Television – Camera – system and detail – Remote control
Reexamination Certificate
1997-08-25
2001-09-25
Garber, Wendy R. (Department: 2612)
Television
Camera, system and detail
Remote control
C348S207110
Reexamination Certificate
active
06295084
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a solid-state camera system, and particularly to a camera and its signal processor having a camera head unit and a chrominance/luminance signal generator unit connected through an extended cable to the camera head unit.
BACKGROUND ART
The conventional camera system is always used in a combination of a housing, or unit including a signal processor (hereinafter, referred to as a chrominance/luminance signal generator unit) and another housing, or unit including an image pickup device (hereinafter, referred to as a camera head unit) as described in “CCD Micro-Miniature Color Camera”, IEEE Trans., CE-33,2, p. 85 (1987).
In the prior art, since the camera head unit and the chrominance/luminance signal generator unit can be placed away from to each other through an extended cable, even when the chrominance/luminance signal generator unit is incorporated in a personal computer, the camera head unit can be used out of the personal computer since it is not fixed to the computer. Therefore, the camera head can be directed at any angle. However, when a plurality of cameras are used to supply video data to the personal computer or the like in a time sharing manner, it is necessary to incorporate in the personal computer the chrominance/luminance signal generators of which the number is the same as that of the camera head units, thus increasing the cost. The conventional camera system does not consider this aspect.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a camera system having a novel analog interface through which the camera head unit can be freely interchanged by another. In order to achieve the above object, according to the camera system of the present invention, a synchronizing signal is added to the output signal from the camera head unit. If a synchronizing signal is added to the output signal from the camera head unit as in the standard analog interface, the output signal from the image pickup device can be handled in the same way as the television signal of NTSC, PAL or the like. Thus, a plurality of camera head units can be connected to a single chrominance/luminance signal generator unit and also freely interchanged with other ones. Hence, since each camera head is not necessary to be connected to its own signal processor, the circuit scale can be decreased, resulting in remarkable cost reduction.
In addition, the camera system having the above novel analog interface is required to use with a VTR and a camcorder, or camera/VTR which reproduce NTSC/PAL television signals or the like. In this case, since the user needs to discriminate the television signal and the signal from the camera head, there is a new drawback that it is not convenient to use. To solve this problem, the invention is to provide a camera system capable of equally handling both the signal from the camera head and the television signal.
In order to achieve the above object, according to the invention, there is provided a camera system that has a camera head unit including at least an image pickup device, a timing generator circuit for driving the image pickup device, a synchronizing signal generator circuit for generating synchronizing signals in accordance with a timing signal from the timing generator circuit, an adder circuit for adding the synchronizing signals from the synchronizing signal generator circuit to the output signal from the image pickup device, and output means for producing in a dot-sequential manner the signal that is generated from the image pickup device and added with the synchronizing signals; a chrominance/luminance signal generator unit including at least input means for receiving a signal from the outside, an identifying circuit for deciding whether the signal received through the input means is a television signal or the output signal from the camera head unit, a camera signal processor circuit for generating the chrominance signal and luminance signal of the output signal from the camera unit, a Y/C separation/demodulation processor circuit for generating the chrominance signal and luminance signal of the television signal, and a switching circuit for switching the camera signal processor and the Y/C separation/demodulation processor in accordance with the result from the identifying circuit; and a connector unit that can detachably connect the camera head unit and the chrominance/luminance signal generator unit and transmit both television signal and the signal from the camera head unit to the chrominance/luminance signal generator unit. When the result from the identifying circuit indicates the signal from the camera head unit, it is processed by the camera signal processor circuit. When the result indicates the television signal from a VTR or from a camcorder, or a camera/VTR, it is processed by the Y/C separation/demodulation processor circuit. Therefore, since the television signal and the output signal from the camera head unit can be automatically discriminated by use of the added synchronizing signals, those signals can be received through the same input terminal. Thus, since the user only connects a camera head unit or other apparatus to the chrominance/luminance signal generator unit without knowing the kind of signal, it is easy to manipulate the camera system, and erroneous operation due to misconnection can be suppressed.
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“CCD Micro-Miniature Color Camera”, IEEE Trans., CE-33,2, p. 85, 1987.
Kinugasa Toshiro
Nishizawa Akihito
Antonelli Terry Stout & Kraus LLP
Garber Wendy R.
Hitachi , Ltd.
Moe Aung S.
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