JP4433897B2 - Imaging device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus such as a digital camera that captures an image of a subject.

  With conventional digital cameras, you can view the recorded image of the subject by displaying it on the LCD panel of the main unit, displaying it on the monitor screen of an external television receiver via the interface, or In general, printing is performed by an external printer, and a recorded image is once read into a memory of a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as “personal computer”) and then projected onto an external projector via an interface.

In addition, a camera that displays a captured image on an electronic viewfinder is disclosed (see Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent No. 3240072

  However, since the above-mentioned camera is not equipped with a projector function, there is a problem in that it is not possible to view a large number of images on the spot immediately after displaying a photographed image without using another device.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an imaging apparatus that can display an image of a subject on a liquid crystal display panel of the main body and project the image directly from the main body onto an external screen.

In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object of the present invention, an imaging apparatus according to the present invention selectively includes a lens, an LCD disposed opposite to the optical axis of the lens, and an LCD on the optical axis of the lens. A CCD disposed opposite to the CCD, a reflector provided on the back surface of the CCD, and when the reflector is disposed on the optical axis, the first intensity light is emitted and the LCD is disposed on the optical axis. A backlight that irradiates light of a second intensity brighter than the first intensity of light and a liquid crystal display panel that is disposed to face the reflector.

  As a result, the image pickup apparatus of the present invention is equipped with a projector function based on the projection mode, so even if there is no monitor such as an external television receiver on the spot where the image was taken, only the main body projects the image onto the external screen. By doing so, a large number of people can see the captured image on a large screen.

  Here, the backlight for the auxiliary light source for the display means mounted on the main body is used by switching the brightness and direction as the light source for projection when operating the projector function by the projection means in the projection mode. To do.

  As a projection means, a small liquid crystal dedicated to projection is mounted. In addition, an optical lens for photographing is used as a lens for projection. At this time, in the optical system lens for photographing, the direction of the optical axis at the time of photographing is opposite to the direction of the projection light.

  In this way, the light source unit and the optical system for projecting the captured image can be used in combination with those mounted on the main body, so that the size of the apparatus can be reduced, and the captured image can be displayed. The mode and the projection mode can be easily switched and used by the switching control means.

  According to the present invention, by using the projector function based on the projection mode, the image taken by the imaging device can be immediately seen on the spot by projecting onto the external screen by the projection unit with only the main body.

By using what is mounted on the main body, the apparatus can be miniaturized, the projector function can be realized with the size of the imaging apparatus, and it is convenient to carry.
Also in the business field, the captured image can be displayed in real time with a single imaging device, which is effective for presentations and the like.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings as appropriate.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a system overview of the imaging apparatus according to the present embodiment.
In FIG. 1, the main components of a digital camera equipped with a projector function applied to the image pickup apparatus of the present embodiment are an optical lens 2, a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) 4 as an image pickup means, and a control means. An LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) 3 is provided as projection means for projection with respect to the system control unit 7, the backlight 5 for auxiliary light emission, and the liquid crystal display panel 6 as display means.

Operations in the display mode and the projection mode of the imaging apparatus of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described.
First, the operation in the display mode 8 will be described.
In the function as a normal digital camera, the reflected light from the subject 1 is photographed by converting the reflected light from the subject 1 into an electric signal by the imaging operation by the CCD 4 through the lens 2, and the image data of the projected subject is processed by the system control unit 7. . Then, the processed image data is recorded in a memory, and an image of the subject 1 is displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 6. At this time, the backlight 5 emits auxiliary light having a relatively low luminance toward the liquid crystal display panel 6 so that the luminance of the image of the subject 1 on the liquid crystal display panel 6 is adjusted for display.

Next, the operation in the projection mode 9 will be described.
In the projector function, the image data captured by the CCD 4 or the image data recorded in the memory is read using the system control unit 7 and an image based on the image data is displayed on the projection LCD 3. The image projected on the projection LCD 3 is illuminated by the backlight 5 and projected onto the external screen 1 through the lens 2. At this time, the backlight 5 emits projection light having a relatively high brightness toward the projection LCD 3, thereby passing through the lens 2 in the direction opposite to the direction of the optical axis at the time of shooting and on the screen 1. One projection image is adjusted and displayed for projection.

