JP2001111987A - Monitoring device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily specify an object person for tracking and to easily monitor the object person. SOLUTION: An image photographed with a camera is displayed on a master display device 12. In this case, when it is desired to automatically track a suspicious person, tracking start is commanded in the state of pointing a cursor 13 in the display area of the suspicious person. Then, since a cursor area 14 is displayed so as to surround the display area of the suspicious person, the suspicious person can be specified. At such a time, when the suspicious person moves, the cursor area 14 is moved with the movement of the display area of the suspicious person and the size of the cursor area 14 surrounding the suspicious person is changed so that the suspicious person can be surely specified and monitored.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a monitoring device having a devised cursor shape for specifying a specific person.

[0002]

For example, in a pachinko parlor, a plurality of cameras are installed in a store, and images taken by the cameras are displayed on a monitor to monitor a suspicious individual.

However, it is extremely difficult to continuously monitor a moving suspicious person with a plurality of monitors. In this case, the movement of the suspicious person is detected by the image processing device,
Although it is considered that the cursor is displayed corresponding to the display area of the suspicious person and the display position of the cursor is moved according to the movement of the suspicious person, the suspicious person is identified, but the cursor is simply displayed. Then, in an environment where many people are present, it is difficult to identify a suspicious person.

When a suspicious person crosses another person, the image processing apparatus may lose track of the suspicious person. In such a case, the suspicious person cannot be tracked. In this case, since the monitor needs to search for and identify a suspicious person from the screen displayed on each display device, there is a risk that the monitor takes time at that time and misses the suspicious person.

[0005] Further, since the entire pachinko hall is monitored by simultaneously displaying images taken by a plurality of cameras on a plurality of monitors provided corresponding to the cameras, the suspicious person is moved in accordance with the movement of the suspicious person. The camera that captures the image changes. For this reason, the monitor on which the suspicious person is projected changes every moment, so that much labor is required to monitor the suspicious person.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide a monitoring device which can easily specify a person to be tracked and can easily monitor the person to be tracked. It is in.

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided a photographing means for photographing a predetermined monitoring area, a display means for displaying an image photographed by the photographing means on a display device, and a display means for displaying an image photographed by the photographing means. A person detecting means for detecting a person by using the input means for instructing a specific person from among the persons detected by the person detecting means; When a start is instructed, a tracking means for tracking the specific person is provided, and the display means displays a cursor area so as to surround a display area of the person instructed by the input means, and performs the tracking. The cursor area may be moved in accordance with the movement of the display area of the person to be tracked by the means (claim 1).

[0008] According to such a configuration, the display means displays the photographed image by the photographing means on the display device. At this time, the person detecting means detects the person based on the image taken by the photographing means.

When a specific person is to be tracked from among the persons displayed on the display device, the specific person is designated by the input means. Then, the display means displays the cursor area so as to surround the display area of the person designated by the input means, so that the tracking target person can be easily specified. In addition, since the cursor area moves with the movement of the display area of the person tracked by the tracking means, the person to be tracked can be easily specified and monitored.

The display means displays a cursor area so as to surround a display area of the person when the input means instructs a person different from the person to be tracked. Thus, when the start of tracking is instructed in a state where a person different from the person to be tracked is instructed, the person may be tracked (claim 2).

According to such a configuration, when changing the person to be tracked, the start of tracking is instructed in a state where the input means points to a person different from the person to be tracked. As a result, the display means displays the cursor area so as to surround the display area of the newly designated person, and the tracking means follows the newly designated person, so that the person to be tracked can be easily changed. can do.

Further, the display means may change the size of the cursor area in proportion to the size of the display area of the tracking target person. According to such a configuration, when the display area of the person becomes large, the display means enlarges the cursor area in proportion to the size of the display area of the person, so that the display area of the person changes. Also, the cursor area is displayed so as to surround the display area of the person. Thereby, the person to be monitored can be easily specified.

The display means displays a plurality of cursor areas so as to respectively surround the display areas of a plurality of tracking candidates when the tracking means fails to track the tracking target person. The means may track the person when a specific person among the persons surrounded by the cursor area displayed by the display means is instructed by the input means to start tracking. (Claim 4).

