JPS63193137A - Data imprinting device for camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To clearly display a data on a photograph by detecting the screen information of a luminance distribution and a color distribution, etc., of plural parts in a photographing screen. CONSTITUTION:Output signals of photodetectors 2a-2d for detecting the image information in a photographing screen are amplified by OP amplifiers 3a-3d and by-pass resistance 4a-4d, compared mutually by comparators 5a-5f and the rank order is determined by inverters 6a, 6b, NOR gates 7a, 7b and AND gates 7c, 7d, and an output is generated in one of them. Subsequently, this output is applied to one of AND gates 9a-9d of a part of a data imprinting means, and by a signal from an imprinting timing control circuit 8, either of lamps 12a-12d emits a light beam, and the data is imprinted in a position corresponding to the position of the photodetector of the minimum light receiving quantity.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to a data imprinting device to be installed in a camera, and in particular to a data imprinting device that can imprint clear and easily legible data. be.

[Background of the Invention] Many recent cameras are equipped with a data imprinting device for imprinting the date and time of photography and various photographic data on the photographic screen. However, conventional data imprinting devices are configured to always imprint data on a specific corner of the shooting screen, regardless of the brightness distribution, color distribution, etc. of the Ml 12 screen. It was often the case that the included data was difficult to see, or barely visible at all.

[Object of the Invention] An object of the present invention is to provide a data imprinting device with a novel configuration that eliminates the drawbacks of the conventional data imprinting device as described above.

[Summary of the Invention] The data imprinting device according to the present invention includes an image information detection means for detecting image information such as brightness distribution and color distribution at a plurality of locations within the photographic screen during photographing, and an output of the image information detection means. It is comprised of a location selection means for selecting the most suitable location for data imprinting by evaluating according to a predetermined evaluation method, and a data imprinting means for imprinting data at the location selected by the location selection means. According to the data imprinting device of the present invention, clear data display is always performed regardless of the shooting scene.

[Embodiments of the invention] The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a first embodiment of a data imprinting device having a novel configuration according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, 2a to 2d are light receiving elements such as photodiodes that detect image information such as brightness distribution at multiple locations within the shooting screen. They are arranged at the four corners of the imaging plane 1, which is equivalent to both screens, and the light receiving elements 2a to 2d constitute image information detecting means in the apparatus of the present invention.

3a to 3d are operational amplifiers (hereinafter abbreviated as OP amplifiers), 4a to 4d are bypass resistances of each of the OP amplifiers 3a to 3d, and the output signal of the light receiving element is controlled by each OP amplifier and bypass resistance. An amplifier is configured for amplification.

5a to 5f are comparators, and the comparator 5a
~5f is the image information detection means (i.e., the light receiving element 2
It constitutes a part of a location selection means that evaluates the outputs of a to 2d) using a predetermined evaluation method and selects a data imprinting location. The comparator 5a compares the output of the OP amplifier 3a and the output of the OP amplifier 3b, and the comparator 5b compares the output of the OP amplifier 3a and the output of the OP amplifier 3c. Further, the comparator 5c compares the output of the OP amplifier 3c and the output of the OP amplifier 3d, and the comparator 5d compares the output of the OP amplifier 3b and the output of the op amplifier 3c. Furthermore, the comparator 5e has the output of the OP amplifier 3b, the output of the OP amplifier 3d, and the comparator 5e.
f compares the output of the OP amplifier 3c and the output of the OP amplifier 3d. That is, the comparators 5a to 5f constitute mutual comparison means for mutually comparing the outputs of the light receiving elements 2a to 2d.

Inverters 6a and 6b, No! (Gates 7a and 7b,
The AND gates 7c and 7d constitute a ranking determining means for further determining the magnitude of the mutual comparison results determined by the mutual comparing means and ranking them in order of magnitude, and the mutual comparing means and the ranking determining means The location selection means is constituted by the following. That is, comparators 5a to 5f, inverters 6a and 6b, NOR gates 7a and 7b, AND
The gates 7c and 7d constitute a location selection means.

The AND gates 9a to 9d constitute a part of data imprinting means paired with the light receiving elements 2a to 2d, and the output terminals of each of the AND gates 9a to 9d are connected to the transistors 11a to 11a through the resistors 10a to 10d. connected to the base of.

The output signal (timing signal) of the imprint timing control circuit 8 is applied to one input terminal of each of the AND gates 9a to 9d.
when the output is generated from the NOR gate 7a, and the AND gate 9b is generated when the output is generated from the NOR gate 7b.
D gate 9c generates an output signal when an output is generated from AND gate 7C, and AND gate 9d generates an output signal when an output is generated from AND gate 7d.

