JP2004187325A - Camera apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To locate a compact camera at any arbitrary position within the display screen to make a visual line of a user watching the display screen and a visual line of the camera coincide with each other and come as close as possible to each other. <P>SOLUTION: The camera apparatus is composed of a lock member 5 which is removably locked on an upper part of a main body of a display device 3, a support member 6 drooped downwards from the lock member 5 along a display screen 3a of the display device 3, and a camera main body 1 mounted on a lower terminal portion of the support member 6, the support member 6 is provided to be movable vertically and laterally to the lock member 5 along the display screen 3a, and a lock mechanism is provided for locking the support member 6 on a wall body 51 on the front face of the lock member 5 in the state of turning the support member 6 to be horizontal along the wall body 51. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a camera device that can be arranged at an arbitrary position on a screen of a display device such as a television receiver, and particularly, to a multimedia device that integrates a display device, a small camera, a microphone, a communication device, and the like. It is used as a camera device for educational systems and video conference systems.

  Recently, computer-based educational systems and video conference systems have been receiving attention.

  This system includes a display device using a television receiver or the like, a small camera, a microphone, a communication device for transmitting and receiving video data and audio data, and the like.

  In this case, the small camera is placed on the display device or side by side with the display device, and is placed relatively close to the eyes. An image of the user photographed by the small camera is displayed on the screen of the display device of the partner system through a communication line.

  Also, some recent laptops and mobile PCs that can be connected to the Internet for two-way communication have a small camera built into the frame of the display screen to make it closer to the user's eyes. is there.

  In addition, there is a camera device that is designed so that a small camera can be arranged at an arbitrary position on a screen by attaching a suction board to the small camera and directly adsorbing to a display screen so as to be closer to a user's eyes ( For example, see Patent Document 1).

  FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a conventional camera device, and FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a state where the camera device A1 is mounted on a display screen of a display device.

The camera device A1 has an extremely simple structure in which the suction plate 2 is attached to the rear side of the camera body 1. That is, the user's line of sight can be matched with the camera's line of sight simply by sucking the suction disk 2 at an arbitrary position on the display screen 3a of the display device 3 such as a television receiver shown in FIG. . Incidentally, reference numeral 1a in the figure denotes a cable connected to the camera.
JP-A-8-163416

  However, the user usually has a conversation while watching information displayed on the display device (information such as a problem or answer in an education system, a video of the other party), or inputs necessary information. In this case, in the case where the small camera is built in the frame of the display screen, even though the installation position of the small camera is closer to the display screen of the display device, the eyes of the user displayed on the display device of the other party are: There was a problem that the position slightly deviated from the actual line of sight.

  Further, in the case of Patent Document 1, since the small camera is directly sucked to the display screen by the suction disk 2, the problem of deviation from the line of sight can be solved. However, when suction is performed by the suction disk 2, the surface must be a hard member (for example, a glass member) such as a cathode ray tube or the like. When the liquid crystal display is directly attached, there is a problem that the liquid crystal display itself may be damaged.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in order to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to make it possible to arrange a small camera at an arbitrary position in a display screen so that a user who looks at the display screen can view the camera, It is an object of the present invention to provide a camera device capable of making the eye line coincide with or infinitely close to each other, and securely locking the support rod of the camera body to the locking member when not in use.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, a camera device of the present invention includes a locking member that is removably locked to an upper portion of a main body of a display device, and is suspended downward from the locking member along a display screen of the display device. And a camera body attached to the lower end of the support member, wherein the support member is provided movably in the vertical and horizontal directions along the display screen with respect to the locking member. , Is provided rotatably along the display screen, and in a state where the support member is rotated to a horizontal position so as to be along the wall on the front surface of the locking member, A locking mechanism for locking the support member is provided.

  According to the present invention having such features, when the camera device is not used, or when the product is transported as a product, the support rod is rotated, for example, 90 ° from the state at the time of use, and the front surface of the locking member is Along the wall.

