the subject image is often lost.

In the conventional video camera, since the same screen as the screen projected on the viewfinder is recorded on the recording medium, photographing is performed using the electronic zoom mechanism as described above. When the subject image has deviated from the imaging screen due to camera shake or the like, it is necessary to repeat the zoom-out and zoom-in to search for the subject image. For this reason, there is a problem that the process of searching for a subject and positioning it on the screen is difficult, and the screen when zooming in and out is repeated is recorded as it is.

That is, FIG. 13 shows a screen of a finder and a screen of an image recorded on a recording medium when an electronic zoom operation is performed by a conventional video camera, and FIG. 13A shows a screen display of the finder. FIG. 13B shows an image recorded on a recording medium.

Now, it is assumed that photographing is performed with the subject image zoomed in. In this case, when zooming in in this manner, the subject in the viewfinder screen gradually expands. During the zoom-in operation, the subject 201 may move from the center of the screen due to camera shake or the like. In the electronic zoom mechanism, a high magnification is possible. Therefore, if the subject image 201 deviates from the center of the screen due to camera shake during zooming in as described above,
The subject image 201 deviates from the viewfinder screen.
In FIG. 13A, at time t _13, the object image 201 has gone off the screen of the viewfinder.

As described above, if the subject image 201 deviates from the viewfinder screen while zooming in, it is difficult to search for the subject image 201 while zooming in. Therefore, when the subject image 201 deviates from the viewfinder screen, an operation of zooming out and driving the subject image into the viewfinder is required.

[0017] Therefore, as shown in FIG. 13, the operation of the zoom-out is performed at time t _14. When the zoom-out operation is performed, the subject image 201 comes to fit within the screen of the finder. Operate the zoom-out to get the subject image 2
01 Once you find the camera position is corrected so that the subject image 201 at time t ₁₅ is the center of the screen. The operation of again zoom from the time t ₁₆ is performed.

At this time, in the prior art, FIGS.
As shown in B, the screen of the finder is the same as the screen of the image recorded on the recording medium. That is, as shown in FIG. 13B, similarly to the subject 201 in the viewfinder, the subject image when zooming in or out is recorded on the recording medium. Thus, despite the desire to record the screen when the subject image is zoomed in, the subject image 2
If 01 deviates from the viewfinder screen, a screen in which zoom-in and zoom-out are repeated will be recorded.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to prevent a subject from being lost even when shooting at a high magnification zoom, and to prevent recording of a screen which is repeatedly zoomed in and out. It is to provide a camera.

[0020]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a zoom input device, a zoom area setting device for setting a zoom area in accordance with an input from the zoom input device, and an image captured screen. From, cut out the zoom area portion set by the zoom area setting means,
An electronic zoom unit that forms an enlarged screen by enlarging and interpolating the cut-out zoom area portion, a display switching input unit, and a screen enlarged by the electronic zoom unit based on an input from the display switching input unit. A selection unit for selecting a non-displayed screen, a display unit for displaying the screen selected by the selection unit, and a recording unit for recording the imaged screen, wherein the electronic zoom unit enlarges and records the imaged screen The screen magnified by the electronic zoom means is recorded by the recording means, and the screen magnified by the electronic zoom means and the screen not magnified are selectively displayed based on the input from the display switching input means. It is a video camera that is displayed on a means.

In the case of enlarging and recording an imaged screen by electronic zoom, a switch input allows a screen enlarged by electronic zoom and a screen not enlarged to be selectively displayed. Thus, when an image is taken by the electronic zoom and the subject image goes off the screen, the user can immediately search for the subject image by selecting a screen that is not enlarged. Then, even when a screen that is not enlarged is displayed, by recording the enlarged screen, the recorded screen does not become a screen that is repeatedly zoomed in and out.

[0022]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a front view, a rear view, and a side view showing an external configuration of a video camera to which the present invention is applied. In FIG. 1, a main body 1 of a video camera is shown.
A camera lens 2 having a lens group for taking a picture, an aperture, and the like is provided on the front surface of the camera. The lens group of the camera lens 2 includes a zoom lens and a focus lens. Also, a microphone 3 for picking up external sound during shooting is provided on the upper surface of the video camera body 1.
Is provided.

On the back side of the video camera body 1, a display unit 6, an operation unit 7, and a speaker 8 are provided. Display 6
For example, a liquid crystal display is used. The display unit 6 functions as a finder for monitoring a shooting screen during shooting, and also functions as a monitor for displaying a playback image during playback. In addition, characters, characters, and the like for notifying the user of the message according to the operation of the device are superimposed on the screen of the display unit 6.

The operation unit 7 is provided with a key group for the user to perform various operations. As the keys provided on the operation unit 7, there are provided basic keys for operating the video camera, for example, a recording start key and a recording stop key of a captured image. The operation unit 7 is provided with various keys (reproduction key, search key, fast forward key, fast rewind key, etc.) for a reproduction operation for reproducing the recorded contents.

