JP3309496B2 - Camera direction 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 direction control device for controlling a shooting direction of a video camera in, for example, an electronic video conference system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the recent spread of digital public lines and the standardization of digital compression methods for still images and moving images, the field using digital transmission of images is expanding. One. A video camera is used as an image input device in the electronic video conference system, and the video camera is photographed in a desired direction in a timely manner and is sent to a communication partner. Thus, it is necessary to control the shooting direction of the camera as needed.

[0003] A conventional method of controlling the photographing direction of this type of camera will be described below. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of a camera photographing direction control device as a conventional example. In FIG. 5, reference numeral 3 denotes a main camera for photographing a target subject, and a photographing direction is electrically controlled by a camera direction control signal 6. The camera direction control mechanism 31 of the main camera unit 3 for controlling the direction in which the main camera unit 3 points is provided by a system control device 8 such as an electronic video conference.
Is driven by receiving the camera direction control signal 6 from
There is a video camera 32 built in the main camera unit 3 for converting a subject to be photographed into a video signal. The video signal 7 captured by the video camera 32 is received by the system controller 8. The system control device 8 which is a control device of the entire electronic video conference system adjusts, as necessary, a signal input from a camera direction control operation panel 19 for transmitting a control signal for controlling the direction of the camera, and controls the camera direction. In addition to transmitting to the main camera unit 3 as the signal 6, the video (video) signal 7 is transmitted to the monitor 10 or supplied to the image encoding device 9 and the like, and various video signals and control signals are adjusted to control related devices. are doing. Here, the camera direction control operation panel 19 is generally used by being arranged near the user away from the system control device 8 so as to be easily operated by the user.

The operation of the camera direction control device configured as described above will be briefly described below.
An image captured by the main camera unit 3 is converted into a video signal of an electric signal by the video camera 32 in the main camera unit 3 and sent to the monitor 10 via the system control device 8 so that the user can view the video signal. . Here, when the photographing direction of the main camera section 3 is to be changed, the camera direction control operation panel 19 is operated, and a control signal corresponding to the control content is sent to the system control device 8. The camera direction control mechanism 31 in the main camera unit 3 generates a camera direction control signal 6 necessary for movement and operates the shooting direction of the main camera unit 3.
There is no way of knowing what actually moved except by looking at the monitor 10, and while looking at the image of the main camera unit 3 displayed on the screen of the monitor 10, controlling the direction of the main camera unit 3 (video camera 32). Will be done.

[0005]

However, the image taken by the main camera unit 3 projected on the monitor 10 is, of course, an image with a limited field of view, and for example, the angle of the field of view is approximately 8 ° to 44 °. Not just. In addition, not only can a person move his / her own neck to cover a much narrower field of view than the image seen by his / her eyes, but also the viewpoint of the camera from the position of the main camera unit 3 differs from the actual viewpoint of the user. Will be. For this reason, the control operation of the shooting direction of the main camera unit 3 in the direction in which the user wants to determine the shooting determined by his / her eyes is due to the narrow view, the difference in viewpoint, and the control operation speed of the camera shooting direction. The operation is difficult due to the difference between the speed and the appropriate speed coming from the sensitivity of the person, and the user must always operate the main camera unit 3 until the completion of the control operation for turning to the target direction.
There is a problem that the operation itself takes time.

[0006] Further, after the video (video) signal 7 captured by the main camera unit 3 is encoded by the image encoding device 9 via the system control device 8 in a state when the actual electronic video conference system or the like is in operation. If the video signal is displayed on the monitor 10 again as a video signal via the system controller 8,
The image taken by the main camera unit 3 is projected on the monitor 10 and the image is taken until the image can be recognized by the user.
A time delay is required due to the image coding method, which makes it more difficult to perform the direction control operation of the main camera unit 3.

