US5255045A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Camera system having distance measuring apparatus
Assignee: Olympus Corp
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Filing: 1992-01-16
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Granted: 1993-10-19
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Expires: 2012-01-16
Abstract
Abstract In a camera distance measuring apparatus a light projector projects light along a plurality of axes, a first distance detector receiving light of one axis reflected light from an object detecting the distance of an object in the center of the picture, a second distance detector receiving light of another axis reflected from the object and detecting the distance to the object on the periphery of the picture, a moving speed detector receiving light of one axis reflected from the object and detecting the speed of the object in the optical axial direction, a judging device judging whether object distance in the central part of the picture is farther than a predetermined value, an object distance detector operating the second distance detector when the distance to the object in the picture central part is greater than the predetermined value and determining the distance to the object based on the measurements of the first and second distance detectors, an object distance presuming control operating the moving speed detector when the distance to the object in the picture central part is less than the predetermined value and presuming the object distance after a predetermined time based on the detected speed the measured distance and a predetermined time interval and a focusing control adjusting the photographing lens according to object distance determined by the object distance determining means on the basis of the judged result of the judging means or the distance to the object presumed by the object distance presuming means.
Inventors
- 👤 Osamu Nonaka
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 20:33
CPC Classifications
G; G02; G02B; G02B7/00; G02B7/28; G02B7/30; G02B7/32; G01; G01S; G01S17/00; G01S17/87
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 27
Claim 1
Independent Claim
423 words
A camera system having an adjustable photographing lens and a distance measuring apparatus characterized by comprising: a light projecting means projecting light beams along a plurality of distance measuring axes; a first distance measuring means receiving reflected light from the object of the light beams projected toward the optical axial direction of the photographing lens by said light projecting means and detecting the distance to the object in the center of the photographed picture on the basis of the signal responding to the reflected light receiving position; a second distance measuring means receiving reflected light from the object of the light beams projected toward a direction different from the optical axial direction of the photographing lens by said light projecting means and detecting the distance to the object on the periphery of the photographed picture on the basis of the signal responding to the reflected light receiving position; a moving speed detecting means receiving reflected light from the object of the light beams projected toward the optical axial direction of the photographing lens by said light projecting means and detecting the value responding to the moving speed of the object present in the optical axial direction; a judging means for judging whether the distance to the object in the central part of the photographed picture is greater than a predetermined value or not as a result of the distance measurement by the first distance measuring means; an object distance determining means operating said second distance measuring means when the distance to the object in the central part of the photographed picture is greater than the predetermined value as a result of the judgment of said judging means and determining the distance to the object on the basis of the measured results of the first and second distance measuring means; an object distance presuming means operating the moving speed detecting means when the distance to the object in the central part of the photographed picture is less than the predetermined value as a result of the judgment of the judging means and presuming the distance tot he object after a predetermined time on the basis of the speed detected by said moving speed detecting means and the distance measured result of the first distance measuring means; and a focusing means controlling the photographing lens on the basis of the distance to the object determined by the object distance determining means on the basis of the judged result of the judging means or the distance to the object presumed by the object distance presuming means.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
423 words
A camera system having an adjustable photographing lens and a distance measuring apparatus characterized by comprising: a light projecting means projecting light beams along a plurality of distance measuring axes; a first distance measuring means receiving reflected light from the object of the light beams projected toward the optical axial direction of the photographing lens by said light projecting means and detecting the distance to the object in the center of the photographed picture on the basis of the signal responding to the reflected light receiving position; a second distance measuring means receiving reflected light from the object of the light beams projected toward a direction different from the optical axial direction of the photographing lens by said light projecting means and detecting the distance to the object on the periphery of the photographed picture on the basis of the signal responding to the reflected light receiving position; a moving speed detecting means receiving reflected light from the object of the light beams projected toward the optical axial direction of the photographing lens by said light projecting means and detecting the value responding to the moving speed of the object present in the optical axial direction; a judging means for judging whether the distance to the object in the central part of the photographed picture is greater than a predetermined value or not as a result of the distance measurement by the first distance measuring means; an object distance determining means operating said second distance measuring means when the distance to the object in the central part of the photographed picture is greater than the predetermined value as a result of the judgment of said judging means and determining the distance to the object on the basis of the measured results of the first and second distance measuring means; an object distance presuming means operating the moving speed detecting means when the distance to the object in the central part of the photographed picture is less than the predetermined value as a result of the judgment of the judging means and presuming the distance tot he object after a predetermined time on the basis of the speed detected by said moving speed detecting means and the distance measured result of the first distance measuring means; and a focusing means controlling the photographing lens on the basis of the distance to the object determined by the object distance determining means on the basis of the judged result of the judging means or the distance to the object presumed by the object distance presuming means.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
53 words
