Automatic focusing device using a plurality of different frequency components extracted at the same point

Claim 2

An automatic focusing device comprising: (A) image pickup means for outputting an image pickup signal; (B) extraction means for simultaneously extracting from the image pickup signal outputted by said image pickup means a first and a second frequency components at a point in a focus detecting area defined on an image screen in a same field or frame, said first and second frequency components being different from each other; (C) detection means for detecting a focusing condition on the basis of a result of computation of a ratio between the first and second frequency components, extracted by said extraction means; and (D) focusing means for performing a focusing operation based on the ratio output from said detection means.

Claim 3

An automatic focusing device according to claim 1, wherein said extraction means includes a plurality of band-pass filters for extracting a plurality of signal components having transit center frequencies different from each other within the image pickup signals, and filters therefor.

Claim 4

An automatic focusing device according to claim 2, wherein said extraction means includes a timing generation means for detecting the level of frequency components at an identical point within said image pickup signals by use of said respective band-pass filter.

Claim 5

An automatic focusing device according to claim 3, said extraction means includes a peak-hold circuit for detecting a peak value in the output of one of said band-pass filters, and said timing generation means includes a sample-hold circuit for sampling and latching the output of the other of said band-pass filters at the timing that has been used by said peak-hold circuit for detecting the peak value.

Claim 6

An automatic focusing device according to claim 1, wherein said focusing means includes a focusing lens, and a focusing motor for driving said focusing lens.

Claim 7

An automatic focusing device according to claim 5, wherein said focusing means includes a direction decision circuit for determining the driving direction of said focusing lens, and a speed decision circuit for deciding the driving speed of said focusing lens.

Claim 8

An automatic focusing device comprising: (A) image pickup means for photoelectrically converting an image of object image-formed on an image pickup plane and outputting it as an image pickup signal; (B) extraction means including a plurality of bandpass filters for simultaneously extracting, from the image pickup signal outputted by said image pickup means, a first signal component corresponding to a point in a focus detecting area defined on said image pickup plane and a second signal component corresponding to said point in said focus detecting area, said second signal component having frequency components different from frequency components of said first signal component; (C) detection means for detecting a focusing condition by performing an arithmetic operation for obtaining a ratio between the first and second signal components extracted by said extraction means; and (D) focusing means for performing a focusing operation based on the ratio output from said detection means.

Claim 9

An automatic focusing device comprising: (A) image pickup means for photoelectrically converting an image of object image-formed on an image pickup plane and outputting it as an image pickup signal; (B) extraction means including a plurality of bandpass filters for simultaneously extracting, from the image pickup signal outputted by said image pickup means, a first signal component corresponding to a point in a focus detecting area defined on said image pickup plane and a second signal component corresponding to said point in said focus detecting area, said second signal component having frequency components different from frequency components of said first signal component; (C) detection means for detecting a focusing condition by performing an arithmetic operation for obtaining a ratio between the first and second signal components extracted by said extraction means; and (D) focusing means for performing a focusing operation based on the ratio output from said detection means.

Claim 10

An automatic focusing device according to claim 7, wherein said detection means carries out division in respect of said first and second frequency components.

Claim 11

An automatic focusing device according to claim 8, wherein said detection means divides the signal component having higher frequency of said first and second signal components by the signal component having lower frequency thereof and normalizes the signal component having higher frequency by using the signal component having lower frequency.

Claim 12

An automatic focusing device according to claim 9, said extraction means includes timing generation means for detecting the level of the frequency components in an identical point within said image pickup signals by said respective band-pass filter.

Claim 13

An automatic focusing device according to claim 10, said extraction means includes a peak-hold circuit for detecting a peak value in the output of one of said band-pass filters, and said timing generation means includes a sample-hold circuit for sampling and latching the output of the other of said band-pass filters at the timing that has been used by said peak-hold circuit for detecting the peak value.

Claim 14

An automatic focusing device according to claim 7, wherein said focusing means includes a focusing lens, a focusing motor for driving said focusing lens, a direction decision circuit for determining the driving direction of said focusing lens, and a speed decision circuit for judging the driving speed of said focusing lens.

Claim 15

An automatic focusing device according to claim 10, wherein said focusing means includes a focusing lens, a focusing motor for driving said focusing lens, a direction decision circuit for determining the driving direction of said focusing lens, and a speed decision circuit for judging the driving speed of said focusing lens.

Claim 16

An automatic focusing device comprising: (A) image pickup means for outputting an image pickup signal; (B) extraction means for simultaneously extracting from the image pickup signal outputted by said image pickup means a first frequency component at a point in a focus detecting area defined on an image pickup plane of said image pickup means and a second frequency component at said point in said focus detecting area, said second frequency component being different from said first frequency component; (C) direction decision means for deciding a focusing direction based on a result of computation of a ratio between the first and second frequency components extracted by said extraction means; (D) speed decision means for determining a focusing speed on the basis of the ratio of the signals having said respective frequency components extracted by said extraction means; and (E) focusing means for performing focusing operation based on the output of said direction decision means and said speed decision means.

