Patent ID: 7557833

Claim:
An image pick-up device comprising: image signal generation means for generating an image signal of a variable frame-rate picked-up image; signal-recording-and-reproducing means for recording and reproducing the image signal; frame rate conversion means for converting frame rates of the image signal generated by the image signal generation means and the image signal reproduced by the signal-recording-and-reproducing means into a display frame rate; frame addition processing means for continuously varying the frame rates of the image signal; monitor image signal generation means for generating a monitor image signal using an image signal having the display frame rate set by the frame rate conversion means and varied by the frame addition processing means; and control means for controlling operations of the image signal generation means and the signal-recording-and-reproducing means, wherein the frame addition processing means adds a predetermined number of frames to the image data, wherein the frame addition processing means varies the frame rates of the image signal to any integer by adding frames to the image data and by changing an image pick-up frame rate, wherein if it is instructed to reproduce the image signal recorded in the signal-recording-and-reproducing means during recording of the image signal, the control means causes the signal-recording-and-reproducing means to reproduce the recorded image signal at a reproduction frame rate and the control means causes the monitor image signal generation means to generate the monitor image signal that displays simultaneously on one screen a picked-up image based on the image signal generated by the image signal generation means and a reproduced image based on the image signal reproduced by the signal-recording-and-reproducing means.