Electronic still camera with remotely-controlled audio recording feature

• US 5,062,010 A
• Filed: 11/21/1989
• Issued: 10/29/1991
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/1984
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Saito, Etsuro
• Primary Examiner(s): Envall, Jr., Roy N.
• Assistant Examiner(s): YOUNG, WAYNE R
• Application Number:
  US07/440,472
• Time in Patent Office: 707 Days
• Field of Search: 360/8, 360/9.1, 360/19.1, 360/32, 360/33.1, 360/35.1, 358/335, 358/906, 358/909, 358/341, 358/343
• US Class Current: 386/225
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/2112 using still video cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2101/00 Still video cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3264 of sound signals
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 358/906 Hand-held camera with recorder in a single unit

Abstract

An electronic still camera has a video recording feature and, in addition, an audio recording feature. The electronic still camera can control video recording timing and audio recording timing in accordance with the user'"'"'s desires. The electronic still camera is also provided with a remote control system which can control video recording timing and audio recording timing in a mutually variable timing relationship. The electronic still camera has a video recording system and an audio recording system built into the camera, a data recording system including a recording medium for receiving video data from the video recording system and audio data from the audio recording system for recording and reproduction, and a remote control system associated with the video recording system and audio recording system for operating the video recording system and audio recording system. The remote control system can be used to adjust the video recording timing and audio recording timing relative to each other. Preferably, the remote control system includes manually operable device for operating the video recording system and the audio recording system at different timings. More preferably, the manually operable device has a remote controller which includes a independent video recording and audio recording switches.

Claims

1. An electronic still camera with an audio recording feature, comprising:

an image pick up means for picking up one field of video data containing information of a still image to be recorded;

an audio recording means for receiving audio data associated with said still image;

a magnetic disk drive mechanism including a magnetic disk for storing said still image information containing video data and said audio data; and

a remote controller means including a manually operable operating switch for remotely controlling said image pick up means and said audio recording means in a selected order and with a selected interval therebetween, which order and interval are predetermined prior to initiation of said operating switch;

wherein said video data and said associated audio data are taken according to said predetermined order and interval controlled by said remote controller means, and subsequently recorded on said recording medium in a predetermined manner dependent upon said selected time interval and order.

2. The still camera as set forth in claim 1, wherein said remote controller means operates said image pickup means and said audio recording means at mutually independent timings.

3. An electronic still camera with an audio recording feature, comprising:

an image pick up means for picking up one field of video data containing information of a still image to be recorded;

an audio recording means for receiving audio data associated with said still image;

a magnetic disk drive mechanism including a magnetic disk for storing said still image information containing video data and said audio data; and

a remote controller means for remotely controlling said image pick up means and said audio recording means in a selected order and with a selected interval therebetween;

wherein said video data and said associated audio data are taken according to said predetermined order and interval controlled by said remote controller means, and subsequently recorded on said recording medium in a predetermined manner dependent upon said selected time interval and order;

wherein said remote controller means is operable in an AUTO mode in which the operation timings of said image pickup means and said audio recording means are determined according to a preset timing, and in a MANUAL mode in which the operation timings of said image pickup means and said audio recording means are controlled independently of each other.

4. The combination of an image pickup apparatus and an audio recording apparatus comprising:

said image pickup apparatus being adapted to pick up video data for a still image;

said audio recording apparatus receiving audible sound and recording corresponding audio data;

a medium adapted to store said video data and audio data;

a recording apparatus associated with said medium for recording video and audio data on said medium;

a wireless remote controller for producing and emitting a wireless remote control signal including a first component representative of an image pickup demand and a second component representative of an audio recording demand, said wireless remote controller emitting said first component and second component of said wireless control signal at mutually adjustable independent timings, said remote controller comprising a first switch means for producing said remote control signal containing said first component when actuated, and a second switch means for producing said remote control signal containing said second component when actuated, said independent timings being preset when initiating said first or said second switch means;

a remote control sensor for receiving said remote control signal emitted from said remote controller;

a remote control detector connected with said remote control sensor for detecting said first and second components;

first means associated with said image pickup apparatus and responsive to said first component of said remote control signal detected by said detector for ordering said image pickup apparatus to pick up video data; and

second means associated with said audio recording apparatus and responsive to said second component of said remote control signal detected by said detector for ordering said audio recording apparatus to record audio data.

5. The combination of an image pickup apparatus and an audio recording apparatus comprising:

said image pickup apparatus being adapted to pick up one field of video data for a still image;

said audio recording apparatus receiving audible sound and recording corresponding audio data;

a medium adapted to store said video data and audio data;

a recording apparatus associated with said medium for recording video and audio data on said medium;

a wireless remote controller for producing and emitting a wireless remote control signal including a first component representative of an image pickup demand and a second component representative of an audio recording demand, said wireless remote controller emitting said first component and said second component of said wireless control signal at mutually adjustable independent timings, said remote controller comprising a first switch means for producing said remote control signal containing said first component when actuated, and a second switch means for producing said remote control signal containing said second component when actuated, wherein one of said first and second switch means is manually operable and the other of said first and second switch means is automatically operable at a preset timing after manual operation of said one of first and second switch means;

a remote control sensor for receiving said remote control signal emitted from said remote controller;

a remote control detector connected with said remote control sensor for detecting said first and second components;

first means associated with said image pickup apparatus and responsive to said first component of said remote control signal detected by said detector for ordering said image pickup apparatus to pick up video data; and

second means associated with audio recording apparatus and responsive to said second component of said remote control signal detected by said detector for ordering said audio recording apparatus to record audio data.

6. The combination as set forth in claim 5, wherein said preset time is variable.

7. The combination as set forth in claim 6, wherein said remote controller comprises a timing setting means allowing manual adjustment of said preset time.

8. The combination as set forth in claim 5, said recording apparatus being a recording and reproduction apparatus, wherein said image pickup apparatus includes a first memory for temporarily storing said video data and transferring said data to said recording and reproduction apparatus for recording said video data on said medium at a first transfer timing, and said audio recording apparatus includes a second memory for temporarily storing said audio data and transferring said audio data to said recording and reproduction apparatus for recording said audio data on said medium at a second transfer timing.

9. The combination as set forth in claim 8, wherein said image pickup apparatus includes a shutter and said first memory comprises photo-sensitive elements, and said shutter becomes operative in response to said first component of said remote control signal for controlling exposure of said first memory, thereby causing said first memory to pick up and store video data.

10. The combination as set forth in claim 8, wherein said audio recording apparatus includes a microphone for receiving audible sound, means for converting the output of said microphone into a pulse-code-modulated signal and said second memory comprising a digital memory, and said second memory being responsive to said second component of said remote control signal for recording said pulse-code-modulated signal for a predetermined period of time.

11. The combination as set forth in claim 8, wherein said image pickup apparatus includes a shutter and said first memory comprises photo-sensitive elements, and said shutter becomes operative in response to said first component of said remote control signal for controlling exposure of said first memory thereby causing said first memory to pick up and store video data, and said audio recording apparatus includes a microphone for receiving audible sound, means for converting the output of said microphone into a pulse-code-modulated signal and said second memory comprising a digital memory, and said second memory being responsive to said second component of said remote control signal for recording said pulse-code-modulated signal for a predetermined period of time.

12. The combination as set forth in claim 11, wherein said medium comprises a magnetic disc and said recording and reproduction apparatus comprises a disk drive accommodating said magnetic disk, said disk drive including an electric motor for driving said magnetic disk to rotate, which electric motor is driven in response to said first component of said remote control signal prior to operation of said shutter.

13. The combination as set forth in claim 12, wherein said shutter is operated to expose said first memory after a given delay time after said first component of said remote control signal, which delay time is long enough to allow said electric motor to attain a proper operating speed after starting to rotate.

14. The combination as set forth in claim 12, wherein said first and second means is responsive to termination of exposure of said first memory by said shutter to record said video and audio data on said magnetic disk.

15. The combination as set forth in claim 14, wherein said second means is disabled while said second memory is receiving said pulse-code-modulated signal.

16. The combination as set forth in claim 15, wherein said second memory is adapted to record said pulse-code-modulated signal in the form of a compressed-time-base pulse-code-modulated signal.

17. The combination as set forth in claim 15, wherein said first memory comprises a charge transfer device.

18. The combination as set forth in claim 15, wherein said remote controlled comprises a radio control unit.

19. The combination as set forth in claim 18, wherein said radio control unit is adapted to transmit infrared rays as said remote control signal.

20. An electronic still camera for recording video data and audio data on a recording medium, comprising:

an image pickup means for picking up a still image of an object and producing said video data, which image pickup means is responsive to a video pickup command for performing an image pickup operation;

an audio recording means for recording said audio data, which audio recording means is responsive to an audio recording command for performing an audio recording operation;

means, associated with said image pickup means and said audio recording means and operable in synchronism with operations of said image pickup means and said audio recording means, for recording said video data and said audio data on said recording medium; and

a remote control commander including at least a first manually operable switch for producing each said video recording command and said audio recording command in response to manual operation thereof, said remote control commander having means for presetting, prior to operating said first manually operable switch, the time interval between said producing of said video and audio recording commands for initiating said operations of said image pickup means and said audio recording means and the time order of said video and audio recording commands, wherein upon actuation of said first manually operable switch both said video and audio recording commands are produced in the set order with the set time interval.

21. An electronic still camera with an audio recording feature, comprising:

an image pickup means for picking up video data;

an audio recording means for receiving audio data;

a magnetic disk drive mechanism for storing said video data and said audio data on a magnetic disk;

a remote controller means for remotely controlling said image pickup means to pick up video data and said audio recording means to record audio data at a given timing; and

,

said remote controller means comprising a first switch means for producing a first remote control signal representative of an image pickup demand; and

, a second switch means for producing a second remote control signal representative of an audio recording demand;

one of said first and second switch means being manually operable and the other of said first and second switch means being automatically operable at a preset timing after manual operation of said one of first and second switch means.