JP2000308042A - Device and method for displaying monitor video and recording medium recording program of the method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make the watching work carried out by watchmen efficient by reducing the burden on the watchmen by summarily displaying videos photographed at monitoring points. SOLUTION: A monitor video displaying device is constituted of a video inputting section which successively inputs parts of videos photographed with video cameras 100 installed to monitoring points by segmenting the parts as slit pictures, a variation detecting section 114 which detects the presence/absence of variation between the inputted slit pictures and preobtained reference slit pictures, a picture synthesizing section 120 which synthesizes the summarized pictures at each monitoring point into one displaying pictures by coupling the slit pictures with already prepared summarized pictures when the detecting section 114 detects the presence of variation.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for monitoring an abnormality such as an accident, a stopped vehicle or a collapse occurring on a road or the like by using a plurality of video cameras or the like installed on the road or the like, and a program therefor. The present invention relates to a recording medium in which

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Road conditions change from moment to moment. Road traffic is greatly affected by the effects of nature (heavy rain, snow, landslides, etc.) and accidents. In order to monitor such road conditions and prevent disasters and accidents, a system that supports road monitoring work and road monitoring is important. For this purpose, a system is in place to install cameras at disaster prone points and send images to remote monitoring centers for centralized monitoring.

[0003] In the most common monitoring method, a plurality of monitors are arranged in a monitoring center and an observer visually detects an abnormality. FIG. 7 shows an example of the system configuration. In the figure, a plurality of cameras 700-1 to 700-N
Monitors 710-1 to 710 installed in the monitoring center
0-N. FIG. 8 shows monitors 710-1 to 710-7.
It is an example of arrangement of 10-N. The observer looks at the monitor arranged as shown in FIG. 8 in the monitoring center and finds an abnormality.

Further, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-7593, a device has been developed which automatically detects an abnormal situation by image processing and issues an alarm. FIG. 9 shows an example of a system configuration including such a device. In the figure, a plurality of cameras 700-1 to 700-N are connected to monitors 710-1 to 710-N via abnormality detection devices 900-1 to 900-N, respectively. Each of the abnormality detection devices 900-1 to 900-N has a camera 71
The video of 0-1 to 710-N is input, and the presence or absence of an abnormal situation such as the presence of a falling object or a stopped vehicle is determined by image processing, and an alarm is issued when an abnormality is detected.

FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram of a process performed by the abnormality detection device 900. The detection device 900 calculates a difference between a background image 1010 created in advance and an input image 1020 (1001), and calculates the difference. The number of pixels whose absolute value is equal to or greater than a certain threshold is counted, and it is determined whether or not the number of pixels is greater than a certain threshold (1002). Thus, the observer looks at the corresponding monitor and, for example,
Know the existence of 5. Note that the background image 1010 is automatically updated at fixed time intervals so as to be able to adapt to environmental changes and the like. The difference between the background image 1010 and the input image 1020 is that the sum of absolute differences is used instead of counting the number of changed pixels. , Correlation, etc. may be used.

[0006]

In the prior art, in the method of monitoring monitors side by side, it is necessary to monitor a plurality of monitors at all times, resulting in high stress on the monitor. Especially like big waves (overtopping waves) and abnormal vehicles running on the road,
If the abnormal state is observed only for a short time, it is difficult to find the abnormal state (the observer needs to stare at the monitor, and the mental burden is large).

[0007] The method of automatically detecting an abnormal situation can reduce the burden on the observer, but the abnormality detecting device has a detection rate of 100%.
Instead of%, an alarm may be generated by mistake or an abnormality may not be detected. Therefore, it is not possible to completely eliminate the monitoring work of the observer. In this case, the observer still monitors a plurality of monitors.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems. (1) By summarizing and synthesizing camera images, the burden on an observer can be reduced to make monitoring work more efficient. 2) A surveillance video display device and a surveillance video display method, and a recording medium on which the program is recorded, in which a camera video is accumulated and a recorded video can be immediately reproduced from a designated time by pointing on the summary screen. The purpose is to provide.

