Focus adjustment device, focus adjustment method, and non-transitory storage medium for storing focus adjustment programs for performing focus adjustment in response to image signals of an image pickup device including focus detection pixels

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10484592-B2
Application number	US-201715821674-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 22, 2017
Priority date	Nov 29, 2016
Publication date	Nov 19, 2019
Grant date	Nov 19, 2019

Abstract

A focus detection section performs focus detection based on image signals of focus detection pixels of an image pickup device, included in the image signals acquired based on an exposure value for a live view display, calculates a gain correction value to correct the image signals of the focus detection pixels based on a result of the focus detection, and corrects image signals of focus detection pixels to be acquired by a next image pickup operation with the gain correction value to perform the focus detection. A control section causes the image pickup device to perform an AF image pickup operation using exposure value corrected based on the gain correction value, as an exposure value for the AF image pickup operation. The focus detection section performs focus detection based on the image signals of the focus detection pixels in accordance with the AF image pickup operation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A focus adjustment device which performs focus adjustment in response to image signals of an image pickup device including focus detection pixels, the device comprising:
a display configured to provide live view display based on the image signals of the image pickup device;
a switch configured to provide instruction to start focus adjustment; and
a processor configured to:
control an image pickup operation of the image pickup device based on an exposure value for the live view display to the display based on the image signals of the image pickup device to acquire the image signals;
perform focus detection based on image signals of the focus detection pixels, included in the image signals of the image pickup device;
calculate a gain correction value to correct the image signals of the focus detection pixels based on a result of the focus detection;
correct image signals of focus detection pixels to be acquired by a next image pickup operation with the gain correction value to perform the focus detection;
perform focus adjustment based on the image signals of the focus detection pixels in accordance with the instruction of the switch;
correct the exposure value based on the gain correction value when the focus adjustment is performed based on the image signals of the focus detection pixels in accordance with the instruction to start the focus adjustment;
cause the image pickup device to perform an AF image pickup operation using the corrected exposure value as an exposure value for the AF image pickup operation; and
perform focus detection based on the image signals of the focus detection pixels in accordance with the AF image pickup operation.

2. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine whether the image signals of the focus detection pixels are saturated or not; and
calculate the gain correction value when the processor determines that the image signals of the focus detection pixels are saturated before the instruction.

3. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
make a focus detection calculation based on the image signals of the focus detection pixels to calculate reliability; and
calculate the gain correction value when the reliability calculated by the processor is low before the instruction section provides the instruction.

4. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
set a plurality of focus detection areas in an image pickup area of the image pickup device;
determine whether the image signals of the focus detection pixels are saturated for each of the focus detection areas;
make a focus detection calculation based on the image signals of the focus detection pixels for each of the focus detection areas to calculate reliability; and
calculate the gain correction value when there is no focus detection area in which the processor determines that the image signals of the focus detection pixels are not saturated before the instruction, and that the reliability exceeds a predetermined threshold value.

5. The device according to claim 4 , wherein
when the processor determines that a plurality of reliabilities acquired for a same focus detection area at different times fall within a predetermined permissible range before the instruction section provides the instruction, and corrects the gain correction value using a latest gain correction value calculated for the focus detection area as a basis.

6. The device according to claim 5 , wherein
the processor corrects the gain correction value such that the image signals of the focus detection pixels become smaller for the focus detection area in which the processor determines that the image signals are saturated, before the instruction.

7. The device according to claim 5 , wherein
the processor corrects the gain correction value such that the image signals of the focus detection pixels become larger for the focus detection area in which the processor determines that the image signals are not saturated, before the instruction.

8. The device according to claim 7 , wherein
the processor determines a correction amount of the gain correction value based on a ratio of the reliability to the threshold value.

9. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
generate a first photometric value by photometry for the live view display and generates a second photometric value by photometry for focus adjustment, based on the image signals of the image pickup device; and
correct the gain correction value based on the first photometric value and the second photometric value and calculates the exposure value for the AF image pickup operation based on the corrected gain correction value.

10. A focus adjustment method for performing focus adjustment by image signals of an image pickup device including focus detection pixels, the method comprising:
controlling an image pickup operation of the image pickup device based on an exposure value for providing live view display to a display section based on the image signals of the image pickup device to acquire the image signals;
performing focus detection based on image signals of the focus detection pixels, included in the image signals of the image pickup device, calculating a gain correction value to correct the image signals of the focus detection pixels based on a result of the focus detection, and performing focus detection by correcting image signals of focus detection pixels acquired in a next image pickup operation, with the gain correction value;
providing instruction to start the focus adjustment;
correcting the exposure value based on the gain correction value when the focus adjustment is performed based on the image signals of the focus detection pixels in accordance with the instruction to start the focus adjustment, and causing the image pickup device to perform an AF image pickup operation using the corrected exposure value as an exposure value for the AF image pickup operation; and
performing focus detection based on the image signals of the focus detection pixels by the AF image pickup operation.

11. The method according to claim 10 , further comprising:
determining whether the image signals of the focus detection pixels are saturated or not, wherein
the calculating the gain correction value includes calculating the gain correction value in case of determining that the image signals of the focus detection pixels are saturated before the instruction.

12. The method according to claim 10 , further comprising:
making a focus detection calculation based on the image signals of the focus detection pixels to calculate reliability, wherein
the calculating the gain correction value includes calculating the gain correction value when calculated reliability is low before the instruction.

13. The method according to claim 10 , further comprising:
setting a plurality of focus detection areas in an image pickup area of the image pickup device;
determining whether the image signals of the focus detection pixels are saturated for each of the focus detection areas; and
making a focus detection calculation based on the image signals of the focus detection pixels for each of the focus detection areas to calculate reliability, wherein
the calculating the gain correction value includes calculating the gain correction value when there is no focus detection area in which is determined that the image signals of the focus detection pixels are not saturated before the instruction, and that the reliability exceeds a predetermined threshold value.

Assignees

• Olympus Corp

Inventors

• Hoshino Tomohiro
• Kikuchi Tetsuo

Classifications

• H04N23/76

  by influencing the image signals · CPC title

• H04N23/632

  for displaying or modifying preview images prior to image capturing, e.g. variety of image resolutions or capturing parameters · CPC title

• H04N23/672 Primary

  based on the phase difference signals · CPC title

• H04N23/73

  by influencing the exposure time · CPC title

• H04N5/23212 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic