JP2000115621A - Image pickup device and method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To detect motion from a photographed image and to track and photograph an object with the motion. SOLUTION: For peripheral images photographed in a wide angle camera block 1, motion detection is made at all times in a motion detection circuit 2. When the presence of a moving object is decided as a result of the motion detection circuit 2, the direction of an optical axis is made to coincide with the moving object by a mirror block 8 and a pan motor 10 and the image under consideration is photographed in a telephoto camera block 9. At this time, a zoom is controlled so as to match a viewing angle with the range of the moving object and a focus is controlled so as to match with the distance. In a compression circuit 4, compression is executed to the peripheral images, and the image under consideration and they are recorded in a recording medium 6. Reproduced compressed image signals are expanded in an expansion circuit 7 and supplied through a switch circuit 3 to a monitor TV. They are controlled by a system controller 11.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus and method capable of tracking and photographing a moving object.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, a digital camera with a built-in camera may be disposed in a forest in order to photograph an ecologically rare animal that rarely appears in the forest.

[0003]

In such a case, there is a problem that a sufficiently zoomed-in image cannot be obtained because the object cannot be detected.

Further, when photographing a flying object, a camera-integrated digital VC fixed by a tripod cannot be used to take an image so as to follow the object.
There has been a problem that it is difficult to obtain a satisfactory image even when a person operates the R and shoots.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an image pickup apparatus and method capable of detecting a movement from an image to be photographed and tracking and photographing a moving object.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a first video camera for photographing a surrounding image at a wide angle, and a motion detecting means for detecting a moving object from an image from the first video camera. And a second video camera for photographing a part of the surrounding image at telephoto, and an optical axis conversion means provided in front of the second video camera and changing the direction of the optical axis every other frame or every other field. A second video camera that predicts the next position of the moving object from the previous position and the current position of the moving object based on the result of the motion detecting means, and moves the optical axis to the predicted next position. An image pickup apparatus characterized in that an image is picked up by the user.

[0010] According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, a step of taking a surrounding image at a wide angle with a first video camera;
Detecting a moving object from an image from the first video camera, photographing a part of the surrounding image in telephoto with the second video camera, and providing one frame or one frame in front of the second video camera. Changing the direction of the optical axis for each field, based on the result of detecting the moving object, predicting the next position of the moving object from the previous position and the current position of the moving object, and predicting the next position The image pickup method is characterized in that the optical axis is moved so as to take a picture with a second video camera.

A surrounding image is photographed by a wide-angle camera block, motion is detected from the photographed surrounding image, and the presence or absence of a moving object is determined. When it is determined that there is a moving object, the next position of the moving object is predicted on the assumption that the moving object performs a uniform linear motion from the previous image and the current image. The direction of the optical axis of the telephoto camera block is moved to the predicted position, and the moving object is photographed as a target image. Thus, a moving object can be tracked.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. The wide-angle camera block 1 captures an image of the surroundings where the wide-angle camera block 1 is installed. The image signal photographed by the wide-angle camera block 1 is supplied to the motion detection circuit 2 and the compression circuit 4 and is output from the output terminal 13 via the switch circuit 3 to be output to the monitor TV.

The motion detection circuit 2 always detects the motion of the supplied image signal. An example of the motion detection will be described. In the motion detection circuit 2, block matching is performed between two temporally adjacent images such as one field, one frame, or several frames. By this block matching, a motion vector is detected for each block. The detected motion vector is approximated as a block of a similar motion vector, classified into a representative motion vector, and the frequency distribution of the representative motion vector is obtained.
When there is a frequency distribution larger than a predetermined threshold, it is determined that there is a relatively large motion area on the screen, and that area is determined as a moving object.

The detection result of the motion detection circuit 2 is supplied to a system controller 11. When it is determined based on the detection result from the motion detection circuit 2 that there is a moving object, the system controller 11 controls the mirror block 8 and the telephoto camera block 9. In the telephoto camera block 9, a moving object is captured as a target image via the mirror block 8 as described later. The mirror block 8 and the telephoto camera block 9 include the pan motor 1
0 drives in the pan direction. When the system controller 11 determines that a moving object is not detected, the system controller 11 may perform control so that image signals from the wide-angle camera block 1 and the telephoto camera block 9 are not recorded on the recording medium 6. Thereby, consumption of the recording medium 6 can be suppressed.

