JP4854520B2 - Imaging control apparatus, control method, and program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention, the imaging control unit及beauty control method for controlling the imaging means such as a camera, as well as programs for executing the control method.

  In a network camera system that distributes video captured by a camera via a network, a conventional technique for a video receiver to view a video of a specific subject is already known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  On the other hand, as a method of using a network camera system, it may be required to photograph a plurality of subjects in a balanced manner. For example, when you want to check the state of children moving in kindergarten or school, and to monitor the state of multiple employees who work while moving in the workplace, not just shooting and monitoring a specific subject It is necessary to shoot or monitor a plurality of subjects in a balanced manner.

As a conventional technique of a network camera system for photographing a plurality of subjects in a balanced manner, for example, there is an automatic photographing device disclosed in Patent Document 2, and this device can photograph images of a plurality of subjects at an equal time.
Japanese Patent No. 3561490 JP 2004-363775 A

  As an network camera system for photographing or monitoring a plurality of subjects in a balanced manner, the automatic photographing apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 2 realizes photographing of a plurality of subjects for an equal time. However, if the shooting time of each subject is controlled to be simply equal, there arises a problem that shooting cannot be performed in a balanced manner in the following cases.

  For example, if you are shooting a room with a camera and there is a subject in or out of the room, that is, if the number of subjects in the camera's shooting range increases or decreases, control the shooting time for each subject to be equal. The following problems arise when doing this.

  That is, for a subject that has newly entered the shooting range, since the shooting time is zero, the new subject is concentrated for a while until the shooting time of the subject becomes comparable to the shooting time of other subjects. Will be filmed. In this case, although the shooting time of the subject is equal, when viewed in a certain time range, only a new subject is shot intensively, and a well-balanced shooting is not necessarily performed. I can't say that.

  Another problem arises in photographing a plurality of subjects at equal time. In other words, it does not take into account what size the subject is shot, so even if a subject shot only with a small size and a subject shot with only a large size are shot at the same time, they are shot in a balanced manner. I can't say that.

  Also, when considering camera control so that multiple subjects can be photographed in a balanced manner, it is necessary to narrow down the subjects to be photographed according to the shooting conditions. Subject other than the subject may appear. For example, it is a case where the subject that is to be photographed coincidentally is frequently present. In such a case, there is a possibility that a specific subject will be captured too much, but in order to capture a well-balanced image, it is necessary to prevent the specific subject from being captured too much in such a case.

  In addition, when a specific subject is photographed by a plurality of cameras, the photographing time of a subject that is frequently in a place where photographing can be performed from the plurality of cameras is increased only by controlling one camera. In this case, not all subjects in a room are photographed with good balance. When there are a plurality of cameras that can shoot a certain subject, it is impossible to shoot all the shootable subjects in a well-balanced manner without controlling the plurality of cameras. In particular, when shooting multiple subjects in a room, it is more likely that multiple cameras in a room will shoot different subjects for each camera rather than intensively shooting a specific subject at once with multiple cameras. The subject can be taken in a well-balanced manner.

The present invention is the light of the conventional problems, and an object thereof is to provide as follows, the imaging control unit及beauty CONTROL METHOD, the program as well. That is, (1) It is possible to perform shooting with good balance even in a case where the number of subjects existing in a place where photographing is possible increases or decreases, or in a case where the photographing size of the subject is not constant. (2) A plurality of subjects can be photographed with a plurality of cameras in a balanced manner.

