JP2005073060A - Television intercom system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a television intercom system capable of reducing stress by lighting on a visitor at night, by gradually increasing a visible light amount of the lighting used for imaging at night. <P>SOLUTION: A television intercom system 1 includes a sub-unit 100 placed at the entrance of a residence and a master unit placed inside the residence is operated in response to a call operation on the sub-unit by a visitor, displaying an image of the visitor onto a monitor 202 of the master unit 200 placed inside the residence, and enabling communication between the visitor and a person in the residence. The television intercom system 1 also includes a lighting source 105 of visible light for imaging the visitor at night; and, when turning on the lighting source 105, a light-on circuit 106 for lighting the lighting source 105 so as to increase the light amount gradually with a lapse of time. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a television intercom system provided with an illumination light source for enabling photographing of visitors at night.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is one that uses an illumination device when shooting a TV door phone at night. In the case of a black-and-white camera, the illumination device is composed of infrared illumination. In recent years, a lot of things using a color camera have come out, and these often perform night color photography by illuminating with visible light.

  In the above-described conventional technology, when shooting a visitor at night, the visitor is suddenly illuminated with the brightness necessary for night shooting. For this reason, it may feel dazzling for visitors, which may cause discomfort.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and is a television interphone capable of reducing the stress that a night visitor receives from illumination by gradually increasing the amount of illumination of visible light used for night imaging. The purpose is to provide a system.

  A television intercom system according to the present invention includes a slave unit provided at the entrance of a dwelling unit and a master unit provided inside the dwelling unit, and operates according to a call operation of a visitor in the slave unit, and displays a video of the visitor. In a TV interphone system that displays on the monitor of the main unit inside the dwelling unit and makes a call between the visitor and the person in the dwelling unit, when the illumination light source is turned on, And a lighting circuit that turns on the illumination light source so that the amount of light gradually increases with time.

  The television intercom system according to the present invention includes a current limiter that limits a current supplied to the illumination light source by the lighting circuit, and a current load circuit connected in parallel with the illumination light source. The parallel circuit and the current limiter are connected in series, and the current load circuit has a large load at the start of lighting and decreases with time, and the current limited by the current limiter branches to the illumination light source. The current is gradually increased.

  In the television intercom system according to the present invention, the lighting circuit includes a time constant circuit and a discharge circuit for discharging the electric charge accumulated in the time constant circuit when the use of the television intercom system ends. .

  In the TV intercom system according to the present invention, the lighting circuit illuminates the illumination light source so that the human senses that the light amount increases linearly with time in consideration of human visibility characteristics. It is what I did.

  The television intercom system according to the present invention includes a microprocessor having a data table in which voltage values at predetermined time intervals set in advance in consideration of human visibility characteristics are stored. The voltage value is output to the lighting circuit at predetermined time intervals.

  The TV intercom system according to the present invention includes a slave unit provided at the entrance of a dwelling unit and a master unit provided inside the dwelling unit, and operates according to a call operation of a visitor in the slave unit, and displays a visitor's video In a TV interphone system that displays on the monitor of the main unit inside and makes a call between a visitor and a person in the dwelling unit, a visible light illumination light source for imaging the visitor at night and a time when the illumination light source is turned on In addition, since the lighting circuit that turns on the illumination light source so as to gradually increase the amount of light is provided, it is possible to prevent nighttime visitors from being uncomfortable with illumination.

  The television intercom system according to the present invention includes a current limiter for limiting a current supplied to the illumination light source by the lighting circuit, and a current load circuit connected in parallel with the illumination light source, and the illumination light source and the current load circuit. The parallel circuit and the current limiter are connected in series, and the current load circuit has a large load at the start of lighting and decreases with the passage of time. The branch current can be gradually increased.

  Further, in the TV intercom system according to the present invention, the lighting circuit includes a time constant circuit and a discharge circuit for discharging the charge accumulated in the time constant circuit when the use of the TV intercom system is ended. Even if visitors appear one after another, the same lighting operation can be performed every time.

  In addition, the television intercom system according to the present invention lights up the illumination light source so that the lighting circuit feels sensuously so that the amount of light increases linearly with time in consideration of human visibility characteristics. As a result, it is possible to reliably prevent the night visitor from feeling uncomfortable when lighting during shooting during the night visit.

  The television intercom system according to the present invention includes a microprocessor having a data table in which voltage values at predetermined time intervals set in advance in consideration of human visibility characteristics are stored. Is output to the lighting circuit at predetermined time intervals, and the illumination light source is turned on so that humans feel sensuously that the amount of light increases linearly with time. It is possible to easily realize lighting control that takes into account.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a television intercom system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.
This television intercom system 1 includes a handset 100 installed at the entrance of a dwelling unit and a base unit 200 installed inside the dwelling unit. Handset 100 detects a call button 101 that accepts a call operation by a visitor, a constant current source 102 that allows a constant current to flow when the call button 101 is pressed, and detects ambient illuminance at the same time that the call button 101 is pressed. A light amount detector 103 that performs shooting, a camera 104 that captures a visitor, an illumination light source 105 that performs visible light illumination for capturing a night visitor, and an illuminance detected by the light amount detector 103 is equal to or less than a predetermined value. A lighting circuit 106 that controls lighting of the illumination light source 105, a transmission / reception unit 107 that transmits / receives a communication signal to / from the parent device 200, a call signal output from the transmission / reception unit 107, and a video signal output from the camera 104 are combined. Then, the superimposing circuit 108 that transmits to the parent device 200, the internal power supply circuit 109 that supplies power to each unit, and the parent device 200 described later when the call button 101 is pressed. The voltage detection circuit 110 that drives the internal power supply circuit 109 when the detected voltage exceeds a predetermined voltage, and the MPU (microprocessor) 111 that controls the entire slave unit 100 are provided. ing.

  The master unit 200 detects that the call button 101 is pressed on the slave unit 100 side by detecting a current flowing through the constant current source 102 and outputs a call detection signal to the MPU 204 described later. When a call detection signal is received from the monitor 202 that displays the video of the visitor, the handset 203 that transmits and receives a call signal with the handset 100, and the call detection unit 201, the switch SW is connected to the power circuit 205 side described later. And an MPU (microprocessor) 204 that controls the entire base device 200 and a power supply circuit 205 that supplies power to each unit.

  In the TV intercom system 1 configured as described above, when the call button 101 of the child device 100 is pressed by a visitor, the call detection unit 201 of the parent device 200 detects it and notifies the MPU 204 of the call detection signal. To do. Upon receiving this, the MPU 204 switches the switch SW to the power supply circuit 205 side. As a result, power is supplied to each unit of the master unit 200 and the slave unit 100 so that the master unit 200 is ready for a call, and the voltage detection circuit 110 of the slave unit 100 detects an increase in voltage, As a result, power is supplied to each unit, and the handset 100 is also in a call-ready state. At the same time, the camera 104 starts shooting the visitor, and the light amount detector 103 detects the ambient illuminance and notifies the MPU 111 of the result.

  The MPU 111 outputs a lighting signal to the lighting circuit 106 when the illuminance detection result from the light quantity detector 103 is equal to or less than a predetermined value, that is, at night. When the lighting circuit 106 receives the lighting signal from the MPU 111, the lighting circuit 106 performs an operation described in detail below so that the amount of visible light illumination by the illumination light source 105 gradually increases with the passage of time. Do not give lighting. On the other hand, the appearance of the visitor is displayed on the monitor 202 on the base device 200 side.

  When the call ends, the switch SW returns to the call detection unit 201 side. Thereby, since an electric current reduces, the supply voltage of the subunit | mobile_unit 100 falls. If it does so, the voltage detection circuit 110 of the subunit | mobile_unit 100 will become unable to detect a voltage, the internal power supply circuit 109 will fall, and the subunit | mobile_unit 100 and the main | base station 200 will be in a standby state.

  Here, the present invention reduces the discomfort added to the night visitor by the illumination for the night photography by gradually increasing the illumination light amount of the visible light illumination used for the night imaging at the night visit. Hereinafter, the configuration of the main part of the present invention that performs such an operation will be described in detail.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an illumination light source and a lighting circuit, which is a main part of the present invention.
The lighting circuit 106 includes a current limiter 120 and a current load circuit 121. The current load circuit 121 is connected in parallel to the illumination light source 105, and a parallel circuit of the current load circuit 121 and the illumination light source 105 is connected in series to the current limiter 120. The current load circuit 121 has a large load at the start of lighting and decreases with the passage of time, and gradually increases the branch current to the illumination light source 105 out of the current limited by the current limiter 120.

  In this example, the current load circuit 121 includes a time constant circuit 122 and a load circuit 123. In this example, the current limiter 120 includes transistors Q1, Q2, and Q3 and resistors R3, R4, and R5. The time constant circuit 122 includes a resistor R1 and a capacitor C1, and the load circuit 123 includes , A transistor Q4 and a resistor R2. Moreover, the illumination light source 105 is comprised from LED1 and LED2.

Hereinafter, the operation of the lighting circuit 106 will be described.
When a lighting signal is supplied from the MPU 111 to the transistor Q3 via the resistor R5, the transistor Q3 of the current limiter 120 is turned on, and accordingly, the transistor Q2 is turned on. At this time, a collector current corresponding to the base current of the transistor Q2 flows. Here, the base and emitter of the transistor Q1 are connected to both ends of the resistor R3, and the voltage at both ends of the resistor R3 becomes the V _BE voltage of the transistor Q1, so that the current flowing through the resistor R3 is (1 ) Expression.

I = Q1 V _BE / R3 (1)

Here, if tentatively trying to flow the current I more current, the transistor Q1 is turned on, the transistor Q2 is turned off with it, the output of the current limiter 120, i.e., the collector current I _C of the transistor Q2 The current I or more will not flow.

Thus, the collector current I _C limited to less than the current I is shunted and supplied to the time constant circuit 122 and the load circuit 123. The current supplied to the time constant circuit 122 is passed through the resistor R1 to the capacitor. Supplied to C1. On the other hand, a part of the current supplied to the load circuit 123 becomes the base current of the transistor Q4 and flows into the capacitor C1 through the resistor R2, thereby turning on the transistor Q4 and causing the collector current to flow. Here, since the resistance R1 and the resistance R2 are designed to have a relationship of R1 >> R2, the collector current I _C of the transistor Q2 has a larger current flowing to the load circuit 123 side than the time constant circuit 122 side. To be diverted. Then, since it is designed small resistance value of the resistor R2 of the load circuit 123, immediately after turn-on signal supplied from the MPU 111, the potential of V _R shown in FIG. 2 is low, reaching to the driving voltage V _LED of the illumination light source 105 The illumination light source 105 is not turned on.

Then, with the passage of time, the potential of V _C increases, and accordingly, the potential of V _R also increases. Then, when V _R reaches the drive voltage V _LED of the illumination light source 105, a current starts to be supplied to the illumination light source 105. However, since a large amount of current is supplied to the time constant circuit 122 and the load circuit 123 at the start of the supply, the amount of current supplied to the illumination light source 105 is small. As the time elapses, the voltage V _C of the time constant circuit 122 increases, whereby the current flowing through the time constant circuit 122 and the load circuit 123 decreases, and the current flowing through the illumination light source 105 increases. . Thereby, the light quantity of the illumination light source 105 gradually increases. When the potential difference between V _C and V _R becomes a predetermined value or less, the transistor Q4 is turned off. Then, all of the output current of the transistor Q4 is supplied to the illumination light source 105, whereby the light amount emitted from the illumination light source 105 reaches the steady-state light amount. The following diagram shows this in time series.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing changes in the current supplied to the illumination light source.
After lighting signal from MPU111 is output at time t _0, until time t ₁ (i.e., until the voltage V _R reaches the driving voltage V _LED of the illumination light source 105) is the current value is 0, after time t ₁ Then, the drive current gradually increases and reaches a predetermined current value that realizes steady lighting intensity.

  Here, since the emission intensity of LED1 and LED2 is proportional to the current, the change in the emission intensity is expressed by the following equation (2).

  Incidentally, the load circuit 123 in the lighting circuit 106 controls the light emission intensity according to the charge accumulation amount of the time constant circuit 122. For this reason, the same light emission control is performed every time unless the discharge of the currently accumulated charge is completed after the call ends and the supply voltage of the child device 100 is cut off until the next time the child device 100 is activated. I can't.

  Therefore, the lighting circuit 106 shown in FIG. 2 is provided with a diode D1 as a discharge circuit for rapidly discharging the electric charge accumulated in the time constant circuit 122. As shown in FIG. A discharge path (shown by a thick line in FIG. 4) for rapidly discharging the electric charge accumulated in the capacitor C1 of 122 is formed. That is, the electric charge accumulated in the time constant circuit 122 is discharged via the diode D1, the resistor R3, and the resistor R6. Here, the resistance value of the resistance R6 in the discharge path shown in FIG. 4 is set small, and the discharge time constant is set small. Thereby, the discharge time is shortened, and the charge accumulated in the time constant circuit 122 can be discharged quickly. Each part is designed so that the discharge time is shorter than the minimum time interval for accepting the interphone call operation. Therefore, the discharge of the currently accumulated charge can be completed by the next call start (slave device 100 start-up), the same current change as shown in FIG. 3 occurs every time, and the illumination light source has the same emission intensity increase curve. 105 can be driven. The resistor R6 is provided outside the lighting circuit 106 in this example, but may be provided inside the lighting circuit 106.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, immediately after the call button 101 is pressed, the light amount of the illumination light source 105 is small and gradually increases with the passage of time. An unpleasant feeling can be prevented. In addition, since the charge accumulated in the time constant circuit 122 can be discharged in a short time, even if visitors appear one after another, the same lighting operation can be performed every time, and a television that can always obtain a stable operation can be obtained. The intercom system 1 can be provided.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
In the second embodiment, the light quantity of the illumination light source 105 is increased in consideration of human visual sensitivity characteristics so as not to cause discomfort to night visitors. Specifically, the light quantity increases linearly with time. Lighting control of the illumination light source 105 is performed so that a night visitor feels that the light intensity increases (that is, the light amount increases monotonously).

  Here, in this example, Weber-Fechner's law representing human sensory characteristics is used. Weber-Fechner's law is that the psychological quantity is proportional to the logarithm of the physical quantity, and is expressed by the following equation (3).

Psychological quantity = a log physical quantity + b (3)
Where a and b are constants

  Considering this Weber-Fechner's law, if you want humans to feel that the amount of light (psychological quantity) increases linearly, the physical quantity should be changed exponentially as in the following equation (4). It will be good.

  FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a main part of the television intercom system according to the second embodiment. The TV intercom system 1 according to the second embodiment is provided with an MPU 300 and a lighting circuit 302 instead of the MPU 111 and the lighting circuit 106 according to the first embodiment shown in FIG. It is. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between light amount control based on voltage control in the television intercom system of Embodiment 2 and changes in human senses.

  In the second embodiment, a data table 301 is stored in the MPU 300. The data table 301 stores voltage values at predetermined time intervals (for example, 33 msec) set in advance so as to increase exponentially with time in accordance with Weber-Fechner's law in the voltage range from lighting start to steady lighting. Has been. The lighting circuit 302 of the second embodiment includes a D / A converter 303, a transistor Q11, and a resistor R11, and the output of the D / A converter 303 is connected to the base of the transistor Q11. It has become.

  In the television intercom system 1 of the second embodiment configured as described above, the MPU 300 causes the D / A converter 303 to sequentially output the voltage values of the data table 301 at predetermined time intervals. The D / A converter 303 D / A converts the voltage value from the MPU 300 and supplies it to the base of the transistor Q11. As a result, a base current determined by the output voltage of the D / A converter 303 and the resistor R11 flows through the transistor Q11, a collector current corresponding to the base current flows, and a drive current is supplied to the illumination light source 105 to emit light. .

Here, each voltage value in the data table 301 output from the MPU 300 to the D / A converter 303 is a voltage value set so as to increase exponentially according to Weber-Fechner's law. As described above, the light quantity of the illumination light source 105 changes exponentially. Therefore, the night visitor feels that the amount of light is monotonously increasing, and does not feel uncomfortable. Then, the t _a seconds (e.g. 2, 3 seconds), reached a steady state amount, since its amount of light is retained.

  According to the second embodiment, since the lighting control is performed so that the night visitor feels so that the light amount increases linearly with time, the night visitor is uncomfortable with the illumination for night photography. It can be surely prevented from giving. Further, in the second embodiment, unlike the first embodiment, the operation of discharging the charge until the next interphone activation is unnecessary, and the MPU 300 changes the control data sequentially from the top of the data table 301. Since it is only good, lighting control can be performed more easily, and it is possible to perform suitable lighting control in consideration of human visibility characteristics.

  In the second embodiment, the data table 301 is stored in the MPU 300. However, an exponentially changing voltage characteristic may be stored.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the television intercom system which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the illumination light source and lighting circuit which are the principal parts of this invention. It is the figure which showed the change of the electric current supplied to an illumination light source. It is explanatory drawing of a discharge circuit. It is a block diagram of the principal part of the television intercom system of Embodiment 2. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the light quantity control based on the voltage control in the television intercom system of Embodiment 2, and the change of a human sense.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 TV intercom system 100 Child machine 105 Illumination light source 106 Lighting circuit 120 Current limiter 121 Current load circuit 200 Master unit 201 Call detection unit 202 Monitor 203 Handset 205 Power supply circuit 301 Data table 302 Lighting circuit 303 D / A converter

Claims (5)

A slave unit provided at the entrance of the dwelling unit and a master unit provided inside the dwelling unit, which operates according to a call operation of the visitor in the slave unit, and displays a visitor's video on the monitor of the master unit inside the dwelling unit In a TV intercom system that displays and makes calls between visitors and people in the dwelling unit,
A visible light source for imaging visitors at night,
A television intercom system comprising: a lighting circuit that turns on the illumination light source so that the amount of light gradually increases with time when the illumination light source is turned on.   The lighting circuit includes a current limiter for limiting a current supplied to the illumination light source, and a current load circuit connected in parallel with the illumination light source, and the parallel circuit of the illumination light source and the current load circuit and the current limit The current load circuit has a large load at the start of lighting and decreases with time, and the branch current to the illumination light source among the current limited by the current limiter is reduced. 2. The television intercom system according to claim 1, wherein the television intercom system is gradually increased.   3. The television interphone according to claim 2, wherein the lighting circuit includes a time constant circuit and a discharge circuit for discharging the charge accumulated in the time constant circuit when the use of the television intercom system is finished. system.   The lighting circuit is configured to turn on the illumination light source so that a human senses that the amount of light increases linearly with time in consideration of human visibility characteristics. Item 5. A television intercom system according to Item 1. A microprocessor having a data table in which voltage values at predetermined time intervals set in advance in consideration of human visibility characteristics are stored, and the microprocessor sets the voltage values in the data table at predetermined time intervals. 5. The TV intercom system according to claim 4, wherein the TV intercom system outputs to the lighting circuit.

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