Philips Electronics North America Corporation

Robert Boschgmbh

Scott Alan Corbin

Theodore Leroy Jones

Jennifer L Randall

Ronald G Sergeant

Gopi N Mehrotra

A camera positioning for optimizing the field of view of a camera by adjusting the stop limits of the camera positioning system system in dependence upon the extent of the angle of view of the camera. If within a camera's field of view, there are areas devoid of useful information, the stop limit is dynamically changed each time the camera's angle of view is adjusted, so as to continually minimize the inclusion of such areas in the camera's field of view. Specifically, in a Pan/Tilt/Zoom camera positioning system, the Pan and/or Tilt stops are dynamically adjusted in dependence upon the Zoom.

Camera positioning system with optimized field of view

In a multiphase motor driver, each phase current is controlled by the ratio of measurements across a common sense element. By utilizing the same sense element for each phase, inaccuracies which result from the variance among multiple sense elements can be eliminated. The individual phase currents are controlled from a common clock generation device. By appropriately controlling each of the phase currents to assure that only one of the phase currents is flowing through the sense element at the time of measurement, the measurement is assured to be dependent on the individual current and the parametric value of the sense element only. Thereby, the control of the phase currents, via the ratio of the measured values across the common sense element, is independent of the parametric value of this common sense element.

Current regulated multiphase motor driver with a common current sense

A camera module for use in a surveillance camera system is provided. The camera module includes a housing and a pan-and-tilt mechanism that is mounted to the housing. The pan-and-tilt mechanism includes a pan motor for panning a camera and a tilt motor for tilting the camera. The pan motor is mounted on the pan-and-tile mechanism so as to be stationary relative to the housing. A slip ring, mounted to the pan-and-tilt mechanism, provides electrical connections to the tilt motor and the camera and a flex cable connects the camera to the slip ring. Also provided are methods for controlling unique functions of the surveillance camera system. Calibration of a home pan position for the camera is achieved by monitoring an optical homing sensor. Calibration of a home tilt position for the camera is accomplished by driving the camera against a stop. Thereafter, pan and tilt positions of the camera are tracked relative to the home pan and tilt positions. The electric current for energizing the tilt and pan motors is controlled in relation to the motor speed. In addition, an auto-pivot feature provides automatic pivoting of the camera when the camera is in a vertical position. A tour feature is included for playing back a recorded sequence of camera pan and tilt positions. A speed scaling feature automatically adjusts panning and tilting speeds of the camera based on the distance of a target from the camera.

Surveillance camera system

A video surveillance system includes a plurality of remote surveillance units, each of which has a video camera mounted in a dome housing. The video camera is panned and/or tilted to a desired orientation within the dome by a pan motor and/or a tilt motor. The surveillance system also includes a keyboard for entering user commands, a joystick for controlling the positioning of the cameras, a central processing unit for interpreting the user commands and the joystick movements, and a communication system for issuing operating commands to the remote surveillance units. Each remote surveillance unit is constructed and arranged to store and to recall selected camera control parameters in association with selected pan and tilt coordinates in response to commands entered by the user. The camera control parameters include white balance, focus, and shutter speed settings for the camera. Additionally, automatic control of the camera exposure, white balance, and focus is provided. Video signals from the remote surveillance units are received by a video switcher/multiplexer under the control of a central processing unit. The video switcher/multiplexer includes an automatic phase adjustment system for synchronizing the video signals from the remote surveillance units.

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Stevens, PA, United States of America

Scott Alan Corbin