In order to achieve the above object, a shooting control apparatus of the present invention is a shooting control apparatus that determines a subject to be shot by a shooting unit based on a point for each subject, and the position of a subject that can be shot by the shooting unit is determined. a specifying unit that identifies, on the basis of the points per position is specific subject by the specific means, so that point is low subject is photographed, a determination unit that determine the subject said imaging means captures, A control unit that controls the photographing unit according to the determination by the determining unit, and a predetermined point is added to the point of the subject determined by the determining unit when the photographing unit takes a picture, and the photographing unit performs the photographing according to the photographing by the photographing unit. wherein the points of each subject and a update means for reducing predetermined ratio Te.
The control method of the present invention is a control method performed by a photographing control device that determines a subject to be photographed by the photographing means based on a point for each subject, and specifies a position of a subject that can be photographed by the photographing means. A determining step for determining a subject to be photographed by the photographing means so that a subject with a low point is photographed based on a point for each subject whose position is identified by the identifying step; A control step for controlling the photographing means according to the determination, and when the photographing means takes a picture, a predetermined point is added to the point of the subject determined by the decision step, and each subject is taken according to the photographing by the photographing means. And an updating step of reducing points by a predetermined percentage.
Further, the program of the present invention provides a computer for determining a subject to be photographed by the photographing means based on a point for each subject, a specifying procedure for specifying a position of the subject that can be shot by the photographing means, and a position by the specifying procedure. A determination procedure for determining a subject to be photographed by the photographing means so that a subject with a low point is photographed based on the points for each subject for which the identification is specified, and the photographing means is controlled according to the determination by the determination procedure And an update procedure for adding a predetermined point to the point of the subject determined by the determination procedure when the photographing unit takes a picture and reducing the point for each subject by a predetermined percentage according to the photographing by the photographing unit. It is made to perform.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to perform shooting with good balance even in a case where the number of subjects existing in a place where photographing is possible increases or decreases, or a case where the photographing size of the subject is not constant.

  Furthermore, by sharing the shooting point of the subject among the plurality of shooting control devices, it is possible to shoot the subject existing at a place where the shooting can be performed with a plurality of shooting units in a balanced manner. In addition, when shooting a specific subject, when shooting can be performed with a plurality of shooting units, shooting from various shooting units as well as shooting from a specific shooting unit is possible. .

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment]
<Configuration of camera control system>
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a camera control system including a photographing control apparatus of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the camera control system includes a plurality of camera control devices 101-1 to 101-n that are imaging control devices. Each of the camera control devices 101-1 to 101-n includes an imaging unit (camera) 102, an imaging control unit 103, an equal selection control unit 104, a target position specifying unit 107, a point management unit 108, a point DB unit 109, and A point communication unit 110 is provided. In addition, the equal selection control unit 104 includes an imaging target selection unit 105 and a point update unit 106. The plurality of camera control devices 101-1 to 101-n connected to the network 111 or the like are devices that operate by sharing point data by the point communication unit 110 in the device.

  The photographing unit 102 is a device that photographs a subject. The imaging control unit 103 is a device that sends a control signal to the imaging unit 102 and controls the operation of the imaging unit 102. The equal selection control unit 104 includes an imaging target selection unit 105 and a point update unit 106, and is an apparatus that transmits information on the imaging target to the imaging control unit 103.

  The shooting target selection unit 105 is a device that determines a shooting target based on the size relationship between the points of each subject managed by the point management unit 108 and the position information obtained from the target position specifying unit 107 as a criterion. The point update unit 106 selects a subject whose points are to be updated, and the shooting size (subject size) in the video of the shot subject, one shooting time for the subject, the total shooting time of the camera control system, or It is a device that updates the number of times. Similarly, the point updating unit 106 updates the points of the selected subject using the total shooting time or number of times of each subject, the elapsed time after entering the place where the subject can be shot, the past points of each subject, and the like. Device.

  Here, in order to explain the definition of the subject size, FIG. 2 shows an example of the subject size. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the definition of the subject size. As shown in FIG. 2, the height of the subject in the video is referred to as the subject size. The size of the subject is calculated from the pan, tilt, and zoom amounts of the photographing unit 102, the position information of the subject, the height, and the like. Regarding the handling of height, in this embodiment, a method of using average height in a standing posture is used, but a method of registering the height of each subject in a database may be used. Alternatively, a method of recognizing the height of a subject actually captured by image processing or the like and acquiring the size of the subject may be used.

  The target position specifying unit 107 is a device that uses a position specifying unit such as RFID, PHS, or GPS to search for a subject that exists at a position where the photographing unit 102 can shoot and acquire the coordinates of the found subject. The point management unit 108 is a device that reads and writes points of each subject with respect to the point DB unit 109. The point DB unit 109 is a device that accumulates points of each subject. The point communication unit 110 is a device that communicates with the point communication unit 110 of another camera control device connected to the network and transmits / receives point data managed by the point management unit 108.

<Operation of First Embodiment>
Next, the operation of the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 3, 4A and 4B, and FIGS. 5A and 5B.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation flow according to the first embodiment. FIGS. 4A and 4B and FIGS. 5A and 5B are explanatory diagrams for explaining the operation according to the first embodiment.

  First, in step S201, the point management unit 108 is activated and the point information in the point DB unit 109 is initialized. 4A and 4B show an example of data stored in the point DB unit 109 in a table format.

  FIG. 4A shows a list for accumulating point information of each subject. In the list example of FIG. 4A, a column 601 representing the identifier of each subject, a column 602 representing points when each subject is photographed by the camera control devices 101-1 to 101 -n, and all the subjects that can be photographed. A column 603 representing the total value of points in the camera control apparatus 101 is shown.

  FIG. 4B shows table data representing variables in one camera control device. In the example of FIG. 4B, the total number of shootings 1101 up to the present in the camera control apparatus 101 and the number of people 1102 in the camera control apparatus 101 at a place where shooting is possible are shown. It should be noted that the number of people 1102 in the camera control device 101 at a shootable place is a parameter used when adjusting the points to be added according to the number of people, and is not used in this embodiment.

  The point management unit 108 selects a point or a point corresponding to the identifier of the requested subject from the database described in the format of FIG. 4A or 4B accumulated in the point DB unit 109. It has a function to acquire and set information necessary for calculating. At initialization, the point is set to 0. Regarding the initialization of the point data and the parameters necessary for the point calculation, in addition to the case where the camera control device is used for the first time, the parameter data is initialized to the value stored in the point DB unit 109 until the present time. It is also possible to continue to use the information captured in

  In the next step S202, the point communication unit 110 repeats the process in the next step S203 for the number of other camera control devices. In step S203, the point communication unit 110 receives the shooting point of the subject from another camera control device via the network. The received point is stored in the point DB unit 109 by the point management unit 108.

  In step S204, the target position specifying unit 107 is activated to specify a subject existing at a position where photographing can be performed, and the coordinates of the subject are acquired. The identifier and position of the acquired subject are notified to the equal selection control unit 104 in the format shown in FIG. FIG. 5A shows an example of data to be transmitted from the target position specifying unit 107 to the equal selection control unit 104 in a table format. In the example of FIG. 5A, a column 501 representing the identifier of the subject and a column 502 representing the coordinates of the subject are shown.

  In subsequent step S205, the point management unit 108 is activated, and the subject list existing at the position where photographing is possible obtained in step S204 is passed to obtain the point list of the subject. Further, in step S206, the equal selection control unit 104 that has been notified of the subject that can be photographed activates the photographing target selection unit 105. The activated shooting target selection unit 105 acquires a point corresponding to the identifier of the subject existing in the shootable range obtained from the target position specifying unit 107 from the point list obtained in step S205. The activated shooting target selection unit 105 selects a subject having the smallest point among the acquired points. In the example of the shooting points of the subject shown in FIG. 4A, the total shooting points of the own camera and other cameras indicated by 603 are the lowest, and the shooting point of the own camera indicated by 602 is the lowest. Select the subject.

  In subsequent step S207, the imaging control unit 103 is activated, and the imaging unit 102 is controlled toward the coordinates of the subject selected in step S206, and imaging is performed for a certain period of time. For example, shooting is performed for 10 seconds. Regarding the control of the zoom amount when shooting a subject, for example, there is a method of controlling the zoom amount according to the distance to the subject so that the size of the recognized subject can be shot. In addition, a method of fixing the zoom amount, a method of controlling with the zoom amount specified by the user, a method of changing the zoom amount according to the shooting time or the shooting time zone, and the like may be used. Here, for example, a method of fixing the zoom amount is adopted. FIG. 5B shows an example of a control message transmitted to the imaging control unit 103. In the example of FIG. 5B, target coordinates 801 for focusing the camera and the length of time 802 for photographing are shown.

  In step S208, first, the point management unit 108 is notified of the identification information of the subject selected by the shooting target selection unit 105, and the point of the subject selected by the shooting target selection unit 105 is acquired from the point management unit 108. To do. Next, the acquired point of the specific subject is updated using a pre-defined update formula as shown in FIG. Next, the updated point is notified to the point management unit 108 and the point is written in the point DB unit 109. Finally, a request is issued to the point management unit 108 to update the points of all subjects using the update formula as shown in FIG.

  In the next step S209, the point communication unit 110 repeats the subsequent processing in step S210 for the number of other camera control devices. In step S210, the point communication unit 110 transmits the shooting point of the subject updated in step S208 to other camera control devices via the network. The shooting point to be transmitted is acquired from the point DB unit 109 through the point management unit 108.

  In step S211, it is determined whether or not to continue shooting. If there is no need to stop shooting due to a request from the user or the like, the process returns to step S202. If a cancellation request has been received, the process is terminated.

<Point update formula>
Next, the point update formula applied to the subject will be described. 6 (a), 6 (b), 7 (a), 7 (b), 8 (c), 8 and 9 are explanatory diagrams regarding a point update formula applied to a subject.

(A) Point Update Formula Applied to Selected Subject FIG. 7A shows a general formula of a point update formula applied to the subject selected by the point update unit 106. The update formula 1801 is an expression in which the current point of the subject, the size of the subject, the total number of times of shooting of the subject, and the total number of times of shooting of the system are input. Even if other input values are included or some of these input values are not specified, the present invention is established.

  FIG. 6A shows a specific example of the point update formula 1801. The update formula 701, which is a specific example of the update formula 1801, includes the current point of the subject, the size of the subject, the total number of shots of the subject, the total number of shots of the system, the newly acquired points, the reference size, and images taken by other cameras. It is an expression that takes as input points that are sometimes added. The newly acquired points and the reference size are constants defined in advance in the camera control device. A term 702 for increasing the point addition amount in proportion to the size and shooting time of the subject is shown.

  FIG. 7B is a graph showing the correlation between the subject size and the point addition amount in the update formula of FIG. The horizontal axis 1402 is the subject size, and the vertical axis 1401 is the point addition amount. When the size of the subject is doubled, the added point is also doubled so that the linear correlation 1403 is obtained. Due to this characteristic, the amount of score addition becomes larger and the shooting time becomes shorter when the image is photographed larger than when it is photographed smaller.

  FIG. 7C is a graph showing the correlation between the number of times each subject is photographed and the point addition amount in the update formula of FIG. The horizontal axis 1502 is the number of shootings, and the vertical axis 1501 is the point addition amount. When the number of times of photographing is doubled, the update formula is executed as many times as the number of times of photographing, so that the total point to be added has a linear correlation 1503 so that it is doubled. Due to this characteristic, the larger the number of times of photographing, the less likely to be photographed next.

(B) Point update formula applied to all subjects FIG. 8 shows a general formula of a point update formula applied to all subjects in the point update unit 106. The point update formula 901 inputs a point before update. It is an expression.

  FIG. 6B shows a specific example of the point update formula 901, in which a point update formula 1601 and a term 1602 for reducing past points are shown. According to the item 1602, the point does not become large and it is easy to shoot even if the photographic subject has been photographed intensively in the past if it has not been photographed at all after that because the majority of the subjects are not within the shootable range. The point update formula 1601 is a formula that halves the points when the number of times of shooting is reduced by half the number of points, and the constant number of half-points represents the number of shootings required to halve the points.

When the update formula 1601 is executed for the total number of times of shooting, the constant “0.5 ^ (1 / point half number of times)” is accumulated by the total number of times of shooting, and thus the points decrease exponentially.
If the number of shots from an arbitrary time is equal to the number of half-points, the number of points is halved. If the number of times is half the number of points, the number of points is ¼. Since the subject in the room from the front has more original points than the newly entered subject, the number of subjects in the room from the front is reduced, and only the newly entered subject is photographed intensively. It is difficult to create a situation that would

  An example will be described in which there is only the subject A in the room, and the subject B enters the room after the subject A enters the room and the photographing is finished three times. However, 10 points are given for each shooting. In this case, if there is no update formula 1601 that has the effect of attenuating the point, the subject B is photographed three times in succession, but if there is an update formula 1601 that attenuates the point in half for each photographing. , Subject B → subject A → subject B in this order.

  In this way, only the new subject is not photographed by the effect of the update formula 1601. Also, the shorter the number of halves, the higher the pace at which points are reduced, and the effect of alleviating the prevention of concentration of shooting on some subjects. Detailed data on the change of points in this case is shown in FIG. A data string 1201 representing a change in points when using an update formula that halves points for each shooting is a data string 1202 when an update formula that attenuates points is not used.

<Each constant used in the system>
FIG. 10 is a tabular diagram illustrating an example of the values of the constants used in the camera control system according to the present embodiment.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 10, it is assumed that the shooting time per time is 60 seconds in the shooting time 1001 per time. In the new acquisition point 1002 per time, the new acquisition point per time was 10 points.

  Further, in the time 1003 in which the points acquired in the past are halved, the time in which the points acquired in the past are halved is 600 seconds. In the reference subject size 1004, the reference subject size is 300 pixels. The values shown in FIG. 10 are examples, and the present invention is established regardless of these units and values.

<Advantages of First Embodiment>
In the first embodiment, a subject that moves in and out of the space is photographed in a space in which the presence / absence and position of the subject can be specified. At the time of shooting, one subject is selected, and shooting is performed with a plurality of cameras in a balanced manner while only the points of the selected subject are updated. As a suitable example, there is a method in which a kindergarten classroom is photographed in a balanced manner by a plurality of cameras.

  In the present embodiment, it is assumed that a place within a certain distance from the camera control device can be photographed at a place within the viewing angle of the photographing unit in the room, and a subject existing at the photographable place Select to shoot. In addition, points are calculated using parameters such as the shooting size in the video of the shot subject, the shooting time for one subject, the total shooting time or the number of times of the camera control system. Similarly, the points are calculated using the total shooting time or number of times of each subject, the elapsed time after entering the place where the subject can be shot, the past points of each subject, and the like.

  In this way, in an environment where a plurality of subjects are photographed, by calculating a central index called a point using some of the above parameters, a photographing object suitable for realizing a balanced video is obtained. decide. As a result, it is possible to shoot in a balanced manner even in a case where the number of subjects existing in a place where photographing can be performed increases or decreases or a case where the photographing size of the subject is not constant. For example, it prevents shooting unevenness in which a subject that has not been in a place where it can be taken for a long time is taken intensively after entering the place where it can be taken, or only a part of the subject is taken large. It becomes possible.

  Furthermore, by sharing the shooting point of the subject among the plurality of camera control devices, it becomes possible to shoot the subject in a place where the image can be taken with a plurality of cameras in a balanced manner. In addition, when shooting with a plurality of cameras when shooting a specific subject, not only shooting from a specific camera but also shooting from various cameras at various angles is possible. It becomes possible.

[Second Embodiment]
<Configuration of camera control system>
FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a camera control system according to the second embodiment of the present invention. Elements common to those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 11, the camera control system according to the second embodiment is configured such that point management is collectively performed by a server 309 on the network 111. Therefore, the configuration of each of the camera control devices 301-1 to 301-n is such that the point management unit 108, the point DB unit 109, and the point communication unit 110 corresponding to the configuration of FIG. It becomes the composition.

  That is, the camera control devices 301-1 to 301-n according to the present embodiment include the photographing unit 102, the photographing control unit 103, the equal selection control unit 104, the target position specifying unit 107, and the server communication unit 308. The equal selection control unit 104 includes an imaging target selection unit 105 and a point update unit 106. The point management server 309 includes a camera communication unit 310, a point management unit 311, and a point DB unit 312. The point management server 309 centrally manages the points of the subject photographed by the camera control devices 301-1 to 301-n.

<Operation of Second Embodiment>
FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing an operation flow according to the second embodiment.

  First, in step S401, the target position specifying unit 107 is activated, a subject existing at a position where photographing can be performed is specified, and the coordinates of the subject are acquired. The identifier and position of the acquired subject are notified to the equal selection control unit 104 in the format shown in FIG. In the next step S402, the subject list existing at the position where photographing is possible obtained in step S401 from the point management server 309 is passed and the point list of the subject is obtained.

  In step S <b> 403, the equal selection control unit 104 that is notified of the subject that can be photographed activates the photographing target selection unit 105. The activated shooting target selection unit 105 acquires a point corresponding to the identifier of the subject existing in the shootable range obtained from the target position specifying unit 107 from the point list obtained in step S402. The activated shooting target selection unit 105 selects a subject having the smallest point among the acquired points.

  In the next step S404, the shooting control unit 103 is activated, and the shooting unit 102 is controlled toward the coordinates of the subject selected in step S403, and shooting is performed for a certain period of time. For example, shooting is performed for 10 seconds. For controlling the zoom amount when shooting a subject, for example, a method of fixing the zoom amount is adopted. FIG. 5B shows an example of a control message transmitted to the imaging control unit 103.

  In subsequent step S405, the server communication unit 308 is notified of the identification information of the subject selected by the shooting target selection unit 105, and the point of the subject selected by the shooting target selection unit 105 is acquired from the point management server 309. Next, the acquired point of the specific subject is updated using a pre-defined update formula as shown in FIG.

  In step S406, it is determined whether or not to continue shooting. If it is not necessary to stop shooting due to a request from the user or the like, the process returns to step S401. If a cancellation request has been received, the process is terminated.

