JP3110557B2 - Camera control device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a camera control device,
More particularly, the present invention relates to a camera control apparatus suitable for performing operations such as panning, tilting, and zooming of a television camera and changing the exposure amount of the television camera from a remote place, which are applied to a television conference apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of a conventional camera controller of this type, and particularly illustrates a configuration for controlling the pan position of a television camera by applying to a video conference system. In the figure, reference numeral 10 denotes a local station, and 11 denotes a partner station. These are office lines (a communication network such as a public line) 1.
8 are connected. In the partner station 11, reference numeral 1 denotes a television camera for picking up an image of a subject (not shown), reference numeral 2 denotes an electric pan head for panning (moving right and left) the television camera 1, and reference numeral 3 A pan head driving circuit for driving the television camera 1 in the direction of arrow a or b by rotating the panning motor 3 forward or backward;
Reference numeral 6 denotes a control unit for giving a right rotation instruction output L, a left rotation instruction output R, and a stop instruction output C to the pan head drive circuit 5 so as to pan and stop the television camera 1 in the directions of arrows a and b. Reference numeral 8 denotes a moving image codec (encoding circuit) for encoding a video signal from the television camera 1 in a form suitable for a communication line. Reference numeral 7 denotes a communication control unit for connecting the control unit 6 and the communication control unit 7 to the office line 18. It is.

On the other hand, in the own station 10, reference numeral 13 denotes a joystick for outputting an operation signal OP for changing the pan position of the television camera 1, and reference numeral 14 denotes a joystick 13.
And a control unit 9 for receiving a control signal OP from the camera and generating a command for controlling the pan position of the television camera 1 in response to the control signal OP, a moving image codec (decoding circuit) for decoding an encoded video signal. ) And 12 are a monitor television for displaying a video signal decoded by the video codec 9, and 19 is a communication control unit for connecting the control unit 14 and the video codec 9 to the office line 18.

FIG. 1 shows only a part of the imaging system for the partner station 11, a part of the display system and a part of the operation system for the own station 10, and various other systems are shown. A TV conference system is configured in combination. Although only the pan position control of the television camera 1 is shown in FIG. 1, a tilt (vertical tilt angle displacement) control system, a zoom control system, and the like of the television camera 1 are of course also included.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described.

[0006] An image of a subject (not shown) picked up by the television camera 1 of the partner station 11 is encoded by a moving image codec 8 and output to the station line 18 through the communication control unit 7. The video signal transmitted to the station line 18 is transmitted to the communication control unit 1 of the own station 10.
9 and decoded through the video codec 9,
It is displayed on the monitor television 12.

[0007] Through the above operation, a moving image of a subject at a remote station 11 can be viewed on the monitor television 12 of the own station 10. The television camera 1 is mounted on an electric pan head 2 so that the subject can be selected by panning the television camera 1. In the drawings, only the panning motor 3 is connected to the electric pan head 2 for the sake of simplicity, but the pan head 2 is actually provided with a tilt motor and the like. The direction can be changed freely.

The television camera 1 rotates the panning motor 3 clockwise or counterclockwise by the pan head drive circuit 5,
The pan position can be changed in the direction of the arrow a or the arrow b by the operation of the electric pan head 2. Thereby, it is possible to arbitrarily select and capture a plurality of subjects in front of the television camera 1.

Now, the pan position of the television camera 1 can be controlled by the partner station 11, but is controlled by the own station 10 which is actually watching the video through the monitor television 12. Operability is better for a video conference system. For this reason, the joystick 13 is provided on the own station 10 side, gives an operation signal OP for controlling the pan position to the control unit 14, and sends out a command based on this signal to the office line 18 via the communication control unit 19. The control unit 6 of the partner station 11 which has received this control signal from the station line 18 through the communication control unit 7 interprets this command and outputs a right rotation instruction output L and a left rotation instruction output R to the pan head drive circuit 5. Alternatively, a stop instruction output C is output. The right rotation instruction output L, the stop instruction output C, and the left rotation instruction output R correspond to the operation of the joystick 13 in the own station 10.

That is, the other station 11 is displayed on the monitor TV 12.
For example, when the user tries to point the television camera 1 at a person next to the person at the partner station 11 while watching the image of the object on the side, the joystick 13 on the own station 10 is operated to pan the television camera 1. In this case, the operation signal OP from the joystick 13 is input to the control unit 14, the control unit 14 generates a command corresponding to the operation signal, sends the command to the station line 18 through the communication control unit 19, and the communication control unit 7 This command is received from 18 and input to the control unit 6. The control unit 6 interprets the command and outputs a right rotation instruction output L, a left rotation instruction output R, or a stop command to the pan head drive circuit 5 to instruct driving corresponding to the rotation direction instructed by the joystick 13 of the partner station 11. The stop instruction output C to give an instruction is given to the pan head drive circuit 5. The pan head drive circuit 5 causes the panning motor 3 to rotate clockwise and counterclockwise based on a drive instruction signal from the control unit 6.
Give a drive signal such as stop. As a result, the television camera 1 is panned by the electric pan head 2, rotated in the direction of the arrow a or the arrow b, and stopped at an arbitrary position. As a result, the attendee of the conference can obtain an arbitrary field of view of the television camera 1 by operating the joystick 13 while watching the monitor television 12 on the own station 10 side.

FIG. 2 shows another example of a conventional camera control device. In this figure, reference numeral 4 denotes a panning position detector provided on the electric pan head 2 for detecting the pan position of the television camera 1 and outputting data corresponding to the pan position. Reference numeral 17 denotes an output from the data output terminal DA of the control unit 6. The data corresponding to the pan position of the television camera 1 provided from the panning position detector 4 is compared with the data corresponding to the pan position of the television camera 1 to generate a right rotation instruction output L, a stop instruction output C, and a left rotation instruction output R to drive the pan head The data comparison circuit 17 sends the data to the circuit 5.

In the configuration described above, the control unit 6 on the partner station 11 side or the control unit 14 on the own station 10 side
In advance, a plurality of preset data relating to the stop position of the television camera 1 is set in advance. When the user wants to change the pan position of the television camera 1 on the partner station 11 side while watching the image displayed on the monitor television 12 on the local station 10 side, the joystick 13 is operated to instruct the television camera 1 to rotate right or left. I do. In this case, if the preset data is in the control unit 14, the communication control unit 19, the station line 18,
When the preset data is present in the control unit 6 through the communication control unit 7 and the control unit 6, the control unit 6
From the preset data, data corresponding to the adjacent left rotation position or adjacent right rotation position is output to the data comparison circuit 17 through the data output terminal DA. As a result, a deviation occurs between the data from the control unit 6 and the data from the panning position detector 4. The data is compared and detected by the data comparing circuit 17, and the pan head driving circuit 5 outputs the right rotation instruction output L and the left rotation An instruction output R or a stop instruction output C is given to change the direction of the television camera 1 to an adjacent preset position in the right or left direction.
3 shows a panning operation at this time, and FIG. 4 shows a display screen of the monitor television 12.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a configuration of a conventional camera control apparatus relating to imaging exposure control, and particularly illustrates a configuration in which the present invention is applied to a video conference system to control the exposure amount of a television camera. In the partner station 11, reference numeral 201 denotes an imaging lens provided with an iris for determining an exposure amount in addition to focusing and zooming to capture an image of a subject in the television camera 1;
Reference numeral denotes a level detector that detects the level of a video signal from the television camera 1 and outputs level data. Reference numeral 50 denotes an iris control circuit that opens or stops the iris of the imaging lens 2. Reference numeral 15 denotes a presettable up / down counter, which presets data supplied to a digital input terminal DI by a trigger to a preset terminal PSET and outputs the preset data to a digital output terminal DO.
Up count input UP or down count input DN
Has a function of counting up or down the output data from the digital output terminal DO in synchronization with the clock input CLK in accordance with the state of the control unit 6.
The data from the reference reference data output terminal BD is preset through the preset data input terminal DI, and the data is counted up or down and output to the reference data output terminal DO. 17 is a level detector 40
, And compares the data input to the detection data input LD with the data input to the reference data CD from the presettable up / down counter 15 and controls the iris control circuit 50 from the opening direction drive signal O or the narrowing direction drive signal C. This is a data comparison circuit that gives a signal.

On the other hand, in the local station 10, reference numeral 200 denotes an automatic / manual switching unit for switching whether the control of the iris of the photographing lens 201 of the television camera 1 is automatic or manual, and 130 is the iris of the photographing lens 201 ( Iris diaphragm)
An iris operation unit 14 for outputting an operation signal OP for manually operating the operation signal OPA from the iris operation unit 130 and a switching signal MOA from the automatic / manual switching unit 200
This is a control unit that receives commands and generates commands for controlling the exposure of the television camera 1. Other configurations are the same as those in FIGS. That is, in FIG. 5, only the control of the exposure of the television camera 1 is extracted and shown, but of course, the panning control system, the tilt control system, the zoom control system, and various other operation systems of the television camera 1 are also included.

Next, the operation of the conventional example shown in FIG. 5 will be described.

As in the other conventional examples, a moving image of a subject at the partner station 11 can be viewed on the monitor television 12 of the own station 10. In this case, the photographing lens 2 of the television camera 1 is used.
For the iris 01, two types of control methods, automatic and manual, are applied. Next, the control operation will be described below with reference to FIG.

Now, when the automatic setting is set by the automatic / manual switching unit 200 of the own station 10, a switching operation signal MOA is output from the automatic / manual switching unit 200 to the control unit 14, and a command for instructing the automatic operation is issued. Is the communication control unit 19, office line 1
8. The control unit 6 of the partner station 11 through the communication control unit 7.
Is transmitted to When the control unit 6 interprets this command, the photographing lens 201 is connected to the reference data output terminal BD.
And outputs reference data of the level of the video signal output from the television camera 1 to the preset data input terminal DI of the presettable up / down counter 15, and then outputs the count pulse output terminal C
An instruction is issued from P to the data preset instruction input terminal PSET of the presettable up / down counter 15 to preset the data of the preset data input terminal DI.

Through the above operation, the reference reference data is preset in the presettable up / down counter 15, and this data is output from the reference data output terminal DO. This data is applied to the reference data terminal CD of the data comparison circuit 17. On the other hand, a video signal is output from the television camera 1, and the level detector 40 detects the level of the video signal and outputs corresponding data.
This level corresponds to the state of the iris of the photographic lens 201. The level increases when the iris is on the open side, and decreases when the iris is on the stop side. This data is supplied to the detection data input terminal LD of the data comparison circuit 17. The data comparison circuit 17 has a reference data terminal CD.
Is compared with the input data of the detection data input terminal LD. If the input data of the reference data terminal CD is larger than the input data of the detection data input terminal LD, the open direction drive signal O is output to the iris control circuit 50. On the other hand, the input data of the detection data input terminal LD is changed to the reference data terminal C.
If it is larger than the input data of D, a narrowing-down direction drive signal C is output.

Through the operation described above, the level of the output video signal from the television camera 1 is properly controlled, and the monitor TV 12 of the own station 10 supplies the appropriate level as shown in FIG. Is displayed.

By the way, when the subject on the partner station 11 side contains a bright spot with extremely high illuminance, for example, as shown in FIG. Since the level of the video signal output from the television camera 1 tends to be higher than that of the light source image 24, as a result of the automatic exposure control, as shown in FIG.
In such a case, control is performed such that the level including the light source image 24 becomes appropriate, that is, control is performed such that the display image 30 that is originally desired to be displayed becomes dark. This is because the level of the video signal detected by the level detector 40 generally becomes high, and the data comparison circuit 17 and the iris control circuit 50 shoot the image signal so that the level becomes equal to the input data from the reference data terminal CD. This is for narrowing down the iris of the lens 201. In such a case, the own station 10 operates the automatic / manual switching unit 200 to designate that the iris of the photographing lens 201 is manually controlled, and as shown in FIG. Correction is performed through manual operation of the iris operation unit 130 so that the display image 30 has an appropriate level.

That is, this correction operation can be started by switching the automatic / manual switching unit 200 to the manual side and giving a signal for instructing the control unit 14 to perform manual operation through the switching operation signal MOA. And the iris operation unit 1
When an iris operation signal OP for instructing iris opening or iris stop is given from the control unit 30 to the control unit 14, the control unit 14 generates a command corresponding to the iris operation signal OP. This command is given to the control unit 6.

