JP2705196B2 - Remote control device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a method for driving a movable member in various devices by remote control, between a driving unit and an operating unit for controlling the operation of the driving unit. The present invention relates to a wired remote control device connected by a cable.

2. Description of the Related Art Wired remote control devices using cables are used to remotely operate movable members in various devices. FIG. 1 shows an example of this remote control device that is configured to remotely control a television camera.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a camera, and 2 denotes a lens. The camera 1 and the lens 2 constitute a television camera 3. The television camera 3 is installed on a camera platform 4, and the camera platform 4 is provided with a pan operation mechanism and a tilt operation mechanism so that the field of view of the television camera 3 can be changed vertically and horizontally. Has become. The pan operation mechanism and the tilt operation mechanism have a motor as a driving unit, and the television camera 3 is rotated left and right or up and down by operating the motor. The zoom and focus operations on the lens 2 are also driven by a motor.

The operation means for performing each operation such as the pan operation, the tilt operation, the zoom operation, and the focus operation is not provided on the television camera 3 itself, and the control box 5 is installed at a position away from the television camera 3. Each operation described above is performed by the control box 5. A cable 6 is provided between the control box 5 and the television camera 3 and the camera platform 4.
And the camera platform 4 can be remotely controlled.

In the drawing, reference numeral 7 denotes an image processing apparatus, and 8 denotes a monitor screen. Image data is transmitted from the camera 1 to the image processing apparatus 7 via the signal cable 9 and the image processing apparatus 7 performs signal processing. After that, an image is displayed on the monitor screen 8. The user can operate the television camera 3 and the camera platform 4 with the control box 5 while watching the monitor screen 8.

Next, the configuration of the remote control device will be described with reference to FIG.

As is clear from FIG. 1, the control box 5 includes joysticks 5a and push buttons 5 as operation means for performing pan, tilt, zoom, and focus operations.
b (see FIG. 1) and other manually operated operating members, and control signal generators 10a, 10b, 10c, 10d including potentiometers and the like that operate following the operating members. Constitutes the operation side x. Then, the control signal generators 10a, 10b, 10c,
10d includes control lines 11a, 11b, 11c, 11d
Connected to each other. Each of the control lines 11a, 11b, 11c, 11
d is adapted to be connected to the working side y. The operating side y includes a camera platform 4 and a television camera 3, and control lines 11 a and 11 b for pan and tilt operations are provided in the camera platform 4.
Through the drive amplifiers 12a and 12b, a pan driving motor 13a and a tilt driving motor 13b as driving means, respectively.
It is connected to the. Further, the control lines 11c and 11d extend further into the television camera 3 and serve as operation means for performing zoom and focus operations via drive amplifiers 12c and 12d provided in the television camera 3. It is connected to a zoom drive motor 13c and a focus drive motor 13d.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As described above, the operation control signals of the respective motors 13a to 13d transmitted via the control lines 11a to 11d are based on the voltage values from the control signal generators 10a to 10d. Analog signal,
Therefore, these control lines 11a to 11d are analog signal lines. In addition, the television camera 3 is required to have extremely good responsiveness and followability to the operation of the control box 5 due to its nature, and it is necessary to make fine movements. The one with sensitivity is used.

Thus, when such a high-sensitivity motor is used, such a radio wave or the like is used when used in an environment where radio waves or the like exist, even if it is weak, such as a radio. May be taken in control lines 11a to 11d,
As a result, although slight, a voltage is generated on the control lines 11a to 11d, and this voltage becomes noise and is transmitted to the motors 13a to 13d. As a result, these motors 13a-1
When the operation of 3d is stopped, there is a problem that the television camera 3 and the lens 2 are operated and become unstable due to this noise, even if it is extremely small. In particular, when the cable 6 is lengthened in order to increase the distance between the operation side and the operation side, the possibility that noise is taken in increases accordingly.

