Control device for image input apparatus

• US 6,677,990 B1
• Filed: 09/17/1996
• Issued: 01/13/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/1993
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Kawahara, Hiroyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): MOE, AUNG SOE
• Application Number:
  US08/714,962
• Time in Patent Office: 2,674 Days
• Field of Search: H04/N.715, 348/13, 348/15, 348/20, 348/142, 348/143, 348/152, 348/155, 348/211, 348/212, 348/213, 348/214, 348/169-172, 348/14.1, 318/560, 318/568.19, 318/640, 345/326-330, 345/903
• US Class Current: 348/211.13
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/63 by using electronic viewfinders
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/661 Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 for receiving images from a single remote source

Abstract

A control device for an image input apparatus which is equipped with an optical system having a magnification varying lens, includes a monitor for displaying input images, an input device which enables an arbitrary position on a display screen of the monitor to be designated, a calculation device for calculating the distance between a predetermined position on the display screen and the arbitrary position on the basis of zooming information of the optical system, and a controller for controlling the image input apparatus in accordance with the calculation results obtained by the calculation device.

Claims

1. A control apparatus for controlling a camera, comprising:

a display device arranged to display a current image picked-up by said camera and an imaginary screen which is set to be adjacent to or spaced apart from the current image already picked-up on a same display, wherein said imaginary screen corresponds to a range which shows that said camera can pickup an image by controlling an image pickup direction of said camera; and

a control device arranged to control the image pickup direction of said camera on the basis of information on the input of an arbitrary position designated on said imaginary screen by an input device.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said control device controls the image pickup direction of said camera in such a way that the image at the arbitrary position comes to coincide with a center of the image.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said camera has a zoom lens, and said control device controls an image pickup direction of said camera on the basis of information on the input of the arbitrary position designated on said imaginary screen and a present status of said zoom lens.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein display device displaying the image by a window display system.

5. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said imaginary screen overlaps said current image picked-up by said camera.

6. A method of controlling a camera, comprising:

displaying a current image picked-up by said camera and an imaginary screen which is set to be adjacent to or spaced apart from the current image already picked up on a same display, wherein said imaginary screen corresponds to a range which shows that said camera can pickup an image by controlling an image pickup direction of said camera;

enabling input of an arbitrary position designated on said imaginary screen; and

controlling the image pickup direction of said camera on the basis of information on the input of the arbitrary position designated on said imaginary screen.

7. A method according to claim 6, wherein said controlling controls the image pickup direction of said camera in such a way that the image at the arbitrary position comes to coincide with a center of the image.

8. A method according to claim 6, wherein said camera has a zoom lens, and said controlling controls an image pickup direction of said camera on the basis of information on the input of the arbitrary position designated on said imaginary screen and a present status of said zoom lens.