JPH057320A - Intercom slave machine provided with camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a virtual image to be formed by reflection at the inner surface of a filter at the time when an infrared ray emitting element is lighted from appearing on the monitor screen of an intercom master machine at the intercom slave machine with an infrared noctovision camera built in a spherical camera unit. CONSTITUTION:The intercom slave machine is constituted as follows. The head surface side of a spherical camera unit 7 opposite to the filter 33 is formed into a flat surface 20, and simultaneously, the circumference of the camera lens 8 of the above--mentioned infrared noctovision camera 6 is covered by a light shielding cylinder 22 provided with a flange part 21.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is an improvement of a door intercom with a camera for preventing the difficulty of viewing an image due to the reflection of the irradiation light of an infrared light emitting element used for night illumination on the filter surface. It has a feature in the internal antireflection structure.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, an intercom system with a monitor TV has been developed and used so that the appearance of a call can be confirmed when a call is made to a visitor to a dwelling unit. FIG. 8 shows a schematic configuration of such an intercom system, which includes an intercom subunit 37 provided with a call button 37a provided at the entrance and an intercom master unit 38 on the indoor side.
When making a call with each other, the intercom slave 37 has a built-in camera unit having an image pickup camera, and the monitor TV 3 of the intercom master 38 on the indoor side is provided.
The image of the visitor is displayed on 9.

By the way, in this type of system, since it is necessary to accurately capture the appearance of the visitor with the camera unit 7e of the intercom subunit 37, the viewing angle of the camera unit 7e as shown in FIGS. Have been developed that can be adjusted. In this conventional device, a camera unit 7e having a camera lens 8e and the like is mounted in a housing 1e, and the camera unit 7e is supported so as to be vertically swingable with an appropriate member such as a pin 40 as a fulcrum. The elastic force of the tension spring 41 is constantly applied to the upper end side of the camera unit 7e to bring the lower end side of the camera unit 7e into contact with the angle adjusting screw 42. Therefore, in such a structure, the camera unit 7 is adjusted by adjusting the angle adjusting screw 42 from the front side of the intercom subunit 37.
The vertical inclination of e is adjustable, and the intercom subunit 3
Without changing the mounting height of 7, the camera unit 7e
Although the vertical viewing angle of the camera can be adjusted to vertically move the imaging range (see the arrow in FIG. 9), the viewing angle of the camera unit could not be adjusted in the horizontal direction. Therefore, for example, as shown in FIG. 11, the wall surface 4 on the side of the entrance door 43
4, when the intercom slave 37 is attached to the door 4, the visitor M pushes the call button 37a of the intercom slave 37 at the position A and then moves away from the front of the intercom slave 37 to the position B on the front of the door. Then, the visitor M may be outside the imaging range S of the camera, and the appearance of the visitor M may not be accurately captured.

Therefore, the applicant of the present invention constructed an image pickup camera and a camera unit accommodating an infrared light emitting element for night illumination around the image pickup camera into a spherical body, and the front part of the camera unit was formed from the intercom subunit. As a structure in which it is supported like an eyeball in a protruding state, we proposed a door intercom with a camera that allows the head of the protruding spherical camera unit to be moved vertically and horizontally by hand. When the camera unit is formed into a spherical body as described above, the filter 45 attached to the front surface of the intercom subunit 37 is also shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 14, since it is necessary to form a curved surface with a central portion protruding in conformity with the shape of the camera unit (not shown), the infrared light emitting element built in the camera unit at the time of night use is used. When driven, the emitted light is reflected by the inner surface of the filter 45 and is incident through the camera lens of the image pickup camera, and infrared emission is performed around the image M of the visitor displayed on the monitor screen 39 of the intercom master unit 38 side. There is a problem that the virtual image 13 'of the element appears and makes the image difficult to see.

