Communication apparatus, method, and storage medium including an electronic viewfinder and a line of sight input function that prevents a decrease in operability of the imaging apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11838108-B2
Application number	US-202217849071-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 24, 2022
Priority date	Jun 25, 2021
Publication date	Dec 5, 2023
Grant date	Dec 5, 2023

Abstract

A communication apparatus includes a plurality of clocks configured to output signals indicating current times, a plurality of counter units configured to synchronize with the plurality of clocks using the signals indicating the current times output from the plurality of clocks, an instruction unit configured to give an instruction to acquire count values of the plurality of counter units, an acquisition unit configured to acquire the count values of the plurality of counter units based on the instruction from the instruction unit, and a calculation unit configured to calculate a difference between the acquired count values.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A communication apparatus comprising:
a plurality of clocks comprising a first clock configured to output a first signal indicating current time and a second clock configured to output a second signal indicating current time;
a plurality of counter units comprising a first counter unit configured to synchronize with the first clock using the first signal and a second counter unit configured to synchronize with the second clock using the second signal;
an instruction unit configured to give an instruction to acquire count values of the plurality of counter units;
an acquisition unit configured to acquire the count values of the plurality of counter units based on the instruction from the instruction unit; and
a calculation unit configured to calculate a difference between the acquired count values.

2. The communication apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the acquisition unit acquires the count values of the plurality of counter units at a predetermined time interval.

3. The communication apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the predetermined time interval is a time sufficiently long for the acquisition unit to acquire all the count values.

4. The communication apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising a setting unit configured to set the predetermined time interval,
wherein in a case where it is determined a predetermined number of times that the calculated difference between the count values is less than or equal to a threshold, the setting unit makes the predetermined time interval longer.

5. The communication apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein in a case where the first and second signals indicating the current times output from the clocks are input to the plurality of counter units, the plurality of counter units update the count values based on differences between the current times when the first and second signals indicating the current times output from the clocks are received and times of the plurality of counter units.

6. The communication apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the acquisition unit simultaneously acquires the count values of the plurality of counter units according to the instruction from the instruction unit.

7. The communication apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a reception unit configured to receive the count values from the acquisition unit,
wherein the reception unit notifies the calculation unit that the received count values are present.

8. The communication apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein using an interrupt signal, the reception unit notifies the calculation unit that the received count values are present.

9. The communication apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein using sequence numbers attached to the count values, the reception unit notifies the calculation unit that the received count values are present.

10. The communication apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein in a case where the first and second signals indicating the current times output from the plurality of clocks are not input to the plurality of counter units, the plurality of counter units update the count values using clock signals input to the plurality of counter units.

11. The communication apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a control unit configured to control synchronization of the plurality of clocks based on the calculated difference between the count values.

12. A method of calculating a difference between times of a plurality of clocks, comprising a first clock and a second clock, provided in a communication apparatus in which a plurality of counter units is provided, wherein a first counter unit in the plurality of counter units corresponds to the first clock and a second counter unit in the plurality of counter units corresponds to the second clock, the method comprising:
synchronizing the plurality of counter units with the plurality of clocks using signals indicating current times output from the plurality of clocks;
giving an instruction to acquire count values of the plurality of counter units;
acquiring the count values of the plurality of counter units based on the instruction to acquire the count values; and
calculating a difference between the acquired count values.

13. A non-transitory storage medium that stores a program for causing a computer to execute a method of calculating a difference between times of a plurality of clock, comprising a first clock and a second clock, provided in a communication apparatus in which a plurality of counter units is provided, wherein a first counter unit in the plurality of counter units corresponds to the first clock and a second counter unit in the plurality of counter units corresponds to the second clock, the method comprising:
synchronizing the plurality of counter units with the plurality of clocks using signals indicating current times output from the plurality of clocks;
giving an instruction to acquire count values of the plurality of counter units;
acquiring the count values of the plurality of counter units based on the instruction to acquire the count values; and
calculating a difference between the acquired count values.

Assignees

• Canon Kk

Inventors

• Tsuboi Satoru

Classifications

• H04J3/0667 Primary

  Bidirectional timestamps, e.g. NTP or PTP for compensation of clock drift and for compensation of propagation delays (arrangements for monitoring round trip delays in packet switching networks H04L43/0864) · CPC title

• H04L7/0012

  by comparing receiver clock with transmitter clock · CPC title

• H04L7/0037

  Delay of clock signal · CPC title

• H04J3/0697 Primary

  Synchronisation in a packet node · CPC title

• H04J3/0673

  using intermediate nodes, e.g. modification of a received timestamp before further transmission to the next packet node, e.g. including internal delay time or residence time into the packet · CPC title