12a to 12d are lamps that are turned on when the transistors lla to lid are turned on, and the lamps 12a to 12d,
Transistor Ila~11d1 Resistor 10a~10
The d% AND gates 9a to 9d and the imprint timing control circuit 8 constitute an imprinting means.

Next, the operation of the data imprinting device on the actual flow side shown in FIG. 1 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

When the photographer operates the camera's release button when taking a picture, a photometering circuit (not shown) performs photometry, and at the same time, the light incident on the light receiving elements 2a to 2d from the object field is reflected to the terminals of the light receiving elements 28 to 2d. A current corresponding to the strength of is generated, and the current is applied to the inverting input terminals of the operational amplifiers 3a to 3d. OP amplifiers 3a to 3d and bypass resistors 4a to
An output voltage proportional to the magnitude of the input current is generated from the amplifier consisting of the OP amplifier 3a and the bypass resistor 4a.
The output voltage vb of the amplifier that is applied to the non-inverting input terminal of each of a to 5C and consists of the OP amplifier 3b and the bypass resistor 4b
is the inverting input terminal of comparator 5a and comparator 5d.
and is applied to the non-inverting input terminal of 5e. Also, the output voltage V of the amplifier consisting of the OP amplifier 3C and the bypass resistor 4c
0 is applied to the inverting input terminals of comparators 5b and 5d and the non-inverting input terminal of comparator 5f, and the OP amplifier 3
The output voltage Vd of the amplifier consisting of d and bypass resistor 4d is applied to the inverting input terminal of each of comparators 5C, 5e and 5f.

The comparator 5a compares V and Vt,
■ and ■ in comparator 5b. , the comparator 5c compares V and Vd, the comparator 5d compares Vb and vc, the comparator 5e compares V and Vdb, and the comparator 5f compares Vb and Vd. In each comparator, when the input signal to the non-inverting input terminal is larger than the human input signal to the inverting input terminal, the output voltage level is "H" (
High), so in the comparator 5a, v,>Vb
When the comparator 5b has Vb>Ve, the comparator 5C has v,>V, the comparator 5d has Vb>VC, and the comparator 5e has an output when Vb>V. V at 5f
When C, > V a, the output voltage level is “
becomes H″.

Therefore, in the NOR gate 7a to which the outputs of the comparators 5a, 5b, and 5c are applied, an output is generated only when ■2 is smaller than any of ■, ~■, and the output voltage level becomes H''. It is determined that the amount of light received by the light receiving element 2a is the minimum.

Similarly, in the NOR gate 7b, vl>Vb, Vb<V
An output is generated only when C, Vb < Vd are established at the same time, and the NOR gate 7b determines that the amount of light received by the light receiving element 2b is the minimum.

Also, the output level of the AND gate 7C becomes H" because ■a > V c s V b > V c %"
This is the time when the triad property of e < V holds true at the same time, and AND
The gate 7c determines that the amount of light received by the light receiving element 2C has become minimum. Similarly, the output of the AND gate 7d becomes “H” when V −> V av, )v, ,V
. ＞V When the three-row property of a is established at the same time, AN
The D gate 7d determines that the amount of light received by the light receiving element 2d has become minimum.

NOR gates 7a and 7b and AND gates 7C and 7
After the output is applied to one of the AND gates 9a to 9d, which are part of the data imprinting means, the imprinting timing control circuit 8 outputs an output to one of the AND gates 9a to 9d. - When the imprint signal is applied to gates 9a to 9d, an output is generated to only one of AND gates 9a to 9d, and an "H" level voltage is applied to the base of one of transistors lla to lid. When the voltage is applied, the transistor becomes conductive, one of the lamps 12a to 12b emits light, and data is imprinted at a position on the photographic screen corresponding to one of the positions of the light receiving elements 2a to 2d.

Therefore, according to the data imprinting device constructed according to the present invention as shown in this embodiment, the darkest place on the photographic screen is automatically selected and data imprinting is performed at that place, so that the imprint data will not become difficult or impossible to see.

In the embodiment described above, NOR gates 7a and 7b are provided on the input side of AND gates 98 to 9d.

By providing latch means or hold means for latching the outputs of AND gates 7c and 7d, and priority determining means, data can be imprinted at only one location without being affected by brightness changes during data imprinting. Can be done.

