JP2000013646A - Remote control universal head system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a remote control universal head system which selectively executes a shot function that controls a moving locus of a photographic position of a camera mounted on a remote control universal head and automatically moves it to a photographic position that is preliminarily registered on a memory and a quick shot function that automatically moves the photographic position of the camera to the photographic position that is preliminarily registered in the shortest time and satisfactorily controls a shot operation of the camera in accordance with an operation form. SOLUTION: When a shot switch 36 of any shot No of a universal head controller 12 is turned on, a camera mounted on a universal head is automatically moved to a shot position that is registered on the shot No and also the shot operation is completed by an operation time set by a shot speed knob 38 (shot function). On the other hand, when a quick shot switch 26 is turned on and the switch 36 is turned on, the camera is moved to a registered shot position at the highest speed regardless of the setting of the knob 38 (quick function).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a remote control pan head system, and more particularly to a remote control pan head system for remotely controlling a shooting position of a camera mounted on the pan head.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a pan head mounted with a camera is panned / tilted by remote control of a pan head controller to adjust a photographing direction of the camera and to adjust photographing conditions such as focus and zoom of the camera (lens). 2. Description of the Related Art A remote control head that can be remotely controlled from a head controller is known.

In such a remote control head,
2. Description of the Related Art There is known a camera equipped with a shot function for automatically controlling the shooting direction and shooting conditions of a camera (hereinafter, the shooting direction of the camera and the shooting conditions are referred to as the shooting position of the camera).
In the shot function, a desired shooting position is registered in a memory in advance, and when a predetermined shot switch is pressed, the camera automatically moves from a current shooting position to a shooting position registered in the memory. Some of the currently used shot functions do not simply move the shooting position of the camera linearly at a constant speed, but also use the video during the execution of the shot function (during shot operation). The trajectory to the photographing position registered in the memory is controlled so that photographing operations such as focus, zoom, pan, and tilt of the camera can be smoothly performed and these photographing operations can be simultaneously ended (operation time of each photographing operation). Are controlled so as to coincide with each other. Incidentally, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-256876 discloses a technique for controlling a movement locus of a shooting position during a shot operation.

There is also known a shot function in which the setting of the time of each shot from point A to point B can be changed. As one of the methods, there is a method of adjusting a shot speed knob provided in a controller. As another method, the shot speed is stored in the memory at the same time as the shooting position of each shot, and the shot speed (time) stored in the memory is usually used, and the value of the shot speed knob is ignored. When changing the shot speed (time), the shot speed (time) stored in the memory is released by pressing the shot button again, and at the same time, the shot speed is set to the maximum value of the shot speed knob. Such a method is known.

[0005]

When controlling the movement trajectory of the shooting position of the camera during the shot operation as described above, the operation time of the shot operation is determined by the maximum speed at which each shooting operation of the camera can be performed. Set within the range not exceeding. Actually, this operation time is set to a time that has a margin in consideration of the load of the drive system and the dispersion between the solids of the camera platform, so that each shooting operation of the camera is always slower than the maximum speed. It is to be performed in. For example, even if each shooting operation can be executed at the maximum speed, the shot operation can be completed within an operation time of 1 second or less.
The actual operation time is set to a minimum of 2 seconds with a margin. In this regard, the same applies to the two methods of changing the time setting of each shot described above.

However, depending on the operation mode, there is no need for the video during the shot operation, and there is a case where it is desired to complete the shot operation as soon as possible. For example, when moving the shooting position of the camera to the start point where shooting is started, or when the operation time of the shot operation is set longer (for example, 20 seconds) than expected, the shot operation is started in a short time after the shot operation is started. May be required to be completed. The conventional remote control pan head cannot suitably perform pan head control according to such an operation situation.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and has as its object to provide a remote control pan head system capable of suitably controlling a shot operation of a camera according to an operation mode.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided a remote control head system for remotely controlling a shooting position of a camera mounted on a head by a remote controller. Storage means for storing in advance the shooting position of the camera, shot control means for controlling the movement locus of the shooting position of the camera to move the shooting position of the camera to the shooting position stored in the storage means, and storing the shooting position of the camera. A quick shot control means for moving to the shooting position stored in the means in the shortest time, and an instruction means for instructing execution of the shot control means or the quick shot control means.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, when the execution of the quick shot control means is instructed by the instruction means, the quick shot control means stores the data in a drive system for driving a photographing position of the camera. A control signal for instructing movement to a photographing position stored in the means is immediately output. According to the present invention, a shot control for controlling a movement locus to a shooting position of a camera to a shooting position registered in advance and moving the shooting position of the camera at the maximum speed originally possessed by the drive system, and a shooting position registered in advance Quick shot control, which moves the camera in the shortest time, can be executed selectively, so when using the video during the shot operation or when moving the camera to the predetermined shooting position earlier than the video during the shot operation, etc. Suitable pan head control can be performed according to the operation mode.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of a remote control pan head system according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a remote control pan head system according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, the remote control head system is a remote control head
It is simply called head 10. ) And a camera platform controller 12 connected to the camera platform 10 via a cable.