A camera system having a distance measuring apparatus according to claim 1 characterized in that the object distance determining means is provided with a selecting means for selecting the distance to the object at the nearest distance from among the plurality of object distances measured by said first and second distance measuring means.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
83 words
A camera system having a distance measuring apparatus according to claim 1 characterized in that the object distance presuming means selects as a presumed distance the distance to the object detected by the first distance measuring means in when a still or nearly still state is determined by the speed detecting means and generates a presumed distance by correcting the distance determined by said first distance measuring means using the moving speed detected by the moving speed detecting means and a predetermined time.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
121 words
A camera system having a distance measuring apparatus according to claim 1 characterized in that, responsive to the object distance presuming means, the second distance measuring means is operated in parallel with the moving speed detecting means, the nearest object distance being selected from among the distance measured results of the first and second distance measuring means in when a still state or a speed near to a still state is detected by the moving speed detecting means and, on the other hand, the object distance will be presumed on the basis of the detected moving speed and the distance measured by the first distance measuring means in the case of a moving state detected by said moving speed detecting means.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
105 words
A camera system having a distance measuring apparatus according to claim 1 further characterized that the above mentioned camera system has by comprising a light amount detecting means detecting the amount of light from said light projecting means reflected from the object and detecting the object distance on the basis of the detected light amount and the first distance measuring means and the light amount detecting means are operated in parallel, an output is selected from the output of the first distance measuring means and the output of the light amount detecting means to be the object distance in the central part of the picture.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
105 words
A camera system having a distance measuring apparatus according to claim 1 further characterized by comprising a light amount detecting means for detecting the reflected light amount from the object of the light beams by the light projecting means and detecting the object distance on the basis of this light amount and the object distance determining means operating the second distance measuring means and the light amount detecting means in parallel and selecting an output from the output of the second distance measuring means and the output of the light amount detecting means to be the object distance on the peripheral part of the picture.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
245 words
A camera system with an adjustable photographing lens having a distance measuring apparatus comprising: a light projecting means projecting light beams along a plurality of distance measuring axes including the optical axial direction of the photographing lens; a central part distance measuring means receiving reflected light from the object of the light beams projected toward the optical axial direction of the photographing lens and detecting the object distance int he central part of the photographed picture; a peripheral part distance measuring means receiving reflected light from the object of the light beams projected in a direction different from the optical axial direction in case the distance measured result of this central part distance measuring means is farther than a predetermined value and detecting the object distance on the peripheral part of the photographed picture; a central moving object detecting means detecting a value corresponding to the moving speed of the object on the basis of the reflected light from the object of the light beams in the optical axial direction; a presuming means presuming the object distance after a predetermined time on the basis of the moving speed by said central moving object detecting means and the object distance by the central part distance measuring means; and a photographing lens controlling means focusing the photographing lens on the basis of the outputs of the central part distance measuring means and one of the peripheral part distance measuring means and the output of the presuming means.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
245 words
A camera system with an adjustable photographing lens having a distance measuring apparatus comprising: a light projecting means projecting light beams along a plurality of distance measuring axes including the optical axial direction of the photographing lens; a central part distance measuring means receiving reflected light from the object of the light beams projected toward the optical axial direction of the photographing lens and detecting the object distance int he central part of the photographed picture; a peripheral part distance measuring means receiving reflected light from the object of the light beams projected in a direction different from the optical axial direction in case the distance measured result of this central part distance measuring means is farther than a predetermined value and detecting the object distance on the peripheral part of the photographed picture; a central moving object detecting means detecting a value corresponding to the moving speed of the object on the basis of the reflected light from the object of the light beams in the optical axial direction; a presuming means presuming the object distance after a predetermined time on the basis of the moving speed by said central moving object detecting means and the object distance by the central part distance measuring means; and a photographing lens controlling means focusing the photographing lens on the basis of the outputs of the central part distance measuring means and one of the peripheral part distance measuring means and the output of the presuming means.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
85 words
A camera system having a distance measuring apparatus according to claim 7 wherein the presuming means determines the object distance by the central part distance measuring means a presumed distance int he case of a still or nearly still state as a result of the detection of the moving speed by the central moving object detecting means and determines a presumed distance by correcting the object distance by the central part distance measuring means by using the detected moving speed and a predetermined time value.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
126 words
A camera system having a distance measuring apparatus comprising: a central part distance measuring means measuring the object distance in the central part of the photographed picture; a peripheral part distance measuring means measuring the object distance on the peripheral part of the photographed picture; a central part moving object detecting means detecting a value responsive to the movement of the object in the central part of the photographed picture; and a controlling means operating the peripheral part distance measuring means when the distance measured value by the central part distance measuring means is greater than the predetermined value and operating the central part moving object detecting means when the distance measured value by the central part distance measuring means is less than the predetermined value.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
