Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US6493027?ie=ISO-8859-1
Timestamp: 2014-03-13 14:18:14
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Matched Legal Cases: ['art 316', 'arts 17', 'art 24', 'art 23', 'art 25', 'art 23', 'art 26', 'arts 24', 'art 26', 'art 26', 'art 23', 'art 23', 'art 23', 'art 23', 'arts 24']

Patent US6493027 - Apparatus for still and moving image recording and control thereof - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inAdvanced Patent SearchPatentsAn image pickup apparatus capable of performing shooting action control appositely to each of different modes of shooting such as moving image shooting and still image shooting includes an instructing part for selectively instructing the apparatus to perform moving image shooting or still image shooting,...http://www.google.com/patents/US6493027?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US6493027 - Apparatus for still and moving image recording and control thereofAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS6493027 B2Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 08/916,621Publication dateDec 10, 2002Filing dateAug 22, 1997Priority dateSep 25, 1991Fee statusPaidAlso published asUS5703638, US20010040626Publication number08916621, 916621, US 6493027 B2, US 6493027B2, US-B2-6493027, US6493027 B2, US6493027B2InventorsSeiya Ohta, Kitahiro Kaneda, Hirofumi Takei, Taeko TanakaOriginal AssigneeCanon Kabushiki KaishaExport CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (5), Referenced by (12), Classifications (20), Legal Events (2) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetApparatus for still and moving image recording and control thereofUS 6493027 B2Abstract An image pickup apparatus capable of performing shooting action control appositely to each of different modes of shooting such as moving image shooting and still image shooting includes an instructing part for selectively instructing the apparatus to perform moving image shooting or still image shooting, and a control part for variably setting control characteristics for various control actions such as backlight correction control, white balance control, automatic focusing control, shutter speed control, etc., according to the instruction of the instructing part.
What is claimed is: 1. A recording apparatus capable of recording a still image and a moving image, comprising:
detecting means for detecting a release signal for recording the still image; control means arranged to inhibit driving control of a driving part for a zooming and focusing operation arranged to drive a photo-taking optical system, is response to release signal is detected by said detecting means in a still image recording mode. 2. A recording apparatus capable of recording a still image and a moving image, comprising:
image sensing means; recording means having a still image recording mode for recording the still image and a moving image recording mode for recording the moving image; detecting means for detecting an operation state of camera control in the still image recording mode; and control means, in responsive to the output of said detecting means, for controlling said recording means to inhibit an execution of a still image recording operation when the operation state of camera control for controlling said image sensing means is in a transition period. 3. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said camera control is at least one of automatic white balance control, aperture control and automatic gain control.
4. An apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said control means inhibits the execution of the still image recording operation of said recording means during the transition period that control parameters of said automatic white balance control, said aperture control and said automatic gain control being changed on the basis of an image sensing state.
5. An image pickup apparatus capable of selectively performing both moving image recording and still image recording, comprising:
light measuring means for performing weighted light measurement on the basis of a light measuring area set in a predetermined position within an image plane; level detecting means for detecting levels of luminance signals obtained from a plurality of light measuring areas set within the image plane; determining means for determining a backlight state of an object to be recorded on the basis of an output of said level detecting means; correction means for correcting a measured light signal outputted from said light measuring means under a backlight shooting condition on the basis of the result of determination made by said determining means; and control means for performing control in such a manner that a unit of correction step of said correction means in a still image shooting mode is greater than a unit of correction step in a moving image shooting mode.
This application is a division of application Ser. No. 08/351,740, filed Dec. 8, 1994, U.S. Pat. No. 5,703,638, which is a continuation of Ser. No. 07/948,001, filed Sep. 21, 1992, abandoned.
