JP2005124124A - Monitor system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a monitor system for efficiently and cyclically monitoring a number of monitoring targets. <P>SOLUTION: Photographing positions of game stands 101a, 101b,... are preset as pan/title angle values together with photographing sequence in advance. In monitor photographing, a monitoring camera 104 is driven to a pan/title value preset in accordance with the photographing sequence for sequential photographing. Presence/absence of players to use the game stand 101a, 101b,... is detected by pressure sensors 103a, 103b,... provided in chairs 102a, 102b,... to skip photographing of a game stand wherein a player is absent, from a sequence of cyclic monitoring due to the monitoring camera 104 which sequentially photographs the game stands. Thus, an efficient monitor system which does not photograph a useless vacant seat, is obtained. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a monitoring system that patrols a large number of monitoring objects using a video camera, and more particularly to a system that patrols and monitors efficiently.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there are two examples of a game room and a parking lot as a surveillance system for patroling a large number of surveillance objects using a video camera.
In amusement halls such as pachinko halls, illegal acts using magnets and illegal acts such as causing static electricity or radio waves to cause malfunction of an electric circuit built in the device are problematic. Therefore, in order to monitor such fraudulent acts, a system has been adopted in which a surveillance camera is installed in the amusement hall and the video is displayed on a monitor for observation and video signals are recorded and stored (for example, patents). Reference 1).

  In amusement halls, in general, a dome camera capable of panning (horizontal rotation) and tilting (vertical rotation) is installed in a place with good visibility near the ceiling, and is often used as a surveillance camera. In this dome camera, pan and tilt angles are preset in order according to the position of each game stand in the game hall to be shot, and the game stand and the player who plays there are sequentially shot in this preset order. Have taken.

On the other hand, in a parking lot, an act of breaking a window glass to steal an article in a vehicle or an illegal act such as getting over a car stop without paying a parking fee is easily performed. Therefore, in recent years, a video camera is often installed in a parking lot for monitoring.
Even in such a parking lot, it is effective to use a dome camera as a surveillance camera. As in the case of the above-mentioned game hall, the dome camera is installed at a high place with a good view, and the pan and tilt angles are set individually. Monitoring can be performed by presetting in accordance with the parking space and taking pictures of the parked cars according to the preset order.
JP 2003-10510 A

At least 5 to 15 seconds are required for the above-mentioned surveillance camera to photograph one game machine or a parked car in order to check the situation. Originally, the longer this time, the better for monitoring, but when there are many monitoring targets, the sequence time for the surveillance camera to take a round trip becomes longer, and when it returns to the same surveillance subject once, The situation will change. For example, if one surveillance camera shoots 20 surveillance targets, one surveillance subject is photographed for 10 seconds, and if the camera pan and tilt movement time is 2 seconds, one sequence requires 4 minutes.
By the way, not all the game tables and parking spaces are always in operation, and there are cases where only a part is used. Each of the frauds described above is performed only when there are people at the game stand and when there is a car in the parking space, so there is no need to monitor an empty seat or a parking space without a car. However, in the conventional method of traveling shooting according to a preset sequence, the same time is taken even in a vacant gaming table or a parking space without a car. Therefore, in order not to lengthen the time of one sequence so much, there is a problem that the imaging time of the monitoring target is limited, and the imaging time of the monitoring target that actually needs to be monitored cannot be taken sufficiently.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional problems, and its purpose is to shoot a monitoring object that is originally necessary without taking time to shoot a vacant gaming table or an unparked parking space. It is an object of the present invention to provide an efficient surveillance camera device capable of securing sufficient time.

The present invention includes the following configurations (1) to (3) as means for solving the above-described problems. That is,
(1) In a monitoring system using an imaging device capable of pan / tilt drive,
The imaging device in which a plurality of shooting points are set;
A control device that drives the imaging device to cyclically monitor the set plurality of imaging points;
A sensor that is provided in the vicinity of the photographing point and detects the presence or absence of a monitoring target;
The control device includes:
A monitoring system for controlling the patrol monitoring sequence based on a detection result of the sensor.
(2) In a monitoring system for photographing a plurality of game machines with an imaging device capable of pan / tilt drive installed in a game hall,
The imaging device in which the shooting order of the plurality of game machines and pan / tilt angle information of shooting points are set;
A control device that drives the imaging device to cyclically monitor a plurality of shooting points in the set shooting order; and
A sensor that is provided in the vicinity of the shooting point and detects the presence or absence of a player using the game table;
The control device includes:
When the detection result of the sensor is a player, the shooting point of the gaming table is shot for a predetermined time,
When there is no player, the monitoring system is characterized in that patrol monitoring sequence control is performed to remove the shooting order of the gaming table.
(3) In a monitoring system in a parking lot having a plurality of parking spaces,
An imaging device capable of pan / tilt driving in which a plurality of monitoring points are set, and
A control device that drives the imaging device and cyclically monitors the set monitoring points;
A sensor that is provided in the vicinity of the monitoring point and detects a parked vehicle;
The control device includes:
When the sensor detects a parked car, the monitoring location is photographed for a predetermined time,
When the parked vehicle is not detected, the monitoring system controls to remove the monitoring point from the patrol monitoring sequence.

