GB2076252A

GB2076252A - Video interphone station

Info

Publication number: GB2076252A
Application number: GB8111612A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: NIPPON INTERPHONE CO Ltd; Tokyo Electronic Industry Co Ltd
Current assignee: NIPPON INTERPHONE CO Ltd; Tokyo Electronic Industry Co Ltd
Priority date: 1980-04-14
Filing date: 1981-04-13
Publication date: 1981-11-25
Also published as: DE3113996A1; JPS56152451U

Abstract

A remote station, which may be located at a door of a house, is provided with a television camera for use with a master station, which may be located in the house, of an inter-communication system. The remote station comprises a housing having at least a front panel. The television camera has a rod shaped pick-up tube which is located in the housing with its longitudinal axis parallel to the front panel of the housing. A window, formed in the front panel, receives light from an object or visitor. This light is reflected, by a reflector within the housing, onto the pick-up tube whereby a video signal, e.g. of the visitor, is supplied to a monitor television receiver of the master station. Thus, a person near the master station can watch the image of the visitor, reproduced on the monitor television receiver, whilst communicating with the visitor through the inter-communication system. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Remote station The present invention relates generally to a remote station for use with a master station of an interphone system and is directed, more particularly, to a remote station for use with a master station of an interphone system; a pick-up tube of a television camera being incorporated in the remote station.

In general, an interphone system includes a master station and one or more remote stations connected to the master station, whereby inter-communication or conversation is possible between the master and remote stations. When the remote station of the interphone system is installed near the entrance of a house, the interphone system is generally called a door-phone system. A door-phone system may be used to announce the arrival of a visitor to a person in the house and also to ascertain the identity of the visitor. As almost all interphone system which are widely used at present are only for conversation between the remote and master stations, the identity of a visitor can only be ascertained thereby through conversation. Clearly, it is desirable to ascertain the identity of a visitor by his face and figure in addition to his voice.

Whilst it is known to provide a television camera at the entrance or gate of a house, the camera is separate from an interphone system and the video signal is received by an ordinary television receiver located in the house.

Moreover, in such a case, the existence of the television camera is easily noticed by the visitor and this is undesirable.

The present invention seeks to provide a novel remote station for use with a master station of an interphone system, wherein a television camera is incorporated in a housing in the remote station, and wherein the remote station can be made compact in size and attractive in appearance.

According to the present invention, a remote station is provided with a television camera for use with a master station of an inter-communication system, said remote station comprising: (a) a housing which includes at least a front panel; (b) a window formed through said front panel; (c) a rod-shaped pick-up tube of a television camera which is disposed within said housing in such a manner that the longitudinal direction of said pick-up tube is parallel to said front panel; and (d) a reflector disposed within said housing between said window and said pick-up tube so as to reflect light from an object received by said window onto said pick-up tube.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a front view showing an example of the remote station for use with a master station of an interphone system; Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view on the line Il-Il in Fig. 1; Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view of a remote station of an interphone system which is used to explain an advantage; Figure 4 is a front view of a master station to which the remote station is coupled; and Figure 5 is its side view.

Turning to Figs. 1 and 2, an example of the remote station for use with a master station of an interphone system according to the present invention which may be installed at a desired position, for example, the entrance of a house, will be described. In the figures, 1 generally designates a housing of the remote station made of, for example, plastics, aluminum or the like which consists of a front plate or panel 2, a back plate 3, an upper plate 4, a lower plate 5, a right side plate 6a and a left side plate 6b.

Within the housing 1 located is a television camera whose pick-up tube 7 is made to be of, for example, a rod-shape. In this case, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the longitudinal axis of the rod-shape pick-up tube 7 is arranged in parallel to the surface of the front panel 2 or back plate 3 (or both side plates 6a and 6b) in the vertical direction.

In the example of the invention shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the pick-up tube 7 of the television camera is so disposed that its target screen or light receiving screen 7a is positioned upwords or the pick-up tube 7 of the rod-shape is located to be extended in the vertical derection with its target screen 7a upwards.

A window 8 is formed through the front panel 2 of the housing 1 near its upper portion or at the position above the target screen 7a of the pick-up tube 7, and a transparent or glass plate 9, which may serve as a lens, is necessary, is engaged to the window 8. A reflector such as a mirror 10 is located within the fousing 1 in front of the window 8 or transparent plate 9, and a standard lens 11 is located in the light path between, for example, the mirror 10 and the target screen 7a of the pick-up tube 7. Thus, the light incident on the mirror 10 from the outside of the housing 1 through the transparent plate 9 is reflected on the mirror 10 and focussed on the target screen 9a of the pickup tube 7 through the standard lens 11.That is, an object such as a visitor (not shown in the figures), who stands, for example, in front of the window 8 or transparent plate 9, is picked up by the pick-up tube 7 of television camera through the optical system including the mirror 10, standard lens 11 and so on.

