JPH07203274A - Image input camera controller - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Object] To provide a control device for an image input camera such as a video camera capable of displaying a desired image on a monitor simply and quickly by remote control. [Structure] When the interface controller 12 issues a function information transmission requesting means to a plurality of video cameras 13, the function information (type information of the rotation mechanism portion of the video camera 13, movable range information, C
CD controller size information) is interface controller 1
2 is stored in the storage unit 2, and the stored information is read out to control the direction of the video camera 13 via the CPU 9. In addition, the video signal output from the video camera 13 is output to the monitor 11 after the image display circuit 10 performs a predetermined display process.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a control device for an image input camera such as a video camera, and more particularly to an image input camera for controlling the operation of the image input camera used in a TV conference system or a videophone (videophone). Control device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the development of microprocessors capable of high-speed calculation, personal computers (personal computers) and workstations compatible with multimedia information have been sold. That is, a device for reading full-color moving image signals and audio signals from a CD-ROM and associating them with each other, and a device for digitizing and compressing moving image signals and audio signals from an image input camera and performing communication after communication. 2. Description of the Related Art Functions such as an electronic mail device to be sent to a destination via a line or a videophone or a videoconference mainly for a meeting such as a meeting have been realized on a personal computer or a workstation.

Further, in the above-mentioned videophone or videoconference using a personal computer or a workstation, it should be used as an image input camera such as a video camera mounted on a monitor or placed near the monitor. Therefore, downsizing is required, and it is cumbersome to mount a pan head that remotely controls the direction of the camera on the monitor of a personal computer or workstation in terms of size, cost, installation, etc. Separate fixed CCD
An image input camera is used by placing it on or near the monitor.

Further, recently, a camera head unit which can be controlled by a simple operation in accordance with a command from a personal computer or a workstation has been developed, and the size of the sensor of the camera head unit, the driving function, and the nature of the driving range are different. Image input cameras have been developed.

[0005]

However, when a videophone or a video conference based on a personal computer or a workstation is performed by using the above-mentioned conventional image input camera, the size and drive function of the image input camera are changed. It is necessary to prepare and selectively use different device drive software, which is not convenient for the operator.

Further, since a fixed image input camera is conventionally used, it is necessary to manually change the direction of the image input camera. That is, since it is not possible to control the direction of the image input camera from a personal computer or a workstation, it takes a lot of time to display a desired image on the monitor, resulting in poor operability.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a control device for an image input camera capable of displaying a desired image on a monitor simply and quickly by remote control. And

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, a control device for an image input camera according to the present invention comprises an image pickup device for converting an optical image into an electric signal and at least a rotating mechanism portion for rotating in a horizontal direction. An image input camera control device for controlling a plurality of image input cameras, comprising: display means for displaying an image output from the image input camera; and the image when the power of the image input camera is turned on. A function information receiving means for receiving the function information of the input camera; and a control means for controlling a display image displayed on the display means based on the function information received by the function information receiving means. It has a feature.

Further, a transmission request transmitting means for transmitting a transmission request signal of the function information to the image input camera is provided, and the function information receiving means receives the function information after transmitting the transmission request signal to the image input camera. It is characterized by doing.

Further, the function information is characterized in that it is type information of a rotation mechanism section of the image input camera and movable range information of the rotation mechanism section, more preferably size information of an image pickup element of the image input camera. It is characterized by being.

An image input camera control apparatus according to the present invention is an image input camera for controlling an image input camera provided with an image sensor for converting an optical image into an electric signal and at least a rotating mechanism section for rotating in the horizontal direction. Control device of
Still image storage means for storing a video signal output from the image input camera as a still image, position information storage means for storing position information of the image input camera in the still image, and still image storage means. Display means having at least a still image display area for displaying a still image and a moving image display area for displaying a video signal output from the image input camera, and pointing for instructing a predetermined pixel position in the still image display area. Means, recognizing means for recognizing the predetermined pixel position designated by the pointing means, and the moving image display of the predetermined pixel position based on the recognition result of the recognizing means and the position information stored in the position information storage means. It is characterized in that it is provided with an image control means for displaying the image at the central position of the area.

Further, according to the present invention, the image input camera is provided with a zoom control mechanism, and the rotation mechanism section is vertically rotatable, and the position information of the image input camera is the horizontal position of the image input camera. The position information may be at least one of a vertical position and a zoom position.

According to the present invention, the image input camera includes a zoom control mechanism, the still image storage means stores the still image at the first zoom position, and the display means simultaneously displays the still image and the moving image. It is also preferable that the video signal at the second zoom position is displayed in the moving image display area when being displayed. In this case, the first zoom position is wider than the second zoom position. It is characterized by being set to the side.

Further, according to the present invention, the control is connected to the image input camera of the other party through a predetermined communication line network, and the video control means issues a control command to the image input camera of the other party through the communication line network. It is also preferable that it is provided with a command transmitting means, and in this case, it is provided with a moving image compression means for compressing a video signal output from the image input camera.

According to the present invention, the video signal output from the self-side image input camera is sent to the predetermined communication line as compressed data, and when the compressed data is input from the other-side image input camera, the compressed image data is compressed. It is characterized by including a moving image processing means for expanding data.