  Since the surveillance system of the present invention individually detects whether there is a person in front of the game table or whether there is a car in the parking space, and determines the sequence of the patrol shooting, the game table or the park actually used by the player The car inside can be photographed intensively, and efficient monitoring becomes possible.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the monitoring system of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings by way of preferred examples.

  FIG. 1 is an external view of a game hall provided with a monitoring system according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the monitoring system, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing preset setting values of pan / tilt angles of a dome camera. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a sensor setting method and a setting result, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an automatic monitoring operation of the monitoring system.

  In FIG. 1, 101a, 101b, 101c,... Are game machines (pachinko machines), 102a, 102b, 102c,... Are chairs, 103a, 103b, 103c,. When a person sits on the chair, the pressure sensor detects and outputs an ON signal. Reference numeral 104 denotes a surveillance camera capable of pan / tilt drive installed near the ceiling. In FIG. 2, 201 is a controller and 202 is a video monitor.

In order for the surveillance camera to sequentially photograph the game machines, it is necessary to store the positions of the individual game machines in advance in the surveillance camera. For this purpose, the best position of the game machine is manually photographed one by one in advance, and the pan / tilt angle at that time is stored as a preset value.
First, the pan / tilt of the monitoring camera 104 is manually adjusted using the joystick 211 in the controller 201 of FIG. 2, and the gaming table 101 a is displayed on the screen of the video monitor 202. When the setting button 212 of the controller 201 is pressed, the pan / tilt angle value at that time is registered in a memory (not shown) in the monitoring camera 104.
In the same procedure, the game machines are sequentially moved to the next, and the pan / tilt angle values are stored in the memory one by one. An example of the data registered in the memory in the monitoring camera 104 in this way is shown in FIG.

Next, the relationship between the pressure sensor and the preset order is set. As shown in FIG. 2, the output lines of the pressure sensors 103a, 103b, 103c... Are connected to the sensor input terminals (1) 213a, (2) 213b, (3) 213c,. ing. These relationships are set using the joystick 211 and the numeric keypad 214 of the controller 201 and stored in the memory 216 inside the controller 201. Note that FIG. 2 shows only three connections to the sensor input terminals for the sake of simplicity.
FIG. 4A shows the setting screen at that time. The setting method is a procedure in which the cursor 401 is moved up and down with the joystick 211 of the controller 201 to select a sensor input terminal, and the preset order for the selected sensor input terminal is input with the numeric keypad 214 of the controller 201. In this way, the number of games is sequentially input.
FIG. 5B shows the setting status stored in the memory 216 by the above setting.

  As described above, when the setting of the relationship between the position of the game stand (pan / tilt angle) and the pressure sensor with respect to the preset order is completed, automatic shooting of the monitoring camera 104 is started. The automatic photographing functions to drive the monitoring camera 104 by a program built in the controller 201. The operation at this time will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In the description of the present embodiment, it is assumed that the game machines 101a and 101c are used by the player and the game machine 101b is not used.

In FIG. 5, first, when the auto patrol button 215 of the controller 201 is pressed, shooting is started (S501). Next, the controller 201 sets the sensor input terminal number to 1 (S502). Next, the pressure sensor connected to the sensor input terminal (1) 213a is determined (S503). Since the game table 101a is used by the player, the pressure sensor 103a connected to the sensor input terminal (1) 213a is on, so the program determines YES and proceeds to the next step.
Next, the controller 201 refers to the memory 216 and sends the preset order 1 of the sensor input terminal 1 to the monitoring camera 104 (S505).
When the preset order 1 is input, the monitoring camera 104 refers to the preset setting values of the pan / tilt angle shown in FIG. 3 registered in the memory to acquire each angle (S506), and then the monitoring camera Is moved to a predetermined pan / tilt angle value (S507). The shooting position is the gaming table 101a, and the surveillance camera performs shooting for 10 seconds, for example (S508).

  Next, the program of the controller 201 adds 1 to the sensor input terminal number (S509). The sensor input terminal number changes to 2, and the pressure sensor is determined again (S503). This time, since the game table 101b is not used by the player, the pressure sensor 103b connected to the sensor input terminal (2) 213b is off, and the program determines NO and jumps to step S509.

