JP3041064B2 - Electronic slit camera device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device for judging the order of arrival in boat races, horse races, bicycle races, athletics and the like, and to imaging of high-speed moving objects.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG.
Are widely used. This figure shows a boat racetrack, where 1 is a lens, 22 is a slit, 23 is a film, and 24 is a rotary shutter, which are housed in a camera case 25. 13
Is a virtual goal line, 14 is a moving object such as a motor boat, and 15 is a date plate on which the name of the organizer, date, race number and the like are described.

This film-type slit camera uses a lens 1 and a slit 22 to move a moving object 14 on a goal line 13.
, And is arranged so as to form an image on the film 23. Further, a rotary shutter 24 is provided at a position opposite to the upper end of the film 23, whereby the date plate 1 provided on the corresponding film surface on an extension of the goal line 13 is provided.
5 or the center pole image is formed periodically.

Here, the film 23 is wound in the opposite direction to the moving object 14 at an appropriate speed corresponding to the speed of the moving object 14 so that the moving object 1 passing through the goal line 13 is moved.
4 is continuously printed on the film 23 with the passage of time. That is, in the film-type slit camera system, display characters such as the date on the date plate 15 are displayed together with the image of the moving object 14.

However, recently, the use of an electronic slit camera using a line image sensor eliminates the need for a film development time, thereby increasing the speed, and also excelling in storage stability such as filing of a recording screen. Therefore, there is a tendency that the film slit camera is used in combination with the film slit camera or the film slit camera is replaced with an electronic slit camera.

[0006] As shown in FIG.
It comprises a lens 1, a line image sensor 6, a line image sensor drive circuit 7, an image output circuit 8, a spectral prism 2, a finder 3, and a housing 9. The moving object 14 passing through the goal line 13 passes through the lens 1 for forming an image on the line image sensor 6 and is separated from the line image sensor 6 and the finder 3 by the spectral prism 2.
Is split into

The finder 3 has a line image sensor 6
The vertical line indicating the installation position of the electronic slit camera is accurately displayed. When the electronic slit camera is installed, the installation position of the electronic slit camera is determined so that the vertical line matches the goal line 13. Another optical output of the spectral prism 2 is formed on the line image sensor 6.

The line image sensor 6 is, for example, 1
024 pixels, for example, 1 ms
All pixels are scanned at a cycle of ec, and a video output is obtained from the video output circuit 8. In other words, the image output of each part of the moving object 14 passing through the goal line 13 is sequentially obtained from the image sensor 6 at a cycle of 1 msec.

In this video output, the 1024 pixel output of the line image sensor 6 at a certain point in the vertical axis direction of the frame memory generally called a scan converter is recorded, and the 1024 pixel output every 1 msec elapses in the horizontal axis direction. You.

Therefore, if the 1024 pixels of the line image sensor 6 are scanned at a period of 1 msec and the output is recorded for 1.5 seconds in the memory of the scan converter, the scan converter will have 10 lines on the goal line 13.
A slit screen of the moving object 14 of 24 pixels × 1500 pixels is configured.

If it is desired to increase the recording time of the scan converter depending on the type of the competition, 1.5 sec.
It is possible to record images for n seconds.

However, in the imaging by the electronic slit camera, the moving object 14 passing through the goal line 13 is read out of the memory of the scan converter to read the slit image of the moving object 14 on the goal line 13 as described above. The date plate 1 can be recognized as
Since the display characters such as the date of No. 5 are still, the output of the image scanner 6 does not change, and the video output of one pixel of the still portion becomes a horizontal stripe image in which the horizontal axis is arranged. It cannot be recognized as an image of the plate 15.

For this purpose, information such as the date on the date plate 15 is recorded on the memory of the scan converter on a race screen for determining the arrival order, and an information character signal such as a date is separately recorded from a character generating device. The moving object image output from the camera is combined with the screen and displayed on a display monitor or a hard copy device.

[0014]

The conventional electronic slit camera has advantages such as quick time because it does not require development as compared with the conventional film type slit camera, but has the advantage of displaying the date of a stationary date plate. Images cannot be captured and recorded so that characters can be recognized as images. Characters such as dates created separately by a character generator are combined with moving object images to create a screen, which is different from the actual image at the site. It has the disadvantage of lacking in sex.

The present invention solves these problems.
It is an object of the present invention to realize an electronic slit camera device capable of capturing and displaying a display character such as a date on a stationary actual date plate together with an image of a moving object and the like.

[0016]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an object which passes through a virtual judgment reference line such as a start line connecting a vertical center line such as a date plate or a center pole or a goal line. In order to be able to image and display characters and the like displayed on a stationary object such as a date plate in an electronic slit camera having a line image sensor arranged to scan and image the image along the reference line. An image forming lens for forming an image on the line image sensor, an optical system for partially scanning a part of the formed image in a direction perpendicular to the pixel direction of the line image sensor, and a part or all of the optical system. An electronic slit camera comprising a driving device for driving.

[0017]

The operation of the present invention will be described. When a moving object passes through a reference line, an image of the moving object on the reference line becomes
An image is formed on a line image sensor through an imaging lens. The image for one line is accumulated as a charge in the photoelectric conversion elements arranged one-dimensionally. All the pixels are scanned at a constant period of, for example, 1 msec, and the obtained electrical output signal is recorded in the direction of the vertical axis of the frame memory.

Thereafter, if the image sensor outputs obtained at a period of 1 msec are sequentially recorded in the horizontal axis direction of the frame memory, if the readout is performed in order to display the recorded contents of the frame memory after the lapse of the set time, the display monitor is displayed. The moving object can be recognized as a slit image.

Here, if a character signal of a time marker is inserted as information on the horizontal axis of the frame memory, the position of the moving object passing through the reference line at the designated time can be recognized as an image. can do.

A display character such as a date plate is a mirror block or a prism provided in a direction perpendicular to the pixel direction of the line image sensor in a portion between the imaging lens and the line image sensor where the display character is projected. By optically scanning the display image portion on a line image sensor, a display character portion such as a date plate is optically scanned to form an image, and is recorded in the frame memory.

Therefore, if this frame memory is read out and displayed, characters displayed on a date plate or the like can be recognized as an image together with the image of the moving object.

[0022]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an arrival order determination device in a boat race according to one embodiment of the present invention. Moving object 14
Is a boat in the case of the present embodiment, and moves in the direction of the arrow.

The date plate 15 displays the name of the organizer, the number of times held, the date and the race number. The date plate 15 or the center pole is installed on the water surface at the full width of both sides of the race track (waterway), and a virtual line connecting these center lines is a start line or a goal line. Is the determination reference line 13.

This arrival order judging device is roughly divided into a line sensor camera 9, a control device 10, a scan converter 11
And a display monitor 12.
In addition, an operation device for a judge, a recording disk device, a hard copy device, and the like are also included in the actual arrival order determination device, but are omitted because they are not particularly relevant for explaining the principle of the present invention.

The electronic slit camera 9 includes a lens 1, a beam splitter 2, a finder 3, a mirror block (partial scanning optical system) 4 for performing partial scanning, and a driving circuit 5 for rotatingly driving the scanning mirror 4b. , A line image sensor 6, a drive circuit 7 thereof, and a video output circuit 8 are accommodated. The line image sensor 6 is composed of 1024 pixels of photodiodes (photoelectric conversion elements) arranged one-dimensionally and an output shift register.

Hereinafter, this operation will be described. The electronic slit camera 9 is set so that the line image sensor 6 is accurately overlapped on the start line or the goal line which is the judgment reference line 13. In other words, the vertical line displayed on the screen of the viewfinder 3 that exactly matches the position of the line image sensor 6 is aligned with the virtual judgment reference line 13 connecting the vertical center line of the date plate 15 or the center pole.

