JP2005117635A - Camera system, camera control method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a camera system for precisely photographing a specific range without causing a dead angle in the monitored range. <P>SOLUTION: A camera system 10 which uses a plurality of installed cameras 12 capable of individually changing a photographic range to photograph video images within a predetermined range, comprises a camera control section 14 for making, when changing the photographic range of one of the plurality of installed cameras 12, the other camera among the plurality of installed cameras 12 photograph a range out of the photographic range of the one camera. When making the one camera zoom in an object, the camera control section 14 makes the other camera zoom out the object so that the other camera is made to photograph the range out of the photographic range of the one camera. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a camera system including a plurality of installation cameras, a control method for a plurality of installation cameras, and a program. In particular, the present invention relates to a camera system for photographing a predetermined range with a plurality of installation cameras, a control method for the plurality of installation cameras, and a computer program for controlling the plurality of installation cameras.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a surveillance camera system has been put into practical use that pans and zooms in a surveillance camera toward a person who has entered the surveillance range, and photographs the intruder's face image up (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 1).
“Image Monitoring System”, [online], J-Net Co., Ltd. [searched on August 26, 2003], Internet <http: // www. gazou. co. jp / Products / index. html>

  However, when the camera is panned and zoomed in to photograph a specific range in detail, there is a problem that a blind spot is formed in the monitoring range.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a camera system, a camera control method, and a program that can solve the above-described problems. This object is achieved by a combination of features described in the independent claims. The dependent claims define further advantageous specific examples of the present invention.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, a camera system that captures a video in a predetermined range with a plurality of installation cameras that can individually change the imaging range is an imaging range of one of the plurality of installation cameras. A camera control unit that causes another camera out of a plurality of installed cameras to photograph a range that is out of the photographing range of the one camera.

  The camera control unit zooms out the other camera with respect to the subject when zooming in on the subject with respect to the subject, thereby setting a range outside the shooting range of the one camera with the other camera. You may let them shoot.

  The camera control unit may zoom in on the one subject with respect to the new subject, triggered by the recognition of the new subject in the video from the one camera.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, a camera control method for capturing an image of a predetermined range with a plurality of installation cameras whose shooting ranges can be individually changed is the shooting of one of the plurality of installation cameras. When changing the range, a range outside the shooting range of the one camera is shot by another camera among the plurality of installed cameras.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, a program for a camera system that shoots images in a predetermined range with a plurality of installation cameras that can individually change the imaging range is one of the plurality of installation cameras. When changing the shooting range, the camera system is caused to realize a control function that causes another camera out of the plurality of installed cameras to take a range that is out of the shooting range of the one camera.

  In the first embodiment, the camera control unit is configured to detect one of the plurality of installation cameras when a luminance area that does not fit in the dynamic range of the installation camera is larger than a predetermined area. You may set exposure different from another installation camera.

  The camera control unit adjusts the exposure of one installation camera to a high-brightness area having the highest average luminance in a predetermined range, and adjusts the exposure of other installation cameras from a predetermined range to a high-brightness area. It may be adjusted to the excluded area.

  The camera control unit may adjust the focus of one installed camera and the other installed camera to an area that is imaged with the set exposure.

  Note that the above summary of the invention does not enumerate all the necessary features of the present invention, and sub-combinations of these feature groups can also be the invention.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the camera system which image | photographs a specific range in detail can be provided, without making a blind spot in the monitoring range.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described through embodiments of the invention. However, the following embodiments do not limit the claimed invention, and all combinations of features described in the embodiments are inventions. It is not always essential to the solution.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of the camera system 10. The camera system 10 aims to capture a specific range in detail without creating a blind spot within the monitoring range. In the following embodiments, the monitoring range is an example of a predetermined range in the present invention.

  The camera system 10 includes a plurality (n) of installed cameras 12 that can individually change the shooting range, and other ranges that are out of the shooting range when the shooting range of any of the plurality of installed cameras 12 is changed. The camera control unit 14 that causes any one of the installation cameras 12 to shoot, and the image recording unit 16 that records the image data (1 to n) captured by each of the plurality of installation cameras 12.

  Each of the installation cameras 12 has a shooting range in a normal state, and the plurality of installation cameras 12 as a whole take an image of a predetermined monitoring range. The camera control unit 14 reads each of the image data (1 to n) of the installation camera 12 as needed, and determines whether an abnormality has occurred. As an abnormality detection method, any existing method may be used as long as the location where the abnormality occurs in the shooting range of the installation camera 12 can be identified.

  For example, an image when no abnormality occurs in the monitoring range is stored in advance as a reference image, and binarization is performed by comparing the difference between the monitoring image and the reference image acquired at any time with a predetermined binarization threshold value. Get an image. Then, when the area of the binarized image is larger than a predetermined reference, it is determined that an abnormality has occurred in the binarized image portion.

  When the camera control unit 14 detects an abnormality in the image within the monitoring range, the camera control unit 14 controls the direction and magnification of the installation camera 12 that captures the abnormal part, and zooms in on the abnormal part. At the same time, the camera control unit 14 controls the direction and magnification of the installation camera 12 that captures a range adjacent to the abnormality occurrence range, and causes other installation cameras 12 to capture a range that is out of the imaging range by zooming in on the abnormal part. .

  The recording medium 60 stores a program that causes the camera system 10 to realize the functions of the installation camera 12, the camera control unit 14, and the image recording unit 16. The camera system 10 may install and execute such a program via a network.

  FIG. 2 shows a first embodiment of the functional configuration of the camera control unit 14. The camera control unit 14 reads the image data (1 to n) of the installation camera 12, respectively, and an abnormality detection unit 141 that determines the presence / absence of an abnormality and the occurrence location, and causes the occurrence of the abnormality to be captured in detail when the abnormality occurs A zoom-in method determination unit 142 that selects the installation camera 12 and determines an imaging range for zooming in on the selected installation camera 12, and a monitoring range to be captured by the plurality of installation cameras 12 and the installation camera 12 are assigned to each. Among the monitoring range stored in the monitoring range storage unit 144 that stores the imaging range and the monitoring range storage unit 144, a range in which one of the installed cameras 12 is not displayed by zooming in on a location where an abnormality has occurred That is, the blind spot determining unit 143 that determines the range of the blind spot, and the range of the blind spot determined by the blind spot determining unit is set to the other installed camera 1. Based on the blind spot complementing method determining unit 145 that determines the method of photographing with the camera, the shooting range of the installed camera selected by the zoom-in method determining unit 142 and the shooting method of the blind spot determined by the selected blind spot complementing method determining unit 145 A posture / magnification control signal output unit 146 that outputs a signal for controlling each of the twelve postures and magnifications. The magnification change (zoom in / zoom out) of the installation camera 12 may be an optical zoom or a digital zoom.

  With the above configuration, the camera system 10 can capture a specific range in detail without creating a blind spot within the monitoring range.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of a monitoring range by the camera system 10. In the present embodiment, the camera system 10 captures the monitoring range shown in the figure with four installation cameras 12 (camera 1, camera 2, camera 3, and camera 4). The shooting range of each installed camera 12 in the normal state is range 1 for camera 1, range 2 for camera 2, range 3 for camera 3, and range 4 for camera 4. The monitoring range storage unit 144 described above stores the monitoring range shown in the figure and the shooting ranges of the respective installed cameras 12. The abnormality detection unit 141 determines whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the ranges 1 to 4 based on changes in the images of the cameras 1 to 4.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the camera system 10 when the abnormality detection unit 141 detects an abnormality in the range 2 of FIG. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that there is an intruder from a door existing in the range 2. First, the abnormality detection unit 141 detects the occurrence of an abnormality based on a change in the image of the camera 2 capturing the range 2. Then, the zoom-in method determination unit 142 selects the camera 2 in which an abnormality has occurred within the shooting range, and determines the shooting range to be shot by the camera 2 zooming in on the intruder.

  On the other hand, the blind spot determination unit 143 determines, among the monitoring ranges stored in the monitoring range storage unit 144, a range that does not appear when the camera 2 is zoomed in on the intruder, that is, a range that becomes a blind spot. For example, in this embodiment, by zooming in on the camera 2 with respect to the intruder, it is determined that the picture existing in the range 2 and the upper and lower parts of the door are blind spots.

  The blind spot complementing method determining unit 145 selects an installation camera that captures the range of the blind spot determined by the blind spot determination unit 143 from the cameras 1, 3, and 4, and further determines the imaging range of each installation camera. For example, in this embodiment, as the installation camera that captures the blind spot in the range 2, the camera 4 that captures the adjacent range 4 is selected, and the camera 4 captures the blind spot in the range 2 in the capture range of the camera 4. Expand the range.

  Subsequently, the posture / magnification control signal output unit 146 outputs a signal for controlling the posture and magnification of the installation camera 12 based on the shooting range of the installation camera 12 determined by the zoom-in method determination unit 142 and the blind spot interpolation method determination unit 145. Output to each of the installation cameras 12.

  Each of the installation cameras 12 changes the posture and zoom magnification according to the control signal. For example, the camera 2 zooms in toward the subject, and the camera 4 zooms out to a range including the range 4 and the range 2.

  Here, the blind spot complementing method determination unit 145 may change the shooting ranges of the plurality of installed cameras so that a range outside the shooting range of the camera 2 is shot by a plurality of other cameras. For example, when the zoom-in range of the camera 2 is the upper right quarter of the range 2, in order for the camera 4 to cover a range outside the shooting range of the camera 2, the shooting range of the camera 4 is set to 100 on the left side and the upper side, respectively. It is necessary to enlarge by%. On the other hand, in order to cover a range outside the shooting range of the camera 2 with the two cameras 1 and 4, the camera 1 enlarges the shooting range by 50% to the right and the camera 4 sets the shooting range to the upper side by 50%. % Expansion.

  That is, by covering a range that is out of the shooting range with zooming in of a certain camera with zooming out of a plurality of other cameras, the amount of zooming out of each camera can be minimized. Therefore, it is possible to eliminate blind spots in the shooting range without reducing the shooting accuracy of each camera as much as possible.

  Note that the camera control unit 14 may zoom in on the new subject, triggered by the recognition of the new subject in the video in the monitoring range. In this case, by zooming out the other camera with respect to the new subject, the other camera is allowed to capture a range that is out of the capturing range of the camera to be zoomed in. For example, the camera control unit 14 classifies the abnormality detected in the monitoring range into an abnormality due to the appearance of a new object and an abnormality due to the movement of an existing object. Then, using an abnormality caused by the appearance of a new object as a trigger, the camera is zoomed in on the new object.

  Furthermore, the abnormality detected in the monitoring range may be divided into an abnormality due to the appearance of a person and an abnormality due to an object other than the person, and the camera may be zoomed in preferentially to the abnormality due to the appearance of the person. The determination as to whether or not the person is a person is made based on, for example, whether or not the skin color region is present and whether or not the size of the object is appropriate as a person. Further, when the camera can detect infrared rays, it may be determined based on whether or not the temperature of the object corresponds to the human body temperature.

  Hereinafter, a second embodiment of the camera control unit 14 will be described. In the following, the same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted. The camera control unit 14 according to the present embodiment is configured so that when the luminance range that does not fit in the dynamic range of the installation camera 12 is larger than a predetermined area in the monitoring range, Other installation cameras 12 are set to different exposures. Thereby, even if the difference in brightness of the monitoring range is large, the dynamic range of the entire camera system 10 is expanded, and a clear monitoring image without being crushed or skipped can be obtained.

  FIG. 5 shows functional blocks of the camera control unit 14 of the present embodiment. The camera control unit 14 includes a skip / collapse area determination unit 150, an exposure assignment determination unit 152, a posture / magnification control signal output unit 146, and a focus assignment determination unit 154. The skip / collapse area determination unit 150 is an area where a collapse or skip occurs in an image within a preset monitoring range, that is, a brightness area that does not fall within the dynamic range of the installation camera 12 and has a predetermined area. Detect a wider area. The skip / collapse area determination unit 150 excludes an area that is inappropriate as a monitoring target from the detection target even if the skip / collapse area is generated. The area serving as a reference for whether or not to exclude the detection target can be arbitrarily set, for example, in units of pixels.

  The exposure sharing determination unit 152 selects an installation camera 12 appropriate for photographing the region detected by the skip / collapse region determination unit 150 (hereinafter referred to as the skip / collapse region). The installation camera 12 suitable for photographing the skip / collapse area is, for example, an installation camera 12 that already includes the skip / collapse area within the photographing range. Then, the installation camera 12 is controlled so as to adjust the exposure of the selected installation camera 12 to the optimum exposure for the skipped / collapsed area. Next, the exposure sharing determination unit 152 adjusts the exposure of the other installed cameras 12 to an area obtained by removing the skip / collapse area from the monitoring range. The posture / magnification control signal output unit 146 provides a control signal for changing at least one of the posture and magnification so that the jump / collapse region occupies the center and most of the image of the installation camera 12 that captures the jump / collapse region. It may be output. Then, a signal for controlling the posture and magnification of each of the plurality of installation cameras 12 may be output so that the other installation cameras 12 can capture areas excluding the skipped / collapsed areas. The skip / collapse area is an example of the high brightness area of the present invention.

  The focus sharing determination unit 154 adjusts the focus of each of the plurality of installation cameras 12 to the area imaged with the exposure set by the exposure sharing determination unit 152. For example, a control signal is output to adjust the focus of the installation camera 12 that captures the skip / collapse area to the skip / collapse area, and control is performed to adjust the focus of the other installation cameras 12 to the areas other than the skip / collapse area. Output a signal.

  FIG. 6 shows an example of a monitoring image when the difference in brightness within the monitoring range is large. In the monitoring range, the area A is a bright area where external light is inserted. On the other hand, the region B is a darker region than the region A. The difference in brightness between the area A and the area B is larger than the difference in brightness that can be expressed by the single dynamic range of the installation camera 12. When the exposure of the installation camera 12 is adjusted to one of the area A and the area B, the skip / collapse area determination unit 150 determines that the luminance of the other area does not fall within the dynamic range of the installation camera 12. When the area of the region that does not fall within the dynamic range is larger than a predetermined area, the region is detected as a skip / collapse region. For example, in this embodiment, the bright area A is detected as a skip / collapse area. The exposure sharing determination unit 152 outputs a control signal so that the exposure of the camera 1 including most of the area A detected as the skip / collapse area in the shooting area matches the area A. The posture / magnification control signal output unit 146 outputs a signal for controlling at least one of the posture and magnification of the camera 1 so that the camera 1 can capture the entire area A.

  The exposure sharing determination unit 152 optimizes the exposure of the cameras 2 and 3 and the camera 4 with respect to the brightness of the area B excluding the area A from the monitoring range. The exposure sharing determination unit 152 outputs a control signal in order to optimize the exposure of each of the cameras 2, 3, and 4 in accordance with each shooting range when there is a brightness difference in the region B. . The posture / magnification control signal output unit 146 outputs a signal for controlling at least one of the posture and magnification of each of the cameras 2, 3, and 4 so that the cameras 2, 3, and 4 can capture the entire area B. . The posture / magnification control signal output unit 146 captures the blind spots generated as a result of changes in at least one of the posture and magnification of the camera 1 with the cameras 2, 3, and 4. And a signal for controlling at least one of the magnifications.

  The focus sharing determination unit 154 adjusts the focus of the camera 1 to an area to be photographed with the exposure determined by the exposure sharing determination unit 152, that is, the region A. Then, the focus of the camera 2, the camera 3, and the camera 4 is adjusted to each of the areas photographed with the exposure determined by the exposure sharing determination unit 152 for each camera.

  As is apparent from the above description, according to the camera system 10 of the present embodiment, a plurality of installation cameras are provided when a luminance area that does not fall within the dynamic range of the installation camera 12 occurs in the monitoring range. Since the exposure of 12 is set to be different, the dynamic range of the entire camera system 10 is expanded. Thereby, it is possible to acquire a clear image without skipping or collapsing within the monitoring range.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated using embodiment, the technical scope of this invention is not limited to the range as described in the said embodiment. Various modifications or improvements can be added to the above embodiment. It is apparent from the scope of the claims that the embodiments added with such changes or improvements can be included in the technical scope of the present invention.

2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a camera system 10. FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a first embodiment of a functional configuration of a camera control unit. 4 is an image showing an example of a monitoring range by the camera system 10. An operation example of the camera system 10 when an abnormality is detected within the monitoring range is shown. It is a block diagram which shows the 2nd Example of a function structure of the camera control part. An example of the monitoring image when the difference in brightness within the monitoring range is large is shown.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Camera system 12 Installation camera 14 Camera control part 16 Image recording part 60 Recording medium 141 Abnormality detection part 142 Zoom-in method determination part 143 Blind spot judgment part 144 Surveillance range storage part 145 Blind spot complement method determination part 146 Posture / magnification control signal output part 150 Flying / Crushing area determination unit 152 Exposure sharing determination unit 154 Focus sharing determination unit

Claims (8)

A camera system that shoots images in a predetermined range with a plurality of installation cameras that can individually change the shooting range,
A camera control unit that, when changing a shooting range of one of the plurality of installed cameras, causes another camera of the plurality of installed cameras to capture a range that is out of the shooting range of the one camera; Camera system equipped.   The camera control unit zooms out the other camera with respect to the subject when zooming in on the one camera with respect to the subject, thereby setting a range outside the shooting range of the one camera to the other subject. The camera system according to claim 1, wherein the camera is used for photographing.   3. The camera system according to claim 2, wherein the camera control unit zooms in on the one of the new subjects, triggered by the recognition of the new subject in the video from the one camera. A camera control method for shooting images in a predetermined range with a plurality of installation cameras capable of individually changing the shooting range,
A camera control method for causing another camera of the plurality of installed cameras to photograph a range outside the shooting range of the one camera when changing the shooting range of one of the plurality of installed cameras. . A program for a camera system that shoots images in a predetermined range with a plurality of installation cameras that can individually change the shooting range,
When changing the shooting range of one of the plurality of installed cameras, a control function that causes the other camera of the plurality of installed cameras to shoot a range outside the shooting range of the one camera, A program to be realized by the camera system.   The camera control unit, when a region of brightness that does not fit in the dynamic range of the installation camera in the predetermined range is wider than a predetermined area, one installation camera of the plurality of installation cameras and another The camera system according to claim 1, wherein the installation camera is set to a different exposure.   The camera control unit adjusts the exposure of the one installed camera to a high-brightness region having the highest average brightness in the predetermined range, and adjusts the exposure of the other installed camera to the predetermined range. The camera system according to claim 6, wherein the camera system is adjusted to an area excluding the high-luminance area.   The camera system according to claim 1, wherein the camera control unit adjusts the focus of each of the one installation camera and the other installation camera to an area that is imaged with the set exposure.

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