CA1133304A - Auto focus movie camera having pulsed terminal drive means - Google Patents
Auto focus movie camera having pulsed terminal drive meansInfo
- Publication number
- CA1133304A CA1133304A CA342,928A CA342928A CA1133304A CA 1133304 A CA1133304 A CA 1133304A CA 342928 A CA342928 A CA 342928A CA 1133304 A CA1133304 A CA 1133304A
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- Prior art keywords
- focus
- lens
- zone
- adjacent
- subject
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- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- G02B7/00—Mountings, adjusting means, or light-tight connections, for optical elements
- G02B7/28—Systems for automatic generation of focusing signals
- G02B7/40—Systems for automatic generation of focusing signals using time delay of the reflected waves, e.g. of ultrasonic waves
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- General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Optics & Photonics (AREA)
- Focusing (AREA)
- Lens Barrels (AREA)
- Automatic Focus Adjustment (AREA)
Abstract
ABSTRACT
The operational range of an adjustable focus lens is subdivided into a plurality of focus zones, of finite size, by a lens control system that produces a plurality of discrete signals representative of said focus zones, said control system utilizing bidirectional drive means to position the movable element of said lens to one of said focus zones from any position within said operational range in order to focus an image of a remote object at an image plane. The present invention optimally increases the focusing of said control system while equalizing and minimizing the focusing error introduced into said control system resulting from the use of such focus zones with bidirectional drive means, by anticipating the arrival of said movable lens element at the desired focus zone and then interrupting the driving force provided by said drive means for a limited period of time prior to the time that said lens element arrives at said desired focus zone.
The operational range of an adjustable focus lens is subdivided into a plurality of focus zones, of finite size, by a lens control system that produces a plurality of discrete signals representative of said focus zones, said control system utilizing bidirectional drive means to position the movable element of said lens to one of said focus zones from any position within said operational range in order to focus an image of a remote object at an image plane. The present invention optimally increases the focusing of said control system while equalizing and minimizing the focusing error introduced into said control system resulting from the use of such focus zones with bidirectional drive means, by anticipating the arrival of said movable lens element at the desired focus zone and then interrupting the driving force provided by said drive means for a limited period of time prior to the time that said lens element arrives at said desired focus zone.
Description
1~33304 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic focusing system for an adjustable focus lens camera in general, and to such a system having reversible drive means, in particular.
1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic focusing system for an adjustable focus lens camera in general, and to such a system having reversible drive means, in particular.
2. DescriI~t on of the_P_ior Art Control systems for automatically positioning the movable element of an adjustable focus lens to a desired focus position in order to properly focus an image of a remote object at the image plane of a photographic camera in response to a signal representative of the distance to said remote object, have been disclosed in the prior art. Control systems that divide the entire operational range of an adjustable focus lens into a plurality of discrete focus zones by generating a plurality of discrete signals (one discrete signal for each focus zone) in order to so focus an adjustable focus lens, have also been disclosed in the prior art.
Prior art control systems having reversible drive means are capable of automatically moving the movable element of an adjustable focus lens in either of two directions to a particular focus zone (as- described above) and stopping lens element movement as soon as said lens element reaches said focus zone. If the movable lens element is stopped as soon as it reaches an appropriate focus zone, as determined by a focus zone signal corresponding to said focus zone, said lens element can be positioned to at least two different focus positions for the same focus zone signal, the particular position being dependent upon the end of the focus zone that ~13330~
is entered by said movable lens element. This can result in a lens element positioning differential or focusing error as large as the width of a discrete focus zone.
One fairly common technique for reducing the afore-mentioned focusing error is to reduce the width of each focusing zone by increasing the total number of focusing zones that collec-tively represent the entire adjustable focus lens operational range. While this technique does reduce focusing error as discussed above, it does so by increasing the complexity of the automatic focus control system that positions the adjustable focus lens to the appropriate focus zone. For example, increasing the number of discrete focus zones would normally increase the total number of binary coded bits in a digital control system ~ that would be needed to define the additional focus zones for i~ proper automatic focus control system operation. Another technique that might be utilized to reduce focusing error is a ratchet and pawl arrangement where a pawl engages and arrests the movement of a ratchet that is mounted on and rotates with the movable element of an adjustable focus lens. While this ; 20 type of arrangement would reduce focusing errors of the type described above, such an arrangement often breaks down and is relatively complex and expensive.
Electrodynamic braking may be utilized to reduce said aforementioned focusing error by arresting lens movement within a selected portion of the desired focusing zone. While this : arrangement is effective at relatively low focusing speeds, the mov-able lens element tends to pass through or overshoot the desired focus-ing zone at relatively high focusing speeds, which can result in damped oscillatory movement of said movable lens element within said desired focusing zone.
,~,j ~133304 In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present inven-tion, a digital control system having reversible drive means for focusing the adjustable focus lens of a cine camera is capable of focusing the adjust-able focus lens to a desired focus zone, at a relatively high rate of speed, without causing said lens element to oscillate during such lens focusing. In such a control system, the entire operational range of said adjustable focus lens is divided into a plurality of discrete focus zones by generating a plurality of discrete signals, one such signal for each such focus zone.
When the focus zone immediately adjacent the desired focus zone is sensed by `, said control system, the driving force provided by said reversible drive means is disabled for a limited period of time. If the adjustable focus lens is not focused to the desired focus zone during said limited period of time, said reversible drive means is enabled until said lens is focused to said de-sired focus zone.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided in an autofocusing camera having a displaceable lens, means for determining subject distance, control means energizeable for displacing said lens to a location selected in accordance with said distance determining means to thereby focus 0 an image of the subject on a camera focal plane, said control means including encoder means responsive to lens dis-placement for producing a plurality of discrete signals, each representative of displacement of said lens to within a respective positional zone of said lens, and said control means including means for terminating displacement of said lens within a positional zone selected in accordance with said dis-tance determining means, the improvement comprising:
that said displacement terminating means includes, means for generating a signal representative of a positional zone immediately adjacent said selected positional zone; and 1~33304 means responsive to said adjacent positional zone signal for de-energizing said lens displacing control means for a predetermined period of time and for reenergizing said lens displacing control means if said dis-placeable lens is not positioned to within said selected positional zone within said predetermined period of time.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is pro-vided in a photographic camera of the type having, means for selectively coupling said camera to a source of energy an image plane, an adjustable focus lens mounted for displacement over a given op-erational range where it serves to focus images of subjects positioned within a range of subject distances at said image plane, means for producing a signal indicative of the position of a partic-ular subject within said range of subject distances, means for producing a plurality of discrete focus zone signals that correspond to a plurality of focus zones, said focus zones collectively rep-resenting the entire focusing range of said adjustable focus lens, drive means for effecting movement of said lens from either of two directions to a particular focus zone to focus an image of a particular sub-ject at said image plane;
the improvement comprising:
means for generating a signal representative of the adjacent focus zone immediately before said particular focus zone; and means responsive to said adjacent zone signal for deenergizing said lens moving drive means for a predetermined period of time and for reenergiz-ing said drive means if said displaceable lens is not positioned to within said particular focus zone within said predetermined period of time.