FIG. 15 shows this problem. The light emitted from the infrared light emitting elements 13 arranged around the image pickup camera 8e is mainly inside the inner surface of the curved filter 45 having a high reflectance. The reflected light is reflected on the inner side of the outer surface, and the virtual image 13 'resulting from the reflected light is focused by the camera lens 8f of the image pickup camera 8e and imaged on the internal CCD substrate or the like.
As a result, on the monitor screen 39 of the intercom master unit 38 installed in the room, as shown in FIG. 16, a virtual image 13 ′ of the infrared light emitting element is projected around the face of the visitor M and the image is unnatural. It is difficult to see.

The present invention proposed in view of the above circumstances has an object to prevent a virtual image from being projected due to reflected light of an infrared light emitting element for night illumination housed in a camera unit of an intercom subunit with a camera. .

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention proposed in claim 1 is an infrared night vision camera in which infrared light emitting elements for illumination are arrayed in a peripheral camera unit. It is an improvement of a door-phone intercom with a camera in which the camera unit is built in and can be vertically and horizontally moved and adjusted inside a filter provided in an opening window of an intercom sub-unit, which faces the filter of the camera unit. The camera lens of infrared light emitted from the infrared light emitting element is formed by forming a flat surface on the head side and covering the periphery of the camera lens of the infrared night vision camera with a light shielding cylinder provided with a collar portion. It has a structure that prevents the direct incidence of light on the surface and the incidence of reflected light from the filter surface.

The present invention proposed in claim 2 is an inner shell made of an infrared transmitting filter in which the collar portion of the light shielding cylinder is arranged along the inner surface of the front hemisphere portion of the spherical body camera unit. It is configured to be fitted and engaged with an opening step formed at the center of the.

[0009]

According to the intercom subunit with camera of the present invention, the following actions are exhibited. That is, in the present invention proposed in claim 1, since the head side of the camera unit formed in the spherical body is formed as a flat surface, infrared light emitted from the inside of the camera unit is difficult to be reflected, and therefore, Image distortion is also small. In addition, since the surrounding of the camera lens of the infrared night vision camera is covered with a light shielding tube with a collar, the irradiation light from the infrared light emitting element does not directly enter the camera lens, and it is spherical. It is also prevented that the light passes through the body camera unit and then is reflected by the filter surface to enter the camera lens.

FIGS. 5 and 6 explain the effect of the present invention in comparison with FIG. 15. Even when the camera unit 7 is directed to the front side of the filter 33 (FIG. 5), it is tilted in one direction. In the case (FIG. 6) as well, the irradiation light from the infrared light emitting elements 13 arranged around the imaging camera 6 is generated by the collar portion 2 of the light shielding tube 22.
The virtual image 1 as shown in FIG.
3'is not generated, and therefore, as shown in FIG. 16, the virtual image of the light emitting element does not appear on the monitor screen of the intercom master unit, which makes it easy to see the image displayed on the monitor screen of the intercom master unit. it can.

Further, in the present invention as proposed in claim 2, the collar portion of the light shielding tube has a central portion of an inner shell made of an infrared transmitting filter having a shape corresponding to the inner surface of the front hemispherical portion of the spherical camera unit. Since it has a structure in which it is fitted and engaged with the opening step portion formed in, it can be easily incorporated into the front hemisphere portion 16a of the spherical camera unit 7 as shown in FIGS. Extra infrared light can be cut by transmitting only necessary infrared light.

[0012]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the structure of an intercom subunit according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the same figure, the housing 1 of the intercom sub-unit is constructed by detachably attaching a decorative cover plate 3 to a main body base 2 made of synthetic resin and having an opening in the front through an inner lid 35. The main body base 2 and the decorative cover plate 3 may be detachably coupled by engagement in addition to screws or the like.

