Television – Camera – system and detail – Support or housing
Reexamination Certificate
1998-01-12
2001-04-10
Ho, Tuan (Department: 2712)
Television
Camera, system and detail
Support or housing
C348S333080, C358S906000, C396S374000, C248S919000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06215524
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the field of electronic video recording devices including video tape recorders and electronic cameras employing large monitors such as liquid crystal displays.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A broad range of forms of electronic video recording devices including video tape recorders and electronic cameras have recently been developed. In particular, video recording devices with large monitors for recording the camera operator while providing direct feedback on a screen visible to the camera operator, so-called self-recording (or facing recording), are drawing more attention.
A video recording device of the prior art related to the present invention is explained next.
FIGS. 3A
to
3
C show perspective views of the electronic video recording device of the prior art.
FIG. 3A
shows a front perspective, and
FIGS. 3B and 3C
show back perspectives. A video recording camera
101
is disposed around an upper corner of a front face
102
a
of a main body
102
, and the video recording camera
101
has an object lens
103
. Optical information entering the video recording camera
101
through the object lens
103
is converted to electronic video information. The main body
102
records the electronic video information output from the video recording camera
101
on a housed video tape (not illustrated). A monitor
105
converts the electronic video information output from the video recording camera
101
or the electronic video information reproduced from a recorded video tape into optical information, and displays it on a monitor screen
105
a
. The monitor
105
is, as shown in
FIG. 3C
, rotatably attached to the main body
102
with a rotary mechanism disposed at an upper part of the main body
102
. A microphone
106
is disposed beneath the object lens
103
on the front face
102
a
of the main body
102
for recording sound from approximately the same direction as the optical axis of the object lens
103
. The main body
102
records sound information, along with the aforementioned electronic video information, on a video tape.
The operation of the electronic video recording device of the prior art as configured above is explained next.
In ordinary recording, that is, when the camera operator records subjects other than himself/herself by looking at a monitor screen, the object lens
103
is facing the subject, as shown in
FIGS. 4A
to
4
C, and the camera operator can confirm what is being recorded by looking at the monitor screen
105
a
. Since the monitor
105
is rotatable away from the main body, the camera operator can easily look at the monitor screen
105
a
at any angle particularly at an angle which allows recording from a high position downward (so-called high angle, as shown in FIG.
4
A), to record ordinarily by holding the electronic video recording device around in front of the chest (the so-called chest angle shown in FIG.
4
B), and to record from a low position upward (the so-called low angle shown in FIG.
4
C).
In “self-recording” in which the camera operator is recorded while looking at his/her own image on the monitor screen
105
a
, the camera operator can confirm what to be recorded on the monitor screen
105
a
by rotating the monitor
105
to the front to the side of the object lens
103
because the monitor
105
is rotatable apart from the main body
102
. As already known, some existing devices are equipped with the function of inverting the video image on the monitor screen
105
a
by detecting the rotation angle.
Another example of the prior art is an electronic video recording device in which the camera operator operates and holds an area of the recording camera by hand, and the monitor is rotatably supported by the video recording camera together with the main body.
The above configurations of the prior art, however, have the following inconveniences:
1) To secure the distance required by the optical system of the video recording camera and also assure that the thickness of the main body is sufficient to allow it to be held comfortably in the hand, the length of the video recording camera needs to be longer than the thickness of the main body, making the camera protrude significantly from the main body.
2) Since the object lens and the main body are held toward the direction of the subject to be recorded, the angle of the wrist required to hold the device changes according to recording angle, and there are some angles which result in difficulties in holding the device.
3) Since the object lens always remains in a lateral position even when not recording anything, the object lens is likely to be directly exposed to bright light including direct sunlight, resulting in flare and other problems characteristic of CCD image pickup elements in the video recording camera, or dust is likely to attach to the object lens.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention offers an electronic video recording device which enables the securing of a sufficient distance between the optical system of the video recording camera while keeping the thickness of the main body to a level easy to hold when the video recording camera is housed; enables the monitoring of the picture being recorded without changing the wrist angle too much while holding the device at a range of recording angles; and provides a configuration whereby the object lens is not directly exposed to bright light including direct sunlight and is protected from dust accumulation when the device is not being used for recording.
The electronic video recording device of the present invention thus comprises a video recording camera for converting optical information entering from the object lens into electronic video information, a monitor screen for displaying electronic video information output from the video recording camera, and a main body which has a control panel for operating the video recording camera and a monitor screen. The main body has the monitor screen located on its rear side, the control panel on its first side face, and a rotary mechanism of the video recording camera on its second side face. The rotary mechanism has a rotary shaft in a direction approximately perpendicular to the second side face. The incident optical axis of the object lens on the video recording camera is approximately perpendicular to the rotary shaft of the rotary mechanism, and the rotary shaft is configured in a way which allows the object lens to face downward when housing the video recording camera. This enables the securing of a sufficient distance for the optical system of the video recording camera, realizes a comfortable thickness for holding the main body when the video recording camera is housed, and allows the monitoring of the picture to be recorded at any recording angle without changing the wrist angle when holding the device. In addition, the object lens is protected from dust and not directly exposed to bright light, such as direct sunlight, except during recording.
Furthermore, the electronic video recording device of the present invention comprises a video recording camera for converting optical information entering from the object lens to electronic video information, a monitor screen for displaying electronic video information output from the video recording camera, and a main body which has a control panel for operating the video recording camera and a monitor screen. The main body has the monitor screen located at its rear side, a rotary mechanism of the video recording camera on its second side face in which a rotary shaft is disposed in a direction approximately perpendicular to the second side face, and the control panel on its first side face. This enables single hand recording without placing too much strain on the hand holding the main body.
The electronic video recording device of the present invention still further comprises a video recording camera for converting optical information entering from the object lens into electronic video information, and a main body which has a control panel for operating the video recording camera
Ho Tuan
Matsushita Electric - Industrial Co., Ltd.
Parkhurst & Wendel L.L.P.
Vu Ngoc-Yen
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