<Advantages of Second Embodiment>
In the second embodiment, an example is shown in which the point management server 309 centrally manages the points of the subject photographed by a plurality of camera control devices. By centrally managing the points, it is possible to freely perform point management for photographing a plurality of subjects by a plurality of camera control devices, so that it is possible to shoot more evenly than in the first embodiment. To do. Further, it is possible to take a well-balanced image while performing point conversion in consideration of the installation location of the camera control device and the distance to the subject.

[Third Embodiment]
<Configuration of camera control system>
FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a camera control system according to the third embodiment of the present invention. Elements common to those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 13, in the camera control system according to the third embodiment, each camera control device 511-1 to 511-n includes a subject information management unit 520, a subject information DB unit 521, and a subject information communication unit. The point provided with 522 is a feature. The plurality of camera control devices 511-1 to 511-n connected to the network 111 or the like are devices that operate by sharing information about the subject photographed by the subject information communication unit 522 in the device.

  The subject information management unit 520 simultaneously indicates flag information indicating that the image is captured when the imaging target selection unit 105 determines the subject to be imaged, and a subject that is captured simultaneously with the subject selected by the imaging target selection unit 105. It is a device that manages subject information such as shooting information. The subject information DB unit 521 is a device that accumulates subject information of each subject. The subject information communication unit 522 is a device that communicates with the subject information communication unit 522 of another camera control apparatus connected via the network 111 and transmits / receives subject information managed by the subject information management unit 520.

<Operation of Third Embodiment>
FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing an operation flow according to the third embodiment.

First, in step S501, the point management unit 108 is activated and the point data in the point DB unit 109 is initialized. FIG. 15 is a tabular diagram illustrating an example of data stored in the point DB unit 109 according to the present embodiment. The same applies to FIG. 4B described above.
In the example of FIG. 15, a list for accumulating point information of each subject is shown, a column 601 representing the identifier of each subject, a column 602 representing the point of each subject, and a column 603 representing the total number of times each subject has been shot. Is listed.

  In the next step S502, the subject information communication unit 522 repeats the process of step S503 for the number of other camera control devices. In step S <b> 503, the subject information communication unit 522 receives subject information from another camera control device via the network 111. The received subject information is stored in the subject information DB unit 521 by the subject information management unit 520.

  In subsequent step S504, the target position specifying unit 107 is activated to specify a subject existing at a position where photographing can be performed, and the coordinates of the subject are acquired. The identifier and position of the acquired subject are notified to the equal selection control unit 104 in the format shown in FIG.

  In the subsequent step S505, the point management unit 108 is activated, and the subject list existing at the position where photographing is possible obtained in step S504 is passed to obtain the point list of the subject. In step S <b> 506, the equal selection control unit 104 that has received the notification of the subject that can be photographed activates the photographing target selection unit 105. The activated shooting target selection unit 105 acquires a point corresponding to the identifier of the subject existing in the shootable range obtained from the target position specifying unit 107 from the point list obtained in step S505. The activated photographing target selection unit 105 selects a subject having the smallest point among the acquired points, and selects a subject to be actually photographed from subject information received by the subject information communication unit 522.

  FIG. 16 is a tabular diagram illustrating an example of subject information received by the subject information communication unit 522. The example of FIG. 16 is represented as a list indicating subject information of each subject. That is, a column 1901 representing the identifier of each subject, a column 1902 representing the next photographing prohibition flag indicating that each subject has been selected as a photographing target, and a column representing the identifier of the subject photographed simultaneously when each subject was photographed. 1903 is shown.

  In step S507, the subject information communication unit 522 repeats the process in step S508 for the number of other camera control devices. In step S508, the subject information communication unit 522 transmits subject information to another camera control device via the network 111. The subject information to be transmitted is acquired from the subject information DB unit through the subject information management unit 520. In the next step S509, the photographing control unit 103 is activated, and the photographing unit 102 is controlled toward the coordinates of the subject selected in step S506, and photographing is performed for a certain period of time.

  In subsequent step S510, first, the identification information of the subject selected by the shooting target selection unit 105 is notified to the point management unit 108, and the point of the subject selected by the shooting target selection unit 105 is notified from the point management unit 108. get. Next, the acquired point of the specific subject is updated using a pre-defined update formula as shown in FIG. Next, the updated point is notified to the point management unit 108 and the point is written in the point DB unit 109. Finally, a request is issued to the point management unit 108 to update the points of all subjects using the update formula as shown in FIG.

<Point update formula>
FIG. 17 is a formula form diagram showing a specific example of the point update formula according to the present embodiment.

  The point update formula 701 according to the present embodiment is a formula in which the current point of the subject, the size of the subject, the total number of shots of the subject, the total number of shots of the system, new acquisition points, and a reference size are input. is there. The newly acquired points and the reference size are constants defined in advance in the system. A term 702 for increasing the point addition amount in proportion to the size and shooting time of the subject is shown.

  In step S511, it is determined whether or not to continue shooting. If it is not necessary to stop shooting due to a request from the user or the like, the process returns to step S502. If a cancellation request has been received, the process is terminated.

<Advantages of Third Embodiment>
In this embodiment, the same advantages as those of the first embodiment described above can be obtained.

[Fourth Embodiment]
<Configuration of camera control system>
FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a camera control system according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

  A structural difference from the camera control system of the third embodiment is a subject information management unit 520, a subject information DB unit 521, and a subject information communication unit 522. Management of subject information is performed on the network 111. The parts that are collectively processed by the server 712 are different.

  Each camera control device 711-1 to 711-n includes a subject information communication unit 721 connected to the network 111. A subject information sharing server 712 includes a subject information communication unit 713, a subject information management unit 714, and a subject information DB. Part 715 is provided. The subject information sharing server 712 centrally manages subject information captured by each of the camera control devices 711-1 to 711-n.

<Operation of Fourth Embodiment>
FIG. 19 is a flowchart illustrating an operation flow according to the fourth embodiment.

  First, in step S601, the point management unit 108 is activated and the point data in the point DB unit 109 is initialized. Assume that the data stored in the point DB unit 109 is as shown in FIGS. 15 and 4B, for example.

  In the next step S602, subject information is acquired from the subject information sharing server 712, and in step S603, the target position specifying unit 107 is activated to specify a subject that exists at a shootable position, and the coordinates of the subject are determined. get. The identifier and position of the acquired subject are notified to the equal selection control unit 104 in the format shown in FIG.

  Subsequently, in step S604, the point management unit 108 is activated, and the subject list existing at the position where photographing is possible acquired in step S603 is passed to acquire the point list of the subject. In step S <b> 605, the equal selection control unit 104 that is notified of the subject that can be photographed activates the photographing target selection unit 105. The activated shooting target selection unit 105 acquires a point corresponding to the identifier of the subject existing in the shootable range obtained from the target position specifying unit 107 from the point list obtained in step S604. The activated shooting target selection unit 105 selects a subject having the smallest point among the acquired points, and selects a subject to be actually photographed from the subject information acquired from the subject information sharing server 712 in step S602. To do.

  Thereafter, in step S606, subject information regarding the subject to be photographed is transmitted to the subject information sharing server 712. In step S607, the shooting control unit 103 is activated, and the shooting unit 102 is controlled toward the coordinates of the subject selected in step S605, and shooting is performed for a certain period of time.

  In the next step S608, first, the point management unit 108 is notified of the identification information of the subject selected by the imaging target selection unit 105, and the point management unit 108 selects the point of the subject selected by the imaging target selection unit 105. To get. Next, the acquired point of the specific subject is updated using a pre-defined update formula as shown in FIG.

  In step S609, it is determined whether or not to continue shooting. If it is not necessary to stop shooting due to a request from the user or the like, the process returns to step S602. If a cancellation request has been received, the process is terminated.

<Advantages of Fourth Embodiment>
In the fourth embodiment, a case has been described in which subject information captured by a plurality of camera control devices is centrally managed by the subject information sharing server 712. By centrally managing subject information, it is possible to freely control which subjects are to be photographed simultaneously when photographing a plurality of subjects with a plurality of cameras. Therefore, subject information can be managed more intensively than in the third embodiment, and for example, the control of the photographing prohibition flag for not photographing a specific subject can be controlled by the server.

  In addition, the objective of this invention is achieved by performing the following processes. That is, a storage medium that records a program code of software that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus, and a computer (or CPU, MPU, etc.) of the system or apparatus is stored in the storage medium. This is the process of reading the code.

  In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the program code and the storage medium storing the program code constitute the present invention.

  Moreover, the following can be used as a storage medium for supplying the program code. For example, floppy (registered trademark) disk, hard disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD + RW, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM or the like. Alternatively, the program code may be downloaded via a network.

  Further, the present invention includes a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by executing the program code read by the computer. In addition, an OS (operating system) running on the computer performs part or all of the actual processing based on an instruction of the program code, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing. Is also included.

  Furthermore, a case where the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized by the following processing is also included in the present invention. That is, the program code read from the storage medium is written in a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer. Thereafter, based on the instruction of the program code, the CPU or the like provided in the function expansion board or function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the camera control system containing an imaging | photography control apparatus. It is explanatory drawing of the definition of a to-be-photographed object's size. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement flow which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the operation | movement which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the operation | movement which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing regarding the point update type applied to a to-be-photographed object. It is explanatory drawing regarding the point update type applied to a to-be-photographed object. It is explanatory drawing regarding the point update type applied to a to-be-photographed object. It is explanatory drawing regarding the point update type applied to a to-be-photographed object. It is a table format figure which shows the example of the value of each constant utilized with the camera control system which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the camera control system which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement flow which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the camera control system which concerns on 3rd Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement flow which concerns on 3rd Embodiment. It is a table format figure which shows an example of the data accumulate | stored in the point DB part which concerns on 3rd Embodiment. It is a table format figure which shows the example of the subject information which a subject information communication part receives. It is a formula format figure which shows the specific example of the point update type | formula which concerns on 3rd Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the camera control system which concerns on 4th Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement flow of 4th Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

101-1 to 101-n Camera control devices 301-1 to 301-n Camera control devices 511-1 to 511-n Camera control devices 711-1 to 711-n Camera control device 102 Shooting unit 103 Shooting control unit 104 Equal selection Control unit 105 Shooting target selection unit 106 Point update unit 107 Target position specifying unit 108 Point management unit 109 Point DB unit 110 Point communication unit 111 Network 308 Server communication unit 309 Point management server 520 Subject information management unit 521 Subject information DB unit 522 721 Subject information communication unit 712 Subject information sharing server

Claims (6)

An imaging control device for determining an object to be imaged by an imaging means based on a point for each object,
Specifying means said imaging means that identifies the position of the can image a subject,
On the basis of the points per position is specific subject by the specific means, so that point is low subject is photographed, a determination unit that determine the subject said imaging means captures,
Control means for controlling the photographing means in response to the determination by the determination means;
Wherein with imaging means for adding a predetermined point to the point of the determined subject by the determination unit to shoot, that the points of each subject according to the shooting by the imaging means and a predetermined percentage decrease update means An imaging control device as a feature. The updating means includes
The first point is added to the point of the subject whose photographing size is the first size by the photographing unit, and the second point is the point of the subject whose second size is smaller than the first size. The imaging control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a second point lower than one point is added . The updating means includes
The first point is added to the point of the subject whose number of times of shooting is the first number of times, and the point of the subject whose number of times of shooting is greater than the first number of times is greater than that of the first point. The imaging control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein a second point having a higher value is added . Having acquisition means for acquiring, from the second imaging control device, a point for each subject corresponding to the subject imaged by the imaging means controlled by the second imaging control device connected via the network;
The determining unit determines a subject to be photographed by the photographing unit based on the point for each subject updated by the updating unit and the point for each subject acquired from the second photographing control device. The imaging control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein A control method performed by a shooting control device that determines a subject to be shot by a shooting means based on a point for each subject,
A specifying step of specifying a position of a subject that can be photographed by the photographing means;
A determination step of determining a subject to be photographed by the photographing means so that a subject with a low point is photographed based on the point for each subject whose position is identified by the identifying step;
A control step of controlling the photographing means in accordance with the determination by the determination step;
A step of adding a predetermined point to the point of the subject determined in the determination step when the photographing unit performs photographing, and an updating step of reducing the point for each subject by a predetermined percentage in accordance with the photographing by the photographing unit. Control method to do. Based on the points for each subject, a computer that determines the subject to be photographed by the photographing means,
A specific procedure for specifying a position of a subject that can be photographed by the photographing means;
A determination procedure for determining a subject to be photographed by the photographing means so that a subject with a low point is photographed based on a point for each subject whose position is identified by the identifying procedure;
A control procedure for controlling the photographing means in accordance with the determination by the determination procedure;
When shooting is performed by the shooting unit, a predetermined point is added to the point of the subject determined by the determination procedure, and an update procedure for decreasing the point for each subject by a predetermined rate according to shooting by the shooting unit is performed. Program.

Images