A demand for high-density recording has recently increased in the field of magnetic recording. To meet this demand, video tape recorders (hereinafter referred to as VTRs) have come to be arranged to perform recording at a higher density by lowering the traveling speed of the tape. The lower traveling speed of the tape, however, brings about a problem which is as follows: In a case where an audio signal is recorded with a fixed head, for example, the quality of reproduced sounds degrades as it is impossible to make the relative speed of the tape and the fixed head sufficiently high. In one of methods for solving this problem, the length of recording tracks to be scanned by a rotary head on the tape is extended to be longer than the conventional length and an audio signal which has been time-base compressed is recorded within the extension area of the tracks. More specifically, this method is carried out in the following manner: While it has been practiced to wrap the magnetic tape at least 180 degrees around a rotary cylinder in the case of a rotary 2-head helical scanning type VTR, the tape is wrapped, according to this method, at least (180+θ) degrees around the rotary cylinder; and an audio signal which has been pulse-code modulated (PCM) and time-base compressed is recorded within the extra wrapped part corresponding to the additional degree θ.
FIG. 1 shows the tape transport system of the VTR of the above-stated kind. FIG. 2 shows recording tracks formed on a magnetic tape by the VTR of FIG. 1. In FIG. 1, a reference numeral 1 denotes a magnetic tape. A numeral 2 denotes a rotary cylinder. Numerals 3 and 4 denote heads mounted on the rotary cylinder 2. In FIG. 2, A numeral 5 denotes a video signal recording area of the recording track formed on the magnetic tape 1. A numeral 6 denotes a PCM audio signal recording area of the recording track. The video signal recording area 5 is arranged to be traced by the heads 3 and 4 within the angle range of 180 degrees around the rotary cylinder 2, and the PCM audio signal recording area 6 is arranged to be traced within the additional angle range of θ around the rotary cylinder 2.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view showing in outline a tape transport system employed in the conventional magnetic recording apparatus.
FIG. 2 conceptually shows recording tracks formed on a magnetic tape by the magnetic recording apparatus shown in FIG. 1.
Embodiment I FIG. 3 shows the circuit arrangement of a magnetic recording apparatus according to this invention as a first embodiment thereof. FIG. 4 shows the flow of operation procedures to be taken within a shutter control device 320 shown in FIG. 3.
A moving-image shooting/still-image shooting mode selection (hereinafter referred to as M/S selection) input part 316 is arranged to supply either a moving image shooting mode selection signal or a still. image shooting mode selection signal, according to a selection made by the photographer, to both the shutter control device 320 and the moving-image recording/still-image recording change-over control circuit 315. A release device 318 is arranged to supply a release switch on/off signal (hereinafter referred to as a release signal) to the shutter control device 320 when a release button is pushed by the photographer.
Upon completion of the shutter control for the moving image shooting or-the still image shooting, the flow comes back to the step 400 for detection of the moving-image/still-image shooting mode selection signal.
As described above, with the release button turned on by the photographer in the still image shooting mode, the control operation is performed to forcibly bring the focusing lens group and the zooming lens group to a stop. Therefore, conditions inapposite to shooting such as changes in the angle of view and in the extent of blur of the image picked up due to the movement of the optical system resulting from the release operation can be prevented. Further, since the optical system is movable again, after the still image shooting, under the same condition as before. Therefore, any unnatural shot that results from the forced stoppage mentioned above can be minimized. In other words, the arrangement of this embodiment prevents an image shake and enables the video camera of the kind capable of recording both a moving image and a still image to give a sharp still image shot because the optical system actuators for the focusing and zooming lens groups are forcibly brought to a stop for still image shooting.
Modification Example of Embodiment I In the case of the first embodiment of this invention described above, the actuators of the optical system are arranged to be brought to a stop when the release device is turned on. However, the invention is not limited to this arrangement. This arrangement may be changed, as indicated at the step 602 of FIG. 6, to attract the attention of the photographer by displaying a warning while the actuators are in action. It is also possible to arrange the iris to be brought to a stop the instant the actuators are brought to a stop.
Embodiment II FIG. 7 shows the circuit arrangement of a magnetic recording apparatus which is arranged as a second embodiment of this invention. The arrangement is similar to that of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 3. However, the zooming lens group 302, the compensating lens group 304, the zoom driving circuit 330 and the motor 332 are omitted from the second embodiment. Further, in the case of the second embodiment, control signal exchange is not particularly necessary between the shutter control device 320 and the optical system control device 322. The shutter control device 320 is arranged to receive an automatic white balance (AWB) control state signal from the camera signal processing circuit 314. The AWB control state signal indicates the state of changes taking place in the AWB control. Input signals to the shutter control device 320 include a moving-image shooting/still image shooting (M/S) mode selection signal, a release signal, the AWB control state signal, etc. In accordance with the input signals, the shutter control device 320 controls the shutter and the recording device in a manner most apposite to still image shooting or to moving image shooting.
Modification Example of Embodiment II The second embodiment of the invention described above is arranged to allow or inhibit the release action in accordance with the AWB control state signal. However, the invention is not limited to this arrangement. For example, this arrangement may be changed to allow or inhibit the release action according to an aperture control state signal indicating the state of aperture control as shown at a step 800 in FIG. 9 which is a flow chart. In the case of this modification, the release action is inhibited when the state of aperture control changes to more than a given extent. It is also possible to inhibit the release action when automatic gain control (AGC) changes to more than a given extent as shown at a step 900 in FIG. 10 which is also a flow chart.
Embodiment III FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing the overall arrangement of a third embodiment of this invention. The hardware arrangement shown in FIG. 11 and described in the following applies not only to the third embodiment but also applies in common to other embodiments which will be described after the third embodiment.
FIG. 12 is a flow chart showing the flow of control to be performed in the SV mode. At a step S1: The recording mode is checked for the SV mode. If it is found to be the SV mode, the flow comes to a step S2. At the step S2: A check is made to find if the trigger is open. If so, the flow comes to a step S3 to have the AF action performed before the flow comes to a step S4. If not, the flow directly comes to a step S4. At the step S4: A check is made to find if the trigger is in a half-pushed state. If not, the flow comes to a step S5. At the step S5: A check is made to find if the trigger is in a fully-pushed state. In the case of the fully-pushed state, the flow comes to a step S6 to inhibit the AF action. At a step S9: The object image formed on the image pickup plane is taken in. A signal thus obtained from the image sensor 103 is subjected to the above-stated processes including the A/D conversion, the rate conversion and the PCM conversion. After completion of these processes, a still image is recorded.
If the trigger is found to be not in the fully-pushed state at the step S15, the flow comes back to the step, S13 to allow the AF action to be carried out. The trigger is in the open state in this instance. At the step S14: A check is made to find if the trigger is in the half-pushed state. If so, the flow comes to a step S17 to inhibit the AF action. At a step S18: A check is made to find if the trigger is in the fully-pushed state. If not, the flow comes back to the step S12 to find if the trigger is open.
In a case where the trigger is found to be in the fully-pushed state at the step S18, the flow comes to the step S16 to allow the AF action to be carried out. The flow then comes to the step S19 to have the object image on the image pickup plane recorded in the moving image recording mode. During the process of recording, the flow comes to a step S20. At the step S20: A check is made to find if the trigger is in the half-pushed state. If so, the flow comes to a step S21 to inhibit the AF action. If not, the flow comes to a step S22. At the step S22: A check is made to find if the trigger is open. If so, the flow comes back to the step S16 to allow the AF action to be carried out and then comes to the step S19 to perform the moving image recording. If not, the flow comes to a step S23. At the step S23: A check is made again to find if the trigger has been fully pushed. If not, the recording is allowed to continue. If the trigger is found to have been fully pushed, the flow comes to a step S24 to bring the recording to a stop.
Embodiment IV In the SV mode, it is not always necessary to carry out the AF action when the two-step trigger is open and to inhibit the AF action with the trigger in the half-pushed state like in the case of the third embodiment.
Embodiment V If the recording mode is the MV mode, it is possible to allow or inhibit the AF action according to the state of the AF action performed up to that point of time (the open or half-pushed state of the trigger) in performing recording with the trigger fully pushed.
Embodiment VI The two-step trigger may be arranged to have no function in its half-pushed state, that is, to act as a one-step trigger switch, when the MV mode is selected for recording. In the case of a sixth embodiment of this invention, the trigger is arranged to be opened and fully pushed for recording without having the function of allowing or inhibiting the AF action.