126 words
A camera system having a distance measuring apparatus comprising: a central part distance measuring means measuring the object distance in the central part of the photographed picture; a peripheral part distance measuring means measuring the object distance on the peripheral part of the photographed picture; a central part moving object detecting means detecting a value responsive to the movement of the object in the central part of the photographed picture; and a controlling means operating the peripheral part distance measuring means when the distance measured value by the central part distance measuring means is greater than the predetermined value and operating the central part moving object detecting means when the distance measured value by the central part distance measuring means is less than the predetermined value.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
230 words
A distance determining method for a camera system with an adjustable photographing lens having: a central part distance measuring means measuring the object distance in the central part of the photographed picture; a peripheral part distance measuring means measuring the object distance on the peripheral part of the photographed picture; and a central part moving object detecting means detecting a value responding to the movement of the object in the central part of the photographed picture; said method comprising the steps of: measuring the central part of the photographed picture by operating the central part distance measuring means; comparing the distance measured result of the central part distance measuring means with a predetermined distance; operating the central part moving object detecting means when the distance measured result is nearer than the predetermined distance as a result of the comparison; correcting the distance measured result by the central part distance measuring means on the basis of the value representing the movement of the object; operating the peripheral part distance measuring means when the distance measured result is farther than said predetermined distance; selecting the object distance from the distance measured result of the peripheral part distance measuring means and the distance measured result of the central part distance measuring means; and focusing the photographing lens in response to the object distance determined by one of the correcting step and selecting step.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
230 words
A distance determining method for a camera system with an adjustable photographing lens having: a central part distance measuring means measuring the object distance in the central part of the photographed picture; a peripheral part distance measuring means measuring the object distance on the peripheral part of the photographed picture; and a central part moving object detecting means detecting a value responding to the movement of the object in the central part of the photographed picture; said method comprising the steps of: measuring the central part of the photographed picture by operating the central part distance measuring means; comparing the distance measured result of the central part distance measuring means with a predetermined distance; operating the central part moving object detecting means when the distance measured result is nearer than the predetermined distance as a result of the comparison; correcting the distance measured result by the central part distance measuring means on the basis of the value representing the movement of the object; operating the peripheral part distance measuring means when the distance measured result is farther than said predetermined distance; selecting the object distance from the distance measured result of the peripheral part distance measuring means and the distance measured result of the central part distance measuring means; and focusing the photographing lens in response to the object distance determined by one of the correcting step and selecting step.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
159 words
A distance determining method for a camera having a first focus adjusting mode in which the focus is adjusted by presuming the distance at the time of starting the exposure of the object from the distance and moving speed of the object located in the central part of the photographed picture and a second focus adjusting mode in which the focus is adjusted by selecting the nearest object from the objects located int he central part and peripheral part within the photographed picture; said method comprising the steps of: measuring the distance of an object in the central part of the photographed picture; judging whether the distance measured value is within a predetermined distance range or not; and selecting the first focus adjusting mode when the distance measured value is judged to be within the predetermined distance range and selecting the second focus adjusting mode when the distance measured value is judged to be outside the predetermined distance range.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
159 words
A distance determining method for a camera having a first focus adjusting mode in which the focus is adjusted by presuming the distance at the time of starting the exposure of the object from the distance and moving speed of the object located in the central part of the photographed picture and a second focus adjusting mode in which the focus is adjusted by selecting the nearest object from the objects located int he central part and peripheral part within the photographed picture; said method comprising the steps of: measuring the distance of an object in the central part of the photographed picture; judging whether the distance measured value is within a predetermined distance range or not; and selecting the first focus adjusting mode when the distance measured value is judged to be within the predetermined distance range and selecting the second focus adjusting mode when the distance measured value is judged to be outside the predetermined distance range.
Claim 17
Independent Claim
208 words
A method for obtaining a focusing value for focusing a camera having light projecting means for emitting rays in different directions; first distance measuring means for measuring distance of an object located int he central portion of a picture; second distance measuring means for measuring the distance of an object in the peripheral portion of the picture; and moving speed detecting means for detecting the moving speed of an object moving substantially in the direction of the optical axis, said method comprising the steps of: operating the light projecting means to direct light rays toward the object to the photographed; operating the first distance measuring means; operating the second distance measuring means when the distance value developed by said first distance measuring means is greater than a predetermined value; operating said moving speed detecting means when the distance value generated by said first distance measuring means is less than said predetermined value; selecting one of the distance values generated by said first and second distance measuring means when the value of said first distance measuring means is greater than said predetermined value; and adjusting the distance value generated by said first distance measuring means when said distance measuring means generates a value greater than a predetermined speed value.
