JP2738864B2 - Camera rotation device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Summary] A camera turning device for turning a camera left and right with respect to a support surface. A simple mechanism and a control circuit for turning a camera left and right and turning it around its optical axis. For the purpose, a housing that is supported rotatably with respect to the support surface and supports the camera with bearings, one motor, and an optical axis rotating mechanism that rotates the camera around its optical axis by rotating the motor, With the rotation of the motor shaft, it cooperates with the optical axis rotation mechanism,
The camera rotation mechanism is configured to rotate the housing on a plane parallel to the support surface.

[Industrial applications]

The present invention relates to a camera turning device for turning a camera left and right with respect to a support surface.

For example, in a factory or a bank, there is a system for monitoring an intruder using a television camera. In this case, an image wider than the lens field of view is taken by turning the camera left and right with respect to the support surface. Have been.
It is usually installed on a horizontal surface such as on a shelf or on a ceiling, but it may be installed on a vertical surface such as a wall depending on the location of use. It is necessary to image the positional relationship between the floor and the ceiling on the screen in the same manner as in reality.

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an example of a conventional camera turning device. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a television camera main body, which is supported on a camera swivel base by a rotation shaft 1a. The camera swivel 2 is installed on a support surface 3 such as a shelf, a ceiling, or a wall.
The camera body 1 is rotated by the turning instruction from the control circuit.
It turns left and right around 1a, thereby imaging a range wider than the field of view of the lens 4.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

The conventional device, when installed on a horizontal surface such as a shelf or ceiling and turned, there is no particular problem because the positional relationship of the floor and ceiling etc. is the same as actual, but it was installed on a vertical surface such as a wall and turned In this case, the monitor screen (input image) is as shown in FIG. 7, and the positional relationship between the floor and the ceiling is different from the actual one. That is, the conventional one is configured without any relation between the rotation axis 1a and the camera optical axis, so there is no problem when facing directly below, but when turning 90 ° to the right or left respectively, the floor or The ceiling appeared on the right or left, making it difficult to see, making monitoring inconvenient. Some of the camera swivel mounts can be mounted by tilting (tilting) the camera body in the vertical direction, and others can be moved up and down (the pan-tilt table), but the above problem remains the same.

Therefore, the rotation axis of the camera body and the optical axis of the camera are related to each other, and the camera body is rotated left and right and around the optical axis. If it is rotated, as shown in FIG. 3 (A), even if it turns right and left, the positional relationship of the floor and ceiling becomes the same as the actual one, making it easy to see. However, the conventional motor having such a configuration requires two motors, a motor for turning the camera body and a motor for rotating around the optical axis. Therefore, a control circuit for controlling each of the two motors is required. However, there has been a problem that the structure becomes complicated, the weight increases, and the cost increases.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a camera turning device that turns a camera left and right and around an optical axis thereof with a simple mechanism and a control circuit.

[Means for solving the problem]

FIG. 1 shows a principle diagram of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 53 denotes a housing, which is rotatably supported on a support surface 50, and which supports a rotating shaft 51a on the optical axis of the camera 51 with a bearing 52. A motor 54 rotates the camera 51 and the housing 53. An optical axis rotating mechanism 55 rotates the rotating shaft 51a by the rotation of the motor 54 to rotate the camera 51 around the optical axis. Reference numeral 56 denotes a camera turning mechanism, which is driven by the rotation of the motor 54 to rotate the optical axis.
In cooperation with, the housing 53 is turned so that the optical axis direction of the camera 51 is changed on a plane parallel to the support surface 50.

[Action]

The housing 53 is supported on a vertical support surface 50 such as a wall,
The 53 is turned on a plane parallel to the support surface 50. In this case, the rotation of the shaft of the motor 54 is transmitted to the optical axis rotation mechanism 55 and the camera 51 rotates around the optical axis, and at the same time, the rotation of the axis of the motor 54 is also transmitted to the camera rotation mechanism 56 so that the camera 51
Together with the support surface 50. That is, one motor
At the same time, the camera 51 can be turned left and right by 54, and can also be rotated around its optical axis.

〔Example〕

FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration diagram of the first embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 10 denotes a housing, and a shaft of a fixed bevel gear 11 provided therein.
The shaft 11a is supported by a bearing 11a via a bearing 12, and the shaft 11a is fixed to a vertical support surface 13 such as a wall. Reference numeral 14 denotes a motor, which is fixed inside the housing 10. A rotating shaft 14a is provided with a reduction mechanism 15, such as a harmonic drive, a rotating bevel gear 16, a reverse rotating gear mechanism 17, and a joint 18. The rotating bevel gear 16 meshes with the fixed bevel gear 11. Reference numeral 19 denotes a television camera body, which has a rotating shaft 19a provided on the optical axis of the lens 20, and the rotating shaft 19a is fitted to a joint 18 inside the housing 10 via a bearing 21.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a drive control circuit used to drive the device of the present invention. In FIG. 4, the same parts as those in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals. For example, a turning instruction signal from a turning instruction device 25 composed of a joystick, a computer, or the like is supplied to a servo circuit 26, and a drive signal continues to be output until a specified target value is reached. Supplied to Thereby, the rotating shaft of the motor 14
14a is rotated, and the camera body 19 is
To the left and right and around the optical axis. The encoder 28 is configured to output a number of pulses corresponding to the amount of displacement of the camera body 19, and this pulse is output to a servo circuit.
The camera body 19 is turned back to the target value instructed by the turning support device 25 after being returned to 26.

Here, when the camera body 19 turns right from directly below,
The rotation shaft 14a of the motor 14 rotates counterclockwise when viewing the camera body 19 from the motor 14. This rotation is reduced by the reduction mechanism 15, and the rotating bevel gear 16 is also rotated counterclockwise.
Rotates clockwise around the fixed bevel gear 11 by its counterclockwise rotation. As a result, the housing 10 becomes the shaft of the fixed bevel gear 11
The camera body 19 rotates clockwise around the center 11a, and accordingly, the camera body 19 also turns clockwise.

On the other hand, the counterclockwise rotation of the rotating shaft 14a of the motor 14 is turned clockwise by the reverse rotation gear mechanism 17, and transmitted to the rotating shaft 19a of the camera body 19 via the joint 18, whereby the camera body 19 is rotated. Rotates right around its optical axis.
Accordingly, the camera body 19 is turned clockwise with respect to the support surface 13 and simultaneously clockwise around its optical axis.
As shown in FIG. 2A, the monitor screen (input image) is such that the floor is located on the lower side and the ceiling is located on the upper side, so that it is easy to see and monitor as in the actual positional relationship. In addition, since the rotation of the camera body 19 and its rotation around the optical axis are performed by only one motor 14, only one control circuit is required, which is simpler than that of the conventional example.
Since there is only one motor, the weight is light and the cost is low.

Contrary to the above, when the camera body 19 turns left from right below, the rotation shaft 14a of the motor 14 rotates clockwise, contrary to the above. Thereby, the rotating bevel gear 16 rotates around the fixed bevel gear 11 counterclockwise by its clockwise rotation, the housing 10 rotates counterclockwise, and the camera body 19 also rotates counterclockwise. . At the same time, the rotation axis 19a rotates counterclockwise, and the camera body 19 rotates counterclockwise about its optical axis.

Note that there are rarely used types of camera bodies that can be used upside down (inverted) around the optical axis. Such a type is shown in FIG. Is not provided. In this way, the camera body turns right (left) and simultaneously turns left (right) around the optical axis, thereby obtaining a monitor screen as shown in FIG. 3 (B). Also in this case, the floor is located just below and the ceiling is located only above.

Further, when the camera body is installed on a horizontal surface and used, there is a case where it is desired to use the camera body as in the conventional apparatus shown in FIG. 6 without interlocking the rotation of the camera body and the rotation about the optical axis as described above.
In this case, the joint 18 shown in FIG.
It is sufficient that the rotation of a is not transmitted to the rotation axis 19a. In this case, the camera body 19 does not rotate around its optical axis even if it turns with respect to the support surface 13, and FIG. Can be used in the same manner as the conventional example shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 30 denotes a fixed housing, which is fixed to a support surface 31. 32
Is a motor, which is fixed to the housing 32 and has rotating shafts 32a, 32b
(They are integrally configured). Rotary axis 32
a is provided with a reduction mechanism 33a, a joint 34a, and a spur gear 35a, and similarly, a rotation mechanism 32b is provided with a reduction mechanism 33b, a joint 34b, and a spur gear 35b. The spur gears 35a and 35b are supported by bearings 36a and 36b provided on the housing 30, respectively.

Reference numeral 37 denotes a swivel unit housing, and a swivel unit rotation shaft 37 fixed thereto.
Since a is supported by a bearing 38 provided in the motor 32, it is pivotably supported on the fixed housing 30. Reference numeral 39a denotes a spur gear, which is meshed with a spur gear 35a of the fixed housing 30, and integrally rotates with the bevel gear 40a via a bearing 41a.
Supported by a. Similarly, a spur gear 39b is meshed with the spur gear 35b of the fixed housing 30, and is supported by the rotating shaft 37a via a bearing 41b integrally with the bevel gear 40b. 42
Is a bevel gear, which is meshed with the bevel gears 40a, 40b, and its rotating shaft 19a is the rotating shaft of the camera body 19, and is supported by the turning part casing 37 via a bearing 43.

