JPH09247635A - Face-to-face image pickup device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To store or to expand the face-to-face image pickup device in one operation by having only to raise and lower a half mirror through the adoption of a structure for the half mirror to be turned around a shaft in parallel with a display screen. SOLUTION: The device is made up of a monitor 1 and a face-to-face image pickup section 2. The monitor 1 has a monitor case 3 and a monitor screen 4 and a video image 5 is displayed on part of the monitor screen 4. The face-to- face image pickup section 2 is made up of a stationary section 6, an image pickup section case 7, a video camera 8, a half mirror 9, a shield plate 10, and a connection member 11. An object image is picked up by the image pickup section 2 by using a half-reflection property of the half mirror 9 and a display content is observed by using a translucent property of the half mirror 9. The shield plate 10 is provided nearly perpendicularly to an optical axis of the image pickup section 2 in front of the image pickup section 2, the shield plate 10 has an image pickup opening through which a light made incident to the image pickup section 2, and one end of the half mirror 9 is supported turnably to a shaft provided to the shield plate 10 in parallel with the display screen.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a face-to-face image pickup apparatus for photographing a person using a personal computer (personal computer) or the like. The present invention relates to a line-of-sight matching face-to-face image pickup device devised so as to face the camera.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As personal computers have become widespread, a network has been constructed in which personal computers are mutually connected.
In addition to text information such as characters and figures, video image information input from a video camera is communicated between personal computers connected by a network. A video camera that captures video images on a personal computer is often installed above the monitor housing. Since the PC user speaks while seeing the other person's face displayed on the monitor screen, the video camera at the top of the monitor screen captures the face of the PC user looking down. As a result, the receiver's monitor screen displayed the sender's downward face, and they talked while looking at each other's downward faces, and their eyes did not match.

In order to improve this line-of-sight inconsistency, in the television camera coaxial type screen display disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-288082, a half mirror is installed in front of the monitor screen at an inclination angle of 45 degrees, Furthermore, a method has been proposed in which a video camera is installed at a right angle to a monitor screen, and a device in which the optical axis of the video camera is equivalently aligned with substantially the center of the monitor screen is used to match the line of sight of users. Was there.

[0004]

In a conventional device for matching the lines of sight of users, a monitor screen, a video camera and a half mirror are integrally housed in a housing.
I couldn't easily remove the half mirror or video camera. Therefore, even when only text images such as characters and figures are used, the user always looks at the monitor screen through the half mirror, and brightness is necessary when seeing details such as characters. There was a problem that the brightness of the monitor screen was halved.

[0005]

In order to solve the above problems, according to the present invention, a display means, an image pickup means substantially parallel to a display plane of the display means, and the image pickup means between the display means and the image pickup means are provided. And a half mirror disposed at an inclination angle of about 45 degrees with respect to the display surface. The semi-reflective property of the half mirror is used to capture an image of a subject on the imaging means, and at the same time, the semi-transmissive property of the half mirror is used. In an image pickup device configured to use the display contents of the display means to be viewed, a ceiling is provided in front of the image pickup means substantially perpendicular to an optical axis of the image pickup means, and the ceiling is provided on the ceiling. Has a photographing aperture through which the light incident on the image pickup means can pass, and one end of the half mirror is rotatably supported by an axis parallel to the display plane provided on the ceiling.

A shield plate is rotatably and axially supported at the other end of the half mirror.

The ceiling and the shielding plate are colored black.

The ceiling, the half mirror, and the shield plate are connected by a connecting member, and the shield plate is rotationally moved in association with the rotational movement of the half mirror.

Further, the half mirror is biased by a torsion coil spring in which one end is locked to the ceiling and the other end is locked to the connecting member and the central coil portion is not movably held.

[0010]

FIG. 1 to FIG. 7 show a first embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a perspective view of a face-to-face image pickup apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AA ′ of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a main portion of FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of a portion B of FIG. 5 is a side view of FIG. 3, and FIGS. 6 and 7 are explanatory views of the operation of FIG.

