Automatic exposure adjustment apparatus

Claim 2

An automatic exposure adjusting apparatus for automatically adjusting exposure based on a video signal obtained from image sensing means (1, 3), comprising: representative value computing means (22, 31-36, 41-46, 68) for detecting a luminance signal level of said video signal and computing a representative value temporarily representing a luminance level of an entire image sensed picture, correction amount determining means (51-57, 61-67) for determining the correction amount of said temporary representative value in accordance with a luminance distribution in the image sensed picture, and exposure controlling means (2, 4, 5, 69-72) for controlling exposure such that the amount of adjustment of exposure is changed in accordance with said temporary representative value and said correction amount, said determination of the correction amount by said correction amount determining means being carried out based on fussy inference.

Claim 3

An automatic exposure adjusting apparatus for automatically adjusting exposure based on a video signal obtained from image sensing means (1, 3), comprising: means (23, 25, 26) for setting a plurality of divided regions on an image sensed picture, luminance evaluating value detecting means (22, 31-36, 41-46) for detecting a luminance signal level of said video signal in each of said plurality of regions and supplying the same as a luminance evaluating value of the corresponding region, representative value computing means (68) for computing a representative value temporarily representing a luminance level of the entire image sensed picture based on said luminance evaluating values of respective regions, correction amount determining means (51-57, 61-67) for determining a correction amount of said temporary representative value in accordance with a correlation of said luminance evaluating values of the respective regions, and exposure controlling means (2, 4, 5, 69-72) for controlling exposure such that the amount of adjustment of exposure is changed in accordance with said temporary representative value and said correction amount, said determination of the correction amount by said correction amount determining means being carried out based on fuzzy inference with at least said luminance evaluating values of respective regions or a value arithmetically obtained from said luminance evaluating values as an input variable and said correction amount as a conclusion portion.

Claim 4

An automatic exposure adjusting apparatus for automatically adjusting exposure based on a video signal obtained from image sensing means (1, 3), comprising: means (23, 25, 26) for setting a plurality of divided regions on an image sensed picture, luminance evaluating value detecting means (22, 31-36, 41-46) for detecting a luminance signal level of said video signal in each of said plurality of regions and supplying the same as a luminance evaluating value of the corresponding region, representative value computing means (68) for computing a representative value temporarily representing a luminance level of the entire image sensed picture based on said luminance evaluating values of respective regions, correction amount determining means (51-57, 61-67) for determining a correction amount of said temporary representative value in accordance with a correlation of said luminance evaluating values of the respective regions, and exposure controlling means (2, 4, 5, 69-72) for controlling exposure such that the amount of adjustment of exposure is changed in accordance with said temporary representative value and said correction amount, said determination of the correction amount by said correction amount determining means being carried out based on fuzzy inference with at least said luminance evaluating values of respective regions or a value arithmetically obtained from said luminance evaluating values as an input variable and said correction amount as a conclusion portion.

Claim 5

An automatic exposure adjusting apparatus for automatically adjusting exposure based on a video signal obtained from image sensing means (1, 3), comprising: representative value computing means (22, 31-36, 41-46, 51-57, 61-67) for detecting a luminance signal level of said video signal and computing a representative value representing a luminance level of an entire image sensed picture, and exposure controlling means (2, 4, 5, 69-72) for controlling exposure such that the amount of adjustment of exposure is changed in accordance with said representative value, said computation of said representative value by said representative value computing means being carried out based on fuzzy inference.

Claim 6

An automatic exposure adjusting apparatus for automatically adjusting exposure based on a video signal obtained from image sensing means (1, 3), comprising: representative value computing means (22, 31-36, 41-46, 51-57, 61-67) for detecting a luminance signal level of said video signal and computing a representative value representing a luminance level of an entire image sensed picture, and exposure controlling means (2, 4, 5, 69-72) for controlling exposure such that the amount of adjustment of exposure is changed in accordance with said representative value, said computation of said representative value by said representative value computing means being carried out based on fuzzy inference.