As shown in FIG. 2, the overall appearance of the casing 1 is, as shown in FIG. 2, a smoke filter 3 for preventing the presence of the infrared night-vision camera 6 from the outside from being seen from the outside.
An opening window 4 provided with 3 and a call button 5 are provided, and a wiring connection terminal 32 for connecting with an indoor intercom master unit (not shown) by a signal line is provided on the back side. The spherical camera unit 7 arranged in the upper part of the housing 1 includes a rear half spherical portion 16 forming a rear portion of the camera unit and a front hemisphere accommodating an infrared night-vision camera 6 forming a front portion of the camera unit 7. It is configured by integrally combining the portion 16a.

The detailed construction of the camera unit 7 is shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, but the infrared night-vision camera 6 is a CCD substrate which is sensitive to infrared light and visible light focused by the camera lens 8. Alternatively, it is configured by combining with an image pickup unit 9 in which a MOS type solid-state image pickup device is mounted, and the light passing through the lens 8 is set to form an image on the CCD substrate in the image pickup unit 9. The control circuit such as CCD substrate is the camera unit 7
Is mounted on a printed circuit board 12 arranged behind the speaker 11 housed under the housing 1 in order to reduce the thickness.

A plurality of infrared light emitting diodes 13 for night illumination are provided as infrared light emitting elements below the camera unit 7, and the lead terminals 13a of these light emitting diodes 13 are housed inside the camera unit 7. Support stand 1
8 is connected to the printed circuit board 14 mounted on the upper surface by soldering or the like. 2 and 4, the light emitting portion 13b of the light emitting diode 13 is a pistol revolver-like light emitting element holding base in which a plurality of insertion holes 10a are formed around the periphery for supporting the image pickup portion 9, as well shown in FIGS. Each of the ten insertion holes 10a is fitted and held.

FIG. 4 shows a night-vision camera 6 housed in a spherical camera unit 7, and a light-emitting element holding base 10 on which infrared light-emitting elements are arranged around the night-vision camera 6. ing. As shown in this figure, the light emitting element holding base 10 includes an infrared night-vision camera 6 configured below the optical lens 8 by providing an image pickup section 9 having an image pickup element such as a CCD substrate which is sensitive to infrared rays. Is a disk-shaped substrate having a plurality of insertion holes 10a formed in the outer periphery of the night-vision camera 6, and each of the insertion holes 10a of the substrate has:
The light emitting portions 13b of the plurality of infrared light emitting diodes 13 mounted and arranged are inserted on the upper surface of the mounting base 18 housed in the rear half spherical portion 16 of the camera unit 7. The light emitting portion 13b of the infrared light emitting diode 13 is inserted into the insertion hole 10 of the disk-shaped substrate 10.
If the light emitting portion 13b of the infrared light emitting diode 13 is completely buried in each insertion hole 10a when it is inserted into a, the infrared light emitted from the infrared light emitting diode 13 is directly incident on the night vision camera 6. Further, the image is not reflected and is not reflected by the filter 33 described later to enter the infrared night-vision camera 6, so that the deterioration of the image can be further prevented. The infrared light emitted from the light emitting diode 13 is emitted from the camera unit 7
An inner shell 36 made of an infrared transmission filter engaged so as to be arranged along the inner surface of the front hemisphere portion 16a,
It is designed to be discharged to the outside through the smoke filter 33 attached to the front hemisphere portion 16a and the opening window 4 of the housing 1. When using such a holding table 10,
When assembling the intercom subunit, the lead terminal 13a may be soldered after the light emitting portion 13b of the light emitting diode 13 is fitted into the insertion hole 10a, or conversely.
After the soldering of a is completed, the light emitting portion 13b of the light emitting diode 13 may be fitted into the insertion hole 10a to correct the mounting error, or any order may be used. Further, although various circuits and devices such as a call circuit, a timer circuit, and an illuminance determination circuit are appropriately attached to such an intercom sub-unit, since these may be existing ones, description thereof will be omitted for convenience.