Further, in the video camera to which the present invention is applied, as shown in FIG. 2, the zoom keys 9A and the zoom-out keys 9
B, a zoom-off display on key 10A and a zoom-off display off key 10B.

A zoom operation is performed by the zoom-in key 9A and the zoom-out key 9B. The zoom mechanism includes
There are two types, optical zoom and electronic zoom. In the optical zoom, a zoom operation is performed by moving a zoom lens included in the camera lens 2 back and forth. The electronic zoom performs a zoom operation by capturing a captured screen, extracting data of a zoom area from the captured screen, and performing enlargement interpolation. Depending on the characteristics of the zoom lens, for example, zooming up to about six times is possible with an optical zoom mechanism. Furthermore, by electronic zoom,
High magnification zoom is possible.

When a zoom operation is performed by the zoom-in key 9A and the zoom-out key 9B, an optical zoom process is performed by the zoom lens in a range from, for example, 1 × to 6 × in which optical zoom can be performed. When the zoom magnification is increased, the zoom process is performed by the electronic zoom, and the optical zoom process and the zoom process by the electronic zoom are continuously performed. For this reason, the user
A zoom operation can be performed without being aware of an optical zoom or an electronic dome.

The video camera to which the present invention is applied is provided with a zoom-off display on key 10A and a zoom-off display off key 10B. The zoom off display on key 10A and the zoom off display off key 10B
Is for enabling the display unit 6 to monitor the shooting screen when the electronic zoom is released.

That is, at the time of photographing, the display unit 6 functions as a finder for monitoring the photographing screen. Therefore, a screen similar to the screen recorded on the disc is displayed on the display unit 6 in principle. Therefore, when the subject image is enlarged by the electronic zoom, the enlarged screen is displayed on the display unit 6.

However, since a very high magnification zoom is possible with the electronic zoom, if photographing is performed at a high magnification, the subject image may be off the screen of the display unit 6 due to camera shake or the like. . In such a case, the zoom-off display on key 10A is operated.

When the zoom-off display on key 10A is pressed, a photographing screen when the electronic zoom is released is displayed on the display unit 6. Then, at this time, the zoom area that has been cut out as the zoom area is displayed on the screen. This allows the user to easily search for the subject image. Then, by positioning the subject in the area displayed as the zoom area, the subject image can be positioned in the screen when the electronic zoom is performed.

When a subject image is searched and this subject image is located in the area displayed as the zoom area,
The zoom-off display off key 10B is pressed. By doing so, an enlarged screen by the electronic zoom is displayed on the display unit 6 again.

In FIG. 1, a speaker 8 is provided on the back of the video camera body 1. The speaker 8 is used not only for reproducing and outputting a sound recorded by an internal recording / reproducing device, but also for outputting a required message sound such as a beep sound.

A disk slot 11 and an I / F terminal 12 are provided on the side of the main body 1 of the video camera. A disk used as a recording medium is inserted into or ejected from the disk slot 11. As a disk, M
An MD in the D-DATA2 format is used. I /
The F terminal 12 is, for example, an input / output terminal of an interface for performing data transmission with an external data device. As the I / F terminal 12, for example, IEEE1394 is used.

As described above, in the digital video camera to which the present invention is applied, the MD-DAT
A2 format MD is used. MD-DATA
The two formats improve the recording capacity and data rate by improving physical characteristics and signal processing.

That is, as the MD data format, in addition to the conventional MD-DATA1, the MD-DA
A format called TA2 has been developed. MD
DATA1 is for recording data based on the MD method, and has a recording capacity of 140 MB and a data rate of 133
kB / sec. On the other hand, MD-DATA2 is
The recording capacity and data rate are improved by improving physical characteristics and signal processing. The recording capacity is 650 MB and the data rate is 589 kB / sec.
It has four times or more specifications as compared with MD-DATA1.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show the track configuration of the MD-DATA2 disk, and FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the portion surrounded by the broken line A in FIG.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, two types of grooves, ie, a wobbled blue WG provided with wobbles (meander) and a non-wobbled blue lobe NWG provided with no wobble, are provided on the disk surface. (Groove) is formed in advance. A land Ld is formed between the wobbled groove WG and the non-wobbled groove NWG.
In the MD-DATA2 format, the land Ld is used as a track. There are two types of grooves, a wobbled groove WG and a non-wobbled groove NWG, and there are two types of tracks, tracks TrA and TrB. These two types of tracks Tr · A, Tr ·
B are independently formed on a double spiral.

As shown in FIG. 4, in the track Tr · A, the wobbled groove WG is located on the outer peripheral side of the disk, and the non-wobbled groove NWG is located on the inner peripheral side of the disk. On the other hand, in the track Tr / B, the wobbled groove WG is located on the inner peripheral side of the disk, and the non-wobbled groove NWG is located on the outer peripheral side of the disk. The track pitch is determined by the adjacent tracks Tr and
The distance between A and each center of the tracks Tr and B is 0.95 μm as shown in FIG.