According to such a configuration, when the person to be tracked intersects with another person, the person may not be able to be tracked. In such a case, the display means displays a plurality of tracking candidates. Since a plurality of cursor areas are displayed so as to surround the display area of the person, the tracking start is instructed in a state where the specific person is instructed by the input means. Thus, the tracking means tracks the newly instructed person, so that the tracking target person can be reliably monitored.

Further, the photographing means is constituted by a plurality of cameras so as to cover the entire monitoring area, and is provided with switching means for outputting an image photographed by the camera photographing the person to be tracked to a specific display device. (Claim 5).

According to such a configuration, the entire monitoring area can be covered by monitoring a plurality of cameras. In this case, the switching unit outputs an image captured by the camera capturing the person to be tracked to the specific display device, so that the person to be tracked can be reliably monitored by monitoring the specific display device.

When the display area of the person to be tracked runs out, the tracking means tracks the person to be tracked on the basis of an image taken by a photographing means adjacent to the photographing means for photographing the person to be tracked. It may be. (Claim 6) According to this configuration, when the display area of the tracking target person is exhausted, the tracking target person retreats from the photographing area of the photographing means which is the photographing target of the tracking target person, and the adjacent photographing is performed. Since the moving means has moved to the photographing area of the means, the tracking means can surely track the person to be tracked based on the image taken by the adjacent photographing means.

[0018]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 schematically shows the entire configuration. In FIG. 1, a plurality of cameras (corresponding to photographing means) 1 are installed in a monitoring area.
Is adapted to cover the entire monitoring area. The camera 1 outputs an image signal corresponding to a captured image.

The image processing apparatus 2 includes a plurality of image buffers 3 corresponding to the camera 1, a user interface 4, a person detecting unit (corresponding to a person detecting unit) 5, a tracking unit (corresponding to a tracking unit) 6, and a display unit (display). 7).

The image buffer 3 temporarily stores the image signal from the camera 1 as digital image information, and outputs the stored digital image information to the person detection unit 5 and the display unit 7.

When an instruction to start tracking is issued by a keyboard operation on a keyboard (corresponding to input means) 8 or a mouse operation on a mouse (corresponding to input means) 9, the user interface 4 confirms the start of tracking.
And the cursor position information input by the keyboard operation or the mouse operation is output to the tracking unit 6 and the display unit 7.

When the camera number is input from the tracking unit 6, the person detecting unit 5 inputs the digital image information from the image buffer 3 provided corresponding to the camera 1 of the camera number, By performing image processing on the image information, only the person area is extracted, and the person area information indicating the extraction result is output to the tracking unit 6.

When the cursor position indicated by the cursor position information provided from the user interface 4 is located in the person display area indicated by the person area information from the person detection unit 5, the tracking unit 6 Is output to the display unit 7 and the camera number of the camera 1 that is capturing the person to be tracked is output to the switcher (corresponding to switching means) 10. In addition, when the tracking unit 6 receives a tracking start confirmation from the user interface 4 in a state where the tracking target person has been instructed, the cursor area information indicating the position of the cursor area according to the movement of the tracking target person as described later. To change.

The display unit 7 outputs digital image information from the image buffer 3 to a display device 11 provided corresponding to the camera 1 and displays the digital image information on the display screen when cursor position information is received from the user interface 4. The cursor is displayed at the position indicated by the cursor position information, and when cursor area information is received from the tracking unit 6, the cursor area is displayed at the position indicated by the cursor area information on the display screen.

The switcher 10 receives image information from the display unit 7 and switches the user interface 4 and the tracking unit 6.
And outputs the digital image information from an image buffer 3 provided corresponding to the camera 1 of the input camera number to a master display device (corresponding to a specific display device) 12. .

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described. FIG. 2 shows a basic operation of the image processing apparatus 2, which is executed at predetermined time intervals. In FIG. 2, the display unit 7 of the image processing apparatus 2 inputs digital image information from the image buffers 3 corresponding to all cameras 1 (S201), and displays the input image information corresponding to each camera 1. Output to the device 11 (S202). As a result, an image captured by the corresponding camera 1 is displayed on each display device 11, so that the observer can monitor the entire pachinko hall by monitoring the image on each display device 11.