[0009]

According to the present invention, there is provided a means for cutting out a part of an image taken by a video camera or the like installed at a monitoring point as a slit image and sequentially inputting the slit image, and for each time the slit image is input. Means for detecting and determining the presence or absence of a change between the slit image and a previously obtained reference slit image, and, whenever it is determined that there is a change, arranging and synthesizing the slit image and displaying a summary image Means.

[0010] Only when the slit image changes, the summary image is displayed on the screen by arranging the slit images, so that more information can be displayed on one screen than by simply arranging the images. That is, since the video is summarized and displayed by focusing on the change, the monitor can grasp the environmental change at a glance, and the burden on the monitor is reduced. Further, by using the slit image, it is most suitable when an object moving in a certain direction such as a vehicle running on a road is to be monitored, and further unnecessary image information (for example, shaking due to wind of a tree, Waves that hit the shore).

According to the present invention, there is provided a means for recording a video taken by a video camera or the like in association with a shooting time, a means for inputting a point on a summary image on a display surface, and the like; Means for converting the coordinate values of the given points into time, and means for reproducing and displaying the stored video from the time. The observer can play the part of the recorded video simply by pointing to the point on the summary screen that seems to be abnormal, eliminating the need for the observer to rewind the video tape and search for the image at the time when the abnormality occurred. When an abnormality occurs, quick response is possible.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[Embodiment 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In the figure, N video cameras 100-1 to 100-N are installed at monitoring points, respectively. These N video cameras 100-
The images shot at 1 to 100N are sent to a remote monitoring center via a wireless or wired dedicated line or the like, and input to the summary image creation units 110-1 to 110-N, respectively.
A summary image is obtained. Each summary image creation unit 110-1
The summary image obtained in 110-N is input to the image synthesizing unit 120 from moment to moment, and is synthesized for each monitoring point to obtain 1
The image is displayed on the monitor 130.

Each of the summary image creating units 110-1 to 110-N
Is composed of a video input unit 112 and a change detection unit 114. FIG. 2 shows an outline of processing in the summary image creation unit. The video input unit 112 converts the video from the video camera to 10 to 3 seconds.
Digitization is performed at a frequency of about 0, and an input image 220 is obtained. Then, only the preset slit area 225 is cut out as a slit image and the change detection unit 11
Send to 4. The change detection unit 114 stores an image of a preset slit area 215 (for example, set to overlap a road) in the reference image 210 as a reference slit image, and stores the reference slit image and the input slit image. Is calculated (201). Then, the number of pixels (the number of changed pixels) whose absolute value of the difference is larger than a certain threshold is counted, and it is determined whether or not the number of changed pixels is equal to or larger than a certain threshold (202). The slit image is output to the image synthesizing unit 130 as a summary image. In the example of FIG. 2, as a result, the vehicle
At the point when the vehicle has passed through 25, a slit image showing a part of the vehicle is output. The slit image (summary image) 225 is output each time the change detection unit 114 determines that there is a change.

Here, a method of setting a reference slit image will be described. The simplest method is to specify a single reference image and a slit area from the camera image when starting the device,
The slit image cut out from the image is used as a reference slit image. At this time, the reference slit image is set so as to capture the background (road). Environmental changes (sunshine,
It is also possible to update the reference slit image at regular intervals in order to adapt to weather conditions. For example, a slit image for a certain time is stored in a memory, a mode value (median value) of a pixel value is calculated for each pixel, and a reference slit image is created by using the mode value as a pixel value. Is also possible.

Further, the slit image of the immediately preceding input image may be used as the reference slit image. That is, the change detection unit 114
In this case, the immediately preceding slit image is retained and used as a reference slit image for the slit image sent next from the video input unit 112. The reference slit image is sequentially updated each time the next slit image is sent. When the immediately preceding slit image is used as the reference slit image, a remarkable change in the situation over time of the image (traffic) information can be detected. In other words, since the previous image is used as the reference image and the slit image is used for synthesizing the summary image when the residual difference is sufficiently large, it is necessary for the user to detect a change in image information over time. It has the advantage of helping. For example, on the contrary, it is possible to cope with a case where the user is not interested in a state in which the vehicle is stopped after a certain time T and does not change forever.

