JPH02248168A - Controller for direction of camera photographing - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To vary the camera to a desired photographing direction quickly and accurately by applying coarse drive adjustment to a support shaft at a high speed just before a desired camera photographing position and applying fine drive adjustment to the support shaft with accuracy into the desired camera photographing direction. CONSTITUTION:A 1st drive means 2 applying high speed coarse adjustment to a camera support shaft 34 and a 2nd drive means 3 applying low speed fine adjustment to the camera support shaft 34 are provided to the controller. When the drive means control section 1 drives the camera support shaft 34, at firs the 1st drive means 2 is operated to adjust the drive of the camera support shaft 34 at a high speed just before the desired camera photographing position and the 2nd drive means 3 is operated to adjust the camera support shaft 34 accurately to the desired camera photographing direction. Thus, the controller is used for a TV camera system to pickup a desired utterance party in the center of the picture.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] Regarding a camera shooting direction control device that aligns the shooting direction of a camera used in a video conference system, a camera shooting direction that can quickly and accurately change the camera shooting direction is provided. The purpose of providing a direction control device is to provide a first driving means 2 for coarsely adjusting the support shaft 34 at high speed; a second driving means 3 for finely adjusting the support shaft 34 at low speed; When rotating, first operate the first drive means 2 to rotate the support shaft 34 at high speed in front of the desired camera shooting position, then operate the second drive means 3 to accurately move the camera in the desired direction. and a driving means control section 1 for controlling the rotational adjustment of the support shaft 34.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a camera photographing direction control device that aligns the photographing direction of a camera used in a video conference system.

Nowadays, when people who are far apart have a meeting about important matters, the participants of the meeting are photographed by a TV camera on the transmitting side, and the images are received on a monitor TV on the receiving side to listen to what the participants have to say. Videoconferencing systems that enable conferences are widely used, helping to overcome time and geographical burdens and improving the efficiency of meetings.

A television camera that photographs people in such a television conference system must change its photographing direction every time the speaker changes. Therefore, there is a demand for the development of a camera photographing direction control device that accurately and quickly positions a television camera in the photographing direction.

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 5 shows a configuration diagram of a conventional camera shooting direction control device in a video conference system.

The support shaft 62 of the camera for photographing people is one driving means 6.
1, and when the speaker changes, the driving means control pusher 60 causes f to face directly in the direction of the speaker.
t1ll i will be sold.

Conventionally, since there is only one driving means 50, when changing the camera photographing direction, the support shaft is rotated and adjusted at a predetermined speed and at a low speed in the desired camera photographing direction from the beginning. In this case, the predetermined speed means that the driving means 5 is adjusted to the desired camera shooting direction.
The setting is such that when the camera zero stops, the inertial force at that time causes the camera shooting direction to be at such a low speed that it does not go too far in the desired direction.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

As mentioned above, conventionally, the speed when changing the shooting direction of the camera is set to a low speed that does not cause the camera shooting direction to go too far in the desired direction due to the force of inertia. It takes an extremely long time to set the camera in the shooting direction. Furthermore, there has been a problem in that a desired screen cannot be photographed especially when the number of speakers changes rapidly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a camera photographing direction control device that can quickly and accurately change the camera photographing direction to a desired camera photographing direction.

[Means to solve the problem]

FIG. 1 shows the principle configuration diagram of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a drive means control section, 2 is a first drive means, 3 is a second drive means, 3
4 is a camera support shaft.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a first drive means 2 for coarsely adjusting the support shaft 34 at high speed, and a second drive means 3 for finely adjusting the support shaft 34 at low speed. When the support shaft 34 is rotated by the drive means control section 1, the first drive means 2 is first operated to rotate and adjust the support shaft 34 at high speed in front of the desired camera photographing position, and then the second drive means 2 is rotated. The driving means 3 is operated to control the rotation of the support shaft 34 accurately in the desired camera photographing direction.

[Function] With the above means, first, the first driving means quickly adjusts the camera to a position in front of the desired camera photographing position. Next, the second driving means accurately adjusts the camera to a desired photographing direction, so that the desired speaker is photographed at the center of the screen. Therefore, the camera direction is adjusted at high speed by the first driving means. There may be some deviation, but the speaker can be understood. Thereafter, it will be adjusted to an accurate position by the second drive means. Therefore, as a result, the camera direction can be adjusted quickly and accurately.
It will be arranged.

