Interchangeable lens video camera system

Claim 2

The camera according to claim 1, wherein the information associated with the image sensing state includes color temperature information within an image sensing area of said image sensing means (112).

Claim 3

The camera according to claim 1, wherein the information associated with the image sensing state includes exposure information of said image sensing means (112).

Claim 4

The camera according to claim 3, further comprising an image sensing device (106 to 108) for converting the image of the object into the image signal, and accumulation time control means (136) for controlling a charge accumulation time of said image sensing device (106 to 108), and wherein the exposure information includes information associated with the accumulation time.

Claim 5

The camera according to claim 4, wherein said accumulation time control means (136) prolongs the accumulation time and intermittently reads out the image signal from said image sensing device (106 to 108).

Claim 6

The camera according to claim 3, wherein said image sensing means (112) comprises flicker detection means (115) for changing the charge accumulation time, controlled by said accumulation time control means (136), in accordance with a magnitude of an amount of light from a light source for illuminating the object and a flicker period of said light source, and the exposure information includes information associated with the flicker period.

Claim 7

The camera according to claim 3, wherein said image sensing means (112) comprises amplification factor control means (131) for controlling an amplification factor for the image signal, and the exposure information includes information associated with the amplification factor controlled by said amplification factor control means (131).

Claim 8

The camera according to claim 3, wherein said control means (114) comprises iris stop control means (225) for controlling an incident light amount to said lens assembly, and the exposure information includes information associated with an iris stop controlled by said iris stop control means (225).

Claim 9

The camera according to claim 3, wherein said image sensing means (112) comprises image sensing mode setting means (138) for setting a desired image sensing mode of a plurality of image sensing modes which are registered in advance, and the exposure information includes information associated with an exposure state, gamma correction, and aperture correction corresponding to the desired image sensing mode.

Claim 10

The camera according to claim 1, wherein said control means (114) comprises an image magnification change means (134) for enlarging or reducing part of an image sensing area of said image sensing means (112), and the information associated with the image sensing state includes image magnification information of said image magnification change means (134).

Claim 11

The camera according to claim 3, wherein said image sensing means (112) comprises evaluation means (113) for evaluating a focus state of said lens assembly on the basis of the image signal and the information associated with the image sensing state, and the information associated with the image sensing state includes evaluation information of said evaluation means (113).

Claim 12

The camera according to claim 11, wherein said evaluation means (113) prepares for the evaluation information on the basis of a level of a high-frequency component contained in the image signal.

Claim 13

A lens assembly (127) detachably attached to a camera (128) having image sensing means (112) for photoelectrically converting incident light to sense an image and outputting an image signal, characterized by comprising: a lens (102,105) for forming an image of an object; memory means (119) which stores locus information of said lens (102,105) in advance; and control means (116) for receiving information associated with an image sensing state of the object from said camera (128) and controlling said lens (102,105) on the basis of the locus information and evaluation information representing a focus state of the image signal included in the information associated with the image sensing state.

Claim 14

The lens assembly according to claim 13, wherein said lens includes a variable power lens (102) for performing a zooming operation and a focus lens (105) for performing a focusing operation.

Claim 15

he lens assembly according to claim 13, wherein the information associated with the image sensing state includes color temperature information within an image sensing area of said image sensing means (112).

Claim 16

The lens assembly according to claim 13, wherein the information associated with the image sensing state includes exposure information of said image sensing means (112).

Claim 17

The lens assembly according to claim 15, wherein the exposure information includes information associated with a charge accumulation time of said image sensing means (112).

Claim 18

he lens assembly according to claim 15, wherein the exposure information includes information associated with a flicker period of a light source for illuminating the object.

Claim 19

The lens assembly according to claim 15, further comprising iris stop means (103,123,124) for changing an amount of the incident light, and wherein the exposure information includes information associated with said iris stop means.

Claim 20

The lens assembly according to claim 15, wherein the exposure information includes information associated with an exposure state, gamma correction, and aperture correction corresponding to an image sensing mode of said camera (128).

Claim 21

The lens assembly according to claim 14, wherein said memory means (1120) stores design position information of said variable power lens (1102) and said focus lens (1105) in advance and said control means (1112) further comprises adjusting means (1132) for adjusting an operation of said focus lens (1105) on the basis of the position information to compensate for a movement of an in-focus point caused by the zooming operation of said variable power lens (1102).

Claim 22

The lens assembly according to claim 21, wherein said adjusting means (1132) adjusts an operation stroke of said variable power lens (1102) to change a telephoto end position and a wide end position.

Claim 23

The lens assembly according to claim 22, wherein said adjusting means (1132) calculates a position of said variable power lens (1102), at which an in-focus position of said focus lens (1105) and a moving amount of said focus lens (1105) from the telephoto end position equal those of the design position information, thereby changing the telephoto end position and the wide end position.

Claim 24

A camera (1128) detachably having a lens assembly (1127), characterized by comprising: image sensing means (1112) for photoelectrically converting incident light to sense an image and transmitting an image signal to said lens assembly (1127).

Claim 25

The camera according to claim 24, further comprising normalizing means (1601) for normalizing the image signal output from said image sensing means (1112) in accordance with an image sensing state.

Claim 26

A lens assembly (1127) detachably attached to a camera (1128) having image sensing means (1112) for sensing an image of an object and outputting an image signal, characterized by comprising: a variable power lens (1102) for performing a zooming operation; a focus lens (1105) for performing a focusing operation and compensating for a movement of an in-focus point caused by the zooming operation of said variable power lens (1102); memory means (1120) for storing position information of said variable power lens (1102) and said focus lens (1105); focus detection means (1602) for receiving the image signal and extracting, from the image signal, evaluation information which changes in accordance with a focus state; and control means (1116C) for controlling said variable power lens (1102) and said focus lens (1105) on the basis of the position information stored in said memory means (1120) and the evaluation information obtained by said focus detection means (1602).

