JP2006054719A - Image processing apparatus and image processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a monitoring system capable of protecting privacy and efficiently securing security. <P>SOLUTION: An image processing system 300 for acquiring image information picked up by a monitoring target system 100 and processing the acquired image information is provided with: a means for receiving a set state indicating whether image processing is to be performed or not, a means for storing information corresponding to processing information indicating the contents of image processing in each pattern indicating a target to which the image processing is to be applied; a means for calculating the position of an image matched with the pattern in the image information when the image matched with the pattern stored in the acquired image information is included and creating image processing data to which the processing information corresponding to the pattern is associated with each calculated position; and a means for performing image processing for the image information acquired by using the generated image processing data when setting for performing the image processing is received and displaying the processed image information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing technique, and more particularly to a technique of a monitoring system that performs image processing on image data captured by an imaging apparatus and displays the image data.

  Video surveillance using a surveillance system having a surveillance camera is performed for the purpose of confirming a situation such as a crime with video or for the purpose of deterring crime. This video surveillance makes it possible to grasp the physical features such as the criminal's face and its behavior. Therefore, the monitoring system is considered as an effective means for ensuring security.

  Now, when video surveillance is performed on a place where an unspecified number of people pass by using the monitoring system, the captured video data includes video data of all persons passing through the imaging location. . Then, when video surveillance is performed in a place where an unspecified number of people pass, there is a problem that privacy may be infringed by illegally using captured video data. For example, it is conceivable that personal information such as a person's behavior is illegally used from the captured video data. In particular, in recent years, with the development of computer technology, it has become possible to easily store and process a large amount of video data and the like. For this reason, it is an important problem to achieve both security and privacy protection by the monitoring system.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is known a monitoring system that displays a mosaic-processed video by performing different levels of mosaic processing on a video signal captured by a monitoring camera according to a user authority to monitor the monitoring video (for example, patents). Reference 1). According to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-260688, processing with different levels on the monitoring video can be performed according to the user authority of the monitoring person, so that video monitoring considering privacy protection can be performed.

JP 2004-32459 A

  However, Patent Literature 1 calculates a mosaic processing position in the monitoring video every time the monitoring video is displayed, and performs the mosaic processing according to a predetermined user authority. Therefore, in Patent Document 1, when the captured surveillance video is repeatedly displayed, it is necessary to calculate the position where the mosaic processing is performed each time and perform the mosaic processing according to the user authority, resulting in display. It takes a long time for processing. Therefore, in Patent Document 1, there are cases where the monitoring work cannot be performed efficiently.

  In addition, as a method for efficiently performing monitoring work, it may be possible to display a mark or the like at a monitoring priority point in a video to be monitored to alert the monitoring person. However, in Patent Document 1, image processing other than mosaic processing is not particularly considered. That is, Patent Document 1 considers privacy protection, but does not particularly consider increasing the efficiency of monitoring work.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to protect privacy and ensure security efficiently in a monitoring system.

  In order to solve the above problems, one embodiment of the present invention is applied to an image processing device that acquires image information captured by an imaging device and performs image processing on the acquired image information. Here, a display device and a storage device are connected to the image processing device.

  Then, in the image processing apparatus, a means for accepting a setting as to whether or not to perform image processing from the user and processing information indicating the contents of the image processing are associated with each pattern image indicating the object to be subjected to image processing. Means for storing pattern image information in the storage device, means for determining whether or not the acquired image information includes an image that matches the pattern image stored in the storage device, and the pattern image When a matching image is included, the position of the image that matches the pattern image in the image information is calculated, identification information that identifies the image information is created, and each position information that indicates the calculated position If processing information associated with the pattern image and image processing data that associates the identification information with the setting for performing the image processing are received, Using the position information and the processing information of the image processing data including the identification information for identifying the obtained image information, the means for performing the image processing on the acquired image information and the setting for performing the image processing are accepted. In this case, the image information on which the image processing has been performed is displayed on the display device, and when the setting for not performing the image processing is accepted, the acquired image information is displayed on the display device without performing image processing. Means.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the pattern image information in which the processing information indicating the content of the image processing is associated with each pattern image indicating the object to be subjected to the image processing is stored. In the present invention, when the acquired image information includes an image that matches the stored pattern image, the position of the image that matches the pattern image in the image information is calculated, and the image information is identified. The identification information to be generated is created, and the processing information associated with the pattern image and the image processing data in which the identification information is associated are created for each position information indicating the calculated position. In the present invention, when the setting for performing the image processing from the user is accepted, the acquisition is performed using the position information and the processing information of the image processing data including the identification information for identifying the acquired image information. Image processing is performed on the processed image information.