The camera platform 10 includes a housing 14 and a camera platform body 16 that supports the housing 14. A camera (not shown) is housed inside the housing 14. The camera housed in the housing 14 captures an external image via a transparent protective glass (front glass) 18 provided on the front of the housing 14.

The housing 14 is cantilevered by a tilt shaft extending from the camera platform body 16, and the tilt shaft is driven to rotate by a tilt motor built in the camera platform body 16. Therefore, when the tilt motor rotates, the tilt position of the camera housed in the housing 14 moves. The pan head main body 16 is supported by a pan shaft 19 fixed on a mounting table (not shown). The pan shaft 19 is driven to rotate by a pan motor built in the pan head main body 16. Therefore, when the pan motor rotates, the pan position of the camera moves.

The camera platform controller 12 remotely controls the camera platform 10. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the camera platform controller 12 is provided with various operation members.
Operation stick (joystick) 2 of pan head controller 12
When 0 is operated up, down, left and right, the camera pans and tilts up and down and left and right on the pan head 10 in conjunction with this operation, and the focus knob 22 or the zoom knob 24 provided on the pan head controller 12 is rotated. Then, the focus position or zoom position of the camera (lens) moves in conjunction with this operation. Thereby, the shooting position of the camera, that is, the pan position, the tilt position, the focus position, and the zoom position are remotely controlled.

A quick shot switch 26, a shot registration switch 28, a registration deletion (CLR) switch 30, a page A to a page D
Page selection switch 34, shot switches 36 from shot No. 1 to shot No. 10, and various operation members such as a shot speed knob 38. The shot switch 36 is for automatically reproducing a desired shot.
A desired shot, that is, a pan position, a tilt position, a focus position, and a zoom position (photographing position) of the camera are registered in correspondence with each shot No. When the shooting switch of any one of the shot numbers is turned on while the shooting position of the camera is being operated by the camera platform controller 12, the camera is moved to the shooting position registered in advance corresponding to the shot number. It moves automatically. Hereinafter, such a function is referred to as a shot function. By selecting one of pages A to D with the page selection switch 34, registration and reproduction of shot No. 1 to shot No. 10 can be performed for each page. The operation of each operation member will also be described in the following description.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of the remote control pan head system. The camera platform controller 12 includes a calculation unit 50 including a CPU 52 and an I / O unit 54, a ROM 56, a RAM 57, and various operation members 58, and the camera platform 10 (including a camera) includes various D / It comprises an A converter 60, various servo amplifiers 62, various mechanisms 64A to 64D, and various potentiometers 66.

The arithmetic unit 50 of the camera platform controller 12
The CPU 52 executes a control program stored in the ROM 56 by the CPU 52 to perform various arithmetic processes,
The / O unit 54 detects operation signals of various operation members 58 (various switches 26 to 38) of the camera platform controller 12 and exchanges various signals with the camera platform 10.

A RAM 57 capable of writing and reading data is connected to the arithmetic unit 50.
The AM 57 stores a plurality of shot data. The shot data is data indicating a shooting position of a camera registered corresponding to each shot No. of the shot switch 36 in the above-described shot function,
After the shot registration switch 28 of the operation member 58 is turned on, the shot switch 3 of any shot No.
6 is turned on, the focus potentiometer 66A, the zoom potentiometer 66B, the tilt potentiometer 66C and the pan potentiometer 66D of the camera platform 10 are turned on.
Focus position input to the I / O unit 54 from
Shot data is created based on the zoom position, tilt position (tilting angle), and pan position (panning angle). Then, the shot data is registered in the RAM 57 as the shot data of the shot No designated by the shot switch 36. Note that the shot data registered in the RAM 57 can be erased by turning on the registration erase switch 34 at the time of this registration.

When the shot switch 36 of any one of the shot numbers is turned on while the shot registration switch 28 is off, the shot data corresponding to the shot number is read out from the RAM 57, and based on the shot data. A control signal for controlling the shooting position of the camera is created by the arithmetic unit 50. Then, the control signal is transmitted from the I / O unit 54 to the camera platform 10, and the drive system of the camera platform 10 and the camera is controlled based on the control signal.

On the other hand, the camera platform 10 is
The control signal output from the operation stick 20, the focus knob 22, and the zoom knob 24 of the
The control signal output from the O unit 54 is converted into an analog signal by the D / A converter 60, and the control signal is input to the servo amplifier 62. More specifically, the control signals include control signals for controlling a focus position, a zoom position, a pan position, and a tilt position of the camera. These control signals are parallel signals and correspond to the focus D / A converters 60A corresponding to each type. , Zoom D / A converter 60B, tilt D / A converter 60C, pan D / A
After being input to the converter 60D and converted into an analog signal, the focus servo amplifier 62 corresponding to each type
A, zoom servo amplifier 62B, tilt servo amplifier 6
2C, input to the pan servo amplifier 62D.

These servo amplifiers 62, ie, a focus servo amplifier 62A, a zoom servo amplifier 62B,
Tilt servo amplifier 62C and pan servo amplifier 62D
Are operated by the above control signals, and drive the drive motor of the focus mechanism 64A, the drive motor of the zoom mechanism 64B, the drive motor (pan motor) of the pan mechanism 64C, and the drive motor (tilt motor) of the tilt mechanism 64D, respectively.

As a result, the shooting position of the camera moves according to the control signal from the camera platform controller 12. Next, a shot function and a quick shot function mounted on the remote control head system will be described. The shot function is for automatically moving a camera to a shot (photographing position) registered in the RAM 57 in advance by pressing the shot switch 36 as described above. At this time, the focus position, the zoom position, the pan position, and the tilt position of the camera are controlled so that the movement operation (shot operation) ends in the operation time specified by the shot speed knob 38 of the operation member. That is, the operation time required from the start to the end of the shot operation can be set to a desired time by the user using the shot speed knob 38, and each of the camera focus, zoom, pan and tilt shooting operations is performed by the shot speed knob. The control is performed so that the operation ends at the same time in the operation time set at 38.

FIG. 5A is a diagram showing a locus of a control signal output from the arithmetic unit 50 to the camera platform 10 when the shot function is executed. The photographing position of the camera is moved from the photographing position A indicated by the vertical axis in the figure (the vertical axis indicates the photographing position of the camera instructed by the control signal to the camera platform 10) to the photographing position B by the shot function. If the horizontal axis of FIG. (horizontal axis indicates the time.) If the shot switch 36 at time t ₁ shown in is to be on-shot function is performed, knobs shot speed for the time t ₁ 38 Time t _{2 obtained} by adding the operation time set in
, Control signals are output to the camera platform 10 sequentially along a linearly changing trajectory as shown in FIG. This allows
The photographing position of the camera moves following the photographing position instructed by the control signal, and moves from the photographing position A to the photographing position B on a movement locus substantially coincident with the locus shown in FIG.

FIG. 5B is a diagram showing an example of a shot function having different control contents from the case of FIG. 5A.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a locus of a control signal of a shot function in which a shooting position of a camera is moved more smoothly than in the case of FIG. As shown in FIG.
There the vicinity of the turned-on time t _1, in the vicinity of the time t ₂ when the shot operation is completed, the control signal indicating a gradual change are outputted to the platform 10. This allows
The sudden start and stop of the shot operation are prevented, and the shooting position of the camera shows a smooth movement in the shot operation.

In the shot function, the end points of the focus, zoom, pan and tilt photographing operations of the camera during the shot operation are controlled so as to coincide with each other, and the operation time can be adjusted by the shot speed knob 38. Therefore, it is more suitable for use for the purpose of displaying an image of a shooting position during a shot operation than a shot operation by a quick shot function described later.

In contrast to such a shot function, the quick shot function turns on the quick shot switch 26 of the operation member 58 to set a quick shot mode, and when the shot switch 36 is turned on in the quick shot mode. The function to be executed is such that the shooting position of the camera is moved to the target shooting position in the shortest possible time without being controlled by the locus as shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B. is there. That is, in the quick shot function, as shown in FIG. 6A, when the shot switch 36 is turned on, regardless of the operation time set by the shot speed knob 38, the movement to the shooting position point B is immediately performed. The control signal shown is output to the camera platform 10. Thus, each photographing operation of the camera is performed at the maximum speed at which the drive system can drive. As a result, the shooting position of the camera is
Moving at the moving locus (B), the so reaches the photographing position point B to a time earlier t ₂ 'than the time t ₂ when the shot operation by the shot function is completed.

In the shot function, since the end points of the respective photographing operations (focus, zoom, pan and tilt) of the camera are controlled to coincide, the shot speed knob 38 is set to the maximum speed and the shot speed is set to the maximum speed. Even if the operation time of the operation is set to the shortest, the driving system is set to a moving speed with a margin slower than the maximum speed that can be driven originally considering the individual differences and temperature characteristics of the driving system such as the driving motor. You. In addition, the load applied to the drive system is set assuming the maximum load. However, in the case of the quick shot function, there is no need to match the end point of each shooting operation of the camera,
It is not necessary to take the above considerations into consideration so that each photographing operation can be performed at the maximum speed at which the drive system can originally drive, and the photographing position of the camera can be moved to the desired photographing position in the shortest time. Become.