1 and 2, the face-to-face image pickup device of the present invention comprises a monitor 1 as a display means and a face-to-face image pickup unit 2 fixed to the monitor 1. The monitor 1 has a monitor housing 3 and a monitor screen 4, and a video image 5 is displayed on a part of the monitor screen 4. The face-to-face image pickup unit 2 includes a fixed unit 6, an image pickup unit housing 7, a video camera 8, a half mirror 9, a shield plate 10,
It is composed of a connecting member 11. The fixing portion 6 includes a holding portion 12, a fixing nut 13 and a fixing screw 14. The fixing nut 13 is fixed to the monitor housing 3 by a fixing layer 15. The holding portion 12 has a through hole 16 and a hollow portion 17. The through hole 16 and the fixing screw 14 are screwed into the fixing nut 13 through the through hole 16 to fix the holding portion 12 to the monitor housing 3. The cavity 17 is elongated in the front-rear direction, and when the fixing screw 14 is loosened, the holding section 12 can be moved in the front-rear direction. Further, the holding portion 12 has two arms 18 and 19 and two screws 2
The image pickup unit housing 7 is supported by 0 and 21. Screws 20, 21
Is a U-shaped plate nut 2 arranged inside the imaging unit housing 7.
2 (The plate nut corresponding to the screw 21 is not shown)
And the imaging unit housing 7 is fixed. The imaging unit housing 7 includes an inner case 23, an outer case 24, and a fixing screw 25.
The outer case 24 is a costume that covers the inner case 23, and the outer case 24 is fixed to the inner case 23 with screws 26. The video camera 8 is placed in the image pickup unit casing 7 and fixed to the image pickup unit casing 7 with a fixing screw 25. A window 27 is opened in the inner case 23, and the light 28 reflected by the half mirror 9 located below the imaging unit housing 7 enters the video camera 8 through the window 27. The half mirror 9 is rotatably and axially supported by a hinge 29 in the inner case 23. The shield plate 10 is pivotally supported by the half mirror 9 by a hinge 30 so as to be rotatable. The attitude angles of the half mirror 9 and the shielding plate 10 are controlled by the connecting member 11. Skirts 31a and 31b are provided on the lower portion of the outer case 24.
b is for covering the half mirror 9 and the shielding plate 10 when folded and stored. The hinge 30a is integrally provided with a tongue portion 32 that is used to catch a finger when pulling up the half mirror 9 and the shielding plate 10. Further, a release button 33 is provided on the front surface of the imaging unit casing 7 to return the half mirror 9 and the shielding plate 10 that have been pulled up to the use state.

Next, description will be made with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 3 shows a structure obtained by removing the fixing unit 6, the video camera 8, the outer case 24, the fixing screws 14 and 25, the screws 20 and 21, and the plate nut 22 from the facing image pickup unit 2 shown in FIG. , Half mirror 9, shielding plate 10 and connecting member 1
1 shows a perspective view of FIG. This figure is seen from the right rear. FIG. 4 is a view of part B of FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is a side view of FIG. In FIG. 3, the inner case 23 includes a front plate 34, a frame 35, a bottom plate 36, and columns 37a and 37b. The front plate 34 is provided with a hole 38 through which the fixing screw 25 is inserted,
37b has holes 39a and 39b through which the screws 20 and 21 are inserted. The holes 39a and 39b are a plurality of holes (four holes in the embodiment) interconnected in a vertical row. When the positions of the holes 39a and 39b through which the screws 20 and 21 are inserted are changed, the inner case 23 and the outer case 24 are moved up and down with respect to the fixed portion 6 to change the mounting height of the face-to-face type image pickup unit 2. Hinges 29a and 29b are fixed to the rear end of the bottom plate 36, and the half mirror 9 is rotatably supported by a shaft. The switch 40 is fixed to the hinge 29a with a screw 41, and the switch lever 42 includes the hinge 29a and the bottom plate 36.
It projects to the lower surface of the bottom plate 36 through a hole 43 penetrating therethrough. The bottom plate 36, the half mirror 9, and the shield plate 10 are connected by a connecting member 11. The connecting member 11 is the central member 4
4, central support 45, upper member 46, upper support 47, lower member 48, lower support 49, upper spring 50, lower spring 51. The central support 45 is fixed to the half mirror 9, the upper support 47 is fixed to the bottom plate 36, and the lower support 49 is fixed to the shielding plate 10. The central member 44 is the central support member 45.
Is rotatably supported by a shaft 52. One end of the upper member 46 is rotatably supported by one end of the central member 44 by a shaft 53, and the other end is rotatably supported by an upper support member 47 by a shaft 54. One end of the lower member 48 is rotatably supported by the shaft 55 on the other end of the central member 44, and the other end is rotatably supported on the lower support 49 by the shaft 56. A torsion coil-shaped upper spring 50 is coaxially attached to a shaft 53 connecting the upper member 46 and the central member 44, and the spring ends are applied to the upper member 46 and the central member 44, respectively. The central member 44 is urged in the opening direction. A torsion coil-shaped lower spring 51 is coaxially mounted around a shaft 55 connecting the lower member 48 and the central member 44, and the spring ends are applied to the lower member 48 and the central member 44, respectively. The central member 44 is biased in the closing direction. The opening force of the upper spring 50 is larger than the closing force of the lower spring 51. Protrusions 57 are erected on the central support 45. The upper support 47 has a locking member 5
The shaft 8 is rotatably supported by a shaft 59 and is biased counterclockwise by a spring 60. The locking member 58 has a locking claw 61 and a locking arm 62 for rotating the locking member 58 in the clockwise direction. The locking claw 61 locks the protrusion 57 that is set up on the central member 45. Release arm 63 for release button 33
Are integrally formed with each other, and a spring 64 is annularly mounted on the release arm 63. One end of the spring 64 is attached to the bottom plate 36 with a screw 6
The release button 33 is pressed against the front plate 34 at the other end while coming into contact with the stop plate 66 fixed by 5. The half mirror 9 and the shielding plate 10 are axially supported by hinges 30a and 30b so as to be rotatable relative to each other. Stoppers 67 and 68 are formed at the upper and lower ends of the central member 44. The stopper 67 determines the maximum opening angle θ1 between the central member 44 and the upper member 47. Further, the stopper 68 determines the maximum opening angle θ2 between the central member 44 and the lower member 48. However, if the angle θ1 is determined, the angle θ3 formed by the half mirror 9 and the central member 44 is uniquely determined. Therefore, the angle θ2 is also automatically determined. Therefore, the stopper 68 is not always necessary. is not. A tongue portion 32 is integrally formed on the hinge 30a so as to conveniently pull up the half mirror 9.