Claim 7

An automatic exposure adjusting apparatus for automatically adjusting exposure based on a video signal obtained from image sensing means (1, 3), comprising: means (23, 25, 26) for setting a plurality of divided regions on an image sensed picture, luminance evaluating value detecting means (22, 31-36, 41-46) for detecting a luminance signal level of said video signal in each of said plurality of regions and supplying the same as a luminance evaluating value of the corresponding region, priority determining means (51-57) for determining a priority of each of said regions, representative value computing means (61-67) for computing a representative value representing a luminance level of the entire image sensed picture by weighting said luminance evaluating values of respective regions with the priorities determined by said priority determining means, and exposure controlling means (2, 4, 69-72) for controlling exposure such that the amount of adjustment of exposure is changed in accordance with said representative value, said determination of priority by said priority determining means being carried out based on fuzzy inference with at least said luminance evaluating values of respective regions or a value arithmetically obtained from said luminance evaluating values as an input variable, and said priorities as a conclusion portion.

Claim 8

An automatic exposure adjusting apparatus for automatically adjusting exposure based on a video signal obtained from image sensing means (1, 3), comprising: means (23, 25, 26) for setting a plurality of divided regions on an image sensed picture, luminance evaluating value detecting means (22, 31-36, 41-46) for detecting a luminance signal level of said video signal in each of said plurality of regions and supplying the same as a luminance evaluating value of the corresponding region, priority determining means (51-57) for determining a priority of each of said regions, representative value computing means (61-67) for computing a representative value representing a luminance level of the entire image sensed picture by weighting said luminance evaluating values of respective regions with the priorities determined by said priority determining means, and exposure controlling means (2, 4, 69-72) for controlling exposure such that the amount of adjustment of exposure is changed in accordance with said representative value, said determination of priority by said priority determining means being carried out based on fuzzy inference with at least said luminance evaluating values of respective regions or a value arithmetically obtained from said luminance evaluating values as an input variable, and said priorities as a conclusion portion.

Claim 9

An automatic exposure adjusting apparatus for automatically adjusting exposure based on a video signal obtained from image sensing means (1, 3), comprising: means (23, 25, 26) for setting a plurality of divided regions on an image sensed picture, luminance evaluating value detecting means (22, 31-36, 41-46) for detecting a luminance signal level of said video signal in each of said plurality of regions and supplying the same as a luminance evaluating value of the corresponding region, luminance distribution detecting means (51-57, 61-67) for carrying fuzzy inference with a ratio of luminance evaluating values of the arbitrary two regions among said plurality of regions as an input variable and detecting a luminance distribution of said image sensed picture, and exposure controlling means (2, 4, 5, 69-72) for controlling exposure such that the amount of adjustment of exposure is changed in response to said an output of said luminance distribution detecting means.

Claim 10

An automatic exposure adjusting apparatus for automatically adjusting exposure based on a video signal obtained from image sensing means (1, 3), comprising: means (23, 25, 26) for setting a plurality of divided regions on an image sensed picture, luminance evaluating value detecting means (22, 31-36, 41-46) for detecting a luminance signal level of said video signal in each of said plurality of regions and supplying the same as a luminance evaluating value of the corresponding region, luminance distribution detecting means (51-57, 61-67) for carrying fuzzy inference with a ratio of luminance evaluating values of the arbitrary two regions among said plurality of regions as an input variable and detecting a luminance distribution of said image sensed picture, and exposure controlling means (2, 4, 5, 69-72) for controlling exposure such that the amount of adjustment of exposure is changed in response to said an output of said luminance distribution detecting means.

Claim 11

An automatic exposure adjusting apparatus for automatically adjusting exposure based on a video signal obtained from image sensing means (1, 3), comprising: means (23, 25, 26) for setting a plurality of divided regions on an image sensed picture, luminance evaluating value detecting means (22, 31-36, 41-46) for detecting a luminance signal level of said video signal in each of said plurality of regions and supplying the same as a luminance evaluating value of the corresponding region, priority determining means (51-57, 68) for determining a priority of each of said regions, priority processing means (61-67) for weighting said luminance evaluating values of respective regions with the priorities determined by said priority determining mean, exposure controlling means (2, 4, 5, 69-72) for controlling exposure such that the amount of adjustment of exposure is changed in response to an output of said priority processing means, low luminance detecting means (57) for determining the state wherein the amount of an incident light into said image sensing means is small to be a low luminance state, and means (57) for limiting the weighting by said priority processing means when the determination of said low luminance state is made.