  Therefore, in the present invention, information indicating the contents of different image processing is applied to each of an object (such as a person's face) requiring privacy protection and an object at a monitoring important point (for example, a bag for cash transportation). By storing the data in association with each other, different image processing can be performed for each object in the monitoring image. For example, in the present invention, in order to protect privacy, a mosaic process can be applied to an object such as a person's face, and a circle around a monitoring important point (for example, a bag for cash transportation) that is not related to privacy. Image processing for displaying the mark can be performed to improve the efficiency of the monitoring work.

  In the present invention, image processing is performed on image information acquired using the created image processing data. For this reason, once image processing data is created, there is no need to perform processing such as calculating a position for performing image processing, even when it is desired to repeatedly display acquired image data. That is, according to the present invention, it is not necessary to spend a long time for display processing when the acquired image data is repeatedly displayed.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  First, a schematic configuration of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a schematic configuration of a monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in the figure, the monitoring system of this embodiment includes a monitoring destination system 100 that images a monitoring destination (monitoring place) such as a street or a store, and image data processing connected to the monitoring destination system 100 via a network 200. System 300.

  The monitoring destination system 100 images the monitoring destination (monitoring location) and transmits the captured image data to the image data processing system 300 via the network 200. Specifically, the monitoring destination system 100 includes a camera 101 and a video transmission device 102. The camera 101 images the monitoring destination and outputs the captured image data to the video transmission device 102. The video transmission device 102 transmits the image data output from the camera 101 to the image data processing system 300 via the network 200. Note that the camera 101 and the video transmission device 102 used in the present embodiment are realized by conventional techniques.

  The image data processing system 300 receives the image data output from the monitoring destination system 100. The image data processing system 300 performs image processing on the received image data according to the settings received from the user, and displays the image data that has been subjected to the image processing. Specifically, the image data processing system 300 includes an image receiving device 305, an image pattern recognition device 301, a data storage device 302, a display device 303, and a management terminal 304.

  The image receiving device 305 receives the image data output from the monitoring destination system 100 and outputs the received image data to the image pattern recognition device 301. Note that the image receiving device 305 is realized by a conventional technique.

  The image pattern recognition device 301 receives image data from the image reception device 305 and generates information (image processing data) for performing image processing on the received image data. Specifically, the image pattern recognition device 301 reads pattern image information 400 (FIG. 4) stored in a data storage device 302 described later. The image pattern recognition apparatus 301 receives the image data output from the image reception apparatus 305 and collates the image data with the read pattern image information 400. When the image pattern recognition apparatus 301 detects an image that matches the read pattern image information 400 in the received image data, the image pattern recognition device 301 generates image processing data corresponding to the image data. The data structure of the image processing data and the processing procedure for generating the image processing data will be described later.

  The image pattern recognition device 301 stores the acquired image data in the data storage device 302. Further, when the image pattern recognition device 301 generates image processing data, the image processing device 301 stores the generated image processing data in the data storage device 302. Further, the image pattern recognition apparatus 301 performs image processing on the image data acquired using the generated image processing data. The image pattern recognition device 301 outputs the image processed image data to the display device 303. The functional configuration and hardware configuration of the image pattern recognition apparatus 301 will be described in detail later.

  The data storage device 302 is a storage device that stores information such as the pattern image information 400 and image data and image processing data output from the image pattern recognition device 301. The display device 303 is a device that displays the image data output from the image pattern recognition device 301. In the present embodiment, the specific configurations of the data storage device 302 and the display device 303 are not particularly limited. For example, the data storage device 302 can be a hard disk device, a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) device, or the like. As the display device 303, a liquid crystal display device or the like can be used.

  The management terminal 304 is a terminal device that accepts various requests from the user to the monitoring system. Specifically, the management terminal 304 is connected to an input device (not shown) and receives various requests from the user via the input device. For example, the management terminal 304 receives the setting of the pattern image information 400 (see FIG. 4) from the user via the input device, and stores the pattern image information 400 of the received setting content in the data storage device 302. In the present embodiment, the specific configuration of the management terminal 304 is not particularly limited. For example, the management terminal 304 can be a computer having a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a memory. Note that the function for receiving various requests of the management terminal 304 may be provided in the image pattern recognition device 301 or the display device 303.

  In the description of FIG. 1, a case is described in which the monitoring destination system 100 and the image data processing system 300 are connected on a one-to-one basis, but this is merely an example. For example, a plurality of monitoring destination systems 100 may be provided to image a plurality of monitoring destinations. Moreover, although the monitoring destination system 100 has described the case where the camera 101 and the image transmission apparatus 102 are connected one-to-one, this is merely an example. For example, a plurality of cameras 101 may be connected to the image transmission apparatus 102 to capture images of a plurality of monitoring destinations.

  In the present embodiment, the specific configuration of the network 200 is not particularly limited. For example, the network 200 can be a LAN (Local Area Network), the Internet, a telephone line, or the like. The network 200 may be wired or wireless.

  Subsequently, the functional configuration of the image pattern recognition apparatus of the present embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the image pattern recognition apparatus of the present embodiment.

  FIG. 2A is a functional block diagram showing a data flow when the image data acquired from the image receiving device 305 is displayed on the display device 302 in real time. FIG. 5B is a functional block diagram showing a data flow when image data stored in the data storage device 302 is displayed on the display device 302.

  As shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, the image pattern recognition apparatus 301 includes an image acquisition unit 311, an image pattern matching unit 312, an image processing data creation unit 313, an image processing determination unit 314, and an image composition unit. 315 and an image display unit 316.

  First, functional blocks of the image pattern recognition apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. 5A, taking as an example processing for displaying image data acquired from the image receiving apparatus 305 on the display apparatus 302 in real time.

  The image acquisition unit 311 receives the image data transmitted from the image receiving device and performs a process of transferring the received image data. Specifically, the image acquisition unit 311 receives information (display setting information) indicating whether or not to display the image data acquired from the image reception device 305 via the management terminal 304 on the display device 302 in real time. The display setting information is held. When the image acquisition unit 311 receives the image data transmitted from the image receiving device, and the display setting information held is information indicating that the display setting information is displayed in real time, the image pattern matching unit 312 displays the received image data. And output to the image composition unit 315 and the data storage device 302. On the other hand, when the image acquisition unit 311 receives image data transmitted from the image receiving device, and the display setting information held is not information indicating that it is displayed in real time, the image acquisition unit 311 displays the received image data as an image pattern. The data is output to the collation unit 312 and the data storage device 302.

  The image pattern matching unit 312 acquires the image data output from the image acquisition unit 311. The image pattern matching unit 312 reads the pattern image information 400 stored in the data storage device 302. Here, the image data and the pattern image information 400 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of image data output by the monitoring destination system 100 of the present embodiment.

  FIG. 3 illustrates image data when the monitoring destination system 100 is installed on a street and the camera 101 images the street. FIG. 3 shows image data 320 in which a person walking with a bag 323 and a car are imaged. The image data 320 includes data that requires privacy protection, such as a human face 321 and a car license plate 322.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing an example of pattern image information of the image data processing system 300 of the present embodiment.

  The pattern image information 400 defines the contents of image processing performed on the image data acquired by the image pattern recognition apparatus 301. As illustrated, the pattern image information 400 includes an entry 401 that stores a “pattern number” for identifying an image (pattern image) of an object to be subjected to image processing, and a “pattern number” stored in the entry 401. It has an entry 402 for storing a corresponding “pattern image” and an entry 403 for storing information indicating an “image processing method” for the “pattern image” stored in the entry 402.

  In the example shown in the figure, the entries 402 and 403 associated with the pattern number “1” stored in the entry 401 store “person's face” and “mosaic processing”, respectively. In this data, the pattern image whose pattern number “1” is “person's face” is specified, and “mosaic processing” is applied to “person's face” included in the image data acquired from the monitoring destination system 100. It is defined to do.

  The entries 402 and 403 associated with the pattern number “2” stored in the entry 401 store “car number plate” and “painting process”, respectively. In this data, the pattern number “2” specifies the pattern image of “car license plate”, and “car license plate” included in the image data acquired from the monitoring destination system 100 is “painted”. "Is defined.

  The entries 402 and 403 associated with the pattern number “3” stored in the entry 401 respectively store “bag” and “process surrounded by a yellow circle”. In this data, the process of specifying the pattern image whose pattern number “3” is “bag” and the process of “surrounding the periphery of“ bag ”in the image data acquired from the monitoring destination system 100 with“ yellow circle ”is performed. It is defined to do.

