JP2001275096A - Image pickup and display device and videoconference device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To take image pictures of plural persons and to display the photographed image pictures in parallel. SOLUTION: A camera block 11 is composed of a mirror block, a lens block, and a CCD image pickup element. An image processing circuit 12 performs image distortion correction, boundary processing, reduction/enlargement processing, etc., to a supplied image signal. The image signal is displayed in a specific area of a display area having plural display areas and displayed on a monitor 13. A person recognizing circuit 16 compares two images with each other, which are temporally close to each other to detect a background and a person. The center position of the person is supplied to a camera control circuit 21 of a system controller 20. A sound processing circuit 18 performs A/D conversion and noise processing to the sound signal from a microphone group 17. A source-direction detecting circuit 19 computes the direction of a sound source according to the sound volume and phase difference obtained from the microphone group 17 to specify the speaker. The optical axis is directed to the specified speaker.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an imaging and display device and a video conference device suitable for use in a video conference.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, a video conference can be held by connecting a plurality of points using the Internet or the like. For example, as one of the methods for conducting a video conference, ITU-T
(Telecommunication Standardization Sector of the International Telecommunication Union), a video encoding system for videoconferencing / telephone H. 263. MPEG4 (Moving Picture Experts Group)
Phase 4) Simple Profile It has almost the same functions as H.263, and can be applied to a video conference. This H. Both H.263 and MPEG4 have so-called error resilience that minimizes damage when an error that cannot be corrected by the error correction code occurs. Therefore, the generated error can be specified and its propagation can be suppressed as much as possible. .

As described above, a method of transmitting an image signal and an audio signal has been proposed for conducting a video conference with a better feeling of use.

[0004]

On the other hand, in a device for photographing an image to be transmitted, the operation of a pan tilter capable of changing the direction of the optical axis is slow. There was a problem that a person could not be displayed side by side on a monitor.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an image pickup and display device and a video conference device capable of taking images of a plurality of persons and displaying the taken images in parallel.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an imaging section having an optical axis variable element capable of changing the direction of an optical axis, and a display section having at least first and second regions. The first area displays captured images of a plurality of persons around the imaging unit, and the second area is selected from among the plurality of persons displayed in the first area. An imaging and display device characterized in that captured images of one or more persons are displayed.

According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, in a video conference apparatus for transmitting an image signal and an audio signal when a conference is held between distant places, an optical axis variable element capable of changing the direction of the optical axis is provided. An image pickup unit, a display unit having at least a first and a second region, and a communication unit for transmitting an image signal and an audio signal. A captured image of a person is displayed, and a captured image of one or more persons selected from a plurality of persons displayed in the first area is displayed in the second area. This is a video conference device.

[0008] An imaging unit having an optical axis variable element capable of quickly changing the direction of the optical axis is arranged at the center of a round table in a conference room. The entire circumference of the round table is photographed by dividing it into a plurality, and the photographed images are seamlessly synthesized. The seamlessly combined image is displayed as a panoramic image in the still image area of the monitor. The operator or the speaker selected by the voice recognition algorithm is displayed in the moving image area of the monitor.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, for ease of explanation, an example to which the present invention is applied will be described. This is an example in which a video conference is held in conference rooms A and B which are separated as shown in FIG. In the conference room A, the person a ₁ ,
a ₂ , a ₃ and a ₄ are seated, and the moderator (operator) a _x
Seat is provided on the side of the monitor a _m. An imaging device _ac is provided at the center of the round table. In the conference room B, persons b ₁ , b ₂ , b ₃ , b _4, and b ₅ are seated on a round table, and a chair (operator) b _x is provided beside the monitor b _m . An imaging device _bc is provided at the center of the round table. The conference rooms A and B are connected by a transmission path T.

In the example shown in FIG. 1, two rooms of conference rooms A and B are connected by a transmission path T for a video conference for easy explanation, but three or more rooms are connected by a transmission path. There is no problem if you make a video conference by connecting with T. The monitors a _m and b _m need only be large enough to be visible to all persons participating in the conference, such as a large projection type display such as a projector or a large color image display device such as a mosaic display.
Further, the transmission path T is, for example, a public line, a dedicated line, a communication satellite, Ethernet (registered trademark), IEEE 1394, or the like.
For example, any signal that can transmit an image signal and an audio signal without delay may be used.

Hereinafter, for ease of explanation, the conference room A
An embodiment of the present invention applied to the conference room B will be described. FIG. 2 shows an overall configuration of an embodiment to which the present invention is applied. The camera block 11 includes a mirror block, a lens block, and a CCD image sensor. The mirror block is
As will be described later, the mirror can be driven at high speed in the vertical and horizontal directions. The image of the subject is incident on the mirror of the mirror block, and the incident image of the subject is supplied to the lens block.

The lens block is zoomable and is driven by a focus servo. The focus servo is controlled by the camera control circuit 21. The image of the subject incident on the lens block is a CCD
It is supplied to the image sensor. The CCD image sensor is driven by an electronic shutter. The electronic shutter is controlled by the camera control circuit 21. By operating the operation key group 22, the image of the subject supplied to the CCD image pickup device is captured and supplied to the image processing circuit 12.

The image processing circuit 12 performs image distortion correction, boundary processing, enlargement / reduction processing, and the like on the supplied image signal. The image signal subjected to each process is displayed in a predetermined area of a display image having a plurality of display areas as described later. This display image is displayed on the monitor 13. The image signals subjected to the respective processes in the image processing circuit 12 are supplied to a modem 14 and a person recognition circuit 16. The person recognizing circuit 16 compares two images that are temporally close to each other as described later, and detects a background and a person. Further, the position of the center of the person is detected, and the detected position of the center of the person is supplied to the camera control circuit 21 of the system controller (system controller) 20.

In the microphone group 17, the voices of the persons who attend the video conference are collected and supplied to the voice processing circuit 18. The audio processing circuit 18 performs A / D conversion and noise processing on the supplied audio signal. The audio signal subjected to each processing is sent to the monitor 13 and the modem 14
And the sound source direction detection circuit 19. In the sound source direction detection circuit 19, the direction of the sound source is calculated based on the sound volume and the phase difference obtained from the microphone group 17, and the speaker is specified. When the speaker is specified, the direction is supplied to the camera control circuit 21 of the system controller 20. The camera control circuit 21 controls the direction of the optical axis of the camera block 11 based on the signal from the person recognition circuit 16 and the signal from the sound source direction detection circuit 19.

The modem 14 transmits an image signal from the image processing circuit 12 and an audio signal from the audio processing circuit 18 from the output terminal 15 to the conference room B via the transmission path T. Further, the modem 14 receives an image signal and an audio signal transmitted from the conference room B. The received image signal is supplied to the image processing circuit 12, and the received audio signal is supplied to the audio processing circuit 18. In the image processing circuit 12, the received image signal is displayed in a predetermined area of the display image. In the audio processing circuit 18, the received audio signal is supplied to the monitor 13.

An example of the operation of the imaging device will be described. As described above, a pan that changes the direction of the optical axis in the horizontal direction,
Camera block 1 having at least a tilt for changing the direction of the optical axis in the vertical direction and a zoom for changing the shooting range
Is used to shoot the entire circumference of the round table in multiple shots. In the image processing circuit 12, a plurality of shot images are
Seamlessly synthesized. As shown in FIG. 3A, the seamlessly synthesized panoramic image is displayed in the still image area 32 of the display image. In this example, the display image includes a moving image area 31 and a still image area 32.

The still image area 3 of the display image shown in FIG. 3A
While looking at 2, the moderator a _x specifies the position of the person using a pointing device such as a mouse. When the position of the person is designated, a frame is displayed in the still image area 32 as shown in FIG. 3A. FIG. 3A shows that the positions of three persons have been designated.

Then, as shown in FIG. 3B, the designation of the positions of all the persons is completed, the conference starts, and when the inside of the frame of the talking person is designated with the mouse, the direction of the optical axis is quickly changed and designated. The person in the designated frame is photographed. The captured image of the captured person is displayed in the moving image area 31 of the display image as shown in FIG. 3B. At this time, the voice of the person is also output.

Further, the captured images of two people person moderator a _x is specified as shown in FIG. 3C, may be displayed in the moving picture area 31a and 31b divided video area 31 into two. However, in this case, the moving image areas 31a and 31a
The number of images per second displayed in 1b is reduced. In this manner, the captured images of the two persons are displayed in the moving image area 31a.
When displayed on the monitor 13b, the size of the person displayed on the monitor 13 may be different because the distances of the two persons from the imaging device are different. In such a case, when photographing a person farther from the image pickup apparatus, processing is performed so that the image is enlarged by the electronic zoom so as to have substantially the same size.

