KR19990053711A - High sensitivity electronic camera - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a high sensitivity electronic camera, comprising: a sensitivity switching unit for converting an operation state by a user and outputting a signal of the state; An accumulation number selection unit for outputting a signal corresponding to a number of times the operation state is changed and selected by the user; A light receiving unit which picks up an image and outputs it as an electric image signal; A signal processing unit for filtering the image signal output from the light receiving unit and processing the image signal in an available state; A memory unit for storing image data output from the signal processor; And a controller for changing the recording time and the number of times of data output from the signal processing unit according to the operation state of the sensitivity switching unit and the accumulation number selection unit, and repeating the output of the data stored in the memory by a predetermined number of times. Since the second field image is continuously output, the sensitivity of the output image is increased, the sensitivity of the image captured in low luminance is improved, and the same effect can be generated without using a high-sensitivity image pickup device, resulting in cost reduction and performance improvement. There is an effect that can be done.

Description

High sensitivity electronic camera

The present invention relates to a camera, and more particularly to an electronic camera.

In general, an electronic camera converts an image of a photographed subject incident through a lens into an electrical image signal using an imaging device such as a charge coupled device (CCD), and compresses / plays back the digitally processed image electrical signal. Save to a memory device, such as a floppy disk or memory card, without using an existing film.

Therefore, by connecting the memory device to a computer, the stored image can be output through a computer monitor, so that the captured image can be checked easily and quickly, and editing as well as enlargement and reduction, like other data, can be corrected. In addition, since it can be easily made, it is possible to correct defects, etc. occurring during shooting to a desired state. Such electronic cameras include digital still cameras and surveillance cameras.

1A and 1B, the structure and operation of a general electronic camera will be described.

As shown in Fig. 1A, the structure of the electronic camera is such that the lens 1 into which the image is input is connected to the CCD 2, so that the image input through the lens 1 is converted into an electrical image signal, and the CCD ( 2) is connected to the CCD signal processor 3 so that the image signal can be processed in a usable state.

The CCD signal processing unit 3 is connected to the A / D converter 4 to convert an input image signal into a digital signal and output one field to the connected field memory 5.

The field memory 5 stores the image signals in units of fields, and then sequentially connects the image signals one field at a time according to a control signal of the memory controller 8 controlling the driving operation of the A / D converter 4. To the D / A conversion section 6 that is present. At this time, the D / A converter 6 is connected to the memory controller 8 to control the operation.

The D / A converter 6 is connected to the video signal processor 7. Therefore, the video signal output by one field is signal processed so that the video can be viewed through the output device.

Next, the operation of the general electronic camera made in this way will be described.

When the image of the subject is input through the lens 1, the CCD 2 converts the image into an electrical image signal corresponding to the input image and outputs the image to the CCD signal processor 3. The CCD signal processing section 3 removes noise components included in the electrical video signal output from the CCD 2, amplifies the level of the output video signal in a usable state, and then A / D converter 4 ) As a result, the A / D converter 4 converts the primarily signal-processed video signal output from the CCD signal processor 3 into a corresponding digital signal. When the low-level read enable signal (-RE) is output from the memory controller 8 to the field memory 5, image data of one field (1 V) is sequentially input to the field memory 5. .

When the write enable signal (-WE) having a low level "L" is input from the memory controller 8 to the field memory 5, the field memory 5 also sequentially shifts data sequentially inputted one field at a time. It outputs to the D / A conversion part 6, making it impossible.

Therefore, the D / A converter 6 converts the video signals of the digital state sequentially inputted one by one into an analog state and inputs them to the video signal processor 7.

Accordingly, the video signal processing unit 7 processes the video signal corresponding to one input field secondarily and outputs the video signal that can be viewed through a monitor.

By the control operation of the memory controller 8, the operations of the A / D converter 4, the field memory 5, and the D / A converter 6 are performed.

Therefore, when the data input / output operation of the field memory 5 is performed by the control operation of the memory controller 8, the image signal is processed and output one field by one field shift operation.

Therefore, when the state of the image signal of one field to be processed is not good, the image quality of the output image is extremely poor and an accurate image cannot be read, and especially the sensitivity characteristic of the CCD 2 used in the low luminance state In this case, the sensitivity characteristic of the image signal output through the CCD 2 is also greatly reduced, resulting in a problem that the output image quality is degraded.

