Television – Camera – system and detail – With electronic viewfinder or display monitor
Reexamination Certificate
1997-06-09
2001-06-12
Garber, Wendy R. (Department: 2612)
Television
Camera, system and detail
With electronic viewfinder or display monitor
C348S345000, C348S350000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06246437
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup device capable of detecting the watching point of the operator and controlling the image pickup operation utilizing the detected information.
2. Related Background Art
In the field of cameras, there have been significant developments toward automated and diversified functions, and various functions such as automatic focusing and automatic exposure control arts incorporated as standard, thus having resulted in a significant improvement in the operability.
These functions are attained by the information obtained from a detection area selected for example in the image frame. For example, in the automatic focusing, the focus state is detected from high frequency components in the image signal corresponding to the detection area, and the lens can be securely focused to the main object, utilizing thus detected focus state.
More recently, for the purpose of further optimizing the control, there is proposed the use of a sight line detecting device which detects the watching point or the line of sight of the operator in the image frame of the view finder, and sets the detection area, for detecting the information required in the abovementioned various functions, at a point watched by the operator, thereby reflecting the intention of said operator in the setting of the detection area. In this manner it is rendered possible to stably maintain the focused state to a constantly varying object, according to the intention of the operator, without errors such as eventual defocus under certain phototaking conditions or eventual focusing to an article other than the main object.
Such watched point detecting device has been disclosed, for example, in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,075,657, 4,109,145 and 4,574,314 and the Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 61-172552.
However the watching point of the operator is not necessarily constant but is anticipated to fluctuate considerably. For this reason, if the defection area is simply set at the detected watching point, the setting position of the detection area becomes inadequate in case the watching point of the operator is displaced from the main object or is outside of the image frame of the view finder, so that the reliability of information obtained from said detection area and the accuracy of control are significantly deteriorated.
Also in case the operator executes an input operation for various functions in the course of a phototaking operation, such operation has to be conducted while the operator looks into the view finder, in order to confirm the switches or the like for such various functions, the operator has to shift his eye from the view finder, and there will result the danger of fluctuation of the image frame or of the main object being lost from the image frame. Such drawback is becoming more serious with the increase in the functions of cameras or camcorders.
As a countermeasure for such drawback, there is conceived a camcorder in which the menu of various functions is displayed on the image frame of the monitoring view finder, then the operator watches a desired function, and a sight line detecting device detects the watching point of the operator whereby a function of which displayed menu is watched by the operator is executed. Such configuration allows the operator to easily effect the input operation for various functions without shifting the eye from the view finder.
Also in the functions assisting the phototaking operation, such as AF, AE, AWB or AS, it is possible to consider that the constantly moving main object is located at the watching position of the operator, to exactly detect said watching position by the sight line detecting device, and to move the detection area, tracking the movement of said watching point, thereby maintaining the moving object constantly in focus. In this manner the various functions can be attained more accurately, without contradicting the intention of the operator.
However, such control system utilizing the sight line detecting device for moving the detection area to the watching point of the operator, though functioning satisfactorily while the operator watches the desired object, will function based on erroneous information resulting from erroneous setting of the detection area if the watched point is positioned outside the image frame of the view finder or is in a position where the detection area cannot be practically set, thus leading to a deteriorated accuracy of control or eventually to an erroneous operation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In consideration of the foregoing, a first object of the present invention is to provide an image pickup device, obtaining information for controlling the device by detecting the watching point of the operator in the image frame, capable of constantly stable control without erroneous operations, regardless of the position of said watching point.
A second object of the present invention is to provide an image pickup device, causing the detection area to stably and securely track a moving object and enabling stable taking of a moving image even when the watching point of the operator is positioned outside the image frame or outside the practically controllable area.
The above-mentioned objects can be attained, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, by an image pickup device comprising: photoelectric conversion means for converting an optical image, focused on an image pickup face, into an electrical signal, a monitor for displaying the optical image on said image pickup face onto a monitoring image frame, based on the electrical signal released from said photoelectric conversion means; watching point detection means for detecting the watching point of the operator in said monitoring image frame; discrimination means for discriminating whether the watching point, detected by said watching point detection means, is present within a predetermined area on said monitoring image frame; detection area setting means for setting a detection area, for extracting predetermined control information, in said image pickup face; and control means for controlling said detection area setting means, based on the output of said discrimination means, in such a manner as to set said detection area in a position corresponding to the watching point within said image pickup face in case said discrimination means identifies that the watching point is within said predetermined area, or to fix said detection area in a predetermined position within said image pickup face in case the watching point is identified to be outside said predetermined area.
A third object of the present invention is to provide an image pickup device capable of exactly tracking the movement of a main object to be photographed, regardless of the phototaking situation.
A fourth object of the present invention is to provide an image pickup device which judges the watching point of the operator in the image frame as the position of the main object and varying the set position of the detection area, for extracting predetermined control information, tracking the movement of said watching point, said device being capable of causing said detection area to constantly track the main object to be photographed, regardless of the position of the watching point of the operator.
A fifth object of the present invention is to provide an image pickup device, comprising: a sight line detecting device for detecting the positional information of the watching point of the operator; first tracking control means for tracking the movement of said watching point; and second tracking control means not utilizing the positional information of said watching point, thereby achieving appropriate functions.
The above-mentioned objects can be attained, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, by an image pickup device comprising: photoelectric conversion means for converting an optical image, focused on an image pickup face, into an electrical signal; a monitor for displaying the optical image on said i
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Garber Wendy R.
Moe Aung S.
Robin Blecker & Daley
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