Claim 27

The lens assembly according to claim 26, wherein the image signal is normalized in accordance with the focus state.

Claim 28

The lens assembly according to claim 26, wherein said focus detection means (1602) extracts a high-frequency component contained in the image signal.

Claim 29

The lens assembly according to claim 26, wherein said focus detection means (1602) extracts only an image signal corresponding to an area for distance measurement from the image signal.

Claim 30

The lens assembly according to claim 26, wherein said memory means (1120) stores design position information of said variable power lens (1102) and said focus lens (1105) in advance and said control means 1116C) further comprises adjusting means (1132) for adjusting an operation of said focus lens (1105) on the basis of the position information to compensate for a movement of an in-focus point caused by the zooming operation of said variable power lens (1102).

Claim 31

The lens assembly according to claim 30, wherein said adjusting means (1132) adjusts an operation stroke of said variable power lens (1102) to change a telephoto end position and a wide end position.

Claim 32

The lens assembly according to claim 31, wherein said adjusting means (1132) calculates a position of said variable power lens (1102), at which an in-focus position of said focus lens (1105) and a moving amount of said focus lens(1105) from the telephoto end position equal those of the design position information, thereby changing the telephoto end position and the wide end position.

Claim 33

An interchangeable lens video camera system constituted by a camera (1128) and an interchangeable lens assembly (1127), wherein said camera (1128) comprises image sensing means (1112) for photoelectrically converting incident light to sense an image and transmitting an image signal to said lens assembly (1127), and said lens assembly (1127) comprises a variable power lens (1102) for performing a zooming operation; a focus lens (1105) for performing a focusing operation and compensating for a movement of an in-focus point caused by the zooming operation of said variable power lens (1102); memory means (1120) for storing position information of said variable power lens (1102) and said focus lens (1105); focus detection means (1602) for receiving the image signal and extracting, from the image signal, evaluation information which changes in accordance with a focus state; and control means (116C) for controlling said variable power lens (1102) and said focus lens (1105) on the basis of the position information stored in said memory means (1120) and the evaluation information obtained by said focus detection means (1602).

Claim 34

The system according to claim 33, wherein said camera (1128) further comprises normalizing means (1601) for normalizing the image signal output from said image sensing means (1112) in accordance with an image sensing state.

Claim 35

The system according to claim 33, wherein said focus detection means (1602) extracts a high-frequency component contained in the image signal.

Claim 36

The system according to claim 33, wherein said focus detection means (1602) extracts only an image signal corresponding to an area for distance measurement from the image signal.

Claim 37

The system according to claim 33, wherein said camera (1128) further comprises first switch means (1131) for turning on/off an operation of said focus detection means (1602).

Claim 38

The system according to claim 33, wherein said memory means (1120) stores design position information of said variable power lens (1102) and said focus lens (1105) in advance and said control means (116C) further comprises adjusting means (1132) for adjusting an operation of said focus lens (1105) on the basis of the position information to compensate for a movement of an in-focus point caused by the zooming operation of said variable power lens (1102) and said camera (1128) further comprises second switch means (1135) for turning on/off an operation of said adusting means (1132).

Claim 39

The system according to claim 38, wherein said adjusting means (1132) adjusts an operation stroke of said variable power lens (1102) to change a telephoto end position and a wide end position.

Claim 40

The system according to claim 39, wherein said adjusting means (1132) calculates a position of said variable power lens (1102), at which an in-focus position of said focus lens (1105) and a moving amount of said focus lens (1105) from the telephoto end position equal those of the design position information, thereby changing the telephoto end position and the wide end position.

Claim 41

A lens assembly (1127) detachably attached to a camera (1128) having image sensing means (1112) for sensing an image of an object and outputting an image signal, characterized by comprising: a variable power lens (1102) for performing a zooming operation; a focus lens (1105) for performing a focusing operation and compensating for a movement of an in-focus point caused by the zooming operation of said variable power lens (1102); first memory means (1120) for storing position information of said variable power lens (1102) and said focus lens (1105); control means (1116D) for controlling said variable power lens (1102) and said focus lens (1105); and second memory means (1133) for storing current position information of said variable power lens (1102) and/or said focus lens (1105), wherein said control means (1116D) determines, upon turning on a power supply of said lens assembly (1127), whether a camera to which said lens assembly (1127) is mounted is the same as that in a previous operation, and if said camera is the same as that in the previous operation, said control means (116D) restores an operation state of said variable power lens (1102) and/or said focus lens (1105) at the time of turning off said power supply on the basis of the current position information stored in said second memory means (1133).

Claim 42

A camera (2128) detachably having a lens assembly (2127), characterized by comprising: inhibition means (2114) for inhibiting output of an image signal obtained upon an image sensing operation until completion of an initialization operation of said lens assembly (2127) is detected.

Claim 43

A camera (2128) detachably having a lens assembly (2127), characterized by comprising: power supply means (2139) for supplying a driving power to said lens assembly (2127); and control means (2114) for controlling said power supply means (2139), wherein said control means (2114) informs said lens assembly (2127) of a stop of the power before turning off said driving power supply and stops the driving power in response to a permission from said lens assembly (2127).

Claim 44

A lens assembly (2127) detachably attached to a camera (2128), characterized by comprising: a lens (2105) for performing a focusing operation; and control means (2116) for controlling said lens (2105), wherein said control means (2116) drives said lens (2105) to a predetermined position in accordance with a signal for informing of a stop of a driving power to said lens assembly (2127), which is transmitted from said camera (2128), and transmits a signal for permitting the stop of the driving power by said camera (2128) when driving of said lens (2105) to the predetermined position is completed.