Magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus with video camera, suited for photorecording without attending camera operator

• US 5,604,551 A
• Filed: 12/08/1995
• Issued: 02/18/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Limberg, Allen L., Choi, Young-gyo, Park, Bong-rae
• Primary Examiner(s): Gray, David M.
• Application Number:
  US08/569,541
• Time in Patent Office: 438 Days
• Field of Search: 354/75, 354/76, 354/81, 354/293
• US Class Current: 396/58
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/51 Housings
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/66 Remote control of cameras or camera parts, e.g. by remote control devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/77 between a recording apparatus and a television camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/772 the recording apparatus and the television camera being placed in the same enclosure
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 for receiving images from a single remote source

Abstract

Recording/reproducing apparatus including recording electronics and playback electronics and a radio receiver responsive to a selected television signal for supplying a composite video signal to the recording electronics at selected times are contained within a unitary package designed to rest on a surface. A video camera supplies composite video signal for selective application to the recording electronics at other times, the supplying of those composite video signals to said recording electronics being done by means other than cabling from the video camera to the unitary package. The video camera is included within the same unitary package as the magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus in some systems, thus to eliminate cabling from the video camera to the unitary package. In other systems designed for photorecording without the need for an operator to attend the camera, the video camera is included with a low-power radio transmitter in a separate package from the unitary package including the magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus and the radio receiver. The low-power radio transmitter is designed to transmit the composite video signal from the video camera by wireless link to the radio receiver within the same unitary package as the magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus, thereafter to be recorded.

Claims

1. A wireless video camera drive apparatus for a wireless video camera used in a system including a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus with a radio receiver for receiving broadcast television signals and television signals from said wireless video camera, said wireless video camera drive apparatus comprising:

a set of tripod legs;

a tripod main body rotatably mounted on said set of tripod legs;

a plate connected to said tripod main body so as to permit adjustment of the tilt of said plate, to which plate said wireless video camera is at least at times affixed;

a first drive motor arranged for rotating the tripod main body with respect to said set of tripod legs in response to a first drive control signal;

sound source sensing apparatus for sensing the direction of a sound source and supplying an output signal indicative of said direction;

a camera rotation signal receiver for receiving key input signals from a remote controller and supplying a respective output signal indicative of a desired camera angle responsive to each key input signal; and

a microcomputer responding to said output signals from the camera rotation signal receiver and from the sound source sensing apparatus to generate said first drive control signal.

2. A wireless video camera drive apparatus as set forth in claim 1 further comprising:

a second drive motor arranged for adjusting the tilt of said plate respective to said main body in response to a second drive control signal generated by said microcomputer responding to said output signals from the camera rotation signal receiver.