The pan motor 10 is controlled by a system controller 11. The image of interest taken by the telephoto camera block 9 is supplied to the compression circuit 4 and displayed on the monitor TV via the switch circuit 3.

The surrounding image from the wide-angle camera block 1 or the image of interest from the telephoto camera block 9 supplied to the compression circuit 4 is stored in the memory 5. In the compression circuit 4, the image stored in the memory 5 or the image of interest is subjected to image compression by, for example, DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform). Compressed image signal (hereinafter, referred to as
(Referred to as a compressed image signal) is supplied to the recording medium 6.
The recording medium 6 is formed of a tape, a disk, an IC memory, or the like. The recording medium 6 is controlled by the system controller 11 to record / record a compressed image signal.
Playback is performed. The recorded compressed image signal is reproduced and supplied to the decompression circuit 7.

The compressed image signal supplied to the expansion circuit 7 is
Stored in the memory 5. The decompression circuit 7 performs, for example, inverse DCT on the compressed image signal stored in the memory 5 and converts the compressed image signal into an original image signal. The converted surrounding image is supplied to the PBA terminal of the switch circuit 3 and the output terminal 1
3 to the monitor TV. The converted image of interest is supplied to the PBB terminal of the switch circuit 3 and output from the output terminal 13 to the monitor TV.

The memory 5 includes a compression circuit 4 and an expansion circuit 7
The area used in the compression circuit 4 and the area used in the decompression circuit 7 may be used separately, or the address of the memory 5 may be managed and used by the system controller 11 each time. Alternatively, separate memories may be prepared. The operation system 12 is a collection of keys and switches for setting the camera-integrated digital VCR, and their control signals are supplied to the system controller 11.

Here, this camera-integrated digital VC
An example of the processing of R will be described. First, this camera-integrated digital VCR is provided with a wide-angle camera block 1 for monitoring the entire field of view and a telephoto camera block 9 capable of quickly changing the direction of the optical axis with a telephoto lens.

Motion detection is performed between images temporally adjacent to the wide-angle camera block 1, and when a moving object appears in the image, the size (range of the image) of the moving object is obtained. So that the optical axis of block 9 is turned
The direction of the optical axis is controlled by the stem controller 11. At the same time, the zoom of the telephoto camera block 9 is controlled by the system controller 11 so that the angle of view is suitable for the size of the moving object. Further, the distance to the moving object is measured every field, and the telephoto camera block 9 is measured.
Is controlled by the system controller 11. Alternatively, when the telephoto camera block 9 has an autofocus function, the focus is automatically adjusted to the moving object.

As described above, the direction of the optical axis, the zoom and the focus of the telephoto camera block 9 controlled by the system controller 11 are predicted, and the image of interest is taken.
For example, in the control of the direction of the optical axis, when the position of a moving object is detected in a certain field, the optical axis is controlled so as to move to the position detected in the next field. Field is shifted by one field. Therefore, using both the position one field before and the current position, the direction of the optical axis is controlled by predicting the position in the next field under the assumption that the detected moving object performs a uniform linear motion. .

Next, an example of preventing a malfunction when a leaf or the like sways in the wind will be described. The wide-angle camera block 1 detects motion between frames and tracks the motion of a certain object.
As a result, it does not track the object while moving in a small range. The object is tracked by the telephoto camera block 9 only when the object moves beyond the set range. Once you start tracking, continue shooting the object even if the movement stops. Then, when a certain period of time elapses after the movement stops, the next moving object is searched for.

Further, when a motion is detected, the wide-angle camera block 1 and the telephoto camera block 9 output alternately for each field. As an example, in an odd field, an image signal captured by the wide-angle camera block 1 is output, and in an even field, an image signal captured by the telephoto camera block 9 is output. This is because, as will be described later, since the mirror block 11 repeats the stationary operation and the operation of changing the direction of the optical axis for each field, the field period during which the direction of the optical axis is changed (in the above example, During the odd field period, the image signal from the wide-angle camera block 1 is output.