2A and 2B are diagrams showing optical axis opposition by movement of the CCD and LCD or optical refraction, FIG. 2A is a front view, and FIG. 2B is a side view.
As described above, it is necessary to switch between the display mode and the projection mode when the imaging CCD 4 or the projection LCD 3 faces the optical axis of the lens 2. Therefore, in this embodiment, an example in which this switching operation is performed by a slide mechanism or an optical refraction mechanism is shown.

First, the switching state in the display mode will be described.
In the display mode, as shown at 21, the imaging CCD 4 is switched to a position facing the optical axis of the lens 2 by a slide mechanism such as an actuator that can be slid. Further, as shown in FIG. 22, the imaging CCD 4 is switched to oppose the optical axis of the lens 2 by an optical refraction mechanism such as a prism capable of optical refraction.

  In a switching state in which the imaging CCD 4 is opposed to the optical axis of the lens 2, the image data captured by the imaging CCD 4 is displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 6 after undergoing the above-described image processing. At this time, auxiliary light is emitted from the backlight 5 toward the imaging CCD 4. However, since the back surface of the imaging CCD 4 is formed of a reflector, auxiliary light from the backlight 5 collected by the reflector 11 is used. The light is reflected by the reflecting plate on the back surface of the imaging CCD 4, and this reflected light is averaged over the entire display surface by the light guide plate 12 disposed on the back surface of the liquid crystal display panel 6 and is irradiated onto the liquid crystal display panel 6. .

Next, the switching state in the projection mode will be described.
In the projection mode, as shown at 21, the projection LCD 3 is switched to a position facing the optical axis of the lens 2 by a slide mechanism such as an actuator capable of sliding. Further, as shown at 22, the projection LCD 3 is switched to oppose the optical axis of the lens 2 by an optical refraction mechanism such as a prism capable of optical refraction.

  In a switching state where the projection LCD 3 faces the optical axis of the lens 2, an image of the image data after the image processing displayed by the projection LCD 3 is projected onto the screen 1 through the lens 2. Displayed. At this time, although projection light is emitted from the backlight 5 toward the projection LCD 3, the projection light from the backlight 5 collected by the reflector 11 is directly irradiated on the back surface of the projection LCD 3. Since powerful light is irradiated on the back of the projection LCD 3, an image irradiated with the projection light is projected on the external screen 1 through the lens 2. The size of the projection LCD 3 is smaller than the diameter of the lens 2 and smaller than the liquid crystal display panel 6.

  At this time, the current value supplied to the backlight 5 is supplied by the system control unit 7 shown in FIG. 1 when the projection mode is used, which is a larger value than when the display mode is used. By controlling in this way, the brightness of the projection light from the backlight 5 in the projection mode is controlled to be relatively higher than the brightness of the auxiliary light from the backlight 5 in the display mode.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a system configuration of the imaging apparatus according to the embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of an embodiment in which the imaging apparatus according to the present invention is applied to a digital still camera.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the camera block of the imaging apparatus according to this embodiment condenses incident light and adjusts the amount of incident light around the optical axis and the lens unit 2 of the optical system that can adjust focus and zoom. An iris mechanism that is limited to a mechanical type, and a shutter release button, which will be described later, is half-pressed to open a shutter blade to enable focus adjustment, and a deep-press operation to start exposure to enable shooting operation. A shutter mechanism that closes the image capturing operation and ends the photographing operation, a CCD image pickup device 4 that picks up an image of a subject by photoelectrically converting the exposed incident light, and vertical and horizontal transfer pulses and fields necessary for driving the CCD image pickup device And a timing signal generation circuit for generating a shift pulse.

  The image processing block 36 of the system controller 7 of the imaging apparatus includes an analog signal circuit that performs noise removal and automatic gain control by correlated double sampling, and an A / D conversion circuit that converts the analog signal into a digital signal. A digital signal processing circuit that separates the digital signal into a luminance signal and a color signal, performs various color signal processing such as white balance and gamma conversion on each signal, and generates a signal necessary for an imaging operation to acquire a captured image The system control unit 7 of the imaging apparatus includes a main control block 34 that controls the operation of the entire digital still camera.

