JP5281499B2 - Imaging apparatus and control method thereof - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for shooting a moving image.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a moving image is shot with a video camera or the like, there is a technique for providing a special effect when the moving image is played back by switching the frame rate (the number of frames per unit time) of the moving image to be shot (for example, Patent Literature) 1). For example, by reproducing a moving image shot at a frame rate of 60 frames / second at a frame rate of 30 frames / second, it is possible to reproduce a 1 / 2-speed slow motion moving image. As a result, it is possible to reproduce a moving image with a smoother subject movement compared to a case where a moving image shot at a frame rate of 30 frames / second is slowly reproduced at half speed. On the other hand, by reproducing a moving image shot at a frame rate of 15 frames / second at a frame rate of 30 frames / second, it is possible to reproduce a double-speed fast-forward moving image. In this manner, special effects can be added so that various moving image reproduction speeds can be obtained depending on the relationship between the frame rate at the time of shooting a moving image and the frame rate at the time of reproduction.

JP 2003-153054 A

  As described above, when a moving image is shot with the frame rate arbitrarily changed, the playback time of the moving image is determined by the frame rate at the time of shooting and the frame rate at the time of playback. For example, consider a case where a moving image of 10 seconds is taken and played back at 30 frames / second. When the frame rate of the moving image at the time of shooting is 60 frames / second, the playback time is 20 seconds. On the other hand, when the frame rate of the moving image at the time of shooting is 15 frames / second, the playback time is 5 seconds. As described above, even when a moving image is shot for the same time, the playback time varies depending on the frame rate of the moving image. For this reason, it is conceivable that the playback time of one scene is too short than the user thinks, or conversely, it is too long.

  Therefore, when the user wants to shoot a movie with the desired playback time, it is necessary to decide the time to shoot the movie while always considering the frame rate when shooting the movie and the frame rate during playback. It was very annoying.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and realizes a technique capable of setting a playback time of a captured moving image to a predetermined time even when the frame rate at the time of shooting can be changed.

In order to solve the above problem, an imaging apparatus of the present invention, a shooting image means, a recording means for recording a moving image taken by the imaging means, the frame rate of a moving said imaging means for photographing, setting means for setting to one of a plurality of frame rates, and controls the imaging means so as to shoot a movie before Ki設 constant frame rate based on the set frame rate, according to the recording means Control means for controlling start and stop of recording, and the control means has the set frame rate so that the playback time of the moving image recorded by the recording means becomes a predetermined playback time. based on, changing the length of up to said recording means to stop recording from the start of the recording of the moving of the set frame rate captured by the imaging means

  According to the present invention, even when the frame rate at the time of shooting can be changed, the playback time of the shot moving image can be set to a predetermined time.

It is a block diagram of an imaging device of an embodiment concerning the present invention. FIG. 6 is a timing chart when driving (A) an image sensor and recording (B) and reproducing (C) an image frame in normal reproduction. 6 is a timing chart when driving (A) an image sensor and recording (B) and reproducing (C) an image frame in slow reproduction. 6 is a timing chart when driving (A) an image sensor and recording (B) and reproducing (C) an image frame in fast-forward reproduction. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a moving image shooting operation according to the first embodiment. It is a figure which shows the relationship between reproduction speed, imaging | photography frame rate, and imaging | photography time. It is a figure explaining the process which sets the reproduction time of the moving image in this embodiment to predetermined time. 6 is a block diagram of an imaging apparatus according to Embodiment 2. FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a moving image shooting operation according to the second embodiment. It is a figure which shows the relationship between reproduction speed, imaging | photography frame rate, and the number of frames.

  EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Below, the form for implementing this invention with reference to an accompanying drawing is demonstrated in detail. The embodiment described below is an example for realizing the present invention, and should be appropriately modified or changed according to the configuration and various conditions of the apparatus to which the present invention is applied. It is not limited to the embodiment.