In step S509, 1 is again added to the sensor input terminal number, and the pressure sensor is similarly determined (S503). Since the player is using the next gaming table 101c, the pressure sensor 103c connected to the sensor input terminal (3) 213c is on, so the program determines YES, and then the controller 201 stores the memory 216. , The preset order 3 of the sensor input terminal 3 is sent to the monitoring camera 104 (S505). The surveillance camera sets the camera at the pan / tilt angle of preset order 3 and shoots.
As a result, the position of the preset order 2, that is, the gaming table 101b moves to the next without being shot, so the entire shooting sequence is shortened, and as a result, the gaming table with the player can be sufficiently shot. In the next program sequence, if the player uses the game table 101b, the image is taken by detection of the pressure sensor.

As described in detail above, in this embodiment, a pressure sensor is provided on a chair on which a player sits, and the sensor output is determined so that a game table that is not in use is skipped and a round trip is taken. . As a result, it is possible to perform time-consuming shooting for the player, which is the original purpose, and the monitoring efficiency is improved.
In this embodiment, the pressure sensor is used for the presence / absence of a player. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the player may be detected by using well-known light, infrared rays, or the like.

  Next, the monitoring system according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 2, FIG. 4 (A), FIG. 4 (B) and FIG. 5 used in the description of the first embodiment are also used in this embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an external view showing a parking lot provided with an embodiment of the monitoring system of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram in each parking space. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing preset setting values of the pan / tilt angle of the dome camera according to the second embodiment.
In FIG. 6, 601a, 601b, 601c,... Are parking spaces, 602a, 602b, 602c,... Are slave devices provided in the parking space, and 603 is a surveillance camera capable of panning and tilting driving.
In FIG. 7, reference numeral 701 denotes a parked car, and reference numeral 702 denotes an infrared sensor provided in the slave unit. As for this sensor 702, sensors 702a, 702b, 702c,... Are provided in all of the slave units 602a, 602b, 602c,... (Not shown) in FIG. An ON signal is output when it is detected that there is.

In order for the surveillance camera to sequentially photograph the parking spaces, it is necessary to store the positions of the individual parking spaces in the surveillance camera in advance. For this purpose, the best position of the parking space is manually photographed one by one in advance, and the pan / tilt angle at that time is stored as a preset value.
First, the pan / tilt of the monitoring camera 603 in FIG. 6 is manually adjusted using the joystick 211 in the controller 201 in FIG. 2, and the parking space 601 a is displayed on the screen of the video monitor 202. When the setting button 212 of the controller 201 is pressed, the pan / tilt angle value at that time is registered in a memory (not shown) in the monitoring camera 104.
The parking space is sequentially moved to the next in the same procedure, and the pan / tilt angle values are stored in the memory one by one. An example of data registered in the memory in the monitoring camera 104 in this way is shown in FIG.

Next, the relationship between the infrared sensor and the preset order is set. As shown in FIG. 2, the output lines of the infrared sensors 702a, 702b, 702c,... Are connected to the sensor input terminals (1) 213a, (2) 213b, (3) 213c,. ing. These relationships are set using the joystick 211 and the numeric keypad 214 of the controller 201 and stored in the memory 216 inside the controller 201. Note that FIG. 2 shows only three connections to the sensor input terminals for the sake of simplicity.
FIG. 4A shows the setting screen at that time. The setting method is a procedure in which the cursor 401 is moved up and down with the joystick 211 of the controller 201 to select a sensor input terminal, and the preset order for the selected sensor input terminal is input with the numeric keypad 214 of the controller 201. In this way, all the parking spaces are sequentially input.
FIG. 5B shows the setting status stored in the memory 216 by the above setting.

  As described above, when the setting of the relationship between the parking space position (pan / tilt angle) and the infrared sensor with respect to the preset order is completed, automatic shooting of the monitoring camera 603 is started. The automatic photographing works to drive the surveillance camera 603 by a program built in the controller 201. The operation at this time will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In the description of the present embodiment, it is assumed that the parking spaces 601a and 601c have a parked vehicle and the parking space 601b has no parked vehicle.

In FIG. 5, first, when the auto patrol button 215 of the controller 201 is pressed, shooting is started (S501). Next, the controller 201 sets the sensor input terminal number to 1 (S502). Next, the infrared sensor connected to the sensor input terminal (1) 213a is determined (S503). Since there is a car in the parking space 601a, the infrared sensor 702a connected to the sensor input terminal (1) 213a is on, so the program determines YES and proceeds to the next step.
Next, the controller 201 refers to the memory 216 and sends the preset order 1 of the sensor input terminal 1 to the monitoring camera 603 (S505).
When the preset order 1 is input, the monitoring camera 603 acquires each angle by referring to the preset setting values of the pan / tilt angles shown in FIG. 8 registered in the memory (S506), and then the monitoring camera Is moved to a predetermined pan / tilt angle value (S507). This shooting position is the parking space 601a, and the surveillance camera performs shooting for 10 seconds, for example (S508).

