Automatic focusing system for a still video camera
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An automatic focusing system for a still video camera, comprising:
- a lens;
a driver that drives said lens along an optical axis of said lens;
a light detector that receives an optical image through said lens and outputting color signals corresponding to a plurality of color components of said received optical image, each of said color signals representing intensities of light at a plurality of positions of said optical image;
a processor that processes each of said color signals to obtain AF signals representing a contrast for each of said color signals corresponding to said color components of said received optical image;
a selector that compares said AF signals for each of said color signals to one another and selects, from among said compared AF signals for said color signals, one AF signal representing the highest contrast color signal among said color signals; and
a controller that controls said driver to locate said lens at a position where said one selected AF signal becomes greatest.
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Abstract
An automatic focusing system for a still video camera has a light detector for outputting an image signal corresponding to an intensity of light which is incident on the light detector. An image signal is output for each of a plurality of colors of light that are incident on the light detector. The autofocusing system also includes a processor for determining the value of an AF signal corresponding to the focus condition of each of the image signals. A controller executes the autofocus operation. The AF signal having the highest value is used by the controller to execute the autofocus operation.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. An automatic focusing system for a still video camera, comprising:
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a lens; a driver that drives said lens along an optical axis of said lens; a light detector that receives an optical image through said lens and outputting color signals corresponding to a plurality of color components of said received optical image, each of said color signals representing intensities of light at a plurality of positions of said optical image; a processor that processes each of said color signals to obtain AF signals representing a contrast for each of said color signals corresponding to said color components of said received optical image; a selector that compares said AF signals for each of said color signals to one another and selects, from among said compared AF signals for said color signals, one AF signal representing the highest contrast color signal among said color signals; and a controller that controls said driver to locate said lens at a position where said one selected AF signal becomes greatest. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of automatically locating a lens of a still video camera at an in-focus position, comprising the steps of:
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receiving an optical image incident on the camera through the lens and outputting color signals corresponding to a plurality of color components of the received optical image, each of the color signals representing intensities of light at a plurality of positions of the optical image; processing each of the color signals to obtain AF signals representing a contrast for each of said color signals corresponding to said color components of the received optical image; comparing said AF signals for each of said color signals to one another; selecting, from among said compared AF signals for said color signals, one AF signal representing the highest contrast color signal among said color signals; and determining a position of the lens at which the one selected AF signal has a greatest value. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. An automatic focusing system for a still video camera, comprising:
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a lens; a driver that drives said lens along an optical axis of said lens; a light detector that receives an optical image through said lens and outputting color signals corresponding to a plurality of color components of said received optical image, each of said color signals representing intensities of light at a plurality of positions of said optical image; a processor that processes each of said color signals to obtain AF signals representing a contrast for each of said color signals corresponding to said color components of said received optical image; a selector that selects, from among said AF signals for said color signals, one AF signal representing the highest contrast color signal among said color signals; and a controller that controls said processor to process only said color signal corresponding to said one AF signal, representing the highest contrast color signal among said color signals, to obtain a driving AF signal for controlling said driver to locate said lens at a position where said driving AF signal becomes greatest.
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Specification