By the way, when the observer finds a suspicious person,
The suspicious person is displayed on the master display device 12 by a keyboard operation or a mouse operation as follows.

FIG. 3 shows a camera switching operation of the image processing apparatus 2, which is executed at predetermined time intervals.
In FIG. 3, the person detection unit 5 inputs a camera number from the user interface 4 (S301), and when there is a camera number (S302: Yes), outputs the camera number to the switcher 10 (S303). As a result, the switcher 10 operates the display unit 7 corresponding to the input camera number.
The suspicious person is displayed on the master display device 12 because the image information output from the device is output to the master display device 12 (see FIG. 6).

Here, the suspicious person displayed on the master display device 12 is specified as follows. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the cursor processing operation of the image processing apparatus 2, which is executed at predetermined time intervals. In FIG. 4, the person detection unit 5 of the image processing device 2 inputs digital image information from the image buffer 3 corresponding to the tracking camera 1 set in advance (S401), and based on the digital image information. A person area is extracted (S40).
2), the person area is output to the tracking unit 6 (S40).
3).

On the other hand, after inputting the person area from the person detecting unit 5 (S404), the tracking unit 6 determines whether or not tracking is in progress (S405). At this time, since tracking is not in progress yet (S405: NO), after inputting a tracking start confirmation from the user interface 4 (S411), it is determined whether or not there is a tracking start confirmation (S412).

In this case, since the observer has not yet instructed the confirmation of the tracking start, the tracking unit 6 confirms that the tracking start has not been confirmed (S412: No), and then inputs the cursor position (S412: No). S417), it is determined whether there is a person area including the cursor position (S418).

Here, when the observer points the cursor (indicated by reference numeral 13 in FIG. 7) to the display area of the suspicious person displayed on the master display device 12 by operating the keyboard or the mouse, the tracking unit 6 is operated. Determines that there is a person area including the cursor position (S418: Yes),
After setting the cursor area so as to surround the person area (S419), the cursor area is output to the display unit 7 (S409). Accordingly, the display unit 7 combines the cursor area so as to surround the display area of the suspicious person in the image captured by the camera 1 (hereinafter, referred to as a tracking target camera) that targets the suspicious person, and corresponds to the tracking target camera 1. Since the data is output to the display device 11 and the master display device 12 (S410), a cursor area (indicated by reference numeral 14 in FIG. 7) is displayed on the display device 11 and the master display device 12 so as to surround the display area of the tracking target person. You.

When the observer moves the cursor out of the display area of the person by operating the cursor, the tracking unit 6
It is determined that there is no person area including the cursor position (S4
18: No), the cursor area is eliminated (S420).

In this case, when it is desired to specify a person different from the person specified by the cursor area as described above, the observer positions the cursor on the display area of the new person displayed on master display device 12. . Thereby, different persons can be specified as shown in FIG.

With the above operation, when the cursor 13 is positioned in the person display area, the cursor area 14 surrounds the person display area as shown in FIGS.
Is displayed, so that the suspicious individual can be specified with certainty.

When the monitor wants to monitor the suspicious person specified by the cursor area 14 as described above, he or she instructs the start of tracking by operating the keyboard or the mouse.

Then, when there is a tracking confirmation when inputting the start of tracking (S412: Yes), the tracking unit 6 inputs the cursor position (S413), and confirms that there is a person area including the cursor position. After confirmation (S414), the cursor area is set (S415), and tracking is started (S416). Then, the cursor area thus set is output to the display unit 7 (S409).
Outputs the cursor area so as to surround the display area of the tracking target person displayed on the display device 11 and the master display device 12 corresponding to the camera 1 being tracked. Thereby, the cursor area 14 is displayed on the master display device 12 so as to surround the display area of the suspicious person indicated by the cursor as the tracking target.

As described above, while the specific person is being tracked (S405: YES), the tracking unit 6 determines whether the tracking has succeeded or failed (S406). (S406: Success), the cursor area is set so as to surround the display area of the tracking target person (S40).
8). In this case, since the tracking unit 6 sets the cursor area according to the size of the tracking target person in addition to the position of the display area, the cursor area 14 is suspicious regardless of the position and size of the display area of the tracking target person. It is displayed so as to surround the display area of the person. Therefore, the observer can easily specify and monitor the tracking target person.