  The main control block 34 includes a microcomputer, a memory 35 such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a program ROM (Read Only Memory), a work area RAM (Random Access Memory), and various I / O ports (not shown). And interface. The main control block 34 is connected to a lens control unit 33 that drives and controls the zoom mechanism and focus mechanism of the lens unit.

  Further, the main control block 34 is connected to an operation block 31 such as a shutter release button that can perform various adjustment operations of the camera block 1 and an image pickup operation by driving a CCD image pickup device when the shutter mechanism is opened and closed by a user input operation. In addition, a liquid crystal display panel 6 as an image display device composed of an LCD, for example, is connected via an image processing block 36, and a removable memory controller including a removable memory 32 as a removable rewritable recording medium; , SDRAM (synchronous dynamic random access memory) that temporarily stores generated data etc. not shown, external interface with output terminals such as USB (Universal Serial Bus), and EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only) Memory) is connected It is.

  Although not shown, the lens unit 2 includes a zoom control mechanism unit having a zoom lens and a drive unit thereof, and a focus control mechanism unit having a focus lens and a drive unit thereof. A control signal is supplied to the zoom control mechanism unit and the focus control mechanism unit of the lens unit via the lens control unit, and the zoom control mechanism unit and the focus control mechanism unit are driven and controlled to perform zoom control or focus control. Is done.

  The shutter release button of the operation block 31 is a momentary type push switch that is operated to open and close the shutter mechanism instantaneously by a user's press. The shutter release button switches between three states: a state where the switch is not pressed at all (off), a state where the switch is fully pressed (deep press), and a state where the switch is pressed halfway (half press). A function is provided. The three pressed states (OFF, half-pressed, and deep-pressed) of the shutter release button are determined by the main control block 34. Details of the operation of each button of the operation block 6 in the pressed state will be described later.

  The iris mechanism controls the size of the aperture through which light incident through the lens unit is transmitted by a control signal from the main control block 34. The shutter mechanism is driven by a control signal from the main control block 7 in response to the pressing operation of the shutter release button, and controls the exposure time for transmitting the light incident through the lens unit. The amount of exposure light is controlled by controlling the iris mechanism and the shutter mechanism.

  In this example, the CCD image pickup device is configured as a color image pickup device in which a color filter in which a color filter array is two-dimensionally arranged for each pixel in order to obtain color information is provided on the image pickup surface. Thus, an imaging output signal corresponding to the subject image formed on is obtained.

  The analog signal processing circuit is a circuit that performs analog processing such as sampling processing for noise removal by correlated double sampling and amplification processing by automatic gain control on the image signal supplied from the CCD image sensor. The image signal output from the analog signal processing circuit is supplied to the A / D conversion circuit.

  The A / D conversion circuit samples the analog image signal supplied from the analog signal processing circuit at a predetermined sampling rate, and converts it into a digital image signal. The digital image signal output from the A / D conversion circuit is supplied to the digital signal processing circuit.

  The digital signal processing circuit performs various color signal processing on the digital image signal supplied from the A / D conversion circuit, and from this digital image signal, the image signal for one frame period, and for each pixel for taking a still image. An image signal, a detection area parameter signal for autofocus, and various signals necessary for photometry are generated.

  For example, when generating an image signal for one frame period, a display image signal is generated from an input image signal and supplied to a liquid crystal display panel 6 as an image display device. At this time, auxiliary light from the backlight 5 collected by the reflector 11 is applied to the back surface of the liquid crystal display panel 6. Further, at the time of capturing a still image, one still image signal is generated from the input image signal, encoded and subjected to processing such as compression, and supplied to the removable memory 32. At the time of autofocus, a high frequency component in a predetermined area in the screen is detected from the input image signal, a parameter indicating the level of the high frequency component is generated, and supplied to the main control block 34.

  The timing signal generation circuit generates various drive pulses such as vertical and horizontal transfer pulses and field shift pulses required for the CCD image sensor to store and read image signals for each screen. Various pulses generated from the timing signal generation circuit are supplied to the CCD image sensor and used as timing signals for image signal imaging processing and output processing.

