JP3514367B2 - Auxiliary equipment for television camera operation - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electric type television camera (the electric type is not a cameraman who directly moves a lens of the television camera through a mechanism to perform zooming, but is driven by a motor. The auxiliary device for operating a television camera is improved so that one cameraman can perform operations for adjusting zoom, focus and iris in addition to pan and tilt operations.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a subject is photographed by an electric type television camera, a so-called pan / tilt operation is performed in which the camera is shaken in the horizontal and vertical directions following the subject portion. Is not limited to this, and operations for adjusting the zoom, focus and iris (hereinafter referred to as three-element operation) are also required. However, in the past, it was difficult for one cameraman to perform the above-mentioned three-element operation, so an assistant was used.

[0003]

To explain more concretely, in the past, in close-up photography of an old document or the like, the cameraman performs pan and tilt operations in order to adjust the photography position to the object. It is necessary to perform the operations to adjust the zoom, focus and iris at the same time. In this case, of course, it is impossible for one cameraman to perform all operations, so auxiliary personnel are attached, but operations for adjusting zoom, focus and iris should be performed in coordination with pan and tilt operations. However, it took a lot of time to take the picture because it had to be retaken many times, and the footage taken was also unsatisfactory.

Further, in addition to pan and tilt operations, there is a method of using a shot memory as a method of enabling three-element operation by one cameraman. This is to store the zoom, focus, and iris values of a certain shot (shooting screen) in memory in advance, and to shoot using the stored values. Also, the iris value was fixed to a specific value, and it was not possible to take excellent images by taking advantage of the cameraman's sensitivity.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems by enabling a cameraman to operate an electric type television camera including three-element operation, and moreover, it is suitable for the purpose of photography. An object of the present invention is to provide an auxiliary device for operating a television camera, which is appropriately configured so that an image can be taken in a short time.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, an auxiliary device for operating a television camera according to the present invention presets a shooting start time point, a shooting end time point, and an arbitrary number of attention time points in between. However, from the operation information of the three-element operation at each time point, a straight line between adjacent time points or an appropriate curve, for example, interpolation operation information interpolated by the Newton method is created and stored in the memory, and at the time of shooting. Depending on the operating position of the take operation unit from the start time to the end time,
The operation information at the time of interest and the interpolation operation information created as described above are read out and given to the television camera as control information, so that the camera operation suitable for the shooting intention can be realized.

That is, the auxiliary device for operating the television camera according to the present invention includes the television camera operation information at the first time point and the second time point in the time zone during which continuous shooting is performed, The interpolation operation information of the television camera obtained by the interpolation between the first time point and the second time point is stored in association with the step position dividing the first time point and the second time point. A memory, a take operation device that specifies the step position, and operation information of the television camera or interpolation operation information of the television camera that corresponds to the step position specified by the take operation device, read from the memory, and CP supplied to the control input terminal of the television camera
It is characterized by comprising at least U.

The auxiliary device for operating a television camera according to the present invention is the first time point and the second time point.
When the time point of is set to a plurality of time points of interest between the start and end of shooting by the television camera,
Of the two points of time adjacent to each other, which include the points of time of starting and ending of the photographing, among the plurality of points of interest, the points of time before and after the point of time are respectively characterized.

Further, in the auxiliary device for operating a television camera according to the present invention, the operation information or interpolation operation information of the television camera is at least one operation information or interpolation operation information of zoom, focus and iris. It is characterized by being.

In the auxiliary device for operating the television camera according to the present invention, the interpolation operation information is the first information.
It is characterized in that it is interpolation operation information obtained by linear interpolation or curve interpolation using both operation information at the time point and the operation information at the second time point.

Further, in the auxiliary device for operating the television camera according to the present invention, the operation information of the television camera at the first time point and the second time point in the time zone during which continuous photographing is performed is the above-mentioned first information. Memory stored in correspondence with the step positions corresponding to the first time point and the second time point, a take operation device for designating the step position, and the television at the first time point and the second time point. The operation information of the camera is read from the memory, the interpolation operation information of the television camera corresponding to the step position designated by the take operation device is calculated using the read operation information, and the readout television camera Control information of the television camera or the interpolation operation information of the television camera obtained by the calculation. The CPU supplies the force terminal is characterized in that comprising at least equipped.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention will be described below in detail based on the embodiments of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings. As described above, the auxiliary device for operating the television camera according to the present invention, regarding the operation of each element (zoom, focus, and iris) of the electric-type television camera, the start time and the end time of shooting, and any time between them. A predetermined number of time points of interest are set in advance, and from the operation information at each of these time points, a straight line between adjacent time points, or interpolation information that is interpolated with an appropriate curve is created and stored in the memory,
At the time of shooting, corresponding to the operation position of the take operation unit from the start time to the end time, the operation information at the start time, the end time, and the attention time of the shooting and the interpolation operation information created above are read out, and this is used as control information on the television. By giving it to the John camera, it is possible to operate the camera to suit the shooting intention.

A specific embodiment of the apparatus according to the present invention will be shown and described below. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of an auxiliary device for operating a television camera according to the present invention. Although the present embodiment is configured to perform the zoom operation and the focus operation among the element operations described above, it is of course possible to perform the operation including the iris operation.

In FIG. 1, 1 is an auxiliary device for operating a television camera according to the present invention (a range surrounded by a chain line), 2 is an electric type television camera, 3 is a zoom operator, and 4 is a focus operation. Bowl, 5 is CPU, 6
Is a zoom position A / D converter, 7 is a memory, 8 is a focus A / D converter, 9 is a take operator, 10 is a take position A / D converter, 11 is a zoom drive D / A converter, and 12 Is a focus drive DA converter.

Next, the operation will be described. In the present embodiment, the operation information of the camera 2 at the start and end of shooting by the electric type television camera 2 is stored in the memory 7, and the interpolation operation information by linear interpolation is calculated based on this. For the first time, the auxiliary device 1 according to the present invention can be used for shooting in the state of being stored in the memory 7 again.

First, both of the changeover switches K1 and K2 in FIG. 1 are set to the set side (set mode).
To In this state, the television camera 2 aims at the subject at the start of shooting, the zoom operation device 3 adjusts the screen size to a desired size, and the focus operation device 4 adjusts the focus. When this adjustment is completed, switch S1
Turn on. As a result, a signal indicating the start time is supplied to the CPU 5, and the zoom operation information supplied to the CPU 5 via the path of the zoom operation device 3-television camera 2-zoom position A-D converter 6 is stored in the memory 7. Remember. Similarly, the focus operation unit 4-focus A-D
The focus operation information supplied to the CPU 5 via the path of the converter 8 is also stored in the memory 7.

Next, the television camera 2 aims at the subject at the end of shooting, and the zoom operator 3 again adjusts the screen size to a desired size and the focus operator 4 adjusts the focus. When this adjustment is completed, switch S
Turn 2 on. As a result, a signal indicating the end time is supplied to the CPU 5, and the zoom operation information and the focus operation information at the end time are stored in the memory 7 via the same route as the start time.

After the above processing is completed, the CPU 5 stores the operation information at the start and end of photographing stored in the memory 7 (actually, there is both operation information of zoom and focus. The data at the start of shooting is D _s and the data at the end is D _e.
Is read out and divided into N (N is preferably a sufficiently large number exceeding 255) steps, and the value SV for one step is obtained by the following equation (1).

[Equation 1]

Next, the CPU 5 calculates the control voltage EC _n for each step from the calculated value SV for one step by the following equation (2).

## EQU2 ## EC _n = D _s + SV × n (2) Here, n = 0 _, 1 _, 2 _, ---, N-1. CPU5
Is a control voltage for each step related to zoom and focus obtained by the calculation of equation (2), that is, interpolation operation information as a table for N steps, respectively, in the memory 7
Remember.

From the above, the operation information at the start of shooting, N
Since all the -1 interpolation operation information and the operation information at the time of shooting end are stored in the memory 7, the zoom and focus operations during shooting will be performed using this stored information.

Here, changeover switches K1 and K2
To the take side (take mode). In this state, the auxiliary device for operating the television camera according to the present invention is in a usable state (to be exact, a usable state).

The take operation device 9 shown in FIG.
Is a tap-type voltage divider that divides into N equal parts and outputs. In the take mode, this performs zoom and focus operations instead of the zoom operator 3 and the focus operator 4. The CPU 5 uses the take position AD converter 1
It is determined what step the output of the take operating device 9 supplied via 0 is at the operating position.

When it is judged that it is the k-th step, the CPU 5 causes the memory 7 to operate information corresponding to k steps for zooming and focusing (this operation information is calculated in advance by the equation (2), and is stored in the memory 7). (Stored in) and read the zoom drive DA converter 1 respectively.
1 and changeover switch K1, focus drive D-A
It is supplied to the television camera 2 via the converter 12 and the changeover switch K2.

In the television camera 2, the zoom drive mechanism and the focus drive mechanism are set in accordance with the supplied zoom and focus operation information corresponding to the k steps.
Each is controlled to realize a desired desired zoom position and focus state.

Whether or not the desired desired zoom position and focus state have been reached is first determined by the zoom operation.
A zoom position output signal indicating the zoom position from the television camera 2 is sent to the CPU via the zoom position AD converter 6.
5 and is confirmed by comparing the supplied signal with the zoom operation information read from the memory 7 for the zoom operation.

On the other hand, in the case of the focus operation, since the television camera 2 does not output the signal indicating the focus state of the camera, confirmation processing such as zooming is not performed (see FIG. 1). The reason is that zoom is valid at all its zoom positions, whereas focus is
This is because there is only one point in focus.

As described above, when the take operation device 9 is moved from the start time point to the end time point of the operation position, it is possible to always shoot an image having the intended size and focus. In addition, when using a lens in which the driving method is different between zoom and focus, it is needless to say that control matching the lens used must be carried out based on the same idea.

In the above-described embodiment, for the sake of simplicity of description, an example in which the present invention is carried out by deciding only two points, that is, the start point and the end point of photographing, is shown. It goes without saying that a plurality of time points of interest can be included in the period. When there is one time point of interest, the time points adjacent to each other are equally divided into N / 2 to obtain N steps (N is preferably a large number exceeding 255), and when there are two time points of interest. Is divided into N / 3 equal parts to obtain N steps. The linear interpolation shown here is generally used only at the start time and the end time, but not only linear interpolation but also appropriate curve interpolation such as Newton's method when the time of interest is included. Good.

Further, in the auxiliary device for operating the television camera according to the present invention described above, the control voltage EC _n (n = 0, n = 0, 0) for each step calculated by the above equations (1) and (2). 1, 2, ---, N-1) are stored in the memory and read out at the time of shooting to operate the television camera. But the CPU
If the calculation speed of is sufficiently high, the operation information at the start and end of shooting used for calculation (each
Only the data D _s , _De ) are stored, the control voltage for each step is calculated in real time at the time of actual shooting based on the stored data, and the television camera is determined based on the calculation result. It can also be operated.

[0030]

According to the present invention, a plurality of time points (points of interest) to be imaged are set from 0 between the start time point and the end time point of shooting that changes by pan and tilt operations, and the size, focus and CPU status of iris, size between target points, focus and iris status
The result of interpolation using is stored in memory, and in actual shooting, by operating the take operation unit, all elements including zoom, focus and iris operation from the start point to the end point of shooting. The operation can be performed smoothly, and an image suitable for the shooting intention can be shot in a short time.

Further, when the real-time calculation and the real-time operation are performed depending on the high speed of the calculation speed of the CPU without storing the interpolated result in the memory, the memory capacity of the memory is greatly reduced. Can be made.

Further, conventionally, the three-element operation of zoom, focus and iris has been performed with the help of another person or with a shot memory. However, according to the present invention, the shooting is continuously performed from the start point to the end point. Since any desired three-element operation can be performed by one cameraman, an excellent image can be taken by utilizing the sensitivity of the cameraman.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of an auxiliary device for operating a television camera according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Auxiliary device for operating a television camera 2 Electric type television camera 3 Zoom operation device 4 Focus operation device 5 CPU 6 Zoom position AD converter 7 memory 8 Focus A-D converter 9 Take operation device 10 Take position AD converter 11 Zoom drive DA converter 12 Focus drive DA converter K1, K2 selector switch S1, S2 switch E Reference voltage

Front Page Continuation (56) References JP-A 1-256876 (JP, A) JP-A 1-248876 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 5 / 232

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. The first in a time zone in which continuous shooting is performed
Operation information of the television camera at the time point and the second time point and interpolation operation information of the television camera obtained by interpolation between the first time point and the second time point are the second inter-time to correspond to the stearyl <br/>-up position divides are stored in memory, take manipulator for designating the step position, and corresponding to the step position specified by the take-manipulator Operation information of the television camera or the television
CP supplies interpolation operation information to the control input terminal of the read out <br/> said television cameras from the memory of Yonkamera
An auxiliary device for operating a television camera, characterized by comprising at least U. 2. The auxiliary device for operating a television camera according to claim 1, wherein the first time point and the second time point are between start and end of photographing by the television camera. A television characterized in that when a plurality of time points of interest are set, the time point is a previous time point and a later time point of two adjacent time points including the start time point and the end time point of the photographing at the plurality of time point points of interest, respectively. Auxiliary device for operating John camera. 3. The auxiliary device for operating a television camera according to claim 1, wherein the operation information or interpolation operation information of the television camera is at least one of zoom, focus and iris operation information or An auxiliary device for operating a television camera, which is interpolation operation information. 4. The auxiliary device for operating a television camera according to claim 1, wherein the interpolation operation information includes both operation information at the first time point and the second time point. An auxiliary device for operating a television camera, which is interpolation operation information obtained by using linear interpolation or curve interpolation. 5. The first in a time zone in which continuous shooting is performed
And the operation information of the television camera at the second time point corresponds to the first time point and the second time point.
Memory stored respectively in correspondence to the step position, read take manipulator for designating the step position, and the operation information of the first time point and the television camera at the second time point from the memory, the The read operation information is used to calculate interpolation operation information of the television camera corresponding to the step position specified by the take operation device , and the read operation information of the television camera or the calculation is performed. An auxiliary device for operating a television camera, comprising at least a CPU for supplying the obtained interpolation operation information of the television camera to a control input terminal of the television camera.