Claim 18
Independent Claim
208 words
A method for obtaining a focusing value for focusing a camera having light projecting means for emitting rays in different directions; first distance measuring means for measuring distance of an object located int he central portion of a picture; second distance measuring means for measuring the distance of an object in the peripheral portion of the picture; and moving speed detecting means for detecting the moving speed of an object moving substantially in the direction of the optical axis, said method comprising the steps of: operating the light projecting means to direct light rays toward the object to the photographed; operating the first distance measuring means; operating the second distance measuring means when the distance value developed by said first distance measuring means is greater than a predetermined value; operating said moving speed detecting means when the distance value generated by said first distance measuring means is less than said predetermined value; selecting one of the distance values generated by said first and second distance measuring means when the value of said first distance measuring means is greater than said predetermined value; and adjusting the distance value generated by said first distance measuring means when said distance measuring means generates a value greater than a predetermined speed value.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
35 words
The method of claim 12 wherein the step of selecting one of the values generated by said first and second distance measuring means comprises the step of selecting the smallest one of said distance values.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
44 words
The method of claim 11 wherein the step of adjusting the distance value generated by said first distance measuring means further comprises the step of adjusting said value according to the speed value detected by said speed measuring means and a predetermined time value.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
47 words
The method of claim 14 wherein the adjustment step is made in accordance with the formula X-V×T, wherein X represents the value generated by said first distance detection means, V is the speed value generated by said speed detecting means and T is said predetermined time value.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
34 words
The method of claim 12 wherein the step of operating said second distance measuring means further comprises the step of obtaining two separate distance values at spaced intervals along the periphery of the picture.
Claim 23
Independent Claim
251 words
A method of focusing a camera having light projecting means for emitting rays in different directions; first distance measuring means for measuring distance of an object located in the central portion of a picture; second distance measuring detector for measuring the distance of an object in the peripheral portion of the picture; central light amount and peripheral light amount integrating means for respectively integrating the amount of light respectively reflected from the central part and the peripheral part of the picture; and moving speed detecting means for detecting the moving speed of an object moving substantially in the direction of the optical axis, said method comprising the steps of: operating the light projecting means; operating the first distance measuring means and the central light integrating means; determining the distance to the central object of the picture field based upon said light integrating means and said first distance measuring means; operating the second distance measuring means and the peripheral light amount integrating means when said determined distance value is greater than a predetermined value; operating said second distance measuring means and said speed detecting means when said determined distance value is less than said predetermined value; determining the peripheral object distance value based upon the values generated by said second distance measuring means and said peripheral light integrating means; and selecting the nearest distance value of said peripheral values and said central distance as the value for adjusting the camera lens when the central distance value is greater than said predetermined value.
Claim 24
Independent Claim
251 words
A method of focusing a camera having light projecting means for emitting rays in different directions; first distance measuring means for measuring distance of an object located in the central portion of a picture; second distance measuring detector for measuring the distance of an object in the peripheral portion of the picture; central light amount and peripheral light amount integrating means for respectively integrating the amount of light respectively reflected from the central part and the peripheral part of the picture; and moving speed detecting means for detecting the moving speed of an object moving substantially in the direction of the optical axis, said method comprising the steps of: operating the light projecting means; operating the first distance measuring means and the central light integrating means; determining the distance to the central object of the picture field based upon said light integrating means and said first distance measuring means; operating the second distance measuring means and the peripheral light amount integrating means when said determined distance value is greater than a predetermined value; operating said second distance measuring means and said speed detecting means when said determined distance value is less than said predetermined value; determining the peripheral object distance value based upon the values generated by said second distance measuring means and said peripheral light integrating means; and selecting the nearest distance value of said peripheral values and said central distance as the value for adjusting the camera lens when the central distance value is greater than said predetermined value.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
39 words
The method of claim 17 further comprising the steps of: adjusting the central distance value when the moving speed of the central object is greater than a predetermined value; and adjusting the camera lens according to said adjusted value.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
37 words
The method of claim 18 wherein the step of adjusting the central distance value is further comprised of the step of: adjusting the central distance value according to the measured speed value and a predetermined time interval.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
38 words
The method of claim 18 further comprising the step of: selecting the distance value from among the values generated by said first and second distance measuring means when the speed value is less than said predetermined speed value.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1996-10-18 | 1997-04-19 | 1997-10-19 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2000-10-18 | 2001-04-19 | 2001-10-19 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2004-10-18 | 2005-04-19 | 2005-10-19 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |