JP3413573B2 - TV camera remote control - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a remote control device for a television camera in which various functions such as pan and tilt of the television camera are operated by remote control. is there. [0002] Conventionally, weather information, images from above,
In order to obtain a video conference image and the like, indoors and outdoors, a television camera supported by a pan head is installed in various places such as a ceiling portion, and a photographing position by this television camera, for example, a pan driving means arranged in a pan head, 2. Description of the Related Art There is known a remote control device of a television camera in which a pan and tilt operation by a tilt drive unit, a zoom operation and a focus operation of a television camera, and the like are provided so as to be remotely controllable and operated by an operator from a remote position. [0003] In addition, regarding remote control of the television camera, the operating states of functions such as pan, tilt, zoom, and focus at a specific shooting position (shot) are set and stored in advance, and from the current shooting position. A technique for controlling the movement of each function when automatically changing to the stored photographing position is known as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 58-6163. However, when the above-described shooting position is automatically moved to a preset target position, the angle of view at the start position is not constant, The moving speed of the upper subject differs according to the angle of view. When the zoom operation is performed simultaneously during the movement from the current position, the moving speed of the image differs according to the zoom, and the pan and tilt move at the same speed. However, if the zoom is telephoto and the angle of view is small, the speed at which the subject moves on the shooting screen increases, and if the speed of movement of the shot image becomes excessive, the observer may feel uncomfortable. Have. Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and when the moving speed of a photographed image is excessive when moving the photographing position,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a remote control device for a television camera capable of switching the display of the moving image. In order to achieve the above object, a remote control apparatus for a television camera according to the present invention has a basic configuration as shown in FIG. The pan head 4 is installed on the platform 4 so as to be capable of panning and tilting. The pan head 4 is provided with a pan driving unit 6 for performing panning by turning the television camera 1 and a tilt driving unit 7 for performing tilting by tilting up and down. The zoom lens 3 is provided with a zoom drive unit 8 for performing zooming and a focus drive unit 9 for performing focusing. Further, control signals are output from the drive control unit 11 to the drive units 6 to 9 of these functions. , The respective stop positions and drive speeds are controlled. Further, an image photographed by the television camera 1 is displayed on a display means 15 such as a monitor television via a switching means 14 described later. On the other hand, a shot storage means 12 for storing position information of each function at a specific photographing position is provided in advance, and the driving control means 11 controls the driving means 6 to 6 based on a signal of the shot storage means 12. Control 9;
It controls the transition from the current shooting position to the target position. Further, an image storage means 13 such as a frame memory for storing a photographed image of the television camera 1 is provided, and the photographed image at the start of the transition or an arbitrary photographed image is stored in the image memory means 13. Then, in the transition of the photographing position to the target position stored in the shot storage unit 12, during the transition, the switching unit 14 is driven according to the operation of the changeover switch or the determination of the moving speed, and the image on the display unit 15 is displayed. Then, control for switching to the memory image stored in the image storage means 13 is performed. The switching to the memory image is performed in accordance with the operation of the changeover switch or set so as to be automatically switched when the moving speed of the photographed image is higher than a predetermined condition. [0010] The above function is the above 4
Not limited to the type, for example, a height function for moving the television camera up and down is also conceivable, and the number of functions to be controlled is increased or decreased as needed. In the above-described remote control device for a television camera, the television camera can remotely control the change of the photographing position by operating the driving means of each function such as pan, tilt, etc. In order to obtain an image at the position, position information of each function at the shooting position is registered in the shot storage means. Then, when shifting from the current shooting position to the target position stored in the shot storage means, the drive means for each function is driven at a set speed or the maximum speed. If the image is uncomfortable, the image displayed on the display means is stored in the image storage means by the switching means in accordance with the operation of the changeover switch or the determination of the moving speed so that the moving image is not displayed on the display means. This is to switch to a memory image that has already been stored. Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 shows the overall configuration of the remote control device for a television camera according to this embodiment. The television camera 1 comprises a camera body 2 and a zoom lens 3. The camera body 2 is supported by a pan head 4 capable of panning in a turning direction and tilting in a vertical tilting direction. The camera platform 4 is mounted on a fixed portion by a tripod 5 or the like. The pan and tilt operations of the camera platform 4 are provided so as to be driven by servo motors 42 and 43 (FIG. 3) described later. Similarly, zoom and focus operations of the zoom lens 3 of the television camera 1 are provided so as to be driven by servo motors 44 and 45 (FIG. 3) described later. Then, the pan, tilt, zoom,
The focus operation is configured so that remote control can be performed based on an operation of the controller 10 by an operator.
The camera platform 4 of the TV camera 1 and the controller 10 are connected by communication means such as a cable 21 (analog signal), and a telephone line or the like may be used as the communication means. The operating members of the controller 10 will be described. A focus knob 22, a zoom switch 23, and a joystick 24 are provided for performing normal zoom, focus, pan, and tilt operations of the television camera 1. The focus knob 22 is a rotary operation member.
This is for adjusting the focus far. The zoom switch 23 is of a seesaw type. The swing switch operates a potentiometer 35 (FIG. 3) to perform wide-angle / telephoto zoom adjustment. The joystick 24 is a rod-shaped operating member capable of tilting left and right and up and down. The left and right tilts operate a pan potentiometer 36 (FIG. 3) to perform left and right pan adjustments, and the vertical tilt allows tilting. The upper and lower tilts are adjusted by operating the potentiometer 37 (FIG. 3). The zoom switch 23
And each potentiometer 35 to 37 of the joystick 24
Is provided in a structure that returns to the neutral position when the operation of the operation member is released. On the upper part of the controller 10, a number of shot switches 25 and a memo switch 26 for writing are arranged. The shot switch 25 and the memo switch 26 are provided in an on / off push button type.
When the memo switch 26 is depressed once and turned on when in the writing mode, the shot switch 25 records the position information of the pan, tilt, zoom and focus at that time, that is, the data of the photographing position at a predetermined address. In addition, when the switch is turned on in a mode other than the write mode, the position information recorded at the predetermined address is read out, and functions as the above-described shot storage unit 12. Further, a speed indicating knob 27 is provided, and the speed indicating knob 27 is configured as a rotary encoder.
An instruction of the speed of moving from the current position to the target photographing position is issued, and the contents of the instruction are taken when the shot switch 25 is turned on in a state other than the writing mode. In addition, the controller 10 is provided with a time display unit 28. The time display unit 28 displays a time (remaining time) for shifting from the current position to the target position. On the other hand, the controller 10 is connected to a monitor television 15 (display means) via a cable 15a at its video output terminal, and outputs a video signal. The controller 10 has a built-in frame memory 13 (see FIG. 3) and a video signal switch 29 (see FIG. 3) as an image memory for storing a captured image of the television camera 1, and the video signal switch 29. In response to the switching operation, the current photographed image by the television camera 1 or the memory image stored in the frame memory 13 is selectively displayed. The controller 10 has a changeover switch 17 for setting whether or not to switch to a memory image during the transition, and a selection switch 18 for setting the time to be stored in the frame memory 13 as the image at the start of the transition. A manual memory switch 16 for storing a photographed image in an arbitrary photographing state in the frame memory 13 is provided. Selector switch 17
When the switch is turned on, an instruction to switch to the memory image is issued during the transition to the target position.
Is turned on, an instruction to store the captured image at the start of the shift to the target position is issued, and the memory image of the frame memory 13 is updated at the start of the shift. When the selection switch 18 is turned off, the memory image stored by operating the manual memory switch 16 is held. FIG. 3 shows a schematic configuration of the controller. The controller 10 has a built-in CPU 30 for performing arithmetic processing, a RAM 31 (battery backup), and a ROM.
32 is connected by a data bus 33, and signals (voltages) of the potentiometers 35 to 37 operated by the zoom switch 23 and the joystick 24 are input via an A / D converter 34. Similarly, an I / O port The signal of the rotary encoder 39 operated by the focus knob 22 via 38, the signal of the shot switch 25, the signal of the memo switch 26, the instruction signal of the speed instruction knob 27, and the changeover switch 17,
The signal of the selection switch 18 is input, and the time display section 28 (LE
D or LCD), and a switching signal is output from the I / O port 38 to the video signal switch 29.
The frame memory 13 has a memory update switch 19.
The memory update switch 19 outputs a memory rewrite signal from the I / O port 38. The manual memory switch 16 is connected in parallel with the memory update switch 19. On the input side, the video signal switch 29 has an image signal from the television camera 1 and a frame memory 13.
Image signal from the TV 15
Are normally connected, an image signal from the TV camera 1 is output to the monitor TV 15 side, an image signal from the frame memory 13 is output to the monitor TV 15 when a switching signal is output, and a TV camera It is configured to return to the image signal from 1. Further, the CPU 30 has a D / A converter 41.
