Video camera apparatus with zoom control based on the pan or tilt operation

Abstract

A video camera apparatus for a video conference is arranged to detect the zoom level of a zoom lens by a zoom level detecting circuit and to control a motor control circuit according to the result of detection in such a way as to lower the speed of a panning or tilting operation on a video camera accordingly as the position of the zoom lens shifts from a wide-angle position to a telephoto position. In panning or tilting the video camera in a zoom-in state, this arrangement makes the panning or tilting speed lower than the speed of panning or tilting performed in a zoom-back state, so that the movement of objects on a picture displayed on a monitor can be effectively moderated to make the details of the display easily discernible without any unpleasant impression. The arrangement thus facilitates the operation on the video camera.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.