JPH10322633A - Video camera device with communication function - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a video camera device with a communication function of structure optimum for positively using portability by providing an image pickup part, a recording part, a transmission part, a reception part and a display part decoding compressed digital video data and displaying it on a display device in an integrated casing. SOLUTION: The video display part 15 constituted of a color liquid crystal display device, a speaker and the like is provided for a video camera 1. A digital video signal supplied from a display control part 16 is converted into an analog signal and is displayed on the video display part 15. The digital video signals which are band-compressed are supplied from a decoding part 17, the recording part 13 or an information demodulation part 29 to the display control part 16. The image pickup part 10, an encoding part 12, the recording part 13, the transmission part, the reception part and the video display part 15 decoding and displaying the digital signal are provided for the integrated easing. Namely, the transmission part transmitting a request signal for supplying information which a user requires as a reception side to a transmission side and the reception part receiving the request signal form the user as the transmission side are provided in the video camera 1 device.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video camera with a communication function capable of recording and reproducing video signals, audio signals and the like (hereinafter, simply referred to as "video signals") and wirelessly transmitting and receiving the video signals. It concerns the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A video camera device capable of capturing an image (including a sound), converting the image into an electric signal, and recording or reproducing the image signal has been widely known. In recent years, in particular, in recent years, its size has been extremely reduced, and it is widely used as a portable video camera device that can be easily carried and imaged.

On the other hand, in recent years, a digital video camera device has been proposed in place of the conventional analog video camera device, and in addition, a large number of digital cameras (still cameras) have been provided. . Along with this, such video signals are not merely reproduced / displayed, but are also taken into a processing device such as a personal computer to perform various kinds of processing on an image and widely used.

As described above, such a digital imaging apparatus requires an input to a personal computer for image processing as described above. However, a general imaging apparatus requires a personal computer only through a special interface. However, there is a problem that the input of the video data cannot be performed and the transfer of the video data is inconvenient.

On the other hand, as a prior art, for example, according to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-207592, a radio transmission unit including a spread spectrum modulation circuit is provided on a video camera side as an image pickup apparatus, while a video tape recorder is provided. There is known a video radio system provided with a receiving unit for receiving the transmitted radio. According to this video wireless system, the video signal and the audio signal are transmitted and received between the video camera unit and the video tape recorder by wireless transmission, so that the video signal and the audio signal are recorded.

[0006]

However, at present, with the dramatic increase in the amount of recorded information such as a semiconductor recording device, it has been proposed to use such a storage device as a recording medium instead of a video tape. In the prior art video wireless system, the characteristics of a very small and portable video camera device are fully utilized, and the video wireless system is not optimal for actively utilizing its utilization.

In view of the above-mentioned problems in the prior art, the present invention makes the best use of the characteristics of a very small and portable video camera device and actively utilizes its portability. It is an object of the present invention to provide a video camera device having a communication function having a structure.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided an image pickup unit for converting an image or sound into an electric signal, an electric signal from the image pickup unit being converted into a digital signal, An encoding unit for compressing the amount; a recording unit for recording the compressed digital video data from the encoding unit; and a modulator for modulating the compressed digital video data from the encoding unit or from the recording unit. A transmitting unit that transmits by a radio signal, an antenna unit that transmits and receives a radio signal, a receiving unit that demodulates digital video data compressed from a radio signal received by the antenna unit, the imaging unit, the recording unit, A video camera with a communication function, wherein the video camera has a display unit for decoding the compressed digital video data from the reception unit and displaying the decoded digital video data on a display device. Location is provided.

According to the present invention, in the video camera device with a communication function described above, the transmitting unit modulates the compressed digital video data to be transmitted by a spread spectrum method, and an output of the modulating unit. A frequency conversion unit for up-converting the spread spectrum signal to a frequency band suitable for wireless transmission, a local oscillation generation unit, and a spread code generation unit for generating a spread code used for the modulation unit, A receiving unit including a frequency converting unit that down-converts a spread spectrum signal wirelessly transmitted by the antenna to a frequency band suitable for demodulation processing, a receiving unit including a local oscillation generating unit, and the like, and demodulating the spread spectrum signal. And a demodulation unit that performs the demodulation.