  [Embodiment 1] First, the configuration of a digital video camera according to an embodiment to which an imaging apparatus 100 according to the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 101 denotes a lens unit including a focus lens for forming a subject image. Reference numeral 102 denotes an image sensor such as a CCD or CMOS that photoelectrically converts the subject image formed by the lens unit 101 and outputs an electrical signal. A signal processing unit 103 performs predetermined signal processing on the analog signal output from the image sensor 102 to generate moving image data that is a digital signal. A recording processing unit 104 converts the moving image data output from the signal processing unit 103 into a format suitable for recording on a recording medium. A recording unit 105 records the moving image data processed by the recording processing unit 104 on a recording medium 113 such as a semiconductor memory or a hard disk. Reference numeral 106 denotes a drive unit that drives the image sensor 102. Reference numeral 107 denotes a frame rate control unit that controls the frame rate of the image sensor 102 during moving image shooting based on the shooting mode.

  An operation switch 109 receives various operations including a recording start instruction and a shooting mode setting instruction which will be described later by the user. Reference numeral 111 denotes a timer for measuring a recording time T described later. An LED 112 emits light during recording or at the end of recording. A reproduction unit 110 reproduces the moving image data recorded in the recording unit 105. Reference numeral 108 denotes a system controller that controls the entire apparatus including the above-described units. The output unit 114 outputs the moving image data reproduced by the reproduction unit 110 to the outside. The display control unit 115 controls the display screen for the display unit 116. In accordance with an instruction from the system controller 108, the display control unit 115 displays a captured moving image on the display unit 116 at the time of shooting, and displays the reproduced moving image on the display unit 116 at the time of playback. In addition, the display control unit 115 displays various menu screens for mode switching and frame rate setting as described later in accordance with instructions from the system controller 108.

  The digital video camera having the above-described configuration can change the frame rate when shooting a moving image, and the user can arbitrarily switch the frame rate of the moving image to be shot. In the following description, it is assumed that the recorded moving image data is reproduced at a frame rate of 30 frames / second. In addition to the normal shooting mode, the digital video camera according to the present embodiment can arbitrarily set the playback time of a video shot by the user, and record a video for a time corresponding to the set playback time. Have That is, the user can set the frame rate (n frames / second) of the moving image to be shot to an arbitrary value by operating the operation switch 109. In the present embodiment, the value of n is an arbitrary value between 1 and 60 in the normal shooting mode. In the snap shooting mode, the value of n is set to a predetermined value corresponding to the moving image playback speed, as will be described later. Further, the user can switch to the normal shooting mode or the snap shooting mode by operating the operation switch 109. Furthermore, the user can arbitrarily set the playback time of the moving image data recorded in the snap shooting mode by operating the operation switch 109.

  In the normal shooting mode, a moving image is recorded at a frame rate set by the user from when the recording start is instructed by operating the operation switch 109 until the recording stop is instructed. On the other hand, in the snap shooting mode, when an instruction to start recording is given in the same manner, shooting of a moving image is started at a frame rate set by the user. Thereafter, when recording is performed for the recording time T calculated based on the set frame rate V and the reproduction time m, the recording is automatically stopped.

  Here, the flow of signals will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1, an image that passes through the lens unit 101 and is imaged on the light receiving surface of the image sensor 102 is converted into an electrical signal and output to the signal processing unit 103 as a moving image. The signal processing unit 103 performs predetermined image processing such as noise removal and compression coding processing on the captured moving image signal, and then outputs the signal to the recording processing unit 104 and the display control unit 115. The recording processing unit 104 is configured so that the recorded moving image is reproduced at a predetermined frame rate (30 frames / second in the present embodiment) with respect to the moving image signal from the signal processing unit 103. The data is converted and output to the recording unit 105. Specifically, the recording processing unit 104 adds additional information indicating the frame rate at the time of reproduction of the captured moving image to the moving image data and outputs it. The recording unit 105 records the moving image data output from the recording processing unit 104 on a recording medium. In the present embodiment, a series of moving image data to be recorded on the recording medium from the start of recording to the stop of recording is managed as one file. Then, additional information indicating the frame rate at the time of reproduction is recorded as additional information of each moving image data file. Note that additional information may be added to each frame of moving image data. In addition, the recording processing unit 104 adds a time stamp indicating the reproduction timing of each frame of the moving image to each frame so that the recorded moving image is reproduced at a predetermined frame rate. It may be.

