Television – Camera – system and detail – Remote control
Reexamination Certificate
1995-10-23
2001-05-29
Ho, Tuan (Department: 2612)
Television
Camera, system and detail
Remote control
C348S352000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06239835
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image input apparatus, and, more particularly, to an image input apparatus for imaging (e.g. photographing) a document or a picture and which can change its imaging range.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, in accordance with the diffusion of image compression/encoding techniques and digital communication networks, recommendations for service provisions, protocol provisions, multimedia multiplexing frame configuration provisions and the like for AV (audio-visual) services, such as TV (or video) conference systems and video telephones, have been established, and various kinds of communication terminals have also been proposed. In particular, camera apparatuses for inputting images of various kinds of objects have attracted notice as a subsystem of a video conference system.
FIG. 5
is a schematic block diagram illustrating the configuration of a conventional camera apparatus. In
FIG. 5
, a camera
110
is mounted on a panning head
112
capable of performing panning and tilting. A camera/panning head control circuit
114
controls photographing conditions, such as zooming, focusing, exposure and the like, of the camera
110
, as well as the rotation of the panning head
112
within the horizontal plane and the vertical plane (i.e., the panning and tilting of the camera
110
).
A signal representing an image photographed by the camera
110
is subjected to compression/encoding by an encoding circuit
116
, and the obtained signal is transmitted to a communication partner terminal (not shown) via a communication interface (I/F)
118
and a communication network
119
.
A control circuit
120
controls the camera/panning head control circuit
114
and the encoding circuit
116
in accordance with user instructions input at the user's own terminal and control commands received from the communication partner terminal. For example, the user of the terminal where the illustrated camera apparatus is installed inputs user instructions (such as zooming, panning, tilting and the like) using a pointing device attached to the terminal (such as a mouse, a keyboard or the like) while displaying the image photographed by the camera apparatus on a monitoring picture surface (e.g. CRT monitor). The control circuit
120
supplies the camera/panning head control circuit
114
with control commands corresponding to the input user instructions. The camera/panning head control circuit
114
controls the camera
110
and the panning head
112
so as to provide a user-terminal instructed state.
Camera/panning head control commands from the communication partner terminal are transferred to the camera/panning head control circuit
114
via the network
119
and the communication interface
118
, and the camera/panning head control circuit
114
controls the camera
110
and the panning head
112
so as to provide a communication partner-terminal instructed state (which is instructed by the operator of the communication partner terminal). Camera/panning head control commands from the communication partner terminal are, in some cases, transferred to the camera/panning head control circuit
114
via the communication interface
118
and the control circuit
120
. In such a case, functional blocks may be more or less differently recognized.
For such a camera apparatus, it would be advantageous to assign a target region within an object or a photographing field of view, and to photograph the assigned region while magnifying it. Particularly, when giving an explanation to the communication partner while photographing an object with the camera apparatus of the user's own terminal, the target region is frequently changed during the explanation. Accordingly, it is important to provide the camera apparatus with such an operational environment that the target region can be easily and smoothly assigned and changed.
Conventionally, when controlling zooming, panning, tilting and the like of the camera apparatus at the transmission side, the zooming ratio is changed and the panning and tilting angles are set while watching an image displayed on the monitoring picture surface of the user's own terminal. In general, the user explains an object to the communication partner while indicating the region of the object about which the user explains. Thus, the user must sequentially indicate the region of the object being explained and then control the camera to properly image that region. This indicates that the user must frequently move his eyes between the object mounted adjacent the camera apparatus and the monitoring picture surface, thereby causing very troublesome operations.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide an image input apparatus which solves the above-described problems and which can change the imaging state in various ways while greatly improving the operability of the apparatus.
According to one aspect, the present invention, which achieves the above-described object, relates to an image input apparatus comprising a camera unit, control means for controlling the camera unit, and determination means for determining an instruction for the camera unit based on an image output from the camera unit and for outputting the instruction corresponding to a result of the determination to the control means.
According to another aspect, the present invention relates to an image input apparatus comprising a camera unit, a panning head capable of changing an imaging orientation of the camera unit, control means for controlling at least one of the camera unit and the panning head, and determination means for determining an instruction for at least one of the camera unit and the panning head based on an image output from the camera unit and for outputting the instruction corresponding to a result of the determination to the control means.
The foregoing and other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4064528 (1977-12-01), Bowerman
patent: 5227622 (1993-07-01), Suzuki
patent: 5373319 (1994-12-01), Lee
patent: 5416513 (1995-05-01), Mirisaki
patent: 5432597 (1995-07-01), Parker et al.
patent: 5546125 (1996-08-01), Tomikata
patent: 5559551 (1996-09-01), Sakamoto et al.
patent: 5589878 (1996-12-01), Cortjens
patent: 63-276371 (1988-11-01), None
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
Ho Tuan
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