, A control signal, specifically a position signal, is output to the pan driving means 6, the tilt driving means 7 of the camera platform 4, and the zoom driving means 8 and the focus driving means 9 of the zoom lens 3. Servo motors 42 to 45 are installed in the respective driving means 6 to 9 to operate respective driving members to perform pan, tilt, zoom and focus operations, and the respective operation positions are used for position detection. Detected by potentiometers 46-49. Then, the position command signal from the D / A converter 41 and the position detection signals from the position detection potentiometers 46 to 49 are input to the position servo amplifiers 51 to 54, and the servo motors 42 to 45 are set so that they match. Is performed. The remote control of the photographing position of the television camera 1 by the arithmetic processing of the CPU 30 will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. In FIG. 4, after the control is started upon power-on, initialization is performed in step S1, and the on / off state of the memo switch 26 is read (S2). Then, in step S3, it is determined whether or not the memo switch 26 has been turned on. If this determination is NO, the process directly proceeds to step S5. If the determination is YES and the memo switch 26 is turned on, After setting the writing mode in step S4, the process proceeds to step S5. In step S5, the on / off state of the shot switch 25 is read. In step S6, it is determined whether the shot switch 25 has been turned on. When the determination is NO in which the shot switch 25 is in the OFF state, the operation states of the joystick 24, the focus knob 22, and the zoom switch 23 are captured from the signals of the potentiometers 35 to 37 and the rotary encoder 39 in step S7, and the operation amount is determined. The data is converted into function position data and added to the current position (S8), and the updated current position signal is output to the position servo amplifiers 51 to 54 of the driving means 6 to 9 via the D / A converter 41 (S8).
9) If there is a deviation from the position detection signals from the position detection potentiometers 46 to 49, the servo motors 42 to 45 are driven so as to match the positions of the input signals, and pan and tilt driving by operating the joystick 24 is performed. , And focus and zoom driving by operating the focus knob 22 and the zoom switch 23 are performed in accordance with the respective manual operation amounts. On the other hand, if the determination in step S6 is YES and any one of the shot switches 25 is turned on, it is determined whether or not the writing mode is set in step S10.
That is, it is determined whether or not the memo switch 26 has been turned on.
The current position of the pan, tilt, zoom, and focus (position detection potentiometers 46 to 49) is stored in the memory address corresponding to the number of the shot switch 25 that was turned on in step 11.
After writing the position information input to the D / A converter 41 based on the signal of (1), the write mode is released (S
12). Subsequently, if the determination in step S10 is NO and only the shot switch 25 is turned on without being in the write mode, the process proceeds to step S13 in FIG. 5 to determine whether or not the changeover switch 17 is turned on. When it is determined that the changeover switch 17 has not been turned ON, the process proceeds to step S18 without performing switching to the memory image during the transition. On the other hand, if the determination in step S13 is YES and the changeover switch 17 is on, the changeover flag G is set to 1 in step S14, and then the selection switch 18 is turned on in step S15. It is determined whether or not it has been performed. If this determination is YES and the selection switch 18 has been turned on, a memory rewrite signal is output to the memory update switch 19 in order to register the current captured image of the television camera 1 in the frame memory 13 in step S16. Then, in step S17, a switching signal is output to the video image switch 29 to switch the image to be output to the monitor television 15, and the television camera 1
Is to display the memory image stored in the frame memory 13 from the image signal obtained by the above. At this time, the selection switch
When the switch 18 is turned on, the memory image at the start of the transition stored in step S16 is displayed. When the selection switch 18 is turned off (NO in step S15), a manual memory By operating the switch 16, the memory image stored in the frame memory 13 is displayed. Next, the process proceeds to step S18, where the memory (RAM) corresponding to the number of the shot switch 25 that has been turned on is
The information of the target position of pan, tilt, zoom and focus written in the address of 31) is read and assigned to Am, and in step S19, the information of the current position of each function is fetched and assigned to An. Then, the current position An is subtracted from the target position Am of each function to calculate the respective movement amount D (S20), and a function M having the maximum movement amount is selected in step S21. The selection of the function with the maximum movement amount is specifically performed as shown in the routine of FIG. In steps S40 to S43, the target position Pm of each function
FFm and the current position Pn〜Fn, that is, the movement amount Pd〜Fd.In this case, since the movement amount in each function cannot be simply compared, the coefficients K1〜K4 in consideration of the maximum movement speed and the like. To unify the comparison levels. Then, in step S44, the pan movement amount Pd and the tilt movement amount Td are compared to determine whether or not the tilt movement amount Td is large.
At the time of S determination, T is written into the maximum function M (S
47) The tilt movement amount Td is written in the maximum movement amount Dmax (S48). On the other hand, when the determination is NO, that is, when the pan movement amount Pd is large, P is written in the maximum function M (S4).
5) The pan movement amount Pd is written in the maximum movement amount Dmax (S4).
6). Subsequently, at step S49, the maximum movement amount D
It is determined whether or not max is smaller than the zoom movement amount Zd.
If the zoom movement amount Zd is large in S determination, step S
At 50, Z is written to the maximum function M, and the zoom movement amount Zd is written to the maximum movement amount Dmax (S51).
The process proceeds to step S52 together with the judgment of O, and the maximum movement amount Dma
It is determined whether or not x is smaller than the focus movement amount Fd.