Therefore, in the prior art, in order to prevent such capture of noise, means such as completely shielding the cable has been used. However, even with such means, noise can be completely removed. Not only can the cable not be used,
There is also an inconvenience that the weight increases and the installation becomes difficult.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and has as its object to control a driving unit for driving an operation mechanism by remote control. An object of the present invention is to provide a remote control device capable of reliably preventing the mechanism from becoming unstable.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above-described object, the present invention includes a plurality of movable members, each of which is operated by a respective driving unit, and each of the movable members. In order to control the operation by remote control, an operation side including a plurality of operation means, and a plurality of control lines for transmitting an analog signal from each operation means to each drive means between the operation side and the operation side are included. A wired remote control device connected by a cable, wherein the operation side is provided with a detection unit for detecting whether an operation control signal is output from each operation unit,
On the operating side, switching means for turning on and off the electrical connection of the driving means to the operating means is provided, and the detecting means and the switching means are connected by a digital communication line, When the detection means detects that the predetermined operation means has stopped, the stop signal is transmitted to the operation side via the digital communication line,
It is characterized in that the switching means is turned off.

[Operation] With this configuration, when the operating unit is not operated, the switching unit causes the driving unit on the operating side to be in a state of being electrically disconnected from the control line. Even if it is taken in, the driving means does not operate indiscriminately, and the movable member can be kept in a stable state. Further, when the operation of the operation means is started, the start of the operation is detected by the operation detection means, the switching means is operated based on the detection signal, and the drive means and the control line are connected. That is, a signal of a level corresponding to the operation amount of the operation means is input to the drive means, and the operation is performed so as to correspond to the signal level.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

In this embodiment, as described in the related art, it is assumed that the operation is performed by remote control of the pan and tilt operations and the zoom and focus operations of the television camera, but the point is that an analog communication line is used. The remote control device is not limited to the one described above as long as it is a remote control device that controls the operation of an electric drive unit such as a motor by remote control.

The same or equivalent members as those of the above-described prior art are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof will be omitted. First, as shown in FIG. And an operation detection circuit 20 for detecting whether or not a signal is output from the control signal generation units 10a to 10d.
The operation detection circuit 20 controls the control signal generator 10a.
It is detected whether or not an operation control signal is output for each of the control CPUs 21 to 10d.
To be entered.

A digital communication line 22 is connected to the operation side CPU 21, and the other end of the digital communication line 22 is connected to an operation side CPU 23 provided on the operation side Y. A switch is provided on the input side to the drive amplifiers 12a to 12d on the operating side Y.
24a to 24d are provided respectively, and each of these switches
24a to 24d are switch operation circuits 25 connected to the operation side CPU 23.
Can be turned ON and OFF.

With this configuration, the control signal generator 10a
10d, for example, when the pan operation is stopped, the output of the operation control signal from the control signal generation unit 10a is stopped, so that the stop of this signal output is detected by the operation detection circuit 20. . Therefore, the operation stop signal is input to the operation side CPU 21, and the switch control signal from the operation side CPU 21 is transmitted via the digital communication line 22 to the operation side CP 21.
The switch OFF signal is input to U23, transmitted to the switch operation circuit 25, and the switch 24a is turned off. As a result, the motor 13a is electrically disconnected from the control line 11a constituting the cable 6, so that even if noise is taken in the control line 11a, the motor 13a does not operate indiscriminately and the television camera 3 Is maintained in a stable state.

On the other hand, when the operation means for the pan operation is operated, the output of the signal from the control signal generation unit 10a is started. Therefore, the operation start signal is detected by the operation detection means 20, and the digital communication from the operation side CPU 21 is performed. A signal is transmitted to the operation side CPU 23 via the line 22, a switch ON signal is input to the switch operation circuit 25, and the switch 24a switches to the ON state.
As a result, the operation control signal from the control signal generator 10a is transmitted to the motor 10a, and the pan operation starts.
Thus, the panning speed or the panning movement amount is proportional to the voltage level of the operation control signal sent from the control signal generator 10a via the control line 10a.

As described above, when any one or a plurality of the operation means is operated on the operation side X, the corresponding motor is operated and the operation is stopped. At times, the connection between the control line corresponding to the operating means and the motor is automatically cut off. Moreover, this control is performed for each line.

Here, the operation control signals output from the control signal generators 10a to 10d are analog signals consisting of voltage levels as described above, and the amount of information must be large, and the responsiveness to the operation must be good. In order to transmit this signal, the control lines 11a to 11d are analog signal transmission lines. On the other hand, the signal information transmitted from the operation-side CPU 21 to the operation-side CPU 23 relates to which of the control signal generators 10a to 10d is being operated. And can be transmitted as a digital signal. In transmitting the digital signal, a function of detecting an error signal such as a parity check can be provided, so that the switch control signal transmitted via the digital communication line 22 is erroneously affected by noise. There is no risk of operation.

Further, when the CPUs 21 and 23 are provided on the operation side and the operation side as described above, and these CPUs 21 and 23 are connected by the digital communication line 22, for example, a temperature sensor is installed on the operation side Y and the temperature sensor Various kinds of information can be exchanged between the operating side X and the operating side Y, for example, the temperature signal can be converted into a digital signal and transmitted to the operating side X via the digital signal line 22. Therefore, the operation of the operating side Y can be performed more finely.

Here, in controlling the operation of the television camera 3 described above, there are speed control and position control. In the speed control, for example, in the panning operation of the camera platform 4, the panning speed is controlled when panning is performed in a right or left direction from a predetermined origin position. The position changes according to the operation amount of the operation member. When actually performing the television camera 3, the speed control and the position control are performed singly or in combination.

In the case where the speed control is performed, as shown in FIG. 4, when the center return type potentiometer 30 is used as the control signal generator, the potentiometer 30 is used.
A voltage detector 32 and an absolute value circuit 33 for obtaining the absolute value of the voltage detected by the voltage detector 32 are provided on the output side of the signal amplifier 31 from the Output. Then, this output signal is input to the comparator 34,
Compares with a predetermined threshold value, and when a voltage higher than the threshold value is input, it is detected that the potentiometer 30 is operating, that is, that the line is operating. Also,
If the output signal from the comparator 34 is equal to or smaller than the threshold value, it is detected that this line is not operated. Here, the comparator 34 is for preventing the output signal of the comparator 34 from fluctuating following a slight change in voltage.

The detection signal from the comparator 34 is input to the operation-side CPU 21, and the operation-side CPU 23 determines whether or not there is an operation, and outputs an operation stop signal or an operation start signal. The output signal from the operation side CPU 21 is input to the operation side CPU 23 via the digital communication line 22.

Therefore, when the operation stop signal is input to the operation side CPU 23, the switch OFF signal is transmitted to the switch operation circuit 25, the switch 24 is turned off, and the electrical connection between the motor 13 and the control line 11 is performed. Will be shut off. Therefore, even if noise is taken in the control line 10, there is no possibility that the motor 13 malfunctions. On the other hand, when the operation start signal is input to the operation side CPU 23, a switch ON signal is sent from the malfunction side CPU 23 to the switch operation circuit 25, and the switch 24 is turned on. As a result, the voltage signal from the center return type potentiometer 30 is applied to the operating side Y via the control line 10.
The signal is amplified by the drive amplifier 12, and the motor 13 operates at a speed corresponding to the signal level.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, when the control signal generating section is constituted by a center return type potentiometer 30a and a center switch 30b, the center switch 30b is turned on or off. What is necessary is just to comprise so that the signal whether it is in a state may be directly input into the operation side CPU21.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 6, in the case of position control,
A potentiometer 40 is used as a control signal generator, and an output signal from the potentiometer 40 is an integration circuit.
The output signal from the integration circuit 41 and the output signal from the potentiometer 40 are input to the comparator 42, and the potential difference between the two is detected.
Thus, it is detected whether or not the output signal from the potentiometer 40 fluctuates, that is, whether or not the operating means is being operated.

The signal from the comparator 42 is input to the operation side CPU 21. In the operation side CPU 21, an operation stop signal or an operation start signal is transmitted based on the signal from the comparator 42 by digital communication. Actuating CPU2 via line 22
3 will be transmitted. As a result, the switch-on signal or the switch OF is sent from the operation side CPU 23 to the switch operation circuit 25.
When the F signal is input, ON / OFF control of the switch 24 is performed.

Here, in the case of position control, since it is necessary to hold the voltage level at the position where the operation is stopped, a sample and hold circuit 43 is provided on the output side of the switch 24. Circuit 43 is the working side
It is connected to the CPU 23 and holds the voltage level when the switch 24 is turned off.

Note that, in the above-described embodiment, the configuration in which the operation control of the television camera is performed by remote control has been described. However, the member to be controlled is not limited to the television camera, but may be an apparatus having various movable members. It can be used to perform operation control. In addition, although there is shown an example in which a pan operation, a tilt operation, a lens zoom operation, and a focus operation of the television camera are performed by remote control, other operations such as rolling of the television camera are required. If so, it is sufficient to add this rolling operation mechanism.When the aperture operation is performed manually, the same switch as described above can be provided in the aperture operation mechanism, and when there is no need for tilt operation, In this case, the tilt operation mechanism may be removed.

[Effects of the Invention] A remote control in which a control signal, which is an analog signal, is transmitted from an operation side to an operation side via a control line, and a plurality of movable units and respective driving units are provided on the operation side. In the device, switching means for turning on and off the electrical connection of each of these drive means to each operation means is provided on the operation side, and these switching means are provided on the operation side, and operation control is performed from each operation means. A digital communication line is connected to detection means for detecting whether or not a signal has been output, and when the detection means detects that a predetermined operation means has stopped, the stop signal is erroneously activated due to the influence of noise. Is transmitted to the operation side via a digital communication line that does not cause the switching, and the switching means is turned off.Therefore, connect the operation side and the operation side with a long cable. Even in such a case, it is possible to reliably prevent the inconvenience of taking in noise and operating the drive member indiscriminately without providing a particularly large-scale shield mechanism.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 and 2 show the prior art, FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a mechanism for controlling the operation of a television camera by remote control, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration of a remote control device, and FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration of a remote control device according to the present invention, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration of a remote control device using a speed control method, FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration of a remote control device using another speed control method, and FIG. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration of a remote control device using a position control method. 1: Camera, 2: Lens, 3: TV camera, 4: Head, 5: Control box, 6: Cable, 10, 10a to 10d: Control signal generator, 11a to 11d: Control line, 13, 13a to 13d : Motor, 20: Operation detection means, 21: Operation side CPU, 22: Digital communication line, 23: Operation side CPU, 24, 24a to 24d: Switch, 25: Switch operation circuit, 30, 30a: Center return potentiometer, 30b: Center switch, 32: Voltage detector, 40: Potentiometer, 4
1: integration circuit, 42: comparator.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A plurality of movable members, each of which has an operating side driven by respective driving means, and a plurality of operating means for remotely controlling the operation of each of the movable members. In a wired remote control device in which the operation side and the operation side and the operation side are connected by a cable including a plurality of control lines for transmitting an analog signal from each of the operation units to each of the drive units, the operation side includes Detecting means for detecting whether an operation control signal has been output from each operating means is provided, and switching for turning on and off the electrical connection of each driving means to each operating means is provided on the operating side. Means is provided, and the detection means and the switching means are connected by a digital communication line. When the detection means detects that a predetermined operation means has stopped, the stop signal is transmitted. The then transmitted to the digital communication line said actuation side via a remote control device being characterized in that a configuration in which the switching means to OFF.