The image on the judgment reference line 13 is formed on the line image sensor 6 of the electronic slit camera 9 thus installed through the lens 1. Partial scanning optical system 4
Is composed of a fixed mirror 4a and a scanning mirror 4b. Of the light incident from the lens 1, reflected light from the date plate 15 is imaged on the line image sensor 6 via the fixed mirror 4a and the scanning mirror 4b.

Since the date plate 15 is located at the upper and lower ends of the judgment reference line 13, if the date plate position is displayed on the viewfinder 3 together with the vertical line indicating the position of the line image sensor 6, the electronic slit camera 9 can be used. When setting the position, the position of the date plate 15 can be accurately set together with the determination reference line 13.

The scanning mirror 4b is driven by the driving device 5, scans the image of the date plate 15 corresponding to the mirror scanning range 16 in a direction perpendicular to the pixel direction of the line image sensor 6, and places the date plate on the line image sensor 6. 15 images are formed. In this embodiment, partial scanning by a set of mirror blocks including a fixed mirror and a scanning mirror has been described, but a method of driving using a direct-view prism or the like may be used.

The scanning speed and the scanning method by the partial scanning optical system 4 are, for example, when the scanning speed of the line image sensor 6 is 1 ms when used in the arrival order judging device.
c, if one screen is 1.5 sec, the scanning speed of the partial scanning optical system 4 is 100 msec in one direction,
If the intermittent operation is performed for 0.5 sec in msec, three images of the date plate 15 can be displayed on one screen as shown in FIG.

The image formed on the line image sensor 6 including the partial scanning image in this manner is a photodiode (photoelectric conversion element) of 1024 pixels arranged one-dimensionally.
The image is output by the electronic slit camera 9 via the image output circuit 8.

The control device 10 is a processor for amplifying the output of the electronic slit camera 9 and obtaining required image characteristics such as a white suppressor circuit and addition of a time marker. The video output of the control device 10 is input to the scan converter 11, where it is A / D converted and
4 pixels × 1536 pixels, luminance gradation is recorded in a memory of 8 bits, horizontal frequency 33.75 KHz, vertical frequency 6
At 0 Hz, the image is read out as 1125 scanning lines and can be displayed on the display monitor 12.

By providing the partial scanning optical system 4 between the lens 1 and the line image sensor 6 as in the above embodiment, an image of a stationary object can be obtained by the electronic slit camera 9.

[0034]

According to the electronic slit camera of the present invention,
It is possible to recognize not only images of moving objects passing the reference line but also stationary objects at positions corresponding to the upper and lower ends of the reference line as images. The actual date plate with the name of the organizer, the number of times, the date, the race number, etc. can be recognized as an image together with the moving object during the competition, which has the important effect of indicating the trueness of the judgment of the order of the competition. Can be.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing one embodiment of a partial scanning optical system of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an image displayed on a display monitor.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional film-type slit camera.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional electronic slit camera.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 lens 2 beam splitter 3 viewfinder 4 partial scanning optical system 5 drive circuit 6 line image sensor 7 drive circuit 8 video output circuit 9 electronic slit camera 13 judgment reference line 14 moving object 15 date plate

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-57-169740 (JP, A) JP-A-56-140337 (JP, A) JP-A-62-109186 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int) .Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G03B 37/00-37/02 G03B 41/00 G03B 15/16 G07C 1/22-1/28 H04N 5/225

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A moving object passing through a virtual reference line,
In an electronic slit camera having a line image sensor for scanning and imaging along the reference line, a stationary object image on an extension of the reference line is partially scanned in a direction perpendicular to the pixel direction of the line image sensor and is scanned at a corresponding portion. An electronic slit camera device comprising: a partial scanning optical system for forming an image; and a driving device for driving a part or all of the partial scanning optical system.