JP2001245280A - Camera control system, device, method, and computer- readable storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To attain distance measurement with high accuracy by building up a camera control system which concurrently copes with an applied environment and the wideness of an applied object with economy and conducting zoom control, when measuring a distance up to a photographing object. SOLUTION: A master camera, selected from among cameras 1-1 to 1-4, uses an automatic focusing function and a zooming function for measuring the position of a photographing object 1-12 and transfers the position information to a camera operation terminal 1-10 and other cameras (slave cameras). A camera controller of each slave camera calculates, in which direction the photographing object 1-12 exists, when viewing from each slave camera and controls each slave camera, based on the result of calculation.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a camera control system, an apparatus, a method, and a computer-readable storage medium, which are suitable for use in tracking and photographing the same photographing target by a plurality of cameras. is there.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the field of surveillance camera systems and broadcast media camera systems, systems for tracking the same object using a plurality of cameras have been put to practical use. In this type of system, it has been common for a person to manually control the attitude of all of a plurality of cameras.

On the other hand, a method of measuring the distance to an object to be photographed using a commercially available camera using an automatic focusing function is known.

[0004]

However, if a person manually controls all cameras as in the above-described conventional example,
The number of cameras that can be controlled at one time is limited, making it impossible to construct a large-scale system.

Although a system for automatically controlling all the cameras has been proposed, some restrictions are often imposed on the use environment and the use object, and expensive systems using dedicated image processing hardware are required. It was common to be.

On the other hand, the method of measuring the distance to the object using the automatic focusing function has a problem that when the zoom is fixed, the distance measurement accuracy is reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and does not manually control or automatically control a plurality of cameras, but causes one camera to be manually controlled to follow another camera. By controlling the distance between the camera and the target object, a system with both economy and economy can be constructed, and by performing zoom control when measuring the distance to the shooting target, highly accurate distance measurement can be performed. The purpose is to make it possible.

[0008]

A camera control system according to the present invention includes a plurality of cameras whose posture can be controlled, and camera control means for controlling each of the cameras, and a position of a photographing target obtained from one camera. A camera control system configured to control a shooting direction of another camera by using information, wherein position information for obtaining position information of the shooting target by using a zoom control function and a focus control function in the one camera. It is characterized by having an acquisition means.

Further, in the camera control system according to the present invention, the position information acquiring means increases a zoom magnification of the one camera with respect to the object to be photographed, measures a distance by an automatic focusing function, and acquires the distance measurement information. It is characterized in that the above-mentioned position information of the photographing target is obtained from the photographing position and the direction information.

A camera control system according to the present invention is characterized in that all of the plurality of cameras have a zoom control function and a focus control function.

The camera control system according to the present invention is characterized in that any one of the plurality of cameras can be selected as the one camera.

Further, the camera control system of the present invention is characterized in that the camera control system further includes another position information acquiring means for obtaining the position information of the object to be photographed by using the zoom control function and the focus control function of the another camera. Have.

A camera control device according to the present invention is a camera control device for controlling a camera capable of controlling a posture, and uses a zoom control function and a focus control function of the camera capable of controlling a posture to obtain position information of an object to be photographed. Position information obtaining means for obtaining, and a transmitting means for transmitting the position information of the photographing target obtained by the position information obtaining means to the outside as information for controlling another posture-controllable camera. Has features.

Further, in the camera control device according to the present invention, the position information acquiring means increases a zoom magnification of the camera with respect to the object to be photographed, and measures a distance by an automatic focusing function.
It is characterized in that the position information of the photographing target is obtained from the distance measurement information and the photographing position information.

Further, the camera control device according to the present invention is characterized in that the camera control device is provided with zoom limiting means for imposing a limit on an increase in zoom magnification.

A camera control method according to the present invention is a camera control method for controlling a shooting direction of another camera using position information of a shooting target obtained from one of a plurality of cameras. It is characterized in that the method has a procedure for obtaining the position information of the photographing target by using the zoom control function and the focus control function in the camera.

A camera control method according to the present invention is a camera control method for controlling a camera capable of controlling a posture, wherein a position of an object to be photographed is determined by using a zoom control function and a focus control function of the camera capable of controlling the posture. It is characterized in that it has a procedure of obtaining information and a procedure of transmitting the position information of the imaging target obtained by the above procedure to the outside as information for controlling another camera capable of controlling the attitude.

