1. Technical Field
The technical field relates to a low frequency cutoff filter which is used for a camera shake correction for an imaging apparatus such as a digital still camera or a digital video camera.
2. Related Art
Some of imaging apparatuses such as digital still cameras and digital video cameras have a camera shake correction function. Such imaging apparatuses have a camera shake correction system (stabilizer) which calculates a camera shake angle by integral of an angular rate detected by an angular rate sensor and drive a correction lens or an imaging device according to the camera shake angle, thereby canceling a camera shake (see, for example, JP2007-324929A). A detection output from the angular rate sensor includes extremely low frequency fluctuating components in addition to components of a camera shake angular rate desired to be detected. Hence, in the camera shake correction system, a low frequency cutoff filter for cutting off a direct current component is provided at a stage preceding an integral process.
In addition, in the camera shake correction system, an integrator is provided to convert an angular rate detected by the angular rate sensor to an angle. It is desirable that the integrator ideally have complete integral characteristics in a camera shake correction band (about 1 to 20 Hz) which is a frequency range where the camera shake correction function is performed. However, when the integrator has complete integral characteristics even for extremely low frequencies, an extremely low frequency fluctuating component from the angular rate sensor is also amplified and thus excellent camera shake correction performance cannot be obtained. Therefore, the integrator has, at the extremely low frequencies, the characteristics of a first-order lag system in which the band is limited to prevent gain from increasing, and has a phase lead at 1 Hz as a lower limit of the camera shake correction band.
Meanwhile, conventionally, various filter technologies for performing phase compensation have been developed (see, for example, JP2006-340190A). JP2006-340190A discloses means to provide the best phase characteristic in a passing band with a basic filter unit and a second or higher order filter.
As described above, in conventional imaging apparatuses, in an output signal from the angular rate sensor, the integral band of the integrator is limited and furthermore a low frequency cutoff filter is provided, in order to reduce extremely low frequency fluctuating components which are included in the output of the angular rate sensor and are other than an angular rate component. Such limitation on the integral band of the integrator and the low frequency cutoff filter cause the phase on the low frequency side of the camera shake correction band to advance. Therefore, the phases of the actual camera shake angle and a correction angle do not match each other, resulting in a large correction residual. Accordingly, there is a problem that a sufficient suppression effect cannot be secured.
Although there is another method in which the order of the filter is increased to allow the phases to match each other, it has problems, for example, that the increase in the order of the filter complicates a computation algorithm and that a circuit becomes complicated when the filter is configured by hardware.
To solve such problems, a low frequency cutoff filter is provided that can provide the best phase characteristic in a passing band using a simple computation algorithm. In addition, an imaging apparatus is provided that can obtain excellent camera shake correction performance on the low frequency side of a camera shake correction band.
In a first aspect, a composite low frequency cutoff filter is provided, which includes a first low frequency cutoff filter, a second low frequency cutoff filter, and an adder-subtractor. The second low frequency cutoff filter receives an output of the first low frequency cutoff filter. The adder-subtractor subtracts an output of the second low frequency cutoff filter from an input to the composite low frequency cutoff filter, and outputs a result of the subtraction to the first low frequency cutoff filter. An output of the first low frequency cutoff filter is outputted as an output of the composite low frequency cutoff filter.
In a second aspect, an imaging apparatus having a camera shake correction function is provided. The imaging apparatus includes an optical system, a shake correction member operable to move in a plane perpendicular to an optical axis of the optical system to perform a camera shake correction, a movement detector operable to detect movement of the imaging apparatus, a composite low frequency cutoff filter operable to receive an output of the movement detector, and a controller operable to drive the shake correction member based on an output of the composite low frequency cutoff filter. The composite low frequency cutoff filter includes a first low frequency cutoff filter, a second low frequency cutoff filter, and an adder-subtractor. The second low frequency cutoff filter receives an output of the first low frequency cutoff filter. The adder-subtractor subtracts an output of the second low frequency cutoff filter from an input to the composite low frequency cutoff filter, and outputs a result of the subtraction to the first low frequency cutoff filter. An output of the first low frequency cutoff filter is outputted as an output of the composite low frequency cutoff filter.
According to the above aspect, a low frequency cutoff filter that can obtain the best phase characteristic in a passing band using a simple computation algorithm can be implemented by combining a plurality of low frequency cutoff filters. In addition, in an imaging apparatus according to the present invention, the phase fluctuation of a camera shake correction system can be made to be zero on the low frequency side of a camera shake correction band. Thus, there is no phase difference between the actual camera shake and the movement of a camera shake correction lens, enabling to obtain excellent camera shake correction performance.
An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The imaging apparatus 200 further includes a CCD (charge-coupled device) 207 that generates image data from an optical signal incident thereon through the optical system 201, an image detector 208, and a CCD drive controller 209 that drives the CCD 207.
The imaging apparatus 200 further includes an angular rate sensor 210, an amplifier circuit 211 for amplifying an output signal from the angular rate sensor 210, an A/D converter 212 that converts an output signal from the amplifier circuit 211 which is an analog signal to a digital signal, and a microcomputer 213 that generates a control signal for driving the camera shake correction lens 205 based on the digital data converted by the A/D converter 212.
The imaging apparatus 200 further includes a D/A converter 214 that converts a digital output from the microcomputer 213 to an analog signal, a drive controller 215 for moving the camera shake correction lens 205, and a position detector 216 that detects a position of the camera shake correction lens 205.
An angular rate of shake of the imaging apparatus 200 is detected by the angular rate sensor 210 and is then fed to the microcomputer 213 through the amplifier circuit 211 and the A/D converter 212. The microcomputer 213 generates a position instruction signal for the shake correction lens 205 by performing a low frequency cutoff process for cutting off an unwanted direct current component included in the output of the angular rate sensor 210, an integration process for converting an angular rate to an angle, and so on. To do so, the microcomputer 213 is provided with a low frequency cutoff filter and an integrator (details of which will be described later). The position instruction signal is converted by the D/A converter 214 to an analog signal which is in turn fed to the drive controller 215. The drive controller 215 and the position detector 216 configure a position feedback system to position the shake correction lens 205 based on the position instruction signal.
The angular rate conversion block 101 and the angular rate conversion coefficient 102 are implemented by the angular rate sensor 210 shown in
The equation (1) is further generalized as an equation (2),
where G is the transfer characteristic of the low frequency cutoff filter 104, K is the proportional gain, s is the Laplace operator, ζ is the damping coefficient, ωn is the first angular frequency, and ω0 is the second angular frequency.
ΦI(at1Hz)=tan−1(1Hz/50mHz)=−87.14 deg (3)
Thus, the phase lead amount ΔΦI (at 1 Hz) with reference to −90 deg is 2.86 deg. This phase lead causes a mismatch between the actual camera shake angle and a correction angle, causing a reduction in camera shake suppression effect.
In view of the above, in the present embodiment, as shown in
The characteristics of the low frequency cutoff filter 104 and the camera shake correction system 100 of the imaging apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment will be described below, comparing with a conventional case. Note that a low frequency cutoff filter to be used in a conventional imaging apparatus is a first-order low frequency cutoff filter having a configuration such as that shown in
(1) Frequency Characteristics of Low Frequency Cutoff Filter
ΦA(at1Hz)=tan−1(30mHz/1Hz)=1.72 deg (4)
At the lower limit of the camera shake correction band of 1 Hz, there is a phase lead of 1.72 deg. As such, in the conventional low frequency cutoff filter 1041, the phase lead occurs in a region near the lower limit of the camera shake correction band.
By the low frequency cutoff filter 104 thus having a phase lag amount on the low frequency side of the camera shake correction band, a phase lead in the integrator 105 at the subsequent stage can be cancelled out.
(2) Frequency characteristics of Camera Shake Correction System
Generally, it is preferred that the gain be 0 dB and the phase be 0 deg over the camera shake correction band. When the conventional low frequency cutoff filter 1041 is used, as shown in
On the other hand, in the case of the camera shake correction system 100 using the low frequency cutoff filter 104 according to the present embodiment, as shown in
(3) Frequency Characteristics for Camera Shake Correction Residual
Here, a required suppression factor will be described briefly. When the pixel pitch of the CCD 207 is 1.5 μm and the pixel shake caused by camera shake is allowed for three pixels, the allowable shake is 4.5 μm as converted to the image plane position of the CCD 207. The relationship between the camera shake angle θ and the image plane position x of the CCD 207 is as shown in an equation (5).
x=f·tan θ (5)
where f is the focal length. When f=15 mm, the camera shake correction residual is 0.0172 deg. Assuming that a camera shake of the order of 0.3 deg occurs, the camera shake needs to be suppressed to 0.0172 deg and thus the required suppression factor is about 25 dB. Accordingly, with a value of 18 dB shown in
(4) Frequency Characteristics upon varying Cutoff Frequency
In
When the cutoff frequency fhd of the first first-order low frequency cutoff filter 104a and the cutoff frequency fhb of the second first-order low frequency cutoff filter 104b of the low frequency cutoff filter 104 are set to the same frequency, 60 mHz, the phase does not move in the negative direction. In the case of fhb=fhd, the phase does not move in the negative direction (phase lag direction), and thus a phase lead caused by the band limitation of the integrator 105 cannot be cancelled. Hence, in order to make the phase move in the negative direction (phase lag direction) to cancel out the phase lead, fhb needs to be greater than fhd.
As described above, extremely low frequency fluctuating components other than camera shake angular components included in an output from the angular rate sensor 210 is attributed to the performance of the angular rate sensor 210. However, if the performance is improved in the future to reduce the extremely low frequency fluctuating components, then it is also possible to lower the cutoff frequency of the integrator 105. Even in such a case, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to design so that the phase at a specific frequency is 0 deg, by controlling the cutoff frequency fhb of the second first-order low frequency cutoff filter 104b of the low frequency cutoff filter 104.
The above-described embodiment is one example. The integrator 105 and the low frequency cutoff filter 104 can be implemented by hardware such as an operational amplifier in addition to execution of software.
In addition, since the focal length of the optical system 201 changes by the movement of the zoom lens 203, it is desirable to set the cutoff frequency fhb of the second first-order low frequency cutoff filter 104b to be higher for the longer focal length or be lower for the shorter focal length. When the focal length is short, a camera shake correction angle is small. When the camera shake correction angle is small, the apparatus is susceptible to an influence such as friction of the actuator, delaying the phase. At this time, by lowering the cutoff frequency fhb of the second first-order low frequency cutoff filter 104b, the phase advances to enable cancel of the phase lag.
Although in the present embodiment an imaging apparatus including a camera shake correction system of a so-called lens shift type which moves the camera shake correction lens 205 is exemplified, the idea of the present embodiment can also be applied to an imaging apparatus including a camera shake correction system of a so-called CCD (imaging device) shift type which moves the CCD 207. In addition, the idea of the present embodiment can be applied to an imaging apparatus including a camera shake correction system using a variable apex angle prism with a high refractive index liquid filled in a bellows portion.
In addition, the low frequency cutoff filter 104 shown in the present embodiment can also be used for applications other than detection for a camera shake correction. For example, the low frequency cutoff filter 104 can also be applied to shock detection techniques using an output from an acceleration sensor.
Industrial Applicability
According to the embodiment, there is no phase difference in the movement of a camera shake correction lens and thus excellent camera shake correction performance can be obtained. Thus, the embodiment can be applied to an imaging apparatus such as a digital still camera and a digital video camera. In addition, a composite low frequency cutoff filter of the embodiment can be widely applied in applications in which low frequency components are cut off but a phase shift is hardly allowed.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2009-128458 | May 2009 | JP | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
5870147 | Sugiyama | Feb 1999 | A |
20070092074 | Takada | Apr 2007 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
61-19219 | Jan 1986 | JP |
9-14265 | Jan 1997 | JP |
10-65956 | Mar 1998 | JP |
2006-340190 | Dec 2006 | JP |
2007-324929 | Dec 2007 | JP |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20100302386 A1 | Dec 2010 | US |