When the control unit 6 interprets this command, it sends a signal to the up-count instruction output terminal U when the iris is open and to the down-count instruction output terminal D when the iris is open. These signals U or D are input to the up-count instruction input terminal UP or the down-count instruction input terminal DN of the presettable up-down counter 15.
, The presettable up / down counter 15 increases or decreases the output data of the reference data output terminal DO in synchronization with the count pulse supplied from the count pulse output terminal CP of the control unit 6 to the count pulse input terminal CLK. Let it. As a result, since the reference data (CD) of the data comparison circuit 17 becomes larger or smaller than the detection data input (LD), the opening direction drive signal O or the narrowing direction drive signal C is transmitted to the iris control circuit 5. Is output, and the iris of the taking lens 201 is corrected in the opening direction or the aperture direction.

[0023]

However, the conventional camera control device operates the joystick 13 while monitoring the monitor television 12 on the local station 10 side as described above, thereby changing the pan position of the television camera 1 steplessly. , Or to a position preset in advance, the television camera 1 is controlled by the presence of delays in the encoding, transmission, and decoding of images by the moving image codec 8 and the moving image codec 9. However, there has been a problem that the pan position cannot be accurately positioned or an arbitrary pan position cannot be freely selected with good operability.

The above points are explained with reference to the configuration of FIG. 1 and the explanatory diagram of the panning operation of FIG.
Will be described with reference to the explanatory diagram of the display screen of FIG. Now, it is assumed that the television camera 1 is facing in the direction A (see FIG. 3) and is capturing an image of the first subject 20. In this case, the monitor television 12 obtains an image in which the first subject image 22 is located at the center, as shown in FIG.

On the other hand, when trying to obtain an image of the second subject 21, it is necessary to change the pan position of the television camera 1 so that the field of view of the television camera 1 is directed to the direction B (see FIG. 4), the operation is performed by the joystick 13 on the local station 10 side. As a result, the television camera 1 changes its direction from the direction A to the direction B by the action of the panning motor 3 and the electric pan head 2. As a result, the image displayed on the monitor TV 12 is also the first image.
From the subject image 22 to the second subject image 23. Then, as shown in FIG. 4B, the operation of the joystick 13 is stopped when the second subject image 23 is located at the center, as shown in FIG. The image at this time is an image when the television camera 1 is facing in the direction B. The video imaged by the television camera 1 is encoded by the moving image codec 8 and transmitted to the local line 18 through the communication control unit 7. Received through the communication control unit 19,
The monitor television 12 is decoded by the moving image codec 9 and
It takes a considerable amount of time before the information is displayed.

The delay time is determined by the speed of the local line 18 and the encoding and decoding methods of the moving image codecs 8 and 9, and generally, for the local line 18 of about 64 kbps (kilobits / second). There is a delay of about 0.5 seconds. That is, at the point in time when the image shown in FIG. 4B is displayed on the monitor television 12, the television camera 1 further advances the panning operation, and is oriented in the direction C depending on the panning speed. become. As a result, the local station 10 confirms that the image on the monitor television 12 is as shown in FIG.
Even if the pan operation by the joystick 13 is stopped, the pan position of the television camera 1 is actually determined in the direction C, and the second subject is finally displayed on the monitor television 12 as shown in FIG. The second subject image 23, which is the captured image 21, is a video image that is offset to the left of the screen. Further, depending on the zoom position of the television camera 1, in extreme cases, a case where the second subject image 23 does not enter the monitor television 12 at all may occur.

According to the configuration shown in FIG. 2, the shift of the pan position due to the above-mentioned screen delay can be prevented. However, it is only necessary to preset the direction of the television camera 1 in accordance with the number and position of the subject. Therefore, there is a problem that the direction of the television camera 1 cannot be arbitrarily changed in a stepless manner, and improvement of operability has been a major issue. In addition,
The problem of overrun related to the camera operation described above is exactly the same in the control of the tilt position and the zoom position of the television camera 1 that requires the television camera 1 of the partner station 11 to be operated while watching the monitor television 12 at the own station 10. And some solution has been needed.

Further, as described above, the image pickup exposure control system of the conventional camera control device has the iris operation unit 1 while the user observes the monitor television 12 at the own station 10 shown in FIG.
30 is operated to control the iris (not shown) installed in the taking lens 201 of the television camera 1 to the iris open side or the iris diaphragm side, so that the moving image codec 8 and the moving image codec 9 are controlled. However, there is a problem that the iris opening or the iris aperture state cannot be finely controlled due to the existence of the delay time of the encoding, transmission and decoding of the image.

The above points will be described with reference to the explanatory diagram of FIG. Now, the iris of the photographing lens 201 is appropriately controlled by automatic control, and as shown in FIG.
It is assumed that a display image 30 in a favorable exposure state has been obtained. However, in a video conference or the like, depending on the direction of the camera, the light source image 24 of the illumination light source often enters the screen as shown in FIG. 6B. In such a case, iris control is performed so as to make the level of the entire screen appropriate, so that the essential display image 30 is an image darker than appropriate.

Then, the user operates the automatic / manual switching unit 200.
The manual operation is selected by using and the iris operation unit 130 gives an instruction to open the iris, so that the brightness of the display image 30 is corrected to be appropriate. As a result, the iris of the photographing lens 201 is controlled to the iris open side, and the display image 30 in the monitor television 12 gradually becomes brighter.
Then, the own station 10 stops the iris opening operation of the iris operation unit 130 when the brightness of the display image 30 becomes appropriate as shown in FIG. 6C. At this time, the display image 30 displayed on the monitor television 12 is an image at the time when the iris of the photographing lens 201 is at an appropriate open position, and the video captured by the television camera 1 is encoded by the video codec 8. It takes a considerable amount of time for the data to be transmitted to the local line 18 through the communication control unit 7, received through the communication control unit 19, decoded by the video codec 9, and displayed on the monitor television 12.