The technical problem to be achieved by the present invention is to improve the image quality of the output image because the same image signal can be output and processed in the memory during the set accumulation time.

1A is a block diagram of a conventional electronic camera,

1A to 1D are memory control timing diagrams of a conventional electronic camera,

2A is a block diagram of a high sensitivity electronic camera according to an embodiment of the present invention,

2A to 2D are memory control timing diagrams of an electronic camera in standard time according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2A to 2D are memory control timing diagrams of the electronic camera at the time of accumulation according to the embodiment of the present invention.

In order to solve this problem, in the present invention,

A sensitivity switching unit for converting an operating state by a user and outputting a signal of the corresponding state;

An accumulation number selection unit for outputting a signal corresponding to a number of times the operation state is changed and selected by the user;

A light receiving unit which picks up an image and outputs it as an electric image signal;

A signal processing unit for filtering the image signal output from the light receiving unit and processing the image signal in an available state;

A memory unit for storing image data output from the signal processor;

And a control unit for changing the recording time and the number of times of outputting the data output from the signal processing unit according to the operation state of the sensitivity switching unit and the accumulation number selection unit.

When the control unit selects the accumulation mode by the operation of the sensitivity switching unit, the recording operation of the data input to the memory unit is performed as many times as selected by the accumulation number selection unit, and the data recorded by the number of times selected by the accumulation number selection unit is repeated. When the standard mode is selected by the operation of the sensitivity switching unit, the recording operation of the data input to the memory unit is performed for every field, and the recorded data is sequentially shifted and output.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 2a is a block diagram of a high-sensitivity electronic camera according to an embodiment of the present invention, (a) to (d) of Figure 2b is a memory control timing diagram of the electronic camera of the standard time according to an embodiment of the present invention, (A) to (d) are memory control timing charts of the electronic camera at the time of accumulation according to the embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2A, in the structure according to the embodiment of the present invention, the lens 10 into which the image is input is connected to the CCD 20, so that the image input through the lens 10 is converted into an electrical image signal. The converted CCD 20 is connected to the CCD signal processor 30 to process the image signal in a usable state.

The CCD signal processor 30 is connected to the A / D converter 40 to convert the input image signal into a digital signal.

The memory controller 80 connected to the sensitivity switching switch 11 and the accumulation count switch 12 enters data into / from the field memory 50 according to the operation state of the sensitivity switching switch 11 and the accumulation count switch 12. Control the output behavior.

Therefore, the field memory 50 stores the image signal in units of fields, and then inputs it in the standard mode or the accumulation mode according to the control signal of the memory controller 80 that controls the driving operation of the A / D converter 40. The image data is output to the D / A converter 60 connected in units of fields. At this time, the D / A converter 60 is connected to the memory controller 80 to control the operation.

The D / A converter 60 is connected to the video signal processor 70. Therefore, the video signal of one field to be output is signal processed and output as a usable video signal.

Next, the operation of the electronic camera according to the embodiment of the present invention made as described above will be described.

When the image of the subject is input through the lens 10, the CCD 20 converts the image into an electrical image signal corresponding to the input image and outputs the converted image to the CCD signal processor 30. The CCD signal processing unit 30 removes noise components included in the electrical video signal output from the CCD 20, amplifies the level of the output video signal in an available state, and then A / D conversion unit 40. ) As a result, the A / D converter 40 converts the primarily signal-processed video signal output from the CCD signal processor 30 into a corresponding digital signal.

At this time, when the switching state is present in the standard mode because the sensitivity switching switch 11 in which the operating state is switched by the user is not operated, the memory controller 80 performs data input / output operations of the field memory 50 in FIG. 2B. The control is performed in the general standard state as shown in (a) to (d).

Therefore, in order to input data from the D / A converter 40 to the field memory 50 and output data from the field memory 50 to the D / A converter 60, the field memory (from the memory controller 80) is used. 50, the read enable signal (-RE) and the write enable signal (-WE) are output to the low level "L" state. Then, the field memory 5 sequentially inputs data output from the A / D converter 40 by one field (1V) as shown in (b) of FIG. 2b, and inputs one field as shown in (d) of FIG. 2b. Are sequentially output to the D / A converter 60 while shifting the data.

That is, when the video signal of the N-th field is input to the A / D converter 40, the field memory 50 outputs the video signal of the N-th field to the D / A converter 60, and again N +. When the first video signal is input, the field memory 50 outputs the video signal of the N-th field to the D / A converter 60.

As described above, the video signal of the field input in the previous step is sequentially output to the D / A converter 60 to process the video signal, and the video signal corresponding to each corresponding field is continuously output.

However, when the switching state of the sensitivity switching switch 11 is switched to the sensitivity state by a manual operation by the user and the signal of the corresponding state is input to the memory controller 80, the memory controller 80 switches the accumulation mode by the user. Judging from the selected state, the signal input from the accumulation count switch 12 is read to determine the accumulation count.

The accumulation number switch 12 may be a digital switch or the like to allow the user to select a desired number of accumulation numbers, or to select a desired accumulation number by an operation such as operating as many times as desired.

In this way, when the sensitivity switching switch 11 and the accumulation count switch 12 are operated to select the accumulation mode and the accumulation count is selected, the memory controller 80 changes the field memory 50 to improve the sensitivity of the CCD 20. The operation of is controlled as in (a) to (d) of FIG. 2c. The control operation shown in FIG. 2B is a case where four accumulation times are selected.

Accordingly, the read enable signal (-RE) for inputting the field memory 50 into the field memory 50 from the A / D converter 40 to the field memory 50 in the field controller 50 is the memory controller as shown in FIG. 2C. The data is output to the field memory 50 at 80.

Therefore, as shown in (b) of FIG. 2C, when the read enable signal (-RE) maintains the low level "L" state, the field memory 50 outputs the corresponding (N) output from the A / D converter 40. Enter the field data.

When the write enable signal (-WE) becomes low level "L" as shown in FIG. 2C, the data input to the field memory 50 is repeatedly D / D as many times as selected by the accumulation count switch 12. Output to A converter 60.

Therefore, when the write enable signal (-WE) becomes the low level "L", the field memory 50 transfers the Nth data to the D / A converter 60 by operation of a counter (not shown) designed by software or hardware. 4 times).

When the read enable signal (-RE) becomes the low level "L" again, the data of the second (N + 4) output from the D / A converter 40 at that time is stored in the field memory 50. ) Is input, and when the write enable signal (-WE) becomes the low level "L", the input N + 4th data is counted sequentially and output to the D / A converter 60 as many times as set.

Therefore, since the same data is repeatedly output to the D / A converter 60 four times, which is the set number of times, the video signal processed and output by the video signal processor 70 is the same data four times.

Therefore, since the image output to the output device (not shown) outputs the same image repeatedly as many times as desired, the sensitivity of the output image can be improved, thereby generating an effect of accumulating the image signal in the CCD 20 for a predetermined time. The sensitivity of the CCD 20 is improved.

Since the output of the data stored in the memory is repeated a predetermined number of times, the corresponding field image is continuously output, thereby increasing the sensitivity of the output image. In addition, it is possible to improve the sensitivity of the image taken in low luminance, and the same effect can be generated even without using a high-sensitivity image pickup device can reduce cost and improve performance.

Claims (3)

A sensitivity switching unit for converting an operating state by a user and outputting a signal of the corresponding state; An accumulation number selection unit for outputting a signal corresponding to a number of times the operation state is changed and selected by the user; A light receiving unit which picks up an image and outputs it as an electric image signal; A signal processing unit for filtering the image signal output from the light receiving unit and processing the image signal in an available state; A memory unit for storing image data output from the signal processor; And a control unit for changing the recording time and the number of times of outputting data output from the signal processing unit according to the operation state of the sensitivity switching unit and the accumulation number selection unit. The method of claim 1, wherein the control unit, When the accumulation mode is selected by the operation of the sensitivity switching unit, the recording operation of the data input to the memory unit is performed as many times as the number of times selected by the accumulation number selection unit, and repeatedly outputs the data recorded the number of times selected by the accumulation number selection unit. High sensitivity electronic camera, characterized in that. The method of claim 1, wherein the control unit, When the standard mode is selected by the operation of the sensitivity switching unit, the recording operation of the data input to the memory unit is performed for every field, and the recorded data is sequentially shifted and outputted.