JP2004056239A - Monitor camera system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a monitor camera system for making monitoring photographing by tuning a video camera in panning and tilt directions and capable of excellently performing the monitor. <P>SOLUTION: A tilt angle detection section 19 detects a turning angle toward a positive tilt direction (direction (a)) from a position 21 of tilt angle zero perpendicularly to a turning shaft 20 of the video camera 3 in a panning direction. A controller 7 controls a turning drive mechanism 5 to turn the camera 3 in the panning direction by 180 degrees when the detected turning angle reaches a prescribed obtuse angle corresponding to a tilt limit angle 22 while the camera 3 is turned in the positive tilt direction, and also turns the camera 3 in a reverse tilt direction by an angle twice a resulting angle of subtracting 90 degrees from the obtuse angle. Thus, the upside down of the monitored image due to the turning angle in the tilt direction can be corrected and frequent occurrence of turning by 180 degrees in the panning direction due to monitor around beneath the camera can be avoided. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a surveillance camera device that performs video shooting for monitoring by rotating a video camera in a pan direction and a tilt direction.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In a so-called dome-type surveillance camera device in which the cover of the device body is formed in a dome shape and installed on the ceiling of a building or the like, a camera (video camera) is driven to rotate in pan and tilt directions, so that the camera can be omnidirectional Some can be monitored. Note that the pan direction is a rotation direction parallel to the installation surface of the device main body, the tilt direction is a rotation direction perpendicular to the installation surface, and when the installation surface is a horizontal ceiling surface, the pan direction is a horizontal rotation direction. Direction, and the tilt direction is a rotation direction in the vertical direction.
[0003]
In such a dome-type monitoring device, the operation of rotating in the pan direction and the tilt direction is manually performed by an operator using a joystick or the like installed in a controller that sends a control signal to a rotation drive mechanism that rotates the video camera in both directions. Alternatively, the operation is automatically performed based on operation information registered in the controller in advance by a preset registration function.
[0004]
FIG. 6 shows a conventional manual monitoring camera for monitoring and monitoring a person to be monitored 100 which passes in one direction below a device main body installed downward on a horizontal ceiling in such a conventional monitoring camera device. This is to explain the rotation operation by the operation. Here, in order to simply show only the rotation of the camera, the monitoring camera device main body (hereinafter abbreviated as the device main body) 101 is temporarily shown as a hemispherical shape, and only the lens 102 of the camera is shown. . An installation surface 103 on which the apparatus main body 101 is installed is a horizontal ceiling surface.
[0005]
Here, it is assumed that the movable range of the rotation of the camera in the tilt direction (hereinafter, referred to as the tilt movable range) with respect to the direction parallel to the installation surface 103 is substantially 180 °, and the lower part of the apparatus main body 101 is leftward in the figure. When the operator operates the joystick or the like on the controller, the camera rotates from a direction close to horizontal to a direction directly downward in the clockwise direction in FIG. And further rotated clockwise as it is. Then, when the monitored person 100 passes directly below the apparatus main body 101, the vertical direction of the monitoring screen captured by the camera is reversed, and it becomes difficult for the monitoring person (operator) to see.
[0006]
Therefore, in the conventional surveillance camera device, as shown in FIGS. 6A to 6C, the tilt movable range of the camera is set to a range of 90 ° between the horizontal direction and the direction directly below the installation surface 103. In the above case, as shown in FIG. 6A, the camera is moved from a direction close to horizontal to a direction directly downward in the clockwise direction in the figure, which is one direction of the tilt direction, in accordance with the movement of the monitored person 100. When the camera reaches a position just below, that is, a position at the limit of the movable range of the tilt movable range, the camera is automatically moved in the pan direction by 180 degrees as shown in FIGS. 6B to 6C. A method of rotating by ° and reversing the driving direction in the tilt direction is adopted.
[0007]
Thus, for example, if the operator once tilts the joystick of the controller in one of the tilt directions, even if the monitored person 100 passes directly below the camera, the vertical direction of the monitoring screen remains the same, and the state is easy to see. To continue monitoring.
[0008]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the above method, when monitoring the area directly below the camera, the camera is rotated 180 ° in the panning direction each time the camera faces directly below, and the monitoring screen is frequently rotated, which is inconvenient for monitoring. Will be.
[0009]
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a surveillance camera device of this type that can correct the reversal of the vertical direction of the surveillance screen by a 180 ° rotation in the pan direction due to the tilt rotation angle, and only when the camera is located immediately below the camera. Another object of the present invention is to provide a configuration in which a 180 ° rotation in the pan direction for the correction does not frequently occur when monitoring other places, and the monitoring can be performed well.
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
To solve the above problems, according to the present invention,
In a surveillance camera device that performs video shooting for monitoring by rotating a video camera in a pan direction and a tilt direction by rotation driving means,
Detecting means for detecting a rotation angle in one direction of the tilt direction from one direction perpendicular to the rotation axis of the video camera in the pan direction,
While rotating the video camera in one direction of the tilt direction, when the rotation angle detected by the detection means is a predetermined obtuse angle, rotate the video camera 180 ° in the pan direction, Further, a configuration is employed in which control means is provided for controlling the rotation drive means so as to rotate in the opposite direction to the one direction of the tilt direction by twice the angle obtained by subtracting 90 ° from the obtuse angle.
[0011]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of a surveillance camera device according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0012]
FIG. 1 shows a configuration of the monitoring camera device of the embodiment. Here, reference numeral 1 denotes a surveillance camera device main body (hereinafter also abbreviated as a device main body), and a dome-shaped or hemispherical cover 2 is attached to a lower end of the cylindrical housing in the figure. A video camera 3 provided with a zoomable lens 4 and a rotation drive mechanism 5 for rotating the video camera 3 in a pan direction and a tilt direction are provided in the apparatus main body 1 and the cover 2. A notch (window) (not shown) for allowing the lens 4 of the video camera 3 to look into the outside is formed in the cover 2 corresponding to a movable range of tilt rotation of the video camera 3 described later.
[0013]
A controller 7 for controlling the rotation drive of the video camera 3 and for controlling the video camera 3 itself is connected to the apparatus main body 1 via a cable 6, and the controller 7 displays an image captured by the video camera 3. A monitor 9 such as a CRT or a liquid crystal display is connected by a cable 8.
[0014]
Next, FIG. 2 shows a configuration of a control system of the controller 7 and the rotation drive mechanism 5. The controller 7 includes a CPU 10 for controlling the entire apparatus, a ROM 11 storing data such as a control program for the apparatus, a RAM 12 used as a work area, and the like, for inputting various data for an operator to perform operations and other inputs. The keyboard 13 includes a joystick 14 for allowing the operator to manually operate the pan and tilt rotations of the video camera 3. The CPU 10 controls the entire apparatus according to a control program stored in the ROM 11, and in response to an input from the keyboard 13 or the joystick 14, rotates the video camera 3 in the panning direction with the rotation driving mechanism 5 and rotates in the tilting direction with the pan motor 17. The drive of the tilt motor 18 to be controlled is controlled via the motor drive circuits 15 and 16 to perform pan rotation and tilt rotation. It should be noted that the configuration relating to the control of the video camera 3 itself and the control of the monitor 9 is not related to the features of the present invention, so that illustration and description are omitted.
[0015]
By the way, as shown in FIG. 1, here, the apparatus main body 1 is attached horizontally and downward to a horizontal ceiling surface of a building, and the pan direction is a horizontal rotation direction, and the tilt direction is a vertical rotation direction. It shall be. In the present embodiment, the movable range of rotation of the video camera 3 in the tilt direction (hereinafter, also referred to as the tilt movable range) is one direction perpendicular to the rotation axis 20 in the pan direction and is the right direction in the drawing. The range from the position of the tilt angle zero 21 to the position of the tilt limit angle 22 is a predetermined obtuse angle range that is larger than 90 ° by a predetermined angle (about 20 ° in the drawing). Assuming that the angle of the tilt movable range is an obtuse angle, a specific value may be variably set by input from the keyboard 13 or the like.
[0016]
For the control related to the tilt movable range, a tilt angle detection unit for detecting the rotation angle of the video camera 3 in the tilt direction is provided in the rotation drive mechanism 5 as indicated by reference numeral 19 in FIG. The tilt angle detecting unit 19 is one direction of the tilt direction from the position of the tilt angle 21 of the video camera 3 and is the direction of the arrow a in FIG. 1 (hereinafter referred to as the forward tilt direction, and the reverse direction is the reverse tilt direction). The rotation angle of the tilt motor 18 is detected by an encoder attached to the tilt motor 18 or a potentiometer linked to the rotation axis of a tilt mechanism (not shown). Detection data of the tilt angle detection unit 19 is input to the CPU 10.
[0017]
When a stepping motor is used as the tilt motor 18, the rotation angle can be detected by counting the number of driving pulses for driving the stepping motor, so that the tilt angle detection unit 19 does not need to be provided separately from the CPU 10.
[0018]
Next, the rotation operation of the video camera 3 relating to the features of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1 and FIGS.
[0019]
It is assumed that the CPU 10 drives the tilt motor 18 in response to an input from the keyboard 13 or the joystick 14, and rotates the video camera 3 in the positive tilt direction indicated by the arrow a as shown in FIG. Here, when the rotation angle detected by the tilt angle detection unit 19 becomes the angle of the tilt movable range, that is, when the video camera 3 reaches the position of the tilt limit angle 22 as shown in FIG. In response to the detection result, the CPU 10 drives the pan motor 17 to rotate the camera 3 by 180 ° in the pan direction as shown by the arrow b.
[0020]
FIG. 4 shows a state after this 180 ° rotation. Before the rotation in FIG. 3 and after the rotation in FIG. 4, the tilt movable range is reversed, and the angular position of the camera 3 in the tilt direction is an angle obtained by subtracting 90 ° from the obtuse angle of the tilt movable range, that is, the rotation axis 20 in the pan direction. The angle is shifted in the counterclockwise direction in the figure by twice the angle formed by the line of the tilt limit angle 22 and the line.
[0021]
To correct this shift, the CPU 10 drives the tilt motor 18 again to rotate the video camera 3 in the reverse tilt direction as shown by an arrow c in FIG. 4 to FIG. Note that the direction of arrow c is apparently the same as the direction of arrow a in FIG. 1, but is actually the reverse direction and the reverse tilt direction since it has been rotated by 180 ° in the pan direction.
[0022]
As a result, as shown in FIG. 5, the video camera 3 is rotated in the tilt direction to a position 23 corresponding to the position of the tilt limit angle 22 in FIG. The driving of the shift angle in the reverse tilt direction may be performed at the same time as the 180 ° rotation in the pan direction.
[0023]
After that, the CPU 10 performs tilt rotation or pan rotation of the video camera 3 according to an input from the joystick 14 or the keyboard 13.
[0024]
According to the present embodiment as described above, when the video camera 3 is driven in the forward tilt direction and reaches the position of the tilt limit angle 22, the video camera 3 is rotated 180 ° in the pan direction. Can be corrected (although slightly delayed). Further, unlike the related art, the video camera 3 is not rotated by 180 ° in the panning direction each time the video camera 3 faces directly below. Further, after or simultaneously with the rotation of the pan direction by 180 °, the video camera 3 is rotated in the reverse tilt direction so as to correct the displacement of the video camera 3 in the tilt direction due to the 180 ° rotation. There is no inconvenience caused by the displacement. Then, unless the camera 3 is rotated again to the position of the tilt limit angle 22 after the correction of the positional deviation, the 180 ° rotation in the pan direction does not occur again. Therefore, when monitoring not only a position immediately below the camera but also other places, the 180 ° rotation in the pan direction does not frequently occur, and monitoring can be performed well.
[0025]
【The invention's effect】
As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, in a surveillance camera device that performs video shooting for monitoring by rotating a video camera in a pan direction and a tilt direction, the up and down direction of a monitoring screen is determined by the angle of tilt rotation. Can be corrected by the 180 ° rotation in the pan direction, and the 180 ° rotation in the pan direction for the correction frequently occurs when monitoring not only the position directly below the camera but also other places. And an excellent effect that the monitoring can be performed satisfactorily can be obtained.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an overall schematic configuration of a monitoring camera device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a controller of the apparatus and a control system of a rotary drive mechanism of the video camera.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a rotation operation of the video camera according to the present invention in the device.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a rotation operation of the video camera.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a rotation operation of the video camera.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a rotation operation of a camera in a conventional monitoring camera device.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Surveillance camera device main body 2 Cover 3 Video camera 4 Lens 5 Rotation drive mechanism 7 Controller 9 Monitor 10 CPU
11 ROM
12 RAM
13 Keyboard 14 Joystick 17 Pan motor 18 Tilt motor 19 Tilt angle detector 20 Rotation axis 21 in pan direction 21 Tilt angle zero 22 Tilt limit angle

Claims (1)

In a surveillance camera device that performs video shooting for monitoring by rotating a video camera in a pan direction and a tilt direction by rotation driving means,
Detecting means for detecting a rotation angle in one direction of the tilt direction from one direction perpendicular to the rotation axis of the video camera in the pan direction,
While rotating the video camera in one direction of the tilt direction, when the rotation angle detected by the detection means is a predetermined obtuse angle, rotate the video camera 180 ° in the pan direction, A surveillance camera further comprising control means for controlling the rotation driving means so as to rotate in an opposite direction to the one direction of the tilt direction by twice an angle obtained by subtracting 90 ° from the obtuse angle. apparatus.

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