초록 ▼

An image pickup frame is divided into a plurality of areas. A contrast at each area is measured. An area where a main subject is located is detected by comparing contrasts at areas. A distance to a subject in the area where the main subject is located is measured. With this range finding technique,

An image pickup frame is divided into a plurality of areas. A contrast at each area is measured. An area where a main subject is located is detected by comparing contrasts at areas. A distance to a subject in the area where the main subject is located is measured. With this range finding technique, even if a main subject is not located at the central area of an image pickup frame, an area where the main subject is located can be identified and range finding can be performed only for that area.

대표청구항 ▼

[ I claim:] [1.] A range finding method comprising the steps of:dividing an image pickup area into a plurality of zones;forming an image of a subject on a pair of pixel arrays having a number of pixels disposed in line and photoelectrically converting the image into an electrical image signal for ea

[ I claim:] [1.] A range finding method comprising the steps of:dividing an image pickup area into a plurality of zones;forming an image of a subject on a pair of pixel arrays having a number of pixels disposed in line and photoelectrically converting the image into an electrical image signal for each of the pixels corresponding to a received light amount;designating a proper subset of said plurality of zones in the pixels arrays, where contrast is to be measured;sequentially reading the image signals, pixel by pixel, in said designated zones non-destructively;calculating contrast for each of the designated zones from the image signals read from said designated zones;detecting among said designated zones, one or more zones where one or more main subjects is located by comparing the contrast of each of the designated zones with the contrast of each of the other designated zones;designating an area in the pixel arrays, where a distance is to be measured, in accordance with the zone where the main subject is located;reading the image signal of each of the pixels in the area where a distance is to be measured; andmeasuring a distance to a subject in the zone where the main subject is located.