According to the present invention, in the video camera device with a communication function, the imaging unit, the encoding unit, the recording unit, the transmission unit, the reception unit, A CPU for controlling the operation of the display unit is provided, and an operation unit for operating the CPU is provided.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a video camera device 1 with a communication function according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes a lens or a semiconductor imaging device, for example, a CCD (Charge Coupled Device).
e) and the like, and an image pickup unit constituted by a microphone or the like. A video signal (including an audio signal) picked up by the image pickup unit 10 is converted into a digital signal (digital video signal) by the A / D converter 11. ), And the encoding unit 12 converts the digital video signal into, for example, an MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) format and band-compresses it. And like this, M
The digital video signal band-compressed by the PEG format can be used as needed, for example, in a video tape device,
The data is recorded in the recording unit 13 composed of an information storage device such as a semiconductor memory, a hard disk, and an MO.
That is, these constitute an image recording unit of the video camera device. The video recording section 13 is provided with an output terminal 33, through which compressed video data recorded therein can be output to the outside of the apparatus.

On the other hand, the video camera device 1 is provided with, for example, a color liquid crystal display device or a small color CRT as an image reproducing device, and a video display portion 15 composed of a speaker or the like as an audio reproducing device. ing.
The video display unit 15 decodes a digital video signal supplied from the display control unit 16, which is also band-compressed in the MPEG format, by a decoding unit 17, and further converts the analog video signal by a D / A conversion unit 18. Will be displayed. The display control unit 16 is supplied with a band-compressed digital video signal from the decoding unit 17, the recording unit 13, or an information demodulation unit constituting an information reception unit described later. The video display section 15 selectively displays one of these signals. The display control unit 16 also receives a video signal from the video recording unit 13 in which a band-compressed digital video signal is recorded, thereby reproducing the video recorded in the video recording unit 13. You can do it.

Next, the information transmitting section in the video camera device 1 will be described. The information transmitting section includes an information modulating section 19, a spreading modulating section 20, a spreading code generating section 21,
It comprises a frequency converter 22, a local oscillation generator 23, and an antenna 24. On the other hand, the video camera device 1 is further provided with an information receiving unit for receiving information. The information receiving unit includes the above-mentioned antenna 24, a frequency conversion unit 25, a local oscillation generation unit 2
6, a spread demodulation unit 27, a spread code generation unit 28, and an information demodulation unit 29. Note that a code controller 30 is commonly provided in the spread code generator 21 that forms the information transmitter and the spread code generator 28 that forms the information receiver.

Further, the video camera apparatus 1 is provided with an operation section 31 for operating the camera, which is composed of, for example, a push button. The operation command generated from the operation section 31 is Is input to the CPU 32, which is an arithmetic processing unit, where predetermined processing is performed and necessary control signals are sent to each unit of the apparatus. Each part of the video camera device described above is desirably housed in the main body housing and integrally formed, or, particularly, with respect to the camera portion, the camera portion is freely separated from the main body housing. It is also possible to have a movable structure. Therefore, in the present invention, “integral” is a concept that does not apply to this camera unit.

Next, the operation of the video camera device 1 with a communication function whose configuration has been described above will be described. First, in the image pickup unit 10, the CPU 32 controls the focus of the lens of the image pickup system based on an operation command or the like from the operation unit 31, and thereby the image formed on the CCD element is captured by the microphone. Sound is provided as image information or sound information. The video signal including these is band-compressed by the encoding unit 12 in the MPEG format. Note that the compressed video signal is recorded in the recording unit 13 as needed by the operation of the video camera operator performed through the operation unit 31. That is, a normal recording operation as a video camera is possible.

On the other hand, the video camera device 1
When transmitting a video signal photographed by the above-described method, the compressed video signal from the encoding unit 12 is sent to an information modulation unit 19, and the information modulation unit 19 converts the compressed video signal and the like into BPSK ( Performs modulation processing such as Bi-PhaseShift Keying). Further, spread modulation section 20 performs a spreading process on the signal from information modulation section 19 and the spread code output from spread code generation section 21. The spreading code generator 2
1 can vary a generated spreading code by a code control signal from the code control unit 30. Further, the frequency conversion unit 22 up-converts the modulated signal into a frequency band suitable for transmission by the local oscillation signal generated by the local oscillation generation unit 23, and wirelessly transmits the modulated signal via the antenna 24 as a spread spectrum transmission signal. I do.

As described above, the video camera device 1 can transmit a video signal that has been compressed by spread spectrum transmission. At this time, the CPU 32
When the operator operates the operation unit 31, the local oscillation generation unit 23, the code control unit 30, the display control unit 16, and the like are controlled.