Returning to FIG. 1, the synthesizing display section 120 synthesizes the slit-shaped summary images input from the N summary image creating sections 110-1 to 110-N by arranging them in time and combining them. It is arranged at a different position for each point, synthesized on one screen, and output to the monitor 130. FIG.
Shows an example of the composite display. FIG. 6 shows a part of the composite display screen of the monitor 130. Here, the images at the points A and B (the images of the cameras 100-1 and 100-2) are respectively a strip-shaped summary image display area. 610, 6
20 is displayed. When a slit-like summary image is input from the summary image creation unit 110-1, the composite display unit 12
“0” additionally displays the summary image on the right side 611 of the summary image display area 610 corresponding to the monitoring point (point A). Accordingly, the image displayed so far is shifted to the left, and the oldest portion 612 is deleted. Of course, what is deleted on the screen may be stored in a file or a memory, and a past summary image may be displayed according to the operation of the monitor.

By watching the composite display screen as shown in FIG. 6 by the observer, the outline of the traffic situation can be grasped as follows. (1) Since vehicles passing through the slit area are displayed from left to right in a row from past to present, it is possible to see at a glance what vehicles have passed. (2) The traffic volume can be roughly grasped. In the example of FIG. 6, since the traffic volume at the point A is larger than the traffic volume at the point B, the summary image display area 610 is 6
It is longer than 20. Further, at a point with a large traffic volume, the speed at which the summary image is shifted to the left increases.
(3) It takes a long time for the low-speed vehicle 613 to pass through the slit area, so that the low-speed vehicle 613 is displayed in an elongated shape.
4 is displayed short. The stopped vehicle is displayed as a horizontally long stripe. (4) When there is a falling object, the following vehicle 615 runs avoiding the falling object and is displayed diagonally.

This embodiment can be variously modified. In the configuration example of FIG. 1, N image input units are provided corresponding to the N cameras. For example, images from four cameras are divided into four on a single screen, and the synthesized image is converted into a video. It is also possible to give it to the input unit. With such a configuration, camera images for four cameras can be input by one image input unit, and cost can be reduced. Although the slit area is set in advance, it is also possible to set a plurality of slit areas and switch the slit area to be used at regular intervals.
That is, if the slit region is fixed at one location, there is a risk that an abnormality occurring at another location cannot be found. This risk can be reduced by switching the slit at regular intervals.

Further, since there are various camera installation positions and monitoring targets, it is preferable that the width and height of the slit area can be freely set. The width and height of the slit are set according to the size and speed of an object (vehicle in the case of a road) to be monitored. In the example of FIG. 2, the height of the slit area 225 is set so as to cover the road which is the area to be monitored, and the slit area 225 is set according to the average speed of the vehicle.
Set the width of

[Embodiment 2] FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of Embodiment 2 of the present invention. . In this embodiment, the camera image is always recorded, and when the observer finds a place that seems to be abnormal, the mouse cursor 6 is displayed on the summary screen of FIG.
By moving 30 or the like and clicking on the screen, a recorded video at an arbitrary point and an arbitrary time can be immediately reproduced.

In FIG. 3, video cameras 100-1 to 100-1
100-N, summary image creation units 110-1 to 110-N,
The system of the image synthesizing unit 120 and the monitor 130 is the same as that of the first embodiment in FIG. The images of the N video cameras 100-1 to 100-N are stored in an image storage unit 340.
, And are constantly recorded and stored. At that time, the camera number (the number indicating the video input from which camera)
Then, the time information is stored in association with the recorded video. Specifically, the video storage unit 340 uses a controllable video cassette recorder or a hard disk device for storing digitized and encoded data. If the observer looks at the summary display screen of the monitor 130 and finds a place suspected of being abnormal, he operates the mouse 310 and
When the mouse cursor 630 (FIG. 6) is moved on the screen of the screen 30 and the mouse button is clicked at a place suspected to be abnormal, the signal is sent to the instruction input section 320. The instruction input unit 320 acquires the coordinate value of the mouse cursor on the screen and sends it to the time calculation unit 330. The time calculation unit 330 calculates which point (camera number) and which time of the video should be reproduced based on the coordinate values of the mouse cursor, and specifies the camera number and the time to the video reproduction unit 350. Send a playback command. Upon receiving the playback instruction, the video playback unit 350 reads the video data from the video storage unit 340 and displays the video data on the monitor 360. The time calculation unit 330 manages a correspondence table between the display position of the slit image on the screen and the time in order to calculate the camera number and the time from the mouse cursor coordinate values,
Each time the screen is updated by the image synthesizing unit 130, the correspondence table is updated.