Here, the present invention is intended to solve all the problems of the above-mentioned prior art, and the first invention of the present invention provides a user who controls and controls the shooting direction of the main camera easily and quickly. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a device for controlling a shooting direction of a main camera to a desired shooting direction.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the case of the configuration of the first aspect, the light emitted from the specific light emitting instruction device for emitting the converged parallel rays is set within the shooting range of the main camera. For example, red light is emitted from the specific light emission indicating device when the reflected light is received by irradiating a certain irradiated portion, and the emitted light and its reflected light, as well as imaging light of other objects are used by using the wavelength of the light. In some cases, it is difficult to distinguish between the emitted light, the reflected light thereof, and a red subject having the same wavelength from other subjects, and the camera direction control of the first aspect of the present invention cannot be performed. In rare cases, the camera may turn in a direction slightly different from the direction that you originally want to control.Therefore, the light emitted and reflected from the specific light emitting device and the reflected light received from other subjects Is determined, and the It is intended to prevent the displacement of the camera orientation completely.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, a dedicated camera [not shown] is provided separately from the main camera as means for receiving and using the reflected light as in the first and second aspects of the invention. Even if not used, it is possible to configure the main camera together with the specific light emission instructing device as long as it is within the field of view of the main camera unit 3. However, with the main camera alone, the field of view is narrowed and the control range is narrowed. An indicator light camera dedicated to receiving the reflected light is employed separately from the main camera, and the object is to smoothly control the shooting direction of the main camera in a range wider than the field of view of the main camera.

[0010]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a light emitted from a specific light emitting device for emitting a converged parallel light beam is set within a shooting range of a main camera. Illuminates the illuminated area, receives the reflected light, and when the received reflected light detects light intensity above a certain set level, detects the arrival direction of the reflected light and generates a camera direction control signal The camera is provided with a pointing light camera for giving a camera direction control signal from the pointing light camera to the main camera, and the video camera is directed in the direction of the object to be irradiated first through the camera direction control means built in the main camera. This is a camera direction control device for controlling the camera direction.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the camera direction control apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, the light emitted from the specific light emitting instruction device is intermittently applied to an illuminated portion within the photographing range of the main camera. , Receives the intermittent reflected light, and detects the direction of the intermittent reflected light when the received reflected light is intermittent light and the light intensity is above a certain set level. An indicator light camera for generating a direction control signal is provided, and a camera direction control signal from the indicator light camera is supplied to the main camera. This is a camera direction control device that controls the camera to point in the direction of an object.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, an indicator light camera having a wider field of view than the field of view of the main camera is employed together with the main camera, applied for receiving reflected light, and generating a direction control signal for the main camera. This is a camera direction control device having a circuit configuration.

[0013]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, with the above-described configuration, a person moves his / her neck and looks at an object to be photographed by himself / herself without relying on the image taken by the main camera. As if pointing naturally with the finger, point at the specific light-emitting device and press the light-emission control button, emit the emission light from the specific light-emission instruction device for a short time, and with only one operation to hit the object, the emission light will be The shooting direction of the main camera is automatically controlled to face the hit object. In other words, the operability close to the natural movement of a person can be realized, so the difference in the field of view and viewpoint between the person and the camera operating in the conventional example, and the difference in the appropriate speed coming from the camera shooting direction control operation speed and the human sensitivity. Makes operation difficult, and the control operation becomes very easy. In addition, in the conventional example, the main camera always had to be operated until the control operation in which the main camera was directed to the target direction was completed, and the operation itself was time-consuming. Since the camera direction control operation is completed in a short time, the operability is greatly improved.

Further, a video (video) signal photographed by a main camera in a state of operation of an actual electronic video conference system or the like is encoded by an image encoding device via a system control device, and is then converted into a video signal again. When displayed on the monitor via the control unit, the video taken by the main camera is displayed on the monitor, and a time delay is required due to the image encoding method until the video can be recognized by the user. In the conventional camera direction control, it was difficult to operate this control operation. However, with the configuration of the present invention, the control operation can be completed with only one operation and the operation time can be reduced. And the operability can be greatly improved.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, with the above configuration, the emitted light from the specific light emission indicating device and the reflected light thereof become a specific intermittent light emission, whereas the imaging light of the other subject is basically a continuous light emission. By the difference between the intermittent and continuous light, the emitted light from the specific light emitting instruction device and its reflected light, and it is possible to accurately determine the imaging light of other subjects by the instruction light camera, First
According to the invention, the reliability of the directivity of the camera can be further secured. When the illumination of the subject is a fluorescent lamp and the illumination illuminance changes with the power supply frequency, the illumination of the fluorescent lamp whose luminance changes with the power supply frequency can be changed by shifting the power supply frequency and the intermittent light emission period of the specific light emission instruction device. It is possible to completely eliminate the misdirection of the camera that lacks the accuracy of the camera.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, with the above configuration, a wide field of view and operability can be particularly improved.

[0017]

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration representing the whole of an embodiment of the first invention of the present invention.