〔Example 〕

An embodiment of the driving means using a motor and gears according to the present invention is shown in FIG. In the diagram, 01 to G4 are gears, 31.3-3
3 is a motor; 34 is a camera support shaft; 35 is a rotation angle detection unit that detects the rotation angle of the gear G1, that is, the rotation angle of the support shaft;
6 is a television camera.

The gears G1, -G3 and the motor 33 correspond to the first driving means in FIG. 1, and the gears G2. G4 and motor 31 correspond to the second driving means in FIG. In this embodiment, the motors 31, 33 and the gear G3. G4 has the same function, and the gear ratio between gear G1:G3 and gear G2:G4 is set to be larger for gear G1:03.

In other words, gear G1 has a coarser mesh than gear G2, and rotates at high speed with less rotation of gear G3.

Next, FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of a camera photographing direction control device for controlling the above configuration. In this example, when there are five speakers,
In other words, an example will be explained in which there are five desired camera photographing directions.

Figure 5 shows the configuration of the video conference room. The positions of the microphones fixed to the positions where the speakers sit are respectively M1 to M5. The microphone positions are set at intervals of θ with respect to the rotation angle of the camera support shaft. FIG. 4 shows the relationship between the rotation angle in that case and the voltage corresponding to the rotation angle detected by the rotation angle-voltage converter 35, which will be described later.

The voltage is set to exactly correspond to an fvholt (hereinafter abbreviated unit) interval. In other words, when the camera points toward the microphone M1, the detected voltage is fv (Vl), similarly, the voltage detected for the microphone M2 is 2fv (V2), ? Iku M3 is 3fv (V3),
Microphone M4 is 4fv (V4),? Iku M5 is 5fv (V
5).

Furthermore, MO indicates the direction when the detected voltage is 0. Therefore, there is a proportional relationship between the rotation angle and the voltage detected corresponding to the rotation angle.

The control method will be explained below with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, the desired camera direction is set by detecting that the speaker's voice is input to the microphone. Then, the first driving means is used to quickly adjust the desired camera direction slightly forward,
Next, the second driving means accurately adjusts the speed to a low speed. In this case, the term "slightly forward" takes into consideration the shift of the camera due to inertial force, and in terms of the rotation angle of the support shaft, Δθ is expressed as Δfv when expressed as a voltage.

In other words, for example, when adjusting the camera in the direction of microphone M2, the detected voltage of the rotation angle-voltage converter is (V2 Δfv
) The support shaft is rotated to the position.

The functions of the corners will be explained with reference to FIG.

The reference voltage generating section 20 constantly generates the voltage of fv.

Further, the position voltage generating section 21 multiplies the fv by an integer and outputs the multiplied value according to an instruction from the control section 22. The Δfv generating section 24 generates ±ΔfV according to instructions from the control section 22. The reference voltage adjustment section 25 outputs a reference voltage based on the values of the position voltage detection section 21 and the Δfv generation section 24. Further, the position setting section 23 has switches 81 to 81 that are turned on when voice is input to the microphone.
The state 5 notifies the controller of the desired direction of the camera to be directed next. The comparator 26 compares the output voltage from the reference voltage adjustment section 25 and the voltage from the rotation angle-voltage conversion section 36, and drives the motor driver 30 until the voltage values become equal. Further, after the comparator 26 operates, the comparator 27 compares the output voltage of the position voltage generator 21 and the voltage of the rotation angle-voltage converter 36, and drives the motor driver 31 until the voltage values become equal.

Here, the control of the control section 22 will be explained with reference to the control flowchart of FIG. 5.

When changing the camera shooting direction, it is determined whether there is a change in the connection state of the switch based on the audio input from the microphone. (TI) When there is a change in the switch, the motor driver 31 is controlled to be in an OFF state (meaning a non-driveable state), and conversely, the motor driver 30 is controlled to be in an ON state. (T2) The position voltage generating unit 2 determines how many times the reference voltage is to be multiplied by a signal indicating the desired camera direction from the position setting unit 23.
Notify 1. It also notifies the Δfv generation unit 24 whether to multiply Δfv by plus or minus depending on whether the camera direction is changed to the right or left. (T3) The comparator 26 compares the reference voltage with the detected voltage of the rotation angle-voltage converter 36. (T4) If there is a mismatch, the motor driver 30 is driven and the motor 3
2 rotates to adjust the support shaft. (T5) If they match,
The output of the comparator 26 becomes "'Lo".

The coincidence detection section 28 detects this and notifies the control section 22 that the coarse adjustment has been completed. (T6) Next, the motor driver 30 is controlled to be in an OFF state, and the motor driver 31 is controlled to be in an ON state. (T7) The comparator 27 compares the position voltage with the detected voltage of the rotation angle-voltage converter 36. (T8) If they do not match, drive the motor driver 31 to rotate the motor and adjust the support shaft. (T9) If there is a match, the comparator 27 indicates °“” L o ”. The match detection unit 28 detects this and notifies the control unit 22 that the fine adjustment has been completed. (TIO) However, the above If there is a change in the connection state of the switch during control, control will immediately start again from T2.

Next, for clearer control, change the camera direction to microphone M1.
A case in which the microphone is changed from the microphone to the microphone M4 will be explained in more detail by taking as an example. In this case, the first drive means roughly adjusts the voltage of the rotation angle-voltage converter so that it becomes from ■1 to V4-Δfv, and then the second drive means changes the voltage of the rotation angle-voltage converter to ■ Perform fine adjustment control so that the value becomes 4.

First, the switch S1 is in the on state. Microphone M4
When more audio is input, the switch S4 is turned on instead of the switch S1. Detecting this, the position setting section 23 notifies the control section 22 that the next camera direction is the direction of the microphone M4. In response to this, the control unit 22 controls the motor driver 31 to turn off and the motor driver 30 to turn on. Then, the position voltage generator 21 is notified that the reference voltage will be multiplied by four. Further, the Δfv generation unit 24 is notified that Δfv is to be multiplied by a negative number since it is a change from the microphone M1 to the microphone M4.

With the above control, the position voltage generator 21 outputs 4f v=
V4 is output from the reference voltage generating section 25 as ■4Δfv. At this time, the comparator 26 receives the voltage (■4-Δfv) from the reference voltage generator 25 and the voltage (■1) from the rotation angle voltage converter 36. Therefore, the comparator 26
It becomes an output and drives the motor driver 30, thereby causing the motor 32 to rotate. The rotation of the motor 32 causes the support shaft to rotate at high speed. The rotation control of the support shaft is performed using reference voltage ■4
-Δfv and the rotation angle-voltage of the voltage generator 36 are controlled to be equal. When the two voltages are equal, the comparator 26
The output becomes Lo'''. The coincidence detection unit 28 detects this and notifies the control unit 22 that the coarse adjustment has been completed.

Upon receiving this, the control unit 22 controls the motor driver 30 to turn off and the motor driver 31 to turn on. Through this control, the voltage (4) from the position voltage generator 21 and the voltage of the rotation angle-voltage generator 36 are compared. Then, the output of the comparator 27 becomes ``old'', and the motor driver 31 is driven, and the motor 33 rotates to rotate the support shaft at a low speed.

When the two voltages become equal, the output of the comparator 27 becomes "
Lo'". The coincidence detection unit 29 detects this and notifies the control unit that the fine adjustment has been completed. In this way, the camera direction is converted.

The present invention has been described above according to the embodiments, but in this embodiment, when changing the camera direction, the first driving means is all set to a position slightly closer to the camera, that is, to a voltage value closer to Δfv. However, when changing from the current camera direction to the desired camera direction, the inertial force is different when the rotation angle of the support shaft is large and small, so by changing the Δfv value depending on the changing rotation angle, it is possible to The invention will be effective.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a camera photographing direction control device that can quickly and accurately change the camera photographing direction to a desired camera photographing direction.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing the principle configuration of the present invention, Fig. 2 is an embodiment of the driving means using a motor and gears, Fig. 3 is an embodiment of the camera shooting direction control unit, and Fig. 4 is the relationship between rotation angle and voltage. 5 is a configuration of a video conference room, FIG. 6 is a control flowchart, and FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of a conventional camera shooting direction control device. In the diagram: Drive means control unit First drive means Second drive means 34 Camera support shaft

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] In a camera photographing direction control device for adjusting the photographing direction of a television camera by rotating a support shaft attached to the camera, the support shaft (34) is coarsely adjusted at high speed. a second drive means (3) for finely adjusting the support shaft (34) to a low speed; and a second drive means (3) for finely adjusting the support shaft (34) to a low speed. 2) to rotate and adjust the support shaft (34) at high speed in front of the desired camera shooting position, and then operate the second drive means (3) to accurately move the support shaft (34) in the desired camera shooting direction. A drive means control unit (
1) A camera photographing direction control device comprising: