Dual directional microphone video camera having operator voice cancellation and control

• US 5,548,335 A
• Filed: 06/07/1995
• Issued: 08/20/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/1990
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Inventors: Morita, Masaki, Mitsuhashi, Yasuo
• Primary Examiner(s): GARBER, WENDY RAE
• Application Number:
  US08/478,768
• Time in Patent Office: 440 Days
• Field of Search: 348/373, 348/375, 348/376, 348/207, 348/232, 381/94, 381/26, 381/92, 381/62, 381/111, 381/110, 381/91
• US Class Current: 348/373
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/772 the recording apparatus and the television camera being placed in the same enclosure
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/005 for combining the signals of two or more microphones specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407

Abstract

A one-piece type video camera comprises a device for taking the image of a subject, a device for collecting the voice and a device for magnetically recording the image and voice, all of which are built in the camera as one piece. The voice collecting device includes a microphone for collecting the voice incoming from the subject and another microphone for collecting the operator'"'"'s voice. The operator'"'"'s voice is subtracted from the voice incoming from the subject such that only the latter will be recorded. The operator'"'"'s voice is utilized in the voice recognition technique so as to control the entire system of the video camera. In a preferred embodiment, the microphones are directional microphones.

Claims

1. A video camera including an optical system and capturing a video image of a subject comprising:

a first directional microphone having a directivity toward the subject, collecting sounds developed by the subject and converting the sounds into a first sound signal;

a second directional microphone having a directivity oriented generally toward an operator, collecting sounds from the operator and converting the sounds into said second sound signal;

sound generating means, operatively connected to said first and second directional microphones, for generating a third sound signal based on a difference between said first signal and said second signal; and

recording means, operatively connected to said sound generating means, for recording said third sound signal and for recording image data;

wherein said sound generating means includes,

a first envelope detecting circuit for detecting the envelope of the first sound signal,

a second envelope detecting circuit for detecting the envelope of the second sound signal,

subtractor means for subtracting an output of said second envelope detecting circuit from an output of said first envelope detecting circuit to output a gain control signal, and

a gain control circuit modifying the level of said first sound signal in dependence on said gain control signal.

2. The video camera as defined in claim 1, wherein said subtractor means is an operational amplifier for receiving the output of said first envelope detecting circuit at a non-inverting input terminal thereof and the output of said second envelope detecting circuit at an inverting input terminal of said operational amplifier;

said operational amplifier forming said gain control output signal by amplifying a difference between the outputs of said first and second envelope detecting circuits.

3. The video camera as defined in claim 1, wherein said gain control circuit comprises:

an operational amplifier for receiving and amplifying the first sound signal; and

feedback resistor means for changing the gain in said operational amplifier by varying the resistance thereof in response to the value of the gain control signal.

4. The video camera as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

switch means for selecting either the third sound signal or the first sound signal to be outputted to said recording means.

5. The video camera as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

voice recognition means for recognizing the second sound signal as a voice and for outputting a mode commanding signal having its value corresponding to a given command represented by the second sound signal; and

control means, responsive to said mode commanding signal, for controlling said recording means.

6. The video camera as defined in claim 1,

voice recognition means for recognizing the second sound signal as a voice and for outputting a mode commanding signal having its value corresponding to a given command represented by the second sound signal;

and control means, responsive to said mode commanding signal, for controlling said optical system.

7. The video camera as defined in claim 5, wherein said control means further controls said optical system in response to said commands recognized by said voice recognition means.

8. A method of recording sound with a video camera comprising the steps of:

(a) producing a first signal from a first directional microphone;

(b) producing a second signal from a second directional microphone, directed in a different direction than the first directional microphone;

(c) detecting a first signal envelope;

(d) detecting a second signal envelope;

(e) generating a third signal by modifying the first signal in response to the difference between the detected first signal envelope and the detected second signal envelope;

(f) recording the third signal in conjunction with an image.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein said step (e) modifies the first signal to produce said third signal by,

i) determining the difference between the envelopes of the first and second signals as detected in said steps (c) and (d), and

ii) selectively attenuating said first signal under control of said difference determined in said step (e), substep i).

10. The method of claim 8, wherein

step (a) includes producing a first signal from a first directional microphone directed in the direction of a subject to be recorded as an image;

and

step (b) includes producing a second signal from a second directional microphone directed in the direction of an operator of the video camera.

11. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

(g) determining if the sounds represented by the first signal include a voice command; and

(h) controlling the video camera in response to the determination in step (g).

14. The sound system of claim 8 further comprising voice recognition means for recognizing the second sound signal as a voice and for outputting a mode commanding signal having its value corresponding to a given command which can be represented by the second sound signal;

and

control means, responsive to said mode commanding signal, for controlling said video camera.

12. A sound system for a camera including an optical system having an optical axis comprising:

a first microphone pointed along the optical axis;

a second microphone pointed away from said first microphone;

a first envelope detector having an input from said first microphone;

a second envelope detector having an input from said second microphone;

a subtractor, having inputs from outputs of said first and second envelope detectors, and having a control signal as an output;

an amplifier, amplifying an output of said first microphone in response to the control signal; and

a recorder, recording the amplified output of said first microphone.

13. A sound system for a video camera including an optical system having an optical axis comprising:

a first microphone pointed along the optical axis and producing a first sound signal;

a second microphone pointed away from said first microphone and producing a second sound signal;

a first envelope detector receiving the first sound signal and determining the envelope thereof;

a second envelope detector receiving the second sound signal and determining the envelope thereof;

a gain control controlling the gain of the first sound signal in response to the difference between the first and second sound signals to produce a gain controlled first sound signal; and

a recorder, recording the gain controlled first sound signal.

15. The sound system of claim 13 further comprising voice recognition means, operatively connected to said second microphone, for recognizing voice commands spoken by the operator and controlling said camera in response thereto.