If the focus movement amount Fd is large in the ES determination, F is written in the maximum function M in step S53, and finally the maximum in step S25 is determined by the function names P, T, Z, and F written in the maximum function M. Select the function that will be the amount of movement. In step S22 in FIG. 6, the instruction value V of the moving speed is obtained from the operating position of the speed indicating knob 27. Based on the instruction speed V, the moving amount Mm of the function of the maximum moving amount is determined in step S23. -Mn is divided by the designated speed V to calculate the travel time t, and the travel time t
Is displayed on the time display section 28 (S24). Step S
Movement amount of each function according to the above movement time t at 25
The amount of movement per unit time is calculated by dividing Am-An, added to each current position An, and updated as a new current position An. Next, in step S26, the elapse of the unit time t = 1 (for example, several msec to several tens msec) is waited for in synchronization with the update timer, and when the unit time has elapsed, the process proceeds to step S27 to update the updated current position signal. The signals are output to the D / A converter 41, and based on this signal, the position servo amplifiers of the driving units 6 to 9 are output.
The position signals are input to 51 to 54, and the servo motors 42 to 45 are driven by comparison with the position detection signals.
It is determined whether or not the target position has been reached, and the processes in steps S26 to S31 are repeated until the target position is reached, the current position is updated, the servo motors 42 to 45 are driven, and the shot switch 25 registered in advance is used. It is driven to stop at the corresponding shooting position at the same time. Then, the determination in step S28 is YES
When the movement to the target position is completed, it is determined in step S29 whether or not the switching flag G is set to 1. If this determination is YES and the image has been switched to the memory image, then in step S30 A return switch signal is output to the video signal switch 29, and the switch 29, which has been switched to the memory image signal side from the frame memory 13, is switched to return to the television camera side. In step S31, the switch flag G is set. This is reset to 0 and terminated. According to the above-described embodiment, when moving the image from the current position to the target position, the operator instructs the moving speed by the speed indicating knob 27, and based on the indicated speed, the position of the current position is determined. Even if the video moves to the target position at a predetermined speed and moves in as short a time as possible, and when moving while requiring the video in the middle, only a simple speed instruction The desired operation can be obtained by the above operation. In this case, the time required for the transition is displayed on the time table 28 and recognized by the operator, and the operability is further improved. Further, in response to the operation of the changeover switch 17 and the selection switch 18, at the time of transition, the immediately preceding image stored in the frame memory 13 or the previously stored image is replaced with the moving image of the moving television camera. This is displayed on the monitor TV 15 to avoid display of an uncomfortable moving image. In the above embodiment, even when the image is switched, control is performed so that the movement of each function is completed simultaneously. However, when this photographed image is not displayed on the monitor television 15, The function may be moved at the maximum speed of the function described above, and the present invention is also applicable to a device that does not originally have a control to end the movement at the same time. The switching to the memory image may be automatically performed when the moving speed of the photographed image is faster than a predetermined state. For example, the transition time to the target position is calculated, the current angle of view and the transition speed to the target position are read, and the transition time is longer than a predetermined value and the video moving speed is faster than the predetermined state from the angle of view and the transition speed. And control is performed to switch to the memory image. According to the present invention as described above, when the television camera is moved from the current shooting position to the target shot position stored in advance when the video moving speed is faster than a predetermined state, etc. According to the operation of the changeover switch or the determination of the moving speed, during the transition to the target position, the display image of the image taken by the television camera is switched to the memory image of the image storage means, so that the moving speed is changed. Can prevent the display of a moving image that is quickly uncomfortable.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a basic configuration diagram for clearly showing the configuration of a television camera remote control device of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an overall configuration diagram of a television camera remote control device showing a specific example. 3 is a circuit diagram showing a schematic configuration of the controller. FIGS. 4 to 7 are flowcharts of main parts for explaining processing of the controller. [Description of References] 1 TV camera 3 Zoom lens 4 Pan head 6 Pan driving means 7 Tilt driving Means 8 Zoom drive means 9 Focus drive means 10 Controller 11 Drive control means 12 Shot storage means 13 Image storage means 14 Switching means 15 Display means (monitor television) 16 Manual memory switch 17 Switching switch 18 Selection switch 25 Shot switch 29 Video signal switching vessel

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 5/232 H04N 7/15 H04N 7/18

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] [Claim 1] Each driving means for driving each function such as pan and tilt of a television camera is provided, and position information of each function at a specific shooting position is stored in advance. A remote control device for a television camera, comprising: a shot storage unit for controlling the operation of each of the drive units by a drive control unit from a current shooting position to a target position recorded in the shot storage unit; An image storage means for storing an image taken by the television camera at the start or at any time of the shift to the target position stored in the camera, and an operation of the changeover switch during the shift to the target position stored in the shot storage means or Switching the image displayed on the display means from the current image captured by the television camera to the memory image stored in the image storage means according to the determination of the moving speed A remote control device for a television camera, comprising: