JP2001268409A - Video camera and video camera device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To pick up a zoomed-up object image and the peripheral image by one video camera. SOLUTION: A first camera unit 2 provided with a zoom lens 2a and a second camera unit 3 provided with a wide angle lens 3a are housed in the camera case 1 of one video camera and a zoom image picked up by the first camera unit 2 and a wide angle image picked up by the second camera unit 3 are simultaneously displayed on one monitor. In this case, it is preferable to display the wide angle image at one corner of the zoom image.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video camera in which two types of camera units having a zoom lens and a wide-angle lens are housed in a single camera case, and a video camera apparatus using the video camera.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, in a surveillance system using a video camera, a video camera is installed at a place to be monitored.
The subject image captured by the video camera is transmitted to a monitor and displayed on the monitor for monitoring.

[0003] In this case, a video camera is provided with a zoom device, which is usually monitored with a wide-angle image, and the image is zoomed up as necessary so that a specified subject can be monitored intensively.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional video camera, when the user zooms in to monitor the specified subject image intensively, it becomes impossible to capture an image of the surrounding area, and the surrounding area becomes blind spot. turn into. For this reason, the observer is sometimes forced to perform an operation of returning to the wide-angle image even during zoom-up, and the camera operation becomes complicated. Moreover, the surrounding blind spot cannot be monitored when zooming up.

To cope with this, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-2
As disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 10452, if images taken by a plurality of video cameras are combined and divided and displayed on a monitor, a wide-angle image and a zoom image can be simultaneously recognized. One video camera must be installed, which increases the equipment cost.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a video camera capable of simultaneously capturing both a wide-angle image and a zoom image with a single video camera, and which can be installed at almost the same equipment cost as the conventional one. And a video camera device.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a video camera according to the present invention comprises: a first camera unit having a zoom lens and first image pickup means disposed at an image forming position of the zoom lens; A second camera unit having a lens and a second imaging unit disposed at an image forming position of the wide-angle lens; and a camera case accommodating the first camera unit and the second camera unit. And

According to such a configuration, the first camera unit having the zoom lens and the second camera unit having the wide-angle lens are housed in the camera case of one video camera, so that space can be saved and the equipment can be saved. Cost reduction can be realized.

A video camera device according to the present invention includes the video camera and image synthesizing means for synthesizing an image signal from the first camera unit and an image signal from the second camera unit and displaying the image signal on a monitor. It is characterized by having.

According to such a configuration, an image captured through the zoom lens and an image captured through the wide-angle lens can be displayed on a single monitor. Meanwhile, it is possible to monitor a specific portion by zooming up with a zoom lens.

[0011] In the above video camera device,
Preferably, a zoom image based on the image signal from the first camera unit is displayed on the entire monitor, and a wide-angle image based on the image signal from the second camera unit is displayed in the zoom image. Can always be displayed in its entirety, eliminating blind spots.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a front view of a video camera,
FIG. 2 is a side view of the video camera, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the video camera device.

Reference numeral 1 in the figure denotes a camera case of a video camera for monitoring or the like. The camera case 1 accommodates two camera units, a first camera unit 2 and a second camera unit 3. The first camera unit 2 includes a zoom lens 2a and a CCD (CH) which is an example of a first imaging unit.
ARGE COUPLED DEVICE) 2b, and the second camera unit 3 includes a wide-angle lens 3a and a CCD 3b which is an example of a second imaging unit.

The zoom lens 2a is fixed substantially in the center of the front of the camera case 1, and the wide-angle lens 3a is fixed in parallel at the upper right of the drawing via a lens mount (not shown). The two CCDs 2b and 3b are fixed to the image forming positions of the lenses 2a and 3a.

