Television – Camera – system and detail – Low light level
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-15
2001-07-17
Garber, Wendy R. (Department: 2612)
Television
Camera, system and detail
Low light level
C348S151000, C348S159000, C348S169000, C348S211130, C348S366000, C348S373000, C396S427000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06262768
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to remote controlled, closed circuit television monitoring systems and, in particular, to television monitoring systems which are capable of both day and night operation.
2. Description of the Art
In closed circuit monitoring systems, one or more cameras are contained within a housing which is either stationarily mounted on a fixed bracket or attached to a pan/tilt apparatus for panning and elevational movements to cover a wide field of vision. A typical television monitoring system is shown by the Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 4,293,876 and includes a dual channel camera unit, a transmitter or controller and a receiver. The camera unit includes a color daylight camera, a low light camera, a light intensifier coupled to the low light camera and a channel control circuit. The channel control circuit provides automatic switching between the daylight and the low light cameras in response to variations in the ambient light intensity.
While this monitoring system has proven to be an effective surveillance device, it would be desirable to provide an enhanced monitoring system which takes advantage of recent camera developments so as to improve visual resolution under low light conditions.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is a television monitoring system operative during both daylight and low light or night conditions.
The television monitoring system includes a camera apparatus formed of a first camera for monitoring principally during daylight conditions and a second high sensitivity low light camera for monitoring principally during low light or night conditions. At least one and preferably both of the first and second cameras have automatic iris override for selective control of the camera iris. A control circuit is provided for selectively energizing, utilizing and de-energizing the first and second cameras in response to a predetermined variation in ambient light intensity so that only one of the first and second cameras is energized in daylight or night at one time.
Optionally, at least one and, preferably, both of the first and second cameras have an azimuth generator which provides an output indicative of the position of the camera.
In one embodiment, the second camera is a CCD camera with a high low light sensitivity of substantially 0.08 lux.
Further, each of the first and second cameras is provided with an adjustable zoom lens. In one embodiment, a light intensifier is coupled between the zoom lens and the second camera for intensifying the light received by the second camera. The light intensifier has automatic brightness control for improved contrast.
The camera unit of the present television monitor apparatus provides enhancements over previously devised television monitoring systems. The camera unit takes advantage of improvements in camera design which enable automatic override of the camera iris for better brightness control or contrast as well as to change the focal length of the camera for specific viewing of a predetermined object or portion of a surveillance area.
Small sized cameras may be employed to reduce the overall size of the camera apparatus enclosure. An optional azimuth generator can be utilized on either or both of the cameras to provide an indication of the position of the cameras. This can be compared with the selected azimuth of the pan/tilt unit to determine the position of the camera apparatus.
While the camera apparatus of the present invention provides the aforementioned advantages, the camera apparatus still retains the standardized single video output and single control cable input to the camera apparatus as required in the monitoring industry. This enables the camera apparatus to be employed with any industry standard remote camera controller, control signal transmitter and receivers, and pan/tilt units.
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Detection Systems & Engineering Company
Garber Wendy R.
Vu Ngoc-Yen
Young & Basile PC
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