JPH05191712A - Video camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent wear of a battery by detecting a visual line and an attitude and combining the result so as to prevent erroneous image pickup due to a SW left unoperated. CONSTITUTION:The camera is provided with an ON/OFF discrimination means for a REC button, a visual line detection means and an attitude detection means, and when no visual line is detected by a finder and an image pickup optical axis directs ground by the attitude detection means, a recording stop means stops power supply. Thus, it is possible to automatically prevent erroneous image pickup due to a REC pause SW left unoperated. Moreover, the visual line detection means is formed in such a way that an infrared ray from an infrared ray diode 5 is reflected in a pupil 201, its image is formed onto an optical element array 6 and noticed point information is obtained by a signal processing circuit 109.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video camera,
In particular, it relates to an erroneous photographing prevention device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in the case of shooting with a video tape recorder integrated type or a video camera of the same separation type, a recording stop switch (hereinafter referred to as REC) is used to temporarily stop the shooting.
Pause Sw)). Also, the display during the interruption is displayed in the viewfinder during REC or RE.
I've only displayed that it's C Pause.

[0003]

As described above, in the conventional example, the REC and the RECP in the finder are
The display of “use” is often overlooked during shooting. Also,
There is a problem that it is often forgotten to switch from the REC state to the RECPause state. For this reason, a video camera is carried around in the REC state, and there is a problem that, for example, a useless ground is photographed for a long time.

Further, if the REC state with high power consumption is continued for a long time, the battery will be consumed more, and in the next shooting, there are many cases that the system is down due to lack of power and it becomes impossible to shoot. ..

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and provides a video camera which automatically prevents erroneous photographing due to forgetting to insert the REC Pause Sw and prevents unnecessary consumption of the battery. The purpose is to do.

[0006]

Therefore, according to the present invention, in the finder, the visual axis detecting means for detecting the visual axis of the photographer, the attitude detecting means for detecting the attitude of the camera, and the visual axis detecting means and the attitude detecting means are provided. It is an object of the present invention to achieve the above-mentioned object by a camcorder erroneous photographing preventing device, which comprises recording prohibiting means for prohibiting photographing recording by the output of the means.

[0007]

In the video camera erroneous photographing preventing device according to the present invention, the line-of-sight detecting means detects the line of sight of the photographer in the finder, and the attitude detecting means detects the attitude of the video camera.
Recording is prohibited by the photographing / recording prohibiting means by the outputs of the line-of-sight detecting means and the attitude detecting means.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the line-of-sight detecting means in one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the intensity of an image of infrared light reflected by the eyeball on the photoelectric element array, and FIG. 3 is this embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a posture detection unit when the video camera of the example is horizontal, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a posture of the video camera is vertical in FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram of this embodiment.

First, the visual axis detecting means in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an eyepiece lens, and a dichroic mirror 2 for transmitting visible light and reflecting infrared light is obliquely provided inside thereof, and also serves as an optical path splitter. Reference numeral 4 is a light receiving lens, and 5 is an illuminating means, which is composed of, for example, a light emitting diode. Reference numeral 6 is a photoelectric element array. The illuminating means 5 is installed at an angle with respect to the optical axis of the photoelectric element array. The light receiving lens 4 and the photoelectric element array 6 constitute one element of the light receiving means, and the photoelectric element array 6 normally uses a device in which a plurality of photoelectric elements are arranged one-dimensionally in the direction perpendicular to the drawing, but it is necessary. Accordingly, a device in which photoelectric elements are arranged two-dimensionally is used. The elements 1, 2, 4, 5, 6
Each of these forms the eye-gaze detection system.

Further, 101 is an electronic viewfinder, 1
Reference numeral 02 is a finder screen. In this embodiment, the image displayed on the viewfinder screen 102 is guided to the eyepoint E via the eyepiece lens 1.

The line-of-sight detection means according to this embodiment is a line-of-sight detection system composed of members denoted by reference numerals 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6, and a signal processing circuit 10 as a calculation means.
9 includes an eyeball optical axis detection circuit, an eyeball discrimination circuit, a visual axis correction circuit, a gazing point detection circuit, an eyeball distance detection circuit, and the like.

Next, the operation of this visual axis detecting means will be described with reference to FIGS. In the line-of-sight detection system, the infrared light emitted from the infrared light emitting diode 5 is the eyepiece lens 1
Illuminates the eyeball 201 of the observer located near the eye point E after being reflected by the dichroic mirror 2. The infrared light reflected by the eyeball 201 is reflected by the dichroic mirror 2 and converged by the light receiving lens 4 to form an image on the photoelectric element array 6. FIG. 2 shows the intensity of the image on the photoelectric element array 6. In addition, the signal processing circuit 1
09 is executed by the software of the microcomputer.

Next, the attitude detection means of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4 show the concept of a video camera having an eyeball distance detection unit belonging to the posture detection unit visual line detection means. FIG. 3 shows a horizontal orientation, and FIG. 4 shows a vertical orientation.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 21 denotes a weight, which is a downward switch (SW) 2 hung from the center point of the detector 25.
It is connected to the lower part of 2 and maintains the downward SW 22 in the direction of the center of gravity regardless of the rotation of the detection unit 25, that is, the inclination of the video camera.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a posture detection unit and 23 denotes a downward detection unit. When the posture of the video camera shown in FIG. 3, that is, when the video camera is horizontal, it does not coincide with the downward SW 22. In the case of the posture of No. 4, that is, in the case of vertical, the video camera is a detecting unit which determines that the video camera is almost vertical because it matches the downward SW22. Then, the posture detection unit 2
At 0, the posture is detected.

Next, the processing operation for preventing erroneous photographing according to this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, in step S1, it is determined whether or not the REC button (trigger button) is turned on. O
If it is N, the process proceeds to step S2, and if it is OFF, the REC pause state is maintained. In step S2, the eye distance detector 25 belonging to the eye detecting means determines whether the eye distance is short or long, that is, whether the eye can be detected. If the line of sight can be detected in step S2, the process proceeds to step S3. If the finder screen 102 is not supplied with power, the power is supplied, and if the power is supplied, the process is continued, and the process proceeds to step S4. In step S4, R
It is determined whether the EC button is turned on. R
If the EC button is turned on, the process returns to step S2. R
If the EC button is turned off, the flow ends.

On the other hand, if the line of sight cannot be detected in step S2, the process proceeds to step S5, the power supply to the finder screen 102 is stopped, and the process proceeds to step S6. In step S6, the attitude state of the camera is detected. That is, whether or not the posture of the camera has changed from horizontal to downward is determined by the posture detecting means described above, and when the posture of the camera has moved as described above, the process returns to step S1 and the posture of the camera moves as described above. If not, for example, if the attitude of the camera is held horizontally or downward, the process proceeds to step S4.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, by combining the line of sight with the change in the attitude of the camcorder, the erroneous R caused by forgetting to put the REC Pause SW
EC can be prevented automatically.

Furthermore, it is possible to prevent unnecessary consumption of the battery, which is a great practical effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a line-of-sight detecting means in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the intensity of an image of infrared light reflected by the eyeball of FIG. 1 on a photoelectric element array.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a posture detection unit when the camcorder of this embodiment is horizontal.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state in which the attitude of the camcorder is vertical in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a sequence of this embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 A sight line detecting means B posture detecting means C recording stopping means 1 eyepiece lens 2 dichroic mirror 4 light receiving lens 5 light emitting diode 6 photoelectric element array 101 viewfinder 109 signal processing circuit

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a finder, a shooting record is made in accordance with outputs from the line-of-sight detection unit that detects the line of sight of the photographer, the posture detection unit that detects the posture of the camera, and the line-of-sight detection unit and the posture detection unit. A video camera comprising: a recording prohibition means for prohibiting.