The invention will now be described in greater detail with refer-ence to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Figure 1 is a side view, in elevation, of an adjustable focus lens 113331U~
motion picture camera incorporating the inventive concept of the present in-vention;
Figure 2 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the rel-atively high speed digital control system of the present invention; ' Figure 3 is a perspective view of the adjustable focus lens, lensmount and reversible lens drive motor of the motion picture camera depicted in Figure 1 showing the means for encoding the angular and therefore the focus position of the movable element of said adjustable focus lens;
Figure 4A is a front elevational view of the lens mount for the movable element of the adjustable focus lens depicted in Figure 3, showing a three bit binary code on a disc projecting from said lens mount, said code defining eight discrete focus zones of said adjustable focus lens; and Figure 4B is a detailed view of three of the discrete focus zones depicted in Figure 4A.
Referring now to Figure 1, a schematic diagram of automatic focus-ing cmmera 10 constructed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, is depicted. Camera 10 comprises a housing 12 having handle 14 projecting from the bottom thereof by which a user holds said cam-era 10 to photograph subject 16 through adjustable focus lens mount 18 which directs scene light to image plane 20 when shutter mechanism 22 is operated.
Diaphragm 24 associated with shutter mechanism 22, in conjunction with lens mount 18, establishes the instantaneous amount of light incident on image plane 20. The opening of diaphragm 24 is controlled by photometer circuit 26 in response to available scene light.
Mounted within said housing 12 is automatic focusing system 28 which, when activated, is responsive to the distance to subject 16 from cam-era 10, and to changes in said distance for adjusting the focus position of lens mount 18 in order to maintain an image of subject 16 in focus at image plane 20. Switch 30, connected to an energy source (not shown), controls the operation of photometer circuit 26 and automatic focus system 28. Addi-.~ .
.-....
~133304 tionally, switch 30 couples said energy source (battery) to motor run switch - 34 to permit scene recording as explained below.
Housing 12 also contains motor 36 which, when energized through motor run switch 34 by depressing trigger 35, simultaneously operates shut-ter 22 and a film indexing claw (not shown) which intermittently drives film 38 past an image recording station located behind shutter 22. Finally, a viewfinder 40 is provided to enable a camera user to frame the scene being - filmed.
In the operation of camera 10, the user grasps handle 14 and frames subject 16 by means of viewfinder 40. As the user holds handle 14, switch 30 is closed by the movement of actuator 32 thereby powering photo-meter circuit 26 and automatic focus system 28. Photometer circuit 26 es-tablishes the proper diaphragm opening in accordance with the amount of light in the scene being photographed while automatic focus system 28 ultra-sonically determines the distance to subject 16 and then focuses adjustable focus lens mount 18 such that the lens system in said lens mount 18 focuses an in-focus image of subject 16 at image plane 20 when shutter 22 is activ-ated to the open position. The distance to subject 16 is determined by mea-suring the time it takes for an ultrasonic burst of energy to travel from autofocus system 28 to subject 16 and to be reflected back to said autofocus system 28 from said subject 16. Reference numerals 42a and 42b designate sequential ultrasonic bursts of energy being transmitted toward subject 16 and reference numerals 44a and 44b designate the reflection of these ultra-sonic bursts of energy from subject 16 toward autofocus system 28. In this particular ultrasonic focusing system, an ultrasonic burst of energy is transmitted and an echo of said transmitted burst of ultrasonic energy is received before a subsequent burst of range determining ultrasonic energy is transmitted.
Autofocus system 28 determines the time interval between the trans-mission of an ultrasonic burst of energy 42a and the return of its echo 44a ~13330~ !
for the purpose of determining the distance to subject 16 from camera 10.Ilaving established this distance, system 28, when permitted to do so, moves lens mount 18 toward a focus position in which an image of subject 16 is in focus at focal plane 20 when shutter 22 is activated. Activation of shutter 22 is selectively carried out when the user depresses trigger 35 thereby closing switch 34 and powering motor 36. Autofocus system 28 is effective to continuously determine subject range and to cause lens mount 18 to track changes in subject distance both prior to and during filming.
When switch 34 is closed, power is applied to the components of autofocus system 28 (Figure 1) which causes system cycle programmer 48 to divide-down the high frequency output of oscillator 50 into a transmit and reset pulse train having the same pulse repetition frequency, but shifted in phase. Transmit pulses produced at output 52 are designated XMT. The reset pulses produced at output 53 and designated RST, are the same as the XMT
pulses, but are delayed with respect to the XMT pulses by about 100 ms, which is greater than the round trip time for sonic energy, under normal con-ditions of temperature and pressure, for subjects at a distance of about 7.3 m from the camera 10 (Figure 1~ which represents the hyperfocal lens po-sition of the lens system mounted in lens mount 18 (Figure 1). This arrange-ment will allow any echo from a subject within 24 feet of said camera to be received by system 28 in the time interval between successive RST reset pulses.
Transmit and blanking generator 54, to which the XMT pulses and the output of oscillator 50 are applied, causes transducer 56 to transmit periodic ultrasonic bursts of energy, 42a and 42b. An echo from a subject, indicated at 44a, is received by transducer 56 where the echo, in the form of an electrical signal, is routed to receiver amplifier 58. Amplifier 58 has a ramp gain characteristic controlled by ramp gain generator 60 to in-crease the sensitivity of autofocus system 28 to distant subjects. The out-put of amplifier 58 is detected by receiver detector 62 to produce an echo ;, ,, ~133304 pulse 63 such that the time between a transmit pulse and its associatedecho pulse is proportional to the distance between a subject and camera 10.
This time interval is utilized in conjunction with scaled clock 64 to establish a number representative of the desired focus position for lens mount 18. The output of scaled clock 64 is a train of pulses whose pulse repetition frequency varies with time in accordance with the derivative of the lens/subject function of the lens system associated with lens mount 18.
The output of scaled clock 64 is integrated by accumulating the pulses pro-duced by said scaled clock, in binary counter 66: the contents of counter 66 at any instant in time represents the integral of the time derivative of the lens/subject function evaluated from the time of transmit pulse XMT to said instant in time. Consequently, the contents of counter 66, when echo pulse 63 occurs, is a definite integral of the time derivative of the lens/
subject function of the lens system associated with lens mount 18, which is a number representing the desired focus position of said lens mount 18 for a subject whose distance is determined by the time interval between transmit pulse XMT and echo pulse 63.