  Further, according to the camera device of the present invention, by arranging the camera body in the display screen, the eyes of the user who speaks while watching the display screen substantially coincide with the eyes of the camera. Since the eyes of the user displayed on the display device of (1) match the eyes of the other party, it is possible to produce a situation as if the user were talking face-to-face.

  According to the camera device of the present invention, the camera body is attached to the lower end of the support member. In this case, when the display screen is displayed in, for example, two divisions on the left and right or four divisions on the top, bottom, left and right, the support members may be arranged along the division line at the center. With this arrangement, the portion covered by the support member is a dividing line, which is not necessary information for the user, and therefore does not hinder the user.

  Further, according to the camera device of the present invention, the support member is configured to be vertically movable with respect to the locking member. In this way, the camera body can be moved up and down to a position that does not interfere with the user's eyes and the displayed content.

  Further, according to the camera device of the present invention, in addition to the above configuration, the support member is configured to be movable in the left-right direction with respect to the locking member. In this way, the camera body can be moved right and left to a position that does not interfere with the user's eyes and the displayed content.

  According to the camera device of the present invention, the support member is loosely fitted in the horizontally long slide groove formed in the front wall of the locking member and slides in the horizontal direction; A support rod that slides in the vertical direction while being sandwiched between the elastic member and an elastic body that is curved in an arc shape is attached to the inner surface of the horizontal slide member, and the side surface of the support rod that faces the elastic body is Since the support rod is formed into a continuous waveform having a constant pitch, the support rod can slide up and down at a constant pitch.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the camera device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view, FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view along the line aa, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view along the line bb.

  The camera device A2 is roughly divided into a locking member 5 that locks on the upper surface 31a of the device main body 31 of the display device 3 such as a television receiver, and a support member 6 that is suspended downward from the locking member 5. The supporting member 6 has a structure in which the camera body 1 is attached to the lower end.

  The locking member 5 has a horizontally long rectangular parallelepiped shape, is hollow inside, and has a horizontally long sliding groove portion 52 formed in a front wall 51 thereof. Are provided on the bottom wall 53 of the locking member 5 at two places on the left and right or four places on the front, rear, left and right. The suction boards 54, 54,. , And is fixed to the upper surface 31 a of the apparatus main body 31.

  On the other hand, the support member 6 is loosely fitted in the slide groove 52 of the locking member 5 and slides in the lateral direction (the X direction in the figure), and a state in which the support member 6 is sandwiched by the lateral slide member 61. And a support rod 62 that slides in the vertical direction (Y direction in the figure). The camera body 1 is attached to the lower end of the support rod 62.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the lateral slide member 61 protrudes slightly forward from the left and right sides of the rectangular substrate 611 and then bends toward each other (inward). A pair of support pieces 612 and 613 are formed, and a column-shaped slide shaft 614 is formed slightly protruding rearward from the center of the rear surface of the substrate 611, and is formed on the rear end side of the slide shaft 614. It has a structure in which a disc-shaped retaining piece 615 is formed.

  That is, the slide shaft 614 is fitted into the slide groove 52 of the locking member 5 and the front and rear edges of the slide groove 52 are sandwiched between the substrate 611 and the retaining piece 615, thereby preventing the slide groove 52 from falling off. , Can slide in the horizontal direction (X direction) along the slide groove 52.

  In the present embodiment, the support rod 62 is formed in a simple strip shape (vertically elongated flat bar body), but the width W1 is slightly smaller than the width W2 between the pair of support pieces 612 and 613. The thickness D1 is formed to be slightly smaller than the gap D2 between each support piece 612, 613 and the substrate 611.

  Therefore, in this state, the support rod 62 inserted between the support pieces 612 and 613 falls, and in this embodiment, a non-slip member 616 such as rubber is attached to the inner surface side of the support pieces 612 and 613. The support rod 62 does not slide up and down unless a slight vertical force (Y direction) is applied to the support rod 62.

  Further, with the above-described structure, since the slide shaft 614 has a cylindrical shape, the support rod 62 can be rotated around the slide shaft 614 itself. Therefore, when the camera device A2 of the present invention is not used or when the product is transported as a product, as shown in FIG. 5, the support rod 62 is moved 90 degrees from the state in use (the state shown in FIGS. 1 and 2). It may be rotated so as to follow the wall 51 on the front surface of the locking member 5. Although not shown, the support rod 62 is prevented from rotating carelessly along the wall 51 on the front surface of the locking member 5 (the state shown in FIG. 5). It is preferable to provide a simple locking mechanism between the wall and the wall 51. However, this locking mechanism is designed to be released by a slight push by the user so that the support rod 62 is rotated.

  FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the sliding structure of the support rods 62 and the support pieces 612 and 613 formed on the substrate 611.

  That is, in this structure, an elastic body (a leaf spring in the present embodiment) 617 curved in an arc shape is attached to the inner surface of one support piece 612 so as to slightly protrude therefrom, and a support rod facing the elastic body 617 is provided. The side surface 621 is formed in a continuous waveform at a constant pitch. That is, by fitting the elastic body 617 into the concave portion of the waveform, the support rod 62 is stably held so as not to fall downward. In addition, when the support rod 62 is moved up or down in this state, the elastic body 617 is pushed into the inner surface side of the support piece 612 by the waveform convex portion of the support rod 62 and is elastically deformed. When the convex portion of the side surface 621 of the support rod 62 gets over the support rod 62, the support rod 62 can slide up and down.

  That is, in this structure, the support rod 62 slides up and down at a constant pitch of the waveform formed on the side surface 621. However, if the elastic force of the elastic member 617 is used, it is possible to support the elastic member 617 at an arbitrary position. However, from the viewpoint of stability, the support rod 62 is positioned at a position where the elastic member 617 fits into the concave portion. Of course it is better to support.

  In the above-described embodiment, the suction plate 54 is attached to the bottom wall 53 of the locking member 5 so as to be fixed to the upper surface 31a of the device main body 31. However, the locking member 5 is fixed to the upper surface 31a of the device main body 31. Such a suction disk 54 is not required if it can be stably mounted on the surface.

  In the above-described embodiment, the locking member 5 is described as a simple member for locking the camera body 1. However, the English conversation system or the video conference system includes a modem connected to a communication line. Since the modem is often mounted on the display device 3 in a place where the arrangement space is narrow, the case main body of the modem can be used as the locking member 5. That is, a horizontally long slide groove (same as the slide groove 52 shown in FIG. 1) is formed on the front surface of the case body of the modem, and the horizontal slide member 61 of the support member 6 is loosely fitted into the slide groove. You may.

  As described above, the camera device of the present invention can be arbitrarily moved in the horizontal direction (X direction) and the vertical direction (Y direction) while the camera body 1 is arranged on the display screen 3a of the display device 3, so that the display can be performed. For example, when the screen is displayed in two divisions on the left and right, the camera main body 1 may be moved on the division line at the center. What is necessary is just to move the camera body 1 to the intersection (the center of the screen).

It is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a camera device of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a side view of the camera device shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line aa shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line bb shown in FIG. 2. It is a perspective view showing the state where a support rod was made to follow the wall of the front of a locking member. It is a principal part expanded sectional view which shows other embodiment of the slide structure of the support piece and the support rod formed in the board | substrate. It is a perspective view showing the conventional camera device. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a state where a conventional camera device is mounted on a display screen of a display device.

Explanation of reference numerals

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Camera main body 3 Display device 5 Locking member 6 Support member 51 Wall 52 Slide groove 53 Bottom wall 54 Suction board 61 Lateral slide member 62 Support rod

Claims (1)

A locking member for detachably locking the upper part of the main body of the display device, a support member hanging down from the locking member along the display screen of the display device, and a lower end of the support member. Camera body,
The support member is provided movably in the vertical and horizontal directions along the display screen with respect to the locking member, and is rotatably provided along the display screen, and the support member A camera provided with a locking mechanism for locking the support member to the wall in a state where the wall is rotated to a horizontal position so as to follow the wall on the front surface of the locking member. apparatus.

Images