JP2004128626A - Video doorphone - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a video doorphone which photographs a sharp color video image even in a dark outside a door such as at night without the need for using a white LED. <P>SOLUTION: When a visitor presses a call button switch 12, a ring of a master unit rings to make a speech available between the master unit and the slave unit, a lightness sensor 3 detects the lightness around the slave unit, does not light up a blue LED 5 and a yellow LED 6 when the lightness is a prescribed lightness or over, and lights up the blue LED 5 and the yellow LED 6 when the lightness is less than the prescribed lightness. The blue light and the yellow light emitted from the blue LED 5 and the yellow LED 6 are diffused through a diffusion plate 7 and mixed with each other to light up an object such as the visitor. Then a camera 2 photographs the object such as the visitor and a display apparatus of the master unit displays the color video image. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a video door phone, and more particularly to a video door phone including a child device having a camera for capturing a color image and a master device for receiving a signal from the camera and displaying a color image on a display device.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, in addition to calling and calling functions, TV doorphones have been used that have the function of displaying color images taken by the camera of the child device placed outside the door on the monitor of the parent device installed indoors. ing. In such a TV door phone, a white LED (light emitting diode) is attached to the slave unit as a camera illumination, and by illuminating the white LED to illuminate a subject such as a visitor, the periphery of the slave unit such as at night is dark. In this case, a clear color image can be captured (for example, see Patent Documents 1 and 2).
[0003]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-10-243381 [Patent Document 2]
JP 10-336637 A
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, the white LED used as a camera illumination in the above-mentioned TV door phone is expensive, and the manufacturing cost of the entire TV door phone has been increased accordingly.
The present invention has been made in order to solve such a problem, and provides a television doorphone capable of shooting a clear color image even when the outside of a door is dark, such as at night, without using a white LED. The purpose is to:
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The video doorphone according to the present invention is a video doorphone including a slave unit having a camera for capturing a color image and a master unit for receiving a signal from the camera and displaying a color image on a display device. And a plurality of LEDs that emit light of different colors from each other.
It is preferable that some or all of the plurality of LEDs are also used as indicator lights for displaying specific information. In this case, the indicator lights for displaying the specific information are a power-on indicator, an operating indicator, and a fault indicator. It can be any of a light and an alarm indicator light or any combination thereof.
Further, the plurality of LEDs are preferably configured by a combination of a blue LED and a yellow LED or a yellow-red LED, or a combination of a blue LED, a green LED and a red LED, and a diffusion plate is attached in front of the plurality of LEDs. It is preferable that a plurality of LEDs are arranged near the camera.
Further, it is more preferable that the slave unit further includes a brightness sensor, and that the slave unit controls lighting of the plurality of LEDs in accordance with the brightness detected by the sensor.
[0006]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The video door phone according to the embodiment has a master unit arranged indoors and a slave unit arranged outside the door. FIG. 1 is a front view showing a slave unit of the television door phone. The slave unit has a box-shaped main body 1, and this main body 1 has a front plate 1a that can be freely opened and closed.
[0007]
An imaging unit A and an illumination unit B are formed adjacent to each other on an upper part of the front plate 1a of the main body 1. A camera 2 that captures a color image of a subject such as a visitor is attached to the imaging unit A, and a brightness sensor 3 including a CDS element or the like is disposed near the camera 2. In addition, a transparent glass plate 4 for protecting the camera 2 and the brightness sensor 3 is disposed in front of the imaging unit A, that is, in front of the camera 2 and the brightness sensor 3.
On the other hand, a blue LED 5 and a yellow LED 6 are provided adjacent to the illumination unit B as illumination of the camera 2, and a diffusion plate made of ground glass or the like is provided in front of the illumination unit B, ie, in front of the two-color LEDs 5 and 6. 7 are arranged.
[0008]
Further, as shown by broken lines, a speaker 8 and a microphone 9 are arranged inside the main body 1, and a front plate 1 a of the main body 1 has a speaker hole 10 and a microphone hole 11 at portions corresponding to the speaker 8 and the microphone 9, respectively. Is formed. The speaker hole 10 has a shape in which a plurality of grooves formed in the front plate 1 a of the main body 1 are cut off at the standing wall portions, and is formed in a range corresponding to the size of the speaker 8. A call button switch 12 having a circular external shape is attached to a lower portion of the speaker hole 10. The plurality of grooves in which the speaker holes 10 are formed are formed in an arc shape centering on the call button switch 12, and are excellent in design, and even if water drops adhere, the water drops enter the speaker holes 10. It has a shape that flows down to both ends without doing so. In the microphone hole 11, although not shown, a slight step is provided in the groove to prevent water droplets from entering.
The camera 2, the speaker 8, the microphone 9, and the call button switch 12 are each electrically connected to a master unit (not shown).
[0009]
Further, in the vicinity of the call button switch 12, a power indicator light 13 made of a green LED and a warning indicator light 14 made of a red LED are arranged adjacent to each other. The status is displayed, and the warning indicator lamp 14 blinks when a fire is detected. As shown by the broken line, a connection terminal 15 for performing an external test of the alarm indicator 14 is disposed inside the main body 1 behind a call button switch 12 provided on the front panel 1a of the main body 1. The external test can be performed by opening the call button switch 12 to the front and connecting an external tester (not shown) to the connection terminal 15.
[0010]