By means of receiver detector 62, echo pulse 63 triggers parallel entry-shift register 68 causing the shifting of the contents of counter 66, at the instant of echo pulse 63, into shift register 68. Shortly after echo pulse 63 occurs, reset pulse RST appears at output 53 of system cycle pro-grammer 48 thereby resetting scaled clock 64, binary counter 66, ramp gain generator 60 and transmit and blanking generator 54. The condition of auto-focus system 28 is now such that upon the generation of the next ultrasonic burst of energy in response to transmit and blanking generator 54 and the next transmit pulse XMT from system cycle programmer 48, the cycle of opera-tion described above will be repeated so that, upon the generation of the next echo pulse 63, the contents of counter 66 will again be shifted into register 68. As a consequence, the number in register 68 repeatedly varies in response to changes in subject distance at a rate dependent upon the '},j~, ' 1~33304 pulse repetition rate of transmit pulse XMT.
For determining the actual position of lens mount 18, lens posi-tion decoder 70 is provided. As shown in Figure 3, lens molmt 18 carrying objective lens 72 is rotatably mounted on threaded member 74 carried by cam-era housing 12 so that rotational movement of lens mount 18 causes axial displacement of lens 72. Actually, the pitch of member 74 is selected such that considerably less than 360 is required to displace lens 72 from its extreme close-up axial position to its infinity or hyperfocal axial posi-tion. In order to rotate lens mount 18, a gear train 76 is interposed be-tween the motor 78 and the gear teeth carried by the periphery of the mountfor objective lens 72. A slip clutch connection ~not shown) is interposed between motor 78 and lens mount 18 to permit overrunning of the motor in the event of a jam or engagement of the lens mount with an axial movement limit-ing stop at either end of lens mount travel. Projecting from and rotatable with the movable portion of lens mount 18 is encoder disc 80, carrying shaft encoding indicia 82 in the form of binary coded slots that pass completely through said disc 80. Encoding indicia 82 are preferably in the form of a gray code. However, for ease of description, a standard three-bit binary code is utilized. Operatively associated with indicia 82 are three photo-cells 84 and three light sources ~not shown). The light path between alight source and its associated photocell is blocked and unblocked by slotted encoder disc 80 as said disc is rotated through said light path. The output of each photocell provides one bit of information on the angular, and, therefore, the axial position of the movable element of lens mount 18.
Figure 4A is a front elevational view of the movable element in lens mount 18 of the adjustable focus lens depicted in Figure 3, showing a three-bit binary code on encoder disc 80 projecting from said lens mount, said code defining eight address locations or discrete focus zones of said adjustable focus lens. The eight focus zones are designated Al thru A8, said focus zones corresponding to the numbers O through 7, respectively, in binary code. The Al thru A8 focus zones are shown extending over 160 of movable lens element rotatlon. I-lowever, this range of angular movement is by design choice and said movement range could extend to 360 or substan-tially less than the 160 shown.
` Turning again to Figure 2, the output of lens position decoder 70 is applied to lens position register 86 which constitutes means responsive to the position of said lens mount 18 for generating a number representative of the actual position of said lens mount. Parallel entry/shift register 68 is a first register of autofocus system 28 ~Figure 1) and stores a number representative of the desired focus position for lens mount 18, the contents of this first register varying in response to changes in subject distance at a rate dependent on the pulse repetition rate of the transmit pulses as pre-viously discussed. Lens position register 86 constitutes a second register of autofocus system 28 (Figure 1) which stores a number representative of the actual position of lens mount 18, the contents of register 86 varying in response to changes in lens mount 18 position at a rate determined by the rate of change of lens mount 18 position. The rate of change of the con-tents of register 86 is thus independent of the rate at which the contents of registers 68 are updated.
The contents of registers 68 and 86 are compared in magnitude com-parator 88 to determine, on a continuous basis, which register contains the larger number. Since each register number is based on the same reference (i.e., the desired focus position and the actual lens position are measured from the same reference point), the contents of the registers will be equal when the actual position of lens mount 18 corresponds to the desired focus position for said lens mount 18. When the contents of one register exceeds the other, the lens mount 18 will be displaced from its last focus position by an amount equal to the difference between the contents of each such reg-ister. Whether the actual position of lens mount 18 is on one side or the other of the desired focus position depends upon which register contains the , ~ .
li33;~ ~
larger number.
Comparator 88 has forward and reverse output terminals 92 and 94, respectively. A signal appears on forward terminal 92 only when the number in first register 68 exceeds the number in second register 86. If the num-bers in the registers are designated A and B, then a signal will appear on terminal 92 when A > B. Ordinarily, a signal will appear on second terminal 94 only when the reverse relationship between the magnitudes occurs, namely B > A.
In a manner similar to magnitude comparator 88, the contents of registers 68 and 86 are compared in adjacent address sensor 96, on a continu-ous basis, to determine when a focus zone immediately adjacent the desired focus zone has been sensed by photocells 84 (Figures 1 and 3). Forward and reverse signals 92 and 94 from the output of magnitude comparator 88 enable adjacent address sensor 96 to determine which of two possible focus zones adjacent a desired focus zone is being sensed by photocells 84. For ex~
ample, in Figure 4B, which is a detailed view of three of the focus zones depicted in Figure 4A, if focus zone A5 is the desired focus zone, focus zones A4 and A6 are two focus zones that are ,~.., immediately adjacent said focus zone A5 and for proper implemen-tation of the inventive concept of the present invention, adjacent address sensor 96 must know which of the two possible adjacent focus zones is the actual adjacent focus zone and this particular information is provided by forward and reverse drive signals 92 and 94 appearing at the output of magnitude comparator 88. Adjacent address signal 98 appears at the output of adjacent address sensor 96 when photocells 84 sense the proper focus zone adjacent a desired focus zone.
