Photography – Having operator controlled data entry into camera – Manual data entry using peripheral device
Reexamination Certificate
2001-07-26
2002-12-17
Gray, David M. (Department: 2851)
Photography
Having operator controlled data entry into camera
Manual data entry using peripheral device
C396S427000, C348S143000, C348S159000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06496653
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera operating apparatus available for a surveillance system, and more particularly to a camera operating apparatus equipped with a joystick to operate at least one camera unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Up until now, there have been proposed a wide variety of conventional camera operating apparatuses each equipped with a joystick to operate at least one camera unit at an operation speed and at an operation direction which are to be changed by an operator.
The conventional camera operating apparatuses of this type have so far been used for such a surveillance system available for watching unqualified people and other intruders intruding into a special room which does not permit people with any permission from entering. One typical example of the conventional camera operating apparatuses is shown in
FIG. 7
as being provided in combination with a prior-art surveillance system
700
which comprises a camera unit
710
, a system unit
720
for controlling an operation speed and an operation direction of the camera unit
710
, a display unit
730
for displaying an image taken by the camera unit
710
on a screen thereof, and the camera operating apparatus
740
for operating the camera unit
710
at the operation speed and at the operation direction which are to be changed by the operator in response to operation commands inputted therein. The system unit
720
is electrically connected to the camera unit
710
, the display unit
730
and the camera operating apparatus
740
through signal transmitting lines
701
,
702
and
703
, respectively.
Description will now be made on how the image taken by the camera unit
710
is displayed on the screen of the display unit
730
.
When the camera unit
710
is operated to take an image to be displayed on the screen of the display unit
730
, the camera unit
710
is firstly driven by the camera operating apparatus
740
to transform the image into an image signal outputted to the signal transmitting line
701
. The image signal thus outputted to the signal transmitting line
701
is then transmitted to the system unit
720
before being inputted to the display unit
730
.
The image signal is then transformed into an image to be displayed on the screen of the display unit
730
.
In order to have the camera unit
710
operated by the operation commands of the camera operating apparatus
740
to photograph an image, the camera operating apparatus
740
is operated to receive the operation commands respectively indicative of photographing directions, magnifications and the like inputted by the operator while he or she is watching the screen of the display unit
730
. The camera operating apparatus
740
inputted with the operation commands is then operated to transform the operation commands into a command signal to be transmitted to the signal transmitting line
703
. The command signal thus transmitted to the signal transmitting line
703
is then inputted to the system unit
720
where the command signal is then transformed into a drive signal to drive the camera unit
710
to be outputted to the camera unit
710
by way of the signal transmitting line
701
. The camera unit
710
thus received the drive signal from the system unit
720
is at this time operated to change the photographing directions, magnifications and the like into new ones.
As will be seen from the above, there has been described only one camera unit
710
provided in combination with the system unit
720
, the display unit
730
and the camera operating apparatus
740
in the conventional surveillance system
700
for the purpose of simplifying the description and assisting in understanding about the whole operation of the surveillance system
700
.
In reality, such a conventional surveillance system
800
, however, is as shown in
FIG. 8
to comprise a plurality of camera units
810
, a plurality of system units
820
, a plurality of display units
830
, and a plurality of camera operating apparatuses
840
. The conventional surveillance system
800
thus constructed allows the operator to selectively operate those camera operating apparatuses
840
to input to camera operating apparatuses
840
operation commands indicative of selecting one or more camera units
810
and one or more display units
830
. This fact leads to the fact that the operator can select one or more camera operating apparatuses
840
not only to have the image displayed on the screen of one or more display units
830
in accordance with the image taken by one or more selected camera units
810
but to operate the camera units
810
under various operation states optioned by the operator.
Here, as the camera operating apparatus
840
forming part of the conventional surveillance system
800
is used a CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) type of camera operating apparatus which is hereinafter referred simply to “camera operating apparatus”. The camera operating apparatus used heretofore is generally equipped with a joystick designed to input operation commands by the operator to ensure that the camera unit is operated under various operation states changed in photographing directions, magnifications and the like. The joystick is generally mounted on a retainer and pivotable at a variable inclination angle between the axis of the joystick and the surface of the retainer.
The joystick thus constructed serves to produce the operation command indicative of the inclination angle varied in response to the operation speed of the camera unit. More specifically, the operation speed of the camera unit increases as the inclination angle of the joystick increases in accordance with the relation between the inclination angle of the joystick and the operation speed of the camera unit.
The conventional camera operating apparatus, however, encounters such a problem that the relation between the inclination angle of the joystick and the operation speed of the camera unit is fixedly predetermined by each of the camera operating apparatuses, resulting from the fact that the relation between the inclination angle of the joystick and the operation speed of the camera unit cannot be changed depending upon the needs by the operator.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a camera operating apparatus which facilitates to change the relation between the inclination angle of the joystick and the operation speed of the camera unit depending upon the needs by the operator to allow the operator to readily operate the joystick.
In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a camera operating apparatus for operating at least one camera unit at an operation speed which is to be changed by an operator, comprising: a retainer having an operation surface; a joystick mounted on the retainer and having a center axis and a center point located on the center axis, the joystick being pivotable around the center point of the joystick to assume a first angular position where the joystick is inclined with respect to the operation surface of the retainer, and a second angular position where the joystick is inclined with respect to the operation surface of the retainer at an inclination angle between the center axes of the joystick positioned at the first and second angular positions, the inclination angle being variably set with respect to the operation speed; angle signal inputting means for inputting an angle signal indicative of the inclination angle of the joystick; a plurality of keys each operatively arranged on the retainer to perform a key-pushed action and a key-released action, each of the keys being operative to input a speed signal indicative of the key-pushed action thereof, the keys including a specified key selected for the operation speed of the camera unit desired by the operator, information recording means for recording specific relevant information between the angle signal inputted from the angle signal inputting means and the speed signal in
Kawai Daijiro
Saito Toshikazu
Suzuki Kazuya
Gray David M.
Matsushita Electric - Industrial Co., Ltd.
Pearne & Gordon LLP
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