Sony Corporation

Shigeki Ishizuka

Mitsuru Sato

Koichi Sato

Akira Nikami

Yoshihiro Ono

Fujio Noguchi

Yoshinori Tomita

Katsuhiko Ueno

Takao Takahashi

Noriyuki Yamashita

Tokuya Fukuda

Takayuki Sasaki

Yoshitake Yanagisawa

A camera apparatus for encoding a video signal received from a photographing means in MPEG video format or equivalent format, encoding an audio signal received from an audio inputting means in MPEG audio format or equivalent format, multiplexing the encoded MPEG video signal and the encoded MPEG audio signal, storing the multiplexed data to a memory means is disclosed, that comprises an I picture generating means for encoding the video signal received from the photographing means corresponding to an intra-frame encoding process so as to generate an I picture in the MPEG video format or equivalent format, and a controlling means for controlling a storing process of the multiplexed data to the memory means, wherein said controlling means generates a P picture or a B picture in the MPEG video format or equivalent format in such a manner that moving vectors of all macro blocks thereof are 0 and the chronologically preceding picture is copied as an encoded picture, wherein said controlling means encodes the audio signal received from the audio inputting means in the MPEG audio format or equivalent format so as to generate MPEG audio data, and wherein said controlling means multiplexes the I picture, the P picture or the B picture, and the MPEG audio data so as to generate the multiplexed data.

Digital camera apparatus and recording method thereof

An image capturing apparatus uses a plurality of recording media. The image capturing apparatus includes a detection unit for detecting the loading of a first recording medium, and a control unit for switching the operation mode of the image capturing apparatus in accordance with a detection result obtained by the detection unit.

Image capturing apparatus having plural operation modes

Image capturing apparatus

A camera apparatus for encoding a video signal received from a photographing unit in MPEG video format or equivalent format, encoding an audio signal received from an audio inputting unit in MPEG audio format or equivalent format, multiplexing the encoded MPEG video signal and the encoded MPEG audio signal, storing the multiplexed data to a memory is disclosed, that comprises an I picture generating unit for encoding the video signal received from the photographing unit corresponding to an intra-frame encoding process so as to generate an I picture in the MPEG video format or equivalent format, and a controlling unit for controlling a storing process of the multiplexed data to the memory, wherein said controlling unit generates a P picture or a B picture in the MPEG video format or equivalent format in such a manner that moving vectors of all macro blocks thereof are 0 and the chronologically preceding picture is copied as an encoded picture, wherein said controlling unit encodes the audio signal received from the audio inputting unit in the MPEG audio format or equivalent format so as to generate MPEG audio data, and wherein said controlling unit multiplexes the I picture, the P picture or the B picture, and the MPEG audio data so as to generate the multiplexed data.

A camera shake correcting apparatus includes a variable angular prism assembly, a microcomputer to produce signals for driving the variable angular prism assembly, prism actuators, vertical angle sensors, angular velocity sensors for detecting an angular velocity caused by the camera shaking, and damping coils. The variable angular prism assembly is driven by a signal obtained by subtracting detected results of the vertical angle sensors from detected results of the angular velocity sensors. A damping coil is used to produce rotational angular velocity signals so that a nonlinearity of the prism can be alleviated. The phase margin of the servo characteristic of the prism drive system is increased, so that the camera shake correcting apparatus can be generally independent of variations in values and dimensions that occur in mass-production manufacturing operations and free of dependency on temperature characteristics.

Camera shake correcting apparatus having damping coils for yaw and pitch

A disc defect inspection apparatus which can detect a defect of a disc, such as an optical disc, with high accuracy. A disc defect inspection apparatus includes a rotating portion for rotating a disc, laser radiating optical portion for radiating laser lights on the disc rotated by the rotating portion under predetermined scanning conditions, sensors for detecting reflected laser lights from the disc, and a memory in which output signals of the sensors are stored together with address data generated in unison with the scanning of laser lights. Sensor outputs indicative of address positions of the disc are stored in the memory and sensor outputs near the address positions are read out and a defect of the disc is detected on the basis of a spatial difference among the nearby sensor outputs and the sensor output of the center address position.

Inspection apparatus for inspecting a defect of an optical disc

A video camera has image shift amount detection means which detects an amount of an image shift by the used of a field correlation of the image information outputted from image pick-up means. The image information is corrected by means of the output of the image shift amount detection means in image shift correction means, and then converted into video signals representing consecutive add and even fields in a cycle of a field in video signal conversion means so that the image shift can be corrected with degradation in picture quality effectively avoided.

Video camera with image shift correction

A video signal processing apparatus for correcting vibration effects in a video camera that has a CCD image pickup device having a number of lines greater than the number of lines of the standard NTSC television system. The lines used to generate the image are shifted during the vertical blanking interval to correct for vibrations of the video camera, and the overflow charges which are caused by transferring the CCD image pickup device at a high speed during the blanking period are absorbed into a semiconductor drain element arranged in parallel with the horizontal transfer register of the CCD image pickup device. Defective pixels in the image pickup device are compensated by storing the addresses of defective pixels and interpolating at those positions, during vibration correction the addresses of the defective pixels are shifted to correspond to the amount of vibration correction. A read clock and a write clock for the line memory that is used to perform the vibration correction in the horizontal direction are set to line-locked clock signals of different frequencies, thereby preventing deterioration of the picture quality upon vibration correction. The window used to detect optical information for automatic camera control is also shifted in accordance with the shift amount used to perform vibration correction.

Video signal processing apparatus for correcting for camera vibrations

Video signal processing apparatus

A video signal processing method for use in magnifying and reducing an image by interpolating a scanning line within a field when an interlaced original video signal is magnified or reduced by a factor of m/n (m, n are natural numbers), wherein origins of an odd field and an even field for magnifying or reducing processing are offset so as to be equally distanced from adjacent scanning lines within the odd field and the even field, whereby the origins of the odd and even fields for magnifying and reducing processing are set at a common position, and the local filter characteristic is made equal in the odd and even fields, thereby removing a line flicker in an image after the magnifying and reducing processing has been performed and a flicker caused by the vertical resolution differing from one field to another.

Method for magnifying and reducing an image

An active filter circuit having emitter coupled first and second transmittors and emitter coupled third and fourth transistors, wherein the base and collector electrodes of the third transistor are connected to the base electrode of the first transistor, and the base and collector electrodes of the fourth transistor are connected to the base electrode of the second transistor with a reactance circuit connected to a collector electrode of the second transistor and an output terminal connected by the collector electrode of the second transistor such that the filter circuit has a small number of components and operates over a broad band.

Growing community of inventors

Kanagawa, Japan

Shigeki Ishizuka