The wobble formed in the groove of the wobbled blue WG has a physical address on the disk of FM.
It is encoded and recorded by modulation and biphase modulation. Therefore, the physical address on the disk can be extracted by demodulating the reproduction information obtained from the wobbling given to the wobbled groove WG during recording and reproduction.

The address information of the wobbled groove WG is made valid for the tracks Tr.A and Tr.B in common. In other words, the track Tr.A located on the inner periphery of the wobbled groove WG and the track Tr / B located on the outer periphery share the address information by the wobbling given to the wobbled groove WG.

Incidentally, such an addressing method is as follows.
It is also called an interlace addressing method.
By adopting this interlace addressing method, for example, it is possible to reduce the track pitch while suppressing crosstalk between adjacent wobbles. For a method of recording an address by forming a wobble in a groove, see ADIP (Address
In Pregroove) method.

Tracks T sharing the same address information
Identification of which of r.A and Tr.B is being traced can be made as follows.

For example, when the three-beam method is applied,
When the main beam is tracing the track (land Ld), it is considered that the remaining two side beams are tracing grooves located on both sides of the track being traced by the main beam.

FIG. 4 shows a state in which the main beam spot SPm traces the track Tr · A as a specific example. In this case, of the two side beam spots SPs1 and SPs2, the inner side beam spot SPs1 is the non-wobbled groove NWG.
And the outer side beam spot SPs2
Traces the wobbled groove WG.

On the other hand, although not shown, when the main beam spot SPm is tracing the tracks Tr and B, the side beam spot SPs1 traces the wobbled groove WG, and the side beam spot SPs2 is non-traced. The wobbled groove NWG will be traced.

As described above, the main beam spot SPm
Tracing the track Tr · A and the track T
In the case of tracing r · B, the grooves to be traced by the side beam spots SPs1 and SPs2 are necessarily replaced by the wobbled groove WG and the non-wobbled groove NWG.

Side beam spots SPs1, SPs2
The detection signal obtained by the photodetector due to the reflection of
Wobbled groove WG and non-wobbled groove NW
A different waveform is obtained depending on which of G is being traced. From this, based on this detection signal, for example,
Of the current side beam spots SPs1 and SPs2,
By determining which is tracing the wobbled groove WG (or the non-wobbled groove NWG), the main beam is moved to the tracks Tr.A, Tr.
-It is possible to identify which of B is being traced.

FIG. 5 shows the main specifications of the MD-DATA2 format having such a track structure.
This is a comparison with the DATA1 format.

In the MD-DATA1 format, the track pitch is 1.6 μm and the pit length is 0.59 μm / b
it. The laser wavelength λ is 780 nm, and the aperture ratio NA of the optical head is 0.45. As a recording method, a groove recording method is adopted. As an address method, a wobbled groove is formed by forming a groove (track) by a single spiral and forming wobbles as address information on both sides of the groove. Is adopted. An EFM (8-14 conversion) method is adopted as a modulation method of recording data, and an ACIRC (Advanced Cross Interleavage) is used as an error correction method.
e Reed-Solomon Code) is adopted, and convolution type is adopted for data interleaving. Therefore, the data redundancy is 46.3%. MD-DAT
In the A1 format, CLV is used as the disk drive method.
(Constant Linear Verocity) and CL
The linear velocity of V is set to 1.2 m / s. And
The standard data rate during recording and reproduction is 133 kB / s, and the recording capacity is 140 MB.

On the other hand, in the MD-DATA2 format, the track pitch is 0.95 μm and the pit length is 0.39 μm / bit, and both are shorter than the MD-DATA1 format. The laser wavelength λ is set to 650 nm, and the aperture ratio NA of the optical head is set to 0.1.
52, the beam spot diameter at the in-focus position is narrowed, and the band as the optical system is expanded.

As described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, a land recording method is adopted as a recording method, and an interlace addressing method is adopted as an address method. As a modulation method of recording data, an RLL (1, 7) method (RLL;
Run Length Limited), an RS-PC method is used as an error correction method, and a block complete type is used as data interleaving. As a result of adopting such a method,
The data redundancy can be suppressed to 19.7%. Also in the MD-DATA2 format, CLV is adopted as a disk drive system, but its linear velocity is 2.0 m / s, and the standard data rate for recording and reproduction is 589 kB / s. Then, a recording capacity of 650 MB can be obtained, and when compared with the MD-DATA1 format, a high-density recording of about four times is realized.

For example, when the MD-DATA2 format is used, when a moving image is recorded by compression encoding according to MPEG2, a moving image of 15 minutes to 17 minutes can be recorded depending on the bit rate of the encoded data. It is possible. Also, assuming that only audio signal data is recorded, ATRAC (Adaptive Transform Acous
tic Coding) 2, 10
It can record about time.

Next, the internal configuration of the video camera configured as described above will be described. FIG. 6 shows an internal configuration of a video camera to which the present invention is applied.

In FIG. 6, reference numeral 21 denotes a lens block. The lens block 21 corresponds to the camera lens 2 in FIG. During recording, this lens block 2
1 is directed to the subject image.

The lens block 21 converts the subject image light into CC
The light is condensed on the imaging surface of a D (Charge Coupled Device) imaging device 25. The lens block 21 includes a zoom lens and a focus lens. The zoom lens and the focus lens are moved by a zoom motor 23 and a focus motor 24.

The subject image light is condensed by a lens block 21, the amount of light is reduced by an iris 22,
An image is formed on the light receiving surface of the image sensor 25. The opening of the iris 22 is controlled by the camera controller 30.

A transfer clock is supplied from the clock generation circuit 26 to the CCD image pickup device 25. The light image condensed on the light receiving surface is photoelectrically converted by the CCD image pickup device 25.

The output of the CCD image sensor 25 is supplied to a sample hold / AGC (Automatic Gain Control) circuit 27. The sample hold / AGC circuit 17 samples and holds the output of each pixel of the CCD image sensor 15 and amplifies the output to a predetermined level. The gain of the sample hold / AGC circuit 27 is
Is controlled by

The output of the sample hold / AGC circuit 27 is supplied to an A / D converter 28. The image signal from the sample hold / AGC circuit 27 is digitized by the A / D converter 28. The output of the A / D converter 28 is supplied to a camera signal processing circuit 29.

The camera signal processing circuit 29 performs gamma correction,
Pre-processing such as aperture correction is performed, and a luminance signal Y and
The color difference signals C _R, to form a component video signal consisting of C _B. This component video signal is supplied to the electronic zoom circuit 31.

The camera signal processing circuit 29 forms optical detection signals such as a focus detection signal, an exposure detection signal and a white balance detection signal. These optical detection signals are supplied to the camera controller 30. The focus detection signal is obtained, for example, by extracting the level of the high frequency component of the luminance signal Y. The exposure detection signal is
For example, it is obtained by detecting the level of the luminance signal Y.

The camera controller 30 outputs a zoom motor drive signal, a focus motor drive signal, an iris drive signal, and an AGC level control signal. The zoom drive signal is generated based on the operation of the zoom-in key 9A and the zoom-out key 9B included in the operation unit 7. The focus motor drive signal is generated based on a focus detection signal from the camera signal processing circuit 29. The iris drive signal and the AGC level control signal are generated based on an exposure detection signal from the camera signal processing circuit 29.

The zoom motor drive signal from the camera controller 30 is transmitted to the zoom motor 2 via the driver 33.
3 for optically zoom control. A focus motor drive signal from the camera controller 30 is supplied to the focus motor 24 via the driver 34. Thereby, focus control is performed. The iris drive signal is supplied to the iris 22 via the driver 35, and the AGC level control signal is
It is supplied to the sample hold / AGC circuit 27.

As described above, the camera signal processing circuit 29
From the luminance signal Y and the color difference signal C based on the imaging screen.
_R, component video signal is output consisting of C _B. The output of the camera signal processing circuit 29 is supplied to an electronic zoom circuit 31.

The electronic zoom circuit 31 has an image memory 32. The electronic zoom circuit 31 forms a zoom screen by magnifying and interpolating the imaging screen. If the zoom range of the zoom lens is exceeded, the electronic zoom circuit 31
Performs the operation of the electronic zoom.

That is, as shown in FIG. 7A, data for one screen imaged by the CCD image pickup device 25 is temporarily stored in the image memory 32. As shown in FIG. 7B, data of the zoom area A1 is cut out from the image data for one screen stored in the image memory 21. Then, as shown in FIG. 7C, image data for one screen is formed from the cut-out screen data of the zoom area A1 by enlargement interpolation. Thereby, an enlarged screen of the extracted zoom area A1 is obtained. By changing the size of the zoom area A1 cut out at this time,
A zoom screen can be formed at any magnification.

In FIG. 6, the output of the electronic zoom circuit 31 is supplied to an image compression encoder / decoder 36.
At the time of recording, the image compression encoder / decoder 36 performs a process of compressing a component video signal including the luminance signal Y and the color difference signals C _R and C _B supplied via the electronic zoom circuit 31.

As a moving image compression method, for example, MPE
The G (Moving Picture Experts Group) 2 system is used. The MPEG2 system uses inter-frame predictive coding, DC
A moving image is compressed by T (Discrete Cosine Transform) conversion. For still images, see JP
Compression is performed by the EG (Joint Photographic Coding Experts Group) method. The JPEG method compresses a still image by DCT conversion.

The compression method is not limited to such a method. MPEG as video compression method
Other than 2 may be used. As a still image compression method, a method other than JPEG may be used.

At the time of recording, the video signal compressed by the image compression encoder / decoder 26 is temporarily stored in a buffer memory 38 under the control of a system controller 37. Then, the output of the buffer memory 38 is sent to the MD recording / reproducing unit 39.

At the time of recording, it is necessary to display a screen shot by the CCD image pickup device 25 as a finder screen. For this reason, the component video signal passed through the electronic zoom circuit 31 is taken out via the image compression encoder / decoder 36 and supplied to the terminal 40A of the switch circuit 40. The camera signal processing circuit 29
From the component video signal before expansion
This component video signal is supplied to the terminal 40B of the switch circuit 40. The switch circuit 40 includes the operation unit 7
Are switched by a switch select signal from the system controller 30 on the basis of the operation of the zoom-off display on key 10A and the zoom-off display off key 10B included in.

The switch circuit 40 selectively displays a screen enlarged by the electronic zoom and a screen on which the electronic zoom is not performed on the finder screen. When projecting an enlarged screen through the electronic zoom circuit 31 on the finder, the switch circuit 40 is set to the terminal 40A side. When displaying a screen not enlarged by the electronic zoom on the finder, the switch circuit 40 is set to the terminal 40B side.

The output of the switch circuit 40 is connected to the display generation circuit 4
1 is supplied. The display generation circuit 41 superimposes various adjustment display characters and alarm display characters on the screen. When the switch circuit 40 is set on the terminal 40B side to display a screen that is not enlarged,
An area corresponding to the zoom area of the electronic zoom is displayed.

The output of the display generation circuit 41 is supplied to a D / A converter 42. In the D / A converter 42, the digital component video signal is converted into an analog signal. The output of the D / A converter 42 is supplied to the display unit 6 via the drive circuit 43.

The output of the D / A converter 42 is N
It is supplied to the TSC encoder 44. The NTSC encoder 44, the luminance signal Y, the color difference signals C _R, is component video signals such from C _B are converted into a composite video signal of the NTSC system. This composite video signal is output from the external output terminal 45.

At the time of recording, an external sound is collected by the microphone 3. The audio signal from the microphone 3 is supplied to an A / D converter 47 via an amplifier 46.

The A / D converter 47 digitizes the audio signal. The output of the A / D converter 47 is supplied to an audio compression encoder / decoder 48. The audio compression encoder / decoder 48 compresses the audio signal.

As a compression method of the audio signal, for example, ATRAC (Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding)
2) is used. ATRAC2 performs band division by a band division filter, and then performs MDCT (Modified Discr
The audio signal is compressed by converting the spectrum signal using ete Cosine Transform.

The audio compression method is AT
It is not limited to RAC2. As the audio compression method, for example, MPEG audio may be used.

The audio signal compressed by the audio compression encoder / decoder 48 is transmitted to the system controller 3.
Under the control of 7, the data is temporarily stored in the buffer memory 38 and sent to the MD recording / reproducing unit 39.

At the time of reproduction, the MD recording / reproduction unit 39
Video data audio and audio data are read. The read video data audio and audio data are temporarily stored in the buffer memory 38. Then, the video data is sent to the image compression encoder / decoder 36, and the audio data is sent to the audio compression encoder / decoder 48.

The image compression encoder / decoder 36 performs MPEG2 decompression processing. This gives M
The video signal compressed by the PEG2 method is decoded into a component video signal including a luminance signal Y and color difference signals C _R and C _B.

The output of the image compression encoder / decoder 36 is supplied to a switch circuit 40 and a display generation circuit 41,
/ A converter 42. D / A converter 4
At 2, the digital component video signal is converted to an analog signal. The output of the D / A converter 42 is
It is supplied to the display unit 6 via the liquid crystal drive circuit 43. The display unit 6 displays a playback screen.

The output of the D / A converter 42 is N
It is supplied to the TSC encoder 44. The component video signal composed of the luminance signal Y and the color difference signals C _R and C _B is converted by the NTSC encoder 44 into an NTSC composite video signal. This composite video signal is output from the external output terminal 45.

The audio data read from the MD recording / reproducing unit 39 is supplied to an audio compression encoder / decoder 48.
Sent to The audio compression encoder / decoder 48 performs ATRAC2 decompression processing.

The output of the audio compression encoder / decoder 48 is supplied to a D / A converter 49. The D / A converter 49 converts the digital audio signal into an analog audio signal. This D / A converter 4
The output of 9 is supplied to the speaker 8 via the amplifier 50 and also to the headphone terminal 51.

The system controller 37 includes an operation unit 7
Input is given. The keys provided on the operation unit 7 include a key for operating a video camera, various keys for reproducing operation for reproducing recorded content, a zoom-in key 9A and a zoom-out key. A key 9B, a zoom-off display on key 10A, and a zoom-off display off key 10B are included.

Further, an external input / output terminal 12 for connecting an external data device is provided. The external input / output terminal 12 is connected to a bus from the system controller 37 via an interface 52, and can be connected to an external data device via the external input / output terminal 12.

As the interface 52, for example, I
EEE1394 or the like is adopted. For example, when an external digital video device and this video camera are connected via the external input / output terminal 12, images taken by the video camera can be recorded on the external digital video device, and video data reproduced by the external digital video device can be used. It becomes possible to take in.