In addition, in the above embodiment, data is imprinted in the darkest place at the four corners of the shooting screen, but by weighting and prioritizing the place in the process of selecting a place, even if it is not the darkest place, it will interfere with the shooting of the subject. It may also be possible to imprint data in a location other than the above.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a second embodiment of the data imprinted bag string of the present invention, and the light receiving elements 2a to 2d of the embodiment of FIG.
An example is shown in which an image detection element such as a CCD line sensor is used instead of the image sensor, and a signal processing circuit for processing the output signal of the element is configured with a digital circuit.

Further, FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the relationship between the image on the photographing screen, the detection area of the image detection element, the state of the output signal of the element, etc.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 13 denotes an image detection element such as a CCD line sensor, through which a light beam passing through a band-shaped area surrounded by dotted lines in the photographing screen of FIG. 4(a) is incident through an optical system (not shown). , the detection element 13 is driven by a pulse generated from a pulse generation circuit 14.

15 is an A/D converter for the output signal (video signal) of the detection element 13 in synchronization with the pulses generated from the pulse generation circuit 14.
AD converter to convert, 16 is a shift register, 18
is a shift register into which the contents of the shift register 16 are input through an AND gate 17. 19 is a digital comparator, which compares the contents of the shift register 16 and the contents of the shift register 18, and if the contents of the shift register 16 are smaller than the contents of the shift register 18 (that is, the contents are stored in the shift register 16). If the screen brightness at the position where the screen is displayed is lower than the screen brightness at the position stored in the shift register 18), an output signal of "H" level is generated.

20 is a counter, and the counter 2o counts the number of pulses generated by the pulse generation circuit 14, and the count value is determined by how many bits of the output signal of the detection element 13 the luminance value represented by the contents of the shift register 16 is. It represents the eyes.

21 is a shift register, and the shift register 21 is for storing the contents of the counter 20 when the output of the digital comparator 19 is at H'' level.

Reference numeral 22 denotes a film movement detection circuit, which detects the film drive with the same resolution as that of the detection element 13 when the film is wound up one frame, and detects film movement in response to 1 bit of the output signal of the detection element 13. Generates a pulse signal. 23 is a counter that counts the number of pulses generated by the film movement detection circuit 22, and the count value of the counter 23 indicates that the amount of film winding is equal to the number of pulses generated by the detection element 1.
This indicates which bit of the output signal No. 3 corresponds to.

24 is a digital comparator, which compares the contents of the shift register 21 and the count value of the counter 23 and generates an output of "H" level when the two match.

Reference numeral 25 denotes an imprint data generation circuit, which generates data for imprinting on the screen by the dot LED array 27 to the imprint control circuit 26.

The imprint control circuit 26 synchronizes the pulse generated by the film movement detection circuit 22 with respect to the dot LED array 27 from the time when the output of the digital comparator 24 becomes "H" level according to the data generated by the imprint data generation circuit 25. Generates an imprint signal. Dot LED array 2
Reference numeral 7 denotes a plurality of LE[l's arranged at right angles to the film winding direction, which blink in accordance with the imprint signal generated by the imprint control circuit 26, and imprint data onto the film when the film is wound.

Next, the operation of the apparatus of the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

When field photometry is performed prior to photographing, a light flux that passes through the area surrounded by the dotted line in FIG. is output to. The video signal converted into a digital signal by the AD converter 15 is transferred to the shift register 1.
6 is input. At this time, the output signal of the detection element 13 has the waveform shown in FIG. 4(b), and the AD converter 1
5, the video signal is converted to a digital value (i.e.
The output signal of the AD converter 15) becomes a digital signal as shown in FIG. 4(c). In Figure 4(c), the number 4 represents the brightness of the brightest place on the shooting screen, the number 1 represents the brightness of the darkest place, and the numbers 2 and 3 represent the brightness of the brightest place on the shooting screen.
represents an intermediate brightness between numbers 1 and 4.

At this time, the number 4 corresponding to the brightness of the brightest place is set in the other shift registers 18 by an initialization circuit (not shown).

The digital comparator 19 compares the contents of the shift register 16, that is, the data shown in FIG. When the output level of the comparator 19 is "H", the AND gate 17 becomes conductive and the contents of the shift register 16 are transferred to the shift register 18. Ru. Therefore, the contents of the shift register 18 are shown in FIG.
) is a digital value indicating the brightness of the darkest place.

Until this time, the shift register 21 has been set to the number 1 by an initialization circuit (not shown), but when the output of the digital comparator 19 becomes 'H' level, it is set to the count value of the counter 2o, and as a result, The contents of the shift register 21 are as shown in FIG. 4(e), and the contents of the shift register 21 indicate which bit of the output signal of the detection element 13 the darker luminance signal was obtained. It turns out.