When the person to be tracked crosses another person as shown in FIG. 9, the tracking unit 6 may lose track of the person to be tracked and may not be able to correctly track the person to be tracked.

When tracking has failed in this way (S406: failure), the tracking unit 6 sets a cursor area for all tracking target candidates (S407). As a result, the cursor area 14 is displayed on the master display device 12 so as to surround the display area of the plurality of tracking target candidates as shown in FIG. A tracking start confirmation is input with the cursor 13 indicating the display area of the tracking target person. As a result, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, a cursor area 14 is displayed so as to surround the display area of the true tracking target person, and the tracking unit 6 is displayed.
Will track the true person to be tracked. By the way, when the tracking target person has escaped from the shooting area of the tracking camera 1 which is shooting the tracking target person, the tracking target person cannot be monitored by the master display device 12, so that To monitor the tracking target person.

FIG. 5 shows a camera switching operation of the image processing apparatus 2. In FIG. 5, the person detection unit 5 of the image processing apparatus 2 inputs image information from the image buffer 3 corresponding to the camera 1 being tracked (S501), extracts a person area (S502), and Is output to the tracking unit 6 (S503).

On the other hand, the tracking section 6 inputs a person area from the person detecting section 5 (S504), and determines whether or not there is a tracking target person area (S505). That is, by comparing the previously input person area with the currently input person area, it is determined whether they are the same person. At this time, if there is a tracking target person area (S505: Yes), the camera number of the currently tracking camera 1 is output to the person detection unit 5 and the switcher 10 (S506). As a result, the switcher 10 continuously outputs the image captured by the currently tracking camera 1 to the master display device 12 (S50).
7), the tracking target person is continuously displayed on the master display 12.

When the person to be tracked has left the shooting area of the camera 1 during tracking, the person to be tracked is located in the shooting area of the adjacent camera 1 adjacent to the camera 1 during tracking. In this case, the tracking unit 6 does not have the tracking target person area (S505: No), so the adjacent camera 1
Is set as the tracking camera (S507).

Then, in the next camera switching operation, the tracking unit 6 determines the presence or absence of the tracking target person area in the image captured by the tracking camera 1 (the previous adjacent camera 1) set in the previous camera switching operation ( S50
5). At this time, since the image captured by the currently tracking camera 1 has a tracking target person area (S505: Yes),
The camera number of the camera 1 during tracking is output to the person detection unit 5 and the switcher 10 (S506). As a result, the person detection unit 5 receives the image captured by the current tracking camera 1 to detect a person, and displays the captured image of the current tracking camera 1 on the master display device 12. Become like Therefore, the monitor can monitor the suspicious individual only by monitoring only the master display device 12, and can continue tracking by the tracking unit 6.

Although not shown in the flowchart of FIG. 5, since there are a plurality of adjacent cameras 1 adjacent to the camera 1 being tracked, the camera 1 tracks the image captured by the adjacent camera 1 set for the camera 1 being tracked. When there is no target person area, the adjacent camera 1 different from the original tracking camera 1
The presence or absence of the tracking target person area is sequentially determined based on the image captured by the
Is set to the camera 1 during tracking.

With the above operation, even when the person to be tracked has escaped from the shooting area of the camera 1 that is shooting the person to be tracked, the person to be tracked can be reliably tracked. Thus, the tracking target person can be continuously displayed on the master display device 12.

According to such an embodiment, in order to monitor a suspicious person, when the cursor is pointed at a person displayed on the master display device 12, the cursor area 14 surrounds the display area of the suspicious person. Is displayed, the suspicious person can be easily specified as compared with a configuration in which the cursor is simply displayed. Further, when an instruction to confirm the start of tracking a suspicious person is given, the cursor area 14 is moved according to the movement of the suspicious person, so that the suspicious person can be easily specified and monitored.

In this case, when the size of the display area of the suspicious person changes, the size of the cursor area 14 is changed according to the size. Will continue to be surrounded by the cursor area 14, so that the suspicious individual can be easily specified even if the suspicious individual moves.