The computer-readable storage medium according to the present invention stores a program for controlling a shooting direction of another camera by using position information of a shooting target obtained from one of a plurality of cameras. A computer-readable storage medium characterized by storing a program for executing a process of obtaining position information of an imaging target using a zoom control function and a focus control function of the one camera.

A computer-readable storage medium according to the present invention is a computer-readable storage medium storing a program for controlling a posture-controllable camera, and includes a zoom control function of the posture-controllable camera. And a process of obtaining position information of the photographing target using the focus control function, and transmitting the position information of the photographing target obtained by the above process to the outside as information for controlling another posture-controllable camera. The feature is that a program for executing the processing is stored.

[0020]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. (First Embodiment) In a first embodiment, in a camera control system in which postures (shooting directions) of a plurality of cameras can be externally controlled, one camera is selected to shoot and shoot a shooting target. Measure the position of the target. Then, by transmitting the position information of the imaging target to another camera and controlling the other camera, a camera control system in which the plurality of cameras simultaneously shoot the same imaging target is constructed. In addition, when the position of the object to be photographed is measured, the accuracy of the measurement is improved by using zoom control and focus control. Hereinafter, a hardware configuration, a control principle, and a processing procedure of the present embodiment will be described.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the camera control system according to the present embodiment. The camera module has a configuration in which a camera and a camera control device capable of attitude control are paired, and a plurality of sets of cameras 1-1 to 1-4 and camera control devices 1-5 to 1-8 are connected to a network 1-9. Has become. Although FIG. 1 shows four camera modules, any number of camera modules may be used as long as at least two or more camera modules are provided.

A camera operation terminal 1-10 is connected to the network 1-9.
Is connected, and the operator 1-11 can simultaneously watch images of one or more cameras 1-1 to 1-4 through the network 1-9, and can manually control one of the camera modules. Here, a LAN is assumed as the network 1-9, but does not depend on the transmission method such as EtherNet, ATM, C / FDDI, and the like.

Each of the camera control devices 1-5 to 1-8 is equipped with video software and camera control software. The video software has a function of capturing a video signal from each of the cameras 1-1 to 1-4 and transmitting the video signal to the network 1-9. In addition, the camera control software has a function of directly controlling the attitude of the camera according to the role assigned to the camera, and when the position information of the imaging target 1-12 is given, the imaging target 1-12 enters the field of view. And a function of measuring the position of the imaging target 1-12 and transmitting the position information to the camera operation terminal 1-10 and other cameras.

The camera operation terminal 1-10 receives and displays video signals and various information from the camera module,
Hardware and software having a function of inputting a camera switching command and a camera control command of 1-11 and transferring the command to the camera control devices 1-5 to 1-8 are mounted.

Hereinafter, in the camera control system shown in FIG. 1, a camera directly operated by the operator 1-11 is referred to as a "master camera", and a camera not directly operated by the operator 1-11 is referred to as a "slave camera". . All camera modules are constituted by the same hardware and software, and play a role as a master camera or a slave camera depending on the use situation.

FIG. 2 shows a hardware configuration of the camera module and a hardware configuration of the camera operation terminal.
The hardware includes the camera 2-1 constituting the cameras 1-1 to 1-4 shown in FIG. 1 and the camera control devices 1-5 to 1-8 shown in FIG.
And a camera control device 2-6.

The camera 2-1 has an image pickup system 2-2 for inputting an image.
And a camera parameter control device 2-3 for controlling camera parameters at the time of imaging, and a posture control device 2-4. Here, the camera parameters refer to parameters for controlling zoom, focus, iris, gain, shutter speed, white balance, and the like.

The camera control device 2-6 includes a CPU 2-7,
RAM 2-8, ROM 2-9, secondary storage device 2-10, I / O
O2-11 and a video capture board 2-12 to which a monitor 2-13 is connected. In addition, a communication unit 2-17 is provided for acquiring a camera control command from the outside through the network 2-18 and transferring a video signal and a camera status signal to the outside. Also, if necessary for maintenance and inspection,
14. Connect a pointing device 2-15 such as a mouse. These units are connected by a bus 2-16. The camera control device 2-6 can be realized by a general-purpose computer.

The camera parameter control device 2-3 and the attitude control device 2-4 of the camera 2-1 are connected to the I / O 2-11 of the camera control device 2-6 through control signal lines, and communicate with the same. The camera parameters and horizontal (pan)
Acquisition and setting (control) of the current angle in the vertical (tilt) direction
Is possible. The control signal method is RS-232C
And parallel IO, but are not limited.

The video signal output from the imaging system 2-2 of the camera 2-1 is digitized by the video capture board 2-12 of the camera control device 2-6 and transmitted to the network 2-18. You. The video capture board 2-12 also serves as a VRAM, and can superimpose and display a camera image and a computer output on the monitor 2-13. The output signal format includes the NTSC format and the Y / C separation format, but does not depend on the signal format.

The camera control device 2-6 includes a keyboard 2-1.
4 and the input from the mouse 2-15, the control signal transmitted via the network 2-18, the camera through the control signal line
The camera control device 2-3 and the attitude control device 2-4 of 2-1 are transmitted to control the camera control device 2-3 and the attitude control device 2-4.

FIG. 2 shows a configuration of a camera operation terminal 2-19 which constitutes the camera operation terminal 1-10 shown in FIG. Configuration Camera operation terminal 2-19 has CPU 2-20, RAM 2-22, R
OM2-21, secondary storage device 2-23, VRAM2-24 to which monitor 2-25 is connected, keyboard 2-26, mouse 2-27, communication unit 2-
29, and these units are connected by a bus 2-28. That is, the camera operation terminal 2-19 changes the video capture board 2-12 to the VRAM 2-24 in the camera control device 2-6 and also controls the I / O 2 for directly controlling the camera 2-1. Other than 11 is the same, and can be realized using a commercially available computer having a network interface and a graphic display function.

Returning to FIG. 1, the concept of the camera control system in the present embodiment will be described. In FIG. 1, there are four camera modules (cameras 1-1 to 1-4 and camera control devices 1-5 to 1-8) as described above. It is assumed that the position and orientation of each camera (1-1 to 1-4) on three-dimensional world coordinates are known.

Assuming that the photographing target 1-12 is moving in front of the camera, the operator 1-11 first enters the camera operation terminal 1-
A master camera is selected using the camera operation software on 10, and the attitude control is performed by instructing the line of sight of the master camera.

All camera modules have a distance measuring function utilizing an autofocus function (automatic focusing function), and can measure a distance to an object 1-12 existing in a certain area in an image. The image area targeted for the automatic focusing function is the operator 1-11 in the master camera.
Is specified. In the case of a slave camera, it is fixed at the center of the image. Gaze (azimuth) direction of master camera, shooting target 1-12
The position of the imaging target 1-12 in three-dimensional world coordinates can be measured from the position on the image and the distance to the target 1-12.

Here, a distance measurement method using the automatic focusing function will be described. The automatic focusing function is provided in the camera parameter control devices 1-4 to 1-8 of the camera module, and finds an optimal control position of the focus lens drive motor for a partial area in an image and focuses. Things. The partial area in the image set for the purpose of optimizing the focus and other camera parameters is hereinafter referred to as a “detection area”.

In the automatic focusing function, a method is generally known in which the position of a focus lens drive motor is controlled so that the energy of the high frequency component of the image in the detection area is maximized. Such an automatic focusing function can be realized by using a function mounted on a commercially available camera.

As a method for obtaining the distance from the control position of the focus lens drive motor, an automatic focusing operation is performed using a subject whose distance is known in advance, and the pulse value and the distance of the optimized focus lens drive motor are calculated. And a method of measuring this relationship and holding the result as a table, and a method of analytically obtaining this from the design of the optical system.

The above is a case where the zoom is fixed. By changing the zoom, the accuracy of the distance measurement can be improved. The principle will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIGS. 3A and 3B schematically show the depth of field and the focusing distance of a general camera. The depth of field refers to an in-focus range, and is also referred to as a sharp depth. Further, the focusing limit distance refers to a distance at which focusing cannot be performed at a distance shorter than this, and is also referred to as a shortest shooting distance. As shown in FIG. 3A, it can be seen that the depth of field becomes smaller with zooming, and the focusing distance becomes larger (farther) with zooming as shown in FIG. 3B.

For this reason, it is more accurate to increase the zoom magnification and measure the distance to the subject by the automatic focusing function. This is shown in FIG. In FIG. 4A, the angle of view of the camera 4 is θ1, the distance is measured by the automatic focusing function, the error range is measured as e1, and the measurement position P1 is slightly shifted from the actual position R of the imaging target. It is out of alignment.

Here, the error range e1 corresponds to the depth of field, and as described with reference to FIG. 3A, becomes narrower as the zoom magnification is increased. That is, as shown in FIG. 4B, if the angle of view is set to θ2 (<θ1) by increasing the zoom magnification and the distance measurement is performed again by the automatic focusing function, the error range e2 is narrower than the error range e1. That is, the measurement position P2 comes closer to the actual position R. Further, as shown in FIG. 4 (c), if the angle of view is set to θ3 (<θ2) and the distance is again measured by the automatic focusing function, the error range e3 becomes larger than the error range e2. The measurement position P3 substantially matches the actual position R.

As described above, as the zoom magnification is increased, the accuracy of the distance measurement to the object to be photographed is improved. However, if the zoom magnification is too high, the object to be photographed on the screen becomes too large, and the focusing limit distance is increased. Therefore, there is a limit to the increase in zoom magnification. Therefore, zoom restriction processing such as restricting the increase in the zoom magnification to be equal to or less than a predetermined fixed value or lowering the zoom magnification if the in-focus state cannot be achieved by observing the in-focus state is performed. Note that the above-mentioned automatic focusing function and zoom function are provided in a commercially available camera, so that highly accurate position measurement can be performed without increasing the cost at all.

Next, the processing operation of camera control in the present embodiment will be described. The outline will be described with reference to FIG. 1.
Measure the position of 1-12. Once the position of the shooting target 1-12 in 3D world coordinates is determined, the master camera
The position information of 1-12 is transferred to the camera operation terminal 1-10 and the slave camera.

The camera control software on the camera control device of the slave camera knows the position and orientation of the slave camera on the three-dimensional world coordinates. It calculates whether there is, and controls the slave camera based on the result.

As described above, by selecting the master camera and controlling it toward the photographing target 1-12, the slave camera can be pointed at the photographing target 1-12 without manual intervention. Hereinafter, a specific description will be given.

FIG. 5 shows a GUI (Graphical User Interface) constituting a user interface of the camera operation terminal 1-10.
face). On the screen, an image display unit 5-1 of the master camera (the photographing target 5-2 is shown in FIG. 5), a detection area 5-3 which is a target area of the automatic focusing function, and a screen for operating the camera. Camera operation button 5-4, automatic zoom control button 5-5, program end button 5-6, shooting target
The position display 5-7 of 5-2 and the camera selection button 5-8 are displayed.

In starting the control, the operator
First, select the master camera. This is performed by designating a desired camera number among the camera selection buttons 5-8 with a mouse or the like.

After selecting the master camera, the operator operates the master camera by "direct operation" or "target designation operation".

The direct operation is a method using the operation buttons 5-4, and can control up, down, left, right, movement to a home position, and the like. In this case, the position of the detection area 5-3 does not change, for example, while being fixed at the center.

The operation of designating an object is a method of controlling the camera by moving the detection area 5-3. The operation of moving the detection area 5-3 is performed by a drag operation using a pointing device such as a mouse. By superimposing the detection area 5-3 on the imaging target 5-2 on the image, distance measurement using the automatic focusing function is performed by the camera control device of the master camera. Perform measurement. Then, by transmitting the position information of the photographing target 5-2 to each slave camera through the camera operation terminal 1-10, operation control of each slave camera is finally performed.

The automatic zoom button 5-5 allows the user to select ON / OFF of the automatic zoom. When the automatic zoom is ON, zoom control is performed in the distance measurement, and as a result, it is possible to improve the position measurement accuracy by the above-described method.

Next, the measurement of the position of the object to be photographed by the master camera and the calculation of the attitude control target value by the slave camera will be described with reference to FIG.

First, the measurement of the position of the object to be photographed by the master camera will be described. In FIG. 6A, the viewpoint of the master camera is a point C _m (X _m , Y _m , Z) on the three-dimensional coordinate space.
_m ), and the viewpoint of the slave camera is a point C _s (X _s , Y _s ,
Z _s ). The object to be photographed is a point _Pt ( _Xt , _Yt , _Zt ).
It is in.

Here, it is assumed that the operator superimposes the detection area 5-3 on the photographing object 5-2 on the screen shown in FIG. FIG. 6B shows an image coordinate system of the master camera. Here, the image coordinates are set to the origin at the upper left of the image,
The positive direction of the X-axis is to the right, and the positive direction of the Y-axis is below. Detection area
5-3 the image coordinates (u _f, v _f), the coordinates of the image center (u _c, v _c), and then, when the focal length of the lens is f _m [mm], the imaging object as viewed from the master camera Direction θ _f ,
φ _f is represented by the following equation (1). ^{_{θ f = tan -1 {k X}} | u f -u c | / f m} φ f = tan -1 {k Y | v f -v c | / sqrt [{k X | u f -u c |} ^{_{2 + f m 2]} ...}} (1)

Where sqrt (X) is the square root of X.
K _X and k _Y are the size of one pixel (width and height),
The unit is [mm / pixel]. This can be calculated from the size of the CCD image sensor, the number of effective pixels, the size of the image plane, and the like.

To simplify the problem, the XYZ axes of the master camera coordinate system are parallel to the XYZ axes of the three-dimensional world coordinate system, and the rotation angle in the pan direction is based on the positive Y axis as the origin. It is defined as the rotation angle of the X axis in the positive direction around the axis. The rotation angle in the tilt direction is defined as an elevation angle from the XY plane. With this definition, the coordinates (X _t , Y _t , and Y _t ) of the photographing target in the three-dimensional world coordinate system of FIG.
Z _t ) is the distance r _{mt from} the master camera, the position of the viewpoint (X _m , Y _m , Z _m ) of the master camera, and the attitude of the master camera (the direction of the shooting target as viewed from the master camera) θ
Using f and φf, it is expressed as the following equation (2).

[0058]

(Equation 1)

The initial position and initial attitude of the master camera are obtained by actual measurement. Also, as for the posture change during operation, a value obtained by communication with the camera is used. In general, a method for obtaining the position and orientation of a camera in a three-dimensional space is called camera calibration, and a known research example [RYTsai, `` An efficient and accurate camera c
alibration technique f3D machine vision ,, Proc.of
CVPR, pp. 364-374, 1986].

In this embodiment, the master camera changes the line of sight according to the operation of the operator. At this time, if the position of the viewpoint is shifted from the rotation center of the pan / tilt axis, the position of the viewpoint is changed. Change. However, if the mechanism of the camera is known, it is possible to calculate the movement of the viewpoint accompanying the rotational movement of the camera by accurate calibration using a known method. Note that, strictly speaking, the viewpoint also changes due to a change in the lens position due to zoom or focus change, but in the present embodiment, the change is ignored.

Next, the calculation of the attitude control target value in the slave camera will be described. The position information (the coordinates (X _t , Y _t ,
When the pan / tilt control values θ _st and φ _st of the slave camera are obtained from Z _t )), they are expressed as the following equation (3). Here, the origin of the slave camera coordinate system is point C
_s (X _s , Y _s , Z _s ), and each XYZ axis is set parallel to each XYZ axis of the master camera coordinate system. θ _st = tan ^-1 ｛(X _t −X _s ) / (Y _t −Y _s )｝ φ _st = tan ⁻¹ ｛(Z _t −Z _s ) / sqrt [(X _t −X _s ) ² + ( Y _t −Y _s ) ² ]｝… (3)

When the pan / tilt control values θ _st and φ _st are obtained, a command may be sent from the camera control device to control the slave camera using the angles as control target values.

According to the principle described above, the position of the object to be photographed is measured using the master camera controlled by the operator, and the attitude of the slave camera is controlled using the result, whereby each slave camera can be moved in the direction of the object to be photographed. Can be turned on.

The control processing procedure of the camera control system according to the present embodiment will be described below with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.

FIG. 7 shows processing by the camera operation software operating on the camera operation terminal. First, after the process is started, an initialization process is performed (step S701). This is processing such as initializing the display of the GUI shown in FIG. Next, the process proceeds to step S702, and enters an input event waiting loop. The input event includes an operator's control input through the GUI of the camera operation terminal and a message from the master camera.

When the direction button 5-4 of the camera is pressed in the GUI, or when the detection area 5-3 is overlapped with the photographing target 5-2 in the image, a camera movement input event occurs ( Step S703). In this case, in step S704, a control command for the motor for changing the attitude of the master camera is created. When the input is made by the direction button 5-4, a control command for simply rotating by a certain angle is generated. The mobile when an input of moving the detection area 5-3, theta _f in the formula (1), since phi _f is a target angular displacement relative to the optical axis of the camera, the value theta _f, the phi _f Generate a control command to set the target angle. After the generation of the control command, the control command is transmitted to the master camera in step S705.

When the master selection button 5-8 is pressed on the GUI, a master selection event occurs (step S706). In this case, in step S707, the master camera that transmits the control command is changed to the designated camera. Also, it instructs the video receiving software to change the camera that receives the video. In the present embodiment,
Although the video receiving software of each camera is configured to continuously transmit the video on the network and select the video on the receiving side, a method of transmitting the video on the transmitting side only when there is a video receiving request from the camera operation software may be adopted.

After performing the camera control as described later, the master camera measures the position of the object to be photographed, and transmits the result to the camera operation software of the camera operation terminal. When this message is received by the camera operation software (step S708), the display 5-7 relating to the position of the imaging target is updated (step S709).

When the end button 5-6 is pressed on the GUI, an end event occurs (step S710).
In this case, in step S711, the end of processing is notified to all camera modules as end processing, and the system ends.

FIG. 8 shows processing by camera control software operating on each camera control device. The master camera and the slave camera operate by the same program, and change their roles according to the type of message.

After initializing the camera (step S820), a message is waited for (step S82).
1). If there is any message, the contents are confirmed in steps S822, 823, and 828.

If the event is an end event (step S8)
22) Exit the camera control software.

If the event is a control command for specifying the rotation angle of the motor (step S823), it is an operation command as a master camera. In this case, in step S824, the motor is controlled according to the control command, and in step S825, the position of the imaging target is measured by the above-described method. The measurement result is transmitted to the camera operation software of the camera operation terminal (step S826). Further, the control command and the control information are transmitted to the slave camera (step S827).

If the event is a posture control command designating three-dimensional world coordinates (step S828), it is an operation command as a slave camera. In this case, in step S829, the posture of the camera to be directed to the designated position is calculated, and in step S830, the motor is controlled. At this time, θ _st and φ _st obtained by the above equation (3) are adopted as the movement angles of the slave camera.

When the processing for the event has been performed as described above, the flow returns to step S821 to wait for the event.

In the first embodiment described above, a plurality of cameras whose posture can be controlled are connected via a network, one of them is selected as a master camera controlled by an operator, and control is performed. The camera is controlled as a slave camera in accordance with information obtained from the master camera. This eliminates the need to individually control a plurality of cameras, and makes it possible to construct a camera control system that achieves both cost reduction and accurate and flexible control.

Further, by measuring the distance to the object by combining the zoom function as well as the automatic focusing function, it is possible to perform highly accurate position measurement.

(Second Embodiment) In the second embodiment, in the above-described first embodiment, the position of the object to be photographed is measured using the same method as that of the master camera in the slave camera. ing. As a result, the accuracy of the position measurement of the imaging target is further improved using a plurality of pieces of position information obtained from the master camera and the slave cameras.

The hardware configuration of the camera control system according to the present embodiment, the configuration of all cameras and camera control devices, and the like are the same as those in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted. Also in this embodiment, as in the first embodiment, two or more camera modules are required.

As shown in FIG. 9, three cameras 9-1 to 9-3
And camera 9-1 is the master camera. FIG. 9A shows a state in which the operator operates the master camera 9-1 with the GUI shown in FIG. 5 to aim at the photographing target R and measure the position. θ11, θ21, θ31
Is the angle of view of each of the cameras 9-1 to 9-3, the position measurement result is shown as P1, and the error range is shown as e1.

The position measurement result P1 of the master camera 9-1 is transmitted to the slave cameras 9-2 and 9-3, and the position of the slave cameras 9-2 and 9-3 is also measured. This situation is shown in FIG.
It is shown in (b). In the figure, using the position measurement result P1 of the imaging target R obtained from the master camera 9-1, the slave cameras 9-2 and 9-3 themselves perform position measurement as described later, and the slave camera 9- 2, the position measurement result and the error range result (P2, e2) of the slave camera 9-3 and the position measurement result and the error range result (P3, e3) of the slave camera 9-3 are obtained. When the position measurement results of all the cameras 9-1 to 9-3 are integrated and an average of the measurement results is obtained as an integration method, for example, E is obtained, and a measurement result close to the actual position R of the imaging target is obtained.
The accuracy can be improved more than the measurement result obtained by the master camera alone.

Here, a method in which the slave camera 9-2 obtains the position measurement result P2 using the position measurement result P1 of the master camera 9-1 will be described. The slave camera 9-2 having received the position measurement result P1 controls the attitude in the direction of the position P1. As a result, the imaging target enters the field of view, but the imaging target is not necessarily located at the center of the screen due to measurement errors. The position measurement by the automatic focusing function
As described in the first embodiment, the detection area (observation area) is set, and the lens is controlled so that the focal point is set within the detection area. Therefore, it is necessary to shift the detection area within the field of view to search for a true imaging target. In this process, the detection area is moved around the center of the screen, the auto focus is performed at each position, the distance is measured, the position of the area where the distance is closest is determined, and the camera is moved in that direction. As a result of the control, the object to be photographed fits in the center of the screen.

Next, control processing of the camera control system according to the present embodiment will be described. The processing by the camera operation software operating on the camera operation terminal is basically the same as in the first embodiment, and only the differences will be described with reference to FIG. In the present embodiment, step S
The position information at 708 is received from slave cameras in addition to the master camera. Then, step S709
In, a more accurate position of the imaging target is estimated from a plurality of pieces of currently known position information. As the estimated value, for example, an average value of a plurality of pieces of position information is used. Although the position information can be obtained intermittently from the master camera and each slave camera, the position information 5-7 of the GUI shown in FIG. 5 is updated each time information is input from any one of the cameras.

Next, processing by camera control software operating on each camera control device will be described. FIG.
Since this is basically the same as FIG. 8 described in the first embodiment, only the differences will be described below. The operation is different when the operation command as a slave camera shown in steps S1009 to S1013 is received, and the other steps S1001 to S1 are performed.
Step 008 is the same as step S820 to step S827 shown in FIG.

When the slave camera receives an operation command as a slave camera in step S1009, that is, an attitude control command specifying three-dimensional world coordinates, it calculates a motor control angle in step S1010. Here, as described above, the detection area is moved on the screen, and the control angle is calculated such that the position on the screen closest to the distance finally becomes the center of the screen.

Next, in step S1011 the motor is controlled, and the attitude of the camera is turned to the calculated control angle. Then, the position is measured again in step S1012, and the result is transmitted to the camera operation software of the camera operation terminal in step S1013. The camera operation software integrates the information received as described above, calculates and displays the position measurement result.

According to the second embodiment described above, the position of the object to be photographed is measured by both the master camera and the slave camera, and a plurality of position measurement results obtained as a result are integrated to obtain the position measurement. Improvement of accuracy can be realized.

(Other Embodiments) In order to operate various devices in order to realize the functions of the above-described embodiments, an apparatus connected to the various devices or a computer in a system is used in the above-described embodiments. Supply the software program code to realize the functions of
The present invention also includes those implemented by operating the various devices according to programs stored in a computer (CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus.

In this case, the program code itself of the software realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the program code itself and means for supplying the program code to the computer, for example, the program The recording medium storing the code constitutes the present invention. As a recording medium for storing such a program code, for example, a floppy disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM and the like can be used.

The computer executes the supplied program code to realize not only the functions of the above-described embodiment, but also the operating system (OS) running on the computer or another program code. It goes without saying that such program codes are also included in the embodiments of the present invention when the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized in cooperation with the application software or the like.

Further, after the supplied program code is stored in a memory provided in a function expansion board of a computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion board or the function expansion unit is specified based on the instruction of the program code. It is needless to say that the present invention also includes a case where the CPU or the like provided for performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

The shapes and structures of the respective parts shown in the above embodiments are merely examples of the embodiment for carrying out the present invention, and the technical scope of the present invention is thereby reduced. It should not be interpreted restrictively. That is, the present invention can be implemented in various forms without departing from the spirit or main features thereof.

[0093]

As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of cameras are not manually controlled or automatically controlled, but are controlled by following one camera to control another camera. It is possible to construct a system that has both the application environment and the breadth of the application target, and is economical, without having a special function. In addition, by performing zoom control when measuring the distance to the imaging target, highly accurate distance measurement can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a camera control system according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating configurations of a camera, a camera control device, and a camera operation terminal.