In the drawings, the same reference numerals indicate the same or corresponding members. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 15 denotes emission light which is instruction light emitted from the specific light emission instruction device 1 to the outside;
a is an intermittent emission light, and 16 is a reflection light which is obtained by irradiating the object with the emission light 15 emitted from the specific light emission instructing device 1. Light emission control button 1 provided on the specific light emission instruction device 1 by the user
When 1 is pressed, the LED drive circuit 12 is driven and LE
Emitting light 15 is emitted from D13, is converted into a parallel light beam with a narrow optical axis via a converging lens 14, and is emitted to the pointing light camera shooting range 4.

The pointing light camera photographing range 4 is composed of, for example, a white board 42 and a graph chart 43. The white board 42 is colored [black] on a white board to express agenda items necessary for a conference. The chart 43 is a means for displaying a graph or chart prepared in advance for the purpose of discussion, but since both are in principle the same, only the pointing control of the camera to the white board 42 will be described. The emitted light 15 is, for example, an illuminated portion 41 shown in FIG.
The emitted light 15 hits the object (irradiated portion 41) and is reflected to become reflected light 16, and the reflected light 16 is set to go to the pointing light camera 2.

The pointing light camera 2 receives both the reflected light 16 or the emitted light 15 in usage, and receives it from as many fields of view as possible via the wide-angle lens 21 to obtain a monochrome area C.
The light in the shooting range is appropriately converged on the CD 22, and then the optical filter 23 is connected to the wide angle lens 21 and the monochrome area CCD 2.
2, the emitted light 15 through the optical filter 23.
Unnecessary light outside the wavelength range is hardly transmitted, and only the necessary reflected light 16 is introduced into the monochrome area CCD 22, where photoelectric conversion is performed, and an electric signal corresponding to the reflected light 16 is converted into a camera signal processing unit. 24 monochrome area CCD 22
The reflected light 16 is adjusted to a signal suitable for the subsequent electric signal processing, and one of the adjusted signals enters the indicating light discriminating circuit 25, where it is set in advance. The reflected light 16 and the light of the other subject are discriminated based on whether or not the signal level is equal to or higher than the set signal level. When the signal level is equal to or higher than the set signal level, the result of the judgment is sent to the next stage as the indicating light discrimination signal 26. The other of the adjusted signals is supplied to the arrival direction detector 28, and the reflected light 1 is output using the timing of the driving unit of the monochrome area CCD 22.
In the direction of reflection 6, ie, the pointing light camera 2,
An arrival direction signal 29 of the arrival direction information of the reflected light 16 that operates so that the main camera unit 3 is directed is generated.

The indicator light discrimination signal 26 indicating that the reflected light 16 from the indicator light discriminating circuit 25 is certainly incident.
Is effective only when there is a camera direction control signal 6 for driving the main camera unit 3 from the camera direction control signal generation circuit 27 by outputting an arrival direction signal 29 for controlling the photographing direction from the arrival direction detector 28. Is transmitted to the main camera unit 3 to control the shooting direction of the main camera unit 3.

The main camera unit 3, the system control unit 8, the image coding unit 9 and the monitor 10 are the same as those in the conventional example, but the control of the main camera unit 3 while watching the monitor 10 is special. Not necessary unless necessary.

The operation of the camera direction control device according to the present invention configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. First, the emission direction of the specific light emission indicating device 1 is set to the direction in which the main camera unit 3 is directed, for example, the white board 42.
When the operator presses the light emission control button 11 in the direction of, the LED 13 emits light by the LED drive circuit 12 connected to the light emission control button 11, and the light of the LED 13 is converged by the converging lens 14.
Converges to narrow parallel rays and emits. This launch light 1
5 is emitted from the specific light emission indicating device 1 and the emitted light 1
Numeral 5 travels straight in the direction of the operator and hits the target. Here, as shown in FIG. 1, the emitted light 15 is applied to the irradiation part 41 at the center of the whiteboard 42, and the emitted light 15 is dispersed from the irradiation part 41 to become the reflected light 16, Part of the light is received by the wide-angle lens 21 of the pointing light camera 2. The reflected light 16 received by the pointing light camera 2 is converted by the wide-angle lens 21 into a monochrome area CC.
It is properly converged on the sensor of D22. The camera signal processing unit 24 and the driving unit of the camera signal processing unit 24 and the monochrome area CCD 22 for converting the signal photoelectrically converted by the monochrome area CCD 22 into a signal that can be easily used by the pointing light determination circuit 25 and the arrival direction detector 28. Thus, a monochrome camera is configured in combination with the monochrome area CCD 22. When the indicator light camera 2 receives the reflected light 16, the indicator light camera 2 detects and determines that the reflected light 16 has been received together with the indicator light discrimination circuit 25, and outputs it as an indicator light discrimination signal 26. Further, information on the arrival direction of the reflected light 16 with respect to the pointing light camera 2 of the reflected light 16 is obtained together with the arrival direction detector 28,
Output as the arrival direction signal 29.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing an example in which the emitted light 15 is applied to the irradiated portion 41 of the white board 42. FIG.
(a) represents an address address. For the pointing light camera shooting area, the horizontal and vertical address division numbers are X0,..., X5,..., X9 and Y0,.
As shown in..., Y9, the area is divided into ten parts and the division numbers are assigned. FIG. 2 (b) shows the address of the irradiated portion. The address of the irradiated portion 41 irradiated by the emitted light 15 is, for example, X3, Y4, which is the address information at that time.

