JP2009141533A - Camera node system, and video processor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a camera node system and a video processor which are so constituted that the costs are reduced and the photography precision is improved. <P>SOLUTION: Object persons 3a-3e existing in a room 1 are photographed by a camera node 5. A plurality of cables 4 with the built-in camera node 5 are wired to the ceiling 2. The cables 4 are wired outside or inside of the ceiling, and the camera node 5 is constituted by integrating a camera mechanism and a control mechanism. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a camera node system and a video processing apparatus that are configured to reduce costs and increase shooting accuracy.

  For the purpose of crime prevention or traffic inspection, photographing and recording means such as surveillance cameras may be installed in passages and buildings where people pass. Usually, photographing and recording means such as a surveillance camera are installed at an upper part of a place where a person passes, and compete against a certain area from the upper part. However, such a method of installing a surveillance camera has the following problems in the way of trying to automatically grasp the movement of a person.

  (1) It is difficult to obtain a video in which each target person is separated in the event that the persons to be photographed overlap and move. (2) When viewed from the position where the surveillance camera is installed, the target person in the foreground appears larger and the target person in the back appears smaller. (3) In order to solve such a problem, calibration for each surveillance camera is required, and the video processing becomes complicated.

  In order to solve the problems (1) to (3), an installation method in which a subject is photographed from directly above with a monitoring camera is conceivable. Patent Document 1 describes that a plurality of cameras are installed on a ceiling to photograph an object. Patent Document 2 describes a technology in which a surveillance camera is mounted on a traveling robot unit that travels along a travel guide, and the captured surveillance information is transmitted to a remote location.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-21844 JP 2002-342851 A

  In an example in which a plurality of cameras are installed on the ceiling as described in Patent Document 1, an indoor assemblage with a low ceiling needs to install a large number of cameras because the field of view becomes narrow. However, it is difficult to install a sufficient number of expensive surveillance cameras from the viewpoint of cost, and there are many examples where several cameras are installed at appropriate positions on the ceiling. Therefore, depending on the positional relationship between the camera mounting angle and the subject, the subject may overlap, or the subject behind the subject may be blinded by the previous subject and cannot be photographed. Depending on the position, there may be a large or small difference in the captured video of the subject. As described above, when a difference in magnitude occurs in the captured video of the subject, there is a problem in that the accuracy does not increase when the video is automatically analyzed.

  Furthermore, there is a problem that providing a traveling guide as described in Patent Document 2 is limited to a special application.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a camera node system and a video processing apparatus that are configured to reduce costs and increase shooting accuracy.

In order to achieve such an object, a camera node system according to the present invention includes a cable that is inserted with a power line and a signal line and is covered with an outer shell of an insulator,
In the cable,
Video signal control means connected to the power line;
Communication control means connected to the power line and the signal line;
A camera mechanism electrically connected to the video signal control means;
A plurality of camera nodes configured by
The video signal control means and the communication control means are electrically connected, and a video signal obtained by photographing with the plurality of camera mechanisms is transmitted from the communication control means to the outside via the signal line. A camera node system.

  The camera node system of the present invention is characterized in that the video signal control means is constituted by a video acquisition circuit board, and the communication control means is constituted by a communication processing board.

  The camera node system according to the present invention includes a plurality of the cables provided with a plurality of the camera nodes.

  The camera node system of the present invention is characterized in that a plurality of cables incorporating the plurality of camera node systems are laid inside or outside the ceiling surface, and the ceiling surface is used as a sensor for a subject to be photographed. .

Further, the video processing apparatus of the present invention is connected to the signal line of the camera node system according to any one of the above contracts, and receiving means for receiving the video signal photographed by the camera mechanism for each cable,
Video signal synthesis means for synthesizing the received video signal;
It is provided with.

  In the video processing apparatus of the present invention, the video signal synthesizing unit may separate the video signals captured by the camera mechanism in units of the cables and sequentially arrange the video signals, or mix the video signals between the cables. It is characterized in that the process of arranging is performed.

  The video processing apparatus of the present invention is characterized by comprising output means for outputting the video signal synthesized by the video signal synthesizing means to an external device via an interface.

In the present invention, a camera node is configured by incorporating a large number of camera mechanisms in a single cable. Therefore, by laying a plurality of cables on the ceiling surface or the like, the ceiling surface itself can be used as a sensor for a person to be photographed. Can be used. For this reason, the video signal which image | photographed the subject in the imaging area with high precision can be acquired. In addition, since the video signals are captured in the same size while preventing the situation where the target person overlaps or blind spots, the automatic analysis process using the video signals in the imaging area can be performed smoothly. Furthermore, since a large number of camera nodes are built in a single cable, it is not necessary to wire a power line or a signal line for each camera mechanism, and the cost can be reduced.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the basic concept of the present invention. FIG. 1A is a diagram showing an outline of the overall configuration, FIG. 1B is a conventional photographing example, and FIG. 1C is a photographing example of the present invention. In FIG. 1A, it is assumed that subjects 3a to 3e existing in the room 1 are photographed by photographing means. Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 1B, depending on the installation position of the surveillance camera, the subjects 3a and 3b overlap each other, and the movement of the subject 3a on the back side cannot be grasped. Further, there is a problem that the target person 3d is hidden behind the target person 3e and cannot photograph at all.

  Returning to FIG. 1A, in the embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of cables 4 each incorporating a camera node 5 are wired on the ceiling 2. The cable 4 is wired outside or inside the ceiling, and the camera node 5 has a configuration in which a camera mechanism and a control mechanism are integrated as will be described later. As described above, in the configuration of FIG. 1A, a large number of cameras can be easily installed at a time by arranging a plurality of camera nodes having a camera function on one cable. A plurality of cables having a plurality of such camera nodes are laid on the ceiling. The imaging range of each camera node is narrow, but a wide range can be covered by using a plurality. In the configuration of FIG. 1A, a plurality of the cables are installed on the ceiling in parallel, thereby making it possible to grasp the shooting area in the room.

  In FIG. 1A, the installation of the camera node system is completed by placing the cable along the ceiling along the shooting request position in the shooting area and fixing the camera node portion downward. For this reason, installation of a photographing system becomes easier than before. When the camera node system is installed, the design that hides the cable from the room in design is to place the cable behind the ceiling. In this case, only the imaging part of the camera is constructed using a detachable cable, and a small hole is made in the position of the ceiling surface corresponding to the lens part of the camera. Thus, in the example of FIG. 1A, the ceiling surface itself can function as a sensor mechanism by installing a large number of camera nodes 5 on the ceiling surface.

  FIG. 1C is a diagram showing a result of photographing according to the present invention, and the subjects 3a and 3b can be photographed separately. Further, the subject 3d can shoot without being hidden by the subject 3e. Thus, in the embodiment of the present invention, there is an advantage that the target person can be grasped regardless of the position of the person. In addition, other people do not interfere with the field of view of the camera with respect to the target person, and it becomes easy to analyze the movement of the person. For this reason, automatic image processing becomes possible, and various advantages such as the possibility of automatic analysis service being expanded can be obtained.

  FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of the present invention. In FIG. 2, it is assumed that n cables 4 are laid on the ceiling surface. The m-th of the camera node 5 provided in the cable 4 will be described by enlarging the X portion. The camera node 5 is provided with a camera mechanism 6 and a control unit 8. This camera mechanism 6 is assumed to be able to photograph a range Y of 2 m × 2 m, for example. Reference numeral 14 denotes a video synthesizing apparatus that processes signals of all camera nodes 5 connected to the cable 4 laid on the ceiling. The camera node is composed of a video photographing element (camera) and parts of a communication IC and a video acquisition IC that transmit the signal onto a communication cable. By miniaturizing each of these components, it looks like a part of the cable. The communication function of the camera node functions as a video server like a Web camera, and the video of each camera can be monitored at the end of the cable. This point will be described later.

  FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the camera node 5. The outer periphery of the cable 4 is covered with an outer skin 11 using an insulating material. The cable 4 is flexible and can be easily laid at a required position inside or outside the ceiling. The power line 12 and the signal line 13 are inserted into the inner space of the cable 4. A first input terminal of the video acquisition circuit board (IC) 10 is connected to the power line 12. Further, the input terminal of the communication processing circuit board (IC) 9 is connected to the power line 12, and the output terminal of the communication processing circuit board 9 and the signal line 13 are connected. The communication processing circuit board 9 functions as communication control means, and the video acquisition circuit board functions as video signal control means.

  The second input terminal of the video acquisition circuit board 10 is connected to the camera mechanism 6. The outer cover 11 of the cable 4 peels off the portion 2 a corresponding to the lens 7 of the camera mechanism 6, and the lens 7 faces the room through the opening formed in the ceiling 2. The output terminal of the video acquisition circuit board 10 is connected to the communication processing circuit board 9. A video signal photographed by the camera mechanism 6 is transmitted to the video composition device 14 via the video acquisition circuit board 10, the communication processing circuit board 9, and the cable 4.

  The communication processing circuit board 9 and the video acquisition circuit board 10 are accommodated in the cable 4 as long as possible. The camera mechanism has been miniaturized as it is mounted on recent mobile phones and the like, and can be stored in a thin cable. In the example of FIG. 3, the video from the camera mechanism 6 is digitized by the video acquisition circuit board (IC) 10. Further, the video signal is transmitted on a signal line by a communication processing circuit board (IC) 9. That is, the communication processing circuit board (IC) 9 functions as a server. The communication standard may be any standard as long as it is for bus type communication such as Ethernet communication protocol. In the embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of Web cameras are housed in one cable.

  FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 4, it is assumed that two cables 4 A and B are laid on the ceiling. A plurality of camera nodes 51, 52, 53... Are installed in the cable A, and a plurality of camera nodes are installed in the cable B. The video synthesizer 14 synthesizes video signals transmitted from the camera nodes. That is, the video composition device 14 processes video signals transmitted from each camera node and transmits the processed video signals to an output device such as a monitor or a printer.

  From the cables A and B to the video composition device 14, video is transmitted from each camera node according to a dedicated communication standard. The video output from the video synthesizer 14 is sent to an external device such as a personal computer (PC) via an appropriate interface such as a LAN or USB. In addition, a video signal, a signal via an IEEE1394 cable, or the like can be transmitted to an external device. On the monitor 15, for example, an image captured by a camera mechanism connected to the cable A is displayed from the upper left end of the monitor 15. Further, in the second column, an image captured by the camera mechanism connected to the cable B is displayed with the position shifted by two images from the image of the cable A as the head. In this way, the video composition device 14 performs processing for separating the video signals captured by the camera mechanism by the cable units A and B and sequentially arranging them.

  FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the video composition device 14. In FIG. 5, the synchronization signal generator 21 and the video signal receiving unit 22 are arranged at the input end of the video synthesis device 14. Video captured by the camera mechanism of the camera node is input from the cable 4 to the video signal receiving unit 22. The synchronization signal generator 21 adjusts the timing at which the video is input from the cable 4.

  The video composition device 14 is provided with an operation interface 24 to operate the calculation instruction unit 24. The synchronizing signal generator 21 and the video signal receiving unit 22 are connected to the video signal synthesizing unit 23, and the video signal received by the video signal receiving unit 22 at the timing formed by the synchronizing signal generator 21 is synthesized with the video signal. Input to the unit 23. The calculation instruction unit 24 transmits a signal to the video signal synthesis unit 23 so that the video is output in an arrangement as shown in the monitor 15 of FIG. 4, for example. The video signal output unit 26 outputs a video signal to a monitor, a printer, or the like. Note that the video output can also be transmitted to various storage means as a video signal.

  FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing a different embodiment of the present invention. In the example of FIG. 6, the images A1 to A3 captured by the camera mechanism connected to the cable A are arranged obliquely from the upper left of the images input from the cables A and B described in FIG. In addition, the images B1 to B3 photographed by the camera mechanism connected to the cable B are connected to A3 and arranged in a horizontal row. In this way, the video composition device 14 performs a process of mixing and arranging the video signals between the cables A and B.

  As described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6, the video composition device 14 adjusts the acquired video. That is, the following processing is performed so that the acquired video is easy to use on, for example, a PC of an external device. (1) Video rearrangement: For example, rearrangement processing is performed in accordance with the layout of the room where the shooting is installed. (2) Image quality adjustment: For example, brightness contrast is adjusted for each camera node. (3) Adjustment of visual field: For example, the consistency of the visual field of each image during video composition is matched. The adjustments (2) and (3) are executed by the automatic adjustment mechanism of the video composition device 14.

  According to the present invention, the following various services associated with automatic recognition of the behavior of the target person can be easily realized. For example, the monitoring of the subject's fall monitoring and the emergency service, the guidance service to the subject who is not sure where to go, the discovery of suspicious objects, the grasp of suspicious actors, the marketing information analysis based on the movement of the subject , Planning from facility usage analysis to disaster response information analysis can be realized. Also, a long region on a straight line can be monitored at once and uniformly.

  Furthermore, because it can be installed on station platforms, corridors, underground streets, etc., there are no blind spots in these places, so it is possible to set a situation that does not create an environment that is likely to cause accidents and crimes. It can also be applied to criminal activities such as shoplifting in stores. Note that the camera node system according to the embodiment of the present invention can be installed in a corridor having a complicated shape, for example, a corridor where apartments are complicated.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to improve space safety and convenience by recognizing the subject person's behavior. In addition, since a cable incorporating a large number of camera nodes is used, it is easy to install the sensor group. If there is a problem with the movement of the target person, the appropriate service can be selected. In addition, the situation can be grasped regardless of the position of the target person, and the visual field is not disturbed. In addition to these, it is easy to analyze the movement of the subject and automatic image processing is possible. For this reason, the possibility of an automatic analysis service can be expanded.

  Conventionally, power lines and signal lines are connected to each of a large number of surveillance cameras, and signal processing for each camera is required. Therefore, there has been a problem that wiring work for signal lines becomes complicated and costs increase. On the other hand, in the embodiment of the present invention, since a large number of camera mechanisms are built in one cable through which a power supply line and a signal line are inserted, there is an advantage that the wiring process is simplified. Further, in the conventional configuration, since a large number of camera mechanisms protrude from the ceiling into the room, there is a risk that they may be damaged by contact with other objects such as a cleaning tool, and the aesthetic appearance is also impaired. On the other hand, in the embodiment of the present invention, since the camera mechanism is almost built in the cable, safety can be maintained and the aesthetic appearance is not impaired.

  As described above, the present invention can provide a camera node system and a video processing apparatus that are configured to reduce costs and increase shooting accuracy.

It is explanatory drawing of embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows embodiment of this invention. It is a characteristic view which shows embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Indoors, 2 ... Ceiling, 3a-3e ... Target person, 4 ... Cable, 5 ... Camera node, 6 ... Camera mechanism, 7 ... Lens, 8 ... Control unit, 9 ... communication processing circuit board (IC), 10 ... video acquisition circuit board (IC), 11 ... insulator sheath, 12 ... power supply line, 13 ... communication line , 14 ... Video composition device, 15 ... Monitor

Claims (7)

A cable that is inserted through the power line and signal line and covered with an insulating sheath;
In the cable,
Video signal control means connected to the power line;
Communication control means connected to the power line and the signal line;
A camera mechanism electrically connected to the video signal control means;
A plurality of camera nodes configured by
The video signal control means and the communication control means are electrically connected, and a video signal obtained by photographing with the plurality of camera mechanisms is transmitted from the communication control means to the outside via the signal line. A camera node system. 2. The camera node system according to claim 1, wherein the video signal control means is constituted by a video acquisition circuit board, and the communication control means is constituted by a communication processing board. The camera node system according to claim 1, wherein the camera node system includes a plurality of the cables each provided with a plurality of the camera nodes. 4. The camera node system according to claim 3, wherein a plurality of cables including the plurality of camera node systems are laid inside or outside the ceiling surface, and the ceiling surface is used as a sensor for a subject to be photographed. . Receiving means connected to the signal line of the camera node system according to any one of claims 1 to 4 for receiving a video signal photographed by the camera mechanism for each cable;
Video signal synthesis means for synthesizing the received video signal;
A video processing apparatus comprising: The video signal synthesizing unit performs a process of separating and sequentially arranging video signals photographed by the camera mechanism in units of cables, or a process of mixing and arranging the video signals between cables. The video processing apparatus according to claim 5. 7. The video processing apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising output means for outputting the video signal synthesized by the video signal synthesis means to an external device via an interface.

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