According to the present embodiment, it is not necessary to find the abnormal part while rewinding or fast-forwarding the recorded video. Accordingly, there is an effect that the number of operations of the monitoring personnel can be reduced and quick response can be made when an abnormality occurs.

The present embodiment can be variously modified. It is also possible to input an alarm from another abnormality detection system, display the alarm on the screen, or automatically reproduce the image of the abnormal part. In addition, the image storage unit 340 can be modified so as not to normally store the image but to start the storage in response to an alarm of the abnormality detection system. Further, the monitor 130 may also serve as the monitor 360 to switch the display screen or divide the display area.

[Embodiment 3] In this embodiment, a monitoring system is constituted by a computer connected to a video camera and a program executable by the computer. FIG. 4 shows a configuration block diagram of the present embodiment. In FIG. 4, video cameras 801 and 400 installed at monitoring points are connected to a computer 410 by wire or wirelessly. Computer 410
Video input unit 411, CPU 412, memory 413, hard disk 414, and bus 415 connecting these with each unit
And a monitor 420, a mouse 430, and the like are connected via a bus 415.

The CPU 412 executes the procedure shown in FIG. In FIG. 5, step 500 is a step executed at the time of start-up or installation, in which an image of the camera 400 is input in advance, a user designates a reference image and a slit area, and a reference slit image is cut out and stored in the memory 413. Keep it. Hereinafter, steps 501 to 510 are repeatedly executed in a cycle of 10 to 30 times per second. Also,
If there are a plurality of cameras, the processing of steps 501 to 507 is repeated for each camera image.

In step 501, the video signal from the camera 400 is digitized by the video input unit 411, and one image is taken into the memory 413. Step 502
Cuts out a slit image as shown by 225 in FIG. In step 503, a difference between the reference slit image stored in the memory 413 in advance and the slit image cut out in step 502 is calculated. Step 504 calculates the sum of absolute differences. In step 905, it is checked whether or not the sum of absolute differences is larger than the threshold value T. If it is larger, it is determined that there is a change, and the process proceeds to step 506. If it is larger, it is determined that there is no change, and step 506 is skipped. In step 506, the slit image is displayed on the summary image screen of the monitor 420 as shown in FIG. 6, as described in the first embodiment. A step 507 stores the input image on the hard disk 414. The storage format at this time is MPEG
And other standard formats can be used. Step 508 checks to see if there is a mouse input. That is, the user operates the mouse 430 to check whether the mouse button is pressed on the summary image screen of the monitor 420. When there is a mouse input, the images stored in the hard disk 414 on the monitor 420 are reproduced from the designated time by executing steps 509 and 510. Step 5
09 calculates the time from the mouse cursor position. Specifically, when displaying the slit image on the screen in step 506, the slit display position and the time are stored as a set in the memory 413, and the time can be obtained by referring to the correspondence table. Step 510 reads from the hard disk 505
The video data is read from the designated time and reproduced and displayed on the monitor 420. Note that different monitors may be used for displaying the summary image and displaying the video data.

A program for executing the above procedure by a computer is provided by being stored in an appropriate recording medium such as a computer-readable portable recording medium memory (FD, CD-ROM, etc.), a semiconductor memory, a hard disk or the like. be able to. For example, if a computer is built in the camera and the summary image creation process is performed at the site where the camera is installed, and only the summary image is transmitted to the monitoring center, a program that executes the steps up to creation of the summary image is recorded. A recording medium may be used.

[0029]

According to the present invention, by summarizing and displaying camera images, it is easy to find traffic, abnormal situations, low-speed vehicles, and the like in the case of road monitoring, thereby reducing the burden on supervisors. . In particular, the use of the slit image is effective when an object moving in a certain direction such as a vehicle running on a road is to be monitored, and unnecessary image information (for example, shaking due to the wind of a tree, (E.g., waves hitting the shore). Furthermore, by accumulating camera images and clicking on the summary screen, it is possible to immediately play back the recorded image, so that it is not necessary to rewind the recorded image or to find the abnormal point while fast-forwarding, The use of guards is reduced,
When an abnormality occurs, prompt response is possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating creation of a summary image of a slit image according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration block diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration block diagram of a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a processing flowchart for explaining a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a specific example of a summary image screen according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a configuration block diagram for explaining a first example of the related art.

FIG. 8 is an example of arrangement of monitors according to a first example of the related art.

FIG. 9 is a configuration block diagram for explaining a second example of the related art.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining an abnormality detection method according to a second example of the related art.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100-1 to 100-N Video camera 110-1 to 110-N Summary image creation unit 112 Video input unit 114 Change detection unit 120 Image synthesis unit 130 Summary image monitor 310 Mouse 320 Instruction input unit 330 Time calculation unit 340 Video storage unit 350 video playback unit 360 video monitor

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 5C054 FC01 FC12 FE12 FE18 FE19 FF03 GB05 GB12 GD05 GD09 HA18 5H180 AA01 BB13 BB15 CC04 EE11

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A surveillance video display device for creating and displaying a summary image from video captured by video capturing means installed at a monitoring point, wherein a part of the video captured by the video capturing means is slit. A video input unit that cuts out and sequentially inputs as an image, a change detection unit that detects the presence or absence of a change between the input slit image and a previously obtained reference slit image, and that a change is detected by the change detection unit. Then, a surveillance video display device comprising: an image combining unit that combines the slit image with a summary image that has already been created; and a display unit that displays the combined summary image. 2. An image capturing means is provided at each of a plurality of monitoring points, and each image capturing means is provided with a set of a video input unit and a change detecting unit. 2. The surveillance video display device according to claim 1, wherein the display image is synthesized on one display screen. 3. A video storage unit for storing a video captured by a video capturing unit in association with a shooting time, an instruction input unit for specifying coordinates on a summary image displayed on a display unit, and coordinates of a slit image. A time calculating unit that holds an association between a value and a shooting time, and specifies a shooting time based on coordinates instructed from the instruction input unit; and an image stored in the video storage unit, the time calculating unit 3. The surveillance video display device according to claim 1, further comprising: a video reproduction unit that reproduces and displays the video from the time specified in (1). 4. A surveillance video display method for creating and displaying a summary image from video captured by video capturing means installed at a monitoring point, wherein a part of the captured video is cut out as a slit image. Sequentially input, detecting the presence or absence of a change between the input slit image and the reference slit image obtained in advance, and when the presence of the change is detected, combining the slit image with the already created summary image And displaying the combined summary image. 5. A photographed video is stored in association with a photographing time, coordinates of a summary image display surface designated by a user are input, and a photographing time is specified based on the input coordinates. 5. The surveillance video display method according to claim 4, wherein the stored video is reproduced and displayed from the specified time. 6. A computer-readable recording medium recording a program for creating a summary image from video captured by video capturing means installed at a monitoring point, wherein a part of the captured video is stored. Cutting out and sequentially inputting as a slit image, detecting the presence or absence of a change between the input slit image and a previously obtained reference slit image, and detecting the presence of the change, Combining with an already created summary image. 7. A computer-readable recording medium storing a program for creating and displaying a summary image from video captured by video capturing means installed at a monitoring point, the computer readable recording medium comprising: Cutting out a part as a slit image and sequentially inputting the steps; detecting the presence or absence of a change between the input slit image and a previously obtained reference slit image; and A recording medium, wherein a step of combining a slit image with an already created summary image and a step of displaying the combined summary image are recorded. 8. A step of accumulating the photographed video in association with the photographing time, and when a user inputs an instruction of coordinates on the summary image display surface, the photographing time is calculated based on the inputted coordinates. 8. The recording medium according to claim 7, further comprising a step of specifying, and a step of reproducing and displaying the stored video from the specified time.