Next, the operation of the TV door phone according to this embodiment will be described. When the visitor presses the call button switch 12, the bell of the master unit rings and a call can be made between the master unit and the slave unit. At the same time, the brightness around the slave unit is detected by the brightness sensor 3, and the blue LED 5 and the yellow LED 6, which are the illumination of the camera 2, are controlled to be lit based on the brightness. That is, when the brightness around the slave unit detected by the brightness sensor 3 is equal to or higher than the predetermined brightness, the blue LED 5 and the yellow LED 6 are not turned on, while the slave unit detected by the brightness sensor 3 is not turned on. When the surrounding brightness is less than the predetermined brightness, the blue LED 5 and the yellow LED 6 are turned on. Here, the blue light and the yellow light emitted from the blue LED 5 and the yellow LED 6 are diffused and mixed with each other by passing through the diffusion plate 7 to illuminate a subject such as a visitor. Then, a subject such as a visitor is photographed by the camera 2, and the color image is transmitted to the parent device and displayed on the display device of the parent device.
In addition, when the brightness around the slave unit is less than the predetermined brightness, the lighting may be performed by changing the current flowing to the blue LED 5 and the yellow LED 6 according to the brightness. The current may be supplied according to the stage.
[0011]
Since the blue LED 5 and the yellow LED 6 are simply provided as illumination of the camera 2 as described above, the blue light emitted from the blue LED 5 and the yellow light emitted from the yellow LED 6 can be mixed to illuminate the subject. Even when the outside of the door is dark, it is possible to shoot clear color images.
[0012]
Since the light is diffused by the diffusion plate 7 disposed in front of the blue LED 5 and the yellow LED 6, the light emitted from the blue LED 5 and the light emitted from the yellow LED 6 are easily mixed. In addition, the diffusion plate 7 prevents the strong light from being irradiated only to the front of each LED, and as a result, it becomes possible to uniformly irradiate the photographing range of the camera 2 with strong visitors. A situation in which the face is turned away from the light and cannot be caught by the camera 2 is avoided.
Further, in general, the unit price of the blue LED and the yellow LED is lower, and the sum of the prices of the blue LED and the yellow LED is lower than the unit price of the white LED. Can be manufactured at a lower price than a TV door phone that uses the same as lighting.
[0013]
In addition, since the imaging unit A and the illumination unit B are provided adjacent to each other, the camera 2 and the blue LED 5 and the yellow LED 6 that are illuminations of the camera 2 are arranged in the vicinity. Lighting can be performed by making full use of the light emitted from each.
Further, since the blue LED 5 and the yellow LED 6 are controlled to be turned on based on the brightness around the slave unit detected by the brightness sensor 3, these two-color LEDs 5 and 6 are turned on when the surroundings of the slave unit are bright such as in the daytime. Power is wasted.
[0014]
In the above-described embodiment, the combination of the blue LED 5 and the yellow LED 6 is used as the illumination of the camera 2, but instead, the combination of the blue LED and the yellow-red LED, or the combination of the blue LED, the green LED, and the red LED And the like. In this case, it is preferable to combine a plurality of colors of light that are complementary colors to each other and illuminate with light that is closer to white or light that is more suitable for the imaging characteristics of the camera 2.
[0015]
Instead of using the dedicated LEDs 5 and 6 for illumination, the power-on indicator 13 and the alarm indicator 14 can also be used as illumination for shooting. In this case, there is no need to separately provide an LED having only a role of the energization indicator lamp or the alarm indicator lamp, so that the TV door phone can be manufactured at lower cost.
Further, a plurality of LEDs of different colors can be used not only as an energizing indicator or an alarm indicator, but also as an indicator for displaying specific information such as an operating indicator, a fault indicator, and an external security indicator. In this case, it is preferable to select and use an LED of a color suitable for the purpose, such as using a green LED as the power indicator and a red LED as the alarm indicator.
[0016]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, the slave unit includes a plurality of LEDs that emit lights of different colors from each other as illumination for the camera. Therefore, even when the outside of the door is dark, such as at night, without using a white LED, It can shoot clear color images.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a front view showing a slave unit of a television doorphone according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 body, 1a front panel, 2 cameras, 3 brightness sensors, 4 glass plates, 5 blue LED, 6 yellow LED, 7 diffuser, 8 speakers, 9 microphones, 10 speaker holes, 11 microphone holes, 12 call button switch, 13 energization indicator, 14 alarm indicator, 15 connection terminal, A imaging unit, B illumination unit.

Claims (7)

In a TV door phone consisting of a slave unit equipped with a camera that shoots a color image and a master unit that receives a signal from this camera and displays a color image on a display device,
A television doorphone, wherein the slave unit includes a plurality of LEDs that emit light of different colors as illumination of a camera. The television doorphone according to claim 1, wherein some or all of the plurality of LEDs are also used as indicator lights for displaying specific information. The television doorphone according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of LEDs are a combination of a blue LED and a yellow LED or a yellow-red LED, or a combination of a blue LED, a green LED, and a red LED. The indicator lamp for displaying the specific information is any one of an electricity indicator lamp, an operating indicator lamp, a failure indicator lamp, and an alarm indicator lamp, or an arbitrary combination thereof. Television doorphone according to claim 1. The television doorphone according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a diffusion plate is attached before the plurality of LEDs. The television doorphone according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of LEDs are arranged near a camera. 7. The slave according to claim 1, further comprising a brightness sensor, wherein the slave controls lighting of the plurality of LEDs according to brightness detected by the sensor. 8. TV door phone.

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