Next, a case where the video camera device 1 performs a receiving operation will be described. At this time, the antenna 24 receives the spread spectrum transmission signal transmitted by radio. Then, the frequency conversion unit 25 down-converts the received signal to a frequency band suitable for demodulation using the local oscillation signal from the local oscillation generation unit 26. Thereafter, the spread demodulation unit 27 performs despreading processing using the received signal, which has been subjected to the spreading processing, and the spreading code output from the spreading code generation unit 28. The spreading code generator 28
Can also vary the spread code by the code control signal from the code control unit 30. Further, the information demodulation unit 29 demodulates the signal modulated by the above BPSK or the like and outputs the signal to the display control unit 16. Then, the compressed signal output from the display control unit 16 is further decoded by a decoding unit 17 to obtain a D / A conversion unit 1.
At 8, it is converted into an analog video signal and displayed on the video display unit 15.

As described above, the video camera device 1 can receive the compressed video signal transmitted by spread spectrum transmission. At this time, the operation of the operation unit 30 selects whether to display the decoded signal on the video display unit 15 or to record it on the recording unit 13. The CPU 32 controls the local oscillation generator 26 and the code controller 30 by operating the operation unit 30.

Next, the usability of the video camera apparatus of the present invention having the above-described configuration will be described with reference to FIG.

First, according to the video camera apparatus of the present invention described above, when there are a plurality of persons who aim to obtain the same information (video), the information is obtained from one video camera apparatus. This makes it possible to transmit the video data and receive the video data with another video camera device to reproduce or record the video data. In addition, since the video camera device of the present invention uses a spread spectrum communication method, it is resistant to interference by external interference waves, and data leakage and external access are not possible unless the spreading code used for communication is known. There is also an advantage that an impossible environment can be easily prepared. Thereby, it becomes possible to share a video signal between specific video camera devices.

Further, according to the video camera apparatus of the present embodiment, the information receiving side can record necessary video information as compressed data. That is, when the operator of the video camera operates the operation unit 30 to record necessary information as compressed data, a control signal is output via the CPU 32. The compressed data output from the information demodulation unit 29 is recorded in the recording unit 13 by this control signal. When the user needs the data, the compressed data stored in the recording unit 13 is operated by operating the operation unit 31 so that the CPU 3
1, a control signal is output, and the control signal causes the compressed data to be displayed on the video display unit 15 via the decoding unit 26, or the compressed data is output to the output terminal 33.

Further, for example, it is possible to transmit a video signal from the video camera apparatus of the present invention to a personal computer (personal computer) PC, and directly take in a captured video signal into the personal computer. In that case,
Needless to say, it is necessary to equip the personal computer with the same function as the decoding unit 17 of the video camera device. Conversely, a video signal is transmitted from the personal computer side, received by the video camera device, and if necessary,
This can be recorded and reproduced.

When recording uncompressed data, such as when a plurality of pieces of information are desired, a large-capacity recording unit is required.
By inputting and recording compressed data as it is, as in the video camera device of the present invention, a plurality of pieces of information can be recorded without a large-capacity recording unit.

Further, a case where a plurality of video camera devices (two in this case) are used to transmit and receive video information between the plurality of video camera devices will be described with reference to FIG.

First, on the receiving side, the user confirms the usage status of the spread code and the content of the information transmitted from the transmitting side according to the guidance content displayed on the video display unit 15.
According to these guidances, a spread code for transmitting the request signal is determined, and the operation unit 30 is operated to input the request signal as the request signal.

Then, the information modulator 19 performs a modulation process such as BPSK on the request signal of the user, and the spread modulator 20 outputs the signal from the information modulator 19 and the output of the spread code generator 21. The spreading process is performed with the spreading code to be performed. The spreading code used here is input by the user to transmit the request signal. Also,
The frequency conversion unit 22 up-converts the modulated signal into a frequency band suitable for transmission by the local oscillation signal of the local oscillation generation unit 23. Then, the antenna 24 wirelessly transmits the spread spectrum transmission signal. Here, it is assumed that the local oscillation frequency of the local oscillation generating unit 23 is the same as the local oscillation generating unit 26 of the other video camera device that transmits and receives.

Next, the video camera device on the information providing side will be described.

First, the antenna 24 receives a spread spectrum transmission signal wirelessly transmitted from the video camera device on the receiving side. The frequency conversion unit 25 down-converts the received signal to a frequency band suitable for demodulation based on the local oscillation signal of the local oscillation generation unit 26. Here, the local oscillation frequency of the local oscillation generator 26 is the same as that of the local oscillation generator 23 on the receiving side. Further, spread demodulating section 27 performs despreading processing on the signal subjected to the spreading processing and the spreading code output from spreading code generating section 28. And the information demodulation unit 2
Reference numeral 9 demodulates a signal modulated by BPSK or the like. Based on the demodulated request signal, the CPU 32 transmits necessary information (for example, video information from the imaging unit 10 or
The compressed video information stored in the recording unit 13 is extracted, and
Sent to the receiving side. Further, under the control of the display control unit 14, the display content (current transmission information content and the like) of the video display unit 15 is updated.

