Patent ID: 6765618
Filing Date: 2004-07-20
Classification: G03B,H04N

Abstract:
A subject selection device for a camera, said device comprising:a light source that radiates a distance measuring pulse light beam having a predetermined pulse width toward a plurality of objects to be photographed, each of said objects reflecting said distance measuring pulse light beam to generate a reflected light beam; an imaging device that has a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements that detect a part of said reflected light beam, so that a signal charge corresponding to an amount of said detected reflected light beam is accumulated in each of said photoelectric conversion elements; a three-dimensional information sensor that integrates said signal charge in each of said photoelectric conversion elements, whereby three-dimensional information indicating distances from said camera to points on a surface of each of said objects is obtained; a histogram generator that generates a histogram indicating a distribution of said distances; and a subject selector that selects, based on said histogram, a subject of photography, from said objects, wherein said subject selector selects said subject based on a ratio of peak values included in said histogram.