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EP0200442A2
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EP
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Camera apparatus
Assignee: Panasonic Holdings Corp
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Filing: 1986-04-18
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2006-04-18
Abstract
Abstract The present invention provides a novel camera apparatus which can be discretely split into two parts; a lens barrel unit (1) and a lens-barrel-support unit (2) which allows the lens barrel unit to freely turn its direction. A built-in-angular rate detector (12) detects a swinging movement of the lens barrel unit (1), whereas a position detector (11) detects a position relationship between the lens barrel unit and the support unit. An operator unit (23) storing programs controls a drive operation of an actuator (3) that generates a specific amount of torque between the lens barrel unit (1) and the support unit (2) to reduce an output from a system controller unit so that swinging symptom of picture caused by the swinging movement of the camera can be eliminated. In addition to this primary function, the operator unit (23) also executes its secondary function, in which the operator unit first detects intention of a camera operator by identifying a varied position relationship between the lens barrel unit and the support unit when one intentionally changes an aimed direction of the camera and then the operator unit controls the driving of the actuator so that the lens barrel unit (1) can correctly face the aimed direction.
Inventors
- 👤 Makoto Gotou
- 👤 Hiroshi Mitani
- 👤 Yoshiaki Igarashi
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-31 19:52
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N23/00; H04N23/60; H04N23/68; H04N23/681; H04N23/6815; G; G01; G01P; G01P3/00; G01P3/42; G01P3/44; H03; H03M; H03M1/00; H03M1/12; H03M1/66; H04N23/6812; H04N23/682; H04N23/685; H04N23/687
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 21
Claim 1
Independent Claim
224 words
A camera apparatus comprising; a lens barrel unit (1); support unit (3) that supports said lens barrel unit (1) for rotation about an axis which is transverse to the incident light entering into said lens barrel unit; actuator means (101-106) installed between said lens barrel unit (1) and said support unit (3) for rotating said lens barrel unit; position-detection means (11) for detecting a relative angle between said lens barrel unit and said support unit; angular rate detection means (12) for detecting an angular rate of said lens barrel unit about said rotation shaft viewed from an inertia coordinate; synthesizing means (13) for producing a signal in,response to output signals of said position-detection means (11) and said angular rate detection means (12); driver means (14) for supplying power to said actuator means in response to said signal from said synthesizing means; panning-operation detection means for detecting that panning operation is underway; synthesizer-operation changing means for varying operation of said synthesizing means in accordance with an operative state of said panning-operation detection means; and means for first activating operation of said synthesizer-operation varying means as soon as said panning-operation detection means detects the activated panning operation and then causes specific driving force to be applied to said lens barrel unit corresponding to the actual condition of panning operation after varying operation of said synthesizing means.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
224 words
A camera apparatus comprising; a lens barrel unit (1); support unit (3) that supports said lens barrel unit (1) for rotation about an axis which is transverse to the incident light entering into said lens barrel unit; actuator means (101-106) installed between said lens barrel unit (1) and said support unit (3) for rotating said lens barrel unit; position-detection means (11) for detecting a relative angle between said lens barrel unit and said support unit; angular rate detection means (12) for detecting an angular rate of said lens barrel unit about said rotation shaft viewed from an inertia coordinate; synthesizing means (13) for producing a signal in,response to output signals of said position-detection means (11) and said angular rate detection means (12); driver means (14) for supplying power to said actuator means in response to said signal from said synthesizing means; panning-operation detection means for detecting that panning operation is underway; synthesizer-operation changing means for varying operation of said synthesizing means in accordance with an operative state of said panning-operation detection means; and means for first activating operation of said synthesizer-operation varying means as soon as said panning-operation detection means detects the activated panning operation and then causes specific driving force to be applied to said lens barrel unit corresponding to the actual condition of panning operation after varying operation of said synthesizing means.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
31 words
Apparatus as defined in claim 1, in which said panning-operation detection means is substantially comprised of means for detecting start-up of panning operation and means for detecting termination of panning operation.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
37 words
Apparatus as defined in claim 2, in which panning-operation start-up detection means detects the activated panning operation by identifying that a relative angle between said lens barrel unit and support unit is out of a predetermined range.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
58 words
Apparatus as defined in claim 2, in which said panning start-up detection means detects the activated panning operation by identifying that a relative angle between said lens barrel unit and support unit or a synthesized value of relative angular rate and a relative angle between said lens barrel unit and support unit is out of a predetermined range.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
35 words
Apparatus as defined in claim 3 or 4, in which said panning start-up detection means detects the relative angle between said lens barrel unit and support unit by receiving a signal from said position-detection means.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
42 words
Apparatus as defined in any one of the preceeding claims, in which terminated panning detection means detects a terminated panning operation by identifying that the angular rate of said lens barrel unit viewed from the inertia coordinate is within a predetermined range.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
37 words
Apparatus as defined in claim 6, in which said terminated panning detection means detects the angular rate of said lens barrel unit viewed from the inertia coordinate by receiving a signal from said angular rate detection means.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
55 words
Apparatus as defined in any one of claims 2 to 5, in which terminated panning detection means detects a terminated panning operation by identifying that the angular rate of said lens barrel unit viewed from the inertia coordinate and the relative angle between said lens barrel unit and support unit are respectively within predetermined ranges.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
68 words
Apparatus as defined in any one of claims 2 to 5, in which terminated panning detection means detects a terminated panning operation by identifying that an angular rate of said lens barrel unit viewed from the inertia coordinate, a relative angular rate between said lens barrel unit and support unit, and a relative angular rate of said lens barrel unit and support unit are respectively within predetermined ranges.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
63 words
Apparatus as defined in either claim 8 or claim 9, in which said terminated panning detection means detects the angular rate of said lens barrel unit viewed from the inertia coordinate by receiving a signal from said angular rate detection means and also detects a relative angle between said lens barrel unit and support unit by receiving a signal from said position-detection means.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
50 words
Apparatus as defined in any one of the preceding claims, in which said synthesizer-operation changing means causes said synthesizer means to either increase or decrease the amount of gain ranging from a relative angle between said lens barrel unit and support unit to a torque generated by said actuator means.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
82 words
Apparatus as defined in claim 11, in which said synthesizer-operation changing means substantially contains gain-setting means that provides a specific value corresponding to a relative angle or a relative angular rate between said lens barrel unit and support unit at a moment when an activated panning operation is detected by said panning-operation detection means so that said value makes up a gain from said relative angle between said lens barrel unit and support unit to a torque generated by said actuator means.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
73 words
Apparatus as defined in any one of the preceding claims, in which said synthesizer-operation changing means substantially contains gain-correction means that causes said synthesizing means to vary a relative ratio of a gain from a relative angle between said lens barrel unit and support unit to a torque generated by said actuator means, to a gain from the angular rate of said lens barrel unit to the torque generated by said actuator means.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
45 words
Apparatus as defined in claim 13, in which said gain-correction means causes the relative ratio of the gain to either increase or decrease itself by applying a specific ratio in accordance with an actual relative angular rate between said lens barrel unit and support unit.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
45 words
Apparatus as defined in claim 13, in which said gain-correction means causes the relative ratio of the gain to either increase or decrease itself by applying a specific value in accordance with an actual relative angular rate between said lens barrel unit and support unit.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
67 words
Apparatus as defined in claim 13, in which said synthesizer-operation varying means substantially contains gain-setting means that provides a specific value corresponding to the relative angle or the relative angular rate between said lens barrel unit and support unit at a moment when said panning-operation detection means detects an activated panning operation so that said value can be set as an initial relative ratio of the gain.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
98 words
Apparatus as defined in any one of the preceding claims, in which said synthesizer-operation varying means causes the signal from synthesizer means (13) to remain irresponsive to a signal from said angular rate detection means (12) except for a signal denoting a relative angle between said lens barrel unit (1) and support unit (2) so that the signal from said synthesizer means can be varied as required, while said synthesizer-operation changing means substantially contains gain-correction means that either increases or decreases an amount of a gain from said relative angle to a torque generated by said actuator means.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
42 words
Apparatus defined in claim 17, in which said gain-correction means causes the gain to either increase or decrease itself by applying a specific ratio in accordance with the actual relative angular rate between said lens barrel unit (1) and support unit (2).
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
42 words
Apparatus defined in claim 17, in which said gain-correction means causes the gain to either increase or decrease itself by applying a specific value in accordance with the actual relative angular rate between said lens barrel unit (1) and support unit (2).
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
64 words
Apparatus as defined in claim 17, in which said synthesizer-operation changing means substantially contains gain-setting means that sets a specific value corresponding to either the relative angle or relative angular rate between said lens barrel unit and support unit at a moment when said panning-operation detection means detects an activation of panning operation so that said value can be entered as an initial gain.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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