FIG. 2 shows an example in which the above-described mirror block 8 is driven. FIG. 2 shows a state in which the mirror block 8 is mounted with the lens block 22 of the telephoto camera block 9 set to telephoto, for example. The subject reflected by the mirror 21 is taken into the CCD image pickup device 23 via the lens block 22. When the mirror 21 of the mirror block 8 is at the center of both the latitude and longitude, the subject at the position A is photographed. However, since the image is reflected once by the mirror 21, the image is reversed left and right, so it is necessary to electrically process the image.

Here, when a current is applied to one of the coils and the mirror 21 is moved clockwise by 5 °, the optical axis is shifted to the right by 10 °, and the object at the position B is photographed. 5 counterclockwise
When the subject is moved by 10 °, the optical axis is shifted to the left by 10 °, and the subject at the position C is photographed.

Next, the longitude is set to the center, a current is applied to the other coil, and when the mirror 21 is turned upward by 5 °, the optical axis shifts while rotating upward, and the subject at the position D is photographed. Is done. When the latitude and longitude are shifted by 5 °, the subject at the position E or the subject at the position F is photographed.

Here, as a first example of the mirror block 8, an example of the structure of a mirror block composed of a biaxial movable mirror is shown in FIG. 41 is a plane mirror, and its plane mirror 4
Rotation shafts 42 are provided on the left and right sides of 1, and can rotate around the bearing of the movable frame 43. A coil 44 is fixed above and below the plane mirror 41. Magnet systems 45 are fixed to the movable frame 43 on the left and right sides of the coil, and are arranged so that the lines of magnetic force cross the coil 44. When a current flows through the coil 44, the plane mirror 41 can be turned upward or downward. That is, the latitude can be controlled.

A rotary shaft 46 is provided above and below the movable frame 43, and can rotate about a bearing of the fixed frame 47. Also, the coils 4 are provided on the left and right of the movable frame 43.
8 is fixed. Magnet systems 49 are fixed to the fixed frame 47 above and below the coil 48, and are arranged so that the lines of magnetic force cross the coil 48. Coil 48
When the current flows through the flat mirror 41, the plane mirror 41 can be turned to the left or right. That is, the longitude can be controlled.

The optical axis is changed using a two-axis movable mirror,
An example in which an image of interest is captured by the telephoto camera block 9 will be described with reference to FIG. As an example, the target image is taken by driving the above-described two-axis movable mirror only in the longitude direction and further driving the pan motor 10.

FIG. 4 shows the relationship between the movement angle and the time (field). The angular velocity of the pan motor 10 is represented by a line a in FIG. 4A.
Shown in The angular velocity of the line a is detected using an angular velocity sensor or the like, and based on the detection result, the optical axis of the mirror block 8 is controlled in the reverse direction between 1.2 (deg) as shown by the line b in FIG. 4B. You. As a result, as shown by the line c in FIG. 4A,
During the shutter open time S _ON, the optical axis can be kept stationary with respect to the subject. That is, the optical axis moves linearly during the shutter opening time S _ON of 10 (msec) and during the shutter closing S _OFF of 6.67 (msec).
The operation of quickly returning to the vicinity of the center of the optical axis in the next field is repeated. If the light amount is sufficient and the shutter speed can be increased, that is, if the shutter opening time S _ON can be shortened, the change width of the mirror block 8 can be narrowed by making the shutter open time S _ON as shown by the line d in FIG. 4C. .

Speed at which the pan motor 10 rotates (angular speed)
In order to improve the detection accuracy, the result of motion detection between fields of an image is used. In this way, an average moving speed before and after one field can be obtained for each pixel. However, since only an average value is obtained, correction cannot be performed if there is a component other than a linear change (secondary or tertiary change) within the shutter open time _SON . Further, when the image is flat, it is not possible to detect a correct motion, so an angular velocity sensor is used together.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an active prism that can be used as the above-described mirror block 8. In this active prism, a front glass 51 and a rear glass 52 are connected by bellows 53. A liquid 54 having a high refractive index is sealed between the two glasses. Each of the two glasses is provided with a rotation axis vertically and horizontally so that the glass can freely operate. By using this active prism instead of the mirror block 8, the optical axis can be bent vertically and horizontally.

The liquid 54 at this time is composed of (1) a front glass 51 and a rear glass 52 and a refractive index n
(2) A substance that does not cause abnormalities such as freezing in the operating temperature range of the camera. (3) A substance that is harmless to the human body even if it breaks and the liquid 54 flows out. These three conditions must be satisfied.

The operation of the active prism will be briefly described. The front glass 51 is held, for example, on a horizontal axis, and the rear glass 52 is held, for example, on a vertical axis, and can rotate independently around each axis. A moving coil was attached to the rotating shaft. The rotation angle (vertical angle) is determined by the current flowing through the coil. For example, when the camera is turned upward due to camera shake, the state of the active prism shown in FIG. 5A changes to the state of the active prism shown in FIG. 5B.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5A, when the two glass plates are parallel, the light beam incident on the active prism goes straight. Here, if camera shake occurs and the two glass plates are rotated by a certain angle from the parallel position, the refraction index n inside the active prism causes a refraction as shown in FIG. I do.

Next, FIG. 6 shows a third example of the mirror block 8 composed of a magnet section and a mirror section. First, FIG. 6A shows a top view of the magnet portion, and FIG. 6B shows a cross-sectional view of AA ′ part in FIG. 6A. Thus, four sets of magnets 83 are installed on the frame 81 having the hole 82 at the center. This magnet 83 is composed of two shapes of magnets. One is composed of a central columnar magnet, and the other is a ring-shaped magnet surrounding the column, and a groove is formed. Each yoke 85 is connected to the frame 8 via a magnet 84.
Connected to 1. At this time, the cylindrical magnet has an S pole on the frame side and an N pole on the yoke side. Also,
The annular magnet has an N pole on the frame side and an S pole on the yoke side.

FIG. 7A shows a bottom view of the mirror section, and FIG.
FIG. 7A is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB ′ in FIG. 7A. On the mirror back surface 91, four coils 92 are provided. The back surface is a mirror surface 93. The four coils 92 are shown in FIG.
It is arranged so as to fit in the groove of the magnet 83 inside and not to hit the magnet part even when the mirror part is driven. That is, an active mirror is formed by matching this mirror section with the above-mentioned magnet section.

FIG. 8 shows an example of a main part of the bearing. The movable fulcrum 101 is fixed to the center of the mirror back surface 91, and the fixed fulcrum 103 is fixed to the frame 81. The movable bearing 102 is located in a state of being pressed between the movable fulcrum 101 and the fixed fulcrum 103. Movable bearing 102
Are provided with a circular recess and a V-shaped groove,
Alternatively, two needle-shaped fulcrums of the fixed fulcrum 103 enter, and the movable bearing 102 can be inclined forward and backward with respect to the fixed fulcrum 103, and the movable fulcrum 101 can be inclined left and right with respect to the movable bearing 102. it can. That is, the movable mirror fixed to the movable fulcrum 101 can be tilted forward, backward, left, and right. However, rotation is not possible.

FIG. 9 shows a state in which the movable bearing 102 of FIG. 8 is pressed against the movable fulcrum 101 and the fixed fulcrum 103. The metal fitting 111 is fixed to the movable fulcrum 101. The plate 112 is a tension coil spring 1
13, it is pulled downward and contacts the V-shaped groove of the metal fitting 111 at one point. For this reason, the metal fitting 111 is
When the same movement is performed, the plate 112 hardly moves.