Claim 12

An automatic exposure adjusting apparatus for automatically adjusting exposure based on a video signal obtained from image sensing means (1, 3), comprising: means (23, 25, 26) for setting a plurality of divided regions on an image sensed picture, luminance evaluating value detecting means (22, 31-36, 41-46) for detecting a luminance signal level of said video signal in each of said plurality of regions and supplying the same as a luminance evaluating value of the corresponding region, priority determining means (51-57, 68) for determining a priority of each of said regions, priority processing means (61-67) for weighting said luminance evaluating values of respective regions with the priorities determined by said priority determining mean, exposure controlling means (2, 4, 5, 69-72) for controlling exposure such that the amount of adjustment of exposure is changed in response to an output of said priority processing means, low luminance detecting means (57) for determining the state wherein the amount of an incident light into said image sensing means is small to be a low luminance state, and means (57) for limiting the weighting by said priority processing means when the determination of said low luminance state is made.

Claim 13

An automatic exposure adjusting apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said detection of the low luminance state by said low luminance detecting means is carried out based on fuzzy inference.

Claim 14

An automatic exposure adjusting apparatus for automatically adjusting exposure based on a video signal obtained from image sensing means (1, 3), comprising: means (23, 25, 26) for setting a plurality of divided regions on an image sensed picture, luminance evaluating value detecting means (22, 31-36, 41-46) for detecting a luminance signal level of said video signal in each of said plurality of regions and supply the same as a luminance evaluating value of the corresponding region, priority determining means (51-57, 68) for determining a priority of each of said regions, priority processing means (61-67) for weighting said luminance evaluating values of respective regions with the priorities determined by said priority determining means, exposure controlling means (2, 4, 5, 69-72) for controlling exposure such that the amount of adjustment of exposure is changed in response to an output of said priority processing means, high luminance detecting means (57) for determining whether a high luminance portion is included in said image sensed picture or not, and means (57) for reducing a priority of a region including said high luminance portion when said high luminance portion is detected.

Claim 15

An automatic exposure adjusting apparatus for automatically adjusting exposure based on a video signal obtained from image sensing means (1, 3), comprising: means (23, 25, 26) for setting a plurality of divided regions on an image sensed picture, luminance evaluating value detecting means (22, 31-36, 41-46) for detecting a luminance signal level of said video signal in each of said plurality of regions and supply the same as a luminance evaluating value of the corresponding region, priority determining means (51-57, 68) for determining a priority of each of said regions, priority processing means (61-67) for weighting said luminance evaluating values of respective regions with the priorities determined by said priority determining means, exposure controlling means (2, 4, 5, 69-72) for controlling exposure such that the amount of adjustment of exposure is changed in response to an output of said priority processing means, high luminance detecting means (57) for determining whether a high luminance portion is included in said image sensed picture or not, and means (57) for reducing a priority of a region including said high luminance portion when said high luminance portion is detected.

Claim 16

An automatic exposure adjusting apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein said detection of said high luminance portion by said high luminance detecting means is based on fussy inference.

Claim 17

An automatic exposure adjusting apparatus for automatically adjusting exposure based on a video signal obtained from image sensing means (1, 3) comprising: means (23, 25, 26) for setting a plurality of divided regions on an image sensed picture, luminance evaluating value detecting means (22, 31-36, 41-46) for detecting a luminance signal level of said video signal in each of said plurality of regions and supplying the same as a luminance evaluating value of the corresponding region, priority determining means (51-57, 68) for determining a priority of each of said regions, priority processing means (61-67) for weighting said luminance evaluating values of respective regions with the priorities determined by said priority determining means, exposure controlling means (2, 4, 5, 69-72) for controlling exposure such that the amount of adjustment of exposure is changed in response to an output of said priority processing means, means (57), when out of said plurality of regions a plurality of specific regions have approximately equal luminance evaluating values, for increasing a priority of each of said specific regions.

Claim 18

An automatic exposure adjusting apparatus for automatically adjusting exposure based on a video signal obtained from image sensing means (1, 3) comprising: means (23, 25, 26) for setting a plurality of divided regions on an image sensed picture, luminance evaluating value detecting means (22, 31-36, 41-46) for detecting a luminance signal level of said video signal in each of said plurality of regions and supplying the same as a luminance evaluating value of the corresponding region, priority determining means (51-57, 68) for determining a priority of each of said regions, priority processing means (61-67) for weighting said luminance evaluating values of respective regions with the priorities determined by said priority determining means, exposure controlling means (2, 4, 5, 69-72) for controlling exposure such that the amount of adjustment of exposure is changed in response to an output of said priority processing means, means (57), when out of said plurality of regions a plurality of specific regions have approximately equal luminance evaluating values, for increasing a priority of each of said specific regions.

Claim 19

An automatic exposure adjusting apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said plurality of specific regions are provided near the center of said image sensed picture.

Claim 20

An automatic exposure adjusting apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said determination of priority by said priority determining means is carried out based on fuzzy inference.

Claim 21

An automatic exposure adjusting apparatus for automatically adjusting exposure based on a video signal obtained from image sensing means (1, 3) comprising: means (23, 25, 26) for providing a plurality of divided regions on a image sensed picture including at least a first region provided at the center of said image sensed picture, a second region provided at the center of said image sensed picture so as to surround said fist region and a third region provided at the lower side of said second region, luminance evaluating value detecting means (22, 31-36, 41-46) for detecting a luminance signal level of said video signal in each of said plurality of regions and supplying the same as a luminance evaluating value of the corresponding region, priority determining means (51-57, 68) for determining a priority of each of said regions, priority processing means (61-67) weighting said luminance evaluating values of respective regions with the priorities determined by said priority determining means, exposure controlling means (2, 4, 5, 69-72) for controlling exposure such that the amount of adjustment of exposure is changed in response to an output of said priority processing means, and means (57) for increasing priorities of said second and third regions priorities when the luminance evaluating value of said first region is at an abnormally high level or an abnormally low level and the luminance evaluating values of said second and third regions are not close to said luminance evaluating value of said first region.

Claim 22

An automatic exposure adjusting apparatus for automatically adjusting exposure based on a video signal obtained from image sensing means (1, 3) comprising: means (23, 25, 26) for providing a plurality of divided regions on a image sensed picture including at least a first region provided at the center of said image sensed picture, a second region provided at the center of said image sensed picture so as to surround said fist region and a third region provided at the lower side of said second region, luminance evaluating value detecting means (22, 31-36, 41-46) for detecting a luminance signal level of said video signal in each of said plurality of regions and supplying the same as a luminance evaluating value of the corresponding region, priority determining means (51-57, 68) for determining a priority of each of said regions, priority processing means (61-67) weighting said luminance evaluating values of respective regions with the priorities determined by said priority determining means, exposure controlling means (2, 4, 5, 69-72) for controlling exposure such that the amount of adjustment of exposure is changed in response to an output of said priority processing means, and means (57) for increasing priorities of said second and third regions priorities when the luminance evaluating value of said first region is at an abnormally high level or an abnormally low level and the luminance evaluating values of said second and third regions are not close to said luminance evaluating value of said first region.

Claim 23

An automatic exposure adjusting apparatus according to claim 13, wherein said determination is made based on fuzzy inference as to whether said luminance evaluating value of said first region is at an abnormally high level or at an abnormally low level and said luminance evaluating values of said second and third regions are close to said luminance evaluating value of said first region or not.

Claim 24

An automatic exposure adjusting apparatus for automatically adjusting exposure based on a video signal obtained from image sensing means (1, 3) comprising: means (23, 25, 26) for providing at least one major region and a plurality of non-major regions by dividing an image sensed picture, luminance evaluating value detecting means (22, 31-36, 41-46) for detecting a luminance signal level of said video signal in each of said plurality of regions and supplying the same as a luminance evaluating value, a priority determining means (51-57, 68) for determining a priority of each of said regions, priority processing means (61-67) for weighting said luminance evaluating values of respective regions with the priorities determined by said priority determining means, exposure controlling means (2, 4, 5, 69-72) for controlling exposure such that the amount of adjustment of exposure is changed in response to an output of said priority processing means, abnormal luminance portion detecting means (57) for determining as to whether any of said regions includes an abnormal luminance portion or not, and means (57) for giving said major region a priority over that of said non-major regions when said abnormal luminance portion is detected.

Claim 25

An automatic exposure adjusting apparatus for automatically adjusting exposure based on a video signal obtained from image sensing means (1, 3) comprising: means (23, 25, 26) for providing at least one major region and a plurality of non-major regions by dividing an image sensed picture, luminance evaluating value detecting means (22, 31-36, 41-46) for detecting a luminance signal level of said video signal in each of said plurality of regions and supplying the same as a luminance evaluating value, a priority determining means (51-57, 68) for determining a priority of each of said regions, priority processing means (61-67) for weighting said luminance evaluating values of respective regions with the priorities determined by said priority determining means, exposure controlling means (2, 4, 5, 69-72) for controlling exposure such that the amount of adjustment of exposure is changed in response to an output of said priority processing means, abnormal luminance portion detecting means (57) for determining as to whether any of said regions includes an abnormal luminance portion or not, and means (57) for giving said major region a priority over that of said non-major regions when said abnormal luminance portion is detected.

Claim 26

An automatic exposure adjusting aoparatu-s according to claim 15 , wherein said detection of the abnormal luminance portion by said abnormal luminance portion detecting means is carried out based on fuzzy inference.

Claim 27

An automatic exposure adjusting apparatus for automatically adjusting exposure based on a video signal obtained from image sensing means (1, 3), comprising: means (23, 25, 26) for setting a plurality of divided regions on an image sensed picture, luminance evaluating value detecting means (22, 31-36, 41-46) for detecting a luminance signal level of said video signal in each of said plurality of regions and supplying the same as a luminance evaluating value of the corresponding region, priority determining means (51-57, 68) for determining a priority of each of said regions, priority processing means (61-67) for weighting said luminance evaluating values of respective regions with the priorities determined by said priority determining means, exposure controlling means (2, 4, 5, 69-72) for controlling exposure such that the amount of adjustment of exposure is changed in response to an output of said priority processing means, means (57) for detecting that said luminance evaluating value of the region having higher priority is larger than the luminance evaluating value of a region having a lower priority, means (57) for limiting the weighting by said priority processing means when said determination is made that said luminance evaluating value of the region having the higher priority is larger than the luminance evaluating value of the region having the lower priority.

Claim 28

An automatic exposure adjusting apparatus for automatically adjusting exposure based on a video signal obtained from image sensing means (1, 3), comprising: means (23, 25, 26) for setting a plurality of divided regions on an image sensed picture, luminance evaluating value detecting means (22, 31-36, 41-46) for detecting a luminance signal level of said video signal in each of said plurality of regions and supplying the same as a luminance evaluating value of the corresponding region, priority determining means (51-57, 68) for determining a priority of each of said regions, priority processing means (61-67) for weighting said luminance evaluating values of respective regions with the priorities determined by said priority determining means, exposure controlling means (2, 4, 5, 69-72) for controlling exposure such that the amount of adjustment of exposure is changed in response to an output of said priority processing means, means (57) for detecting that said luminance evaluating value of the region having higher priority is larger than the luminance evaluating value of a region having a lower priority, means (57) for limiting the weighting by said priority processing means when said determination is made that said luminance evaluating value of the region having the higher priority is larger than the luminance evaluating value of the region having the lower priority.

Claim 29

An automatic exposure adjusting apparatus according to claim 17, wherein said determination is made based on fuzzy inference as to whether said luminance evaluating value of the region having the higher priority is larger than the priority evaluating value of the region having the lower priority or not.

Claim 30

An automatic adjusting apparatus comprising: fuzzy controlling means for performing a predetermined control based on fuzzy inference with a predetermined input variable, and holding means for holding in advance a plurality of functions of different gradients as membership functions for use in the fuzzy inference.

Claim 31

An automatic adjusting apparatus comprising: fuzzy controlling means for performing a predetermined control based on fuzzy inference with a predetermined input variable, and holding means for holding in advance a plurality of functions of different gradients as membership functions for use in the fuzzy inference.

Claim 32

An automatic adjusting apparatus according to claim 19, wherein said fuzzy controlling means comprises exposure controlling means for evaluating exposure of an image sensed picture based on the fuzzy inference and controlling the exposure based on the result.