Claim 17

An automatic focusing device comprising: (A) image pickup means for outputting an image pickup signal; (B) extraction means for simultaneously extracting from the image pickup signal outputted by said image pickup means a first frequency component at a point in a focus detecting area defined on an image pickup plane of said image pickup means and a second frequency component at said point in said focus detecting area, said second frequency component being different from said first frequency component; (C) direction decision means for deciding a focusing direction based on a result of computation of a ratio between the first and second frequency components extracted by said extraction means; (D) speed decision means for determining a focusing speed on the basis of the ratio of the signals having said respective frequency components extracted by said extraction means; and (E) focusing means for performing focusing operation based on the output of said direction decision means and said speed decision means.

Claim 18

An automatic focusing device according to claim 14, wherein said extraction means includes a plurality of band-pass filters for extracting a plurality of signal components having transit center frequencies different from each other within the image pickup signals, and filters therefor.

Claim 19

An automatic focusing device according to claim 15, wherein said extraction means includes timing generation means for detecting the level of frequency components at an identical point within said image pickup signals by means of said respective band-pass filter.

Claim 20

An automatic focusing device according to claim 16, wherein said extraction means includes a peak-hold circuit for detecting a peak value in the output of one of said band-pass filters, and said timing generation means includes a sample-hold circuit for sampling and latching the output of the other of said band-pass filters at the timing that has been used for detecting the peak value by means of said peak-hold circuit.

Claim 21

An automatic focusing device according to claim 16, wherein said speed decision means performs judgement of speed on the basis of the information obtained from division on the output of said respective band-pass filter.

Claim 22

An automatic focusing device according to claim 18, wherein said direction decision means performs judgement of direction on the basis of the output signal with higher level of said respective band-pass filter.

Claim 23

An automatic focusing device according to claim 14, wherein said focusing means includes a focusing lens, and a focusing motor for driving said focusing lens.

Claim 24

An automatic focusing device comprising: (A) image pickup means for photoelectrically converting an image of object image formed on an image pickup plane, and outputting it as an image pickup signal; (B) extraction means for simultaneously extracting from the image pickup signal outputted by said image pickup means, a first signal component at a point in a focus detecting area defined on said image pickup plane and a second signal component at said point in said focus detecting area in the same field, said first and second signal components being different from each other in their respective frequency characteristics and being subject to variation depending on focal point conditions; (C) detection means for detecting a focusing condition on the basis of a result of computing a ratio of the first and second signal components extracted by said extraction means; and (D) focusing means for performing focusing operation on the basis of the ratio output from said detection means.

Claim 25

An automatic focusing device comprising: (A) image pickup means for photoelectrically converting an image of object image formed on an image pickup plane, and outputting it as an image pickup signal; (B) extraction means for simultaneously extracting from the image pickup signal outputted by said image pickup means, a first signal component at a point in a focus detecting area defined on said image pickup plane and a second signal component at said point in said focus detecting area in the same field, said first and second signal components being different from each other in their respective frequency characteristics and being subject to variation depending on focal point conditions; (C) detection means for detecting a focusing condition on the basis of a result of computing a ratio of the first and second signal components extracted by said extraction means; and (D) focusing means for performing focusing operation on the basis of the ratio output from said detection means.

Claim 26

An automatic focusing device according to claim 21, said first and second signal components are a plurality of signal components having transit center frequencies different from each other within the image pickup signals.

Claim 27

An automatic focusing device according to claim 22, wherein said extraction means includes a plurality of band-pass filters for extracting the first and second signal components, a peak-hold circuit for detecting a peak value in the output of one of said band-pass filter, a sample-hold circuit for sampling and latching the output of the other of said band-pass filters at the timing that has been used for detecting the peak value by means of said peak-hold circuit.

Claim 28

An automatic focusing device according to claim 23, wherein said detection means detects a focusing condition on the basis of the information obtained from division on the output of said respective band-pass filter.

Claim 29

An automatic focusing device according to claim 24, said detection means detects a focusing condition on the basis of the information obtained by dividing the output with higher transit frequencies of said band-pass filter by the output with lower transit frequencies thereof.

Claim 30

An automatic focusing device according to claim 21, wherein said detection means includes a direction decision means for judging the direction of the focusing lens, and a speed decision means for judging the speed thereof.

Claim 31

An automatic focusing device comprising: (A) image pickup means for outputting an image pickup signal which includes plural image signal fields each representing a respective image; (B) extraction means for extracting from an image signal field of said image pickup signal a first signal frequency component at a point in said image signal field in a focus detecting area and a second signal frequency component at said point in said image signal field, said first and second signal frequency components being different from each other, and said extraction means outputting respective component signal values corresponding to the first and second signal frequency components simultaneously extracted at said point in said same image signal field; (C) detection means for performing a computation for obtaining a ratio of the first and second frequency components on the basis of said respective component signal values outputted by said extraction means and for detecting a focusing condition based on a result of said computation; and (D) focusing means responsive to said detection means, for performing a focusing operation on the basis of the focusing condition detected by said detection means.

Claim 32

An automatic focusing device comprising: (A) image pickup means for outputting an image pickup signal which includes plural image signal fields each representing a respective image; (B) extraction means for extracting from an image signal field of said image pickup signal a first signal frequency component at a point in said image signal field in a focus detecting area and a second signal frequency component at said point in said image signal field, said first and second signal frequency components being different from each other, and said extraction means outputting respective component signal values corresponding to the first and second signal frequency components simultaneously extracted at said point in said same image signal field; (C) detection means for performing a computation for obtaining a ratio of the first and second frequency components on the basis of said respective component signal values outputted by said extraction means and for detecting a focusing condition based on a result of said computation; and (D) focusing means responsive to said detection means, for performing a focusing operation on the basis of the focusing condition detected by said detection means.

Claim 33

An automatic focusing device according to claim 27, wherein said extraction means includes a first band-pass filter for extracting the first signal frequency component and a second band-pass filter for extracting the second signal frequency component, said first and second band-pass filters having respective pass bands that are different from each other.

Claim 34

An automatic focusing devise according to claim wherein said extraction means includes a peak-hold circuit for detecting a peak value of the first signal frequency component within a focus detection region of the image represented by said image signal field and also includes means for sampling and latching the second signal frequency component at a point of said focus detection region corresponding to said peak value of the first signal frequency component.

Claim 35

An automatic focusing device according to claim 28, wherein said detection means divides the component signal value corresponding to the first signal frequency component by the component signal value corresponding to the second signal frequency component.

Claim 36

An automatic focusing device according to claim 30, wherein the pass band of the first band-pass filter has a center frequency that is higher than a center frequency of the pass band of the second band-pass filter.

Claim 37

An automatic focusing device according to claim 27, wherein said focusing means includes a focusing lens, and a focusing motor for driving said focusing lens.

Claim 38

An automatic focusing device according to claim 32, wherein said focusing means includes a direction decision circuit for determining a direction in which the focusing lens is to be driven, and a speed decision circuit for determining a speed at which the focusing lens is to be driven.

Claim 39

An automatic focusing device comprising: (A) image pickup means for outputting an image pickup signal; (B) extraction means for extracting from a portion of said image pickup signal corresponding to a focus detection region defined on an image screen a peak value of a first signal frequency component within said region in a field, said extraction means simultaneously extracting from said portion of said image pickup signal a second signal frequency component at a point in said focus detection region which corresponds to said peak value of the first signal frequency component in the same field, said first and second signal frequency components being different from each other, said extraction means outputting respective component signal values corresponding to the extracted first and second signal frequency components; (C) detection means for performing a computation for obtaining a ratio of said first and second signal frequency components on the basis of said respective component signal values outputted by said extraction means and for detecting a focusing condition based on a result of said computation; and (D) focusing means responsive to said detection means, for performing a focusing operation on the basis of the focusing condition detected by said detection means.

Claim 40

An automatic focusing device comprising: (A) image pickup means for outputting an image pickup signal; (B) extraction means for extracting from a portion of said image pickup signal corresponding to a focus detection region defined on an image screen a peak value of a first signal frequency component within said region in a field, said extraction means simultaneously extracting from said portion of said image pickup signal a second signal frequency component at a point in said focus detection region which corresponds to said peak value of the first signal frequency component in the same field, said first and second signal frequency components being different from each other, said extraction means outputting respective component signal values corresponding to the extracted first and second signal frequency components; (C) detection means for performing a computation for obtaining a ratio of said first and second signal frequency components on the basis of said respective component signal values outputted by said extraction means and for detecting a focusing condition based on a result of said computation; and (D) focusing means responsive to said detection means, for performing a focusing operation on the basis of the focusing condition detected by said detection means.

Claim 41

An automatic focusing device according to claim 34, wherein said extraction means includes a first band-pass filter for extracting the first signal frequency component and a second band-pass filter for extracting the second signal frequency component, said first and second band-pass filters having respective pass bands that are different from each other.

Claim 42

An automatic focusing device according to claim 35, wherein said detection means divides the component signal value corresponding to the first signal frequency component by the component signal value corresponding to the second signal frequency component.

Claim 43

An automatic focusing device according to claim 36, wherein the pass band of the first band-pass filter has a center frequency that is higher than a center frequency of the pass band of the second band-pass filter.

Claim 44

An automatic focusing device according to claim 34, wherein said focusing means includes a focusing lens, and a focusing motor for driving said focusing lens.

Claim 45

An automatic focusing device according to claim 38, wherein said focusing means includes a direction decision circuit for determining a direction in which the focusing lens is to be driven, and a speed decision circuit for determining a speed at which the focusing lens is to be driven.