The spherical camera unit 7 includes the latter half spherical portion 1
A front hemispherical portion 16a made of a transparent member is integrally coupled in front of 6, but a portion facing the camera lens 8 has a flat surface 20 in order to avoid image distortion due to refraction of light. . Further, inside the front surface of the front hemisphere 16a of the camera unit 7, a shielding cylinder 22 having a collar 21 is attached so as to cover the periphery of the camera lens 8,
The shield cylinder 22 is made of ABS resin or the like that shields infrared light. On the other hand, on the inner surface of the front hemisphere portion 16a, the collar portion 21 of the light shielding tube 22 is formed by an infrared transmission filter arranged along the inner surface of the front hemisphere portion 16a of the spherical body camera unit 7. The opening step portion 36a formed in the center of the reference numeral 36 is engaged so as to be fitted therein, but this transmits only infrared light, and the infrared night-vision camera 6 from the outside.
Also acts to conceal. The spherical body camera unit 7 having such a structure is received by a spherical receiving body 24, which will be described later, provided in the main body base 2, and looks like an eyeball, and the head portion of the inner lid 35 is positioned more than the opening window 35a. The side surface is supported by the edge of the opening 31b of the holding frame 31 formed in the main body base 2 so as to project.

On the other hand, a spherical concave portion 23 is formed on the inner surface of the main body base 2 corresponding to the latter half spherical portion 16 of the camera unit 7, and between the spherical concave portion 23 and the latter half spherical portion 16 of the camera unit 7. The thin spherical receiver 24, which constitutes a part of the support adjusting mechanism 40, is slidably interposed. This will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 7. On the inner surface portion of the spherical receiving body 24, two recessed grooves 25 of a predetermined length are provided in the horizontal direction in order to regulate a horizontal movement adjustment range. A pair of protrusions 26, 26 protruding from the bottom surface of the rear half spherical portion 16 of the camera unit 7 are slidably fitted in the recessed grooves 25, 25. On the other hand,
In the spherical concave portion 23 of the housing 1, two concave grooves 27, 27 having a predetermined length are provided in the vertical direction, that is, in the direction orthogonal to the camera unit 7 in order to regulate the vertical movement adjustment range. A pair of ridges 28, 28 that are carved along the concave grooves 27, 27 and are projected on the bottom surface of the spherical receiving body 24.
Is slidably inserted. Therefore, the camera unit 7 can be slid vertically and horizontally by the spherical receiving body 24.

Further, in order to receive the spherical receiving member 24, three holes 29 are formed in the spherical concave portion 23 formed on the inner surface of the housing 1, and a spherical surface is formed inside each of these holes 29. The three springs 30 and the three pressing support pins 34, which constantly urge the upper part 24 and the latter half spherical portion 16 upward, are housed, and the holes 29 respectively accommodate the pressing support pins 34.
Is formed with a positioning hole 29a into which the positioning projection 34a formed in the lower part of the is fitted. The elastic biasing means 50 is, in the embodiment, the pressing support pin 3 to which the spring 30 is attached.
It is composed of four. Then, a curved surface portion 34 b that matches the curved surface of the spherical receiving body 24 is formed on the upper surface of the pressing support pin 34.

Since the support adjusting mechanism 40 for the spherical camera unit 7 has such a structure, the bottom of the spherical camera unit 7 can be fitted in one set of grooves 25 of the spherical receiver 24. When the pair of convex portions 26, 26 formed in the above is fitted, the spherical camera unit 7 is pressed toward the holding frame 31 side by the elastic force of the spring 30, and thereby the opening window 35a of the inner lid 35 is formed. With the head protruding further,
In other words, it looks just like an eyeball, and the side surface of the window 3
It is supported and positioned by the side edge of 5a. In order to ensure the positioning in this case, the opening window 35 of the inner lid 35
A rubber material 35b is attached to the edge of a so that a frictional force acts on the side surface of the camera unit 7. With such an intercom subunit of the present invention, an image can be taken at night by emitting light from the light emitting diode 13 and irradiating the visitor with the infrared light.

Next, the adjustment operation of the camera unit of the intercom subunit will be described. The intercom sub-unit is used by being fixed to an appropriate position near the entrance of the dwelling unit after being wired and connected to the intercom main unit in the room. In the intercom sub-unit of the present invention, the area setting of the imaging range of the imaging camera 6 is as follows. The procedure is as follows. That is, first, the decorative cover plate 3 is removed from the main body base 2, the front hemisphere portion 16a of the spherical camera unit 7 is pressed by hand, and a force resisting the elastic force of the spring 30 is applied to the presser frame 31. If a gap is generated, the camera unit 7 can rotate freely in any of the vertical direction and the horizontal direction. Therefore, after setting the spherical camera unit 7 in an appropriate position, the camera unit 7 can be moved by hand. When separated, the side surface of the camera unit 7 is pressed by the pressing frame 31 by the elastic force of the spring 30 to position and fix it. Therefore, in the present invention, since the direction of the camera unit 7 can be easily changed and the positioning can be set in such a manner, the image pickup is performed only by the work from the front side of the intercom subunit while the mounting position of the intercom subunit is fixed. It is possible to move and change the imaging area of the camera 6 vertically and horizontally.

In the above embodiment, the outer shape of the camera unit 7 is formed into a substantially spherical shape, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, only the portion required for the spherical sliding guide may be formed into a spherical shape, and the other portions may be formed into an aspherical shape. The camera unit 7 according to the present invention refers to a unit including the infrared night-vision camera 6, and is not necessarily limited to the form of the above-described embodiment. In addition, the present invention is not limited to the specific configuration of the infrared night-vision camera 6, and the specific configuration of each unit can be arbitrarily changed in design.

[0023]

According to the intercom subunit with camera according to the present invention (claim 1), since the head side of the camera unit formed in the spherical body is formed as a flat surface, the infrared light for illumination is used. Is less likely to be reflected, and therefore image distortion is small. Also,
Since the structure around the camera lens of the infrared night vision camera is covered with a light shielding tube with a collar, the irradiation light from the infrared light for illumination does not directly enter the camera lens, and the spherical body The infrared light reflected by the filter surface after passing through the camera unit is also prevented from entering the camera lens. For these reasons, a virtual image does not appear around the image of the intercom base unit, which makes it difficult to see the image. Further, in the invention proposed in claim 2, in the collar portion of the light shielding tube,
The spherical camera unit has a structure that fits into and engages with an opening step formed in the center of an inner shell made of an infrared transmission filter having a shape corresponding to the inner surface of the front hemisphere of the spherical camera unit. It can be built into and can cut off excess infrared rays by transmitting only infrared rays necessary for lighting. Therefore, the image quality does not deteriorate.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional structural view (showing a state in which a camera unit is directed to the front) showing a main part configuration of a doorphone subunit with a camera of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the intercom subunit with camera of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional structural view showing a configuration of a main part of an intercom subunit with a camera of the present invention (showing a state where a camera unit is inclined).

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an infrared light emitting element holding mechanism.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an operation of the light shielding cylinder (showing a state where the camera unit is directed to the front).

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an operation of the light shielding tube (showing a state in which the camera unit is inclined).

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view showing an example of a support mechanism of a camera unit.

FIG. 8 is a schematic configuration diagram of an intercom system with a monitor television.

FIG. 9 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a conventional intercom subunit with a camera.

FIG. 10 is a plan cross-sectional view of a conventional intercom subunit with a camera.

FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining a problem of the conventional intercom subunit with a camera.

FIG. 12 is a plan view of an intercom sub-unit with a camera in which a spherical body camera unit is incorporated.

FIG. 13 is a front view of a camera-equipped intercom subunit in which a spherical body camera unit is incorporated.

FIG. 14 is a side view of a camera-equipped intercom subunit in which a spherical body camera unit is incorporated.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a principle of generating a virtual image by light reflection on a filter surface in an intercom subunit with a camera including a spherical body camera unit.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a virtual image of an infrared light emitting element appears on the monitor screen of the intercom master unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Case 2 ... Main body base 6 ... Infrared night-vision camera 7-Spherical camera unit 20 ... Flat surface formed on the head 36 ... Inner shell made of infrared transmission filter 36a ... the opening step 8 ... Optical lens 10 ... Holding base for light emitting element 10a ... its insertion hole 13 ... Light emitting diode 15 ... insertion hole 16 ... The second half of the spherical camera unit 16a: front hemisphere of a spherical camera unit 17 ... Spherical recess of spherical receiver 20: Flat part of camera unit 22 ... Light shielding tube 23 ... Spherical recess formed on inner surface of main body base 25, 27 ... Groove 26, 28 ... convex portion 31 ... Presser frame 40 ... Support adjustment mechanism 50 ... Elastic biasing means

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] June 11, 1992

[Procedure Amendment 2]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be corrected] Brief description of the drawing

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional structural view (showing a state in which a camera unit is directed to the front) showing a main part configuration of a doorphone subunit with a camera of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the intercom subunit with camera of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional structural view showing a configuration of a main part of an intercom subunit with a camera of the present invention (showing a state where a camera unit is inclined).

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an infrared light emitting element holding mechanism.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an operation of the light shielding cylinder (showing a state where the camera unit is directed to the front).

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an operation of the light shielding tube (showing a state in which the camera unit is inclined).

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view showing an example of a support mechanism of a camera unit.

FIG. 8 is a schematic configuration diagram of an intercom system with a monitor television.

FIG. 9 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a conventional intercom subunit with a camera.

FIG. 10 is a plan cross-sectional view of a conventional intercom subunit with a camera.

FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining a problem of the conventional intercom subunit with a camera.

FIG. 12 is a plan view of an intercom sub-unit with a camera in which a spherical body camera unit is incorporated.

FIG. 13 is a front view of a camera-equipped intercom subunit in which a spherical body camera unit is incorporated.

FIG. 14 is a side view of a camera-equipped intercom subunit in which a spherical body camera unit is incorporated.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a principle of generating a virtual image by light reflection on a filter surface in an intercom subunit with a camera including a spherical body camera unit.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a virtual image of the infrared light emitting element appears on the monitor screen of the intercom master unit.

[Explanation of symbols] 1 ... Case 2 ... Main body base 6 ... Infrared night-vision camera 7-Spherical camera unit 20 ... Flat surface formed on the head 36 ... Inner shell made of infrared transmission filter 36a ... the opening step 8 ... Optical lens 10 ... Holding base for light emitting element 10a ... its insertion hole 13 ... Light emitting diode 15 ... insertion hole 16 ... The second half of the spherical camera unit 16a: front hemisphere of a spherical camera unit 17 ... Spherical recess of spherical receiver 20: Flat part of camera unit 22 ... Light shielding tube 23 ... Spherical recess formed on inner surface of main body base 25, 27 ... Groove 26, 28 ... convex portion 31 ... Presser frame 40 ... Support adjustment mechanism 50 ... Elastic biasing means

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An infrared night-vision camera in which infrared light-emitting elements for illumination are arrayed is built in a spherical camera unit, and the camera unit is provided inside a filter provided in an opening window of an intercom subunit. In an intercom subunit with a camera that can be moved vertically and horizontally, the head side facing the filter of the camera unit is formed into a flat surface, and the collar portion is provided around the camera lens of the infrared night vision camera. A doorphone unit with a camera having a structure that prevents the infrared light emitted from the infrared light emitting element from directly entering the camera lens and from being reflected by the filter surface by being covered with the provided light shielding tube. . 2. The collar portion of the light shielding tube is fitted into an opening step portion formed in a central portion of an inner shell made of an infrared transmitting filter arranged on the inner surface of the front hemisphere portion of the spherical body camera unit. The internal antireflection structure of the intercom subunit with a camera according to claim 1, which is engaged.