6 and 7 are explanatory views of the operation of FIG. FIG. 6 shows a state in which the tongue portion 32 is pulled up by a finger and the half mirror 9 and the shielding plate 10 are being retracted from the operating state of FIG. When the tongue portion 32 is pulled up against the opening force of the upper spring 50, the upper member 46 bends about the shaft 53 with the central member 44 as a node. Along with that, the lower member 48 also bends around the shaft 55 with the central member 44 as a node. Since the lower spring 51 urges the central member 44 and the lower member 48 in a bending direction, the bending manner is smooth.
The half mirror 9 is about to contact the switch lever 42. In FIG. 7, the tongue 32 is further pulled up, and the half mirror 9
Shows a state in which is parallel to the bottom plate 36. The protrusion 57 rotates the locking member 58 around the shaft 59 against the spring 60 and is locked by the locking claw 61. As the central member 44 approaches horizontal, the lower member 48 also approaches horizontal, pulling the shielding plate 10 near horizontal. On the other hand, the switch lever 42 is pushed by the half mirror 9, and the switch 40 detects that the half mirror 9 and the shielding plate 10 are in the retracted state. Next, when the release button 33 is pushed from this stored state, the release arm 63 pushes the locking arm 62 to rotate the locking member 58 around the shaft 59 and release the engagement between the projection 57 and the locking claw 61. .
The half mirror 9 and the shielding plate 10 are opened by the urging force of the upper spring 50, and the use state of FIG. 5 is restored. As for the relationship between the urging force of the upper spring 50 and that of the lower spring 51, the urging force of the upper spring 50 is strong as described above. However, as the half mirror 9 opens, the upper spring 50 weakens and the lower spring 51 strengthens. Here, in the state of FIG. 5, that is, when the half mirror 9 is deployed, the minimum force of the upper spring 50 is designed to be larger than the maximum force of the lower spring 51, so that the half mirror 9 surely opens.