In operation, focus forward signal 92 appearing at the output of magnitude comparator 88 will appear at the input to OR
gate 100 and at the input to AND gate 102. If adjacent address sensor 96 does not produce adjacent address signal 98 at its output, AND gate 102 will be satisfied and a drive forward signal will be sent to forward motor control 104 which C ~ causeSlens drive motor 78 and lens mount 18 to be driven in the forward direction toward a desired focus zone. In addition to satisfying gate 102, focus forward signal 92 also satisfies OR gate 100 and the output of said OR gate 100 satisfies AND gate 106. When AND gate 106 is satisfied, timing capacitor C charges up to the output voltage of AND gate 106, thereby providing one of the two inputs to NAND
gate 108. When adjacent address sensor 96 senses the adjacent focus zone and produces adjacent address signal 98 at its output, said signal appears at the input to NAND gate 108 causing said NAND gate 108 to open, which causes AND gate 102 to open, which terminates the drive forward signal to forwarcl motor control 104 and the driving force being supplied by motor 78, but allowing inertial forces to continue to move lens mount 18 toward the desired focus zone. r~hen adjacent address signal CJ8 appears at
Prior art control systems having reversible drive means are capable of automatically moving the movable element of an adjustable focus lens in either of two directions to a particular focus zone (as- described above) and stopping lens element movement as soon as said lens element reaches said focus zone. If the movable lens element is stopped as soon as it reaches an appropriate focus zone, as determined by a focus zone signal corresponding to said focus zone, said lens element can be positioned to at least two different focus positions for the same focus zone signal, the particular position being dependent upon the end of the focus zone that ~13330~
is entered by said movable lens element. This can result in a lens element positioning differential or focusing error as large as the width of a discrete focus zone.
One fairly common technique for reducing the afore-mentioned focusing error is to reduce the width of each focusing zone by increasing the total number of focusing zones that collec-tively represent the entire adjustable focus lens operational range. While this technique does reduce focusing error as discussed above, it does so by increasing the complexity of the automatic focus control system that positions the adjustable focus lens to the appropriate focus zone. For example, increasing the number of discrete focus zones would normally increase the total number of binary coded bits in a digital control system ~ that would be needed to define the additional focus zones for i~ proper automatic focus control system operation. Another technique that might be utilized to reduce focusing error is a ratchet and pawl arrangement where a pawl engages and arrests the movement of a ratchet that is mounted on and rotates with the movable element of an adjustable focus lens. While this ; 20 type of arrangement would reduce focusing errors of the type described above, such an arrangement often breaks down and is relatively complex and expensive.
Electrodynamic braking may be utilized to reduce said aforementioned focusing error by arresting lens movement within a selected portion of the desired focusing zone. While this : arrangement is effective at relatively low focusing speeds, the mov-able lens element tends to pass through or overshoot the desired focus-ing zone at relatively high focusing speeds, which can result in damped oscillatory movement of said movable lens element within said desired focusing zone.
,~,j ~133304 In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present inven-tion, a digital control system having reversible drive means for focusing the adjustable focus lens of a cine camera is capable of focusing the adjust-able focus lens to a desired focus zone, at a relatively high rate of speed, without causing said lens element to oscillate during such lens focusing. In such a control system, the entire operational range of said adjustable focus lens is divided into a plurality of discrete focus zones by generating a plurality of discrete signals, one such signal for each such focus zone.
When the focus zone immediately adjacent the desired focus zone is sensed by `, said control system, the driving force provided by said reversible drive means is disabled for a limited period of time. If the adjustable focus lens is not focused to the desired focus zone during said limited period of time, said reversible drive means is enabled until said lens is focused to said de-sired focus zone.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided in an autofocusing camera having a displaceable lens, means for determining subject distance, control means energizeable for displacing said lens to a location selected in accordance with said distance determining means to thereby focus 0 an image of the subject on a camera focal plane, said control means including encoder means responsive to lens dis-placement for producing a plurality of discrete signals, each representative of displacement of said lens to within a respective positional zone of said lens, and said control means including means for terminating displacement of said lens within a positional zone selected in accordance with said dis-tance determining means, the improvement comprising:
that said displacement terminating means includes, means for generating a signal representative of a positional zone immediately adjacent said selected positional zone; and 1~33304 means responsive to said adjacent positional zone signal for de-energizing said lens displacing control means for a predetermined period of time and for reenergizing said lens displacing control means if said dis-placeable lens is not positioned to within said selected positional zone within said predetermined period of time.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is pro-vided in a photographic camera of the type having, means for selectively coupling said camera to a source of energy an image plane, an adjustable focus lens mounted for displacement over a given op-erational range where it serves to focus images of subjects positioned within a range of subject distances at said image plane, means for producing a signal indicative of the position of a partic-ular subject within said range of subject distances, means for producing a plurality of discrete focus zone signals that correspond to a plurality of focus zones, said focus zones collectively rep-resenting the entire focusing range of said adjustable focus lens, drive means for effecting movement of said lens from either of two directions to a particular focus zone to focus an image of a particular sub-ject at said image plane;
the improvement comprising:
means for generating a signal representative of the adjacent focus zone immediately before said particular focus zone; and means responsive to said adjacent zone signal for deenergizing said lens moving drive means for a predetermined period of time and for reenergiz-ing said drive means if said displaceable lens is not positioned to within said particular focus zone within said predetermined period of time.
The invention will now be described in greater detail with refer-ence to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Figure 1 is a side view, in elevation, of an adjustable focus lens 113331U~
motion picture camera incorporating the inventive concept of the present in-vention;
Figure 2 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the rel-atively high speed digital control system of the present invention; ' Figure 3 is a perspective view of the adjustable focus lens, lensmount and reversible lens drive motor of the motion picture camera depicted in Figure 1 showing the means for encoding the angular and therefore the focus position of the movable element of said adjustable focus lens;
Figure 4A is a front elevational view of the lens mount for the movable element of the adjustable focus lens depicted in Figure 3, showing a three bit binary code on a disc projecting from said lens mount, said code defining eight discrete focus zones of said adjustable focus lens; and Figure 4B is a detailed view of three of the discrete focus zones depicted in Figure 4A.
Referring now to Figure 1, a schematic diagram of automatic focus-ing cmmera 10 constructed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, is depicted. Camera 10 comprises a housing 12 having handle 14 projecting from the bottom thereof by which a user holds said cam-era 10 to photograph subject 16 through adjustable focus lens mount 18 which directs scene light to image plane 20 when shutter mechanism 22 is operated.
Diaphragm 24 associated with shutter mechanism 22, in conjunction with lens mount 18, establishes the instantaneous amount of light incident on image plane 20. The opening of diaphragm 24 is controlled by photometer circuit 26 in response to available scene light.
Mounted within said housing 12 is automatic focusing system 28 which, when activated, is responsive to the distance to subject 16 from cam-era 10, and to changes in said distance for adjusting the focus position of lens mount 18 in order to maintain an image of subject 16 in focus at image plane 20. Switch 30, connected to an energy source (not shown), controls the operation of photometer circuit 26 and automatic focus system 28. Addi-.~ .
.-....
~133304 tionally, switch 30 couples said energy source (battery) to motor run switch - 34 to permit scene recording as explained below.
Housing 12 also contains motor 36 which, when energized through motor run switch 34 by depressing trigger 35, simultaneously operates shut-ter 22 and a film indexing claw (not shown) which intermittently drives film 38 past an image recording station located behind shutter 22. Finally, a viewfinder 40 is provided to enable a camera user to frame the scene being - filmed.
