JPH05236478A - Monitor television for interphone with camera and function extended unit used for the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily and inexpensively add various extending functions such as the zoom function, the pan function, and the counter light correcting function based on picture processing to a monitor television used for an interphone with a camera. CONSTITUTION:Fundamental constituents such as a video buffer branching circuit 2 and a display screen 4 of a monitoring television 1 are formed as a common part. A function extending circuit 3 is additionally connected to the common part, and various processing circuits such as the zoom function circuit 20, the pan processing circuit 21, the picture recording processing circuit, the counter light correction processing circuit, and a distortion correction processing circuit 24 are prepared as the function extending circuit 3 in this case.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement of a monitor TV used for an intercom with a camera and a new function expansion unit used in this monitor TV.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, this kind of intercom with a camera is
When a visitor pushes the call button of the intercom subunit installed at the entrance, etc., the video of the visitor is transmitted from the camera of the intercom subunit to the monitor TV installed in the appropriate place on the display screen. Although it is projected, it is not possible to clearly see the face of the visitor because this image is too small, it is off or from the center of the display screen, or the image becomes dark due to backlight. There was a problem. Therefore,
It was desired to develop a monitor TV equipped with various functions to correct these problems as needed, but this would make the monitor TV model diverse and complicated and complicated to manufacture. At the same time, the manufacturing cost may increase, and the monitor TV itself must be completely replaced to add a new function in this way.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention, which is proposed in view of the above circumstances, is to prevent the manufacturing from becoming complicated and troublesome, and to prevent the manufacturing cost from rising, and further It is an object of the present invention to provide a monitor TV for an intercom with a camera and a function expansion unit used for the same so that new functions can be added without replacing the monitor TV.

[0004]

The monitor television of the present invention, which is proposed to achieve the above object, has a function expansion in which a video signal transmitted from an intercom subunit is processed by image processing and displayed on a display screen. The circuit can be additionally connected to the common part of the monitor TV. As the above-mentioned function expansion circuit of the monitor television of the present invention, a zoom processing circuit (Claim 2) for performing a zoom process on a designated portion with respect to a video signal transmitted from the intercom sub-unit, a designated portion up and down. Pan processing circuit (Claim 3) for panning left and right, recording processing circuit (Claim 4) for recording video, backlight correction processing circuit (Claim 5) for backlight correction of video, distortion correction processing circuit for distortion correction of video (Claim 6) and the like have been proposed. Further, the common portion of the monitor television of the present invention is provided with at least two connectors used for connection with the above-mentioned function expansion circuit, and each connector is a jumper cable when the function expansion circuit is not used. It is proposed to connect by (Claim 7).

On the other hand, there is also proposed a function expansion unit in which the above function expansion circuit is housed in a housing separate from the monitor TV, and the connector is connected to the monitor TV ( Claim 8). Also for this function expansion unit, a zoom processing circuit, a pan processing circuit, a recording processing circuit, a backlight correction processing circuit,
It is proposed that the distortion correction processing circuit be provided singly or in combination (claim 9). Further, in the expansion unit of the present invention, when the function expansion circuit is provided with a distortion correction processing circuit, a switching device that allows the video signal to pass through the distortion correction processing circuit without being processed. By providing the above, the camera of the intercom subunit can be adapted to a monitor television different from the wide-angle camera (claim 10).

[0006]

The monitor television of the present invention has a structure in which a function expansion circuit is connected and added to the common part, and the function expansion circuit includes a zoom processing circuit (claim 2), a pan processing circuit (claim 3), and a recording process. By preparing a plurality of types of circuits (Claim 4), backlight compensation processing circuit (Claim 5), distortion compensation processing circuit (Claim 6), etc., which have different processing, a desired one can be selected from these. The monitor television of a desired mode can be configured by selecting one or a combination of them. Further, when it is not necessary to expand the function, the connectors provided for connecting the function expanding circuit may be connected by a jumper cable in the common portion (claim 7).

Since the function expansion unit of the present invention is in a stand-alone form in which the function expansion circuit having the above-described various processing functions (claim 9) is housed in its own housing, it can be used externally even for existing monitor TVs. The connection of the function expansion circuit can be added by connecting the connector as wiring (claim 8). Note that some existing monitor TVs have a standard camera for the doorphone subunit installed at the entrance, unlike a wide-angle camera. Since it is rarely included, when a distortion correction processing circuit is provided as a function expansion circuit, it is necessary to provide a switcher through which the distortion correction processing circuit does not operate and the video signal passes unprocessed. (Claim 10).

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, the monitor television of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a monitor television 1 of the present invention. The monitor television 1 of the present invention includes an intercom subunit 11 including a wide-angle camera 12 such as a fisheye lens.
The intercom system as a whole is configured by mutual connection with a monitor TV 1 of the present invention, which is installed indoors and in a suitable place such as a kitchen, as shown in FIG. It will be installed at the entrance and outside materials. In this embodiment, the monitor television 1 of the present invention is connected to the home telephone 15 so that the handset 16 can be used to communicate with the intercom subunit 11.

Referring to FIG. 1, the monitor television 1 of the present invention.
The function expansion circuit 3 can be additionally connected between the video buffer demultiplexing circuit 2 and the display screen 4 constituted by a CRT or the like, and the video signals captured by the wide-angle lens from the intercom subunit 11 are balanced. / Impedance matching and demultiplexing are performed via the unbalanced matching circuit 5 and the video buffer demultiplexing circuit 2, and the video signal stored in the video frame memory of the function expansion circuit 3 is predetermined before being transmitted to the display screen 4. It is designed to be processed by image processing. As such a function expansion circuit 3 used in the present invention,
The zoom processing circuit 20, the pan processing circuit 21, the recording processing circuit 22, the backlight correction processing circuit 23, the distortion correction processing circuit 24, and the like are singly or compositely selected and connected. As shown in FIG. 2, the monitor TV 1 of the present invention includes a display screen 4, a monitor ON button 36, an annular pan operation button 31, a zoom switching button 30 at the center thereof, a backlight correction button 33, and a recording function. In addition to the buttons 35 and the like, a contrast adjustment knob 37 and a bride adjustment knob 38 are appropriately laid out.

The zoom processing circuit 20 (see FIG. 1) is
Of the video signals transmitted from the doorphone subunit 11,
This is a circuit for performing zoom processing on a specified portion. Explaining this zoom operation, for example, in the case where three persons A, B, and C stand side by side in front of the intercom subunit 11 as shown in FIG. 3 and their images are displayed on the display screen 4, Assuming that the portion X indicated by a square in the center of the display screen 4 is designated as the zoom target portion from the beginning, by pressing the zoom switching button 30 (see FIG. 2), the zoom target portion is pressed. The face of the person B corresponding to X is the expansion rate set from the beginning (for example, 20
0%), the zoom switch button 30 is pressed once again to return to the original size. If the zoom switching button 30 is configured to be switched between the expansion side and the reduction side (not shown), the expansion rate will gradually increase in predetermined increments while the expansion side is kept pressed. It is also possible to adopt a mode in which the reduction ratio gradually decreases in a predetermined percentage while the reduction side is continuously pressed. By the way, it is optional whether or not the contour of the zoom target portion X is displayed on the display screen 4.

The pan processing circuit 21 described above (see FIG. 1).
Is a circuit for panning a designated portion in the video signal transmitted from the intercom subunit 11 up / down / left / right. In the pan processing circuit 21, a frame-shaped cursor 40 is displayed in the display screen 4 as shown in FIG. 4, and the cursor 40 operates the pan operation button 31 (see FIG. 2). It is designed to move up and down and left and right depending on the situation. For example, in the display screen 4 that is first displayed, the child D on the right side of the person C is
Was not captured. Then, when the portions corresponding to the downward mark and the rightward mark of the pan operation button 31 (see FIG. 2) are alternately or simultaneously pressed, the cursor 40 moves diagonally downward right of the display screen 4 and reaches the lower right corner thereof. After that, by continuing to press in the same manner, the entire frame of the display screen 4 moves to the lower right direction. In this way, the child D can be displayed in the center of the display screen 4. The pan processing circuit 21 is optimally used in combination with the zoom processing circuit 20 described above, and in this case, the range surrounded by the cursor 40 is made to correspond to the zoom target portion X (see FIG. 3). By doing so, it becomes possible to freely select, with the cursor 40, a portion of the video signal that can be expanded or reduced, which is extremely convenient.

The recording processing circuit 22 described above (see FIG. 1)
Among the video signals transmitted from the intercom subunit 11, one configured to record at least the video displayed on the display screen 4 when the recording button 35 (see FIG. 2) is operated. Is. As a recordable video signal, it is possible to record a plurality of consecutive frames at one time or record one frame at a time into a plurality of times. Of course, the present invention is not limited to the image displayed on the display screen 4, and the entire video signal may be recorded according to time and capacity. When the recording processing circuit 22 is used in combination with the zoom processing circuit 20 and the pan processing circuit 21 described above, the zoom processing and the pan processing can be freely performed even when the screen once recorded is reproduced. It is possible and convenient.

The backlight correction processing circuit 23 is for correcting the backlight of at least the video image displayed on the display screen 4 among the video signals transmitted from the intercom subunit 11.

The distortion correction processing circuit 24 described above, among the video signals transmitted from the intercom sub-unit 11, displays at least the video image displayed on the display screen 4 by the lens distortion of the wide-angle camera 12 included in the intercom sub-unit 11. It is for correcting distortion according to. That is, the wide-angle camera 1
The image picked up in 2 has a larger distortion as it goes from the center to the periphery, and is for planar correction.

Each such processing circuit 20-24
Is used as the function expansion circuit 3 (see FIG. 1), as described above, any one of them is selected singly or a plurality of them are selected and combined. It is desirable that each of the processing circuits 20 to 24 can be easily replaced and interconnected with each other, and that the control circuit of the display screen 4 and the video buffer demultiplexing circuit 2 (see FIG. 1) can be easily connected. Such a request is made by each processing circuit 20-
This is achieved by modularizing 24 so that its outer shape and connecting connector are common to each other. FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing an example thereof. In the rear housing 50 of the monitor television 1 of the present invention, a control circuit (not shown) for the display screen 4, a connector 52 connected to the control circuit, and a video buffer portion. It shows a state in which the substrate 51 having the wave circuit 2 (see FIG. 1) and the connector 53 connected thereto is accommodated. Each board 5 has a connector 5
A substrate 54 having connectors 55 and 56 corresponding to 2 and 53 is coupled. This substrate 54 is
It may be modularized as a whole to form one processing circuit (20 to 24), or a plurality of modularized processing circuits (20 to 24) are arranged on the substrate 54. It may be the one that has been configured as described above. In this way, the board 51 fixed to the rear housing 50 can be shared regardless of the specifications of the function expansion circuit 3. Reference numeral 71 denotes a monitor TV cover provided with a display window 71a. In order to construct a monitor TV having specifications not including the function expansion circuit 3, a control circuit (not shown) for the display screen 4 is required.
Connector 52 to be connected to the video buffer demultiplexing circuit 2
The connector 53 (see FIG. 1) may be connected by a jumper cable 59 having connectors 57 and 58 respectively corresponding thereto.

Referring to FIG. 1, in the monitor TV 1 of the present invention thus configured, when a caller 13 of the intercom sub-unit 11 is pressed by a visitor or the like, the call detection circuit 6 detects this and the chime (not displayed). (Not shown) and the constant current circuit 7 is activated and the intercom subunit 11 is activated.
The image pickup by the wide-angle camera 12 provided in is started.
As a result, the video signal from the intercom subunit 11 is transmitted to the display screen 4, and the function expansion circuit 3
The video signal is processed according to various functions of appropriate processing circuits (20 to 24) provided in the. The function expansion circuit 3 includes a zoom processing circuit 20 and a pan processing circuit 21.
In the case where is provided, the image first displayed on the display screen 4 immediately after the constant current circuit 7 starts up is
As shown on the right side of FIG. 3, it is preferable that the zoom target portion X is an expanded image. Because, in most cases, a visitor or the like stands in front of the intercom child device 11 so as to face it directly, and even if an adult and a child or the like may need to pan in the height direction, This is because panning in the left-right direction is rarely necessary, and, in the end, from a stochastic point of view, by keeping the state as shown in the right side of FIG. 3, the trouble of zooming and panning can be omitted. Of course, such a thing is not limited at all, and the display screen 4
It is also possible to set the entire image displayed on the left side of FIG. 3 as the whole image shown on the left side of FIG. When a call is made with a visitor or the like through the intercom subunit 11, a voice signal from the visitor or the like is transmitted from the speaker 14 built in the intercom subunit 11 to the demodulation circuit 9 and the 2/4 conversion circuit 10.
Is transmitted to the handset 16 of the telephone 15 (see FIG. 2), and conversely, the voice signal from the handset 16 is transmitted to the intercom subunit 11 via the 2/4 conversion circuit 10 and the modulation circuit 8. It is a thing.

Next, the function expansion unit of the present invention will be described. FIG. 6 is a front view showing a state in which the function expansion unit 60 of the present invention is attached to the conventional monitor television 70. The function expansion unit 60 of the present invention includes a function expansion circuit 3 described in detail in FIG. 1, namely, a zoom processing circuit 20, a pan processing circuit 21, a recording processing circuit 22,
Each of the backlight correction processing circuit 23, the distortion correction processing circuit 24, and the like is provided in a housing 61 formed separately or separately from the monitor television 70, which is provided individually or in combination. It consists of On the front surface of the housing 61, an annular pan operation button 31, a zoom switching button 30 in the center thereof, a backlight correction button 33,
A record button 35 and the like are provided. However, display screen 7
4 and the monitor ON button 75 are usually already provided in the conventional monitor television 70, and are not provided in this embodiment.

The function expanding unit 60 of the present invention thus constituted is connected to the conventional monitor television 70 by a connector by the input line 62 and the output line 63 to the function expanding circuit 3. Since the conventional monitor television 70 is not provided with a terminal, an input / output line or the like for connecting to the function expansion unit 60 of the present invention, the video buffer demultiplexing circuit 2 and the display screen 4 (see FIG. 1). It is necessary to derive a predetermined wiring from (see).

By the way, in the conventional monitor television 70, there is a case where a standard camera is used as a camera of the intercom subunit 11 to be connected, unlike a wide-angle camera. In this case, Since the image signal rarely includes lens distortion, it is not necessary to perform distortion correction on the image signal, and rather it is important not to perform distortion correction. However, the function expansion unit 60 of the present invention may naturally be configured to include the distortion correction processing circuit 24 as the function expansion circuit 3. Therefore, in such a case, the distortion correction processing circuit 24 may not operate. A switching device (not shown) is provided on the side surface of the housing 61, for example. That is, if the operation of the distortion correction processing circuit 24 is stopped by the switch, the video signal from the intercom subunit 11 is transmitted to the display screen 4 at least without the distortion correction processing being performed, so that there is no disturbance. It will be possible to obtain a good image. In addition, the monitor television 70 and the function expansion unit 60 of the present invention are separately configured as described above.
System controlled by analog signals (monitor TV 7
0) and a system whose operation is controlled by a digital signal (function expansion unit 60 of the present invention) are clearly separated, and therefore, efficient work that is not complicated in inspection and maintenance is realized. There is an advantage that

[0020]

As can be understood from the above description, according to the monitor TV for an intercom with a camera of the present invention, a common part simplified in terms of function and structure is formed, and Since the equipment is equipped with a function expansion circuit for connection addition, it is possible to cope with diversification of model types, so that in the common part, manufacturing can be facilitated and manufacturing cost can be reduced. Moreover, the function expansion circuit
If measures such as modularization of various processing circuits are taken, it will be possible to obtain the one with the desired function extremely easily by selecting from among them, and to flexibly respond to the diversification of the model. Becomes In addition, there is an advantage that the function can be changed or added even after the use is started. Further, according to the function expansion unit of the present invention, it is possible to easily add a desired function to a conventional monitor television without the need to replace the monitor itself.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a monitor television of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing a usage example of an intercom system with a camera using the monitor television of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a processing operation of a video signal by a zoom processing circuit.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a video signal processing operation by a pan processing circuit.

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the monitor television of the present invention showing an example of a case where the function expansion circuit is modularized.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing a situation in which the function expansion unit of the present invention is attached to a conventional monitor television.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Monitor television 3 of this invention 3 ... Function expansion circuit 4 ... Display screen 11 ... Door phone subunit 12 ... Wide-angle camera 20 ... Zoom processing circuit 21 ... Pan processing circuit 22 ... Recording processing circuit 23 ... Backlight correction processing circuit 24 ... Distortion correction Processing circuit 52, 53 ... Connector 59 ... Jumper cable 60 ... Function expansion unit 61 of the present invention 61 ... Housing 70 ... Conventional monitor TV

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A video signal transmitted from an intercom subunit in a monitor television projecting a video image transmitted from a doorphone subunit with a wide-angle camera, which is installed at a front door or the like and which displays a video of a visitor, on a display screen. A function expansion circuit that processes the image by image processing and displays it on the display screen.
An intercom monitor TV with a camera that can be additionally connected to a common part of the monitor TV. 2. The intercom monitor television with a camera according to claim 1, wherein the function expansion circuit performs a zoom process on a designated portion of a video signal transmitted from the intercom subunit to display a display screen. An intercom monitor TV with a camera that is configured to include a zoom processing circuit that expands and displays. 3. The intercom monitor television with a camera according to claim 1, wherein the function expansion circuit pans a specified portion of the video signal transmitted from the intercom subunit up / down / left / right. , A monitor TV for intercom with a camera, which is configured to have a pan processing circuit for displaying on a display screen. 4. The intercom monitor television with a camera according to claim 1, wherein the function expansion circuit records at least a video image displayed on a display screen among video signals transmitted from an intercom subunit. An intercom monitor TV with a camera that has a processing circuit. 5. The intercom monitor television with a camera according to claim 1, wherein the function expansion circuit backlight-corrects at least a video image displayed on a display screen among video signals transmitted from the intercom subunit. An intercom monitor TV with a camera that has a backlight compensation circuit. 6. The interphone monitor television with a camera according to claim 1, wherein the function expansion circuit displays at least a video image displayed on a display screen among the video signals transmitted from the intercom subunit. A monitor TV for an intercom with a camera, which has a distortion correction processing circuit that corrects the distortion according to the lens distortion. 7. The intercom monitor television with camera according to claim 1, wherein the common portion is provided with at least two connectors used for connection with the function expansion circuit, and each connector is a function expansion circuit. A monitor TV for camera-equipped intercom, which is configured to be connected to each other by a jumper when not used. 8. The function expansion circuit connected to and added to the monitor TV for an intercom with a camera according to claim 1, is housed in a casing formed separately from the monitor TV. This is a function expansion unit used for a monitor TV for an intercom with a camera, which is configured to be connected between connectors. 9. The function expansion unit according to claim 8, wherein the function expansion circuit is a zoom processing circuit according to claim 2, a pan processing circuit according to claim 3, and a recording process according to claim 4. A circuit, a backlight correction processing circuit according to claim 5, and a distortion correction processing circuit according to claim 6, which are used in a monitor television for an intercom with a camera, which is configured to be single or combined. .. 10. The function expansion unit according to claim 9, wherein the function expansion circuit includes a distortion correction processing circuit, and the video signal is allowed to pass through the distortion correction processing circuit without being processed. A function expansion unit for a monitor TV for an intercom with a camera, which is equipped with a switch that can be used, and in which the camera of the intercom subunit can be compatible with a monitor TV different from a wide-angle camera.