[0016]

According to the above-mentioned structure, after the transmission request signal of the function information is sent to the image input camera, the function information such as the type information and the movable range information of the rotation mechanism section of the image input camera or the size information of the image pickup device is obtained. Is sent from a plurality of image input cameras, and the moving image output from the image input cameras is controlled based on the function information.

Further, the video signal of the image input camera is stored as a still image, and the still image is displayed on the display means, and the position information (horizontal position, vertical position, zoom position, etc. of the image input camera) at this time is displayed. Is memorized. By instructing the predetermined pixel position of the still image, the image at the predetermined pixel position can be displayed at the center position of the moving image display area.

It is also possible to display a still image and a moving image of the own station side and the partner station side via a predetermined communication network.

The still image is stored in response to the still image trigger key.

[0020]

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a control device for a video camera as an image input camera according to the present invention. The control device 1 includes a ROM in which a control program and the like are stored and a control operation time. A storage unit 2 having a RAM for temporarily storing various data and a DMA (Direct Me
mory Access) controller 3, FD controller 5 for controlling flexible disk 4, hard disk 6
An HD controller 7 for controlling the CPU is connected to a central processing unit (CPU) 9 via an address / data bus 8 (hereinafter, simply referred to as “bus”). Further, the CPU 9 controls the video signal display image synthesizing circuit 10 via the bus 8.
A monitor 11 as a display device and a video camera 13 as an image input camera are connected to the image synthesizing circuit 10. That is, the image composition circuit 10 performs a predetermined display process based on the video signal from the video camera 13, and outputs the video signal to the monitor 11. Further, the CPU 9 is connected to the interface controller 12 via the bus 8, and the interface controller 12 is connected to a plurality of video cameras 13. Then, the video camera 13 and the interface controller 12
It is possible to send and receive control commands in both directions. That is, the interface controller 12 issues a transmission request signal for requesting transmission of functional information of the video camera, while the video camera 13 transmits a control command of functional information to the interface controller 12 in response to the transmission request signal. In addition, the predetermined video signal is supplied to the image synthesizing circuit 10 as described above.
Further, the position storage unit 14 and the mouse controller 16 are connected to the CPU 9 via the bus 8. The position storage unit 14 stores the position information of the video camera 13 corresponding to the image displayed on the monitor 11, and a mouse 15 (pointing means) is connected to the mouse controller 16 to control the operation of the mouse 15. .

In the image synthesizing circuit 10, specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, a superimpose controller 17 is connected to the bus 8 via a data signal line L0, a control signal line L1 and a position information line L2, and The image composition operation is executed by the superimpose controller 17. A buffer 18 is provided on the data signal line L0, and the position information line L2
A pointing position recognition circuit 19 for recognizing the pointing position on the screen is provided in the.

In addition, the data signal line L0 and the control signal line L1
A mouse cursor generation circuit 20 for generating a mouse cursor and a bus interface 21 for interfacing with the bus 8 are connected to the. further,
Mouse cursor generation circuit 20 and bus interface 2
1 is connected to a VGA display signal generation circuit 22 that outputs a VGA display signal, and further, a VGA display signal generation circuit 22
Are connected to a display timing generation circuit 23 for setting display timing, a DRAM 24 (dynamic RAM), the pointing position recognition circuit 19, and the superimpose controller 17, respectively.

On the other hand, a digital video decoder 26 for decoding the video signal is connected to the A / D converter 25 to which the video signal from the video camera 13 is input, and the digital video decoder 26 is also provided with mirror image conversion. A mirror image conversion circuit 27 for performing is connected. The mirror image conversion circuit 27
This is for reversing the left and right of the video signal and displaying an image on the monitor 11 as if it were reflected in a mirror. One line is written according to the input order using a line memory or the like, and 1 is written in the next line. The information written before the line is read in the reverse direction. Then, by writing the current input signal to the read address, all-line mirror image inversion is possible.

Therefore, the superimpose controller 17 is connected to the mirror image conversion circuit 27, and the superimpose controller 17 has a TTL switch circuit 28 for logically processing a signal directly or via a VRAM 29 (video RAM). Further, a D / A converter 30 is connected to the TTL switch circuit 28.

A PLL (Phase-locked loop) circuit 31 is connected to the A / D converter 25, the digital video decoder 26, the mirror image conversion circuit 27 and the superimpose controller 17, and the VGA display signal generation circuit 22 is further connected. It is provided in the TTL switch circuit 28 via the color palette 32.

In the image synthesizing circuit 10, the video signal (analog signal) input from the video camera 13 is inputted.
Is converted into a digital signal via the A / D converter 25,
An RGB signal is generated by being decoded by the digital video decoder 26. Then, the video signal converted into the RGB signal is input to the mirror image conversion circuit 27 and mirror-converted, and then input to the superimpose controller 17.
Next, the video signal is temporarily stored in the VRAM 29 and then read out in synchronization with the VGA display signal generation circuit 22,
It is combined with the VGA signal by the TTL switch circuit 28,
The analog signal is converted by the D / A converter 30 and output to the monitor 11 as a video signal. That is, V
The RAM 29 always stores the input video signal, and asynchronously with the storage, the VGA display signal generation circuit 2
It is read in synchronization with 2.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing a drive system and a circuit system of the video camera 13. The video camera 13 has a fixed portion 33 and a movable portion 34, and the movable portion 34 is different from the fixed portion 33. It is mounted so that it can move in the pan (horizontal plane) and tilt (vertical plane) directions.