The arrangement of each of these embodiments is summarized as follows: An image pickup apparatus of the kind capable of performing both moving image shooting and still image shooting comprises: gain control means for controlling an amplification gain of a color signal obtained from an image sensor; color detecting means for detecting a color of an object on the basis of a signal obtained from the gain control means; gain control signal forming means for forming a gain control signal to be supplied to the gain control means according to an output signal of the color detecting means; mode detecting means for detecting that the apparatus is set in a still image shorting mode; and control means arranged to vary a mode of control over the gain control signal forming means in response to an output of the mode detecting means.
Embodiment VII FIG. 17 is a block diagram showing a seventh embodiment of this invention. The illustration includes an A/D conversion circuit 30; a rate conversion circuit 31; a PCM conversion circuit 32; a recording circuit 33; a white balance adjustment on/off switch 34; a shooting mode selection switch 35 for selection of either a moving image recording (MV) mode or a still image recording (SV) mode; and a control circuit 36. The control circuit 36 is arranged to detect the shooting mode; to cause the recording circuit 33 to perform recording in the detected mode; and to cause a white balance correcting action to be performed if the white balance on/off switch 34 is on.
A dividing signal generator 16 is arranged to generate a dividing signal for dividing color-difference signals. The dividing signal generator 16 outputs, from a terminal P for every vertical scanning period V, a pulse for taking out a portion of each color-difference signal obtained from within the image plane. The dividing signal generator 16 also outputs a reset pulse from a terminal Q′ at the end of every vertical scanning period V. Dividing parts 17 and 18 are arranged to divide respectively the color-difference signals R-YL and B-YL by outputting dividing pulses from a terminal P′ for operating an analog switch or the like.
The level adjustment part 24 is arranged to adjust the value obtained from the A/D converter 21 according to a signal from the color discrimination part 23. The level adjustment part 25 is arranged to adjust the value obtained from the A/D converter 22 according to the signal from the color discrimination part 23. A correction signal control part 26 is arranged to control a white balance correction output on the basis of the outputs (R-YL)′ and (B-YL)′ of the level adjustment parts 24 and 25. A D/A (digital-to-analog) converter 27 is arranged to convert the output value of the correction signal control part 26 from a digital value to an analog value and to output a white balance correction signal B. cont. A D/A converter 28 is likewise arranged to convert the output of the correction signal control part 26 and to output a white balance correction signal R. cont.
The color discrimination part 23 shown in FIG. 17 acts as follows: The data of the A/D-converted color-difference signals R-YL and B-YL is inputted to the color discrimination part 23. The values of the input data are compared respectively with reference values Rref and Bref which indicate the white levels preset within the color discrimination part 23 for the color-difference signals R-YL and B-YL. The color discrimination part 23 then judges what kind of color is existing in each of the divided blocks on the basis of the result of comparison. For the sake of simplification, each of the reference values Rref and Bref is assumed to be 0. The values of R-YL and B-YL data of a certain block are assumed to be r1 and −b1, for example. If these values are in the relation of r1<b1 and r1>0, the vectorial position of the color of this block is considered to be at a point Ye as shown in FIG. 21. In this instance, such signals that are for multiplying the color-difference signal B-YL by x to make it into −b2 and the color-difference signal R-YL by y to make it into −r2 are supplied respectively to the level adjustment parts 24 and 25.
Embodiment VIII FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing an eighth embodiment of this invention. In FIG. 18, parts which are the same or similar to those shown in FIG. 17 are indicated by the same reference numerals. As shown in FIG. 18, the eighth embodiment is provided with an SV release button 37 for SV (still image shooting). When the SV release button 37 is operated, the control circuit 36 detects the still image shooting mode. Under the release condition, therefore, the white balance correcting action is performed in the still image shooting mode to permit a high-speed white balance correcting action.
Since, in the case of still image shooting, the object image is instantly frozen, the backlight correcting action must be accomplished at a high speed in order to secure a shutter opportunity. The backlight correcting action must be quickly and accurately controlled in shooting a still image. On the other hand, in the case of moving image shooting, the object is temporally continuous. Although the backlight correction control is preferably performed also in a short period of time, an excessively high-speed backlight corection tends to overshoot a desired exposure or to cause a repetitive control action due to the overshooting. Continuous images obtained under such a condition tend to give a disagreeable impression. Hence, in the case of the moving image shooting, the backlight correction control is preferably performed in a smooth manner rather than at a high speed. Therefore, if the backlight correction control is applied in the same manner both to moving image shooting and to still image shooting, it is hardly possible to adequately perform the control for each of the two different shooting modes.
