Image slant compensatable video camera

• US 5,227,889 A
• Filed: 05/06/1991
• Issued: 07/13/1993
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/1990
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Kuga, Ryuichiro, Yoneyama, Masayuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Razavi, Michael T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): GARBER, WENDY RAE
• Application Number:
  US07/695,341
• Time in Patent Office: 799 Days
• Field of Search: 356/222, 356/125, 356/126, 356/209, 359/554, 382/46
• US Class Current: 348/208.6
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/68 for stable pick-up of the scene, e.g. compensating for camera body vibrations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/6811 based on the image signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/683 performed by a processor, e.g. controlling the readout of an image memory
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/81 for suppressing or minimising disturbance in the image signal generation

Abstract

The amount of slant of an entire video camera in the vertical direction is detected by a slant detector by detecting a horizontal and vertical signal quantity or by a mechanical vertical direction detector and a memory controller reads out the video signal while controlling the address of the memory so as to correct the slant of the video signal stored in the memory depending on the slant amount, and since the memory is composed of two memory systems the slant may be always corrected for a real time in moving picture, thereby presenting a stable video output.

Claims

1. A video camera apparatus comprising:

an imaging means converting an image of an object formed by light from the object to a video signal;

a memory means having two memories each changing its operating mode at predetermined intervals between a write mode in which the video signal is written into the memory and read mode in which the video signal written in the memory is read out, each of the two memories being in one of the write mode and the read mode when the other of the two memories is in the other of the write mode and the read mode;

a slant detecting means for detecting a positional slant of the image and producing a slant detection signal indicative of the detected positional slant, said slant detecting means comprising a first detecting means for detecting a quantity of a horizontal signal component of the video signal, a second detecting means for detecting a quantity of a vertical signal component of the video signal, and a slant signal producing means for producing from output signals of the first and second detecting means the slant detection signal whose quantity corresponds to at least one of the quantity of the horizontal signal component and the quantity of the vertical signal component; and

a memory control means responsive to the slant detection signal for controlling a read operation of each of the two memories in the read mode so as to compensate for the positional slant of the image.

2. A video camera according to claim 1, wherein the memory control means controls the read operation of each of the two memories so that at least one of the quantity of the horizontal signal component and the quantity of the vertical signal component becomes a maximum.

3. A video camera according to claim 1, wherein the first detecting means comprises a means for detecting a horizontal signal component from the video signal, and a first rectifying means for rectifying the detected horizontal signal component, and wherein the second detecting mans comprises a means for detecting a vertical signal component from the video signal, and a second rectifying means for rectifying the detected vertical signal component.

4. A video camera according to claim 1, wherein the slant signal producing means adds the output signals of the first and second detecting means to obtain the slant detection signal.

5. A video camera according to claim 1, wherein each of the two memories comprises a field memory which changes the write mode and the read mode at vertical scanning intervals of the video signal.