JPH10268414A - Tripod universal head - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a tripod universal head capable of preventing the accretion of ice, etc., occurring on the front protective glass and photographic lens of a camera, with a small power consumption by detecting the direction of the wind, while photographing is not executed, that is, the tripod universal head stands by and turning the camera to a position where the front protective glass and photographic lens of the camera do not get the wind from the front, based on the detected wind direction. SOLUTION: In the tripod universal head 10, the direction of the wind is detected by a wind direction sensor 18 provided on the top surface of a housing 12, during the stop of operation. Then, the housing 12 is panned to turn the protective glass 13 to the leeward side, not to turn the protective glass 13 on the front side of the housing 12 to the windward side. Thus, the occurrence of the accretion of the ice, etc., on the protective glass, during the nonuse of the tripod universal head can be prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pan head device, and more particularly to a pan head device used outdoors.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A pan head device is equipped with a television camera or the like and performs a pan / tilt operation of the camera by remote control operation. In particular, when a television camera is installed outdoors such as at a high place or in a remote place, a pan head device having a housing for housing the camera is used. This housing is for protecting the camera from rain, wind, etc., and a transparent protective glass is provided on the front surface of the housing so as to face the taking lens of the camera. The protective glass is provided with a wiper for removing dirt such as water droplets and dust, a defroster for removing cloudiness on the inner surface of the glass, and for preventing or removing icing in cold regions. ing. When taking a picture, these wipers and defrosters are operated so that a clear image without fogging can be provided.

[0003]

However, conventionally,
Since these wipers and defrosters are operated only when taking a picture, when the time during which the picture is not taken at night or in a cold region, that is, when the stand-by time of the pan head device becomes long, icing or the like on the protective glass may occur. In some cases, it takes a long time from the operation of the wiper or the defroster to the removal of icing or the like. For this reason, there has been a problem that even when the imaging apparatus is urgently required to be started, the imaging cannot be started immediately even if the power of the camera platform device is turned on.

In order to solve this problem, it is conceivable to use a strong wiper or increase the capacity of the defroster. However, in order to make the wiper strong, the drive unit becomes large and power consumption is also reduced. It gets bigger. Further, there is a limit to the capacity of the defroster, and there is a problem that it cannot be increased even if it is desired to increase the capacity. On the other hand, if the wiper and the defroster are operated even during the standby time, the above-mentioned problem can be solved. However, there is a problem that the life of the wiper is shortened, and in particular, the defroster is not economical because power consumption is large.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is possible to prevent icing or the like occurring on the front protective glass of a camera or a photographing lens when the camera platform is in standby, without increasing the size of the apparatus and reducing power consumption. It is an object of the present invention to provide a pan head device for preventing the rotation.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises a camera, and a driving means for panning and / or tilting the camera. The driving means moves the camera in a desired direction. In the head device for aiming, a wind direction detecting means for detecting a wind direction, and a protection of the front of the camera based on the wind direction detected by the wind direction detecting means in a standby state of the head device which is not photographed by the camera. Control means for controlling the driving means so that the camera is directed to a position where wind does not hit the glass or the taking lens from the front.

According to the present invention, when the pan head device is on standby, the wind direction is detected, and the camera is directed to a position where the wind does not hit the front protection glass or the taking lens of the camera from the front. It is possible to prevent icing on the glass or the taking lens and prevent fogging of the inner surface of the glass.

[0008]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a pan head device according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a camera platform device according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the camera platform device 10 includes a housing 12 that houses a camera (not shown) and protects the camera from external rain and dust, and a camera body 14 that pans and tilts the camera. . The housing 12 is provided with a transparent protective glass 13 on the front surface facing the taking lens of the camera.
An image of the outside of the housing 12 is taken by the camera from the inside of the housing 12 via 3. The protective glass 13 is also provided with a wiper 15.

The housing 12 is cantilevered on a tilt shaft extending from the camera platform body 14. This tilt axis is rotated by a tilt motor built in the camera platform body 14, and tilts the camera housed in the housing 12. Further, the camera platform body 14 is supported by a pan shaft 17 fixed on a mounting table. The pan shaft 17 is rotated by a pan motor built in the camera platform body 14,
The camera stored in the housing 12 is panned.

A wind direction sensor 18 is mounted on the upper surface of the housing 12 as shown in FIG. Wind direction sensor 18
Is to detect the wind direction by detecting the rotation angle of a rotating unit that rotates according to the wind direction. Above head 1
0 indicates that the wind direction sensor 18 detects the wind direction when the standby mode is set during a time when no photographing is performed.
Then, the housing 12 is panned so that the wind does not directly hit the protective glass 13 on the front surface of the housing 12, and the front surface of the housing 12 is controlled to be leeward. As a result, the protection glass 1
3 can prevent icing or the like from occurring. still,
The standby mode will be described later.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the camera platform device 10. The pan head device 10 is equipped with a CPU 32 that controls a pan / tilt operation, a standby mode operation described later, and the like according to a program recorded in the ROM 30. The tilting and panning of the camera are remotely controlled by a remote controller, and the rotation angle in the panning direction set by the pan value setting unit 38 and the tilt value setting unit 40 of the remote controller (hereinafter referred to as panning angle) and the like. The rotation angle in the tilting direction (hereinafter, referred to as the tilting angle) is the interface 4
2, 44 and the I / O port 36 to be input to the CPU 32.

The CPU 32 outputs a rotation instruction signal to the drive circuits 50 and 52 through the I / O port 36 and the interfaces 46 and 48 based on the input panning angle and tilting angle, and outputs a rotation instruction signal to the pan motor 54.
And the tilt motor 56 is rotated, and the interfaces 46, 48 and I /
The rotation angle information is input via the O port 36, and the pan motor 54 and the tilt motor 56 are set to desired panning angles and tilting angles. RAM shown in FIG.
34 records various processing data such as the set panning angle and tilting angle.

When the camera platform device 10 is in the standby mode, the detection signal output from the wind direction sensor 18 is amplified by the sensor amplifier 58 and input to the CPU 32 via the interface 60 and the I / O port 36.
The CPU 32 outputs a rotation instruction signal to the drive circuit 50 based on the wind direction information obtained by the wind direction sensor 18 so that the front surface of the housing 12 faces downwind, and rotates the pan motor 54.

Hereinafter, the standby mode of the camera platform device 10 will be described. In the standby mode, the housing 1 is automatically set so that the protective glass 13 on the front surface of the housing 12 shown in FIG.
2 is a function of panning. This prevents direct wind from hitting the protective glass 13 of the housing 12 and prevents icing or the like from occurring on the protective glass 13 when the temperature is low. Therefore, by setting the camera in the standby mode at the time of standby of the camera platform device 10, it is possible to start shooting immediately after the power of the camera platform device 10 is turned on and the camera platform device 10 and the camera can be operated by remote control. become able to.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the CPU 32 in the standby mode. First, CPU3
2 determines whether the standby mode is on (step S1).
0). If the standby mode is not on, this flow ends. When the standby mode is on, wind direction information is input from the wind direction sensor 18 (step S12),
It is determined whether the wind direction is opposite to the front surface of the housing 12 (whether the front surface of the housing 12 faces downwind) (step S14). At this time, when the wind direction is not opposite to the front surface of the housing 12,
If the front of 2 faces upwind, the pan motor 5
4 is rotated (step S16), and the determination process of step S14 is repeatedly executed so that the wind direction is opposite to the front surface of the housing 12.

As a result, if the wind direction is opposite to the front surface of the housing 12, the process waits for a preset time t (step S18), and if the time t has elapsed, the same processing from step S10 is performed. Is repeatedly executed.
According to the above processing procedure, even when the camera platform device 10 is on standby, the housing 12 is automatically panned in accordance with the wind direction at regular intervals, and control is performed so that the wind does not directly hit the protective glass 13 on the front surface of the housing 12. . The reason why the angle in the panning direction is adjusted at every time t is that power consumption increases when control is performed in real time, and the protective glass 13 on the front surface of the housing 12 is directly connected to the protective glass 13 for a long time. This is because, if the wind does not hit, the occurrence of icing or the like can be prevented, and if the protective glass 13 is directed to the leeward at predetermined time intervals, this purpose can be sufficiently achieved.

In the above embodiment, the wind direction sensor 1
8 to detect the wind direction, the housing 1
Although the front surface of the housing 12 is directed to the leeward side, the present invention is not limited to this, and the front surface of the housing 12 may be controlled to be directed to the leeward side by a change in the current of the pan motor 54 due to a change in the external force (wind force). For example, as shown in FIG. 4A, when the front surface of the housing 12 faces upwind, the pan motor 54 receives a counterclockwise rotational force from the shape of the pan head device.
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4B, when the front surface of the housing 12 faces leeward (when the rear surface of the housing 12 faces leeward), the pan motor 54 receives a clockwise rotating force. For this reason, the pan motor 54
By detecting the direction of the rotational force acting on the housing 12, the front surface of the housing 12 can be turned to the leeward side.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the CPU 32 in this case. First, it is determined whether or not the standby mode is on, as in the above flowchart (step S30). If the standby mode is not turned on, the process ends. If the standby mode is on, the direction of the current flowing through the pan motor 54 is detected, and it is determined whether the direction of the current indicates counterclockwise rotation of the pan motor 54 (step S32). Here, when the direction of the current indicates clockwise rotation of the pan motor 54, as described above, the front surface of the housing 12 faces downwind, so that it is not necessary to perform panning, and step S52 is performed.
And waits for a fixed time t. When the fixed time t has elapsed, the processing from step S30 is repeated again.

On the other hand, if the direction of the current indicates the counterclockwise rotation of the pan motor 54 in step S32, the front surface of the housing 12 is facing upwind. In this case, the current position of the housing 12 is
Is determined to the right or left of the rotation center (step S3).
4). Here, if the current position of the housing 12 is the pan axis 1
7, the pan motor 54
Is rotated counterclockwise (step S36), and at the same time, the current of the pan motor 54 is monitored (step S38), and it is determined whether or not the current value has become minimum (step S40).
The processing from step S36 to step S40 is repeated until the current value becomes minimum in step S40.

FIG. 6 shows the relationship between the camera platform and the wind direction from step S36 to step S40. First, as shown in FIG. 6A, it is assumed that the housing 12 is on the right side with respect to the center of rotation, and the front surface of the housing 12 faces upwind. At this time, the pan motor 54 receives a counterclockwise rotating force by the wind force. As the pan motor 54 is rotated counterclockwise in step S36, the pan motor 54 increases the rotational force received from the wind,
As shown in (B), the housing 12 has a shape facing sideways with respect to the wind direction. Therefore, the current of the pan motor 54 decreases until the state shown in FIG. FIG.
When the pan motor 54 is further rotated counterclockwise after reaching (B), as shown in FIG.
4 receives the clockwise rotating force opposite to the rotating direction from the wind, and the current of the pan motor 54 increases.

From the above, the current value of the pan motor 54 becomes minimum in the state shown in FIG. Therefore,
When the current value becomes minimum in step S40, the current value is further rotated by 90 ° and stopped (step S42). Thereby, the front surface of the housing 12 faces leeward. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S52 and waits for a predetermined time t. When the predetermined time t has elapsed, the processing from step S30 is repeated again.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S34 that the current position of the housing 12 is to the left of the rotation center, the pan motor is rotated clockwise (step S34).
44) At the same time, the current of the pan motor is monitored, and it is determined whether or not the current value has become smaller than when there is no wind (step S48). Step 44 to Step S46
The process up to step S48 is repeated until the current value in step S48 becomes smaller than that in the case where there is no wind.

FIG. 7 shows the relationship between the camera platform and the wind direction from step S44 to step S48. First, as shown in FIG. 7A, it is assumed that the housing 12 is on the left side with respect to the center of rotation, and the front surface of the housing 12 faces upwind. At this time, the pan motor 54 receives a counterclockwise rotation force opposite to the rotation direction by the wind force. Step S
When the pan motor 54 is rotated clockwise at 46, the pan motor 54 reduces the rotational force in the opposite direction received from the wind, and as shown in FIG. The shape turns sideways. Therefore, the current of the pan motor 54 decreases until the state shown in FIG. 7B, and the rotational force received from the wind power disappears when the state shown in FIG. 7B is reached. When the pan motor 54 is further rotated clockwise after reaching FIG. 7B, the pan motor 54 generates clockwise rotational force in the same direction as the rotational direction from the wind as shown in FIG. 7C. Therefore, the current of the pan motor 54 decreases.

From the above, the current value of the pan motor 54 in the state shown in FIG. 7B becomes equal to the current value in the no wind state. Therefore, in step S48, when the current value is smaller than that in the no-wind state, the motor is further rotated by 90 ° from that point and stopped (step S5).
0). Thereby, the front surface of the housing 12 faces leeward. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S52 for a predetermined time t.
, And when the predetermined time t has elapsed, the processing from step S30 is repeated again.

According to the above-described processing procedure, the housing 12 is automatically panned at regular intervals according to the wind direction even when the pan head device 10 is in standby, without using the wind direction sensor, similarly to the above-described embodiment. It is possible to prevent the wind from directly hitting the front protective glass 13. Thus, it is possible to prevent the protection glass 13 from icing or the like while the image is not taken.

In the above embodiment, the case where the housing 12 is not on the pan axis has been described. For example, when the center of the housing is on the pan axis, the case where the windward side is the front side of the housing and the case where the rear side is Since the direction of the rotational force acting on the pan axis is the same between the cases described above, the wind direction cannot be determined based on the current of the pan motor. However, if the pan axis is shifted from the center of the housing, the direction of the rotational force acting on the pan axis differs between the case where the windward direction is the front side and the case where the windward direction is the rear side. Can be. Even in this case, if the wind direction is perpendicular to the front or rear surface of the housing, the rotational direction does not act on the pan motor, so the wind direction cannot be determined. In this case, the pan motor is rotated to change the direction of the housing to the wind direction. It is sufficient to detect the rotational force acting on the pan axis by shifting from the pan axis.

Further, in the above embodiment, the front face of the housing is directed to the leeward side by panning. However, the front face of the housing may be shifted from the windward side by tilting. In this case, control may be performed in the same manner as when the housing is on the pan axis. In the present embodiment, the camera is directed to the leeward direction. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Any direction is possible as long as the wind does not hit the front protective glass or the taking lens of the camera from the front.

In the above-described embodiment, the pan head device in which the camera is housed in the housing has been described. However, the same control can be performed in a pan head device that does not use a housing. In this case, the camera is controlled so that the photographing lens of the camera faces downwind.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention, the wind direction is detected when the camera platform is not taking a picture by the camera, and the wind is applied to the front protective glass of the camera or the photographing lens from the front. Since the camera is directed to a position where it does not hit, it is possible to prevent icing from occurring on the front protective glass or the photographing lens.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a camera platform device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a camera platform device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of a CPU in a standby mode of the camera platform device.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a relationship between a pan head device and a wind direction.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing another embodiment of the processing procedure of the CPU in the standby mode of the camera platform device.

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

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram used in the flowchart of FIG. 5;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Head apparatus 12 ... Housing 13 ... Protective glass 14 ... Head body 17 ... Pan axis 18 ... Wind direction sensor

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A camera having a pan and / or pan
Or a driving device for tilting operation, wherein the driving device directs the camera in a desired direction, a wind direction detecting device for detecting a wind direction, and a stand-by state of the pan head device that is not photographed by the camera. Control means for controlling the driving means so that the camera is directed to a position where the wind does not hit the front protective glass or the taking lens of the camera from the front based on the wind direction detected by the wind direction detection means, and A pan head device comprising: