Television – Camera – system and detail – Support or housing
Reexamination Certificate
1998-02-14
2001-09-18
Ho, Tuan (Department: 2612)
Television
Camera, system and detail
Support or housing
C348S143000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06292222
ABSTRACT:
The invention relates to a protective housing with a back wall which is provided with a cable entrance, and with a window wall for optical apparatus with an optical axis, the protective housing having a fastening device with lockable joint members and pivots, and with a mounting body which has a lockable rotary receptacle with a first pivot axis and a contact surface for mounting on a mounting surface, wherein the pivot axis of the rotary receptacle is aligned perpendicular to the mounting surface and the fastening device has at least one additional pivot axis which is aligned perpendicular to the first pivot axis.
Such protective housings serve, for example but not exclusively, for housing video cameras, lamps and sensors (motion detectors) of security systems for land and buildings, especially in closed-circuit video surveillance systems. The protective housing in that case serves not only for protection against environmental influences such as weather, vapors and dust, but also against sabotage. A special problem is presented by the connecting cables to supply power and for transmitting the received signals. The power supply serves, for example, for heating the window wall to prevent condensation when such housings are installed out-of-doors and exposed to all kinds of weather. Such cables have a great number of wires and are accordingly stiff; they are, however, also extremely subject to sabotage. Cutting the cables results in complete failure of the apparatus in question.
It is known through German Patent 40 08 340 C2 to dispose protective housings for optical apparatus in the area of their center of gravity on a lockable tilt-and-swivel head with two pivot axes perpendicular to one another so as to be able to align the optical axis with a plurality of space coordinates. The mounting means in this case is a wall bracket which can be fastened only to at least approximately vertical surfaces. To suspend the known protective housing under a ceiling an additional ceiling mount is required. In order to protect the cable with the known system against acts of sabotage a separate cable cover is needed, which is carried from the tilt-and-swivel head along the bottom of the housing to the back wall of the latter in which receptacles for the cable connection are located. The known system has proven excellent in practice for expensive surveillance apparatus; it is, however, too expensive for simpler surveillance systems, and especially it is not possible with the wall bracket and various kinds of mounts to achieve all of the space coordinates for the optical axis, because the cable cover abuts against the wall bracket, for example. Any inserted spacers have the disadvantage that the system tends to vibrate, resulting in fuzzy images in the case of video cameras.
It is known through EP 0 285 922 A2 to fasten the backs of such housings on a vertical wall through a joint with a horizontal axis. In this case, however, the optical axis can rotate only in a vertical plane, and the known method is not suitable for mounting on the ceiling. Furthermore, no attention is given to the protection of the connecting cable. In the case of mounting on a horizontal surface, the known system provides for the customary support beneath the center of gravity of the protective housing, i.e., the orientation of the mounting surface determines the selection of the mounting means.
Public prior use has furthermore disclosed a wall mount which is connected through a Z-shaped coupling to the back of the housing. In the area of this coupling there are two axes which are perpendicular to one another but parallel to the wall surface, so that the optical axis can be set for different space coordinates. The known system is not suitable for ceiling mounting or for mounting over a horizontal surface, since for this purpose the swivel angles are too small; moreover, drawing the cable through the Z-shaped coupling is extraordinarily complicated.
EP 0 468 839 A1 discloses a video surveillance camera with an integrated wall and ceiling mount, in which the camera housing consists of two half shells assembled together, which do not necessarily need to be partially spherical shells. This camera housing is fitted into the mount, which is configured as a hollow body for carrying the cable concealed, but does not have to be fork-shaped but can also be one-sided. In any case what is involved is an integral unit in which the camera housing cannot be replaced with a conventional camera housing found on the market.
This known device has only two pivot axes, namely a first pivot axis U which runs through the junction(s) between camera housing and mount, and a second pivot axis V running perpendicular thereto which runs through the rotary junction of the mount with a mounting ring which can be screwed to a ceiling or wall surface (mounting surface), so that this second pivot axis V runs also perpendicular to this mounting surface. There is also mention of a third axis W, but it is only a shaft for displacement of the camera and is said to run parallel to the mounting surface.
Thus it has the following relationship: as long as the mount is fastened to a horizontal mounting surface, if the image margins are precisely perpendicular and horizontal, virtually all of the space coordinates this side of the mounting surface can be achieved with the optical axis. If, however, the mount is fastened to a non-horizontal, e.g., a vertical mounting surface, then the ability of the optical axis to rotate applies only to two extreme cases: In the first case the optical axis must be rotated about axis V, with only the mount rotating, in a plane which is precisely parallel to the mounting surface; in the second case the optical axis must be rotated about the axis U, with only the camera housing rotating, in a plane which is precisely perpendicular to the mounting surface. In all other cases, i.e., in the most frequently occurring intermediate positions, an interaction of rotations about both axes U and V is necessary, which automatically results in a tilting of the horizontal and vertical margins of the image. No compensation is provided for this, and a parallel displacement of the camera along the coordinate W parallel to the mounting surface, for which no means are given, would not correct this tilt.
Moreover, during the integration of mount and camera housing the cable or cables must be drawn around several corners which, with the stiffness of the commonly used, necessarily shielded cable, is difficult if not impossible. The drawing in of the cable must be performed at the place of manufacture and cannot be performed during assembly when, for example, only the camera and camera housing are to be replaced in order to modernize the system.
The invention is therefore addressed to the problem of devising a protective housing of the kind described in the beginning, which can be joined structurally to a mounting system without involving difficulty in drawing even stiff cables through it, and which permits the attachment and adjustment of the protective housing, independently of the position in space of the mounting surface, in the greatest variety of attitudes of the optical axis, without additional components, and without tilting the margins of the image.
The solution of the stated problem is accomplished in two first embodiments according to the invention in that
a) three links are disposed between the back wall and the mount body, the first link being joined to the mount body through the swivel and the third link to the back wall,
b) in the case of two additional pivot axes between the links these axes are perpendicular to one another and to the axis of the swivel, and when the protective housing is in the mounted state, one of the additional pivot axes is horizontal and the other pivot axis is perpendicular, and that
c) the links surround a cable tunnel which can be brought substantially into the outstretched position and which leads to the cable entrance in the back wall.
The stated problem is solved in a third embodiment by the fact that
a) between
Fulbright & Jaworski LLP
Ho Tuan
Videor Technical Services GmbH
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