JPH02189078A - Video conference system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the efficiency of presentation by controlling a pickup direction control means so that a received light spot always comes to a specific position of an infrared ray sensing means based on an output of the infrared ray sensing means mounted to an index means. CONSTITUTION:The system is provided with an image pickup direction control means 58 to control the direction of image pickup by panning or tilting a telecamera 12 and an index means 26 whose tip is mounted with an infrared ray emitting element 24 and indexing the content of presentation at the same time. Moreover, the system is provided with an infrared ray sensing means sensing the position of a light received spot with plural photodetectors 28 mounted to the telecamera 12 and a control section 30 controlling an image pickup direction control means 58 so that the received light spot always comes to a specific position of the infrared ray sensing means based on the output of the infrared ray sensing means. The presentator controls the image pickup direction such as panning or tilting by using an index section of the index means 26 so that the telecamera 12 is always directed to a desired direction. Thus, the telecamera 12 is operated in an optical direction.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a television conference system, and particularly to a television conference system with excellent operability.

[Prior Art] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a conventional television conference system. In the figure, 2 is a board on which presentation content 8 is drawn for the presenter 4 to make various presentations, and 6 is a board 2 on which the presenter 4 is drawn.
An indicator 12 is placed on a tripod 14 to take images of the presenter 4 and the presentation content 8 on the board 2; 16 is an indicator for operating the television camera 12; 18 is a cable for sending the video signal from the television camera 12;
20 is a monitor television for displaying the video signal sent from the television camera 12 through the cable 18 for viewing by the audience 22, and IO is a monitor television for the presenter 4 to view the video from the television camera 12. be.

The operation of the configuration shown in FIG. 3 will be explained.

When presenting to the audience 22, the presenter 4 holds the board 2 in front of the television camera 12.
The user makes a presentation while pointing the presentation content 8 on the board 2 with the pointing stick 6. The image captured by the television camera 12 is sent to the cable 18
The content of the presentation by the presenter 4 can be viewed by the audience 22 through the monitor television 20.

By the way, the presentation also includes audio.
Of course, this is communicated to the audience 22 through a system not shown.

On the other hand, the cameraman 16 operates the imaging direction, zooming, and focusing of the television camera 12 for capturing the presentation content 8 on the presenter 4 and the board 2 while listening to the content of the presentation by the presenter 4.

Such a presentation system is designed for the audience 22
It is widely used when there are so many people that it is impossible to give a presentation in one place, or when giving a presentation to an audience 22 in a remote location.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Since the conventional video conference system is configured as described above, there are problems as described below.

First, since television cameras are operated by cameramen, it is difficult to reflect the presenter's intentions in operations related to presentation content, such as panning, tilting, and zooming. Therefore, there is a problem in that the content of the presentation by the presenter and the content captured by the television camera are difficult to match, and timing errors occur, making it difficult to give an effective presentation.

There is also the problem that presentations become large-scale because a cameraman is required.

One possible solution to this problem is to place the television camera on an electric pan head and at the same time adopt electric zoom 2 focus on the television camera, and have the presenter operate these using remote control. Because it is necessary to operate the television camera while watching and at the same time give the original purpose of the presentation, it is a very nerve-wracking task and may interfere with the content of the intended presentation. Undesirable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a television conference system that eliminates the problems of the prior art described above and allows effective presentations while reducing the burden on the presenter.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the television conference system of the present invention mounts a television camera and controls the imaging direction by panning or tilting the television camera. an imaging direction control means, an infrared light emitting element attached to its tip and an instruction means having an instruction function of instructing presentation content at the same time, and an infrared detection means attached to the television camera and detecting the position of a light receiving spot using a plurality of light receiving elements. and a control section that controls the imaging direction control means so that the light receiving spot is always located at a specific position of the infrared detection means based on the infrared detection means and the output.

[Function] With the above means, the presenter does not have to perform any special operations by controlling the imaging direction such as vanning or tilting so that the television camera always faces the instruction section of the instruction means originally used by the presenter for the presentation. You can also perform operations such as pointing the television camera in any direction.

[Example] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a television conference system as an embodiment of the present invention. 34 is an electric pan head that electrically controls the imaging direction of the television camera 12, and has a function as an imaging direction control means;
2, a motorized lens operation unit for electrically operating zooming and focusing; 30, a control unit for inputting operation signals to control the electric pan head 32 and the motorized lens operation unit 34; 26, a control unit at the hand of the pointing rod 6; 24 is an infrared light emitting unit that sends an operation signal from the hand operation unit 26 as an infrared light signal, and is used to control the panning, tilting, zooming, and focusing of the television camera 12. It has the function of an instruction means for instructing.

In this configuration, its operation will be explained next.

When presenting to the audience 22, the presenter 4 holds the board 2 in front of the television camera 12.
The user makes a presentation while pointing the presentation content 8 on the board 2 with the pointing stick 6. The image captured by the television camera 12 is sent to the monitor television 20 through the cable 18, and the audience 22 can view the presentation content of the presenter 4 through the monitor television 20.

Now, when the presenter 4 makes a presentation, the presentation content 8 on the board 2 is shown on the pointing stick 6.
This is carried out while pointing at the controller 30.
controls the electric pan head 32 so that the infrared light emitting section 24 is located at the center of the infrared light receiving section 28 . As a result, the presenter 4 can capture a necessary location on the board 2 in the center of the imaging range of the television camera 12 without remotely controlling the electric pan head 32. Particularly, when zooming in on the television camera 12 to capture detailed parts of the presentation content 8 on the board 2, the presenter 4 simply points to the required location with the pointing stick 6, and the television camera 12 captures an image of that part. I'll give it to you. On the other hand, if such automatic tracking involves frequent movements of the television camera 12 and makes it difficult to see the image on the monitor television 20, the presenter 4 operates a switch on the hand control unit 26 to detect this by emitting infrared light. This movement can be stopped by transmitting the information from the section 24 to the control section 30 through the infrared light receiving section 28. In this case, operations such as panning and tilting of the television camera 12 are performed by the presenter 4 using a switch provided on the hand operation section 26 of the pointing stick 6. This operation signal is transmitted as an optical signal from the infrared emitter 24 to the infrared receiver 28, and is executed by operating the electric pan head 32 through the controller 30.

On the other hand, regarding the zooming operation and focusing operation of the television camera 12, the presenter 4 operates the hand-held operation section 26 and transmits the operation signal to the infrared light emitting section 24.
This can be carried out by transmitting an optical signal to the infrared light receiving section 28 and operating the electric lens operation section 34 through the control section 30.

By performing the above operations, the presenter 4 can easily operate the television camera 12 in accordance with the content of his or her presentation without being caught by the image on the monitor television 10.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a circuit applied to the configuration of FIG. 1. In the figure, 36 is an operation control unit that generates a control signal based on the operation content from the presenter 4 in the hand operation unit 26 provided at one end of the pointing rod 6 in FIG. A modulation unit converts a signal into a modulation signal suitable for optical transmission; 40 is an infrared light emitting diode that constitutes the infrared light emitting unit 24; 38 is an infrared light emitting diode 4 that converts a signal into a modulation signal suitable for optical transmission;
0, 74 is an infrared light emitting diode 40;
A projection lens 76 transmits the luminous flux from the infrared light emitting section 24 as a substantially parallel luminous flux;
The light receiving lenses 42A, 42B, 42C, and 42D are infrared light receiving elements configured by dividing the infrared light receiving element group 42 into four, and 44A, 4 are configured by dividing the infrared light receiving element group 42 into four parts.
4B, 44C, and 44D are infrared receiving elements 42A, respectively.
, 42B, 42C, and 42D, 46 is an adder that adds the output signal of preamplifier 44A and the output signal of preamplifier 44B, and 48 is an adder for adding the output signal of preamplifier 44C and the preamplifier 44B. An adder 50 adds the output signals of the preamplifier 44A and the output signal of the preamplifier 44C, and 51 adds the output signal of the preamplifier 44B and the output signal of the preamplifier 44D. an adder for adding the output signals; 52 is an adder for adding all the output signals of the preamplifiers 44A to 44D; 54 is an adder 46;
48 is a subtracter that matches and compares each output signal, 56 is a subtracter that matches and compares each output signal of adders 50 and 51, and 62 is a control signal that demodulates and separates the control signal from the output signal of the adder 52 to generate a control code. 58 is a demodulating unit 6 that generates
A vanning control section 60 controls the panning motor 66 of the electric camera platform 32 based on the control code from 2 and the signal from the subtracter 54; A tilt control section 64 controls the tilt motor 68 of the electric pan head 32, and a lens control section 64 controls the zoom motor 70 and focus motor 72 of the electric lens operation section 34 based on the control code from the demodulation section 62.