8 to 12 show a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 8 shows a second embodiment of the face-to-face type image pickup section 2 shown in FIG. 3, in which the inner case 23, the half mirror 9, and the shield plate 1 are provided.
0 is a perspective view of the connecting member 71, FIG. 9 is an enlarged view of portion C of FIG. 8, and FIG. 10 is a side view of FIG. 8. 11 and 12 are explanatory diagrams of the operation of FIG. The description of the same functions as those of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 3 will be omitted. The connecting member 71 includes a rotating member 72, a torsion coil spring 73,
The lower support 71 includes hinges 75a, 75b, 76a, 76b. Upper spring 77 is attached to hinge 75a, and hinge 76a is also attached.
A tongue 78 is provided on the tongue 78, and a lower spring 79 is attached to the tongue 78. The rotating member 72 has a shaft 80 provided on the hinge 75a.
It is rotatably supported by. The rotating member 72 has a shaft 80.
A circular arc-shaped slit 81 centered around
The projection 82 that has been planted at 5 is fitted in the slit 81. The rotary member 72 has an upper stop position 83 of the slit 81.
Comes into contact with the projection 82 and stops rotating. The lower support 74 is fixed to the shielding plate 10, and the protrusion 84 is planted. The protrusion 84 is a linear slit 8 formed in the rotating member 72.
Move within 5 relatively. The slit 85 has a lower stop position 86. When the rotating member 72 rotates to bring the upper stop position 83 of the slit 81 into contact with the protrusion 82 and stop the rotation, and when the lower stop position 86 of the slit 85 comes into contact with the protrusion 84 and stops, the half mirror 9 and the shield plate. The postures of 10 are determined (state shown in FIG. 10). One end of the torsion coil spring 73 is locked to the protrusion 87 that is erected on the rotating member 72, and the other end is locked to the protrusion 88 that is erected on the hinge 75a, so that the coil portion is not supported anywhere. It is in a free state. When the rotating member 72 rotates about the shaft 80, the protrusion 87 crosses a straight line connecting the shaft 80 and the protrusion 88. Protrusion 87
When comes on a straight line connecting the shaft 80 and the protrusion 88, the point becomes a dead point and the protrusion 87 does not move. However, the shaft 80 and the protrusion 8
When moving up or down on the straight line connecting the eight, the projection 87 is biased by the torsion coil spring 73, and the rotating member 72 is rotated either in the closing direction or the opening direction of the half mirror 9. That is, when the tongue 78 is pulled up from the use state in which the half mirror 9 of FIG. 10 is open, the force of pulling up the tongue 78 increases as the protrusion 87 approaches the line connecting the shaft 80 and the protrusion 88, and as shown in FIG. When the projection 87 comes on a straight line connecting the shaft 80 and the projection 88, the force becomes maximum, and when the projection 87 crosses the line connecting the shaft 80 and the projection 88, the force for pulling up the tongue 78 suddenly becomes 0, As shown in FIG. 12, the half mirror 9 and the shielding plate 10 are folded and stored by the biasing force of the torsion coil spring 73. On the contrary, when the tongue 78 is pushed down from the state where the half mirror 9 and the shielding plate 10 are stored (FIG. 12),
As the protrusion 87 approaches the line connecting the shaft 80 and the protrusion 88, the force of pushing down the tongue portion 78 increases, and when the protrusion 87 comes on the straight line connecting the shaft 80 and the protrusion 88, the force is maximum. Becomes When the protrusion 87 crosses the line connecting the shaft 80 and the protrusion 88, the force that pushes down the tongue 78 suddenly becomes zero,
The half mirror 9 is driven by the biasing force of the torsion coil spring 73.
The shield plate 10 is in the expanded use state shown in FIG. The upper spring 77 incorporated in the hinge 75a urges the half mirror 9 in the opening direction, and the lower spring 79 incorporated in the hinge 76a urges the shielding plate 10 in the opening direction. When 72 is rotated to the use state shown in FIG. 10, the protrusion 84 slides in the slit 85 and is pressed against the lower stop position 86. As already mentioned,
The rotating member 72 rotates about the shaft 80, the upper stop position 83 of the slit 81 contacts the protrusion 82, the rotation of the rotating member 72 stops, and the shield plate 10 is opened by the urging force of the lower spring 79 to support the lower part. The projection 84 of the tool 74 slides in the slit 85 and contacts the lower stop position 86 to stop. The projection 84 is located at the lower stop position 86, the angle θ1 between the bottom plate 36 and the half mirror 9 is determined, and the angle θ2 between the half mirror 9 and the shield plate 10 is determined.

FIG. 13 is a circuit block diagram of the first or second embodiment of the present invention. The circuit block diagram includes a video camera circuit 91 and a switch circuit 92. The video camera circuit 91 includes a lens 93, an image pickup element 94, and a camera circuit 9.
5, a video signal terminal 96, a power supply circuit 97 and a resistor 98. The light incident on the lens 93 is converted into a video signal by the image sensor 94, converted into a video signal by the camera circuit 95, output from the video signal terminal 96, and input to a video signal input terminal (not shown) of the personal computer. . Switch circuit 9
Reference numeral 2 includes a switch 40 and an open / close detection signal terminal 99. The signal of the switch 40 is output from the open / close detection signal terminal 99, and the control signal terminal (not shown, for example RS-
232C, etc.). As shown in FIG. 13, when the switch 40 is open, that is, when the switch lever 42 is protruding in FIG. 5, the voltage level of the open / close detection signal terminal 99 is the high level state of the voltage of the power supply circuit 97. . On the contrary, when the switch 40 is closed, that is, when the half mirror 9 is parallel to the bottom plate 36 and the switch lever 42 is pushed in in FIG. 7, the voltage level of the open / close detection signal terminal 99 becomes a low level (earth level). . For example, it is possible to detect a high-level state of the open / close detection signal terminal 99 on the personal computer body side and display the camera image 5 at a predetermined position on the monitor screen 4 by software processing. , The camera image 5 is displayed by raising and lowering the half mirror 9.
Or it can be hidden.

[0016]

First, since the half mirror is configured to rotate about an axis parallel to the display surface, the face-to-face type image pickup device can be stored or deployed by simply raising and lowering the half mirror. Also, since the ceiling and the shielding plate are colored or painted black, the ceiling overlaps with the video image on the display screen to deteriorate the image quality, or the shielding plate overlaps with the captured image to deteriorate the image quality of the captured image. Can be prevented.

Secondly, since the ceiling, the half mirror and the shield plate are connected by the connecting member, the shield plate can be stored or deployed simply by raising and lowering the half mirror, and the half mirror and the shield plate are designed at the time of deployment. It can be installed at a valued angle.

Thirdly, since the half mirror is biased by the torsion coil spring in which the central coil is free, there is no rattling when the half mirror and the shield plate are stored or deployed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line A-A ′ in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the main part of FIG. 1 from the right rear.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of a B part in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a side view of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the operation in FIG. 5;

7 is an explanatory view of the operation of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a C portion of FIG.

10 is a side view of the main part of FIG.

11 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of FIG.

12 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of FIG.

FIG. 13 is a circuit block diagram of first and second embodiments of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Monitor, 2 ... Face-to-face imaging part, 5 ... Video image, 6 ... Fixed part, 7 ... Imaging part housing, 8 ... Video camera, 9 ... Half mirror, 10 ... Shielding plate, 11 ... Connecting member, 32 ... Tongue.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. Display means and approximately 45 to said display means.
In an imaging device including a half mirror arranged at an inclination angle of 45 degrees and an imaging means arranged at an inclination angle of about 45 degrees with respect to the half mirror, a light of the imaging means is provided in front of the imaging means. A shield plate is provided at an angle substantially perpendicular to the axis, the shield plate has a photographing aperture through which light incident on the imaging means can pass, and one end of the half mirror is provided on the shield plate. A face-to-face image pickup device, which is rotatably supported on an axis parallel to the display plane. 2. Display means and approximately 45 to said display means
In an imaging device including a half mirror arranged at an inclination angle of 45 degrees and an imaging means arranged at an inclination angle of about 45 degrees with respect to the half mirror, a light of the imaging means is provided in front of the imaging means. A first shield plate is provided at an angle substantially perpendicular to the axis, and the first shield plate has a photographing aperture through which light incident on the image pickup means can pass, and the first shield plate is It is colored black, one end of the half mirror is rotatably supported on an axis parallel to the display plane provided on the first shield plate, and the other end of the half mirror is colored black. A face-to-face image pickup device, wherein the second shield plate is rotatably supported by a shaft. 3. The first shield plate, the half mirror, and the second shield plate are connected by a connecting member, and the second shield plate is rotationally moved in association with the rotational movement of the half mirror. Item 2. The face-to-face type imaging device according to Item 2. 4. The half mirror is biased by a torsion coil spring, one end of which is locked to the first shield plate and the other end of which is locked to the connecting member, and a central coil portion is movably not held. The facing image pickup apparatus according to claim 3.