Each of the camera units 2 and 3 has an image circuit 2c, 3c and an image storage circuit 2d, 3d as a signal processing system.
The image storage circuits 2d and 3d are connected to an image synthesizing circuit 4, and a monitor 5 is connected through the image synthesizing circuit 4. Note that the image synthesis circuit 4 may be built in the camera case 1 or may be externally connected.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment having the above configuration will be described. The video camera according to the present embodiment is installed, for example, as a surveillance camera, and includes a camera case 1.
The subject images collected by the zoom lens 2a of the first camera unit 2 and the wide-angle lens 3a of the second camera unit 3 are formed on the CCDs 2b and 3b and photoelectrically converted.

The image signals photoelectrically converted by the CCDs 2b and 3b are converted into image data by the image circuits 2c and 3c, and then sent to the image storage circuits 2d and 3d. Will be displayed.

The image synthesizing circuit 4 includes an image storage circuit 2d,
The image data sent from 3d is synthesized in a predetermined synchronized state, the zoom image taken by the first camera unit 2 is displayed on the monitor 5, and the second camera unit 3 The captured wide-angle image is superimposed and displayed.

As a result, the observer can simultaneously recognize the zoom image of the specific subject and the wide-angle image overlooking a wide area including the periphery thereof on one monitor 5. At this time, a cursor line 6 or the like indicating the center point or the like of the zoom image may be displayed on the wide-angle image.

As described above, in this embodiment, the first camera unit 2 having the zoom lens 2a and the second camera unit 3 having the wide-angle lens 3a are housed in one camera case 1, so that space can be saved. Is realized, and the equipment cost can be reduced.

The zoom image picked up by the first camera unit 2 and the wide-angle image picked up by the second camera unit 3 are displayed on one monitor 5, so that the first
A zoom-up image taken by the camera unit 2;
It is possible to simultaneously recognize an image of a wider area including the periphery, which is captured by the camera unit 3, which facilitates monitoring and eliminates blind spots.

In the composite image displayed on the monitor 5, a zoom image may be displayed at one corner of a wide-angle image, or a wide-angle image and a zoom image may be switched and displayed. Further, if necessary, only one of the images may be displayed on the entire monitor.

[0023]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the first case in which the camera case of one video camera includes a zoom lens is provided.
Since the camera unit and the second camera unit having the wide-angle lens are housed, space can be saved and equipment costs can be reduced.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the image captured by the zoom lens and the image captured by the wide-angle lens are displayed on a single monitor. An image in a wider area including the periphery can be simultaneously recognized, and when applied to a surveillance camera, monitoring becomes easy and blind spots can be eliminated.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the wide-angle image is always displayed without any loss, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a blind spot when applied to a surveillance camera.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a video camera.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a video camera.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a video camera device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 camera case 2 first camera unit 3 second camera unit 2a zoom lens 3a wide-angle lens 2b, 3b solid-state imaging device (first and second imaging means) 2c, 3c image circuit 2d, 3d image storage circuit 4 image synthesis circuit 5 monitor

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04N 7/18 H04N 7/18 EV (72) Inventor Takeshi Takeshi 6-10-17 Togoshi, Togoshi Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo No. In the Total Sound Stack Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Taku Furukawa 2-895, Shin Maruko Higashi 2-chome, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside (72) Inventor Tadanobu Kawamura 2-61 Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo No. 5 Esir KT501 Fara term of KARAI KOSAN CO., LTD.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A first camera unit having a zoom lens and a first image pickup unit disposed at an image forming position of the zoom lens, a wide-angle lens and a second image pickup unit disposed at an image forming position of the wide-angle lens. A video camera, comprising: a second camera unit having: a first camera unit; and a camera case that houses the first camera unit and the second camera unit. 2. The video camera according to claim 1, further comprising: an image synthesizing unit that synthesizes an image signal from the first camera unit and an image signal from the second camera unit and displays the synthesized image signal on a monitor. A video camera device characterized by the above-mentioned. 3. A zoom image based on an image signal from the first camera unit is displayed on the entire monitor, and a wide-angle image based on an image signal from the second camera unit is displayed in the zoom image. The video camera device according to claim 2.