Next, the configuration of the MD recording / reproducing section 39 will be described. This MD recording / reproducing unit 39 is an MD-DA
Data is recorded / reproduced to / from the MD in the format of TA2.

FIG. 8 shows the structure of the MD / recording / reproducing section 39. In FIG. 8, reference numeral 61 denotes a disk. This disc 61 is an MD of MD-DATA2 format. The disk 61 has a spindle motor 6
2 is driven to rotate. An optical head 63 and a magnetic head 64 are provided for the disk 61.
These optical head 63 and magnetic head 64 can be moved in the radial direction of the disk by a sled motor 65.

The MD-DATA2 format disk has a track pitch of 0.95 μm and a double spiral track configuration. Also, RLL (1, 7) is used as a modulation method.

At the time of recording, the recording data is scrambled /
It is supplied to the EDC encoding circuit 66. This recording data is input in synchronization with the transfer clock generated by the transfer clock generation circuit 67.

Scramble / EDC encoding circuit 66
Is once written into the buffer memory 38 via the data bus 69, and subjected to data scramble processing and EDC encoding processing (addition processing of an error detection code by a predetermined method). After this processing, for example, the ECC processing circuit 68 adds an error correction code according to the RS-PC method.

This data is read out from the buffer memory 38 and transmitted via the data bus 69 to the RLL (1,
7) It is supplied to the modulation circuit 70. The RLL (1, 7) modulation circuit 70 converts the input user record data into R
LL (1, 7) modulation processing is performed. RLL (1,7)
The output of the modulation circuit 70 is supplied to the magnetic head 64 via the magnetic head drive circuit 71.

In the MD-DATA2 format, a so-called laser strobe magnetic field modulation system is adopted as a recording system for a disk. The laser strobe magnetic field modulation method refers to a recording method in which a magnetic field modulated by recording data is applied to a recording surface of a disk, and a laser beam to be irradiated on the disk is pulsed in synchronization with the recording data.

A magnetic field modulated by recording data is applied to the disk 61 by the magnetic head 64. At this time, a clock synchronized with the recording data is supplied from the RLL (1, 7) modulation circuit 70 to the laser driver 72, and this clock is supplied to the optical head 63. Thus, the laser diode of the optical head 63 is driven in synchronization with the recording data generated as a magnetic field by the magnetic head 64. Thus, data is recorded on the disk 61.

At the time of reproduction, data on the disk 61 is read by the optical head 63. Information (photocurrent obtained by detecting laser reflected light with a photodetector) detected by this data read operation is:
It is supplied to the RF amplifier 73.

Also, the optical head 63 controls the disc 61
Is supplied to the matrix amplifier 74. The matrix amplifier 74 performs required arithmetic processing on the input detection information to obtain a tracking error signal TE, a focus error signal FE, and blue information (absolute address information recorded as a wobbled blue WG on the disk 61) GF.
M and the like are extracted. The tracking error signal TE and the focus error signal FE are supplied to a servo processor 75, and the groove information GFM is supplied to an ADIP bandpass filter.

The groove information GFM passed through the ADIP band pass filter 76 is supplied to the A / B track detection circuit 7.
7, ADIP decoder 78 and CLV processor 79
Supplied to

The A / B track detection circuit 77 determines from the input groove information GFM whether the track currently being traced is one of the tracks TR.A and TR.B. This track identification information is transmitted to the driver controller 8.
0 is supplied.

The ADIP decoder 78 decodes the groove information GFM and extracts an ADIP signal, which is absolute address information on the disk. This ADIP
The signal is supplied to the driver controller 80. In the driver controller 80, track identification information and ADIP
Required control processing is performed based on the signal.

The CLV processor 79 includes an equalizer /
From the PLL circuit 81, the clock CLK and the groove information G
FM is input. The CLV processor 79 generates, for example, a spindle error signal SPE for CLV servo control based on an error signal obtained by integrating a phase error between the groove information GFM and the clock CLK. The spindle error signal SPE is transmitted to the servo processor 75
Supplied to Required operations to be performed by the CLV processor 75 are controlled by the driver controller 80.

The servo processor 75 is based on a tracking error signal TE, a focus error signal FE, a spindle error signal SPE obtained by calculation from a reproduction signal from the disk, a track jump command and an access command from the driver controller 80, and the like. And various servo control signals (tracking control signal, focus control signal, thread control signal, spindle control signal, etc.). This servo control signal is supplied to the servo driver 82.

The servo driver 82 generates a required servo drive signal based on the servo control signal supplied from the servo processor 75. The servo drive signals include a two-axis drive signal (two types of focus direction and tracking direction) for driving the two-axis mechanism, a sled motor drive signal for driving the sled mechanism, and a spindle motor drive signal for driving the spindle motor 62.

The output of the RF amplifier 73 is supplied to a binarization circuit 83. In the binarization circuit 83, the reproduced signal is binarized. The output of the binarization circuit 83 is supplied to the AGC / clamp circuit 84. AGC / clamp circuit 84
Then, gain adjustment, clamping processing, and the like are performed. This AG
The output of the C / clamp circuit 84 is input to the equalizer / PLL circuit 81.

An equalizer / PLL circuit 81 performs binarization R
The equalizing process of the F signal is performed. Also, by inputting the binarized RF signal after the equalizing process to the PLL circuit, a clock C synchronized with the binarized RF signal is output.
LK is extracted. The clock CLK from the equalizer / PLL circuit 81 is supplied to the CLV processor 79 and used as a clock for processing in a required signal processing circuit system such as the RLL (1, 7) demodulation circuit 86, for example. You.

The output of the equalizer / PLL circuit 81 is supplied to a Viterbi decoder 87. The Viterbi decoder 87 performs a Viterbi decoding process. The output of the Viterbi decoder 87 is supplied to the RLL (1, 7) demodulation circuit 86. In the RLL (1, 7) demodulation circuit 86, data demodulation processing is performed, and the bit stream is demodulated.

The data stream obtained by the demodulation processing in the RLL (1, 7) demodulation circuit 86 is temporarily written into the buffer memory 38 via the data bus 69, and is developed on the buffer memory 38. First, with respect to the data stream developed on the buffer memory 38,
The ECC processing circuit 68 performs error correction processing in units of error correction blocks in accordance with the RS-PC method.
A descrambling process and an EDC decoding process (error detection process) are performed. The data reproduced in this manner is transferred to the outside at a transfer rate according to the transfer clock generated by the transfer clock generation circuit 67.

As described above, in the video camera to which the present invention is applied, the zoom operation is performed by the zoom-in key 9A and the zoom-out key 9B. Further, a zoom-off display on key 10A and a zoom-off display off key 10B are provided. By operating the zoom-off display on key 10A, a photographing screen when the electronic zoom is released can be displayed on the display unit 6. These operations will be described below.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a process when the electronic zoom is performed by operating the zoom-in key 9A and the zoom-out key 9B. As shown in FIG. 9, first, it is determined whether the zoom-in key 9A is pressed (step S1). If the zoom-in key 9A is not pressed, it is determined whether the zoom-out key 9B is pressed. (Step S2).

If the zoom-in key 9A has been pressed in step S1, the zoom area A1 in the electronic zoom circuit 31 is reduced (step S3). Step S
If the zoom-out key has been pressed in step 2, the zoom area A1 is enlarged (step S4).

When the zoom area is set in steps S3 and S4, the data of the zoom area is cut out from the image memory 32, and the data for one screen is enlarged and interpolated from the data of the zoom area (step S4).
5).

Since one screen is enlarged and interpolated from the cut-out screen data, the smaller the zoom area, the larger the enlargement ratio. Therefore, if the size of the zoom area is continuously changed by operating the zoom-in key 9A and the zoom-out key 9B, the zoom-in / zoom-out operation is performed.

FIG. 10 shows a zoom-off display on key 10A.
9 is a flowchart showing an operation by a zoom-off display off key 10B. In FIG. 10, in the initial state,
The switch circuit 40 is set on the terminal 40A side, and is set so that the screen enlarged by the electronic zoom circuit 31 is displayed on the display unit 6 (step S11).

Then, it is determined whether or not the zoom-off display on key 10A has been pressed (step S12). When the zoom-off display on key 10A is pressed, the switch circuit 40 is set to the terminal 40B side, and switching is performed so that a screen that is not enlarged is displayed on the display unit 6 (step S13). Then, information on the zoom area at this time is taken out, this zoom area is displayed on the screen (step S14), and the process returns to step S12.

If it is determined in step S12 that the zoom-off display on key 10A has not been pressed, it is determined whether or not the zoom-off display off key 10B has been pressed (step S12).
15). If the zoom-off display off key 10B has been pressed, the switch circuit 40 is set to the terminal 40A side, and the screen enlarged by the electronic zoom circuit 31 is set to be displayed on the display unit 6 (step S16). Then, the display of the zoom area is deleted (step S7), and the process returns to step S12.

As described above, in the video camera to which the present invention is applied, the photographing screen when the electronic zoom is released can be monitored on the display unit 6 by operating the zoom-off display on key 10A. For this reason, even when the subject image has deviated from the screen of the display unit 6 due to camera shake or the like during zoom shooting, the subject can be immediately searched for and positioned on the screen.

FIG. 11 shows a state in which the zoom-off display on key 10A is operated in a case where the subject image has deviated from the screen of the display unit 6 due to camera shake or the like. FIG. 11A shows a screen display of the finder, and FIG.
1B shows an image recorded on a recording medium.

Now, it is assumed that photographing is performed with the subject image zoomed in. As the user zooms in in this manner, the subject 101 in the viewfinder screen gradually expands. Since the electronic zoom mechanism is capable of high magnification, if the subject image 101 deviates from the center of the screen due to camera shake during zooming in this way, the subject image 10
1 deviates from the viewfinder screen. In FIG. 11A, at time t _3, the subject image 101 is gone off the screen of the viewfinder.

As described above, when the subject is zoomed in and the subject image 101 deviates from the viewfinder screen, the zoom-off display on key 10A is turned on. 10, at time t _4, Zumuofu display on key 10A is pressed. When the zoom-off display on key 10A is pressed, the photographing screen when the electronic zoom is released is displayed on the display unit 6, and the zoom area 102 at this time is displayed.

As described above, the zoom-off display on key 10
When A is pressed, the screen changes to a screen in which the zoom is released, and the subject image 101 is set in the display unit 6. Subject image 1
01 Once in the screen at the time t _5, the object image 101
The camera position is corrected so that the camera comes to the zoom area 102 in the screen.

When the zoom-off display on key 10A is pressed as described above, the photographing screen when the electronic zoom is released is displayed on the display unit 6, but is recorded on the recording medium as shown in FIG. 10B. The screen is a screen that keeps zooming.

[0125] Then, when the object image 101 is moved such to fit in the display unit 6, at time t _6, Zumuofu display off key 10B is pressed.

When the zoom-off display off key 10B is pressed, the screen is zoomed again by the electronic zoom, and the screen recorded on the recording medium can be monitored.

In the above-described example, the zoom area 102 is displayed on the shooting screen when the electronic zoom is released by operating the zoom-off display on key 10A, but only the zoom area 102 is displayed. Instead, as shown in FIG. 12, the direction in which the camera has moved may be displayed by an arrow 103. In this way, if the direction in which the camera has moved is displayed by the arrow 103, the subject image can be easily searched for when the subject moves off the screen due to camera shake or the like.

When MPEG2 is used as the image compression method, a motion vector is obtained. Therefore, the direction in which the camera has moved can be obtained from the motion vector output from the image compression encoder / decoder 36. it can. Further, an acceleration sensor may be attached, and the movement of the camera may be obtained from the output of the acceleration sensor.

In the above example, the zoom-off display ON / OFF is set by using two keys, ie, the zoom-off display ON key 10A and the zoom-OFF display OFF key 10B. Alternatively, on / off of the zoom-off display may be set.

[0130]

According to the present invention, when an imaged image is enlarged and recorded by electronic zoom, a screen enlarged by electronic zoom and a non-enlarged image can be selectively displayed by switch input. Like that. Thus, when an image is taken by the electronic zoom and the subject image goes off the screen, the user can immediately search for the subject image by selecting a screen that is not enlarged. Then, even when a screen that is not enlarged is displayed, by recording the enlarged screen, the recorded screen does not become a screen that is repeatedly zoomed in and out.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view, a rear view, and a side view showing an external configuration of a video camera to which the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 2 is a plan view used to explain a switch provided in a video camera to which the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram used to describe an MD-DATA2 format disc.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram used to explain each track of an MD-DATA2 format disc.

FIG. 5: MD-DATA1 format and MD-DAT
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating specifications of an A2 format.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a camera unit in a video camera to which the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram used for describing electronic zoom.

FIG. 8 shows a video camera to which the present invention can be applied;
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a D recording / reproducing unit.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart used to explain the operation of zoom processing in a video camera to which the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart used to explain a zoom-off display operation in a video camera to which the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram used to explain a screen display during zoom shooting in a video camera to which the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram used for explaining another example of the screen display.

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram used to explain screen display during zoom shooting in a conventional video camera.

[Explanation of symbols]

6 ... display unit, 25 ... CCD image sensor, 31 ...
・ Electronic zoom circuit, 36 ・ ・ ・ Image compression encoder / decoder, 39 ・ ・ ・ MD recording / reproducing unit, 40 ・ ・ ・ Switch circuit, 61 ・ ・ ・ Disk

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A zoom input means, a zoom area setting means for setting a zoom area according to an input from the zoom input means, a captured screen, and setting the zoom area from the captured screen Electronic zoom means for cutting out the zoom area portion set by the means and enlarging and interpolating the cut out zoom area part to form an enlarged screen; display switching input means; and inputting from the display switching input means. Selecting means for selecting a screen magnified by the electronic zoom means and a screen not magnified; display means for displaying the screen selected by the selecting means; recording means for recording the imaged screen; When the imaging screen is enlarged and recorded by the electronic zoom unit, the image is enlarged by the electronic zoom unit. A screen is recorded by the recording unit, and a screen enlarged by the electronic zoom unit and a screen not enlarged are selectively displayed on the display unit based on an input from the display switching input unit. Video camera. 2. The display device according to claim 1, wherein when the non-enlarged screen is displayed on the display means, the zoom area portion is displayed in a screen displayed on the display means. Video camera. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein when displaying the non-enlarged screen on the display means, an index indicating a relative movement between the subject and the camera is displayed on the screen projected on the display means. The video camera according to claim 1, wherein: