WO1986002224A1

WO1986002224A1 - Closed circuit television apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO1986002224A1
Application number: PCT/GB1985/000451
Authority: WO
Inventors: David Owen Williams
Original assignee: Superscreen Limited
Priority date: 1984-10-05
Filing date: 1985-10-07
Publication date: 1986-04-10
Also published as: GB2191652A; GB8425239D0; EP0229759A1; GB8612388D0

Abstract

A closed circuit television system for a public building that comprises a stage provided with an in-built control station (10) for the television system. Video cassette recorders VCR1 - VCR9 and other sources of recorded material available to an operator on the stage are supplied to signal selection and modification means built into the stage, and the operator can use switching matrix to feed output signals selectively to a multiplicity of distribution amplifier means whose outputs are fed to the several areas (15) of the building in which different parts of the audience are located.

Description

CLOSED CIRCUIT TELEVISION APPARATUS This invention relates to closed circuit television apparatus for use in a building such as a restaurant, public house or discotheque to which the public have access.

Closed circuit television systems for information purposes are ^"known for use eg. at airports and railway stations. Video signals are also provided in hotel rooms for the use of guests, but usually hotels provide only one video channel and the output from the video recorder is at RF rather than baseband frequency so that conventional domestic television receivers may be used to pick, up the video signal and television broadcast signal's.

The present invention is concerned with the use of video as an- entertainment medium in a place of public entertainment such as a restaurant in which there are to be a multiplicity of video screens in different spaced locations. More particularly it relates to the control of the several video screens from a single console which can permute a multiplicity of different input signals to different groups of screens arranged about the restaurant in different locations having separate themes. A console that is vis ible to us ers of the bui lding is required to provide facilities for selecti ve distribution of these severa l s ignal s to dif ferent locat ions and al so for operator interrupt eg. to disp lay advertis ing and other messages simultaneously on all the several screens.

Broadly stated the invention compris es a closed c ircuit te l evi s ion sys tem for a publ ic bui ld ing , compr is ing a stage provided with an in-bui lt control station for the television system at which an operator visible to at least one part of an audience in di f ferent areas of said bui lding is provided with a plurality of sources of video entertainment material including sources of recorded material under his control, means enabling the operator to select required signals from said sources and to modify said signals , and switching matrix means by which the operator can feed output signals selectively to a multiplicity of distribution amplifier means whose outputs are fed to the several areas of said bui ld ing in which different parts of the audience are located.

In a large multi-area restaurant, for example, the invention enables a mixture of large screen and video monitors to be provided at the entrance to the cafe to present the image of an exciting atmosphere in the cafe itself, showing what is happening inside and thus inviting the customer to enter and participate. From the moment the customer enters the entrance hall , his attent ion is caught at all ti mes by the video theme and accompanying music/aud io/sound as he progres ses towards a recept ion area. At the reception and bar area, the customer is exposed to and stimulated by the varied format of visual entertainment available - a selection of video monitors provides a sample of all of these which are available, such as pop videos, sports programmes, teletext news and cartoons so that if he des ires he may choose to dine in one of the areas which shows that particular form of entertainment. ^* Various dining areas of the cafe are equipped with a combination of large screen and monitors to enable cstomers to view different video programs. The main are of the cafe is obviously a focal point in terms of excitement and it is here amongst a mixture of large screens of varied sizes and video monitors (again carefully placed so that viewing is possible from any seated position) that a video console is situated.

Within the video console, an operator or video jockey controls a closed circuit television system to select and maintain entertainment to the several areas within the cafe.

By selection, the video jockey can, from any source available to him, which includes videotape players, video disc players, broadcast television tuners, video synthesizer and effects generators, video cameras, produce a live and continuous video show. Customers can relay messages etc. to each other on the video screen by request

- the message being presented by the video jockey using a graphics generator. Customers may also request the playing of a favourite video tape, ie. Pop Promo and the total participation of the customer into the video environment is made possible by the use of video cameras - a roving camera crew roam the cafe and tape the customers as they eat/celebrate/have fun, and within minutes they are able to watch themselves on the screen. All the visual effects are controlled by the video jockey who can monitor on his console what is broadcast to each dining area and by means of a switching unit, allocate to any particular area whichever programme is required. The accompanying sound for each picture is also routed automatically in the same way.

The system is not limited to restaurant use and can be used, for example, in discotheques, hotels or similar buildings where public entertainment is required.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a front perspective view of a control station for a closed circuit television system according to the invention; and Figure 2 is a block diagram showing part of the video circuits.

In Figure 1, a closed circuit television system for a restaurant has a console 10 in the form of a small stage 12 closed off by a desk 14 defined by walls extending to a height of about 1.2 metres above the level of the stage 12. Thereby an operator on the stage 12 is visible to an audience in a cafe area 15 that forms part of a public building. The desk 14 houses local television monitors and controls that enable the operator to select from a number of different sources of video entertainment including pre-recorded entertainment on a number of video ςassette recorders VCR_j - VCRγ and/or if desired on video disc units.. The operator can select from and modify the incoming signals as described below and has a switching matrix by which he can feed output signals selectively to a multiplicity of distribution amplifiers whose outputs are fed to the several areas of the building of which the cafe area 15 is only one. Conveniently the console can provide different program outputs to four different areas of the cafe: for example an entrance area could show a first video program intended to attract customers, a main restaurant area could be showing a programme of popular music videos, a side restaurant area could show sports programmes or cartoons, and a bar area could show an off- air broadcast programme, all under the independent control of the operator of the console 10. Display may be via conventional television monitors but very preferably at least in the main area 14 there is a multiplicity of ceiling mounted video projectors such as Hi-Beam 250 and 800 video projectors that project onto wall screens 18.

Figure 2 shows a block diagram of the video part of the operator controls built into the console 10. It will be understood that the operator can operate on both sound and picture parts of the incoming video signals, but for simplicity the sound circuits are not shown. As may be seen, the signals available are from video cassette players VCR_χ - VCR₇ which may be of the VHS or U-matic kind having a variable speed facility, fast visual search, freeze frame and a repeat playback facility. Off-air broadcasts are received by a television tuner and there is a pair of local television cameras. The camera CAM 1 is ceiling mounted in the area 14 to face the stage 12 with pan and tilt controls available to the operator and is used so that the operator can transpose his own image onto the screens. Camera CAM 2 is a portable camera that may be taken around the restaurant and used to photograph customers. There is a further pair of video cassette players VCR3 and VCRg under the dedicated control of a programme selector such as the Videosound video juke box controller, with two wallboxes WB 1 and WB- 2 in the area 15 being available for customers to indicate their choice of music by push-button selection from a menu.

The incoming signals from the video players and other devices are fed to an effects generator such as a

CEL chromoscope that can generate kinetic video patterns either randomly or synchronised to an incoming audio signal and that can superimpose the generated pattern on a screened picture. The generated patterns may be used direct or superimposed and the effects generator also provides for colourising of images such as black-and-white images. The outputs from the effects generator {which may be in four simultaneous channels for the several areas of the building) are selected by means of a matrix switcher described below and are fed to a time base connector TBC that serves to synchronise the outputs from the effects generator to a vision mixer. This enables any of the selected sources to be mixed with either a camera signal or a graphics generator signal through a vision mixer.

The vision mixer mixes signals from the several sources together as required with provision for fading from one source to another and superimposing a selected effect onto a transmitted picture. The vision mixer has a so-called preview monitor PVM by which an incoming signal can be observed and a transmission monitor TX MON by which the outgoing signal can be observed. The output from the vision mixer is fed through a cueing switcher C/O which, is a 10-way video switch operable to display a selected signal on a designated monitor DSK MON. Also fed through a cueing switcher which may be a JVC ten-into-one video switcher is the output of a Chyron graphics generator by which computer graphics images or text may be stored on a disc or other magnetic recording medium, held in memory and caused to be displayed. Two monitors in the desk 14 are accessible to the graphics generator, that marked GR MON being available to the keyboard of the graphics generator, and that marked CAM MON showing the output from the graphics generator or from the camera.

From the cueing switcher C/O the signals pass to a matrix switcher such as a Michael Cox ten-into-four audio plus video matrix switcher that enables the several audio and video outputs from the video mixer to be switched selectively to ten-way video and audio distribution amplifiers DAi - DAg which are grouped in pairs to serve the four separate areas of the restaurant. It is envisaged that at least in the main area 15 the majority of the outputs of the distribution amplifiers will be in use because the intention is to surround the customers with television images on projection screens and monitors. In addition to the audio signal on each video source

VCR_j - VCR9 it is also possible to play sound through the system from other sources such as records, magnetic tapes and digital discs to accompany mute video tapes such as those recorded with the portable camera CAM 2. A multi- channel audio mixer enables the audio inputs to be mixed and processed and controls the audio output from the relevant video source being displayed. A microphone on the console 14 is provided for announcements and is connected to the mixer. The output from the mixer is fed to a graphic equaliser set appropriately for the particular environment and thence to audio amplifiers and loudspeakers.

Claims

1. A closed circuit te levis ion system for a publ ic bui ld ing, comprising a stage provided with an in-bui lt control station for the television system at which an operator visible to at least one part of an audience in different areas of said bui ld ing is provided with a plural ity of sources of video entertainment material including sources of recorded material under his control , means enabl ing the operator to select required signals from sa id sourc e s and to mod i fy sa id si gnal s , and switching matrix means by which the operator can feed output s i gnal s s e l ec ti vely to a m ultip l ic ity of distribution amplifier means whose outputs are fed to the several areas of said building in which different parts of the audience are located.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the console includes a control desk fitted with local television monitors and controls for the operator, said' desk being located to the front of the stage and not extending above shoulder height so that the operator faces the audience.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein signals from the s evera l sources of video mater ia l are fed via a chromoscope signal modifier to a time base corrector where their outputs are synchronised.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein output signals from the corrector are fed to a vision mixer in the console which in turn supplies an incoming and an outgoing signal to local monitors in the console.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the output from the vision mixer is fed to a cueing switcher in the console controlling monitor means whereby a signal next to be displayed in a particular area can be conditioned by the operator.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein a graphics generator feeds an output to the cueing switcher.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the console further comprises a television camera mounted on a pan and tilt head controlle from the console that supplies an input to the signal modifier.

8. A sys t e m ac cord ing to c l ai m 7 , wher e i n the distribution amplifiers are grouped to relate to the areas of the building and each distribution amplifier fans out to provide at least three video and audio outputs.

9. A system according to claim 1, wherein the switching matrix has inputs from at least one pair of video tape players or video . isc players having a plural ity of recordings thereon that are selectively played under the control of coin-operated selection input means.

10. A system according to claim 9, wherein the coin operated selection input means comprises wall-mounted control units each having a coin mechanism and selection input keys and each communicating via cables with a selection retrieval and control units for the or each video recorder.