In this example, the fulcrum of the movable fulcrum 101 and the fulcrum of the fixed fulcrum 103 in FIG. 8 are at the same height, and the contact point between the metal fitting 111 and the plate 112 in FIG. 9 is also at the same height. . The pin 114 is used to prevent the movable bearing 102 from falling off. The depth of the groove of the movable bearing 102 is about 0.5 mm.
The movable bearing 102 is fixed by passing through the hole 115 of the plate 112 from the side of 3. The hole diameter of the hole 115 is
Since it is thicker than the diameter of the pin 114, there is no contact during normal operation. However, when the movable fulcrum 101 is pulled upward, the lower side of the pin hits the lower side of the hole 115 and the movable bearing 1
02 does not fall off. Therefore, pin 1
The clearance between below 14 and below hole 115 is chosen to be less than 0.5 mm.

In this example, the active mirror is movable in the left-right direction and the front-rear direction. However, for example, an active mirror movable so that the optical axis changes only in the vertical direction may be used. In this case, only two sets of magnets 83 corresponding to the vertical direction and two coils 92 corresponding thereto are required, and the bearings are fixed fulcrum 103 and fixed bearing 102.
It may be composed only of.

FIG. 10 shows a movable fulcrum 101 and a movable bearing 10.
2 and a modified example of the fixed fulcrum 103 are shown. As shown in FIG. 10A, the needle-shaped fulcrum of the movable fulcrum 102 and the fixed fulcrum 103 may be a knife-edge-shaped fulcrum. When the movable fulcrum 105 and the fixed fulcrum 107 which are the knife-edge-shaped fulcrum are applied, the movable bearing 106 is configured as shown in FIG.
Alternatively, a similar effect can be obtained by forming the shape as shown in FIG. 10C.

FIG. 11 shows a fourth example of the mirror block 8 described above. In the camera block 121, a CCD image pickup device and a lens block are integrated. The tilt motor 122 is fixed to one surface of the frame-shaped movable frame 123. The axis 124 of the tilt motor 122 is
23 through a bearing 125 on the opposite surface, and a shaft 124
The camera block 121 is fixed substantially at the center of the camera block 121. The camera block 121 can be rotated by the tilt motor 122 to change the optical axis in the vertical direction.

A frame-shaped fixed frame 126 is provided so as to surround the outer periphery of the movable frame 123. A pan motor 127 is fixed to, for example, the lower surface of the fixed frame 126. The axis of the pan motor 127 is
Fixed to A shaft and a bearing 128 are provided on the opposing surface of the fixed frame 126 to rotatably mount the movable frame 123. The movable frame 123 can be rotated by the pan motor 127 to change the optical axis in the left-right direction. Thus, the fixed frame 1
By rotating the camera block 121 disposed at the center of 26 about axes orthogonal to each other, the optical axis can be changed vertically and horizontally.

FIG. 12 shows a modification of the above-described mirror block 8, telephoto camera block 9, and pan motor 10. As shown in FIG. 12A, the rotating frame 134 includes:
A one-axis active mirror including a tilt motor 132 and a mirror 131, and a camera block 133 including a lens block and a CCD image sensor are provided. The camera block 133 is set to telephoto, and is mounted facing upward. The one-axis active mirror is disposed in front of the lens at an angle of about 45 degrees with respect to the optical axis of the camera block 133. At this time, the scanning line of the CCD image sensor is set to be in the vertical direction. By doing so, the subject is photographed as a vertically long image. This is the pan motor 135
Is provided, a horizontal image can be easily obtained. Therefore, the target image obtained by the one-axis active mirror is a vertically long image.

Here, when the one-axis active mirror is rotated by about ± 7 degrees around 45 degrees, vertical photography can be performed. One-axis active mirror and camera block 1
The rotating frame 134 is attached to a pan motor 135 so that the rotating frame 33 and the rotating frame 33 are rotated in a horizontal direction.
Scanning in the vertical direction is performed by the one-axis active mirror, and scanning in the horizontal direction is performed by the pan motor 135, so that a moving object can be tracked and photographed. In addition, the camera block 133 can capture a 360-degree image of interest in the horizontal direction.

A pan motor 135 for rotating the rotating frame 134 is installed as shown in FIG. 12B. The pan motor 135 is provided in the lower cabinet 137.
Pan motor 135 provided in lower cabinet 137
The transparent cover 136 is placed on the rotating frame 134. The transparent cover 136 includes, for example, a transparent part 136a that allows light from a subject to pass therethrough, and a light shielding part 136b.
Consists of The lower cabinet 137 has a storage unit 1 capable of storing the recording device having the configuration shown in FIG.
38 are provided.

Next, a first example of photographing an image of interest is shown in FIG.
3 will be described. As an example, the time required for changing the direction of the optical axis from the stationary state to the next stationary state is about 7 msec. In FIG. 13, at time A, the direction of the optical axis changes from the still state to the shooting position of the next target image in synchronization with the frame pulse. By the time point B, the direction of the optical axis is in a stationary state. Time B about 7 msec after this time A
During this period, the direction of the optical axis is moving, and at time B, the electric charge accumulated in the CCD image sensor is discharged to the substrate based on the discharge pulse. Then, from the time point B to the time point C, the direction of the optical axis is in a stationary state, and charges are accumulated in the CCD image sensor. Time C at the end of the field
The electric charges accumulated in the CCD image sensor based on the readout pulse are transferred to the vertical CCD. The electric charge transferred to the vertical CCD is output from the CCD image sensor during a field starting from time C (time C to time E).

In the next second field, in order to make the exposure conditions the same while keeping the direction of the optical axis stationary, the charge accumulated in the CCD image pickup device between time C and time D is set. Is discharged onto the substrate at time D based on the discharge pulse. Then, between time D and time E, CC
D The electric charge accumulated in the image sensor is transferred to the vertical CCD based on the read pulse at the time E at the end of the field. The electric charge transferred to the vertical CCD is output from the CCD image sensor during a field starting from time point E. In this manner, one frame of the target image is captured.
At this point E, the direction of the optical axis is changed from the stationary state to the direction of the next optical axis. In this way, one image of interest consisting of one frame is photographed and recorded 30 times per second.

In this embodiment, a second example of photographing an image of interest will be described with reference to FIG. As in the first example, the time required to change the direction of the optical axis is about 7 msec. In FIG. 14, the vertical synchronization signal VD
At the time point a, the direction of the optical axis changes from the stationary state to the direction of the next optical axis. By the time point b, the direction of the optical axis is stationary. Since the direction of the optical axis is moving from this time point a to a time point b about 7 msec later, at the time point b,
The electric charges accumulated in the CCD image sensor are discharged to the substrate based on the discharge pulse.

Then, from the time point b to the time point c, the direction of the optical axis becomes stationary, and electric charges are accumulated in the CCD image pickup device. At the time point c at the end of the field, the electric charge accumulated in the CCD image sensor based on the read pulse is transferred to the vertical CCD. The electric charges transferred to the vertical CCD are output from the CCD image sensor during a field starting from the time point c. In this way, a target image of one field is captured. At the time point c, the direction of the optical axis is changed from the stationary state to the direction of the optical axis of the next image of interest. In this way, one attention image consisting of one field is 1
Sixty images are taken and recorded per second.

As described above, the method of photographing the image of interest by changing the direction of the optical axis for each frame or each field has been described. However, the direction of the optical axis is changed for every two frames or every two fields, and May be taken.
When the subject is bright, the direction of the optical axis is changed for each frame or field, and an image of interest is taken. When the subject is dark, the direction of the optical axis is changed for every two frames or every two fields, and the image of interest is changed. You may make it take a picture.

In this embodiment, a third example of photographing an image of interest will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 15 shows an example in which the direction of the optical axis is changed every two frames to capture an image of interest. Like the first and second examples described above, it is necessary to change the direction of the optical axis. Time is about 7 msec. The direction of the optical axis moves in synchronization with the frame pulse. In FIG. 15, at the beginning of the section A, the direction of the optical axis changes from the stationary state to the direction of the next optical axis. In this section A, since the direction of the optical axis is moving, the electric charge accumulated in the CCD image sensor is discharged to the substrate based on the discharge pulse.

Then, in the section B, the direction of the optical axis becomes stationary, and electric charges are accumulated in the CCD image pickup device. At the end of the section B, the electric charge accumulated in the CCD image sensor based on the read pulse is transferred to the vertical CCD. Vertical CCD
Are output from the CCD image sensor during the next frame. In this way, one image of interest consisting of two frames is photographed and recorded at 7.5 times per second.

