JP3216212B2 - TV camera control system for video conference - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video camera control system for a video conference, and more particularly, to a control system for performing zoom control of a zoom lens and pan control of a camera platform in a video conference video camera.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, this type of control system receives an output of a switch provided near a participant of a video conference as an input, and each participant presses a switch provided near the participant to speak. The television camera was controlled so that the speaker was always displayed on the monitor.

[0003] The conventional system will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 7 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional television camera control system for a video conference. The figure shows a configuration in which the number of attendees of a video conference is five.

[0005] As shown in the figure, switches 11A to 11E are provided corresponding to the five attendees, respectively, and are set in advance by the speaker pressing the corresponding switch. The voltage V was applied to a potentiometer in the control device 15. As a result, the electric rotating head 13 of the television camera 14 is controlled, and the speaker is projected on the monitor. Reference numeral 17 denotes a fixed focus lens.

In the above-described conventional system, the number of attendees is one.
There is no problem if you speak at a time, but a problem arises when multiple people speak at the same time. That is, the television camera is pointed at the attendee who pressed the switch first, but another attendee pressed the switch later and spoke while the attendee was speaking. In this case, when the switch is pressed later, the television camera is pointed at the speaker.

Also, depending on the system, when another person speaks while one person speaks, the person who later speaks is ignored and the television camera is always pointed at the person who is speaking, and the speaker switches off. Some were kept until.

However, these conventional control systems have a drawback that, when a plurality of people speak simultaneously, only one person is displayed on the monitor, and the other speakers are not displayed on the monitor.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional disadvantages, and an object of the present invention is to provide a video camera for a video conference which can display all speakers on a monitor even when a plurality of people speak simultaneously. It is to provide a control system.

[0010]

According to the present invention, there is provided a video camera control system for a video conference, comprising: storage means for storing, in accordance with an external command, location information of each attendee of the video conference based on the position of the video camera; A switch provided for each person corresponding to each of the above, and means for reading out the position information of the person corresponding to the pressed switch from the storage means in response to the depression of the switch, The pan and zoom amounts of the television camera are controlled in accordance with the read position information, and the rows of the attendees are arranged in a straight line.
A television camera control system for a teleconference in which the television cameras are vertically arranged with respect to each other, when the position information is read in plurality in response to the depression of the switch. Among the pan amounts of the TV camera corresponding to a plurality of pieces of position information, those having the largest absolute value of the clockwise angle centered on the front direction of the TV camera and those having the largest absolute value of the counterclockwise angle the television camera is controlled to face the intermediate angle θ of, (a Terebika
The length of the perpendicular dropped from Mela to the row of attendees) / (c
osθ), the zoom amount is controlled according to the distance calculated .

[0011]

Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a television camera control system for a video conference according to the present invention.
Are denoted by the same reference numerals.

Referring to FIG. 1, in the system of this embodiment, the television camera 1 responds to depression of switches 11A to 11E.
By controlling the electric rotating head 13 and the electric zoom lens 12 of No. 4, all the speakers are projected on the monitor.

The switches 11A to 11E are provided for the five attendees, respectively, as in the case of FIG.
Then, when the speaker depresses a switch corresponding to the speaker, a preset voltage V is applied to a potentiometer in the control device 16.

Electric rotating head 13 and electric zoom lens 1
Reference numeral 2 has a well-known stepping motor, and the pan and zoom amounts are controlled according to control from the control device 16.

The control device 16 stores a table storing the position information of the attendees based on the position of the television camera, and a table storing the position information of the person corresponding to the pressed switch in response to the pressing of the switch. And a reading unit for reading from the memory.

Next, a specific control method in the control device 16 will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an installation state of the television camera. In the figure, five video conference attendees A ~
D are provided with switches 11A to 11E, respectively. Then, the television camera 14 is arranged so that the attendees A to D can be photographed from the front.

In this installation state, before the conference starts, each of the attendees A to
Set the position of E at an angle. That is, referring to FIG. 4, the front direction of the television camera 14 is indicated by an arrow Y, and this direction is set to 0 degree, and the positions of the attendees A to E are input as angles from a keyboard or the like (not shown). .

In this example, as shown in FIG. 5, the front direction is set to 0 degree, and a clockwise angle from that direction is set to +.
(Plus), and the counterclockwise angle is represented by-(minus). Then, a table T as shown in FIG. 6 can be created for the positions of the attendees A to E. Then, in response to the depressing of the switch of the attendee, the angle for photographing the attendant may be read from the table T and the electric rotating head 13 may be controlled.

When a plurality of switches are pressed at the same time, among the corresponding angle values, an intermediate value between the maximum absolute value of the negative angle and the maximum absolute value of the positive angle is obtained. The electric swivel pan head 13 is controlled so that the television camera 14 is oriented at an angle.

Before starting the conference, the distance between the television camera 14 and the attendees is input from a keyboard or the like (not shown). That is, as shown in FIG. 4 , a straight line distance X in the front direction (0-degree direction) is input. Then, the distance between the television camera 14 and each attendee can be calculated based on the distance X and the above-described angle value.

That is, assuming that the angle to the attendee is θ, the distance from the television camera 14 to the attendee is X / cos θ.
Can be calculated. When a plurality of switches are pressed at the same time, the above-described intermediate angle is calculated, and the distance can be calculated by X / cos θ for the calculated angle θ. Then, the electric zoom lens 12 is controlled according to the calculated distance.

As described above, if the electric rotating head 13 and the electric zoom lens 12 are controlled, for example, even if the attendees A and C simultaneously depress the switches and speak, as shown in FIG. All the speakers are displayed on the monitor M.

In the present invention, the number of attendees of the conference is five.
Although the case of a person has been described, it is clear that the present invention can be similarly applied to a case where a larger number of people attend.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, the position information of the attendee based on the television camera is input in advance, and the pan and zoom amounts of the television camera are controlled in accordance with the position information. Also, even when a plurality of attendees simultaneously press the switch to speak, there is an effect that all the speakers can be displayed on the monitor.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a video camera control system for video conference according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an installation state of the television camera.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a display example of a monitor when shooting is performed by the video camera control system for video conference of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a positional relationship between a conference attendee and a television camera.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a definition of an angle direction of a television camera.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram of a correspondence table between conference attendees and angle information of their positions.

FIG. 7 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional video camera control system for video conference.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11A to 11E Switch 12 Electric zoom lens 13 Electric rotating head 14 TV camera 15, 16 Control device A to E

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A storage means for storing the position information of each attendee of a video conference based on the position of a television camera in accordance with an external command, and provided at a hand of each person corresponding to each of said attendees. And a means for reading the position information of the person corresponding to the pressed switch from the storage means in response to the pressing of the switch, and the television camera according to the read position information. Is configured to control the pan and zoom amounts of the attendees in a line
A video camera control system for a video conference in which the video camera is arranged vertically , wherein when a plurality of pieces of the location information are read in response to the depression of the switch, the plurality of pieces of the location information are respectively added to the plurality of pieces of the location information. Among the corresponding pan amounts of the TV camera, the intermediate angle θ between the one having the largest absolute value of the clockwise angle centered on the front direction of the TV camera and the one having the largest absolute value of the counterclockwise angle is the television camera is controlled so as to face, (the TV turtle
The length of the perpendicular dropped from the la to the row of attendees) / (cos
A TV camera control system for a video conference, wherein the zoom amount is controlled according to the distance calculated in θ) .