Here, an example of a person recognition algorithm used in the above-described person recognition circuit 6 will be described. By comparing two images that are temporally close to each other, a stationary background B and a slightly moving person H are identified as closed contour lines as shown in FIG. 4A. As an example of the identification, one of two adjacent images is set to a small block, for example, K = (5
It is divided into blocks of (pixels × 5 pixels), and the variance V (degree of unevenness) is calculated. V = ((Σ (y ² )) / K − ((Σ (y)) / K) ² where y is the luminance level and K is the number of pixels in the block

According to the calculation result, a block having a small value of the variance V is not used for detection. Also, when the value of the variance V becomes large because a straight line exists in the block, and if the subject moves in parallel with the straight line in the block, the movement of the subject cannot be detected. Not used for detection. Therefore, for a block in which the value of the variance V is larger than a predetermined value and which does not include a straight line, a block search is performed in the other image.

As a result of the block search, a motion vector (dx, dy) of each block is obtained. This dx and d
y represents the horizontal and vertical movement amounts in pixel units. The block where dx and dy are substantially 0 is the background, and this is B. When at least one of dx and dy is non-zero, this block is not background,
That is, the person is H. A block having a small value of the variance V and a block including a straight line are:
N. As a result, data as shown in FIG. 4B is obtained from the two images.

When a block determined to be N is surrounded by a background B, the block N is regarded as a block B, and when surrounded by a block H, the block N is regarded as a block H
And Here, when a line (hereinafter, referred to as an outline) surrounding the block H is created, the outline of the person is shown. If the accuracy of the contour is required, the block size may be reduced along the contour and the block search may be performed again. In this way, a person is recognized as one block from a subtle movement with respect to the background.

Further, when two persons are photographed overlapping each other, their delicate movements are different, so that it is possible to distinguish them. At this time, when two persons are detected from two adjacent images, in order to eliminate erroneous detection, images are compared over several images, and the accuracy of determination is increased.

In the above-described embodiment, the moderator a _x designates the position of the center of the person. However, using this person recognition algorithm, the position of the center of the person is detected.
A frame may be displayed in the still image area 32 as shown in FIG.

A moving image area 31 and a still image area 32
Alternatively, a captured image of a person in the conference room A and / or a captured image of a person in the conference room B may be displayed.

Further, the still image area 32 may always display a panoramic image obtained by seamlessly synthesizing the first image of the surroundings, or may photograph the surroundings at predetermined time intervals, and seamlessly A synthesized panoramic image may be displayed. Alternatively, the surroundings may be photographed in accordance with the increase or decrease in the number of persons participating in the conference, and a seamlessly synthesized panoramic image may be displayed each time.

Here, the signal is used for the sound source direction detection circuit 19.
An example of the sound source direction detection algorithm will be described. Ma
Monitor the sound volume and phase difference obtained from the
Calculate the direction of the source and find the person closest to that source
Decide with the speaker. Moderator a_xEvery time she speaks,
_xIf you do not want to display the face every time, _x
Direction, and do not move the optical axis in that direction.
What should I do?

In the above-described embodiment, the moderator specifies the speaker, but using the sound source direction detection algorithm,
The speaker may be specified, the direction of the optical axis may be quickly changed in the direction of the person, and displayed in the moving image area 31 as shown in FIG. 3A. Note that this sound source direction detection algorithm
It may be controlled by software or by hardware. Further, by using this sound source direction detection algorithm, the two speakers, the current speaker and the immediately preceding speaker, are combined as shown in FIG.
1b may be displayed in parallel.

Here, FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram of an example of the camera block 11. As shown in FIG.
1 is provided with a one-axis active mirror including a vertical motor 44 and a mirror 43, and a camera block 45 including a lens block and a CCD image sensor. The camera block 45 is set to telephoto, and is mounted facing upward.
A one-axis active mirror is arranged in front of the lens at an angle of about 45 degrees toward a subject in front. At this time, the scanning line of the CCD image sensor is set to be in the vertical direction. By doing so, a part of the subject can be photographed as a vertically long image. This is because a horizontal image can be easily obtained by providing the horizontal motor 42.
The partial image obtained by the axis active mirror is a vertically long image.

Here, when the one-axis active mirror is rotated by about ± 7 degrees about 45 degrees, the subject can be divided into several pieces and photographed in the vertical direction. The rotating frame 41 is attached to a horizontal motor 42 in order to rotate the one-axis active mirror and the camera block 45 in the horizontal direction at once. Scanning in the vertical direction with the one-axis active mirror and scanning in the horizontal direction with the horizontal motor 42 can capture a 360-degree wide-angle image with high resolution.

A horizontal motor 42 for rotating the rotating frame 41 is installed as shown in FIG. 5B. Horizontal motor 4
2 is provided in the lower cabinet 47. The transparent cover 46 is placed on the horizontal motor 42 and the rotating frame 41 provided in the lower cabinet 47. The transparent cover 46 includes, for example, a transparent portion 46a that allows light from a subject to pass through, and a light shielding portion 46b. The lower cabinet 47 is provided with a storage section 48 in which the imaging device having the configuration shown in FIG. 2 described above can be stored.

Here, a schematic diagram of another example of the camera block 11 is shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing the structure of the mirror block. As shown in FIG. 6, the mirror block is disposed in front of the above-described lens block 73, and an image of a subject is incident on the CCD image pickup device 74 via the mirror block and the lens block 73. AA ′ in FIG. 6 indicates the optical axis of the lens block 73.

In FIG. 6, reference numeral 52 denotes a planar mirror that reflects an image of a subject and guides the image to a CCD image pickup device. The mirror 52 is attached to a support plate 53, and the support plate 53 is configured to rotate about the shaft portion 54 by about ± 15 ° as indicated by an arrow a shown in the figure. That is, the shaft portion 54 is the optical axis A of the lens block 73
The mirror 52 is arranged so as to be orthogonal to −A ′, and the mirror 52 can rotate about ± 15 ° with respect to a direction forming an angle of about 45 ° with respect to the optical axis AA ′ of the lens block 73. I have. The shaft portion 54 is supported by a frame 55, and the frame 55 is attached to the outer peripheral surface of a rotor 56 of the pan motor.

In FIG. 6, what is indicated by 60 is a soft iron yoke having a U-shaped cross section which constitutes a magnetic circuit.
Two magnets 57 and 58 are arranged to face the inner peripheral side of the yoke 60 to form a closed magnetic path, and a strong magnetic field is generated in a gap 59 between the magnets 57 and 58. . This yoke 60 and magnet 57,
A magnetic circuit 58 is mounted on the outer peripheral surface of the rotor 56 of the pan motor in the same manner as the frame 56.

Further, what is indicated by 61 is a coil formed in a substantially semicircular shape. The coil 61 is supported by a support piece 62 extending from the support plate 53. The coil 61 is supported by the support piece 62 such that the linear portion is located in the gap 59. Therefore, when a current is applied to the coil 61, a torque for rotating the coil 61 and the support plate 62 about the shaft portion 54 between the gaps 59 due to the relationship between the magnetic field generated in the coil 61 and the magnetic fields of the magnets 57 and 58. Occurs. That is, the magnetic circuit including the yoke 60 and the magnets 57 and 58 and the coil 61
And the support piece 62 constitute a magnetic actuator. The center of the coil 61 is located at a rotor
In order to reduce the moment of inertia when is rotated, as shown in FIG. 6, the lens block 73 is arranged so as to be shifted from the optical axis AA ′ by 5 ° to 10 °.

On the other hand, what is indicated by 72 in FIG. 6 is the shaft portion of the pan motor, which is arranged, for example, so as to coincide with the optical axis AA ′ of the lens block 73. Shaft 72
Are supported by bearings of two ball bearings provided on the stator 65 and are rotatable. The shaft 72 and the rotor 56 are connected to each other. A magnet 63 is mounted on the inner peripheral surface side of the rotor 56, and a coil and a magnetic pole 6 of a three-phase motor (pan motor) fixed to the stator 65 are provided at positions facing the magnet 63.
4 are arranged. Therefore, when a current flows through the coil and the coil of the magnetic pole 64, a torque is generated around the shaft portion 72, and 360% around the optical axis AA 'of the lens block 73 as shown by an arrow shown in FIG. ° It is configured to rotate.

In FIG. 6, reference numeral 66 denotes a dome-shaped cover to which the stator 65 of the pan motor is fixed. A transparent cover 51 is further provided for the cover 66.
The transparent cover 51 is attached to the lens block 7.
3 and the CCD image pickup device 5 side.

Further, a cup-shaped extending portion is provided on the opposite side of the shaft portion 72 of the pan motor to which the rotor 56 is connected, and an annular magnetic stripe 67 is provided at an end of the extending portion.
Are formed, and a light shielding plate 71 is attached to a predetermined position of the cup-shaped extending portion. On the other hand, at a predetermined position corresponding to the annular magnetic stripe 67 of the stator 65, a two-phase MR (Magneto Resi
stance) sensor 68 is provided. From the two-phase MR sensor 68, two sine waves of 360 waves in one rotation are 90
° phase difference. Using the output signal of the two-phase MR sensor 68, the rotor 56 can be controlled to an arbitrary angle in 0.25 ° units. Also, the stator 6
At a predetermined position corresponding to the light shielding plate 71, a photo interrupter 69 is attached via a support piece 70,
The horizontal angle of the mirror 52 is detected by the photo interrupter 69.

The above-described annular magnetic stripe 67,
The same components as the light shielding plate 71, the two-phase MR sensor 68, and the photo interrupter 69 are also mounted between the support plate 53 and the frame 55. The vertical angle of the mirror 52 is detected by a two-phase MR sensor, a photo interrupter, and the like attached between the support plate 53 and the frame 55.

By driving the actuator of the mirror block constructed as described above by the mirror servo based on the output signals of the two-phase MR sensor and the photointerrupter, the mirror 52 is rotated, for example, in the vertical direction and held in a predetermined direction. You. Further, by driving the pan motor by the motor control circuit based on the output signals of the two-phase MR sensor 68 and the photo interrupter 69, the mirror 52
The frame 55 rotates in a horizontal direction, for example, and is held in a predetermined direction. When an image is taken in this state, the system controller 20 issues a command to the camera control circuit 21 to set the vertical angle and the horizontal angle of the mirror to different values.
Take the next image. At this time, the charge exposed by the CCD image pickup device 74 is discharged during a jump operation for moving the direction of the optical axis, and the charge exposed during periods other than the jump operation is obtained as an image output. As described above, the jump operation for sequentially moving the optical axis vertically and horizontally and the photographing operation after the completion of the jump operation are repeatedly performed, for example, for each frame or for each field.

Here, the mirror block, the lens block, and the CCD image pickup device are all fixed and rotate in the horizontal direction (hereinafter, referred to as a full rotation type camera block). The camera block 11 shown in FIG.
The D image pickup device is fixed, and only the mirror block rotates in the horizontal direction (hereinafter, referred to as a mirror rotation type camera block). Compare with the camera block 11 shown in FIG.

First, as shown in FIG. 7A, the camera block 11 is arranged at the center of the cylinder 81. 7A is a view of the cylinder 81 as viewed from directly above, and FIG. 7B is a perspective view of the cylinder 81. As shown in FIG. 7B, the upper half of the cylinder 81 is white, and the lower half is black. A direction a indicated by an arrow from the camera block 11 is a reference position in the horizontal and vertical directions of the mirror block, that is, a so-called front surface. The camera block 11 is arranged so that the direction of the optical axis at the reference position is a position where the cylinder 81 is divided into white and black.

FIG. 8A shows an image obtained by photographing the direction a using the full rotation type camera block.
FIG. 8B shows images taken in different directions b. FIG. 9A shows an image photographed in the direction a using the mirror rotating camera block, and FIG. 9B shows an image photographed in the direction b. As described above, in the full rotation type camera block, since the mirror block, the lens block, and the CCD image sensor all rotate in the horizontal direction, the same image can be captured in any direction. Since only the mirror block rotates in the horizontal direction, an image rotated by 90 ° is captured if the direction is different by 90 °.

At this time, the size of the image that can be photographed by the mirror-rotating camera block differs depending on the angle. The size of an image photographed when the direction of the optical axis is changed in the horizontal direction by using a mirror rotating camera block will be described with reference to FIG. It is assumed that the photographing area of the CCD image sensor is an image ABCD having an aspect ratio Ra = 4/3. This image AB
The center of the CD is 0, the horizontal size is 2La, and the vertical size is 2
If Lb, the length Lc of A0 is as follows: Lc = SQRT (La × La + Lb × Lb)

The inclination angle t of the diagonal line is t = ATAN (Lb / La).

When the direction of the optical axis is panned to cut out an image having an aspect ratio of 4/3 from the shooting area of the CCD image sensor, the point P of the image PQRS corresponding to the point A of the image ABCD becomes a line of the image ABCD. Move on minute AB. That is, if the pan angle is x, the image is also rotated by the same angle as the pan angle. Thus, the image PQRS inscribed in the image ABCD is cut out.

When the pan angle x = 0 ° to 90 °, the point P is
It is on line AB. Assuming that the distance between the point P of the rectangle PQRS and the center 0 is Ld, sin (t + x) = Lb / La. When the pan angle x = 90 ° to 180 °, s
in (180 + t−x), and the pan angle x = 180 °
At −90 °, sin (t + x + 180), and when the pan angle x = −90 ° to 0 °, sin (t−x).

The reduction ratio K of the image is K = Ld / Lc, and the reduction ratio K2 of the number of pixels is K2 = K × K.

Therefore, when the pan angle x = 53 ° at which the point P is at the center of the line segment AB, the minimum value is obtained, and the reduction rate K = 0.6.
The reduction rate K2 of the number of pixels is 0.36. That is, when the direction of the optical axis is changed by 53 ° left and right from the front (direction a), the size of the image is reduced to 60% of the front image, and the number of pixels is reduced to 36% of the front image. As shown in FIG. 11, changing the direction of the optical axis by only 20 ° left and right reduces the number of pixels to 50% of the front image. In addition, some high-frequency characteristics are lost due to image processing.

As described above, in the mirror rotating camera block, since the lens block and the CCD image pickup device are fixed, the operation speed for changing the direction of the optical axis can be increased, and the wiring of the camera block 11 can be fixed. For good
The device is simplified. However, the image quality is not good because the effective range of the image may be reduced to 36%. On the other hand, the all-rotation type camera block can maintain the same image quality in all directions as described above.

From these, in this embodiment,
A full rotation camera block is used as the camera block 11. When an operation speed for changing the direction of the optical axis is required, a mirror rotation type camera block is used as the camera block 11.

In this embodiment, two moving pictures are displayed in the moving picture area 31 of the monitor 13, but three or more moving pictures may be displayed. However, in this case, the number of moving images displayed per second decreases.

In this embodiment, the speaker is specified from the sound volume and the phase difference of the sound obtained from the microphone group 17. However, when microphones are provided for all persons, the microphones are specified according to the microphone input. The speaker can be specified.

In this embodiment, a frame is displayed so as to surround a person in the still image area 32 of the monitor. However, the frame is not limited to a frame and may be any identifier that corresponds to a person. For example, a “★” mark may be displayed beside the face of the person or around the chest.

[0056]

According to the present invention, it is possible to understand the state of all persons participating in a conference held between distant places, and to simultaneously display moving images of the talking persons in parallel. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram used to explain the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of an imaging apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram used for explaining the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram used to explain the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of an example of a camera block applied to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of another example of a camera block applied to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram used to explain a camera block.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram used to explain a camera block.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram used to explain a camera block.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram used to explain a camera block.

FIG. 11 is a graph showing a relationship between an image reduction rate K and a pixel number reduction rate K2.

[Explanation of symbols]

11: camera block, 12: image processing circuit,
13 monitor, 14 modem, 16 person recognition circuit, 17 microphone group, 18 voice processing circuit, 19 sound source direction detection circuit, 20 system controller, 21: camera control circuit, 22: operation key group

Claims (24)