The delay time is determined by the speed of the local line 18 and the encoding and decoding methods of the moving image codecs 8 and 9, and generally about 0.5 seconds for the local line 18 of about 64 kbps. There is a delay. That is, the monitor TV 1
At the point when the display image 30 having the brightness as shown in FIG. 6C is displayed in FIG. 2, the taking lens 201 further advances the iris opening operation. This means that it is quite open. As a result, even if the own station 10 confirms that the image on the monitor television 12 is as shown in FIG. 6C and stops the iris opening operation by the display image 30, the iris of the photographing lens 201 is actually further opened. The position is determined on the side, and a display image 30 brighter than appropriate is finally displayed on the monitor television 12 as shown in FIG. Also, if the iris operation unit 130 is operated toward the iris diaphragm side to correct this,
Due to the same delay of the image as described above, the operation is excessively performed to the narrowing side, and the display image 30 on the monitor television 12 is now darker than appropriate, as shown in FIG. . The problem of overrun related to the iris operation described above is caused by a screen delay when it is necessary to operate the iris of the taking lens 201 of the television camera 1 of the partner station 11 while watching the monitor television 12 at the own station 10. It is a problem that always arises and some solution is needed.

A first object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, regardless of the existence of a display delay due to encoding, transmission and decoding of a moving image. It is another object of the present invention to provide a camera control device capable of adjusting a direction and a zoom position of a television camera to a desired state without overrun.

A second object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, regardless of the presence of a display delay due to encoding, transmission and decoding of a moving image. It is another object of the present invention to provide a camera control device capable of adjusting an exposure state of an obtained video signal to a desired exposure state without overrun.

[0034]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a camera for imaging a subject and outputting a video signal, and encoding the video signal to generate video data. Encoding means for outputting the video data, transmission means for transmitting the video data to a designated place, decoding means for decoding the video data sent through the transmission means and outputting a video signal, and decoding means Display means for displaying an image of the subject based on an image signal from the camera, driving means for performing driving for changing the shooting conditions of the camera, and detection means for detecting shooting conditions of the camera and outputting state data. A delay unit for delaying the state data for a set time and outputting delay state data; and a manual operation unit located on the display unit side and outputting operation data for instructing a change in shooting conditions of the camera. During operation of the manual operation means, an instruction signal for changing a photographing condition of the camera is provided to the drive means based on the state data and the operation data. And control means for giving an instruction signal to the driving means for changing a photographing condition of the camera based on the delay state data when the operation is stopped.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a camera for imaging a subject and outputting a video signal, and encoding the video signal to output video data. Means, transmission means for transmitting the video data to a designated location, decoding means for decoding the video data sent through the transmission means and outputting a video signal, and video signal from the decoding means. Display means for displaying an image of the subject, exposure change driving means for driving to change the exposure of the camera, and level detection means for detecting the level of an output video signal of the camera and outputting level data A delay means for delaying the level data for a set time and outputting delay level data; and a manual means for outputting operation data for instructing a change in exposure of the camera, which is located on the display means side. Operating means, during operation of the manual operation means, to the exposure change drive means to give an instruction signal to change the exposure of the camera based on the level data and the operation data, and when the operation of the manual operation means is stopped Control means for providing an instruction signal for changing the exposure of the camera to the driving means based on the level data and the delay level data at the time of stopping the current operation.

Here, the imaging condition may be at least one of a pan position of the camera, a tilt position of the camera, and a zoom position of the camera. According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a camera control device for controlling a camera, comprising: a driving unit for performing a drive for changing a shooting state of the camera; Detecting means for detecting the photographing state of the camera, delay means for delaying the photographing state of the camera detected by the detecting means for a predetermined time, and, when receiving an instruction to change the control state of the camera, receiving the instruction. Control means for controlling the driving means based on the control means for controlling the driving means to be in a shooting state of the camera delayed by the delay means when receiving an instruction to stop the change of the control state of the camera; It is characterized by having. Further, the driving means may perform driving for changing at least one of pan, tilt, zoom, and aperture states.

[0037]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, an image of a subject is taken by a camera of a partner station, video data obtained by encoding the captured video signal is transmitted, and a video signal obtained by decoding the video data received by the own station is transmitted. When displaying operation data instructing a change in the state of the camera to the partner station via the operation means, the camera state detection data and operation data relating to pan, tilt, and zoom camera shooting conditions are displayed during the operation. A signal for changing the photographing condition of the camera based on the signal is supplied to the driving means for changing the photographing condition of the camera, and when the operation of the operating means is stopped, the state detection data and the state immediately before the operation stop indicating the state at the time of the operation stop are displayed. A signal for changing the photographing condition of the camera is provided to the driving means based on the delay state data obtained by delaying the state detection data. That is, since the pan position, the tilt position, and the zoom position are controlled in consideration of the display delay time accompanying the encoding, transmission, and decoding of the moving image, the direction of the television camera and the zoom position are controlled to desired states without overrun. be able to.

According to a second embodiment of the present invention, a subject is imaged by a camera, video data obtained by encoding the captured video signal is transmitted, and a video signal obtained by decoding the video data received by the own station is transmitted. Upon display, when operation data instructing a change in the exposure of the camera is output to the partner station via the operation means, the exposure condition of the camera is determined based on the exposure state detection data and the operation data regarding the exposure condition of the camera during the operation. The change signal is supplied to the driving means for changing the exposure condition of the camera, and when the operation of the operation means is stopped, the exposure state detection data and the exposure state detection data immediately before the operation stop indicating the exposure state when the operation is stopped are delayed. A signal for changing the exposure condition of the camera based on the delay exposure data obtained as a result is given to the driving means. That is,
Since the iris of the television camera is controlled in consideration of the display delay time associated with the encoding, transmission, and decoding of the moving image, the exposure state of the video signal obtained from the television camera can be controlled to a desired state without overrun. .