Here, when the camera body 19 is rotated clockwise and simultaneously clockwise around its optical axis (FIG. 3 (A)
In order to obtain the monitor screen shown in FIG. 3), the joint 34b is removed, the motor shaft 32b is separated from the spur gear 35b, and the spur gear 35b is fixed to the fixed housing 30 via the bearing 36b. Thus, the bevel gear 40b is also fixed to the housing 30 via the spur gear 35b. When the rotation shaft 32a of the motor 32 is rotated counterclockwise, the spur gear 35a also rotates counterclockwise, whereby the spur gear 39a and the bevel gear 40a integrally rotate clockwise, and the bevel gear 42 is fixed. The bevel gear 40b rotates clockwise around the bevel gear 40b, and its rotating shaft 19a rotates clockwise. As a result, the swivel housing 37 is
The camera body 19 rotates clockwise around the center 37a, and accordingly, the camera body 19 rotates clockwise and, at the same time, rotates clockwise around its optical axis to obtain the monitor screen shown in FIG. 3 (A). Can be.

Conversely, when rotating the camera body 19 counterclockwise and simultaneously rotating counterclockwise around its optical axis, the motor 32
Is rotated clockwise. As a result, each gear rotates in the opposite direction to the above operation, that is, bevel gear
42 rotates counterclockwise around the bevel gear 40b, and the camera body 19
Rotates counterclockwise and rotates counterclockwise around its optical axis.

On the other hand, when rotating the camera body 19 clockwise and simultaneously rotating it around the optical axis in the left direction (obtaining the monitor screen shown in FIG. 3B), the joint 34a is detached and the motor shaft 32a is flattened. Separate the gear 35a and attach the spur gear 35a to the bearing 3
It is fixed to the fixed housing 30 via 6a. This allows the bevel gear
40a is also fixed to the housing 30 via the spur gear 35a. Motor 32
When the rotating shaft 32b is rotated counterclockwise, the spur gear 35b also rotates counterclockwise, whereby the spur gear 39b and the bevel gear 40b integrally rotate clockwise, and the bevel gear 42 is a fixed bevel gear. Gear 40
It rotates clockwise around a, and its rotation axis 19a rotates counterclockwise. As a result, the revolving unit housing 37 is rotated by the revolving unit rotation shaft 37a.
Rotate clockwise around
Reference numeral 19 turns clockwise, and at the same time, rotates counterclockwise around its optical axis, so that the monitor screen shown in FIG. 3B can be obtained.

Conversely, when rotating the camera body 19 counterclockwise and simultaneously rotating it clockwise around its optical axis, the motor 32
Is rotated clockwise. As a result, each gear rotates in the opposite direction to the above operation, that is, bevel gear
42 rotates counterclockwise around the bevel gear 40a, and the camera body 19
Rotates clockwise and simultaneously rotates clockwise around its optical axis.

On the other hand, the joints 34a and 34b are connected together, and the motor shaft 32a
And the spur gear 35a and the motor shaft 32b and the spur gear 35
Connect directly to b. With this configuration, the bevel gears 40a and 40b rotate in the same direction (for example, clockwise), whereby the bevel gear 42 rotates clockwise around the bevel gears 40a and 40b without rotating the rotation shaft 19a. Rotate. Accordingly, the camera body 19 only turns with respect to the support surface 31 and does not rotate around its optical axis, and can be used in the same manner as the conventional example shown in FIG.

In each of the above embodiments, the rotation is transmitted in a right angle direction using a bevel gear, but the present invention is not limited to this, and may be configured by a combination of a worm gear and a pinion gear. Good.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, a mechanism for rotating the camera around its optical axis by rotating the shaft of one motor and at the same time turning the camera left and right is provided. With the configuration, it is possible to obtain an easily viewable image similar to the actual visual field.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a principle diagram of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a monitor screen (input image) obtained by the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a drive control circuit used to drive the device of the present invention, FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an example of the related art, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a monitor screen (input image) obtained by the above. In the figure, 10, 53 is a housing, 11 is a fixed bevel gear, 11a is a shaft, 12, 21, 36a, 36b, 38, 41a, 41b, 43, 52 are bearings, 13, 31, 50 are support surfaces, and 14 , 32, 54 are motors, 14a, 32a, 32b are motor rotation shafts, 15, 33a, 33b are reduction mechanisms, 16, 40a, 40b, 42 are bevel gears, 17 is a reverse rotation gear mechanism, 19 is a camera body, 19a is the rotation axis of the camera body, 20 is the lens, 30 is the fixed housing, 35a, 35b, 39a, and 39b are spur gears, 37 is the rotating housing, 37a is the rotating shaft, 51 is the camera, and 51a is the camera Reference numeral 55 denotes an optical axis rotation mechanism, and 56 denotes a camera rotation mechanism.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A rotating shaft (51a) on an optical axis of a camera (51) is supported by a bearing (5).
2) a housing (53) supported by the camera, (1) a motor (54) for rotating the camera (51) and the housing (53), and a rotating shaft by rotating the motor (54). An optical axis rotating mechanism (55) for rotating the camera (51) around its optical axis by rotating (51a); and cooperating with the optical axis rotating mechanism (55) by the axial rotation of the motor (54). And a camera turning mechanism (56) for turning the housing (53) so as to change the optical axis direction of the camera (51) on a plane parallel to the support surface (50). Camera swivel device.