Image pickup apparatus

• US 5,594,500 A
• Filed: 06/14/1995
• Issued: 01/14/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/1991
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Kaneda, Kitahiro, Tanaka, Taeko
• Primary Examiner(s): Peng, John K.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ho, Tuan V.
• Application Number:
  US08/490,515
• Time in Patent Office: 580 Days
• Field of Search: 348/345, 348/347, 348/349, 348/350, 348/354, 348/356, 348/358, 348/61, 348/62, 348/64, 356/138, 356/141, 356/153, 356/154, 356/399, 356/400, 351/206, 351/208, 351/212, 354/400, 354/409, 382/1, 382/2, 382/6
• US Class Current: 348/345
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 30/24 involving temporal multiplexing, e.g. using sequentially activated left and right shutters
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 7/287 including a sight line detecting device
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 2213/025 Sightline detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/673 based on contrast or high frequency components of image signals, e.g. hill climbing method

Abstract

An image pickup apparatus, which includes an eye point sensor for detecting an eye point in a frame, a calculation circuit for calculating average coordinates of the eye point in the frame detected by the eye point sensor, a setting circuit for setting a distance measurement frame at the average coordinates output from the calculation circuit, and a control circuit for controlling the size of the distance measurement frame according to the focal length, is disclosed.

An image pickup apparatus, which includes a focus calculation circuit for detecting a focus state by detecting the dispersion range of an eye point, is also disclosed.

Claims

1. An image pickup apparatus for performing a focus adjustment operation according to a signal within a focus detecting frame set on an image pickup frame, comprising:

(A) detection means for detecting position coordinates of an eye point of a photographer in the image pickup frame;

(B) calculation means for calculating an average value of the position coordinates of the eye point detected by said detection means; and

(C) setting means for setting a position of the focus detecting frame in the image pickup frame according to said average value output from said calculation means.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said detection means comprises a light-emitting element for radiating infrared light into an eyeball of the photographer, a light-receiving element for receiving infrared light emitted from said light-emitting element and reflected by the eyeball, and a signal processing circuit for calculating the position coordinates of the eye point of the photographer on the image pickup frame according to light-receiving positions of the reflected light on said light-receiving element.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said light-emitting element and said light-receiving element of said detection means are disposed in a view finder.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

(D) image pickup means for photoelectrically converting an object image formed on the image pickup frame into an image pickup signal; and

(E) focus detection means for detecting a focus state by extracting a predetermined signal component corresponding to an amount of sharpness of the object image from the image pickup signal.

5. An apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the predetermined signal component is a high-frequency component in the image pickup signal.

6. An image pickup apparatus for performing a focus operation of an optical means according to a signal within a focus detecting frame set on an image pickup frame, comprising:

(A) detection means for detecting position coordinates of an eye point of a photographer in the image pickup frame;

(B) calculation means for calculating an average value of the position coordinates of the eye point detected by said detection means;

(C) setting means for setting a position of the focus detecting frame in the image pickup frame according to said average value output from said calculation means; and

(D) control means for changing a size of the focus detecting frame set by said setting means according to a state of said optical means.

7. An apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising:

a photographing lens for forming an object image on the image pickup frame,

wherein the state of said optical means is a focal length, and said control means changes the size of the focus detecting frame according to the focal length information.

8. An apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said detection means comprises a light-emitting element for radiating infrared light into an eyeball of the photographer, a light-receiving element for receiving infrared light emitted from said light-emitting element and reflected by the eyeball, and a signal processing circuit for calculating the position coordinates of the eye point of the photographer on the image pickup frame according to light-receiving positions of the reflected light on said light-receiving element.

9. An apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said light-emitting element and said light-receiving element of said detection means are disposed in a view finder.

10. An image pickup apparatus for performing an adjustment operation according to a signal within an image detecting frame set on an image pickup frame, comprising:

(A) detection means for detecting position coordinates of any eye point of an operator in the image pickup frame;

(B) calculation means for calculating an average value of the position coordinates of the eye point detected by said detection means; and

(C) setting means for setting a position of the image detecting frame in the image pickup frame according to said average value output from said calculation means.

11. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said detection means comprises a light-emitting element for radiating infrared light into an eyeball of the operator, a light-receiving element for receiving infrared light emitted from said light-emitting element and reflected by the eyeball, and a signal processing circuit for calculating the position coordinates of the eye point of the operator on the image pickup frame according to light-receiving positions of the reflected light on said light-receiving element.

12. An apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said light-emitting element and said light-receiving element of said detection means are disposed in a view finder.

13. An apparatus according to claim 10 further comprising:

(D) image pickup means for photoelectrically converting an object image formed on the image pickup frame into an image pickup signal; and

(E) focus detection means for detecting a focus state by extracting a predetermined signal component corresponding to an amount of sharpness of the object image from the image pickup signal.

14. An image pickup apparatus for performing an image processing operation of an optical means according to a signal within an image detecting frame set on an image pickup frame, comprising:

(A) detection means for detecting position coordinates of an eye point of an operator in the image pickup frame;

(B) calculation means for calculating an average value of the position coordinates of the eye point detected by said detection means;

(C) setting means for setting a position of the image detecting frame in the image pickup frame according to said average value output from said calculation means; and

(D) control means for changing a size of the image detecting frame set by said setting means according to a state of said optical means.

15. An apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said detection means comprises a light-emitting element for radiating infrared light into an eyeball of the operator, a light receiving element for receiving infrared light emitted from said light-emitting element and reflected by the eyeball, and a signal processing circuit for calculating the position coordinates of the eye point of the operator on the image pickup frame according to light receiving positions of the reflected light on said light-receiving element.

16. An apparatus according to claim 15, wherein said light-emitting element and said light-receiving element of said detection means are disposed in an election view finder.