3A is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a zoom and a depth of field, and FIG. 3B is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a zoom and a focusing distance.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the principle of distance measurement by zoom control and automatic focusing control.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a GUI (Graphical User Interface) constituting a user interface of the camera operation terminal.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the principle of position measurement of a shooting target and calculation of a camera control target value.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing processing by camera operation software according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating processing by camera control software according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for describing a principle of integrating position measurement results of a plurality of cameras in the second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating processing by camera control software according to the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1-1 to 1-4, 4 Cameras 1-5 to 1-8 Camera control unit 1-9 Network 1-10 Camera operation terminal 1-11 Operator 1-12 Photo subject 2-1 Camera 2-2 Imaging system 2- 3 Camera parameter controller 2-4 Attitude controller 2-6 Camera controller 2-7 CPU 2-8 RAM 2-9 ROM 2-10 Secondary memory 2-11 I / O 2-12 Video capture board 2- 13 Monitor 2-14 Keyboard 2-15 Pointing device such as mouse 2-16 Bus 2-17 Communication unit 2-18 Network 2-19 Camera controller 2-20 CPU 2-21 ROM 2-22 RAM 2-23 Secondary Storage device 2-24 Video RAM 2-25 Monitor 2-26 Keyboard 2-27 Pointing device such as mouse 2-28 Bus 2-29 Communication unit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2F065 AA04 AA06 AA31 EE00 FF10 FF21 FF63 FF65 FF67 JJ03 JJ05 JJ26 LL06 LL30 NN13 NN20 PP05 QQ00 QQ23 QQ28 SS02 SS03 SS13 5C022 AA01 AB22 AB05 AB66 A74 5

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. A camera comprising: a plurality of cameras capable of controlling a posture; and camera control means for controlling each of the cameras, and using a position information of a photographing target obtained from one camera, a photographing direction of another camera is determined. A camera control system configured to perform control, comprising: position information obtaining means for obtaining position information of the shooting target using a zoom control function and a focus control function of the one camera. system. 2. The position information acquiring means increases a zoom magnification of the one camera with respect to the object to be photographed, measures a distance by an automatic focusing function, and uses the distance measurement information and the photographing position and azimuth information to calculate the distance. 2. The camera control system according to claim 1, wherein position information of the photographing target is obtained. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein all of the plurality of cameras have a zoom control function and a focus control function.
The camera control system according to item 1. 4. The camera control system according to claim 3, wherein any one of the plurality of cameras can be selected as the one camera. 5. The camera according to claim 3, further comprising another position information acquisition unit that obtains position information of the photographing target by using a zoom control function and a focus control function of the another camera. Control system. 6. A camera control device for controlling a camera capable of controlling the attitude, comprising: a position information obtaining unit configured to obtain position information of a shooting target using a zoom control function and a focus control function of the camera capable of controlling the attitude. Transmitting means for transmitting the position information of the photographing target obtained by the position information obtaining means to the outside as information for controlling another camera capable of controlling the posture, a camera control device comprising: . 7. The position information acquiring means increases a zoom magnification of the camera with respect to the object to be photographed, measures a distance by an automatic focusing function, and determines a position of the object to be photographed from the distance measurement information and the photographing position information. 7. The camera control device according to claim 6, wherein information is obtained. 8. The camera control device according to claim 7, further comprising a zoom limiter that limits a rise in zoom magnification. 9. A camera control method for controlling a shooting direction of another camera using position information of a shooting target obtained from one of a plurality of cameras, wherein a zoom control function of the one camera is provided. And a procedure for obtaining the position information of the photographing target using a focus control function. 10. A camera control method for controlling an attitude-controllable camera, comprising: obtaining a position information of a shooting target using a zoom control function and a focus control function of the attitude-controllable camera; Transmitting the position information of the photographing target obtained by the method as information for controlling another posture-controllable camera to the outside. 11. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program for controlling a shooting direction of another camera by using position information of a shooting target obtained from one of a plurality of cameras, and A computer-readable storage medium storing a program for executing a process of obtaining position information of an imaging target using a zoom control function and a focus control function of the one camera. 12. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program for controlling an attitude-controllable camera, comprising: a zoom control function and a focus control function of the attitude-controllable camera; A program for executing a process of obtaining position information and a process of transmitting the position information of the imaging target obtained by the above process to the outside as information for controlling another posture-controllable camera is stored. A computer-readable storage medium characterized by the above-mentioned.