JPH0760241B2 - Automatic platform - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a camera for photography,
This is related to an automatic camera platform used for video cameras.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 10 shows an automatic pan / tilt head of this type. The automatic pan / head 10 includes a box-shaped base 11, a box-shaped rotating body 12 and a U-shaped support body 13, and is provided with a support. The camera is placed on the body 13 and the fixing screw 14 is screwed and fixed to the tripod screw hole. The rotating body 12 and the supporting body 13 are rotationally driven in the horizontal direction and the supporting body 13 in the vertical direction by a motor driving mechanism (not shown) provided in the rotating body 12. A light receiving unit 15 and an LED 16 as a light source are mounted on the rotating body 12, and the LED 16 projects light to the front area of the camera, and the light receiving unit 15 receives light from the subject side.

Further, in order to reflect the light from the LED 16 to the light receiving portion 15, a reflecting mirror 17 is arranged on a part of the subject as shown in FIG. The reflecting mirror 17 is a mirror having a recursive property, and is, for example, one in which a large number of conic cube prisms are arranged on a plane or one in which a glass bead sphere is applied. Such a reflector 17
Assuming that the distance L between the light receiving unit 15 and the reflecting mirror 17 and the distance between the optical axis of the objective lens 18 of the light receiving unit 15 and the center of the LED 16 are D, the relationship between them becomes L >> D.
The reflected light of the light from 16 enters the objective lens 18 which is close to the LED 16. A photoelectric sensor 19 that receives the above-mentioned reflected light and outputs a photoelectric conversion signal is arranged on the back side of the objective lens 18, and a control circuit provided in this photoelectric sensor 19 causes the direction of the light received by the light receiving unit 15 to be directed. Is determined by the photoelectric conversion signal, and the motor drive mechanism provided in the rotating body 12 is controlled. As a result, the rotating body 12 and the supporting body 13 rotate in the direction of the light received by the light receiving unit 15. Therefore, if a camera is attached to the support 13 and the light from the light source of the automatic platform 10 is reflected by the reflecting mirror 17 provided on the object side, the platform rotates in the direction of the light received by the light receiving unit 15. , It is possible to direct the shooting direction of the camera to the subject.

The automatic tripod head 10 thus constructed is shown in FIG.
It can be used for a code reading camera (image analysis device) of the code plate 20 as shown in FIG. This code board 2
0 is, for example, for managing entry and exit of the truck to and from a predetermined place, and is attached to the truck together with the reflecting mirror 17. The code plate 20 is binary data in which the shaded portion is black and the other portions are white.
Since the automatic platform 10 turns according to the reflected light from the reflecting mirror 17, the code reading camera directs the track following the running and stopping of the truck, and the code reading of the code plate 20 is performed. The automatic camera platform 10 as described above has been developed by the inventors of the present patent application, and has already been published in the 1990 patent application No. 40619.
A patent application has been filed as No. 0.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The automatic pan head 10 described above.
In this case, there are the following two problems. A first problem is that when there is a reflector on the back side of the subject and the distance L between the light receiving unit 15 provided in the automatic platform 10 and the subject is short, the reflected light received by the light receiving unit 15 is a reflecting mirror. It may not be possible to determine whether the light is from 17 or the light from a reflector.

FIG. 13 shows the relationship between the reflected light and the light receiving portion 15. When the reflecting object 21 is on the back side of the subject, the LED 16
The light projected by is diffusely reflected by the reflector 21,
Reflected light 17a reflected by the reflector 17 and the reflector 2
The reflected lights 21a and 21b reflected by 1 enter the photoelectric sensors 19a and 19b through the objective lens 18. At this time, the shorter the distance L between the light receiving unit 15 and the subject, the stronger the reflected lights 21a and 21b from the reflector 21, and as a result, the photoelectric output of the photoelectric sensor 19 increases, and this photoelectric output is captured by an amplifier or the like. When processing, amplifier saturation occurs.

FIG. 14 shows the relationship between the photoelectric output and the distance L, P shows the photoelectric output of the photoelectric sensor 19b, and Q shows the photoelectric output of the photoelectric sensor 19a. At a short distance, the above-mentioned amplifier saturation, etc. Causes P and Q to have the same output,
It becomes impossible to discriminate the light of only the reflecting mirror 17.

The second problem is that, when the automatic platform 10 is used for a code reading camera, if the light projected by the LED 16 is reflected by a strong retroreflecting mirror 17, the code reading camera is used. The pulsed light of the LED 16 may enter and the pattern image on the code board 20 may not be displayed accurately, which makes it difficult to read the code number.

In view of the above situation, the present invention prevents the influence of the reflected light of the reflector 21 when the reflector 21 is present on the back side of the reflecting mirror 17, and also at the time of taking a picture or reading the code. Sometimes, the purpose is to develop an automatic platform that can turn off the irradiation light temporarily and read the above code number accurately.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides, as a first invention, a light source adapted to project a front area of a camera on a camera platform for turning a photographing direction of the camera. A light receiving section for receiving the reflected light of a retroreflecting mirror provided on the object side, and a photoelectric sensor provided in the light receiving section and having a four-sided light receiving sensitivity section adjacent to each other in the shape of a square and outputting a photoelectric conversion signal. , A drive mechanism that drives the camera so that the camera shooting direction is directed to the subject in response to the photoelectric conversion signal, and a control that adjusts and controls the brightness of the light source so that the total sum of the photoelectric conversion signals of each of the light receiving sensitivity sections is substantially constant. We propose an automatic pan head characterized by comprising an optical device.
As a second invention, a light source configured to project the front area of the camera on a camera platform that turns the shooting direction of the camera, and a light receiving unit that receives the reflected light of a recursive reflecting mirror provided on the subject side. , A drive mechanism that drives the camera so that the camera shooting direction is directed to the subject in response to the photoelectric conversion signal output from the light receiving unit, and outputs a capture signal when the shooting direction is directed to the subject, and the capture signal captures the camera. An automatic pan head characterized by comprising a capture signal generating circuit for operating or shifting to a photographing operation and an irradiation light extinguishing means for extinguishing the light source in response to the capture signal is proposed.

[0011]

According to the first aspect of the invention, the light projected from the light source is reflected by the reflecting mirror on the object side and received by the light receiving section. The incident light on the light receiving section is received by one of the four light receiving sensitivity sections according to the current position of the subject, and the photoelectric conversion signal of the received light receiving section is output from the light receiving section. Then, the drive mechanism responds to this photoelectric conversion signal to control the rotation of the automatic platform. At this time, if there is a reflective object on the back side of the subject, the reflected light from the reflective object is also received by the light receiving unit together with the reflected light from the reflecting mirror. Then, the photoelectric conversion signals output from the respective light receiving sensitivity sections are taken into the dimmer to calculate the total sum of the photoelectric conversion signals, and the dimmer adjusts the brightness of the light source so that the total sum of the photoelectric conversion signals becomes almost constant. Control. Particularly when the distance between the light receiving portion and the reflecting object is short, the reflected light from the reflecting object also becomes strong, but since the brightness of the light source is weakened by the light control device, the reflected light from the reflecting mirror can be easily discriminated.

In the second aspect of the invention, as described above, the capture signal is generated when the automatic camera platform turns according to the output of the light receiving unit and the photographing direction is toward the subject. This captured signal is supplied to the camera, and the camera performs a shooting operation. At the same time that the above-mentioned capture signal is supplied to the camera, it is also supplied to the irradiation light extinguishing means, and the irradiation light extinguishing means turns off the light source before the photographing operation of the camera.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, the same members as those in the conventional example are designated by the same reference numerals. FIG. 1 shows the internal mechanism of an automatic camera platform 100 of the present invention, which has the same shape as the conventional automatic camera platform shown in FIG.

In this figure, 11 is a box-shaped base.
Similarly, reference numeral 12 denotes a box-shaped rotating body, and 13 denotes a U-shaped support body. A camera is placed on the support body 13 and a fixing screw 14 is screwed into a tripod screw hole and fixed.

A plurality of batteries 22 are housed in the base 11. The base 11 may be provided with AC power supply circuit components such as a transformer and a rectifier. Also,
A spur gear 23 is fixed to the center of the upper portion of the base 11,
A lead wire is inserted into the hollow shaft portion of the flat gear 23. The gear portion of the spur gear 23 is inserted in the rotating body 12, and is driven by the idle gear 24 and the pinion gear 25.
Is connected to the switch 26. Then, by rotating the motor 26 in the normal or reverse direction, the rotating body 12 rotates in the horizontal direction around the spur gear 23. The rotational movement amount of the rotating body 12 in the horizontal direction is detected by the potentiometer 27.

On both sides of the rotary body 12, a rotary shaft 28 and a wheel gear 29 provided on the support body 13 are provided so as to serve as supporting shafts, and the wheel gear 29 is used as the worm gear 3.
0 and reduction gears 31 and 32 are connected to a motor 33 having a pinion gear. When the motor 33 rotates normally or reversely, the driving force of the motor 33 is reduced by the reduction gear 3.
It is transmitted to the worm gear 30 via 1 and 32 so that the support 13 can rotate in the vertical direction with the wheel gear 29 and the rotary shaft 28 as the supporting shafts. The rotational movement amount of the support 13 in the vertical direction is detected by the potentiometer 34.

A printed circuit board 35 is provided in the support 13, and various electronic circuits 3 are provided on the printed circuit board 35.
6 is mounted, the light receiving unit 15 and the LE as the light source are mounted.
D16 is installed. The LED 16 is adapted to project light to the front area of the camera, and the light receiving section 15 is adapted to receive light from the subject side of the camera. Then, in order to reflect the light from the LED 16 to the light receiving portion 15, as shown in FIG.
Is placed on a part of the subject.

The light receiving portion 15 is the objective lens 1 as in the conventional example.
8 is composed of a photoelectric sensor 19 for receiving the light passing therethrough, and the photosensitivity portions of this photoelectric sensor 19 are arranged in a square shape adjacent to each other in a square shape, as shown in FIG. -It is divided into four into 4th light receiving sensitivity parts 37-40.
The photoelectric conversion signals of the first to fourth systems are output from the first to fourth light receiving sensitivity units 37 to 40, and the respective photoelectric conversion signals are amplified by the amplifiers 41 to 44 and output. .

The output of the amplifier 41 is supplied to the amplifiers 45 and 46 via the resistors R1 and R2, the output of the amplifier 42 is supplied to the amplifiers 46 and 47 through the resistors R3 and R4, and the output of the amplifier 43 is connected to the resistor R5. , An amplifier 47 via R6,
48, and the output of the amplifier 44 is supplied to the amplifiers 48 and 45 via the resistors R7 and R8. Then, the vertical drive signal is output to the output terminal Y of the amplifier 45, the horizontal drive signal is output to the output terminal X of the amplifier 46, and the vertical drive signal is output to the output terminal -Y of the amplifier 47 in the same manner as above. A horizontal drive signal is output to the output terminal -X of the amplifier 48 in the same manner as above.

When light is incident only on the first light receiving sensitivity section 37, this photoelectric conversion signal is amplified by the amplifier 41 and then again by the amplifiers 45 and 46, respectively, and the horizontal drive signal for normal rotation and the normal drive signal for normal rotation are obtained. Converted to vertical drive signal. Further, when light is incident on the light receiving sensitivity sections 37 and 38, the photoelectric conversion signals become the horizontal drive signal of the X terminal, the vertical drive signal of the Y terminal, and the vertical drive signal of the -Y terminal.

Therefore, when the signal is Y> -Y, it is a vertical drive signal for normal rotation, when it is a signal of Y <-Y, it is a vertical drive signal for reverse rotation, and when it is a signal of X> -X, it is for normal rotation. When the horizontal drive signal is a signal of X <-X, the horizontal drive signal for reverse rotation is used. Then, the motor 2 described above is generated by the signal from the drive signal generating circuit shown in FIG.
The drive of 6 and 33 is controlled.

Specific configurations of the vertical drive circuit and the horizontal drive circuit for controlling the drive of the motors 26 and 33 are shown in FIGS. As shown in FIG. 3, the vertical drive circuit includes potentiometers 34 and 49, adder 50, analog switches 51 and 52, inverter 53, differential amplifier 54, transistors 55 and 56, diodes 57 and 58, and the like. Resistor R9
To R17, the drive of the motor 33 is controlled by the operation of the transistors 55 and 56.

The horizontal drive circuit is, as shown in FIG. 4, potentiometers 27 and 59, an adder 60, and an analog switch 6.
1, 62 and resistors R18 to R26 are provided, and the driving of the motor 26 is controlled by the operation of the transistors 65 and 66.

That is, when the low signal is input to the terminals S1 and S2, the analog switches 52 and 62 are input.
Are both ON, the levels of terminals Y and X are H
The differential amplifiers 54, 6 when IGH, -Y, -X are Low
The output of 4 becomes the difference between the input signals, and the transistors 55, 65 are turned on by this difference voltage, and the motors 26, 3
Both 3 are driven in the normal direction.

On the contrary, when the levels of the terminals -Y and -X are High and the levels of the terminals Y and X are Low, the transistors 56 and 66 are turned on so that the motors 26 and 33 are driven in reverse. It has become.

When the levels of the terminals Y, -Y, X, -X become the same, that is, when the reflected light from the reflecting mirror enters the center of the photoelectric sensor 19, the respective motors 2 are used.
The driving of Nos. 6 and 33 is stopped.

Further, when the photographing operation of the camera is completed, the terminal S
When a High signal is input to S1 and S2 as an operation completion signal, both analog switches 51 and 61 are turned ON, and the potentiometers 27 and 34 for returning the automatic platform 100 to the home position are operated. Signal is adder 5
It is supplied from 0 and 60 to the transistors 55, 56, 65 and 66 side through the analog switches 51 and 61. Therefore, the voltage corresponding to the positions of the potentiometers 27 and 34 and the potentiometers 49 and 59 for the manual is added by the adder 5.
0 and 60 are added, and each motor 2 is added according to the added value.
The rotations of 6 and 33 are controlled, and the rotational position of the automatic platform 100 is returned to the designated position, for example, the start position.

In FIG. 5, the light reflected from the reflecting mirror 17 is received by the light receiving unit 1.
5 is a circuit for outputting a capture signal when the camera properly captures an object by being incident on the central portion of the photoelectric sensor 16 of 5, and this circuit is an OR gate 69, a buffer 70,
Wind comparators 71, 72, AND gate 73,
The delay circuit is composed of a resistor R and a capacitor C. The OR gate 69 has terminals Y, -Y, X, -X.
The signal from is input and the window comparators 71, 7
Signals from terminals A and B of the horizontal drive circuit and the vertical drive circuit are input to 2.

When a signal from any of the terminals is input to the OR gate 69, this signal is sent to the delay circuit and the buffer 70.
Is input to the AND gate 73 via. At this time, the signals from the terminals A and B are input to the AND gate 73 via the window comparators 71 and 72, and when the condition of the logical product is satisfied, the AND gate 73 outputs a capture signal.

This capture signal illuminates a capture indicator lamp 74 (FIG. 2) which indicates that the camera has properly captured the subject. The captured signal is a camera release signal. That is, this release signal is sent to the camera through the connection terminal 75 (FIG. 2) for connecting to the camera to operate the camera.

In the wind comparators 71 and 72, the input voltage at the terminals A and B is at a zero level, and the motors 26 and 33 are driven in a voltage range in which they cannot be rotated in either forward or reverse directions or at an extremely low speed. It is set to the driving voltage range.

FIG. 6 shows irradiation light extinguishing means for extinguishing the LED 16 as a light source by inputting the above-mentioned capture signal. When the capture signal P is input to the switching circuit 78, the switching circuit 78 causes the current from the power supply 79 to flow. Shut off the LED
Turn off 16 The turning off of the LED 16 is performed while the capture signal P is input to the switching circuit 78.

In addition, in this automatic platform 100, the light receiving section 1
The distance between 5 and the reflector 17 is short, and the subject (reflector 17)
When a reflector is present on the back side of the, a light control device for preventing the influence of the reflected light of the reflector on the back side is provided.

FIG. 7 is a circuit for preventing it from being impossible to determine whether the reflected light of the light from the LED 16 is the light from the reflecting mirror 17 or the light from a reflector, and the resistors R27 to R27.
It is configured by including an R32, an adder 76, and a current adjusting circuit 77.

Signals from terminals Y, -Y, X, and -X are input to the adder 76 via resistors R27 to R30, and the added value of the signals input from the terminals is added via the adder 76. Is input to the current adjusting circuit 77 and the current of the LED 16 is adjusted. That is, the light receiving unit 15
When the photoelectric conversion current of the photoelectric sensor 19 of the
The position of the reflecting mirror 17 can be easily detected by adjusting 16 so that the amplifier is not saturated.

In the above structure, when the camera is fixed to the support 13 and the light from the LED 16 is projected, the LED 1
The light from 6 is reflected by the reflecting mirror 17, and this reflected light enters the light receiving unit 15. The incident light is incident on one of the light receiving sensitivity sections of the photoelectric sensor 19. At this time, when the light is incident on the first light receiving sensitivity portion 37, a horizontal drive signal and a vertical drive signal are output by the photoelectric conversion signals from the terminals X and Y, and both the motors 26 and 33 are normally driven to rotate the rotor. 12
In the horizontal direction and the support 13 in the vertical direction.

The rotation of the motors 26 and 33 causes the automatic pan head 100 to rotate, so that the photographing direction of the camera faces the subject, and the reflected light from the reflecting mirror 17 is reflected by the photoelectric sensor 19 (first to fourth light reception). When the light enters the central portion of the sensitive portions 37-40), the outputs of the terminals Y, -Y, X, -X become the same level, and the driving of the motors 26, 33 is stopped. And
At this time, a capture signal is output from the AND gate 73, the capture signal illuminates the capture display lamp 74, and the irradiation light extinguishing means already described turns off the LED 16.
The camera performs a photographing operation using the captured signal as a release signal.

When the camera fixed to the support 13 is a remote control camera, it is convenient to use the operation tool 80 as shown in FIG. The operation tool 80 includes a reflector 81 similar to the reflector 17, and a signal generator 8 that generates a control signal by pressing the operation button 82.
3 and 3.

This operation tool 80 is arranged on the subject side, reflects the light from the LED 16 of the automatic platform 100, and turns the automatic platform 100 as described above. Then, after confirming that the photographing direction of the camera is toward the subject and the capture display lamp 74 is turned on, the operation button 82 is pressed to operate the remote controller.
A camera control signal is transmitted to release the camera.

When the camera fixed to the support 13 does not have a remote control, the operation tool 80 is used to emit an optical pulse signal.
Then, a light receiver for receiving the light pulse signal is provided in the automatic platform 100, and a release signal corresponding to the output of the light receiver is supplied to the camera through the connection terminal 75.

The above-described automatic platform 100 can be used for the code reading camera of the code plate 20 shown as a conventional example in FIG. However, the code plate 84 is, as shown in FIG. 9, the code plate portion 84a in the middle and the reflecting mirror 17a in the periphery.
Alternatively, the code plate and the reflecting mirror may be integrated.

As can be seen from the above-described embodiments, the automatic pan / tilt head according to the present invention is not limited to a normal camera pan / tilt head, and management of access to and operation of vehicles such as trucks, automatic sorting of luggage,
It can be used as a camera platform used for product control and quality control on a belt conveyor, input device for image analysis of moving images, and as a support for adjusting the direction of the display surface of OA equipment. It can be used as an automatic platform.

[0043]

As described above, according to the automatic pan head of the present invention, the brightness of the light source is adjusted by the light control device even if there is a reflector on the back side of the reflecting mirror that reflects the light projected from the light source. Therefore, the reflected light from the reflecting mirror can be identified without being affected by the reflected light of the reflecting object. Further, since the irradiation light is turned off at the time of taking a picture or reading the code, the code number can be accurately read without the projected light affecting the image.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an internal mechanism of an automatic platform according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram of a drive signal generation circuit.

FIG. 3 is a vertical drive circuit diagram.

FIG. 4 is a horizontal drive circuit diagram.

FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram of a capture signal generation circuit for a subject.

FIG. 6 is a light-off circuit diagram as irradiation light light-off means.

FIG. 7 is a dimming circuit diagram for adjusting a current of an LED.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing an operating tool with a reflecting mirror, which is equipped with a remote control signal transmission mechanism of the camera.

FIG. 9 is a simplified front view of a code plate integrated with a reflecting mirror.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a conventional automatic platform.

FIG. 11 is a circuit diagram for explaining a relationship between a reflecting mirror and a light receiving unit.

FIG. 12 is a schematic front view of a reflecting mirror and a code plate that are separately configured.

FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining a relationship between a light receiving unit and reflected light.

FIG. 14 is a diagram for explaining the relationship between photoelectric output and distance.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Base 12 Rotating Body 13 Support 15 Light Receiving Section 16 LED 17 Reflecting Mirror 19 Photoelectric Sensor 37, 38, 39, 40 Light Receiving Sensitive Section 76 Adder 77 Current Adjusting Circuit 78 Switching Circuit 79 Power Supply

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A light source adapted to project a front area of the camera on a camera platform for turning the photographing direction of the camera, and a light receiving section for receiving reflected light of a recursive reflecting mirror provided on the object side. A photoelectric sensor that has a four-sided photosensitivity section adjacent to each other in the shape of a square and outputs a photoelectric conversion signal, and drives the camera so that the shooting direction of the camera is directed toward the subject in response to the photoelectric conversion signal. An automatic pan head comprising: a drive mechanism for controlling the light source; and a light control device for adjusting and controlling the brightness of the light source so that the sum of photoelectric conversion signals of each of the light receiving sensitivity sections is substantially constant. 2. A camera platform for turning the photographing direction of the camera, a light source for projecting a region in front of the camera, and a light receiving section for receiving reflected light of a recursive reflecting mirror provided on the subject side. A driving mechanism that drives the camera so that the shooting direction is directed to the subject in response to the photoelectric conversion signal output from the light receiving unit, and outputs a capture signal when the shooting direction faces the subject, and the capture signal causes the camera to perform a shooting operation. An automatic pan head comprising: a capture signal generation circuit for switching to a shooting operation or a shooting light extinguishing means for turning off the light source in response to the capture signal.