In this embodiment, the pan motor and the tilt motor are constituted by a stepping motor as an example.

[0053]

According to the present invention, since only a moving object can be tracked and photographed, even a flying object can be photographed clearly without disappearing off the screen. Further, since the angle of view and the focus can be adjusted to the moving object, a sufficiently zoomed-in image can be captured even in unmanned shooting.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for explaining shooting of an image of interest using a mirror block.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a first example of a mirror block including a two-axis movable mirror applied to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing a movement angle of a camera according to the present invention and a change in an optical axis.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining an example of an active prism applied to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram used for describing an example of a magnet applied to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram used for describing an example of a movable mirror applied to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram used for describing an example of a bearing applied to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram used for describing an example of fixing a bearing applied to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram used for describing another example of the bearing applied to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing a fourth example of the optical axis conversion means applied to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram used for describing a one-axis active mirror which is a fifth example of the optical axis conversion means applied to the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a timing chart for explaining shooting of an image of interest applied to the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a timing chart for explaining shooting of an image of interest applied to the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a timing chart for explaining shooting of an image of interest applied to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: wide-angle camera block, 2: motion detection circuit,
3 switch circuit 4 compression circuit 5 memory 6 recording medium 7 decompression circuit 8
Mirror block, 9 ... telephoto camera block, 10
..Pan motors, 11 ... System controllers, 1
2. Operation system

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A first video camera that captures a surrounding image at a wide angle, a motion detection unit that detects a moving object from an image from the first video camera, and a part of the surrounding image in telephoto. A second video camera for photographing; and an optical axis conversion unit provided in front of the second video camera for changing the direction of the optical axis every other frame or every other field. Based on the previous position of the moving object and the current position, the next position of the moving object is predicted, the optical axis is moved to the predicted next position, and the image is taken by the second video camera. An image pickup apparatus characterized in that: 2. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a recording unit for recording images from the first and second video cameras. 3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when the moving object is not detected by the motion detecting means, the captured images from the first and second video cameras are not recorded in the recording means. An image pickup apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned. 4. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the range of the moving object is detected, and the angle of view of the second video camera is changed to the range of the moving object. 5. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a distance to the moving object is detected, and a focus of the second video camera is adjusted to the moving object. 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein only the moving object that has moved beyond a predetermined range is photographed by the second video camera, and when the movement of the moving object stops for a predetermined time or more, An image pickup apparatus, wherein shooting with a video camera is stopped. 7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said optical axis converting means comprising a tilt motor and a mirror driven in a vertical direction and a pan motor for driving said second video camera collectively in a horizontal direction are provided. An image pickup device characterized by the following. 8. The optical axis converting means according to claim 1, wherein the optical axis converting means comprises: a fixing portion for fixing a mirror; and a supporting portion for connecting the mirror and the fixing portion so as to be movable in the left-right direction and / or the front-back direction. A driving unit that disposes one of the coil and the magnet on the mirror, the other of the coil and the magnet on the fixed unit, and displaces the mirror in at least one of the left-right direction and the front-back direction. Image capturing device. 9. The method according to claim 1, wherein a jump operation for moving the optical axis to a position of a next image of the moving object is performed once during a predetermined period, and the second operation is performed during the jump operation. Discharging the charge exposed to the image sensor of the video camera, and excluding the period during which the jump operation is performed, the exposed charge is obtained as an image output corresponding to the next position of the moving object. Image capturing device. 10. A step of capturing a surrounding image with a first video camera at a wide angle; a step of detecting a moving object from an image from the first video camera; and a step of detecting a surrounding object with a second video camera. And a step of changing the direction of the optical axis every other frame or every other field provided in front of the second video camera, based on the result of detecting the moving object. Predicting the next position of the moving object from the previous position and the current position of the moving object, moving the optical axis to the predicted next position,
An image capturing method, wherein the image is captured by the second video camera.