Embodiment IX FIG. 22 shows the circuit arrangement of a ninth embodiment of this invention. The illustration includes an A/D conversion circuit 214; a rate conversion circuit 215; a PCM conversion circuit 216; a recording circuit 217; a mode selection switch 218 for switching the shooting mode between an MV (moving image shooting) mode and an SV (still image shooting) mode; and a control circuit 219. The control circuit 219 is arranged to detect the shooting mode and to cause the recording circuit 217 to perform recording in the mode detected.
Embodiment X A tenth embodiment of this invention is provided with an SV release button 220 as shown in FIG. 23. In this case, the control circuit 219 is arranged to detect the still image shooting mode when the SV release button 220 is operated for a release. In the state of the release, an exposure correcting action is performed at a high speed in the still image shooting mode.
Embodiment XI FIG. 25 is a block diagram showing an eleventh embodiment of this invention. The illustration includes a lens group 1001; an iris 1002; a CCD (image sensor) 1003; a sample-and-hold (S/H) circuit 1004; camera signal processing circuits 1005, 1006 and 1007; an AGC correction and gamma circuit 1005; an encoder 1006; a color processing circuit 1007; a video signal processing circuit 1008; an A/D conversion circuit 1009; a rate conversion circuit 1010; a PCM conversion circuit 1011; a recording circuit 1012; a shutter speed setting circuit 1013; a light measuring circuit 1014; an aperture reading circuit 1015; an aperture setting circuit 1016; a release button 1017 for still image shooting; and a control circuit 1018.
At the step S122: A check is made for the half-pushed state (on by one step) of the release button 1017. If so, the flow comes to a step S123. At the step S123: The control circuit 1018 reads aperture value information from the aperture reading circuit 1015. At a step S124: The aperture value is checked to find if it indicates a full-open sate. If not, the flow comes to a step S125. At the step S125: A shutter speed value and an aperture value are set on the basis of the relation between the shutter speed and the aperture as shown in FIG. 27(A). Referring to FIG. 27(A), if the read value of aperture is F4.0 while the full-open aperture is F2.0, for example, the aperture can be opened by two steps to F4.0 and the shutter speed can be set at {fraction (1/125)} sec or {fraction (1/250)} sec. If the aperture is found to be fully open, the flow comes to a step S126 to read the AGC gain. At a next step S127: The AGC gain is checked to find if it is a maximum value. If not, the flow comes to a step S128. At the step S128: A shutter speed is set on the basis of a relation between the shutter speed and the AGC gain as shown in FIG. 27(B).
At a step S129: A check is made for the fully-pushed state (on by two steps) of the release button 1017. If the release button 1017 is found to be in the fully-pushed state, the flow comes to a step S130 for still image shooting. If the release button 1017 is found to be in the half-pushed state, the shutter speed setting process continues. If the release button 1017 is found to be in an off-state, the embodiment comes back to its normal moving image shooting state for which the shutter speed is at {fraction (1/60)} sec.
Embodiment XII The eleventh embodiment described above is arranged to increase the shutter speed in response to an instruction given from the still image shooting release button 1017. However, in the case of a twelfth embodiment of the invention, that arrangement is changed to arrange a mode selection switch 1041 for switching between the moving image shooting (MV) mode and the still image shooting (SV) mode in combination with the still image shooting release button 1017, as shown in FIG. 28.
At a step S149: If the still image shooting release button 1017 is turned on, the flow comes to a step S150 to have the still image shooting carried out. Further, in a case where the shooting mode is found to be the moving image shooting mode at the step S142, the flow comes to a step S151 to have the moving image shooting carried out at the normal shutter speed of {fraction (1/60)} sec.
As described above, the eleventh and twelfth embodiments are arranged such that, in the still image shooting mode, the shutter speed which is normally {fraction (1/60)} sec for the moving image shooting is increased to a speed apposite to the still image shooting on the basis of the aperture value and the AGC gain. Therefore, in the case of the still image shooting, an image shake due to hand vibrations, etc., can be prevented by virtue of the higher shutter speed.
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