Automatic focusing apparatus
AssigneeSanyo Electric Co., Ltd.
InventorKazuhiro Tsujino
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A rotational movement in the horizontal direction of a lens unit is detected by a horizontal angular velocity sensor, amplified by an amplifier and converted to a digital signal by an A/D converter for input to a focus controlling circuit. When a value obtained by multiplying a focal length detected by a zoom lens reference position sensor by a detected amount of change in angular velocity exceeds a predetermined threshold value, focus controlling circuit stops the focusing operation by a focus motor driver and a focus motor.
Claims6
An automatic focusing apparatus focusing an image input to an imaging element by controlling a lens unit, comprising:
- focus evaluation value generator outputting a level of a high frequency component of a video signal obtained from said imaging element as a focus evaluation value;
- focus controller changing a relative position of a lens of said lens unit with respect to said imaging element to perform a focusing operation such that said focus evaluation value attains a maximum value;
- rotational movement detector detecting a rotational movement of said lens unit in a horizontal direction;
- and
- controller stopping said focusing operation by said focus controller for a predetermined period of time when a value obtained by multiplying an amount of change in angular velocity of said lens unit detected by said rotational movement detector by said focal length of said lens unit exceeds a predetermined threshold value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.