  A strobe control unit (not shown) is a discharge light emitting means such as a so-called xenon lamp, and can emit intense light for a moment and irradiate the subject with light. That is, the strobe control unit can irradiate the subject with a strong flash as auxiliary light for assisting the exposure amount at the time of shooting. Thereby, it is possible to obtain an exposure amount necessary for photographing. The strobe controller is attached to, for example, the front surface or the upper part of the housing, and is provided so as to irradiate light on a subject to be imaged. That is, the strobe control unit is provided so as to irradiate light in the direction of the optical axis of the lens and in the direction from the lens toward the front. The strobe control unit is driven by the charge / light emission control unit, and the light emission timing is controlled by the main control block 34.

  Here, the main control block 34 is provided with a switching control unit 37 that switches between the case where the imaging CCD 4 or the projection LCD 3 faces the optical axis of the lens 2 in the display mode and the projection mode. The switching control unit 37 supplies the display image signal generated from the input image signal to the projection LCD 3 via the image processing block 36 by switching from the normal display mode as described above to the projection mode. At this time, the image displayed on the projection LCD 3 is projected on the external screen through the lens 2 by the projection light from the backlight 5 collected by the reflector 11.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the switching control unit in the display mode or the projection mode.
4, when the display mode setting operation 41 is performed in the operation block 31 shown in FIG. 3, the CCD facing position moving unit 43 or the CCD facing position refracting unit 44 in the switching control unit 37 of the main control block 34 is changed to FIG. The slide mechanism or the optical refraction mechanism is driven as shown in FIG. As a result, the imaging CCD 4 is switched to a position facing the optical axis of the lens 2, or the imaging CCD 4 is switched to face the optical axis of the lens 2.

  At this time, the display backlight luminance setting unit 47 in the switching control unit 37 of the main control block 34 controls the current value supplied to the backlight 5 to be relatively small so that the luminance of the auxiliary light from the backlight 5 is increased. Control relatively low.

  When the projection mode setting operation 42 is performed in the operation block 31 shown in FIG. 3, the LCD facing position moving unit 45 or the LCD facing position refracting unit 46 in the switching control unit 37 of the main control block 34 is shown in FIG. As described above, the slide mechanism or the optical refraction mechanism is driven. Thus, the projection LCD 3 is switched to a position facing the optical axis of the lens 2, or the projection LCD 3 is switched to face the optical axis of the lens 2.

  At this time, the projection backlight luminance setting unit 48 in the switching control unit 37 of the main control block 34 controls the current value supplied to the backlight 5 to be relatively large so that the luminance of the projection light from the backlight 5 is increased. Control relatively high.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and the functions of the CCD and the LCD may be halved with respect to the optical axis of the lens 2.

It is a figure which shows the system outline | summary of the imaging device of this Embodiment. FIG. 2A is a front view and FIG. 2B is a side view showing the opposition of an optical axis by movement or optical refraction of a CCD and an LCD. It is a figure block diagram which shows the system configuration | structure of an imaging device. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the switching control part by display mode or projection mode.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Screen or subject, 2 ... Lens, 3 ... LCD, 4 ... CCD, 5 ... Back light, 6 ... Liquid crystal display panel, 7 ... System control part, 8 ... Display mode, 9 ... Projection mode, 11 ... Light guide plate, 21 ... CCD and LCD are replaced by a slide mechanism, 22 ... CCD or LCD is made to oppose the optical axis by an optical refraction mechanism, etc.31 ... Operation block, 32 ... Removable memory, 33 ... Lens control unit, 34 ... Main control block 35 ... Memory, 36 ... Image processing block, 37 ... Switching control unit, 41 ... Display mode setting operation, 43 ... CCD facing position moving unit, 44 ... CCD facing position refracting unit, 47 ... Display backlight brightness setting unit, 42 ... Projection mode setting operation, 45 ... LCD facing position moving section, 46 ... LCD facing position refracting section, 48 ... Projection backlight brightness setting section

Claims (1)

  A lens,
  An LCD disposed opposite to the optical axis of the lens;
  A CCD that is selectively disposed on the optical axis of the lens to face the LCD;
  A reflector provided on the back surface of the CCD;
  When the reflecting plate is arranged on the optical axis, the second intensity light is emitted, and when the LCD is arranged on the optical axis, the second light is brighter than the first intensity light. A backlight that emits light of
  A liquid crystal display panel disposed opposite to the reflecting plate;
An imaging apparatus comprising:

Images