The operation of the above configuration will now be described.

First, when a signal for selecting the automatic tracking mode is input from the operation control section 36 of the hand operation section 26, this signal is modulated by the rhombus section 37 and sent from the drive section 38 to the infrared light emitting diode 4.
Drive 0. As a result, the optical signal from the infrared light emitting diode 40 becomes a signal containing this control code, and this signal is received by the infrared light receiving element group 42 of the infrared light receiving section 28. The light reception signal of the infrared light receiving element group 42 is sent to the adder 52.
The control code is received in its entirety and demodulated by the demodulation section 62 to restore the original control code. This control code is applied to the vanning control section 58 and the tilt control section 60 to set them to automatic tracking mode.

By the way, the infrared light receiving element 42 of the infrared light receiving element group 42
The amount of light received by A and the infrared receiving element 42C,
The amount of light received by the infrared light receiving element 42B and the infrared light receiving element 42D is determined by the amount of light received by the infrared light receiving element 28 and the infrared light emitting part 2.
The tilt angle of the television camera 12 is set to be the same when the tilt angle of the television camera 12 matches the infrared light emitting part 24 of the pointing stick 6. On the other hand, the infrared light receiving element 42 of the infrared light receiving element group 42
The amount of light received by both A and the infrared receiving element 42B,
The amount of light received by the infrared light receiving element 42C and the infrared light receiving element 42D is determined by the amount of light received by the infrared light receiving element 28 and the infrared light emitting part 2.
The angle differs depending on how far left or right there is with respect to 4, and is set so that it is the same when the panning angle of the television camera 12 matches the infrared light emitting part 24 of the pointing stick 6.

Therefore, the output signal of the adder 50 that adds the output of the preamplifier 44A that amplifies the output signal of the infrared light receiving element 42A and the output of the preamplifier 44C that amplifies the output signal of the infrared light receiving element 42C is added to the infrared light receiving element. A subtracter 56 compares the output of the preamplifier 44B that amplifies the output signal of the infrared light receiving element 42B with the output signal of the adder 51 that adds the output of the preamplifier 44D that amplifies the output signal of the infrared light receiving element 42D. Accordingly, the amount of tilt control gg for directing the infrared light receiving section 28, that is, the television camera 12, toward the infrared light emitting section 24 of the pointing rod 6 is obtained.

On the other hand, the output signal of the adder 46 that adds the output of the preamplifier 44A that amplifies the output signal of the infrared light receiving element 42A and the output of the preamplifier 44B that amplifies the output signal of the infrared light receiving element 42B is added to the output signal of the infrared light receiving element 42A. The output of the preamplifier 44C that amplifies the output signal of 42C and the infrared receiving element 42
The output signal of the preamplifier 44D that amplifies the output signal of D is compared with the output signal of the adder 48 that adds the output signal in the subtracter 54. A panning control amount for directing the light toward the light emitting section 24 can be obtained. Now, the tilt control unit 60 and the vanning control unit 58 that have received the automatic tracking control code operate the tilt motor 68 of the electric pan head 32 and the vanning control unit 58, respectively, according to the control amounts obtained from the subtracter 56 and the subtracter 54. The motor 66 is controlled so that the imaging center of the television camera 12 always faces the infrared light emitting section 24 of the pointing rod 6. On the other hand, focusing and zooming of the electric lens operation section 34 are performed using the one-hand operation section 26.
The control coat sent from the operation control section 36 based on the input is sent out as an optical signal from the infrared light emitting section 24, and the signal received by the infrared light receiving section 28 is sent from the adder 52 to the demodulation section 6.
2, and the demodulated control code is sent to the lens control section 64, - the zoom motor 7 of the electric lens operation section 34.
0 and the focus motor 72.

On the other hand, when a signal to cancel the automatic tracking mode is input from the operation control section 36 of the hand operation section 26, this signal is modulated by the modulation section 37, and the infrared light emitting diode 40 is driven from the drive section 38. An optical signal from the infrared light emitting diode 40 containing this control code is received by the infrared light receiving element group 42 of the infrared light receiving section 28 . Infrared receiving element group 4
The two received light signals are collectively received by an adder 52, and demodulated by a demodulator 62 to restore the original control code. This control code is applied to the vanning control section 58 and the tilt control section 60.
is given to cancel these automatic tracking modes. As a result, the vanning control unit 58 and tilt control unit 60 are set to control the vanning motor 66 and tilt motor 68 of the electric pan head 32 based on the control code from the demodulation unit 62. The imaging direction of the television camera 12 by the electric pan head 32 is determined based on the operation input from the hand operation unit 26.

As a result of the above operations, if the automatic tracking mode is set from the hand control unit 26, the presenter 4 can track the boat 2.
Especially when you want to make a presentation by zooming in on the presentation content 8 above, you can use the pointer stick 6 without having to manually set the imaging range on the television camera 12.
Since the television camera 12 automatically tracks the part indicated by , the presenter 4 does not need to perform any special operations for that purpose.
The presenter 4 can use the hand control section 26 of the pointing stick 6 to perform the zooming and focusing described in 2.
It can be easily carried out without interfering with the presentation.

Note that operation signals for zooming and focusing, and manual operation signals for panning and tilting may be transmitted by wired or S-line signals, rather than by optical signals.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, when making various presentations using a television camera, the presenter can receive an optical signal from the instruction means for instructing the content of the presentation. Since the television camera can be operated at hand, a new television conference system is provided that can improve the efficiency of presentations.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a television conference system as an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a circuit applied to the configuration of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a conventional television conference system. FIG. In the figure. 2: Boat 4: Presenter 6: Pointer stick 8: Presentation content 12: Television camera 16: Cameraman 20: Monitor television 22: Audience 24: Infrared light emitter 26: Hand control unit 28: Infrared receiver 302 Control unit
32: Electric camera head 34: Electric lens operation unit 36
: Operation control section 37: Modulation section 58: Vanning control section 60: Tilt control section 62: Demodulation section 64: Zoom control section s6: Vanning motor 68: Tilt motor 70: Zoom motor 72: Focus motor

Claims (1)

[Claims] An instruction having an imaging direction control means for mounting a television camera and controlling the imaging direction by panning or tilting the television camera, and an instruction function for instructing presentation content at the same time that an infrared light emitting element is attached to the tip. means, an infrared detection means that is attached to the television camera and detects the position of the light receiving spot using a plurality of light receiving elements, and an infrared detection means that detects the position of the light receiving spot based on the infrared detecting means and the output so that the light receiving spot is always located at a specific position of the infrared detecting means. 1. A television conference system, comprising: a control section that controls an imaging direction control means.