As described above, in the video camera device according to the present embodiment, a request for requesting information required by a user as a receiving side to an information providing (transmitting) side in one video camera device. A transmitting unit for transmitting a signal and a receiving unit for receiving a request signal from a user as an information providing (transmitting) side are provided. As described above, by using a plurality of video camera devices of the present invention and enabling video information to be transmitted and received among them, not only audio but also a plurality of video cameras can be used. Information can be exchanged between the parties, which makes it possible to use it as a visual radio (walkie talkie),
It is possible to further expand the range of use of the portable video camera device. In addition, users can operate at their own pace.

As another configuration, it is considered to use different oscillation frequencies for the local oscillation frequency of the local oscillation generator for transmitting and receiving the request signal and the local oscillation frequency for the local oscillation generator for transmitting the image data. In other words, the bandwidth for transmitting image data and the like needs to be wide, but the request signal has a small amount of data, so that a high-speed transmission rate is not required and the time required for communication is short.
By providing a transmission band for a wideband video and audio signal for transmitting image data and a transmission band for a narrowband request signal for transmitting a request signal, a spreading code can be provided from the information providing side to the user side or the user side. It can be used repeatedly from the information provider side to the information provider side. Also, by dividing the band, request signals from more users can be accepted, so that it is possible to cope with an increase in users. In other words, such a configuration is particularly effective when the transmitting / receiving device on the information providing side and the transmitting / receiving device on the user side are used for many purposes.

Further, if the above-mentioned band for transmitting the request signal is divided and the chip length of the spread code is made longer than the chip length of the spread code for transmitting the video and audio signals,
Even if the number of users transmitting the request signal increases, if the number of spread codes that can be selected is large, the problem of collision of request signals in a transmission section is reduced because the user has selected the same spread code with probability. In addition, it is possible to cope with an increase in the number of users rather than merely dividing the transmission band described above.

In the above-described embodiment, the description has been made using the MPEG system as the band compression system for video signals and the like.
It is not particularly limited to this method.

[0036]

As described above in detail, according to the video camera apparatus with a communication function according to the present invention, the information providing side can easily provide video information to a large number of users. Even if the number of users who want to receive information from the provider is large, users can operate at their own pace. It is possible to provide a video camera device with a communication function.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of a video camera device with a communication function according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a use form of the video camera device with a communication function according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing still another use form of the video camera device with a communication function according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Image pick-up part 11 ... A / D conversion part 12 ... Encoding part 13 ... Recording part 15 ... Video display part 16 ... Display control part 17 ... Decoding part, 18 ... D / A conversion part 19 ... Information modulation part 20 ... Spreading modulators 21 and 28 Spreading code generators 22 and 25 Frequency converters 23 and 26 Local oscillation generators 24 Antenna 27 Spreading demodulators 29 Information demodulators 30 Code controllers 31 Operating units 32 CPU

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI H04N 7/24 H04N 7/13 Z

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An imaging unit for converting an image or sound into an electric signal, an encoding unit for converting an electric signal from the imaging unit into a digital signal and compressing the amount of information, and a compression unit for compressing the information amount. A recording unit for recording the digital video data, a transmitting unit for modulating the compressed digital video data from the encoding unit or from the recording unit, and transmitting the modulated digital video data by a radio signal, and an antenna for transmitting and receiving the radio signal Unit, a receiving unit that demodulates digital video data compressed from a radio signal received by the antenna unit, and decodes the compressed digital video data from the imaging unit, the recording unit, or the receiving unit. A video camera device with a communication function, wherein a display unit for displaying on a display device is provided in an integrated housing. 2. The video camera device with a communication function according to claim 1, wherein the transmission section modulates the compressed digital video data to be transmitted by a spread spectrum method, and an output of the modulation section. A frequency conversion unit for up-converting the spread spectrum signal to a frequency band suitable for wireless transmission, a local oscillation generation unit, and a spread code generation unit for generating a spread code used for the modulation unit, A receiving unit including a frequency converting unit that down-converts a spread spectrum signal wirelessly transmitted by the antenna to a frequency band suitable for demodulation processing, a receiving unit including a local oscillation generating unit, and the like, and demodulating the spread spectrum signal. A video camera device with a communication function, comprising: 3. The video camera device with a communication function according to claim 1, wherein the imaging unit, the encoding unit, the recording unit, the transmission unit, the reception unit, A video camera device with a communication function, comprising: a CPU for controlling an operation of a display unit; and an operation unit for operating the CPU.