In the operation of camera 10, the user grasps handle 14 and frames subject 16 by means of viewfinder 40. As the user holds handle 14, switch 30 is closed by the movement of actuator 32 thereby powering photo-meter circuit 26 and automatic focus system 28. Photometer circuit 26 es-tablishes the proper diaphragm opening in accordance with the amount of light in the scene being photographed while automatic focus system 28 ultra-sonically determines the distance to subject 16 and then focuses adjustable focus lens mount 18 such that the lens system in said lens mount 18 focuses an in-focus image of subject 16 at image plane 20 when shutter 22 is activ-ated to the open position. The distance to subject 16 is determined by mea-suring the time it takes for an ultrasonic burst of energy to travel from autofocus system 28 to subject 16 and to be reflected back to said autofocus system 28 from said subject 16. Reference numerals 42a and 42b designate sequential ultrasonic bursts of energy being transmitted toward subject 16 and reference numerals 44a and 44b designate the reflection of these ultra-sonic bursts of energy from subject 16 toward autofocus system 28. In this particular ultrasonic focusing system, an ultrasonic burst of energy is transmitted and an echo of said transmitted burst of ultrasonic energy is received before a subsequent burst of range determining ultrasonic energy is transmitted.
Autofocus system 28 determines the time interval between the trans-mission of an ultrasonic burst of energy 42a and the return of its echo 44a ~13330~ !
for the purpose of determining the distance to subject 16 from camera 10.Ilaving established this distance, system 28, when permitted to do so, moves lens mount 18 toward a focus position in which an image of subject 16 is in focus at focal plane 20 when shutter 22 is activated. Activation of shutter 22 is selectively carried out when the user depresses trigger 35 thereby closing switch 34 and powering motor 36. Autofocus system 28 is effective to continuously determine subject range and to cause lens mount 18 to track changes in subject distance both prior to and during filming.
When switch 34 is closed, power is applied to the components of autofocus system 28 (Figure 1) which causes system cycle programmer 48 to divide-down the high frequency output of oscillator 50 into a transmit and reset pulse train having the same pulse repetition frequency, but shifted in phase. Transmit pulses produced at output 52 are designated XMT. The reset pulses produced at output 53 and designated RST, are the same as the XMT
pulses, but are delayed with respect to the XMT pulses by about 100 ms, which is greater than the round trip time for sonic energy, under normal con-ditions of temperature and pressure, for subjects at a distance of about 7.3 m from the camera 10 (Figure 1~ which represents the hyperfocal lens po-sition of the lens system mounted in lens mount 18 (Figure 1). This arrange-ment will allow any echo from a subject within 24 feet of said camera to be received by system 28 in the time interval between successive RST reset pulses.
Transmit and blanking generator 54, to which the XMT pulses and the output of oscillator 50 are applied, causes transducer 56 to transmit periodic ultrasonic bursts of energy, 42a and 42b. An echo from a subject, indicated at 44a, is received by transducer 56 where the echo, in the form of an electrical signal, is routed to receiver amplifier 58. Amplifier 58 has a ramp gain characteristic controlled by ramp gain generator 60 to in-crease the sensitivity of autofocus system 28 to distant subjects. The out-put of amplifier 58 is detected by receiver detector 62 to produce an echo ;, ,, ~133304 pulse 63 such that the time between a transmit pulse and its associatedecho pulse is proportional to the distance between a subject and camera 10.
This time interval is utilized in conjunction with scaled clock 64 to establish a number representative of the desired focus position for lens mount 18. The output of scaled clock 64 is a train of pulses whose pulse repetition frequency varies with time in accordance with the derivative of the lens/subject function of the lens system associated with lens mount 18.
The output of scaled clock 64 is integrated by accumulating the pulses pro-duced by said scaled clock, in binary counter 66: the contents of counter 66 at any instant in time represents the integral of the time derivative of the lens/subject function evaluated from the time of transmit pulse XMT to said instant in time. Consequently, the contents of counter 66, when echo pulse 63 occurs, is a definite integral of the time derivative of the lens/
subject function of the lens system associated with lens mount 18, which is a number representing the desired focus position of said lens mount 18 for a subject whose distance is determined by the time interval between transmit pulse XMT and echo pulse 63.
By means of receiver detector 62, echo pulse 63 triggers parallel entry-shift register 68 causing the shifting of the contents of counter 66, at the instant of echo pulse 63, into shift register 68. Shortly after echo pulse 63 occurs, reset pulse RST appears at output 53 of system cycle pro-grammer 48 thereby resetting scaled clock 64, binary counter 66, ramp gain generator 60 and transmit and blanking generator 54. The condition of auto-focus system 28 is now such that upon the generation of the next ultrasonic burst of energy in response to transmit and blanking generator 54 and the next transmit pulse XMT from system cycle programmer 48, the cycle of opera-tion described above will be repeated so that, upon the generation of the next echo pulse 63, the contents of counter 66 will again be shifted into register 68. As a consequence, the number in register 68 repeatedly varies in response to changes in subject distance at a rate dependent upon the '},j~, ' 1~33304 pulse repetition rate of transmit pulse XMT.
For determining the actual position of lens mount 18, lens posi-tion decoder 70 is provided. As shown in Figure 3, lens molmt 18 carrying objective lens 72 is rotatably mounted on threaded member 74 carried by cam-era housing 12 so that rotational movement of lens mount 18 causes axial displacement of lens 72. Actually, the pitch of member 74 is selected such that considerably less than 360 is required to displace lens 72 from its extreme close-up axial position to its infinity or hyperfocal axial posi-tion. In order to rotate lens mount 18, a gear train 76 is interposed be-tween the motor 78 and the gear teeth carried by the periphery of the mountfor objective lens 72. A slip clutch connection ~not shown) is interposed between motor 78 and lens mount 18 to permit overrunning of the motor in the event of a jam or engagement of the lens mount with an axial movement limit-ing stop at either end of lens mount travel. Projecting from and rotatable with the movable portion of lens mount 18 is encoder disc 80, carrying shaft encoding indicia 82 in the form of binary coded slots that pass completely through said disc 80. Encoding indicia 82 are preferably in the form of a gray code. However, for ease of description, a standard three-bit binary code is utilized. Operatively associated with indicia 82 are three photo-cells 84 and three light sources ~not shown). The light path between alight source and its associated photocell is blocked and unblocked by slotted encoder disc 80 as said disc is rotated through said light path. The output of each photocell provides one bit of information on the angular, and, therefore, the axial position of the movable element of lens mount 18.
Figure 4A is a front elevational view of the movable element in lens mount 18 of the adjustable focus lens depicted in Figure 3, showing a three-bit binary code on encoder disc 80 projecting from said lens mount, said code defining eight address locations or discrete focus zones of said adjustable focus lens. The eight focus zones are designated Al thru A8, said focus zones corresponding to the numbers O through 7, respectively, in binary code. The Al thru A8 focus zones are shown extending over 160 of movable lens element rotatlon. I-lowever, this range of angular movement is by design choice and said movement range could extend to 360 or substan-tially less than the 160 shown.
` Turning again to Figure 2, the output of lens position decoder 70 is applied to lens position register 86 which constitutes means responsive to the position of said lens mount 18 for generating a number representative of the actual position of said lens mount. Parallel entry/shift register 68 is a first register of autofocus system 28 ~Figure 1) and stores a number representative of the desired focus position for lens mount 18, the contents of this first register varying in response to changes in subject distance at a rate dependent on the pulse repetition rate of the transmit pulses as pre-viously discussed. Lens position register 86 constitutes a second register of autofocus system 28 (Figure 1) which stores a number representative of the actual position of lens mount 18, the contents of register 86 varying in response to changes in lens mount 18 position at a rate determined by the rate of change of lens mount 18 position. The rate of change of the con-tents of register 86 is thus independent of the rate at which the contents of registers 68 are updated.
The contents of registers 68 and 86 are compared in magnitude com-parator 88 to determine, on a continuous basis, which register contains the larger number. Since each register number is based on the same reference (i.e., the desired focus position and the actual lens position are measured from the same reference point), the contents of the registers will be equal when the actual position of lens mount 18 corresponds to the desired focus position for said lens mount 18. When the contents of one register exceeds the other, the lens mount 18 will be displaced from its last focus position by an amount equal to the difference between the contents of each such reg-ister. Whether the actual position of lens mount 18 is on one side or the other of the desired focus position depends upon which register contains the , ~ .
li33;~ ~
larger number.
Comparator 88 has forward and reverse output terminals 92 and 94, respectively. A signal appears on forward terminal 92 only when the number in first register 68 exceeds the number in second register 86. If the num-bers in the registers are designated A and B, then a signal will appear on terminal 92 when A > B. Ordinarily, a signal will appear on second terminal 94 only when the reverse relationship between the magnitudes occurs, namely B > A.
In a manner similar to magnitude comparator 88, the contents of registers 68 and 86 are compared in adjacent address sensor 96, on a continu-ous basis, to determine when a focus zone immediately adjacent the desired focus zone has been sensed by photocells 84 (Figures 1 and 3). Forward and reverse signals 92 and 94 from the output of magnitude comparator 88 enable adjacent address sensor 96 to determine which of two possible focus zones adjacent a desired focus zone is being sensed by photocells 84. For ex~
ample, in Figure 4B, which is a detailed view of three of the focus zones depicted in Figure 4A, if focus zone A5 is the desired focus zone, focus zones A4 and A6 are two focus zones that are ,~.., immediately adjacent said focus zone A5 and for proper implemen-tation of the inventive concept of the present invention, adjacent address sensor 96 must know which of the two possible adjacent focus zones is the actual adjacent focus zone and this particular information is provided by forward and reverse drive signals 92 and 94 appearing at the output of magnitude comparator 88. Adjacent address signal 98 appears at the output of adjacent address sensor 96 when photocells 84 sense the proper focus zone adjacent a desired focus zone.
In operation, focus forward signal 92 appearing at the output of magnitude comparator 88 will appear at the input to OR
gate 100 and at the input to AND gate 102. If adjacent address sensor 96 does not produce adjacent address signal 98 at its output, AND gate 102 will be satisfied and a drive forward signal will be sent to forward motor control 104 which C ~ causeSlens drive motor 78 and lens mount 18 to be driven in the forward direction toward a desired focus zone. In addition to satisfying gate 102, focus forward signal 92 also satisfies OR gate 100 and the output of said OR gate 100 satisfies AND gate 106. When AND gate 106 is satisfied, timing capacitor C charges up to the output voltage of AND gate 106, thereby providing one of the two inputs to NAND
gate 108. When adjacent address sensor 96 senses the adjacent focus zone and produces adjacent address signal 98 at its output, said signal appears at the input to NAND gate 108 causing said NAND gate 108 to open, which causes AND gate 102 to open, which terminates the drive forward signal to forwarcl motor control 104 and the driving force being supplied by motor 78, but allowing inertial forces to continue to move lens mount 18 toward the desired focus zone. r~hen adjacent address signal CJ8 appears at
3() the input of NAND gate 108 and causes said NAND gate 1~8 to open, -~2-.11~330~
said signal 98 also appears at the input to AND gate 106, causing said AND gate 106 to open also. When AND gate 106 opens, the voltage at its output falls, causing the voltage on capacitor C
to fall. If lens mount 18 does not reach th.e desired focus zone withi.n a predetermined .interval of time the voltage on capacitor C falls below the threshold of NAND gate 108 and NAND gate 108 will again have a signal at its output that will satisfy AND
gate 102 and cause forward motor control 104 to energize motor 78, causing said motor 78 to drive lens mount 18 until magnitude comparator 88 determines that the desired focus zone has been reached, Once the desi.red focus zone is reached, focus forward signal 92 is disabled, which opens AND gate 102 and again terminates the motor fo.rce being supplied by drive motor 78.
The predetermined interval of time is determined by capacitor C, resistor R and reset diode 110. Diode 110 serves to charge capacitor C rapidly so that it is ready for its next discharge cycle at an earlier point in time.
Similarly, focus reverse signal 94 appearing at the output of magnitude comparator 88 will appear at the input to OR gate 100 and at the input to AND gate 112. If adjacent address sensor 96 does not produce adjacent address signal 98 at its output, AND gate 112 will be satisfied and a drive reverse signal will be sent to reverse motor control 114, which will - cause lens drive motor 78 and lens mount 18 to be driven in the reverse direction toward a desired focus zone. In addition to satis~ying gate 112, focus reverse signal 94 also satisfies OR
gate 100 as well as ANDgate 106. When AND gate 106 is satisfied, timing capacitor C charges up to the output voltage of ~ND gate 106, thereby providing one of the two inputs to NAND gate 108.