Specifically, the fixed portion 33 has a drive system 35 for rotating the video camera 13 in the pan / tilt direction,
A control circuit 36 for controlling the drive system 35 and a video circuit 37 for outputting a video signal are built in.

The drive system 35 includes a pan gear 39 for rotating the movable portion 34 in the pan direction (shown by an arrow A) via a pan shaft 38, and a pan control motor 40 for transmitting a driving force to the pan gear 39. , A movable portion 3 via a tilt axis (not shown)
The tilt gear 41 for rotating the No. 4 in the tilt direction (indicated by arrow B) and the tilt control motor 42 for transmitting the driving force to the tilt gear 41 are mainly configured.

The control circuit 36 also includes an external interface circuit 4 for interfacing with the control device 1.
3, an arithmetic processing unit 44, and an input / output (I / O) port 4 for supplying a control signal to the pan control motor 40 and / or the tilt control motor 42 according to the arithmetic result of the arithmetic processing unit 44.
5 and.

Further, the video circuit 37 includes a movable portion 34.
A process circuit 46 for separating a luminance signal Y and a chrominance signal C from an output signal from the device and a video encoder circuit 47 for outputting a predetermined video signal.

On the other hand, the movable section 34 includes a lens 48, a zoom lens 49, a zoom control circuit 50 for controlling the zoom lens 49, an iris (aperture) 51, and an iris control circuit 52 for controlling the iris 51. A CCD 53 for converting an optical image of a subject into an electric signal, and the electric signal converted by the CCD 53 is read out to process the circuit 46.
And a CCD read circuit 54 for transmitting the data.

In the above video camera, the zoom control circuit 50 sets the zoom position and the iris control circuit 52 sets the aperture. Then, the optical image of the subject is passed through the lens 48 and the zoom lens 49 to the CCD 5
3 is imaged and photoelectrically converted by the CCD 53 to become a video signal. Then, the video signal is processed by the process circuit 46.
And the video terminal t1 via the video encoder circuit 47.
Is output from. Further, the control signal is transmitted from the control terminal t2 to the external interface circuit 43, the arithmetic processing unit 44, the I / O.
It is input to the pan control motor 40 and / or the tilt control motor 42 via the port 45, and rotation control in the pan direction and the tilt direction is performed.

FIG. 4 shows a state in which various video cameras 13a to 13e to be controlled are connected to the control device 1, and various video cameras 13a to 13e having different sensor sizes and operation functions are changed over. It is connected to the control device 1 via 55. That is, the changeover switch 55 is provided with the terminals 56a to 56e, and the control device 1
Any of the terminals 56a to 56e is selected by the switching signal 57 from. Then, any of the video cameras 13a to 13e connected to the selected terminal and the control device 1 are configured to exchange signals with each other through the signal line 57 '.

Specifically, the terminal 56a has a 1-inch CC.
A video camera 13a having a pan / tilt function, which uses the D sensor as an imaging unit 58a, is connected, and 2 /
A video camera 13b having a pan / tilt function using a 3-inch CCD sensor as an imaging unit 58b is connected.
The terminal 56c is connected to the video camera 13a having only the pan function, which is the image pickup unit 58c having the 1/2 inch CCD sensor, and the terminal 56d is connected to the 1/3 inch CC.
Head-separated fixed camera 1 in which the D sensor is the imaging unit 58d
3d is connected, and 1 inch CCD is further connected to the terminal 56e.
A high-definition video camera 13e having a sensor as an imaging unit 58e is connected. The video camera 13 connected to the terminals 56a to 56e is not limited to the one described above, and it goes without saying that the video camera 13 having an arbitrary sensor size can be connected.

FIG. 5 shows the person A to be photographed by the video camera 13a.
It is shown that three persons B and C are photographed and displayed on the display screen 59 of the monitor 11. Iris control cursor 60, pan control cursor 61,
A zoom control cursor 62 and a tilt control cursor 63 are provided respectively. Also, the iris control cursor 60
The iris control circuit 52 is driven to control the brightness on the display screen 59, and when the iris is automatically set, the iris data included in the status information from the video camera 13 is received and the iris control cursor 60 is displayed.
To control. Further, the zoom lens 49 is moved via the zoom control circuit 50 by designating the zoom control cursor 62. Then, the operator M can control the display screen 59 of the person to be photographed by operating the mouse 15 while observing the monitor 11. A mouse cursor 15a is generated via the mouse cursor generating circuit 20 by operating the mouse 15.

In FIG. 5, the person B to be photographed at the present moment
Video camera 1 so that is at the center of the display screen 59.
3a is operated, but in the present embodiment, the person A to be photographed is at the center position (the position on the display screen 59 corresponding to the person B to be photographed).
The video camera 13a can be remotely controlled so as to come to.

The method will be described below with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7.

FIG. 6 (a) shows the persons to be photographed displayed on the display screen 59 of the monitor 11, and the persons to be photographed A and the person to be photographed B are shown.
Is 1 on the display screen 59, and the horizontal distance of the display screen 59 is L. FIG. 6B is a plan view of the photographing room, and the moving angle of the video camera 13a required for displaying the person A to be photographed at the center position of the display screen 59 is θ. Further, FIG. 7 shows the focal length f of the lens 48.
Is a diagram schematically showing the relationship between the angle of view W that can be photographed by the CCD 53 and the horizontal effective distance of the CCD 53 in the figure is X, and the photographed person A and the photographed person B on the CCD 53 The distance φ, the moving angle θ of the video camera 13a, and the angle of view W are expressed as in equations (1) to (3), respectively.

[0041]

[Equation 1] As can be seen from the equation (1), the horizontal effective distance X of the CCD 53 is necessary to calculate the movement angle θ in the pan direction, and similarly, the vertical effective distance Y of the CCD 53 is used to calculate the movement angle in the tilt direction. Will be needed.

Therefore, when a plurality of video cameras 13a to 13e having different sizes of the CCD 53 are sequentially switched to direct any one of the video cameras 13 toward the target subject, the video cameras 13a to 13e are used respectively. By grasping the horizontal effective distance X and the vertical effective distance Y of the CCD 53, the pan control motor 40 or / and the pan control motor 40 and / or the control device 1 is set so as to set the moving angle θ suitable for the video cameras 13a to 13e which are the control target devices. A drive command can be issued to the tilt control motor 42, so that the operator M can easily perform the operation without having to worry about the types of the video cameras 13a to 13e.

The distance l on the display screen 59 and the horizontal distance L of the display screen 59 are determined by the superimposing circuit 17
Also, it is read from the pointing position recognition circuit 19 in association with the display storage amount of the VGA display signal generation circuit 22 via the bus 8 (see FIG. 2) and used by the CPU 9 of the control device 1 for the calculation of the mathematical expression (2). It

FIG. 8 is a table showing a control command system issued by the control device 1 to the video camera 13. The table is a device to be controlled (various video cameras 13a to 13).
e) and operation command types (focus setting, iris setting,
Addresses related to zoom setting, rotation direction setting, etc., and the control command is the interface controller 1
2 to the video camera 13. Note that the pan / tilt control commands are controlled using Ux (X = 0 to 6), as is apparent from the operation command shown in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a table showing the status format of the video camera 13, and the status code stores either M0 indicating the end of operation or M1 indicating that the operation is in progress. The status information from the video camera 13 includes the camera device number, the information type code (CA), and the status code in this order from the external interface 43 of the video camera 13 to the interface controller 1 of the control device 1.
2 are sequentially transmitted.

FIG. 10 is a table showing the functional format of the video camera 13. The functions from the video camera 13 are the camera device number, information type code (CA), sensor size, horizontal movable range angle, and vertical movable range angle. , The video signal form is sequentially transmitted from the external interface 43 of the video camera 13 to the interface controller 12 of the control device 1, and the movement angle θ of the video camera 13 is calculated based on the mathematical expressions (1) to (3).

Next, the control procedure of this controller will be described in detail with reference to the flow charts of FIGS.

First, the video cameras 13a to 13e and the control device 1 are turned on to activate the control software (step S1). Next, the counter m of the changeover switch 55
Is set to 1 and the input selection number n of the video camera is set to 1 (step S2). Here, when the counter m of the changeover switch 55 is set to "1", the terminal 56a serves as an image and operation control line, and when the counter m of the changeover switch 55 is set to "2", the terminal 56a.
b becomes an image and operation control line, and the changeover switch 55
When the counter m of is set to "3", the terminal 56c serves as an image and operation control line, and so on. Further, when the selection number n of the video camera is set to "1", the video camera 13a is controlled, and when the selection number n of the video camera is set to "2", the video camera 13b is controlled. When the selection number n of the video camera is set to "3" as the target device, the video camera 13c becomes the control target device, and so on.

Therefore, in step S3, the changeover switch 55 is connected to the image of the video camera n and the operation control line m.

Then, an initialization command (I) is sent via the external interface circuit 43 (FIG. 3) of the video camera 13.
O) is given and the direction of the video camera is set to pan angle = 0 and tilt angle = 0 (step S4). A leaf switch (not shown) is attached to the position where the pan / tilt angle is 0, the pan maximum movement position, and the tilt maximum movement position to drive the pan control motor 40 and the tilt control motor 42, respectively. The arithmetic processing unit 44 recognizes the absolute position when the leaf switch is turned on. Then, from this recognition position, the pan control motor 40 and the tilt control motor 4
2 is driven to set the movable portion 34 at the initial position.

Next, the control unit 1 sends a status signal return request command (S) via the external interface circuit 43.
0) is given to the video camera 13 (step S5), and then it is determined in step S6 whether or not the initialization is completed.
Then, when the initialization is not completed, the status M1 in which the operation is continued is sent to the control device 1, and the control device 1 enters the standby state. When the initialization is completed, the operation completion status M0 is returned to the control device 1 and the process proceeds to step S7.
At this time, the control device 1 displays the camera view icon of the video camera 13a on the monitor 11,
Notify that a is operational.

In step S7, the camera function request command (S1) is given from the interface controller 12 to the video camera 13a, and then it is judged whether or not the camera function information is sent to the control device 1. If not, it is sent. Wait for a predetermined time to arrive (step S
8). This waiting time is counted by the timer, and when the above-mentioned function information (see FIG. 10) is sent to the counter of the timer, the process proceeds to step S9 in FIG. 12, and the function information is stored in the storage unit in the control device 1. 2, and a view icon corresponding to the function of the video camera 13a is displayed on the monitor 11.

Next, in step S10, the counter m of the selector switch 55 and the selection number n of the video camera are selected.
Is incremented by "1" and the changeover switch 55
Is switched to determine whether all the functions of the video camera 13 have been read (step S11).

When the reading of the function is not completed, the process returns to step S3 and the processes of steps S3 to S10 are repeated, while when the reading of the function is completed, the view icon of the video camera 13a is double-clicked by the mouse 15. It is determined whether or not (step S1)
2). If not double-clicked, step S1
5 (FIG. 13), while double-clicking, sends a video display command to the display screen 59 to the superimpose controller 17 via the bus 8 (step S1).
3), the image is displayed on the display screen 59 (step S1)
4).

The reading of these function information can be performed similarly for the other video cameras 13b to 13e. In step S8, when the reception timer of the status information and the function information has timed out, it is determined that the video camera has no movable part. That is, the time-lapsed video camera does not have a pan / tilt mechanism.

Next, in step S15, it is determined whether or not the pan control cursor 61 is designated. If the pan control cursor 61 is not designated, the process proceeds to step S17, while if the pan control cursor 61 is designated, The video camera 13a is aligned with the absolute position of the pan control cursor 61.
The movement angle θ in the pan direction is calculated, and the absolute movement angle is given from the interface controller 12 to the video camera 13a using the U5 + extension to change the angle (step S
16) and proceeds to step S23.

Similarly, in step S17, it is determined whether or not the tilt control cursor 63 has been designated. If the tilt control cursor 63 has not been designated, the process proceeds to step S19, while if the tilt control cursor 63 has been designated. , The tilt angle movement angle θ of the video camera 13a is calculated according to the absolute position of the tilt control cursor 63, and U6
The absolute movement angle is given to the video camera 13a from the interface controller 12 using the + extension to change the angle (step S18), and the process proceeds to step S23.

Similarly, in step S19, it is determined whether or not the iris control cursor 60 is designated, and if the iris control cursor 60 is not designated, step S2.
On the other hand, when the iris control cursor 60 is designated while proceeding to 1, the iris amount of the video camera 13a is calculated according to the absolute position of the iris control cursor 60, and the absolute iris value is calculated from the interface controller 12 using the E5 + extension. Give to the video camera 13a (step S
20) and proceeds to step S23. That is, when the iris is opened, the leftmost position is set, the squeezed position is set to the rightmost position, and the middle thereof is proportionally distributed to the cursor position.

Similarly, in step S21, it is determined whether or not the zoom control cursor 62 is designated. If the zoom control cursor 62 is not designated, the process returns to step S12, while if the zoom control cursor 62 is designated, , The zoom amount of the video camera 13a is calculated according to the absolute position of the zoom control cursor 62, and the absolute zoom value is calculated using the Z5 + extension.
To the video camera 13a (step S22), and the process proceeds to step S23. That is, the zoom control cursor 6
Similarly to the control of the iris control cursor 60, 2 also proportionally distributes the maximum position and the minimum position to correspond to the cursor position.

Next, in step S23, a status signal return request command (S0) is sent from the interface controller 12 to the video camera 13a to confirm the execution state of the above-mentioned camera operation control command (step S23), and the status of command execution completion is displayed. It is determined whether it has been returned (step S24). That is, it waits for the status of command execution completion to be returned, and when the command execution is completed, returns to step S11 again to continue the processing. Then, by switching the changeover switch 55, the above-described operation is performed in other video cameras 1.
The same applies to 3b to 13e.

In this way, the video cameras 13a to 13e
C of the video cameras 13a to 13e after turning on the power
Functional information such as the size of the CD 53 and the pan / tilt movable range is sent to the control device, and the operations of the plurality of video camera 13a to 13e can be controlled according to the functional information. Man-machine interface can be built. That is,
When the above-mentioned function information differs depending on the video cameras 13a to 13e, the respective video cameras 1 on the operator M side
It is not necessary to switch to and control the device driver software corresponding to 3a to 13e, and the usability can be improved. As a result, the burden on the operator is reduced, and it becomes possible to accurately and efficiently control the shooting operation of various video cameras by a simple operation while visually observing the display screen 59 of the monitor 11.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing an image synthesizing circuit 10 as a second embodiment of the control device according to the present invention, in which video signals output from the video cameras 13a to 13e are stored as still images. A still image storage unit 64 is provided. That is, the still image storage unit 64 is A /
D converter 25, digital video decoder 26, PLL
The circuit 31, the mirror image conversion circuit 27, the superimpose controller 17, and the TTL switch circuit 28 are connected to each other, and the video signals output from the video cameras 13a to 13e are input, and the control signals from the video camera 13 are interfaced. Controller 12 to bus 8,
It is supplied via the superimpose controller 17. That is, as shown in FIG. 15, the positional information of the pan angle (+ α), the tilt angle (0), the zoom angle of view (W1), and the like is sequentially transmitted from the video camera 13 to the still image storage unit 64. , Is stored in the still image storage unit 64.

In addition, in the second embodiment, as shown in FIG.
As shown in, a display screen 59 (moving image display area) for displaying a captured image (moving image) of the video camera on the monitor 11.
In addition, the still image trigger key 65 and the still image display unit 66
A (still image display area) is provided, and the still image display section 66 displays the still image read by operating the still image trigger key 65.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing the positional relationship between the image displayed on the still image display section 66 by operating the still image trigger key 65 and the person being photographed at that time.
17A shows the still image, and FIG. 17B is a plan view of the photographing room.

That is, after the video camera 13a is powered on and initialized, the direction of the video camera 13a is set to the initializing position I. And mouse 15
To drag the pan control cursor 61,
When the still image trigger key 65 is clicked at a position rotated by α) in the pan direction,
The image shown in 7 (a) is stored. That is, in the still image storage unit 64, as described above, the pan angle (+ α),
The positional information is stored in the order of the tilt angle (0), the zoom angle of view (W1), and the like. Next, the pan control cursor 61
18 to move the zoom control cursor 62 and point the video camera 13a toward the person B to be photographed.
As shown in (b), when the video camera 13a is rotated in the pan direction by (η-α), the zoom angle of view changes from the angle of view W1 to the angle of view W2, and this change amount is stored in the storage unit 2. It

When the subject A is zoomed up while maintaining the zoom angle W2 from this camera position, the mouse 15 is moved in the same manner as in the conventional case in which the center position is aligned with the subject B.
It is also possible to move the pan control cursor 60 or the like by controlling the, but if the cursor is moved every time the direction of the video camera is changed, the operation can be performed when the speaker such as a TV conference changes one after another. It is complicated and burdens the operator. Therefore, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 18A, the subject A is zoomed up and the mouse cursor 15a is kept at the position shown in FIG. The direction of the person A is controlled. Similarly, FIG.
As shown in FIGS. 9 (a) and 9 (b), − (η +
By rotating only β) in the pan direction, the direction of the video camera 13a can be controlled by the person C to be photographed. Similarly, when there is a movement amount in the tilt direction, the still image display unit 6
The target position can be controlled by instructing the upper side or the lower side of 6.

Next, FIGS. 20 to 23 are flowcharts showing the control procedure of the second embodiment.

First, the video camera 13a and the control device 1
Is turned on (steps S31 and S32). Next, as in the first embodiment, the control device 1 gives an initialization command (IO) to the video camera 13a via the external interface circuit 43 (FIG. 3) to change the direction of the video camera 13a to the initial position ( The pan angle = 0 and the tilt angle = 0 are set (step S33). Next, the control device 1 gives a status signal return request command (S0) to the video camera 13a via the external interface circuit 43 (step S3).
4) It is determined whether the initialization is completed (step S)
35). If the initialization is not completed, the process returns to step S34 and waits until the initialization is completed.
When the initialization is completed, the initialization completion status is returned to notify the control device 1 that the video camera 13a is operable. Then, the CPU 9 sends a display command for displaying the captured image on the display screen 59 to the superimpose controller 17 via the bus 8 (step S36), and the captured image by the video camera 13a is displayed on the display screen 59 (step S37). .

Next, in step S38 of FIG. 21, the pan control motor 40, the tilt control motor 42, and the zoom control circuit 50 of the video camera 13a are controlled to control the subject A,
The pan control cursor 61, the tilt control cursor 63, and the zoom control cursor 6 are displayed until the three cameras B and C enter the camera screen.
2 to move the zoom lens 49 (step S3
8). Then, it is determined whether or not the mouse 15 clicks the still image trigger key 65 (step S39). If the mouse 15 does not click the still image trigger key 65, the process proceeds to step S42 (FIG. 22),
When clicked, the photographed persons A, B and C are displayed on the display screen 59.
The superimpose controller is configured to cause the still image storage unit 64 to store the image signal from the video camera 13a at that time, and to read the stored still image and display it on the still image display unit 66 as a still image. A command is issued to 17 (step S40). Then step S
In step 41, the pan / tilt / zoom position at this time is stored in the still image storage unit 64.

Next, in step S42, it is determined whether or not the pan control cursor 61 is designated. If the pan control cursor 61 is not designated, the process proceeds to step S44, while if the pan control cursor 61 is designated, , The video camera 13 according to the absolute position of the pan control cursor 61
The moving angle θ in the pan direction of a is calculated, the absolute moving angle is given to the video camera 13a using the U5 + extension, the angle is changed (step S43), and the process proceeds to step S48.

Similarly, in step S44, it is determined whether or not the tilt control cursor 63 is designated. If the tilt control cursor 63 is not designated, the process proceeds to step S46, while if the tilt control cursor 63 is designated, the process proceeds to step S46. , The tilt angle movement angle θ of the video camera 13a is calculated according to the absolute position of the tilt control cursor 63, and U6
The absolute movement angle is given to the video camera 13a using the + extension, the angle is changed (step S45), and step S4
Go to 8.

Similarly, in step S46, it is determined whether or not the zoom control cursor 62 is designated. If the zoom control cursor 62 is not designated, the process proceeds to step S50, while if the zoom control cursor 62 is designated, The zoom amount of the video camera 13a is calculated according to the absolute position of the zoom control cursor 62, the absolute zoom value is given to the video camera 13a using the Z5 + extension (step S47), and the process proceeds to step S48. That is, the zoom control cursor 62 proportionally distributes the maximum position and the minimum position,
Corresponds to the cursor position.

Next, in step S48, a status signal return request command (S0) is sent to the video camera 13a in order to confirm the execution state of the above-mentioned control command (step S48), and it is determined whether or not the command execution completion status is returned. It is determined (step S49). That is, it waits for the status of command execution completion to be returned, and when the command execution is completed, step S50
Proceeding to FIG. 23, it is determined whether or not a mouse click has been made in the still image display unit 66 (step S50), and if not clicked, the process returns to step S39, while if it has been clicked, the still image storage unit is displayed. The still image position information is read from 64 (step S51), and then the pointing position recognition circuit 19 calculates the difference in the designated position from the center position of the still image (step S5).
2).

Next, the angle difference from the current camera position to the target position is calculated (step S53), and the pan control motor 40 and the tilt control motor 42 are driven to move to the target position (step S54). Then, the status signal return request command S0 is sent to the video camera 13a (step S55), and it is determined whether the command execution is completed (step S56). Then, when the command execution is not completed, the completion of the command execution is waited, and when the command execution is completed, the process returns to step S39 and the above-mentioned processing is repeated.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, the image (moving image) taken by the video camera 13a and the still image are simultaneously displayed in a window on the monitor 11, and the desired pixel position of the still image is displayed by the mouse 15. By specifying with, the shooting operation of the video camera 13a is controlled so that the desired pixel position is located at the center of the moving image. Also, monitor 1
Pan control cursor 61 displayed on the display screen 59 of No. 1,
The display of the video image is controlled by designating and controlling the tilt control cursor 63 and the zoom control cursor 62 with the mouse 15. Therefore, the burden on the operator can be reduced by a simple operation, and it becomes possible to accurately and efficiently control the shooting operation of the video camera with a natural sense while watching the display image on the monitor 11. . That is,
It is possible to easily control the direction of the camera only by operating the mouse on the screen displayed on the monitor 11 by photographing the zoom position on the wide angle side as a still image.

As described above, in the second embodiment, in the control of the camera having the rotating mechanism such as the platform, the zoom position is photographed on the wide angle side and the image is displayed on the monitor as a still image. The direction of the camera can be easily controlled for a desired subject by only pointing operation on the displayed screen.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 24 is a block diagram showing the control device of a video camera as a third embodiment of the present invention. In the third embodiment, the own side terminal and the other side terminal are ISDN lines. And a communication line network N such as a LAN line. That is, in the third embodiment,
The communication network N and the bus 8 of the control device 1 are connected via a network connection interface 67. Further, in the third embodiment, the moving image codec 68 is connected between the bus 8 and the network connection interface 67, and the moving image codec 68 is connected to the image synthesizing circuit 10 via the changeover switch 69. Has been done.
Then, while the control command transmitted from the video camera of the partner station via the communication network N is supplied to the bus 8, the moving image data transmitted from the video camera of the partner station is expanded by the moving image codec 68, The video signal is transmitted to the image synthesis circuit 10 via the changeover switch 69, and the video signal is output to the monitor 11. Also, the moving image information output from the local side video camera 13 is compressed by the moving image codec 68 and transmitted to the partner station video camera via the communication network N. Thus, it is also possible to perform mutual communication in a form in which the amount of information is reduced by compressing / expanding the information on the communication network.

FIG. 25 shows the operation status and display status of the third embodiment.

That is, in the third embodiment, the monitor 11 is provided with a still image display section 66, a still image trigger key 65, a local station side moving image display section 70 and another station side moving image display section 71. Therefore, by operating the mouse 15 connected to the control device 1 on the own station side, the display of the own station side moving image 70 and / or the partner station moving image 71 on the monitor 11 can be controlled. In addition, the video codec 68
It is attachable to and detachable from the control device 1, and can be attached to a terminal (not shown) provided on the back surface side of the control device 1.

As described above, according to the third embodiment, the terminal on the self side and the terminal on the partner side are connected to each other through the communication line network N, and each terminal is provided with the control device 1 having the monitor 11. By controlling the control device 1 with the mouse 15 in at least one of the terminals, the moving image and the still image from the video camera of the local station and / or the remote station are simultaneously displayed in a window on the screen of the monitor 11. be able to. Then, in this state, by operating the mouse 15 to specify the desired pixel position of the still image display unit 66 with the mouse cursor 15a, the shooting operation of the video camera 13 can be controlled so that the specified position is located at the center of the screen. it can. As described above, also in the third embodiment, the burden on the operator can be reduced by a simple operation, and the control of the photographing operation of the video camera can be performed accurately and accurately while watching the image displayed on the monitor 11. It can be done efficiently.

It is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments and can be modified without changing the gist. Although the position of the image is recognized using the mouse in the above-mentioned embodiment, it goes without saying that the digitizer and the input pen may be combined. Further, in the above embodiment, the CPU 9 of the control device 1 calculates the moving angle to the target object, but a high-speed calculating circuit may be configured by a dedicated circuit. Further, in the case of controlling a plurality of image input cameras with the same control device 1 or in the case of a TV conference via a network at multiple points, a plurality of still image storage units are provided to store a plurality of still images. It is also possible to store the camera position corresponding to each.

[0083]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, when the power of the image input camera is turned on, various kinds of functional information such as the type information of the rotating mechanism, the movable range information and the size information of the image pickup device are stored. Since it is sent from the image input camera,
It is possible to construct a man-machine interface according to different function information of a plurality of video cameras.
That is, it is not necessary to switch the device driver software according to the video camera, and the usability for the user can be greatly improved.

Further, since the wide-angle side video signal output from the image input camera is stored as a still image and the stored still image is used to control the direction of the camera only by pointing operation, it is necessary to register the position of the subject. It is possible to change the direction of the image input camera in a natural manner without any need, and the troublesome operation is reduced, and the man-machine interface can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of an embodiment (first embodiment) of a control device for an image input camera according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image composition circuit of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration of an image input camera.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing a state in which an image input camera is connected to the control device.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing a state in which a subject is photographed by an image input camera and is displayed on a monitor.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a positional relationship between a moving image on a display screen and a subject.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a relationship between a focal length of a lens and an angle of view that can be captured by a CCD.

FIG. 8 is a table showing control commands for controlling various operations.

FIG. 9 is a table showing a status format of an image input camera.

FIG. 10 is a table showing a function information format of an image input camera.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart (1/3) showing the control procedure of the first embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart (2/3) showing the control procedure of the first embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart (3/3) showing the control procedure of the first embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image synthesizing circuit as a second embodiment of the control device for the image input camera according to the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a table diagram showing an example of data stored in a stopped image storage unit of an image composition circuit.

FIG. 16 is a conceptual diagram showing a state where a still image and a moving image are displayed on the display screen.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing the display in the still image area and the positional relationship of the subject at that time.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a display in a moving image area and a direction of an image input camera at that time.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing the display in the moving image area and the direction of the image input camera when the direction control of the image input camera is finished.

FIG. 20 is a flow chart (1/4) showing a control procedure of the second embodiment.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart (2/4) showing the control procedure of the second embodiment.

FIG. 22 is a flow chart (3/4) showing a control procedure of the second embodiment.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart (4/4) showing the control procedure of the second embodiment.

FIG. 24 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a third embodiment of the control apparatus for the image input camera according to the present invention.

FIG. 25 is a conceptual diagram showing a state where a still image and a moving image are displayed on the display screen in the third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 storage unit 9 CPU (control means, video control means) 10 image input signal display image synthesizing circuit 11 monitor (display means) 12 interface controller (functional information receiving means, transmission request sending means) 13 video camera (image input camera) 14 Position storage section (position information storage means) 15 Mouse (pointing means) 19 Pointing position recognition circuit (recognition means) 35 Drive system (rotation mechanism section) 50 Zoom control mechanism (zoom control circuit) 53 CCD (imaging device) 59 Display Screen (moving image display area) 64 Still image storage unit (positional information storage means) 65 Still image trigger key 66 Still image display unit (still image display area)

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. An image input camera control device for controlling a plurality of image input cameras, comprising: an image sensor for converting an optical image into an electric signal; and a rotation mechanism section that rotates at least horizontally. Display means for displaying an image output from the camera, function information receiving means for receiving function information of the image input camera when the image input camera is powered on, and function information receiving means for receiving the function information. And a control means for controlling a display image displayed on the display means based on the function information. 2. A transmission request transmitting means for transmitting a transmission request signal of the function information to the image input camera, wherein the function information receiving means receives the function information after transmitting the transmission request signal to the image input camera. The control device for the image input camera according to claim 1. 3. The control of the image input camera according to claim 1, wherein the function information is type information of a rotation mechanism section of the image input camera and movable range information of the rotation mechanism section. apparatus. 4. The function information is size information of an image sensor of the image input camera.
The image input camera control device according to claim 3. 5. An image input camera control device for controlling an image input camera, comprising: an image sensor for converting an optical image into an electric signal; and a rotating mechanism section for rotating at least in a horizontal direction. A still image storage unit that stores the output video signal as a still image, a position information storage unit that stores position information of the image input camera in the still image, and a still image stored in the still image storage unit are displayed. Display means having at least a still image display area and a moving image display area for displaying a video signal output from the image input camera, pointing means for indicating a predetermined pixel position in the still image display area, and the pointing means. Recognizing means for recognizing the predetermined pixel position designated by the recognizing means, and the recognition result of the recognizing means and the position information storing means. An image input camera control apparatus characterized by based on 憶 position information and a video control means for projecting said predetermined pixel position in the center position of the moving image display area. 6. The image input camera includes a zoom control mechanism, and the rotation mechanism section is vertically rotatable. The position information of the image input camera includes horizontal position and vertical position of the image input camera. And at least one position information of the zoom position.
A control device for the image input camera described. 7. The image input camera comprises a zoom control mechanism, wherein the still image storage means stores a still image at a first zoom position and the display means simultaneously displays a still image and a moving image. 6. The control device for an image input camera according to claim 5, wherein the video signal at the second zoom position is displayed in the moving image display area. 8. The control device for an image input camera according to claim 7, wherein the first zoom position is set to a wider angle side than the second zoom position. 9. A control command transmission means, which is connected to a partner image input camera through a predetermined communication network, and wherein the video control means issues a control command to the partner image input camera through the communication network. 9. The control device for an image input camera according to claim 5, wherein the control device is provided. 10. A video signal output from a self-side image input camera is sent as compressed data to the predetermined communication network, and when compressed data is input from the other-side image input camera, the compressed data is transmitted. The control device for an image input camera according to claim 9, further comprising moving image processing means for expanding. 11. A still image trigger key is provided in the display means, and the still image storage means stores a still image in response to the operation of the still image trigger key. The control device for the image input camera according to any one of claims.