The means for dividing the area is the reflected light 16
The address corresponding to the light receiving portion of the monochrome area CCD 22 is generated in accordance with the arrival direction of the reflected light 16 to obtain information on the arrival direction of the reflected light 16. The direction-of-arrival signal 29 of the optical signal of the reflected light 16 obtained in this way and the indicating light discrimination signal 26 determined to have a light level equal to or higher than a certain level are used as a camera direction control signal generation circuit of the main camera unit 3. 27, the logical product of the two signals, and the main camera unit based on the arrival direction information of the reflected light 16 of the arrival direction signal 29 only when the reflected light 16 is detected and determined by the indication light determination signal 26. The camera direction control signal 6 is output to the main camera unit 3 so that the camera direction control signal 3 faces the irradiation part 41 of the white board 42 which is the arrival direction of the reflected light 16. The main camera unit 3 receives the camera direction control signal 6 and is direction-controlled by the camera direction control mechanism 31. The main camera unit 3 faces the irradiation part 41 of the white board 42, which is the arrival direction of the target reflected light 16, and Video camera 32
As a result, a portion centering on the irradiation portion 41 is photographed.
A video (video) signal 7 captured by the main camera unit 3 is supplied to a system control device 8 and sent to an image encoding device 9 and a monitor 10 for use.

In this way, the specific light emission instruction is given so that the operator can naturally point the object with his / her finger without seeing the image captured by the main camera unit 3 on the monitor 10. By pointing at the device 1 and pressing the light emission control button 11, the target can be directly pointed while looking at the target itself, and the shooting direction of the main camera unit 3 can be directed to the target target by one simple operation. Can be controlled.

Further, the main camera section 3 and the pointing light camera 2 are integrally formed, and by defining a reference direction of the main camera photographing direction in the main camera control, the arrival direction signal 29 obtained by the pointing light camera 2 is determined. , The control processing of the main camera unit 3 is facilitated.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of an embodiment according to the second invention. 3 generally follows the description of the first invention shown in FIG.
a, a pulse generation circuit 18 is added, and accordingly, the accuracy of discrimination and arrival direction detection of the intermittent reflected light 16a of the pointing light camera 2a is improved, and the pointing light discriminating circuit and the arrival direction detector are combined. Constitute the indicating light discrimination circuit and the arrival direction detector 20. The pulse generation circuit 18 is a means for receiving a light emission control signal from the light emission control button 11, generating a pulse wave signal at a specific interval, and supplying the signal to the LED drive circuit 12.

The operation will be described below with reference to FIG.
First, a light emission control button 11 is pressed by a user who wants to control the direction of the main camera unit 3, and a light emission control signal is output to the pulse generation circuit 18. Thereby, the pulse generation circuit 1
8 generates a pulse wave at a specific interval and outputs the pulse wave to the LED drive circuit 12, and the LED drive circuit 12 uses the pulse wave signal generated by the pulse generation circuit 18 to generate the intermittent emission light 1.
5a is emitted from the LED 13. Specific light emission indicating device 1
Receiving the intermittent emission light 15a emitted from a and the intermittent reflection light 16a illuminated and reflected on the object by the indicating light camera 2a is the same as the operation of FIG. Intermittent reflected light 16 by arrival direction detector 20
The light reception detection determination of a is performed as follows. That is, if the signal other than the signal at the specific interval generated by the pulse generating circuit 18 is not the intended intermittent reflected light 16a, the intermittent emitted light 15a and the intermittent reflected light 16a And the imaging light of the other subject can be more accurately determined.

FIG. 4 shows a pointing light discriminating circuit and an arrival direction detector 2 which are the light receiving discrimination / arrival direction detecting means of the second invention.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for describing the configuration of a 0 in detail.

The pointing light discriminating circuit and the arrival direction detector 2
0, the operation of the circuit will be described. First, a light signal 20a received by the monochrome area CCD 22 and the pointing light camera 2a of the camera signal processing unit 24 is converted into a level determining circuit 20 built in the pointing light determining circuit and the arrival direction detector 20.
b, and the level discriminating circuit 20b applies only a signal higher than a specified value, that is, a light signal brighter than the specified value, to the central processing unit CPU 20c. The timing pulse 20 of the central processing unit CPU 20c received from the camera signal processing unit 24
Based on d, the image range of the pointing light camera 2a is shown in FIG.
When the light receiving signal is received from the level discriminating circuit 20b by dividing the area into 10 sections of X0-X9 and Y0-Y9, respectively, as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2 (b), it is calculated which of the divided screen areas corresponds to the received light signal, and whether the received light signal is the intermittent light of the period of the specific interval pulse generated by the pulse generation circuit 18. Alternatively, it is determined whether the light is any other light, and only when the light is intermittent at a specific interval generated by the pulse generation circuit 18, the discrimination signal 26 of the intermittent reflected light 16a and the address information 33 corresponding to the arrival direction of the reflected light 16a are transmitted to the camera. Output to the direction control signal generation circuit 27. Camera direction control signal generation circuit 27
Is based on the discrimination signal 26 and the address information 33, so that the camera direction control signal 6 is directed so that the main camera unit 3 is directed to the arrival direction of the target intermittent reflected light 16a, that is, the target to which the main camera unit 3 is desired to be directed. Is output to the main camera unit 3, and the main camera unit 3 points in the direction of the target object.

[0033]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a specific light emission indicating device for emitting a converged parallel ray is provided.
An indicator light camera that receives the emitted light emitted from the specific light emitting indicator and the reflected light thereof, detects the reflected light, and detects the arrival direction of the reflected light viewed from a main camera having a photographing direction control device. Thus, the directivity of the main camera is controlled so that the shooting direction of the main camera is directed to the direction of the target object specified by the specific light emission instructing device. The difficulty of operation due to the difference in the visual field and viewpoint between the person and the camera, and the difference in the appropriate speed resulting from the camera shooting direction control operation speed and the human sensitivity has been eliminated, and the control operation has become extremely easy. Also,
In the conventional example, the main camera always had to operate until the control operation to turn to the target direction was completed, and the operation itself took time. However, with the configuration of the present invention, one operation is extremely short. In time, the main camera direction control was completed and improved significantly. Further, the video (video) signal photographed by the main camera in the operation state of the actual electronic video conference system or the like is encoded by the image encoding device via the system control device, and then again converted into a video signal as a system control signal. When the image is projected on the monitor via the device, the image taken by the main camera is projected on the monitor and the image encoding method requires a time delay until the image can be recognized by the user. In the example of the camera direction control operation, it was difficult to perform this operation. However, according to the configuration of the present invention, the control operation can be completed with only one operation and the operation time and operability can be improved. Could be greatly improved.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an instruction light camera for receiving emission light emitted from a specific light emission instructing device and reflected light thereof and detecting a signal and a direction of the reflected light. In order to determine the reflected light of the emission light from the device from the imaging light of another subject, the emission light of the specific light emitting device is configured to be intermittent emission at specific intervals instead of continuous emission. When the circuit configuration of the present invention is adopted, the reflected light of the emitted light from the specific light emitting device is, for example, red light, and the wavelength of the light is used to determine the difference between the reflected light and the imaging light of another subject. However, in rare cases, the subject other than the reflected light may not be distinguished from the red subject of the same wavelength, and the camera direction control malfunctions and the camera turns in the direction different from the direction that you want to control. Slightly Although there was no danger, the emitted light and reflected light from this specific light emitting instruction device were clearly distinguished from other subjects, and the emitted light from the specific light emitting instruction device and its reflection were used in order to prevent the aforementioned concerns. The light is a specific intermittent light emission, while the imaging light of other subjects is basically continuous light, and the difference between this light continuity and intermittent light greatly reduces the problem of malfunction since the conventional example. Not only can it be reduced, but also the intermittent emission light and the intermittent reflected light from this light emission indicating device and the imaging light of other subjects can be accurately and reliably determined by the indicating camera. It became. If the illumination of the subject is a fluorescent light or the like and the illumination illuminance changes with the power supply frequency, the power supply frequency and the cycle of the intermittent light emission of the specific light emission instructing device are shifted to change the luminance with the power supply frequency. The above determination can be reliably performed even with illumination.

Further, according to the third aspect of the present invention, it is possible to obtain a special effect that the field of view of the main camera is wide and the directivity is free, and the operability of directing the object is further improved. Become.

That is, in summary, in the conventional example, the control of the photographing direction of the camera is performed while watching the image photographed by the camera on the monitor. There is a problem that it is difficult to operate due to a difference in viewpoint and a difference in response time. At the same time, there was a bottleneck that the camera had to be constantly operated until the control operation in which the camera was directed in the target direction was completed, and the operation itself took time.

In contrast, according to the present invention, a person directly looks at a real object to be photographed like a pointer with his / her own eyes, and instructs an object to be photographed with a specific light emission instructing device as it is, and the camera operates as a pointer. Since the pointing direction is automatically turned, the control of the photographing direction is very easy, the control operation time is very short, the operability and the operation time are remarkably improved, and a remarkable special effect is recognized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of a camera direction control device according to an embodiment of the first invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an optical signal arrival direction detection method of a camera direction control device according to the first and second embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of a camera direction control device according to an embodiment of the second invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a pointing light discrimination and arrival direction detector of a camera direction control device according to an embodiment of the second invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Specific light-emission instruction | indication device 2 Indication light camera 3 Main camera part 4 Indication light camera imaging range 8 System control device 9 Image encoding device 10 Monitor 11 Emission control button 12 LED drive circuit 13 LED 14 Convergent lens 15 Emitting light 15a Intermittent emission light Reference Signs List 16 reflected light 21 wide-angle lens 22 monochrome area CCD 23 optical filter 24 camera signal processing unit 24 25 pointing light discriminating circuit 26 pointing light discriminating signal 27 camera direction control signal generating circuit 28 arrival direction detector 31 camera shooting direction control mechanism 32 video camera 41 Irradiated part 42 White board 43 Graph chart

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 5/232 H04N 7/18

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A device for controlling a photographing direction of a camera, wherein a light emitted from a specific light emitting instruction device for emitting a converged parallel light beam is applied to an irradiation portion within a photographing range of a main camera, and the reflected light is applied. An indicator light camera for receiving the reflected light and detecting the direction of arrival of the reflected light and generating a camera direction control signal when the intensity of the received reflected light is higher than a certain set level; A camera direction control signal from the camera to the main camera, and controlling the video camera via the camera direction control means built in the main camera so as to direct the video camera in the direction of the target, which is the previously irradiated part. Direction control device. 2. An emission light from the specific light emission instruction device is intermittently applied to an irradiation portion within an imaging range of a main camera, the intermittent reflected light is received, and the received reflected light is intermittent. An indicator light camera for detecting the direction of the intermittent reflected light and generating a camera direction control signal when the intensity of the light is equal to or higher than a predetermined level; and a camera from the indicator light camera. Give direction control signal to main camera,
2. The camera direction control device according to claim 1, wherein the video camera is controlled so as to be directed toward a target, which is a previously irradiated portion, via a camera direction control means incorporated in the main camera. 3. A reflected light applied to an illuminated portion within a photographing range of the main camera is received through a wide-angle lens, introduced into a monochrome area CCD via an optical filter, and the photoelectrically converted output signal is output to a subsequent stage. An instruction light discriminating circuit for performing camera signal processing for adjusting the signal light so as to be suitable for the signal processing, and detecting whether or not the reflected light subjected to the camera signal processing has a light intensity equal to or higher than a set level; A camera direction control signal for generating a camera direction control signal based on an output signal from the indicating light discriminating circuit and the arrival direction detection circuit, wherein the direction detection circuit detects the direction of arrival from the reflected light subjected to the camera signal processing. A pointing light camera having a generating circuit and controlling a direction in which the main camera is directed by a control signal from the camera direction control signal generating circuit. The camera direction control device according to claim 1 or 2.