  Next, the program of the controller 201 adds 1 to the sensor input terminal number (S509). The sensor input terminal number changes to 2, and the infrared sensor is determined again (S503). This time, since there is no car in the parking space 601b, the infrared sensor 702b connected to the sensor input terminal (2) 213b is off, and the program determines NO and jumps to step S509.

In step S509, 1 is again added to the sensor input terminal number, and the infrared sensor is similarly determined (S503). Since there is a car in the next parking space 601c, the infrared sensor 702c connected to the sensor input terminal (3) 213c is on, so the program determines YES, and then the controller 201 refers to the memory 216. The preset order 3 of the sensor input terminal 3 is sent to the monitoring camera 603 (S505). The surveillance camera sets the camera at the pan / tilt angle of preset order 3 and shoots.
As a result, the position of the preset order 2, that is, the parking space 601b is moved to the next without being photographed, so that the entire photographing sequence is shortened, and as a result, the parking space where the vehicle is located can be sufficiently photographed. In the next program sequence, if there is a parking space 601b car, the image is taken by detection of the infrared sensor.

As described above in detail, in the second embodiment, an infrared sensor is provided in the parking space, and the sensor output is determined to skip the parking space where there is no vehicle. As a result, it becomes possible to focus and photograph the cars parked in the parking space, which is the original purpose, and the efficiency of monitoring is improved.
In the present embodiment, the detection of a parked car is shown by an example of an infrared sensor used in a toll collection system for a parking lot. However, the present invention is not limited to this and is well known for detecting a car. Other methods such as ultrasonic waves may be used.

  It should be noted that the monitoring system according to the present invention can be applied without being limited to the above-described two embodiments in the situation where the presence or absence of the monitoring target occurs at the monitoring location where the cyclic shooting is performed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is an external view of the game hall provided with the monitoring system in Example 1 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of a monitoring system. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating preset setting values of pan / tilt angles in the first embodiment. It is a figure which shows the setting method and setting result of a sensor. It is a flowchart figure explaining the automatic monitoring operation | movement of a monitoring system. It is an external view of the parking lot provided with the monitoring system in Example 2 of this invention. It is a block diagram of the parking space in Example 2. FIG. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating preset setting values of pan / tilt angles in the second embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

101a, 101b, 101c Game stand (pachinko machine)
102a, 102b, 102c Chair 103a, 103b, 103c Pressure sensor 104 Surveillance camera 201 Controller 202 Video monitor 211 Joystick 212 Setting button 213a, 213b, 213c Sensor input terminal 214 Numeric keypad 215 Auto patrol button 216 Memory 401 Cursor 601a, 601b, 601c Parking Space 602a, 602b, 602c Slave unit 603 Monitoring camera 701 Automobile 702 (702a, 702b, 702c) Infrared sensor

Claims (3)

In a monitoring system using an imaging device capable of pan / tilt drive,
The imaging device in which a plurality of shooting points are set;
A control device that drives the imaging device to cyclically monitor the set plurality of imaging points;
A sensor that is provided in the vicinity of the photographing point and detects the presence or absence of a monitoring target;
The control device includes:
A monitoring system for controlling the patrol monitoring sequence based on a detection result of the sensor. In a monitoring system for photographing a plurality of game machines with an imaging device capable of pan / tilt drive installed in a game hall,
The imaging device in which the shooting order of the plurality of game machines and pan / tilt angle information of shooting points are set;
A control device that drives the imaging device to cyclically monitor a plurality of shooting points in the set shooting order; and
A sensor that is provided in the vicinity of the shooting point and detects the presence or absence of a player using the game table;
The control device includes:
When the detection result of the sensor is a player, the shooting point of the gaming table is shot for a predetermined time,
When there is no player, the monitoring system is characterized in that patrol monitoring sequence control is performed to remove the shooting order of the gaming table. In a monitoring system in a parking lot having a plurality of parking spaces,
An imaging device capable of pan / tilt driving in which a plurality of monitoring points are set, and
A control device that drives the imaging device and cyclically monitors the set monitoring points;
A sensor that is provided in the vicinity of the monitoring point and detects a parked vehicle;
The control device includes:
When the sensor detects a parked car, the monitoring location is photographed for a predetermined time,
When the parked vehicle is not detected, the monitoring system controls to remove the monitoring point from the patrol monitoring sequence.

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