  At the time of shooting, the display control unit 115 displays a moving image related to the moving image data from the signal processing unit on the display unit 116. In this embodiment, the user can change the frame rate of the moving image to be shot, but the display control unit 115 displays a moving image having the same frame rate as the frame rate of the shot moving image on the display unit 116.

  The reproduction unit 110 reproduces the moving image data recorded by the recording unit 105 from the recording medium, and outputs it to the output unit 114 and the display control unit 115. The output unit 114 performs predetermined processing on the reproduced moving image data and outputs the processed data to an external monitor or the like. At this time, the reproduction unit 110 outputs the reproduced moving image data at a predetermined frame rate based on the additional information of the moving image data. Further, the display control unit 115 displays a moving image related to the reproduced moving image data on the display unit 116 in accordance with an instruction from the system controller 108. The image sensor 102 can output moving image data of various frame rates, and is driven at various driving timings by the driving unit 106. For example, the drive unit 106 changes the length of the vertical synchronization interval and the horizontal synchronization interval of the image sensor 102, changes the period length of one frame, and sets various frame rates.

  FIG. 2 is a timing chart when the image sensor 102 is driven to capture a moving image of 30 frames / second and each frame of the moving image is recorded and reproduced every 30 frames / second. As shown in FIG. 2A, each frame of a moving image captured every 1/30 seconds by driving the image sensor 102 to output a moving image of 1 frame every 1/30 seconds, As shown in FIG. 2B, it is recorded on the medium as a frame every 1/30 seconds. As shown in FIG. 2C, the moving image recorded in this way is reproduced by the reproduction unit 110 at a predetermined frame rate of 30 frames / second. In this case, playback at 1 × speed is performed. FIG. 3 shows that the image sensor 102 is driven to capture a moving image of 60 frames / second, each frame of the captured moving image is recorded by the recording unit 105, and reproduced at 30 frames / second. It is a timing chart at the time of implement | achieving 2 slow reproduction | regeneration. As shown in FIG. 4A, the image sensor 102 is driven to capture a moving image of 15 frames / second, and as shown in FIG. 4B, each frame of the captured moving image is recorded in the recording unit 105. Record with. Then, as shown in FIG. 4C, the recorded moving image is reproduced at 30 frames / second, thereby realizing double speed reproduction.

  Next, a shooting operation in the snap shooting mode of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flow of FIG. 5 is executed by the system controller 108 controlling each unit of the imaging apparatus 100. In FIG. 5, the user operates the operation switch 109 prior to shooting to determine the playback speed of a moving image to be shot (S501). In the present embodiment, a desired playback speed is set from a plurality of predetermined playback speeds. The playback speeds that can be set here are 1/2 speed, 1 speed (normal speed), 1.5 times speed, 2 times speed, and 3 times speed, as shown in FIG. It may be selectable. When any playback speed is selected, the frame rate V at the time of shooting is set (S502). For example, when ½ times speed is set as the playback speed, the frame rate V of the moving image to be shot is set to 60 frames / second. As a result, when the recorded moving image is reproduced, it is possible to add the special effect of the 1/2 × speed slow reproduction described in FIG. Also, when 1 × speed (normal playback) is set, the frame rate V of the moving image to be shot is set to 30 frames / second. As a result, when the recorded moving image is reproduced, the 1 × (normal) reproduction described with reference to FIG. 2 is realized. Further, when the double speed is set, the frame rate V of the moving image to be shot is set to 15 frames / second. As a result, when the recorded moving image is reproduced, it is possible to add the special effect of the double speed reproduction described with reference to FIG.

  In step S502, the system controller 108 calculates a time (length) T for shooting a moving image based on the shooting frame rate V set based on the selected playback speed (S503). Here, the photographing time T is calculated by T = m second × (30 / V) frame. Here, regardless of the value of the shooting frame rate V, the shooting time T is calculated so that the length (playback time) for playing back the recorded moving image is a predetermined time of m seconds. For example, when the reproduction time m is set to 4 seconds, the relationship between the shooting frame rate and the shooting time T is as shown in FIG. Thereafter, the system controller 108 sets the frame rate control unit 107 so that the shooting frame rate becomes V. The frame rate control unit 107 controls the driving unit 106 so that the image sensor 102 captures a moving image at the frame rate V.

  Next, the system controller 108 determines whether or not the start of recording has been instructed by the operation switch 109 (S504). If the recording start instruction has been instructed, recording of a moving image shot at the frame rate V is started (S505). ). Here, the system controller 108 notifies the user that recording is being performed by causing the LED 112 to emit light. Alternatively, the recording may be displayed on a display unit such as an LCD (not shown) to notify the user. In S505, the signal processing unit 103 performs signal processing on the moving image shot at the shooting frame rate V set in S502, the additional information is added by the recording processing unit 104, and then the recording unit 105 records the recording medium. To be recorded. If the timer 111 detects that the shooting time T has elapsed after the start of shooting (S506), the recording operation is terminated and the LED 112 is turned off (S507).

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a moving image recorded when the playback time m is set to 4 seconds in the snap shooting mode. In FIG. 7, 701 is a recording start instruction timing by the user, 702 is a shooting time T, 703 is a moving image (710 to 713) shot for each recording start instruction, and 704 is a reproduction double speed set before shooting each moving image. The shooting frame rate based on each is shown. As described above, the user sets the playback double speed before issuing an instruction to start recording each moving image using the operation switch 109. In the example of FIG. 7, 1 × speed playback is set for shooting the moving image 710 and the shooting frame rate is 30 frames / second (hereinafter, fps). In addition, the moving image 711 is set to 1/2 speed, and the shooting frame rate is 60 fps. In addition, for the moving image 712, double speed playback is set, and the shooting frame rate is 15 fps. In addition, the moving image 713 is set to 1 × speed playback. Then, the system controller 108 sets the shooting time T of the moving image 710 to 4 seconds, the moving image 711 to 2 seconds, the moving image 712 to 8 seconds, and the moving image 713 to 4 seconds.

  Further, FIG. 7 shows a state in which individual moving image data shot in this way is reproduced. Reference numeral 705 denotes a reproduction time m, reference numeral 706 denotes a continuously reproduced moving image (720 to 723), reference numeral 707 denotes a reproduction frame rate, and reference numeral 708 denotes an effect at the time of reproduction. The playback video 720 corresponds to the captured video 710, the playback video 721 corresponds to the captured video 711, the playback video 722 corresponds to the captured video 712, and the playback video 723 corresponds to the captured video 713, and each playback time is 4 seconds. The rates 707 are each 30 fps. Each of the captured moving images 710 to 713 is reproduced at a predetermined frame rate of 30 fps at the time of reproduction. Therefore, as an effect 708 at the time of reproduction, the reproduced moving image 720 is reproduced at a normal speed and the reproduced moving image 721 is 1/2. Double-slow playback, playback video 722 is double fast-forward (quick) playback, and playback video 723 is 1-speed (normal) playback. Each captured moving image can be played back in a predetermined time of 4 seconds regardless of the playback effect.

  In the present embodiment, the predetermined frame rate for reproducing the recorded moving image is 30 frames / second, but other values may be used.

  [Embodiment 2] Next, Embodiment 2 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram of the imaging apparatus according to the second embodiment. Reference numeral 117 denotes a frame number counter that counts the number of image frames recorded in the recording unit 105. In addition, about the structure same as FIG. 1, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected and description is abbreviate | omitted.

  Next, with reference to the flow of FIG. 9, processing in the snap shooting mode in the present embodiment will be described. 9, in S501, S502, S504, and S505, as in FIG. 5, the user determines the playback speed of the moving image to be shot, the system controller 108 sets the shooting frame rate V, and the operation switch 109 When a recording start instruction is issued, the recording operation is started. As shown in FIG. 10, the playback speed of a moving image to be shot includes 1 / 2-speed, 1-speed (normal playback), 1.5-speed, 2-times speed, and 3-times fast-forward playback. In place of the shooting time T, the number of frames is set to a predetermined number. When the system controller 108 detects that the number of frames counted by the frame number counter 117 has reached a predetermined number (for example, 120 frames) after the start of recording (S906), the system controller 108 ends the recording operation (S906). S507), the LED 112 is turned off.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, in the snap shooting mode, recording is stopped when a predetermined number of frames (120 frames) is recorded regardless of the shooting frame rate V set in S502. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7, the reproduction time of the moving image of each clip can be set to a predetermined time (4 seconds) regardless of the shooting frame rate.

  In addition, the present invention can also realize processing equivalent to that in the above embodiment using a computer program. In this case, each of the components including FIG. 1 may be functioned by a function or a subroutine executed by the CPU. In general, the computer program is stored in a computer-readable storage medium such as a CD-ROM, and is set in a reading device (such as a CD-ROM drive) included in the computer and copied or installed in the system. Become executable. Therefore, it is obvious that such a computer readable storage medium is also within the scope of the present invention.

Claims (8)

And an imaging means,
Recording means for recording a moving image taken by the imaging means on a recording medium;
Setting means for setting a frame rate of a moving image taken by the imaging means to any one of a plurality of frame rates ;
Controls the imaging means so as to shoot a video frame rate that is pre Ki設 constant based on the set frame rate, and a control means for controlling the start and stop of recording by said recording means ,
The control means is configured such that the recording means is photographed by the imaging means based on the set frame rate so that the reproduction time of the moving image recorded by the recording means becomes a predetermined reproduction time. An image pickup apparatus characterized in that the length from the start of recording of a moving image having a set frame rate to the stop of recording is changed . The control means, the set frame rate recording time length determined based on, from said recording means to start recording of the moving image, to stop the recording in response to the recording time length has elapsed The imaging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the recording unit is controlled as described above. The control means determines the number of recording frames based on the set frame rate, and performs recording in response to recording the moving picture of the recording frame number after the recording means starts recording the moving picture. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the recording unit is controlled to stop . The recording means records the moving picture so that the moving picture is played back at a predetermined frame rate, and the control means is predetermined when the recorded moving picture is played back at the predetermined frame rate. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the length is changed so that a reproduction time is reached . The imaging apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the recording unit records information indicating the predetermined frame rate together with the moving image. And further comprising means for setting the playback time of the video,
Said control means on the basis of set reproduction time in said set frame rate, the imaging apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that changing the length. The setting means, the imaging apparatus according to any one of claims 1, characterized in that for setting the frame rate corresponding plurality of predetermined reproduction speed playback speed of the moving image selected by the user 6. And an imaging unit, a control method of an image pickup apparatus having a recording means for recording a moving image taken by the imaging means,
A setting step of setting a frame rate of a moving image captured by the imaging unit to any one of a plurality of frame rates ;
Controls the imaging means so as to shoot a video frame rate that is pre Ki設 constant based on the set frame rate, have a, and a control step of controlling start and stop of recording by said recording means And
In the control step, the recording unit is photographed by the imaging unit based on the set frame rate so that the reproduction time of the moving image recorded by the recording unit becomes a predetermined reproduction time. A control method for an imaging apparatus, characterized in that the length from the start of recording of a moving image at a set frame rate to the stop of recording is changed .

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