Electricity: motive power systems – Positional servo systems – Program- or pattern-controlled systems
Patent
1995-12-08
1998-03-17
Sircus, Brian
Electricity: motive power systems
Positional servo systems
Program- or pattern-controlled systems
318587, 180 191, 180333, 180443, 2481771, 248404, 414589, G05B 1933
Patent
active
057291080
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a manual control system for a camera mounting such as robotically controlled mobile pedestal with steer drive and height controls operable by a remote joystick control or a pan/tilt mounting for a camera.
The control system for the pedestal includes a pendant controller which gives XY control with height remaining on the rotary axis; a further feature of the pendant is that it is `pan-relative`. This means that with the pendant mounted on the pan-bars, whatever the pan angle of the head, the pedestal will always move in the direction of joystick deflection.
The joystick pendant has been enhanced to the limit of it's capability. It offers reasonably intuitive control, but a better manual control system is needed for the following reasons: pendant. cameramen without the need for retraining.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,847,543 discloses a motion control apparatus for a video or motion picture camera mount comprising; a control handle fixedly coupled to said camera mount; pressure transducer means coupled to said control handle for generating electrical signals corresponding to a direction and velocity of desired motion of said camera; first motor means coupled to said pressure transducer means for moving said camera in a left pan and right pan direction; second motor means coupled to said pressure transducer means for moving said camera in a positive tilt and negative tilt direction; first worm drive means coupled to said first motor means and said camera mount for converting an angular velocity generated by said first motor means into a pan left or pan right motion of said camera; and second worm drive means coupled to said second motor means and said camera mount for converting an angular velocity generated by said second motor means into a positive tile or negative tile motion of said camera.
This invention provides a camera mounting providing one or more axes of movement for a camera supported on the mounting, motor means for driving the mounting in the or each axis of movement and a manually operable control system for said motor means having a control member and means operable in response to a force or forces applied manually to the control member in the direction of the or each axis of movement of the mounting to energise said motor means for the mounting and produce a movement of the mounting dependent on the force applied in the or each axis; wherein the mounting comprises a pedestal having a base supported on motorised steerable wheel units, a motorised vertically adjustable column and a platform for receiving a camera at the upper end of the column, the manually operable member of the control system being mounted on the column for rotation about the column axis and said load responsive means being arranged to control the motor means for extending and retracting the column along said vertical axis in response to a vertical force on the control member and for driving the motorised wheel units of the base of the pedestal for moving the pedestal in a horizontal direction in response to a horizontal force in the required driving direction and means being provided for steering the motorised wheel units in response to rotation of the control member about the column for steering the pedestal in the required direction.
The proposed manual control system outlined below offers the benefit of fine control with servo assistance plus the ability to switch from manual to remote and vice versa at the flick of single switch.
A further feature of the control system is the provision of manual interface to a pedestal such as an EXYped which is as close to using the steer-ring on a conventional pedestal as possible.
It is proposed to limit the steer-ring to a segment of approximately 60 degrees such that there is no confusion as to where to hold the control device.
The ring segment will be free to rotate around the height axis to control pedestal wheel steering. It is important to preserve a 1:1 relationship between the angle of the control and that of the wheels.
A conventional pedestal requires signific
REFERENCES:
patent: 4847543 (1989-07-01), Fellinger
patent: 4953126 (1990-08-01), Fabiano et al.
patent: 5509630 (1996-04-01), Bringuier
patent: 5516070 (1996-05-01), Chapman
Sircus Brian
Vitec Group PLC
LandOfFree
Manual control system for camera mountings does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Manual control system for camera mountings, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Manual control system for camera mountings will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-961030