When the film is wound, a pulse signal is generated from the third film movement detection circuit 22 in accordance with the 8th movement of the film, and this pulse signal is counted by the counter 23, so that the contents of the counter 23 indicate the film winding position. This indicates which bit of the output signal of the detection element 13 corresponds to. Therefore, when the digital comparator 24 detects that the contents of the shift register 21 match the count number of the counter 23, this indicates that the film winding position has reached the darkest area.

From that point on, the imprint control circuit 26 outputs an imprint signal to the dot LED array 27 in accordance with the output data of the imprint data generation circuit 25, so that the image shown by the white frame W in FIG. 4(f) is displayed on the film. Data is imprinted on the darkest part.

In the embodiments shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, data is imprinted on the darkest part of the photographic screen in a left-justified manner, but data can also be imprinted and imprinted in a right-justified manner.

When data is imprinted right-aligned, the comparison level of the digital comparator 19 may be changed. Further, in this embodiment, the output of the image detection element 13 is evaluated bit by bit, but the evaluation may be performed for each zone based on the average value of several bits on which imprinting is performed.

Fig. 5 shows a modified embodiment of the device shown in Fig. 1, and the feature of the data imprinting device of this embodiment is that it detects the color distribution of the photographic screen and performs optimization based on the evaluation of the detected values. It is configured to imprint data at a certain position.

Note that in FIG. 5, the parts indicated by the same reference numerals as in FIG. 1 are the same parts as in the apparatus of FIG. 1, and therefore, explanations of these same parts will be omitted.

In the data imprinting device shown in FIG. 5, each light receiving element 28 to 2d
Color filters 28a to 28d are provided in front of the arrangement position, and are configured to detect the color distribution of the photographic screen. Each of the color filters 28a to 28d is constituted by a bandpass filter that transmits the emission center wavelength of the lamps 12a to 12d. Therefore, the light receiving elements 2a to 2d receive only the light having the emission center wavelength of the lamps 12a to 12d, so the outputs of the OP amplifiers 3a to 3d are as shown in the color distribution of the emission center wavelength of the lamps 12a to 12d. As a result, imprinting is performed on the color portion where the imprinted characters and the like are most easily seen.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, it goes without saying that a color CCD line sensor or a color CCD area sensor may be used in place of the light receiving elements (photodiodes) 2a to 2d. A circuit containing a circuit may also be used.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the data imprinting device of the present invention, the location where the data display is the clearest is selected according to the evaluation results of the luminance distribution and color distribution within the photographic screen. Since data imprinting is performed, clear data can be displayed on the photograph no matter what scene is being photographed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a first embodiment of the data imprinting device of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the arrangement position of the light-receiving element of the device in FIG. 1 on an imaging plane equivalent to the photographing screen. , FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a second embodiment of the data imprinting device of the present invention,
FIG. 4(a) is a diagram showing the relationship between the incident light area on the image detecting element included in the apparatus of FIG. 3 and the image on the photographing screen, and FIG. 4(b) is the output signal of the image detecting element. waveform diagram, 4th
FIG. 4(C) is a diagram showing the output signal of the AD converter 15 in FIG. 3, FIG. 4(d) is a diagram showing the output signal of the shift register 18 in FIG. 3 shows the contents of the shift register 21, FIG. 4(f) shows the data imprinting determination area in the shooting screen, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a modified embodiment of the device shown in FIG. l... Image forming plane 28 to 2d equivalent to the photographing screen... Light receiving elements 3a to 3d... OP
Amplifiers 4a to 4d...Shirt resistance 58 to 5f...
- Comparators 7a and 7b - NOR gates 7C and 7d - AND gates 9a to 9d - AND gate 8 - Imprint timing control circuit 13 - Image detection element 14 - Pulse generation circuit 15 - ...^/D converters 16 and 18...Shift register 19...Digital comparator 20...Counter 21...Shift register 22...Film 8 motion detection circuit 23...Counter 24-...Digital Humperator 25...imprint data generation circuit 2...imprint control circuit 27...dot LED array 28...color filter Fig. 3 Fig. 4 (C) 41 4

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) Image information detection means for detecting predetermined image information at multiple locations within the photographic screen, and evaluating the output of the image information detection means using a predetermined evaluation method to select the most suitable location for data imprinting. 1. A data imprinting device for a camera, comprising: a location selection device for imprinting data on a location selected by the location selection device; and a data imprinting device for imprinting data on a location selected by the location selection device. (2) The data imprinting device for a camera according to claim 1, wherein the image information detection means is a brightness distribution detection means. (3) The data imprinting device for a camera according to claim 1, wherein the image information detection means is a color distribution detection means.