Television camera having variable lens iris/shutter based on position/rotational speed of camera

• US 5,589,875 A
• Filed: 11/21/1994
• Issued: 12/31/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/1991
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Sakai, Toshio, Fujita, Shigeru
• Primary Examiner(s): Razavi, Michael T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): SHALWALA, BIPIN H
• Application Number:
  US08/344,703
• Time in Patent Office: 771 Days
• Field of Search: 348/143, 348/146, 348/150, 348/151, 348/152, 348/207, 348/211, 348/362, 348/363-366, 348/370, 348/367, 348/224
• US Class Current: 348/143
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 2217/18 Signals indicating condition of a camera member or suitability of light
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 7/085 for control of aperture
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/70 Circuitry for compensating brightness variation in the scene
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to control the lens iris and shutter speed such that automatic light quantity adjustment is made of an object the image of which is to be picked up without being influenced by the ambient quantity of light. Another object of the present invention is to control the shutter speed of an image pickup camera to pick up the image of a target object during the rotation of a rotational stand without allowing the image to flow asynchronously. An image pickup camera 1 comprises a vertical position detector 12 and a horizontal position detector 13 for detecting the rotational position of the camera 1. Data 21 on control over the quantity of light for the detected positional information 20 is beforehand stored in a correction data storage 14. Correction data 21 for the position information 20 is delivered to the camera 1. A lens iris driver 10 subtracts the correction data 21 from the quantity of light from a lens 2 to produce a signal to automatically control the light quantity of the lens iris 11.

Claims

1. A television camera device comprising:

an image pickup camera moveable in at least one direction and including a lens iris and means for (i) adjusting said lens iris automatically in accordance with a quantity of incoming light from a scene, including an object and a background, being imaged to achieve an adjusted lens iris and (ii) correcting the adjusted lens iris in accordance with a correction datum to image said object while reducing influences of light from the background;

means for moving said camera to image said object;

detecting means for detecting a position of said camera in said at least one direction and outputting a position signal indicating said position; and

storing means, receiving said position signal, for storing correction data to correct the adjusted lens iris, said correction data being predetermined and including a plurality of data portions corresponding to a plurality of possible positions of said camera, said storing means outputting one of said plurality of data portions to said camera as said correction datum in response to said position signal, thereby enabling production of a clearer image of said object.

4. A television camera device according to claim 1, wherein said storing means further comprises a clock for determining a current time of day to select said one of said data portions to be output to said camera in accordance with said current time of day.

5. A television camera device according to claim 1, wherein said moving means comprises rotating means for rotating said camera.

7. A television camera device according to claim 1, wherein said storing means outputs said one of said data portions to correct the adjusted lens iris to allow only a predetermined portion of said quantity of incoming light to pass through said lens iris, thereby enabling when said object comprises a person, production of a clearer image of said person'"'"'s face.

2. A television camera device comprising:

an image pickup camera moveable in at least one direction and including a shutter and means for (i) adjusting a shutter speed of said shutter automatically in accordance with a quantity of incoming light from a scene, including all object and a background, being imaged to achieve an adjusted shutter speed and (ii) correcting said adjusted shutter speed in accordance with a correction datum to image said object while reducing influences of light from said background;

means for moving said camera to image said object;

detecting means for detecting a position of said camera in said at least one direction-and outputting a position signal indicating said position; and

storing means, receiving said position signal, for storing correction data to correct said adjusted shutter speed, said correction data being predetermined and including a plurality of data portions corresponding to a plurality of possible positions of said camera, said storing means outputting one of said data portions to said camera as said correction datum in response said position signal, thereby enabling production of a clearer image of said object.

6. A television camera device according to claim 2, wherein said moving means comprises rotating means for rotating said camera.

8. A television camera device according to claim 2, wherein said storing means outputs said one of said data portions to correct said adjusted shutter speed to allow only a predetermined portion of said quantity of incoming light to pass through said shutter, thereby enabling, when said object comprises a person, production of a clearer image of said person'"'"'s face.

3. A television camera device comprising:

an image pickup camera moveable in at least one direction and including a shutter and means for (i) adjusting a shutter speed of said shutter automatically in accordance with a quantity of incoming light from a scene, including an object and a background, being imaged to achieve an adjusted shutter speed and (ii) correcting said adjusted shutter speed in accordance with a correction datum to image said object;

means for moving said camera to image said object;

detecting means for detecting a speed of movement of said camera in said at least one direction and outputting a speed signal indicating said speed of said camera; and

storing means, receiving said speed signal of said camera, for storing correction data to adjust said shutter speed, said correction data being predetermined and including a plurality of data portions corresponding to a plurality of possible speeds of said camera, said storing means outputting one of said data portions to said camera as said correction datum in response to said speed signal of said camera, thereby enabling production of a clearer image of said object as said camera is rotated.

9. A television camera device according to claim 3, wherein said storing means outputs said one of said data portions to correct said adjusted shutter speed to allow only a predetermined portion of said quantity of incoming light to pass through said shutter, thereby enabling, when said object comprises a person, production of a clearer image of said person'"'"'s face.

10. A television camera device for production of a clear image of a desired object among plural objects surrounded by background objects in a preselected scene, said plural objects and background objects being at respective different locations, said device being fixedly located with a predetermined spatial relation to said background objects and comprising:

an image pickup camera rotatable in at least one direction and including a lens iris;

means for rotating said camera to control an angular position of said camera to image said desired object;

detecting means for detecting said angular position of said camera in said at least one direction and outputting an angular position signal indicating the angular position;

means for performing an automatic iris adjustment of said lens iris of said camera automatically in response to (i) a quantity of incoming light from said scene and (ii) an iris control signal to correct said automatic iris adjustment to achieve an adjusted lens iris for imaging said desired object in order to produce a clear image of said desired object and to offset influences of light incoming from said background objects, said control signal corresponding to the angular position detected by said detecting means; and

storing means, receiving said angular position signal, for storing correction data for performing said automatic iris adjustment, said correction data including a plurality of data portions corresponding to a plurality of possible angular positions of said camera, said storing means outputting to said camera one of said data portions as said iris control signal in response to said angular position signal, thereby enabling said camera to produce a clear image of said desired object.

11. A television camera device for production of a clear image of a desired object among plural objects surrounded by background objects in a preselected scene, said plural objects and background objects being at respective different locations, said device being fixedly located with a predetermined spatial relation to said background objects and comprising:

an image pickup camera rotatable in at least one direction and including a shutter;

means for rotating said camera to control an angular position of said camera to image said desired object;

detection means for detecting said angular position of said camera in said at least one direction and outputting an angular position signal indicating the angular position;

means for performing all automatic shutter speed adjustment of said shutter of said camera automatically in response to (i) a quantity of incoming light from said scene and (ii) a shutter speed control signal to correct said automatic shutter speed adjustment to achieve an adjusted shutter speed for imaging said desired object in order to produce a clear image of said desired object, said control signal corresponding to the angular position detected by said detecting means; and

storing means, receiving said angular position signal, for storing correction data for performing said automatic shutter speed adjustment, said correction data including a plurality of data portions corresponding to a plurality of possible angular positions of said camera, said storing means outputting to said camera one of said data portions as said shutter speed control signal in response to said angular position signal, thereby enabling said camera to produce a clear image of said desired object.

12. A television camera device for production of a clear image of a desired object among plural objects surrounded by background objects in a preselected scene, said plural objects and background objects being at respective different locations, said device being fixedly located with a predetermined spatial relation to said background objects and comprising:

an image pickup camera rotatable in at least one direction and including a shutter;

means for rotating said camera to control an angular position of said camera to image said desired object;

means for detecting a rotational speed of movement of said camera in said at least one direction and outputting a speed signal indicating said rotational speed;

means for performing an automatic shutter speed adjustment of said shutter of said camera automatically in response to (i) a quantity of incoming light from said scene and (ii) said speed signal to correct said automatic shutter speed adjustment to achieve an adjusted shutter speed for imaging said desired object in order to produce a clear image of said desired object, said control signal corresponding to the rotational speed detected by said detecting means; and

storing means, receiving said speed signal, for storing correction data for performing said automatic shutter speed adjustment, said correction data including a plurality of data portions corresponding to a plurality of possible rotational speeds of said camera, said storing means outputting to said camera one of said data portions as said shutter speed control signal in response to said speed signal, thereby enabling said camera to produce a clear image of said desired object.