The video signal of the object from the pickup tube 7 is transmitted through a cable to a television receiver provided in a master station described later and reproduced thereon as an image of the object or visitor. Thus, the object or visitor is watched by a person near the master station or the television receiver provided therein.

As shown by the broken lines in Fig. 1, a well known interphone system including a microphone 12, a speaker 13, a call push button 14 and so on necessary for the interphone system is provided, which is connected to those provided in the master station described later. Thus, when a visitor operates the call button 14 of the remote station, a calling sound such as a chime is sounded in the master station and he can of course communicate with a person in the house of near the master station through the interphone equipments. At this time, it is possible that the television camera or pick-up tube 7 is automatically made ON when the visitor pushes the call button 14 or the person in the house operates the monitor button of the master station to make the television camera ON.Then, the television camera supplies the video signal of the visitor in front of the window 8 to the television or monitor receiver installed in the master station so that the person in the house can watch or monitor the image of the visitor on the screen of the television receiver in addition to the conversation with the visitor, if desired.

In Fig. 2, 1 5 designates lamps for irradiating an object such as a visitor to be picked up by the television camera. That is, when the visitor pushes the call button 14, the lamps 1 5 are lit at the same time.

According to the present invention, since the pick-up tube 7 of the television camera which is of the rod-shape, is disposed within the housing 1 in such a manner that the longitudinal direction of the pick-up tube 7 is in parallel to the surface of the front panel 2 or back plate 3 as set forth above, a depth W of the housing 1 can be selected small enough as shown in Fig. 2.

On the contrary, if the rod-shaped pick-up tube 7 of the television camera is disposed in the housing 1 in such a manner that its longitudinal direction is perpendicular to the front panel 2 of the housing 1 as shown in Fig. 3, the housing 1 requires a very large depth W', which is poor in appearance.

While, according to the present invention, such disadvantage can be avoided. In Fig. 3, reference numerals same as those used in Figs. 1 and 2 designate the same elements and parts and hence their explanation will be omitted.

Now, and example of the master station, which is installed in the house and to which the remote station of this invention is connected as set froth above, will be briefly described with reference to Figs. 4 and 5. In the figures, reference numeral 20 designates the master station generally. The master station 20 includes in its housing 21 a monitor television receiver 22 whose picture screen 22A can be seen from the outside of the housing 21. In the figures, 23 designates a handset for communicating with the visistor.

Through a front panel 21A of the housing 21, protruded are a monitor button 24, a free lock button 25, a brightness adjusting knob 26 for the monitor television receiver 22, and an exchange button or switch 27 of day and night. Since the master station 20 has no direct relation to the present invention, it will be described simply. When the monitor button 24 is pressed down, the picture picked up by the television camera in the remote station is reproduced on the picture screen 22A of the monitor television receiver 22. The brightness of the picture screen 22A can be adjusted by operating the knob 26. And, if the button 27 is changed over, the lamp 1 5 in the remote station is changed over for illuminating an object to be picked up by the television camera with proper state.

As described above, according to the present invention, the television camera or its pick-up tube 7 can be disposed in the housing 1 of the remote station without increasing its depth W or in the housing of an ordinary door-phone without varying the size thereof.

In the example of the invention shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the pick-up tube 7 is positioned in the vertical direction and hence the housing 1 is installed long in the vertical direction. It is, of course, possible that the pick-up tube 7 is positioned in the horizontal direction and hence the housing 1 is installed long in the horizontal direction.

Further, it may be of course possible that the mirror 10 is replaced by a prism or the like with the same effect.

Although the above description is given on a single preferred embodiment of the present invention, it will be apparent that many modifications and variations could be effected by one skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A remote station provided with a television camera for use with a master station of an inter communication system, said remote station comprising: a) a housing which includes at least a front panel; b) a window formed through said front panel; c) a rod-shaped pick-up tube of a television camera which is disposed within said housing in such a manner that the longitudinal direction of said pick-up tube is parallel to said front panel; and d) a reflector disposed within said housing between said window and said pick-up tube so as to reflect light from an object received by said window onto said pick-up tube.

2. A remote station as claimed in claim 1, in which said reflector is a mirror.

3. A remote station as claimed in claim 1, in which said reflector is a prism.

4. A remote station as claimed in claim 1, further comprising an optical lens between said reflector and said pick-up tube.

5. A remote station as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a light source in said housing for irradiating said object.

6. A remote station as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a light source for irradiating a visual field of said television camera.

7. A remote station as claimed in claim 1 further comprising means for making said remote and master stations operative.

8. A remote station provided with a television camera for use with a master station of an intercommunication system substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.