Electronic iris control for surveillance cameras
AssigneeSensormatic Electronics Corporation
InventorsEdwin Thompson, Philip A. Robertson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An auto-iris control device for automatically controlling an adjustable iris of a surveillance camera. The auto-iris control device has an adjustably settable reference level which can be adjusted by an operator at a remote location. A comparator compares the reference level against the average video level of the video signal output from the surveillance camera. Based upon the result of the comparison, iris control signals are generated for controlling the adjustable iris.
Claims14
An automatic iris control device for automatically controlling an adjustable iris of a camera system, the camera system comprising a camera for providing a video signal output and means responsive to said video signal output for generating a further signal indicative of the average video level of the video signal output, the camera system being responsive to reference level adjustment signals transmitted to the camera system from a control station remote from the camera system, the setting of the adjustable iris affecting the average video level of the video signal output from the camera system, the automatic iris control device comprising:
- a microcomputer for:
- receiving said reference level adjustment signals;
- adjusting an adjustably settable reference level in response to the reference level adjustment signals received;
- receiving said further signal indicative of the average video level of the video signal output of the camera system;
- comparing the average video level of the video signal output of the camera system indicated by said received further signal with said adjustably settable reference level and outputting a comparison result;
- and
- generating iris control signals for controlling the adjustable iris of the camera system based upon said comparison result.
A system comprising:
- a camera system including:
- a camera for providing a video signal output;
- means responsive to said video signal output for generating a further signal indicative of the average video level of the video signal output;
- an adjustable iris, the setting of said adjustable iris affecting the average video level of the video signal output from the camera system, the automatic iris control device comprising:
- a microcomputer for:
- receiving reference level adjustment signals;
- adjusting an adjustably settable reference level in response to the reference level adjustment signals received;
- receiving said further signal indicative of the average video level of the video signal output;
- comparing the average video level of the video signal output from said camera indicated by said received further signal with said adjustably settable reference level and outputting a comparison result;
- and generating iris control signals for controlling the adjustable iris based upon said comparison result;
- and a control station remote from said camera system for transmitting said reference level adjustment signals to said camera system for receipt by said microcomputer of said automatic iris control device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.