Optical: systems and elements – Lens – With variable magnification
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-22
2004-06-01
Mack, Ricky (Department: 2873)
Optical: systems and elements
Lens
With variable magnification
C359S697000, C359S822000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06744565
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a biaxial driving mechanism with which a driven part can be moved by a biaxial rotation, an image inputting apparatus combined this biaxial driving mechanism with a camera, and a light projecting apparatus combined this biaxial driving mechanism with a light projecting instrument.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
FIG. 1
is a diagram showing a constitution of a biaxial rotating camera combined a conventional biaxial driving mechanism with a camera. This conventional biaxial rotating camera consists of a camera
1
, a motor
3
A for rotating a L shaped jig
50
, a motor
3
B fixed at the L shaped jig
50
, a camera rotation controlling means
109
for controlling the motors
3
A and
3
B and an image displaying means
106
for displaying an image from the camera
1
.
When the motor
3
A is rotationally driven by a control signal from the camera rotation controlling means
109
, all of the motor
3
B fixed at the L shaped jig
50
and the camera
1
are rotationally driven to a horizontal direction (allow A). When the motor
3
B is rotationally driven by a control signal from the camera rotation controlling means
109
, the camera
1
is rotationally driven to a vertical direction (allow B). Therefore, the camera rotation controlling means
109
can drive the camera
1
to rotate biaxially. An image taken by the camera
1
is transmitted to the image displaying means
106
and displayed.
The biaxial camera shown in
FIG. 1
is an example that the motor
3
B for rotating the camera
1
vertically drives the camera
1
by a direct drive. A biaxial rotating camera on the market may be made a compact size by using a worm gear. However, the motor
3
A for rotating horizontally drives both the camera
1
and the motor
3
B.
FIG. 2
is a diagram showing a constitution of a conventional biaxial rotating camera using a slip ring. This conventional example is almost the same as the example shown in FIG.
1
. However this example provides a slip ring
51
around a rotating shaft with which the motor
3
A rotates the L shaped jig
50
. The slip ring
51
consists of an inside rotor
51
A and an outside rotor
51
B. The inside rotor
51
A and the outside rotor
51
B connect electrically in their rotations. The outside rotor
51
B is fixed at a cabinet (not shown) at which the motor
3
A, the camera rotation controlling means
109
and the image displaying means
106
are fixed. The rotating shaft of the motor
3
A and the L shaped jig
50
are fixed at the inside rotor
51
A. Therefore, when the motor
3
A is driven, the inside rotor
51
A is driven and the L shaped jig
50
is also driven.
A transmission cable transmitting an image from the camera
1
and a transmission cable transmitting a control signal controlling the motor
3
B are connected to the inside rotor
51
A. A transmission cable transmitting an image to the image displaying means
106
and a transmission cable transmitting a control signal from the camera rotation controlling means
109
are connected to the outside rotor
51
B. A control signal from the camera rotation controlling means
109
to the motor
3
B is transmitted to the motor
3
B from the outside rotor
51
B via the inside rotor
51
A. An image taken by the camera
1
is transmitted to the image displaying means
106
from the inside rotor
51
A via the outside rotor
51
B. A control signal to the motor
3
A is directly transmitted from the camera rotation controlling means
109
.
The biaxial rotating cameras mentioned above take an image in a desiring direction by rotating the camera biaxially. In order to achieve this, there is another method that provides a mirror located in front of the camera and rotates the mirror.
FIG. 3
is a diagram showing a constitution of a conventional mirror rotating type camera.
This conventional mirror rotating type camera consists of a camera
1
placed its direction is upward, a ring gear
5
shaped ring placed at its center axis is the same as the optical axis of the camera
1
, a gear
40
that transfers a rotational drive of a motor
3
A to the ring gear
5
, the motor
3
A that rotationally drives the ring gear
5
via the gear
40
, a mirror
2
held in a state that the mirror
2
can rotate at mirror posts
9
fixed at the ring gear
5
, a motor
3
B vertically rotationally driving the mirror
2
fixed at the mirror posts
9
, a computer
101
in which an image taking means
103
that takes an image from the camera
1
and an image converting means
104
that rotationally converts the image taken at the image taking means
103
are provided, an image displaying means
106
displaying the image outputted from the image converting means
104
and a mirror rotation controlling means
102
controlling the motors
3
A and
3
B by control signals from the computer
101
.
The mirror rotation controlling means
102
rotationally drives the motors
3
A and
3
B by the control signals from the computer
101
. When the motor
3
A is rotationally driven, the ring gear
5
is rotationally driven via the gear
40
. The mirror
2
is held at the mirror posts
9
fixed at the ring gear
5
, therefore the mirror
2
rotates around the optical axis of the camera
1
by the rotation of the motor
3
A. And when the motor
3
B is rotationally driven, the mirror
2
rotates in the vertical direction (tilt).
In this conventional example, the camera
1
is fixed and an image in a desiring direction is taken by rotating only the mirror
2
around the optical axis of the camera
1
, consequently the images shown in
FIG. 4
are obtained.
FIG. 4
is a diagram showing images obtained at the computer. In
FIG. 4
, solid line arrows show the up and down directions of objects to be taken (the arrow shows the upward direction). If the images taken are displayed as they are, the images are slanted in the up and down directions, therefore the images must be displayed after the images are rotationally converted. Accordingly, the computer
101
applies a rotational conversion process at the image converting means
104
for the images taken at the image taking means
103
and the images are outputted to the image displaying means
106
. Parameters at the rotational conversion process are decided by a relative rotational angle between the mirror
2
and the camera
1
. In this conventional example, an origin sensor and an encoder (both are not shown) are installed in order to detect the rotational angle of the mirror
2
. The computer
101
can detect the relative rotational angle between the mirror
2
and the camera
1
by referring to values from the origin sensor and the encoder. The parameters at the rotational conversion process are calculated based on these values.
In the conventional examples mentioned above, three image inputting apparatuses using the biaxial driving mechanism are explained. Applications for the biaxial driving mechanism are not limited to the image inputting apparatus, there are an instrument for illumination, a biaxial rotating stand for a parabolic antenna a rocket launching pad and joints for robot. However, in every case, as explained in the conventional examples, the conventional biaxial rotational mechanism consists of a driven part, a first motor that rotationally drives the driven part in one axial direction and a second motor that rotates both the driven, part and the first motor to an orthogonal direction of the direction that the first motor rotationally drives.
Therefore, there are problems in each conventional case. In the constitution of the biaxial rotating camera, the camera
1
and the motor
3
B are rotationally driven by the motor
3
A. In order to drive the camera
1
and the motor
3
B, an electric connection is required and a cable must be connected to external equipment. Consequently, in case that the motor
3
A is rotationally driven, when the motor
3
A reciprocates in a constant angle range, there is no problem. However, an endless rotational driving of the motor
3
A may not be possible.
And the part, in which the motor
3
A drives, includes the
Kashitani Atsushi
Nakao Toshiyasu
Mack Ricky
Michael & Best & Friedrich LLP
NEC Corp.
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