~hen adjacent address sensor signal 96 senses the adjacent focus zone and produces adjacent address signal 98 at its output, said signal appears at the input to NAND gate 108, causing said I~AND
~33304 gate 108 to open, which causes AND gate 102 to open, which terminates the drive reverse signal to reverse motor control 114 and the driving force being supplied by motor 78, but allowing inertial forces to continue to move lens mount 18 toward the desired focux zone. When adjacent address signal 98 appears at the input of NAND gate 108 and causes said NAND gate 108 to open, said signal 98 also appears at the input to AND gate 106, causing said ~ND gate 106 to open also. When AND gate 106 opens, the voltage at its output falls, causing the voltage on capacitor C to fall. If lens mount 18 does not reach th ~esired focus zone within a predetermined interval of time the voltage on capacitor C falls below the threshold of NAND gate 108 and NAND gate 108 will again have 2 signal at its output that will satisfy AND gate 112 and cau~e reverse motor contxol 114 to energize motor 78, causing said motor 78 to drive lens mount 18 until magnitude comparator 88 determines that the desired focus zone h~s been reached. Once the desired focus zone is reached, focus reverse signal 94 is disable, which opens AND gate 112 and again terminates the motor force being supplied by drive motor 78. By anticipating the arrival of the adjustable focus lens at the desired focus zone, de-energizing the motor drive before the desired focus zone is reached and then re-enexgizing the motor drive if the desired focus zone is not reached within a pre-determined time interval, the focus control system can focus the adjustable focus lens at a relatively high rate of speed without causing said lens to overshoot the desired focus zone.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description of my invention that various improvements and modifications can be made in it without departing from its tr~e scope. The embodiments described herein are merely illustrative and should not be viewed as the only embodiments that might - encompass my invention.
said signal 98 also appears at the input to AND gate 106, causing said AND gate 106 to open also. When AND gate 106 opens, the voltage at its output falls, causing the voltage on capacitor C
to fall. If lens mount 18 does not reach th.e desired focus zone withi.n a predetermined .interval of time the voltage on capacitor C falls below the threshold of NAND gate 108 and NAND gate 108 will again have a signal at its output that will satisfy AND
gate 102 and cause forward motor control 104 to energize motor 78, causing said motor 78 to drive lens mount 18 until magnitude comparator 88 determines that the desired focus zone has been reached, Once the desi.red focus zone is reached, focus forward signal 92 is disabled, which opens AND gate 102 and again terminates the motor fo.rce being supplied by drive motor 78.
The predetermined interval of time is determined by capacitor C, resistor R and reset diode 110. Diode 110 serves to charge capacitor C rapidly so that it is ready for its next discharge cycle at an earlier point in time.
Similarly, focus reverse signal 94 appearing at the output of magnitude comparator 88 will appear at the input to OR gate 100 and at the input to AND gate 112. If adjacent address sensor 96 does not produce adjacent address signal 98 at its output, AND gate 112 will be satisfied and a drive reverse signal will be sent to reverse motor control 114, which will - cause lens drive motor 78 and lens mount 18 to be driven in the reverse direction toward a desired focus zone. In addition to satis~ying gate 112, focus reverse signal 94 also satisfies OR
gate 100 as well as ANDgate 106. When AND gate 106 is satisfied, timing capacitor C charges up to the output voltage of ~ND gate 106, thereby providing one of the two inputs to NAND gate 108.
~hen adjacent address sensor signal 96 senses the adjacent focus zone and produces adjacent address signal 98 at its output, said signal appears at the input to NAND gate 108, causing said I~AND
~33304 gate 108 to open, which causes AND gate 102 to open, which terminates the drive reverse signal to reverse motor control 114 and the driving force being supplied by motor 78, but allowing inertial forces to continue to move lens mount 18 toward the desired focux zone. When adjacent address signal 98 appears at the input of NAND gate 108 and causes said NAND gate 108 to open, said signal 98 also appears at the input to AND gate 106, causing said ~ND gate 106 to open also. When AND gate 106 opens, the voltage at its output falls, causing the voltage on capacitor C to fall. If lens mount 18 does not reach th ~esired focus zone within a predetermined interval of time the voltage on capacitor C falls below the threshold of NAND gate 108 and NAND gate 108 will again have 2 signal at its output that will satisfy AND gate 112 and cau~e reverse motor contxol 114 to energize motor 78, causing said motor 78 to drive lens mount 18 until magnitude comparator 88 determines that the desired focus zone h~s been reached. Once the desired focus zone is reached, focus reverse signal 94 is disable, which opens AND gate 112 and again terminates the motor force being supplied by drive motor 78. By anticipating the arrival of the adjustable focus lens at the desired focus zone, de-energizing the motor drive before the desired focus zone is reached and then re-enexgizing the motor drive if the desired focus zone is not reached within a pre-determined time interval, the focus control system can focus the adjustable focus lens at a relatively high rate of speed without causing said lens to overshoot the desired focus zone.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description of my invention that various improvements and modifications can be made in it without departing from its tr~e scope. The embodiments described herein are merely illustrative and should not be viewed as the only embodiments that might - encompass my invention.
Claims (8)
1. In an autofocusing camera having a displaceable lens, means for determining subject distance, control means energizeable for displacing said lens-to a location selected in accordance with said distance determining means to thereby focus an image of the subject on camera focal plane, said control means including encoder means responsive to lens displacement for producing a plurality of discrete signals, each representative of displacement of said lens to within a respective positional zone of said lens, and said control means including means for terminating displacement of said lens within a positional zone selected in accordance with said distance determining means, the improvement comprising:
that said displacement terminating means includes, means for generating a signal representative of a positional zone immediately adjacent said selected positional zone; and means responsive to said adjacent positional zone signal for de-energizing said lens displacing control means for a predetermined period of time and for reenergizing said lens displacing control means if said displaceable lens is not positioned to within said selected positional zone within said predetermined period of time.
that said displacement terminating means includes, means for generating a signal representative of a positional zone immediately adjacent said selected positional zone; and means responsive to said adjacent positional zone signal for de-energizing said lens displacing control means for a predetermined period of time and for reenergizing said lens displacing control means if said displaceable lens is not positioned to within said selected positional zone within said predetermined period of time.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said adjacent zone signal generating means includes means for determining the adjacent positional zone immediately before said selected positional zone.
3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the means for establishing said predetermined period of time includes a resistor and capacitor voltage integrating network.
4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said control means includes a reversible drive motor.
5. In a photographic camera of the type having, means for selectively coupling said camera to a source of energy an image plane, an adjustable focus lens mounted for displacement over a given operational range where it serves to focus images of subjects positioned within a range of subject distances at said image plane, means for producing a signal indicative of the position of a particular subject within said range of subject distances, means for producing a plurality of discrete focus zone signals that correspond to a plurality of focus zones, said focus zones collectively representing the entire focusing range of said adjustable focus lens, drive means for effecting movement of said lens from either of two directions to a particular focus zone to focus an image of a particular subject at said image plane;
the improvement comprising:
means for generating a signal representative of the adjacent focus zone immediately before said particular focus zone; and means responsive to said adjacent zone signal for de-energizing said lens moving drive means for a predetermined period of time and for reenergizing said drive means if said displaceable lens is not positioned to within said particular focus zone within said predetermined period of time.
the improvement comprising:
means for generating a signal representative of the adjacent focus zone immediately before said particular focus zone; and means responsive to said adjacent zone signal for de-energizing said lens moving drive means for a predetermined period of time and for reenergizing said drive means if said displaceable lens is not positioned to within said particular focus zone within said predetermined period of time.
6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein said adjacent zone signal generating means includes means for determining the adjacent positional zone immediately before said particular positional zone.
7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the means for establishing said predetermined period of time includes a resistor and capacitor voltage integrating network.
8. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein said drive means includes a reversible drive motor.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| US276 | 1979-01-02 | ||
| US06/000,276 US4238143A (en) | 1979-01-02 | 1979-01-02 | Autofocus movie camera having pulsed terminal drive means |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1133304A true CA1133304A (en) | 1982-10-12 |
Family
ID=21690772
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA342,928A Expired CA1133304A (en) | 1979-01-02 | 1980-01-02 | Auto focus movie camera having pulsed terminal drive means |
Country Status (10)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| US (1) | US4238143A (en) |
| JP (1) | JPS5921001B2 (en) |
| AT (1) | AT365789B (en) |
| AU (1) | AU538871B2 (en) |
| CA (1) | CA1133304A (en) |
| CH (1) | CH654673A5 (en) |
| DE (1) | DE2950931A1 (en) |
| FR (1) | FR2445974B1 (en) |
| GB (1) | GB2040504B (en) |
| IT (1) | IT1165410B (en) |
Families Citing this family (13)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JPS5886893A (en) * | 1981-11-16 | 1983-05-24 | Minolta Camera Co Ltd | Motor driving controlling device |
| JPS5888710A (en) * | 1981-12-21 | 1983-05-26 | Nippon Kogaku Kk <Nikon> | Photographic lens structure for automatic focusing |
| JPS59170807A (en) * | 1982-12-28 | 1984-09-27 | Kyocera Corp | Lens driving motor controller |
| JPH067216B2 (en) * | 1984-04-04 | 1994-01-26 | キヤノン株式会社 | Auto focus device |
| JPH064331Y2 (en) * | 1984-12-27 | 1994-02-02 | ミノルタカメラ株式会社 | Camera with automatic focusing device |
| US4743931A (en) * | 1985-12-05 | 1988-05-10 | Olympus Optical Company, Ltd. | Apparatus for delivering distance information of camera |
| US4857947A (en) * | 1986-12-08 | 1989-08-15 | Nikon Corporation | Position controlling device in a lens driving apparatus for camera |
| US5003400A (en) * | 1987-08-19 | 1991-03-26 | Hitachi, Ltd. | Focusing apparatus of video camera or the like |
| US4878077A (en) * | 1987-09-29 | 1989-10-31 | Olympus Optical Company Ltd. | Motor drive and control apparatus for a camera |
| GB2248947B (en) * | 1988-02-22 | 1992-08-05 | Honda Motor Co Ltd | Synchronous operation control system for numerically controlled machine |
| JPH07107643B2 (en) * | 1988-02-22 | 1995-11-15 | 本田技研工業株式会社 | NC synchronous control system |
| JPH0218601A (en) * | 1988-07-07 | 1990-01-22 | Mitsubishi Electric Corp | Servo controller |
| DE102018114388A1 (en) * | 2018-06-15 | 2019-12-19 | Valeo Schalter Und Sensoren Gmbh | Method for controlling a drive device of a micro-oscillating mirror, control device and deflecting mirror device |
Family Cites Families (10)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US3370289A (en) * | 1965-02-26 | 1968-02-20 | Collins Radio Co | Digital-to-analog converter system |
| CA902167A (en) * | 1967-09-22 | 1972-06-06 | Fairchild Camera And Instrument Corporation | Stepper motor control system |
| US3949287A (en) * | 1971-05-28 | 1976-04-06 | Agfa-Gevaert, A.G. | Position-control servo system with speed-dependent damping action |
| US3760252A (en) * | 1972-07-05 | 1973-09-18 | Burroughs Corp | Damping of a step servo motor using one step anticipation logic |
| JPS563564B2 (en) * | 1973-09-06 | 1981-01-26 | ||
| US4114079A (en) * | 1973-10-04 | 1978-09-12 | Ichiro Miyakita | Rotary cutter drive control with electric motor |
| DE2460675C3 (en) * | 1974-12-20 | 1981-06-11 | Agfa-Gevaert Ag, 5090 Leverkusen | Cinematographic camera |
| US4002405A (en) * | 1975-04-03 | 1977-01-11 | Curt Stahl | Variable speed control for zooming |
| CA1120578A (en) * | 1976-10-04 | 1982-03-23 | Juerg Muggli | Ultrasonic ranging system for a camera |
| CA1099554A (en) * | 1976-10-04 | 1981-04-21 | Polaroid Corporation | Automatic range finding and focussing camera |
-
1979
- 1979-01-02 US US06/000,276 patent/US4238143A/en not_active Ceased
- 1979-12-06 AU AU53527/79A patent/AU538871B2/en not_active Ceased
- 1979-12-07 GB GB7942274A patent/GB2040504B/en not_active Expired
- 1979-12-17 CH CH11165/79A patent/CH654673A5/en not_active IP Right Cessation
- 1979-12-18 DE DE19792950931 patent/DE2950931A1/en active Granted
- 1979-12-20 AT AT0804279A patent/AT365789B/en not_active IP Right Cessation
- 1979-12-21 IT IT28297/79A patent/IT1165410B/en active
- 1979-12-28 JP JP54173949A patent/JPS5921001B2/en not_active Expired
-
1980
- 1980-01-02 FR FR8000012A patent/FR2445974B1/en not_active Expired
- 1980-01-02 CA CA342,928A patent/CA1133304A/en not_active Expired
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| JPS5598724A (en) | 1980-07-28 |
| GB2040504B (en) | 1982-07-28 |
| US4238143A (en) | 1980-12-09 |
| IT1165410B (en) | 1987-04-22 |
| CH654673A5 (en) | 1986-02-28 |
| DE2950931C2 (en) | 1987-01-29 |
| AU538871B2 (en) | 1984-08-30 |
| GB2040504A (en) | 1980-08-28 |
| ATA804279A (en) | 1981-06-15 |
| DE2950931A1 (en) | 1980-07-17 |
| JPS5921001B2 (en) | 1984-05-17 |
| IT7928297A0 (en) | 1979-12-21 |
| AT365789B (en) | 1982-02-10 |
| FR2445974A1 (en) | 1980-08-01 |
| AU5352779A (en) | 1980-07-10 |
| FR2445974B1 (en) | 1985-11-15 |
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