[Claims] An imaging unit having an optical axis variable element capable of changing the direction of an optical axis; and a display unit having at least first and second regions. A captured image of a plurality of persons around the imaging unit is displayed, and in the second area, one or more persons selected from among the plurality of persons displayed in the first area are displayed. An imaging and display device, wherein a captured image is displayed. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the operator selects an arbitrary person from the plurality of captured images of the plurality of persons in the first area, an identifier indicating that the selected person is selected is displayed. An image pickup and display device characterized in that it is displayed near a person. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least two captured images that are temporally close are compared,
The captured image is divided into a plurality of blocks, a motion block in which a motion is detected is detected from the divided blocks, and the first block is set so as to be in the vicinity of a person determined to be a person from the motion blocks. An imaging and display device, wherein an identifier is displayed in an area. 4. The method according to claim 2, wherein when the operator specifies the identifier, the direction of the optical axis is changed,
An imaging and display device, wherein the person corresponding to the specified identifier is photographed. 5. The microphone according to claim 1, further comprising: a microphone group; detecting a direction of a sound source based on a volume and a phase difference of a sound obtained from the microphone group; An imaging and display device, wherein the direction of the axis is changed so as to photograph a person in the direction of the sound source. 6. The operator according to claim 2, wherein an operator specifies at least two identifiers displayed in the first area, and captures a captured image of a person corresponding to the specified two identifiers. An imaging and display device characterized in that the images are displayed side by side in two areas. 7. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a group of microphones, wherein a captured image of a person in a direction of the first sound source detected based on a volume and a phase difference of a sound obtained from the group of microphones; The captured image of a person in the direction of the second sound source detected based on the sound volume and the phase difference of the sound immediately before the direction of the first sound source is displayed in parallel in the second area. An imaging and display device characterized by the above-mentioned. 8. The method according to claim 1, wherein when two or more captured images are displayed in the second area,
An image pickup and display device, wherein processing is performed so that the persons displayed in the two or more picked-up images have substantially the same size. 9. The imaging device according to claim 1, wherein the imaging unit includes: a lens block that focuses upon photographing; an imaging device that captures an image of a subject; an optical axis variable unit that changes a direction of an optical axis in a vertical direction; An imaging and display device comprising a block, a motor for rotating the image sensor, and the optical axis varying unit in a horizontal direction. 10. The imaging device according to claim 1, wherein the imaging unit includes: a lens block for focusing at the time of photographing; an imaging device for capturing an image of a subject; An imaging and display device comprising: 11. The communication device according to claim 1, further comprising a communication unit for transmitting an image signal and an audio signal, wherein the first and / or second area includes a person obtained through the communication unit. An imaging and display device, wherein a captured image is displayed. 12. The imaging and display device according to claim 1, wherein the setting is made so that the optical axis is not directed in a predetermined direction. 13. When a meeting is held between distant places,
In a video conference apparatus for transmitting an image signal and an audio signal, an imaging unit having an optical axis variable element capable of changing the direction of an optical axis, a display unit having at least first and second regions, an image signal and an audio signal Communication means for transmitting a signal, wherein the first area displays captured images of a plurality of persons around the imaging unit, and the second area includes the first area A video image of one or more persons selected from a plurality of persons displayed in the video conference device. 14. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein when the operator selects an arbitrary person from the plurality of captured images of the plurality of persons in the first area, an identifier indicating that the selected person is selected is displayed. A video conference device, wherein the video conference device is displayed near a person. 15. The method according to claim 13, wherein at least two captured images that are temporally close to each other are compared,
The captured image is divided into a plurality of blocks, a motion block in which a motion is detected is detected from the divided blocks, and the first block is set so as to be in the vicinity of a person determined to be a person from the motion blocks. A video conference device wherein an identifier is displayed in an area. 16. The method according to claim 14, wherein when the operator specifies the identifier, the direction of the optical axis is changed,
A video conference device, wherein the person corresponding to the specified identifier is photographed. 17. The apparatus according to claim 13, further comprising a microphone group, detecting a direction of a sound source based on a volume and a phase difference of a sound obtained from the microphone group, and detecting a light direction in the detected direction of the sound source. A video conference apparatus, wherein the direction of the axis is changed so that a person in the direction of the sound source is photographed. 18. The method according to claim 14, wherein the operator designates at least two identifiers displayed in the first area, and captures a captured image of a person corresponding to the designated two identifiers. A video conferencing apparatus characterized in that the two areas are displayed in parallel. 19. The apparatus according to claim 13, further comprising: a microphone group; and a captured image of a person in a direction of the first sound source detected based on a sound volume and a phase difference of a sound obtained from the microphone group; The captured image of a person in the direction of the second sound source detected based on the sound volume and the phase difference of the sound immediately before the direction of the first sound source is displayed in parallel in the second area. A video conference device. 20. The method according to claim 13, wherein when two or more captured images are displayed in the second area,
A video conference apparatus wherein processing is performed so that the persons displayed in the two or more captured images have substantially the same size. 21. The imaging device according to claim 13, wherein the imaging unit comprises: a lens block for focusing at the time of photographing; an imaging device for capturing an image of a subject; A video conference device comprising a block, a motor for rotating the image sensor, and the optical axis changing unit in a horizontal direction. 22. The imaging device according to claim 13, wherein the imaging unit comprises: a lens block for focusing at the time of image capturing; an image sensor for capturing an image of a subject; A video conference device comprising: 23. The video conference apparatus according to claim 13, wherein a captured image of a person obtained via said communication means is displayed in said first and / or second area. 24. The video conference apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the optical axis is not set in a predetermined direction.