[0039]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 7 shows a circuit configuration of a camera control device according to an embodiment of the present invention relating to control of photographing conditions of pan, tilt, and zoom cameras. In the figure, reference numeral 15 denotes a presettable up / down counter, which presets data (delayed data) given to a digital input terminal DI by a trigger to a preset terminal PSET, outputs the preset data to a digital output terminal DO, and increases the value. The output data from the digital output terminal DO is counted up or down in synchronization with the clock input terminal CLK according to the state of the count input terminal UP or the down count input terminal DN. 16 is a data delay circuit,
The data output from the panning position detector 4 is output after being delayed by the time given to the delay time setting input terminal DL. The presettable up / down counter 15
The up-count input terminal UP and the down-count input terminal DN are connected to an up-count instruction output terminal U and a down-count instruction output terminal D of the control unit 6, respectively.
The count pulse output terminal CP and the set output terminal S of the control unit 6 are connected to SET, respectively. The delay time setting input terminal DL of the data delay circuit 16 is connected to the delay time setting output terminal DLO of the control unit 6. The output data of the digital output terminal DO of the presettable up / down counter 15 is
7, the data comparing circuit 17 is supplied with data indicating the pan position from the panning position detector 4 at the same time. The data comparison circuit 17 compares the two data, and outputs a right rotation instruction output L, a left rotation instruction output R,
The stop instruction output C is output. Other configurations are the same as those of the conventional example of FIG.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described.

An image of a subject (not shown) picked up by the television camera 1 of the partner station 11 is encoded by the moving image codec 8 and output to the station line 18 through the communication control unit 7. The video signal transmitted to the station line 18 is transmitted to the communication control unit 19 of the own station 10.
, And is decoded through the video codec 9 and displayed on the monitor television 12. In this case, as described above, a certain delay time is required for encoding, transmission, and decoding until the movement of the video imaged by the television camera 1 is displayed on the monitor television 12.

Through the above operation, a moving image of a subject at the partner station 11 can be viewed on the monitor television 12 of the own station 10. However, when there are a plurality of subjects at the partner station 11, the TV camera 1 The television camera 1 is mounted on an electric pan head 2 so that the subject can be selected by panning. The television camera 1 rotates the panning motor 3 forward or backward by the pan head drive circuit 5,
The pan position can be changed in the direction of the arrow a or the arrow b by the operation of the electric pan head 2. Thereby, it is possible to arbitrarily select and capture a plurality of subjects in front of the television camera 1.

The pan position of the television camera 1 is controlled from the own station 10 which is actually watching an image through the monitor television 12. Therefore, an operation signal OP for controlling the pan position is provided to the control unit 14 by operating the joystick 13 on the own station 10 side, and a command corresponding to this signal is sent out to the station line 18 via the communication control unit 19. . The control unit 6 of the partner station 11 which has received this command from the office line 18 through the communication control unit 7 responds to the command by sending an instruction from the joystick 13 to the presettable up / down counter 15 according to whether the joystick 13 is rotated right or left. A signal is output from the up-count instruction output terminal U or the down-count instruction output terminal D. On the other hand, since the count pulse is sent to the count pulse output terminal CP of the control unit 6, the output data from the digital output terminal DO of the presettable up / down counter 15 changes in synchronization with the count pulse. As a result, a deviation occurs between the data from the presettable up / down counter 15 and the data from the panning position detector 4. These data are compared and detected by the data comparison circuit 17, and the pan head driving circuit 5 is supplied with a right rotation instruction output L, a left rotation instruction output R or a stop instruction output C. The panning motor 3 drives the panning motor 3 according to these outputs to move the panning direction of the television camera 1 rightward or leftward. In connection with this, the cycle of the count pulse given from the control unit 6 to the presettable up / down counter 15 is transmitted from the panning position detector 4 when the pan position of the television camera 1 is changed by the camera platform driving circuit 5. It is set so as not to exceed the change speed of the data to be output.

Now, a fixed delay time is set from the delay time setting output terminal DLO of the control unit 6 to the delay time setting input terminal DL of the data delay circuit 16, and this delay time is taken by the television camera 1. The motion of the moving image is encoded by the moving image codec 8, transmitted on the local line 18, decoded by the moving image codec 9, and actually
2 corresponds to the time until it is reflected in the movement of the display image on the top. The data delay circuit 16 delays the data representing the pan position of the television camera 1 given from the panning position detector 4 by a set delay time, and sets the digital input terminal D of the presettable up / down counter 15.
Give to I.

Next, the panning operation of the television camera 1 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the explanatory view of the panning operation in FIG. 3 and the explanatory view of the display screen of the monitor television 12 in FIG. Now, the television camera 1 is facing in the direction A, and the first
It is assumed that the subject 20 is imaged. In this case, the monitor television 12 obtains an image in which the first subject image 22 is located at the center, as shown in FIG.

On the other hand, when attempting to obtain an image of the second subject 21, it is necessary to change the pan position of the television camera 1 so that the visual field of the television camera 1 is directed to the direction B. The operation is performed using the joystick 13 on the local station 10 side. As a result, the output data of the presettable up / down counter 15 changes,
The television camera 1 changes its direction from the direction A to the direction B by the action of the panning motor 3 and the electric pan head 2.
As a result, the image displayed on the monitor television 12 also moves from the first subject image 22 to the second subject image 23.

Then, the operation of the joystick 13 is stopped when the second subject image 23 is located at the center, as shown in FIG.
The image at this time is an image when the television camera 1 is facing in the direction B. That is, at the point in time when the image shown in FIG. 4B is displayed on the monitor television 12, the television camera 1 further advances the panning operation, and is oriented in the direction C depending on the panning speed. become. as a result,
Even if the own station 10 confirms that the image on the monitor television 12 is as shown in FIG. 4B and stops the pan operation with the joystick 13, the television camera 1 is actually in the direction C.
, And the pan position is finally determined on the monitor television 12 as shown in FIG.
The second subject image 23, which is the captured image of, becomes a video located on the left side of the screen.

However, in this example, when the operation of the joystick 13 is stopped, this state (stop operation) is transmitted from the control unit 14 to the control unit 6 through the communication control unit 19, the station line 18, and the communication control unit 7. In this state, the control unit 6 stops the output of the up-count instruction output terminal U or the down-count instruction output terminal D and sends a pulse output to the set output terminal S. As a result, the presettable up / down counter 15 loses input to both the up count input terminal UP and the down count input terminal DN, stops the up count or down count operation, and responds to the pulse input to the preset terminal PSET. Then, the data from the data delay circuit 16 given to the digital input terminal DI is taken in, and this data is taken into the digital output terminal DO.
To the data comparison circuit 17.

At this time, the data indicating the pan position of the television camera 1 output from the data delay circuit 16 corresponds to the direction B shown in FIG. That is, the data of the pan position corresponding to the direction B of the television camera 1 is output from the presettable up / down counter 15 to the data comparison circuit 1.
7 will be given. As a result, the pan head drive circuit 5
Is supplied with a signal of a right rotation instruction output L or a left rotation instruction output R for instructing rotation in a direction opposite to the previous rotation direction, and returns the television camera 1 from the direction C to the direction B. When the data indicating the pan position of the television camera 1 given from the panning position detector 4 to the data comparison circuit 17 becomes equal to the data from the presettable up / down counter 15, the data comparison circuit 17
Detects this, outputs a stop instruction output C to the camera platform drive circuit 5, and stops the movement of the television camera 1.

As a result of the above control, the image displayed on the monitor television 12 of the own station 10 is corrected from the state shown in FIG. 4C to the state shown in FIG. It is possible to obtain a display image according to a request on the local station 10 side to display the image 23 at the center of the monitor screen. That is, when the user sets an arbitrary shooting direction of the television camera 1 by operating the joystick 13 while watching the monitor television 12 on the own station 10 side, the delay time associated with the encoding, transmission, and decoding of the moving image is reduced. Even if there is, the television camera 1 can be stopped quickly and reliably at the position as viewed on the monitor television 12.

In the above embodiment, control of the pan position of the television camera 1 has been described as an example. However, as shown in FIG. 8, a tilt position detector 41 is provided in place of the pan position detector 4, and a pan position detector 41 is provided. By providing a tilt motor 31 in place of the motor 3 and setting the tilt position with the joystick 13,
The control of the tilt position can be applied in exactly the same way as the control example of the pan position. As shown in FIG. 9, a zoom position detector 42 is provided in place of the panning position detector 4, a zoom motor 32 is provided in place of the panning motor 3, and a zoom operation unit 35 is provided in place of the joystick 13. With this arrangement, the control of the zoom position can be applied in exactly the same way as the control example of the pan position.

In the above embodiment, the data delay circuit 1
6, the presettable up / down counter 15, the data comparison circuit 17 and the like are provided separately from the control unit 6, but all of these functions are controlled by the control unit 6.
It is, of course, possible to put them inside the software, in which case all functions can be achieved by software. Also, a combination in which the same control as described above is simultaneously performed for a plurality of operation functions among pan, tilt, and zoom is of course possible.

The delay time set in the data delay circuit 16 can be set arbitrarily on the partner station 11 side or on the local station 10 side, and the encoding time by the video codec 8 and the decoding time by the video codec 9 are set. It is, of course, preferable that the set delay time is freely changed in accordance with the fluctuation of the transmission time of the local line 18 or the like.

FIG. 10 shows a circuit configuration of a camera control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention relating to the control of image exposure. In the figure, reference numeral 16 denotes a data delay circuit, and the level detector 4
The detection data given from 0 is delayed from the data delay amount instruction output terminal DLO of the control unit 6 by the time given to the data delay amount instruction input terminal DL, and output to the level delay output terminal DLD. A data selector 220 inputs data from the data delay circuit 16 to an input terminal A, inputs data from a reference data output terminal BD of the control unit 6 to an input terminal B,
Selects one of the input data of the input terminal A and the input terminal B in accordance with the signal from the data select instruction output terminal SEL.
Is output to the preset data input terminal DI. Other configurations are the same as those of the conventional example shown in FIG.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described.

An image of a subject (not shown) picked up by the television camera 1 of the partner station 11 is encoded by the moving image codec 8 and output to the local line 18 through the communication control unit 7. The video signal transmitted to the station line 18 is transmitted to the communication control unit 19 of the own station 10.
, And is decoded through the video codec 9 and displayed on the monitor television 12. In this case, as described above, a certain delay time is required for encoding, transmission, and decoding until the movement of the video imaged by the television camera 1 is displayed on the monitor television 12.

Through the above operation, the moving image of the subject at the partner station 11 can be viewed on the monitor television 12 of the own station 10, but the exposure amount is adjusted according to the brightness of the subject at the partner station 11 side. In order to change the aperture value, the television camera 1 is provided with an iris (not shown) capable of changing the aperture value. In this case, the taking lens 20 of the TV camera 1
Two types of control methods, automatic and manual, are applied to one iris. Next, the control operation will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG.

Now, when automatic is set by the automatic / manual switching unit 200 of the own station 10, a switching operation signal MOA is output from the automatic / manual switching unit 200 to the control unit 14, and a command for instructing the automatic operation is issued. Is the communication control unit 19, office line 1
8. The control unit 6 of the partner station 11 through the communication control unit 7.
Is transmitted to In this case, when interpreting this command, the control unit 6 outputs reference reference data of the level of the video signal output from the television camera 1 to the reference reference data output terminal BD according to the aperture of the taking lens 201, and then outputs the data. An instruction is issued from the preset instruction input terminal S to the data preset instruction input terminal PSET of the presettable up / down counter 15 to preset the input data of the preset data input terminal DI, and the data select instruction is output to the data selector 220. Terminal S
A signal instructing selection of input data of input terminal B is output from EL.

As a result, the reference data of the level of the video signal from the reference data output terminal BD of the control unit 6 is supplied to the preset data input terminal D of the presettable up / down counter 15 through the data selector 220.
This data is provided to the presettable up / down counter 15 in synchronization with the clock of the data preset instruction clock input terminal CLK, and output from the reference data output terminal DO. This output data is applied to the reference data terminal CD of the data comparison circuit 17.
On the other hand, a video signal is output from the TV camera 1,
Level detector 40 detects the output level of the video signal and outputs corresponding data. This level corresponds to the state of the iris of the photographic lens 201. The level increases when the iris is on the open side, and decreases when the iris is on the stop side. This detection data is applied to a detection data input terminal LD of the data comparison circuit 17.

The data comparison circuit 17 has a reference data terminal CD
Is compared with the input data of the detection data input terminal LD. If the input data of the reference data terminal CD is larger than the input data of the detection data input terminal LD, the open direction drive signal O is output to the iris control circuit 50. If the input data of the detection data input terminal LD is larger than the input data of the reference data terminal CD, the control unit 50 outputs the narrowing direction drive signal C to the iris control circuit 50. Through the above operation, the level of the output video signal from the television camera 1 is appropriately controlled, and the monitor television 12 of the own station 10 is controlled to an appropriate level as shown in FIG. The displayed image 30 is displayed. At this time, the level detector 40
Data corresponding to the exposure level from the data delay circuit 1
6 where the data delay amount instruction output terminal DLO of the control unit 6 is connected to the data delay amount instruction input terminal DL.
Are output from the level delay output terminal DLD after being delayed by the delay amount given to the data selector 2.
Ignored at 20.

Now, in the case where an object (not shown) includes a bright spot with extremely high illuminance, for example, in the case of an image including the light source image 24 in the display image 30 as shown in FIG. As a result of the automatic exposure control, the level of the video signal output from the light source image 24 tends to be higher than that of the light source image 24, as shown in FIG.
Control is performed such that the level including 4 is appropriate, that is, control is performed such that the display image 30 that is originally desired to be displayed becomes dark. This is because the level of the video signal detected by the level detector 40 generally becomes high, and the data comparison circuit 1
7 and the iris control circuit 50 are to narrow down the iris of the taking lens 201 so that this level becomes equal to the input data from the reference data terminal CD. In such a case, the user operates the automatic / manual switching unit 200 on the own station 10 side to specify that the iris of the photographing lens 201 is manually controlled, and the monitor is switched as shown in FIG. Correction is performed through manual operation so that the display image 30 on the television 12 is at an appropriate level.

This correction operation is performed by the automatic / manual switching unit 200
Is switched to the manual side, and a signal instructing the manual operation is given to the control unit 14 through the switching operation signal MOA. Then, when an iris operation signal OP for instructing iris opening or iris aperture is given from the iris operation unit 130 to the control unit 14, the control unit 14 generates a command corresponding thereto, and the communication control unit 19, the station line 18, This command is given to the control unit 6 of the partner station 11 through the communication control unit 7. When the control unit 6 interprets this command, it sends a signal to the up-count instruction output terminal U when the iris is open and to the down-count instruction output terminal D when the iris is open. These signals are stored in a presettable up / down counter 15.
Is input to the up-count instruction input terminal UP or the down-count instruction input terminal DN. The presettable up-down counter 15 synchronizes with the count pulse supplied from the count pulse output terminal CP of the control unit 6 to the count pulse input terminal CLK. To increase or decrease the output data of the reference data output terminal DO. As a result, the data at the reference data terminal CD of the data comparison circuit 17 becomes larger or smaller than the data at the detection data input terminal LD, so that the iris control circuit 50 supplies the opening direction drive signal O or the narrowing direction drive signal. C is output, and the iris of the taking lens 201 is corrected in the opening direction or the diaphragm direction.

Now, it is assumed that the iris of the photographing lens 201 is properly controlled by automatic control, and a display image 30 in a good exposure state is obtained as shown in FIG. However, in a video conference or the like, depending on the orientation of the camera, when the light source image 24 of the illumination light source enters the screen as shown in FIG. Is performed, the display image 30 becomes an image darker than appropriate. Therefore, a manual operation is selected by the automatic / manual switching unit 200, and an instruction to open the iris is issued by the iris operation unit 130, so that the brightness of the display image 30 is corrected to be appropriate. As a result, the iris of the taking lens 201 is controlled to the iris open side, and the display image 30 in the monitor television 12 gradually becomes brighter. Then, the own station 10 stops the iris opening operation of the iris operation unit 130 when the brightness of the display image 30 becomes appropriate as shown in FIG. 6C.

At this time, the display image 30 displayed on the monitor television 12 is the image at the time when the iris of the photographing lens 201 is at the appropriate open position.
Until the video captured by the video codec 8 is encoded by the video codec 8, sent out to the local line 18 through the communication control unit 7, received through the communication control unit 19, decoded by the video codec 9, and displayed on the monitor television 12. Takes a considerable amount of time. This delay time is determined by the transmission speed of the local line 18 and the coding and decoding methods of the video codecs 8 and 9, and the general case of the local line 18 of about 64 kbps is about 0.5 second. There is. That is, the display image 30 having the brightness as shown in FIG.
Is displayed, the photographic lens 201 is further proceeding with the iris opening operation, and is considerably closer to the open side than the appropriate aperture position depending on the iris opening speed. As a result, even if the own station 10 confirms that the image on the monitor television 12 is as shown in FIG. 6C and stops the iris opening operation by the iris operation unit 130,
In practice, the position of the iris of the photographing lens 201 is further determined on the open side, and a display image 30 that is brighter than appropriate is finally displayed on the monitor television 12 as shown in FIG. I will.

However, when the transmission of the iris operation signal OP is stopped by the iris operation unit 130, this is transmitted from the control unit 14 to the control unit 6 of the partner station 11 through the communication control unit 19, the station line 18, and the communication control unit 7. Is transmitted. When the iris operation is stopped in this manner, an instruction is issued from the data select instruction output terminal SEL of the control unit 6 to the data selector 220 to select the input terminal A, and the level delay output of the data delay circuit 16 is output. The output data of the terminal DLD is supplied to the preset data input terminal DI of the presettable up / down counter 15. Then, the data preset instruction output terminal S of the control unit 6 is connected to the data preset instruction input terminal PSE of the presettable up / down counter 15.
At T, an instruction output for presetting the input data of the preset data input terminal DI is issued, and the presettable up / down counter 15 receives the level data from the level detector 40 delayed by the data delay circuit 16. Become.

At this time, the amount of delay given to the data delay amount instruction input terminal DL of the data delay circuit 16 through the data delay amount instruction output terminal DLO of the control unit 6 depends on the video signal from the television camera 1 The iris operation signal OP is stopped during the time until it is transmitted through the communication control unit 7, the station line 18, and the communication control unit 19, decoded by the video codec 9, and reflected on the monitor television 12. This corresponds to the time obtained by adding the time required for the control unit 6 to recognize the fact and set the output data of the data delay circuit 16 in the presettable up / down counter 15. That is, the data delay circuit 16
The data transmitted to the level delay output terminal DLD through the terminal represents the level of the video signal corresponding to the screen displayed on the monitor television 12 of the own station 10 when the iris operation is stopped.

Therefore, by presetting the level delay output (DLD) from the data delay circuit 16 to the presettable up / down counter 15, the data for obtaining the image of the exposure level shown in FIG. To the reference data terminal CD of the data comparison circuit 17. As a result, the data comparison circuit 17
The input value of the detection data input terminal LD of the reference data terminal C
D becomes larger than the input value of D.
A control signal for narrowing the iris 1 is output to the iris control circuit 50, and the state shown in FIG.
Exposure is corrected up to the state described above, and the iris of the photographing lens 201 is controlled so that the desired exposure level can be obtained on the local station 10 side.

In the description of the above embodiment, the case where the iris is operated to the open side in order to raise the level of the television camera 1 is exemplified. However, it goes without saying that the same operation is performed when the iris is operated to the aperture side. No. The present invention is also applicable to a configuration in which the level of a video signal is electrically changed.

In the above embodiment, the data delay circuit 1
6, the presettable up / down counter 15, the data comparison circuit 17, the data selector 220, and the like are provided separately from the control unit 6, but all the functions can of course be stored in the control unit 6. Yes, in which case all functions can be achieved by software. In addition, a combination in which similar control is simultaneously performed for other functions of the television camera 1, that is, a plurality of operation functions among pan, tilt, and zoom, is of course possible.

[0071]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In a system where there is a time difference between the sending and displaying of the video, if the manual operation is performed to change the pan position, tilt position and zoom position while watching the screen on the video display side, manual operation corresponding to the time difference Pan position when stopped,
Since the tilt position and zoom position are corrected,
Automatically adjust the camera direction and zoom position to the user's desired state, that is, without overrun, while watching the display screen, even if there is a display delay due to encoding, transmission, and decoding of moving images. Is obtained.

Similarly, according to the present invention, in a system having a time lag between sending and displaying an image, when a manual operation is performed to change the image level while viewing the screen on the image display side. The iris state of the TV camera when the manual operation is stopped is corrected according to the time difference, so even if there is a display delay due to the encoding, transmission, and decoding of the moving image, the image can be viewed while watching the display screen. The effect is obtained that the level can be adjusted to the level desired by the user.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a servo control system of a conventional camera control device.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing another example of a servo control system of a conventional camera control device.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a panning operation of the television camera.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a display state of a display screen of a monitor television according to a panning operation.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an imaging exposure control system of a conventional camera control device.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a display state example of a display screen of a monitor television at the time of exposure control.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a pan control system of the camera control device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a tilt control system of a camera control device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a zoom control system of a camera control device according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an imaging exposure control system of the camera control device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 TV camera 2 Electric pan head 3 Panning motor 4 Panning position detector 5 Pan head drive circuit 6 Control unit 7 Communication control part 8 Video codec 9 Video codec 10 Own station 11 Remote station 12 Monitor television 13 Joystick 14 Control unit Reference Signs List 15 presettable up / down counter 16 data delay circuit 17 data comparison circuit 18 local line 19 communication control unit 20 first subject 21 second subject 22 first subject image 23 second subject image 24 light source image 30 display image 31 Tilt motor 32 Zoom motor 35 Zoom operation unit 40 Level detector 41 Tilt position detector 42 Zoom position detector 50 Iris control circuit 130 Iris operation unit 200 Automatic / manual switching unit 201 Photographing lens 220 Data selector

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 5/232 H04N 7/15 630

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] A camera for imaging a subject and outputting a video signal; an encoding unit for encoding the video signal and outputting video data; a transmission unit for transmitting the video data to a designated location; Decoding means for decoding the video data sent through the transmission means to output a video signal; display means for displaying an image of the subject based on the video signal from the decoding means; and changing a shooting condition of the camera. A driving unit for performing a driving for causing the camera to detect, a detecting unit for detecting a photographing condition of the camera and outputting state data, a delay unit for delaying the state data for a set time and outputting delay state data, and the display unit And manual operation means for outputting operation data for instructing a change in the photographing condition of the camera, while the manual operation means is operating, based on the status data and the operation data. Then, an instruction signal for changing the photographing condition of the camera is given to the driving unit, and the photographing condition of the camera is determined based on the state data when the manual operation unit is stopped and the delay state data when the current operation is stopped. A control means for providing an instruction signal for changing the value to the driving means. 2. The photographing condition includes a pan position of the camera,
The camera control device according to claim 1, wherein the camera control device is at least one of a tilt position of the camera and a zoom position of the camera. 3. A camera for imaging a subject and outputting a video signal, encoding means for encoding the video signal and outputting video data, transmission means for transmitting the video data to a designated location, Decoding means for decoding the video data sent through the transmission means to output a video signal; display means for displaying an image of the subject by the video signal from the decoding means; and changing the exposure of the camera Change driving means for performing the driving for the above, level detecting means for detecting the level of the output video signal of the camera and outputting level data, and delay means for delaying the level data for a set time and outputting delay level data Manual operation means which is located on the display means side and outputs operation data for instructing an exposure change of the camera; and wherein the level data is output during operation of the manual operation means. An instruction signal for changing the exposure of the camera based on the data and the operation data to the exposure change driving means, and when the operation of the manual operation means is stopped, the level data and the delay level data when the current operation is stopped are Control means for giving an instruction signal to change the exposure of the camera based on the control signal to the drive means. 4. A camera control device for controlling a camera, a driving unit for performing a drive for changing a shooting state of the camera, a detecting unit for detecting a shooting state of the camera from the camera, and a detecting unit A delay means for delaying the photographing state of the camera detected by the camera for a predetermined time; and when receiving an instruction to change the control state of the camera, controlling the driving means based on the instruction to control the camera. A camera control device, comprising: control means for controlling the driving means so as to be in a shooting state of the camera delayed by the delay means when receiving an instruction to stop a change in state. 5. The camera control device according to claim 4, wherein the driving unit performs driving for changing at least one of pan, tilt, zoom, and aperture.