When the suspicious person cannot be tracked, a plurality of person areas as candidates for the suspicious person are surrounded by the cursor area 14, respectively. Since the cursor area 14 is displayed only for the suspicious person, the true suspicious person can be specified without fail even when the suspicious person is lost.

Further, since the image taken by the camera 1 in which the suspicious person is located in the photographing area is displayed on the master display device 12, the behavior of the suspicious person can be monitored only by monitoring the master display device 12. Thus, the labor required for monitoring can be reduced.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but may be applied to a facility such as a bank or an airport which needs to be alert to a suspicious individual.

[0052]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the monitoring apparatus of the present invention, the cursor area is displayed so as to surround the display area of the specific person to be tracked,
Since the display position of the cursor area is moved according to the movement of the tracking target person, an excellent effect that the tracking target person can be easily specified and the tracking target person can be easily monitored. To play.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing an overall configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the image processing apparatus (part 1);

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the image processing apparatus (part 2);

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the image processing apparatus (part 3);

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the image processing apparatus (part 4);

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a normal display screen of a master display device.

FIG. 7 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 6, showing a specific person selected as a tracking target.

FIG. 8 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 6, showing a state in which a different person is selected as a tracking target.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a state in which a suspicious person crosses another person;
Equivalent figure

10 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 6, showing a state in which a plurality of tracking target candidates are selected.

FIG. 11 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 6, showing a state in which a tracking target candidate is selected.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 is a camera (imaging means), 2 is an image processing device, 3 is an image buffer, 4 is a user interface, 5 is a person detecting section (person detecting means), 6 is a tracking section (tracking section), and 7 is a display section (display). Means, 8 is a keyboard (input means), 9 is a mouse (input means), 10 is a switcher (switching means), 1
1 is a display device, 12 is a master display device (specific display device), 13 is a cursor, and 14 is a cursor area.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G08G 1/04 G08G 1/04 C H04N 5/225 H04N 5/225 C F-term (Reference) 2C088 CA09 CA21 5C022 AA01 5C054 AA01 FC12 FE02 FE12 FE19 FE22 GA00 GB01 HA19 5C087 AA09 AA19 BB03 BB74 DD05 DD20 EE05 FF01 FF04 FF20 GG02 GG11 GG18 GG23 GG30 GG36 GG57 GG66 5H180 AA21 CC04 DD01

Claims (6)

[Claims] A photographing means for photographing a predetermined monitoring area; a display means for displaying a photographed image by the photographing means on a display device; a person detecting means for detecting a person based on the photographed image by the photographing means; Input means for instructing a specific person from among the persons detected by the person detecting means; and, when the start of tracking is instructed in a state where the specific person is instructed by the input means, the particular person is referred to. Tracking means for tracking, wherein the display means displays a cursor area so as to surround the display area of the person designated by the input means, and responds to the movement of the display area of the tracking target person to be tracked by the tracking means. A monitoring device for moving the cursor area by moving the cursor area. 2. The display means displays a cursor area so as to surround a display area of the person when the input means designates a person different from the person to be tracked. 2. The monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the start of tracking is instructed in a state where a person different from the person to be tracked is instructed, the person is tracked. 3. The monitoring device according to claim 1, wherein the display unit changes the size of the cursor area in proportion to the size of the display area of the tracking target person. 4. The display means displays a plurality of cursor areas so as to surround a display area of a plurality of tracking candidate persons, respectively, when the tracking means fails to track the tracking target person. The means, when a specific person among the persons surrounded by the cursor area displayed by the display means is instructed by the input means to start tracking, tracks the person. The monitoring device according to claim 1. 5. The photographing means comprises a plurality of cameras so as to cover the entire monitoring area, and comprises a switching means for outputting an image taken by the camera photographing the person to be tracked to a specific display device. The monitoring device according to claim 1, wherein: 6. The tracking means, when the display area of the tracking target person is exhausted, tracks the tracking target person based on an image taken by a shooting means adjacent to the shooting means for shooting the tracking target person. The monitoring device according to claim 1, wherein: