WO2016009193A1

WO2016009193A1 - Image inversion apparatus and teleprompting apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO2016009193A1
Application number: PCT/GB2015/052034
Authority: WO
Inventors: Richard Bush
Original assignee: Richard Bush Limited
Priority date: 2014-07-16
Filing date: 2015-07-15
Publication date: 2016-01-21
Also published as: GB201412628D0

Abstract

An image inversion apparatus (6), comprising a housing (8) having a plurality of ports (14, 15) formed therein and a signal processing circuit (10), with the signal processing circuit (10) having an input and an output, the input and the output each being coupled to a port, in which the signal processing circuit (10) is arranged to: take from the input a video signal representing a stream of images; process the video signal so as to produce a processed video signal; and output the processed video signal at the output; in which the processed video signal represents the stream of images processed in that each of the images has been subject to a reflection.

Description

IMAGE INVERSION APPARATUS AND TELEPROMPTING APPARATUS

This invention relates to image inversion apparatus, and to a teleprompting apparatus using such an apparatus.

Teleprompters, or prompting mechanisms associated with video and film cameras, are well-known devices and commonly used by actors, news readers, speakers, news reporters and other personnel reading off prepared information and documents while being shot by the camera. These enable the user to look directly into the lens of the camera and read a prepared script that is generated by a computer software application that allows scrolling up of the text, so the reader can keep up with the up-coming text as it is read. The reader sees the text reflected from a two-way mirror and the audience can only see the scene being shot by the camera through the two-way mirror. The text is generally displayed on a monitor positioned so that the reader can see the reflection of the monitor in the mirror; typically this would be slung under the mirror. The video signal used to drive the monitor is generally right-reading, that is not subject to any reflections and so could be read directly from a monitor. However, given that the mirror will perform a reflection on the display, if the video signal were to be directly displayed on the monitor, it would be reflected and so not easily readable by the reader.

In the past, the reflection or inversion of the images in the video signal was achieved by reversing the flow of current through the vertical deflection coils of a cathode ray tube monitor. This could simply be achieved by reversing the connections to those coils, sometimes using a double pole changeover switch, so that the image could be viewed either normally or mirrored.

However, most teleprompting monitors now use flat screen displays, typically OLED (organic light emitting diode) or LCD (liquid crystal display) based. Most conventional video monitors do not incorporate the facility for reversing or reflecting the image, either vertically or horizontally; whilst some allow rotation, this does not solve the problem of providing reflected readable text. This means that, to date, most teleprompting monitors are specially built for the application, and incorporate sophisticated digital image processing which mirrors the image before presenting it to the display screen.

According to a first aspect of the invention, we provide an image inversion apparatus, comprising a housing having a plurality of ports formed therein and a signal processing circuit, with the signal processing circuit having an input and an output, the input and the output each being coupled to a port, in which the signal processing circuit is arranged to:

take from the input a video signal representing a stream of images;

process the video signal so as to produce a processed video signal; and output the processed video signal at the output;

in which the processed video signal represents the stream of images processed in that each of the images has been subject to a reflection. As such, by providing this circuitry in a separate housing, standard display equipment can be used in a teleprompter, with the words for the reader to read being inverted so they appear correctly to a use once they are viewed through a mirror. This removes the need for bespoke monitors to be used, and thus allows the use of standard, lower cost equipment.

Additionally, the images represented by the processed video signal may be subject to a rotation, typically by 90 or 180 degrees, relative to the stream of images in the video signal. The reflection of the images may be about a horizontal or vertical axis in the images, or may be about some other axis.

There may be a plurality of inputs, each coupled to a port, the signal processing circuit being able to take as an input a video signal from any of the inputs. The port coupled to each input may be of differing forms, for example coaxial connectors, Ethernet connectors, optical fibre connectors, HDMI (high definition multimedia interface) connectors, DVI (digital video interface) connectors, VGA (video graphics array) connectors or so on. Each input may take a signal in a different format, for example analogue video, digital video (including HDMI), video over IP, low voltage differential signalling (LVDS), VGA or so on. There may also be a plurality of outputs. The port coupled to each output may be of differing forms, for example coaxial connectors, Ethernet connectors, optical fibre connectors, HDMI (high definition multimedia interface) connectors, DVI (digital video interface) connectors, VGA (video graphics array) connectors or so on. Each output may take a signal in a different format, for example analogue video, digital video (including HDMI), video over IP, low voltage differential signalling (LVDS), VGA or so on.

As such, where the input and output signals are of different formats, or where the connectors forming the respective ports differ, the apparatus may also act as a converter or coupler, allowing a change of signal format or at least cable coupling format. Thus, connection can be made to the display equipment using a connection that is ubiquitous for such equipment, whereas the signal to be inverted can be distributed using a format that is commonly used for signal distribution in television studios, which are less common in display equipment.

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a teleprompting apparatus, comprising a monitor having a housing, a display surface mounted in the housing and an input, the monitor being arranged so as to display on the display surface a stream of images represented by a video signal received at the input, a mirror positioned to reflect the display surface, and an image inversion apparatus in accordance with the first aspect of the invention, in which an output of the image inversion apparatus is coupled to the input of the monitor and the image inversion apparatus is not contained within the housing of the monitor.

Thus, this describes a teleprompting apparatus that can make use of a standard monitor in place of the bespoke teleprompting monitors of the prior art.

Typically, the display monitor will be a flat panel display monitor, such as an LED (light emitting diode), particularly organic LED (OLED) or LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor.

Typically, the mirror will be partially reflective, such that it is possible to see through the mirror, but also to see what the mirror reflects. According to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided a camera, comprising a lens and an imaging device arranged to collect light from the lens and to convert the captured light into a video signal, the camera further comprising the teleprompting apparatus of the second aspect of the invention. The monitor may be mounted adjacent to the lens, with the mirror provided along a viewing axis of the lens. The housing of the image inversion apparatus may be provided elsewhere on the camera, for example on a pan bar.

There now follows, by way of example only, description of an embodiment of the invention, described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a schematic view of a teleprompter apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; and Figure 2 shows a block view of the image inversion apparatus of the teleprompter apparatus of Figure 1.

A teleprompter apparatus is shown in Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings, in which a camera 1 is provided with a lens 2 in front of which there is provided a semi- silvered mirror 3. This allows the camera 1 to view the area ahead of the camera 1 through the mirror 3, for example to capture a video stream of presenter 4. A display monitor 5 is provided underneath the mirror 3. The monitor 5, which is of the form of an LED or LCD display, is positioned so that its display surface faces the mirror 3, so that the presenter 4 can see the reflection of the display surface in the mirror 3.

As such, the presenter 4 will see a laterally inverted view of the display surface of the monitor 5, due to the reflection in the mirror. Whilst in the prior art this would have been overcome by providing extra signal processing circuitry in the monitor, in this embodiment such processing is carried out by a separate apparatus, the image inversion apparatus 6. This is mounted on a pan bar 7 of the camera 1 , where it can help to counterbalance the weight of monitor 5.

The image inversion apparatus is provided with an input 16 from a studio video distribution and switching network 17. This carries various video signals around a video studio. The signal that is provided to the input 16 of the image conversion apparatus 6 enters the network 17 from a prompt video generator 19, which generates a video signal from a text provided to it by a desktop computer 18. The video signal has the text in readable form, so that if the video signal were to be displayed on a standard monitor, the text would be in a standard orientation, and not reflected. This is useful, as the prompt text is often displayed in other places than just on the teleprompter.

The image inversion apparatus 6 is shown in more detail in Figure 2 of the accompanying drawings. It comprises a housing 8, having input ports 14 and output ports 15. Inside the housing 8 - which is separate and spaced from the monitor 5 - there is provided signal processing circuits 9, 10, 1 1 as are described in more detail below. In effect, the image inversion apparatus 6 takes a video signal at one of the input ports 14, which are of varying types - in this case wireless video, optical fibre, Ethernet (video over IP), coax (digital video) and coax (analogue video) .

The signal processing circuits 9, 10, 1 1 process the video signal so as to perform a reflection the images therein, and outputs the processed video signal at at least one of the output ports 15. The output ports are again of differing types - in this example, HDMI, LVDS, DVI, coax (digital video) and coax (analogue video) As such, if the video signal for the monitor 5 input at the image processing circuit includes text for the monitor which would be readable when displayed on a standard, non-reflecting monitor, then the image inversion apparatus will perform a reflection on the images in the signal, so that they are again readable when viewed using the monitor 5 after the reflection by mirror 3.

The operation of the image conversion apparatus 6 is controlled by a microprocessor unit (MCU) 12, as directed by a user interface 13, which could be implemented as physical switches and so on, or as a graphical user interface on a local or remote display.

Looking at the signal processing circuits 9, 10, 1 1 in more detail, a signal selection circuit 9 is coupled to the input ports 14. This selects, as directed by the MCU 12, one of input ports 14 as the active port, depending on which input port 14 has been indicated as active by the user interface 13. The signal selection circuit 9 takes an input video signal from that port, and converts that into a common digital format; the format is common in the sense that whichever port is selected, the format will be the same at the output of the signal selection circuit 9.

The output of the signal selection circuit 9 is passed to an image processing circuit 10. This takes the input digital video signal, and performs a reflection on the images represented by that signal. This can be a horizontal and/or vertical reflection. The reflected digital signal is output from the image processing circuit 10.

An output signal formatting circuit 1 1 takes as an input the output of the image processing circuit 10. The MCU 12 commands the output signal formatting circuit 1 1 to convert the signal input to it into one or more formats, depending on which output ports 15 have been designated as active by the user interface 13. The result is therefore a video signal at the output ports 15 which are designated as active, in which the images in the video signal have been reflected with respect to the input signal.

Thus, the video signal generated by the prompt video generator 19 will be displayed reflected on the monitor 5 but can be viewed correctly by the presenter 4. Furthermore, the coupling between the image inversion apparatus 6 and the monitor 5 can be a common video monitor interface such as HDMI. This means that a standard monitor can be used without any requirement that it be able to perform reflections on the input video signal.

Claims

1. An image inversion apparatus, comprising a housing having a plurality of ports formed therein and a signal processing circuit, with the signal processing circuit having an input and an output, the input and the output each being coupled to a port, in which the signal processing circuit is arranged to:

take from the input a video signal representing a stream of images;

in which the processed video signal represents the stream of images processed in that each of the images has been subject to a reflection.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , in which the images represented by the processed video signal are subject to a rotation, typically by 90 or 180 degrees, relative to the stream of images in the video signal.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 or claim 2, having plurality of inputs, each coupled to a port, the signal processing circuit being able to take as an input a video signal from any of the inputs.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, in which the ports coupled to each input are of differing forms, for example selected from the group comprising coaxial connectors, Ethernet connectors, optical fibre connectors, HDMI (high definition multimedia interface) connectors, DVI (digital video interface) connectors, and VGA (video graphics array) connectors.

5. The apparatus of claim 3 or claim 4, in which each input takes a signal in a different format, for example selected from the group comprising analogue video, digital video (including HDMI), video over IP, low voltage differential signalling (LVDS), and VGA.

6. The apparatus of any preceding claim, having a plurality of outputs.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, in which the ports coupled to each output are of differing forms, for example selected from the group comprising coaxial connectors, Ethernet connectors, optical fibre connectors, HDMI (high definition multimedia interface) connectors, DVI (digital video interface) connectors, and VGA (video graphics array) connectors.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 or claim 7, in which each output may take a signal in a different format, for example selected from the group comprising analogue video, digital video (including HDMI), video over IP, low voltage differential signalling (LVDS), and VGA.

9. The apparatus of any of claims 6 to 8, as dependent on any of claims 3 to 5 , in which, where the input and output signals are of different formats, or where the connectors forming the respective ports differ, the apparatus acts as a converter or coupler, allowing a change of signal format or cable coupling format.

10. A teleprompting apparatus, comprising a monitor having a housing, a display surface mounted in the housing and an input, the monitor being arranged so as to display on the display surface a stream of images represented by a video signal received at the input, a mirror positioned to reflect the display surface, and an image inversion apparatus in accordance with any preceding claim, in which an output of the image inversion apparatus is coupled to the input of the monitor and the image inversion apparatus is not contained within the housing of the monitor.

1 1. The teleprompting apparatus of claim 10, in which the display monitor will be a flat panel display monitor, such as an LED (light emitting diode), particularly organic LED (OLED) or LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor.

12. A camera, comprising a lens and an imaging device arranged to collect light from the lens and to convert the captured light into a video signal, the camera further comprising the teleprompting apparatus of claim 10 or claim 1 1.

13. The camera of claim 12, in which the monitor is mounted adjacent to the lens, with the mirror provided along a viewing axis of the lens.

14. The camera of claim 13, in which the housing of the image inversion apparatus is provided elsewhere on the camera, for example on a pan bar.