JP2009182547A - Imaging device - Google Patents

Abstract

【Task】
An object of the present invention is to provide an imaging apparatus including a zoom mechanism that can obtain a target zoom image with a small zoom operation.
[Solution]
An imaging device that images a subject and records the captured video information on a recording medium,
A zoom mechanism that changes the magnification of the subject being imaged;
An operation button for instructing an operation on the zoom mechanism;
When the operation button is pressed down without changing the enlargement ratio automatically, the zoom mechanism performs the first operation for automatically changing the enlargement ratio of the subject, and the enlargement ratio is automatically changed. And a zoom operation control means for performing a second operation for stopping the first operation for changing the enlargement ratio when the operation button is pressed down.
[Selection] Figure 2

Description

The present invention relates to a zoom mechanism of an imaging apparatus.

  Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-26883 discusses the problem of “providing a camera capable of driving a zoom optical system at a higher speed than normal zoom driving” and “normally moving the zoom optical system to the telephoto side or wide angle side. When driving at speed, the tele button and wide button are operated separately, and when moving to the tele end or wide end at high speed, both the tele button and wide button are pressed and operated. Is used.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-228561 addresses the problem of “providing a novel zoom switch capable of switching a zoom lens in two steps of a forward rotation direction and a reverse rotation direction, and a high speed and a low speed with a single zoom button”. And a switch operating plate made of leaf spring, which is arranged below the insulated seesaw type zoom button attached to the casing so as to swing about the fulcrum, and moves together, ... The second or fourth switch for low-speed rotation operates when pressed lightly, and the first or third switch for high-speed rotation operates when pressed hard.

  Further, in Patent Document 3, “Providing a zoom lens operation device that can use a constant-speed auto zoom function in an operation device that realizes servo control by one-axis two-operation”, When the constant speed auto zoom switch is pressed during push-pull, the amount of change in the zoom position command signal at that time is memorized, and the speed instruction is maintained. It describes that the lens stops and the zoom position returns to the indicated position of the operation rod when the switch is further pressed.

JP-A-6-3572 (see abstract) JP-A-5-167907 (see abstract) JP2001-91817 (see abstract)

  In current image pickup apparatuses, when performing a zoom operation, the zoom speed changes mainly according to the strength of pressing using a seesaw-type button.

  In Patent Document 1, the zoom operation changes depending on the difference in zoom operation. In Patent Document 2, the zoom speed changes depending on how the zoom button is pressed. Therefore, the zoom operation is distracted until the target zoom image is obtained. For this reason, there are problems that the zoom operation is faster than expected and cannot be stopped at an image that the user originally wanted to stop, the subject being chased is lost, and camera shake occurs more frequently than in normal shooting.

  In Patent Document 3, a constant-speed auto zoom switch is described. In order to start a constant-speed zoom operation, a configuration in which the constant-speed auto zoom switch is further pushed while pushing and pulling the operating rod is used. There is a problem that the number of operations until the constant speed zoom operation is started is large.

  Accordingly, in order to improve the above-described problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an imaging apparatus including a zoom mechanism that can obtain a target zoom image with a small zoom operation.

The above-mentioned subject is improved by the composition as described in a claim as an example.

  According to the present invention, the user can follow the subject without paying attention to the zoom operation. In addition, camera shake during the zoom operation can be suppressed.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, the imaging apparatus 100 of the present embodiment includes a camera unit 101, a signal processing unit 102, a compression unit 103, a recording unit 104, a zoom operation operation unit 105, and a zoom operation control unit 106. ing.

  When recording an image, it is captured in the camera unit 101, the signal processing unit 102 converts the signal from the camera unit into image data to be compressed, the compression unit 103 compresses the image to generate a stream, and the stream is recorded in the recording unit. Record at 104. Here, when the zoom operation operation unit 105 is operated during recording, the zoom operation control unit 106 converts the signal into a signal for performing a normal zoom operation or an automatic zoom operation, and controls the zoom magnification of the camera unit.

  When the automatic zoom operation described above is performed, the zoom magnification automatically changes, and the enlargement ratio of the subject to be imaged changes. At this time, the operation unit 106 gives an instruction to start automatic zooming, but it is not necessary to give an instruction from the operation unit while the enlargement ratio is changing, and the zoom magnification automatically changes.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the first embodiment of the present invention. First, 200 is an operation to turn on the power. By this operation, the power of the imaging apparatus is turned on, and the button 201 is on standby. In this state, it is possible to perform operations such as displaying a menu screen, changing the shooting mode, playing back shot content, and turning off the power. When the power is turned off, the power of 203 is turned off. If it is not a power-off operation, the button operation performed by the button operation 204 is determined, and a desired movement is performed. If it is determined that the operation is a menu operation, the operation designated by the button, such as menu display, shooting mode setting, and playback, is performed in 205 corresponding operations. Next, when it is determined that the recording operation is performed, 206 is being shot. If a button for stopping shooting is entered during shooting, the screen returns to the standby state for 201 buttons. If an automatic zoom button operation is entered during shooting, the automatic zoom operation 208 is started. When the photographed image becomes a desired zoom image during the automatic zoom operation, the zoom stop operation of 209 can be performed to return to the state of photographing 206.

  Thus, by starting the automatic zoom operation by a single button operation, the user can follow the subject without being distracted by the zoom operation. In addition, camera shake during the zoom operation can be suppressed.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a second embodiment of the present invention, which is an example in which the automatic zoom mechanism of FIG. 2 is realized by voice recognition instead of button operation. The parts common to those in FIG.

  First, as a pre-shooting preparation, the voice that the photographer starts the automatic zoom operation in advance, for example, “zoom”, “up” and the voice that stops the automatic zoom operation, “stop”, “stop”, etc. are registered in advance. .

  If the stop operation is not performed by the button operation 210 from the state during the shooting 206, the voice is recognized at 211. When the voice information such as the voice of the photographer who has been recognized is compared with the voice information registered in advance, and the recognized voice information is determined to be voice information such as “Zoom” or “Up” registered in advance Next, 208 automatic zoom operations are performed. By registering the photographer's voice in advance, the zoom operation can be performed with high accuracy without reacting to the voice uttered by the subject or the surrounding people. At this time, since the audio “zoom” and “up” used for recognition are registered in advance, they are canceled by signal processing so that they are not recorded during encoding. Thereby, the sound used for the operation at the time of reproduction is prevented from entering. Here, when a sound that is not an operation sound is uttered, the sound is not recorded and is recorded.

  In addition to the method described above, a voice recognition ON / OFF switch can be provided as a method for preventing the subject or the surrounding people from uttering sound other than when zooming is desired.

  Next, when the zoom operation is stopped, in the voice recognition 212, the operation shifts to 206 during shooting in response to a stop voice such as “stop” or “stop” registered in advance.

  When performing an operation by voice, the zoom mechanism can also be controlled by the button operation described in the first embodiment.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a third embodiment of the present invention, and is an example in which the automatic zoom mechanism of FIG. 2 and the current zoom mechanism are integrated. In current image pickup apparatuses, when performing a zoom operation, the zoom speed changes mainly according to the strength of pressing using a seesaw-type button. Portions common to those in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same symbols, and description thereof is omitted.

  In this form, it is determined at 213 whether the zoom operation is a normal zoom operation or an automatic zoom operation. In the normal zoom operation, a normal zoom operation is performed. In the automatic zoom operation, an automatic zoom operation is performed. An example of button operation for discriminating between normal zoom operation and automatic zoom operation will be described below.

  Note that the following wide buttons are buttons that start the operation of decreasing the magnification rate of the subject when pressed down, and the tele buttons are buttons that start the operation of increasing the magnification rate of the subject when pressed down.

  (1) When either the wide button or the tele button is pressed twice in succession, an automatic zoom operation is performed. When the button is pressed for a long time, normal zooming is performed while the button is pressed.

  (2) When either the wide button or the tele button is pressed, the depression depth is measured by the measurement unit of the zoom operation control unit 106. If the depression depth is less than the predetermined value, the normal zoom is performed. If the depth of depression is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, automatic zooming is performed.

(3) When either the wide button or the tele button is pressed for a short time, the automatic zoom operation is performed, and when the button is pressed for a long time, the normal zoom is performed while the button is pressed.
At this time, if the automatic zoom and the normal zoom are switched according to the operation time of the zoom button, the usability is improved.
FIG. 7 is a specific example. The horizontal axis represents time. When the zoom button is operated at 700, the detection of the zoom button pressing time is detected by the detection unit of the zoom operation control unit 106. When the operation of the zoom button is stopped before the threshold time of 701 (for example, 0.5 seconds), automatic zooming is performed, and when the zoom button is operated beyond the threshold time, the normal zoom is performed. Thus, it is possible to switch between automatic zoom and normal zoom with a single button operation.
This threshold value can be arbitrarily set by the user, such as 1 second or 0.3 second.

  In this way, by setting the threshold value for the button press time and switching between automatic zoom and normal zoom, malfunction can be prevented and the user can perform a zoom switching operation smoothly. Accordingly, the user can follow the subject and take a picture without being distracted by the zoom switching operation.

(4) The automatic zoom button switches between automatic zoom and normal zoom.
If you zoom while pressing the auto zoom button, the auto zoom is activated. Alternatively, each time the automatic zoom button is pressed, the zoom state can be switched between an automatic zoom and a normal zoom, and an arbitrary zoom state can be switched.

  At this time, in addition to the wide button and the tele button, an automatic zoom button or menu for switching between the automatic zoom operation and the normal zoom operation may be provided. However, a button that is disabled during recording, such as a menu button, is automatically selected. By substituting as a zoom button, it is possible to respond without increasing the number of buttons.

  (5) Prepare both a wide button and a tele button for automatic zoom operation and a wide button and a tele button for normal zoom operation.

  In the examples (1) to (5), the automatic zoom speed may be arbitrarily set by the user. Thereby, the user can perform a more appropriate automatic zoom operation.

  In addition, the wide button and the tele button may be separate buttons, or the seesaw type button becomes a wide button when pressed down in one direction, and a tele button when pressed down in the opposite direction. It may be.

  FIG. 5 shows a screen during the automatic zoom operation. Reference numeral 500 denotes a screen, and reference numerals 501 to 505 denote displays that appear during the zoom operation. Reference numeral 501 represents a zoom operation with characters, and 502 represents a zoomable range with a horizontal bar. Reference numeral 503 denotes a wide end, reference numeral 504 denotes a tele end, and reference numeral 505 denotes a position where the current zoom magnification is in the entire zoom range. Here, when the current state is 208 during the automatic zoom operation of FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the current zoom magnification of 505 is blinked or 501 to 505 is flashed so that it can be understood that the automatic zoom operation is in progress. It is assumed that a visual distinction can be made immediately by performing an operation different from the normal zoom, such as changing the color.

  In addition, the following functions are added to improve usability. When zooming up using the automatic zoom function 208, the contour of the subject is discriminated, and the function automatically stops at a zoom magnification that can capture the entire contour of the subject. FIG. 6 shows an example in which the automatic zoom operation is continued from the state of FIG. 5, and the face contour of the subject is recognized and automatically stopped. Since the screen display of FIG. 6 is the same as that of FIG. 5, the same symbols are assigned and the description thereof is omitted. This automatic stop function can be turned ON / OFF from the menu screen before shooting, and by selecting the type of subject to be shot in advance (person's face, whole person, dog, car, etc.), high-precision automatic stop Functions can be realized.

It is a block diagram which shows embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart showing operation | movement of the whole imaging device of 1st Example of this invention. It is a flowchart showing operation | movement of the whole imaging device of the 2nd Example of this invention. It is a flowchart showing operation | movement of the whole imaging device of the 3rd Example of this invention. It is an example of the screen display during the automatic zoom operation | movement of this invention. It is an example of the screen display after the stop of the automatic zoom stop function of this invention. It is a figure which shows the specific example at the time of switching automatic zoom and normal zoom according to zoom operation time in 3rd Example of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

100 imaging device
101 Camera section
102 Signal processor
103 Compression section
104 Recording section
105 Zoom operation control
106 Zoom operation control unit
200 Power ON
201 Button operation standby
202 Power supply operation
203 Power off
204 Button operation
205 Supported actions
206 Shooting
207 Button operation
208 Automatic zoom operation
209 Button operation
210 Button operation
211 Voice recognition operation
212 Voice recognition operation
213 Zoom operation judgment operation
214 Normal zoom operation

Claims (5)

An imaging device for imaging a subject,
A zoom mechanism that changes the magnification of the subject being imaged;
An operation button for instructing an operation on the zoom mechanism;
When the operation button is pressed down without changing the enlargement ratio automatically, the zoom mechanism performs the first operation for automatically changing the enlargement ratio of the subject, and the enlargement ratio is automatically changed. And a zoom operation control means for performing a second operation for stopping the first operation for changing the enlargement ratio when the operation button is pressed down. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1,
When the operation button is pressed down, it has a detecting means for detecting a time when the operation button is pressed down,
In the state where the zoom operation control means is not automatically changing the enlargement ratio and the operation button is pressed down,
When the pressing time of the operation button detected by the detecting means is less than or equal to a threshold value, the first operation of automatically changing the magnification rate of the subject is performed by the zoom mechanism,
When the pressing time of the operation button detected by the detecting means exceeds a threshold value, a third operation for changing the magnification rate of the object is performed by the zoom mechanism while the operation button is pressed. An imaging device. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1,
Measuring means for measuring the depth of depression of the operation button when the operation button is depressed;
The zoom operation control means, when the operation button is pressed down in a state where the enlargement ratio is not automatically changed, and when the depth of depression of the operation button measured by the measurement means is a predetermined value or more, Performing the first operation of automatically changing the enlargement ratio of the subject by the zoom mechanism;
When the depth of depression of the operation button measured by the measuring means is less than a predetermined value, a third operation for changing the enlargement ratio of the subject is performed by the zoom mechanism while the operation button is depressed. An imaging device that is characterized. The imaging apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
A registration unit for registering specific audio information;
First specific audio information and second specific audio information registered in the registration unit;
Voice information recognition means for recognizing voice information;
Collation means for collating the voice information recognized by the voice information recognition means with the voice information registered in the registration unit;
When the collation unit determines that the audio information recognized by the audio information recognition unit is the first specific audio information registered in the registration unit, the zoom mechanism automatically increases the magnification of the subject. Performing the first operation to be changed at
When it is determined that the second specific voice information is registered in the registration unit, the voice operation means performs the second operation for stopping the first operation for changing an enlargement ratio. An imaging device. The imaging apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein:
A display unit for displaying the captured video information on the screen;
When the first operation for automatically changing the magnification rate of a subject is performed, an image is displayed on the screen of the display unit so that it can be seen that the first operation is being performed. .

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