Such a quick shot function is suitable, for example, when the photographing position of the camera is immediately moved to the photographing start position. The quick shot switch 26 can be turned on after the shot switch 36 is turned on. In this case, the quick shot switch is switched to the quick shot function during the shot operation of the shot function.

Next, the processing procedure of the arithmetic unit 50 when executing the shot function or the quick shot function will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, when the shot switch 36 of one of the shot numbers is turned on (step S10), the shot data corresponding to the shot number of the operated shot switch, that is, the shooting position, is read from the RAM 57, and the shot speed knob 38 The operation time set by (1) is read (step S12). Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the mode is the quick shot mode (step S1).
4). That is, it is determined whether or not the quick shot switch 26 is turned on. At this time, if it is off, control of the normal shot function is executed, and if it is on, control of the quick shot function is executed.

When executing the control of the shot function by determining that the quick shot switch 26 is turned off, first, focus, zoom, pan,
The trajectory of each shooting operation relating to tilt is calculated (step S15). Then, the control signal is output to the camera platform 10 while changing the control signal for the set operation time according to the calculated trajectory (step S16). Thereby, each drive system operates according to the control signal (step S17).
While each drive system is operating, the arithmetic unit 50 determines whether or not the quick shot switch 26 is turned on and the execution of the quick shot mode is instructed (step S1).
8). As a result, if it is determined as YES, step S
The process shifts to 20 to switch to control of the quick shot function. Thus, it is possible to switch to the operation of the quick shot function even during the shot operation.
If NO is determined in step S18, it is determined whether or not the shooting position of the camera indicated by the control signal has changed to a predetermined shooting position (memory position) registered in the RAM 57 (step S19), and YES is determined here. When the determination is made, the control of the shot function is terminated, and when the determination is NO, the processing from step S16 to step S19 is repeatedly executed.

On the other hand, when it is determined in step S14 that the quick shot switch 26 is ON and the control of the quick shot function is executed, a control signal indicating movement to the photographing position read from the RAM 56 in step S12 is transmitted. Output to the camera platform 10 (step S
20). As a result, each drive system operates at the highest speed in accordance with the control signal, and the shooting position of the camera immediately moves to the predetermined shooting position registered in the RAM 57 in the shortest time (step S22).

As described above, by mounting the shot function and the quick shot function, for example, when using a video during a shot operation, the shot function is executed,
When it is desired to quickly move the camera to the shooting start position, it is possible to perform suitable control according to the operation mode, such as executing a quick shot function.

In the above embodiment, the control of the shot function and the control of the quick shot function are switched by turning on / off the quick shot switch 26.
The present invention is not limited to this. For example, when the pressing operation of the shot switch 36 is performed for less than a predetermined time, the control of the normal shot function is performed, and when the shot switch 36 is pressed for more than a predetermined time, The control of the quick shot function may be performed.

In the above-described embodiment, the remote control pan head system which controls the focus position, the zoom position, the pan position and the tilt position as the photographing position of the camera by the shot function or the quick shot function has been described. The present invention can be applied even when the target to be controlled is different from the above embodiment.

[0034]

As described above, according to the remote control head system according to the present invention, the shot control for moving the shooting position of the camera to the shooting position registered in advance by controlling the movement trajectory and the shooting position of the camera are set. Movement at the maximum speed originally possessed by the drive system and quick shot control to move to the pre-registered shooting position in the shortest time can be selectively executed, so when using images during shot operation or during shot operation When the camera is to be moved to a predetermined photographing position earlier than the video, suitable head control can be performed according to the operation mode.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a remote control platform system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front perspective view of a camera platform controller.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a camera platform controller.

FIG. 4 is a system configuration diagram of a remote control pan head system;

FIGS. 5A and 5B are diagrams showing trajectories of control signals output from the pan head controller to the pan head during execution of the shot function.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are diagrams showing a trajectory of a control signal output from the pan head controller to the pan head and a trajectory of a shooting position of the camera when the quick shot function is executed.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure when executing a shot function or a quick shot function.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Remote control head (head) 12 ... Head controller 14 ... Housing 26 ... Quick shot switch 36 ... Shot switch 50 ... Calculation part 52 ... CPU 57 ... RAM

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A remote control head system for remotely controlling a shooting position of a camera mounted on a head by a remote controller, a storage means for storing a desired shooting position of the camera in advance, and moving the shooting position of the camera. Shot control means for controlling a trajectory to move the shooting position of the camera to the shooting position stored in the storage means; and quick shot control for moving the shooting position of the camera to the shooting position stored in the storage means in the shortest time Means, and an instruction means for instructing execution of the shot control means or the quick shot control means. 2. When the execution of the quick shot control means is instructed by the instruction means, the quick shot control means moves the drive system for driving the shooting position of the camera to the shooting position stored in the storage means. 2. The remote control pan head system according to claim 1, wherein a control signal for instructing is output immediately.