  The pattern image information 400 is stored in the data storage device 302 by the management terminal 304 that has received settings from the user. In the present embodiment, specific means for setting the pattern image information 400 is not particularly limited. For example, “pattern image” associated with “pattern number” and information indicating “image processing method” are held in a predetermined area of the data storage device 302. The management terminal 304 reads the stored “pattern number” and “pattern image” and “image processing method” from the data storage device 302 and presents them to the user. The management terminal 304 prompts the user to select a combination of “pattern number” and “image processing method” from the presented information. Then, the management terminal 304 receives selection of a combination of “pattern number” and “image processing method” from the user, generates pattern image information 400 according to the received content, and stores it in the data storage device 302. Note that the management terminal 304 can receive a request from the user and update the pattern image information 400 stored in the data storage device 302 by the function of setting the pattern image information 400 described above.

  In addition, as described above, the “storage pattern image” and the “image processing method” are not stored in the data storage device 302 in advance, but the management terminal 304 indicates the “pattern image” and the “image processing method”. Information "may be acquired from an external device (not shown). In this case, the management terminal 304 creates the pattern image information 400 using the “pattern image” and “information indicating the image processing method” acquired as described above, and stores the created pattern image 400 in the data storage device 302. .

  Returning to FIG. 2, the description will be continued. The image pattern matching unit 312 determines whether or not the acquired image data includes an image (part) that matches the “pattern image” stored in the entry 402 of the read pattern image information 400. If the image pattern matching unit 312 determines that the acquired image data includes an image that matches the “pattern image”, the image pattern matching unit 312 requests the image processing data creation unit 313 to create image processing data. For example, when the image data acquired by the image pattern matching unit 312 is the image data 320 shown in FIG. 3 and the pattern image information 400 is the information shown in FIG. 4, the image data 320 includes an entry of the pattern image information 400. The pattern images stored in 402 include “person's face”, “car license plate”, and “bag”. Therefore, the image pattern matching unit 312 determines that the image data 320 includes an image that matches the pattern image stored in the pattern image information 400.

  The image processing data creation unit 313 accepts an image processing data creation request from the image pattern matching unit 312. The image processing data creation unit 313 acquires the image data 320, the pattern image information 400, and information indicating the matched pattern image from the image pattern matching unit 312, and creates image processing data (see FIG. 7). Then, the image creation processing data creation unit 313 outputs the created image processing data to the image composition unit 315. In addition, the image creation processing data creation unit 313 stores the created image processing data in the data storage device 302. Here, the reason why the image processing data created by the image creation processing data creation unit 313 is stored in the data storage device 302 is to allow the image processing data once created to be used repeatedly. The processing performed by the image pattern matching unit 312 and the image processing data creation unit 313 will be described in detail later.

  The image processing determination unit 314 receives input of information (setting information) indicating whether or not to perform image processing from the user. In addition, the image processing determination unit 314 outputs information (setting information) indicating whether or not to perform image processing to the image composition unit 315. In the present embodiment, specific means for accepting input of information indicating whether or not the image processing determination unit 314 performs image processing from the user is not particularly limited. For example, the management terminal 304 (see FIG. 1) is provided with a function for receiving input of setting information from the user. The image processing determination unit 314 acquires input of setting information from the user via the management terminal 304 and holds the acquired data. Then, the image processing determination unit 314 may output “setting information” stored in the image composition unit 315.

  The image composition unit 315 receives input of image data output from the image acquisition unit 311. When receiving the input of the image data output from the image acquisition unit 311, the image composition creation unit 315 acquires “setting information” from the image processing determination unit 314. When the acquired “setting information” is information indicating that image processing is to be performed, the image composition unit 315 acquires image processing data from the image processing data creation unit 313. Then, the image composition unit 315 performs image processing on the received image data using the received image data and the acquired image processing data, and outputs the image data subjected to the image processing to the image display unit 316. On the other hand, when the acquired “setting information” is information indicating that image processing is not performed, the image composition creation unit 315 outputs the received image data to the image display unit 316 as it is. The processing performed by the image composition unit 315 will be described in detail later.

  The image display unit 316 converts the image data output from the image composition unit 315 into data that can be displayed by the display device 303 and causes the display device 303 to display the image data.

  Next, the function of the image pattern recognition device 301 when the image data stored in the data storage device 302 is read and the display process is performed will be described with reference to FIG.

  The image composition unit 315 accepts an instruction for display processing of image data stored in the data storage device 302 from the user. In the present embodiment, a specific method for receiving an instruction for display processing of image data stored in the data storage device 302 is not particularly limited. For example, the management terminal 304 (see FIG. 1) is provided with a function of accepting an instruction to display image data stored in the data storage device 302 from the user. Then, the image composition unit 315 may accept an instruction for image data reproduction processing via the management terminal 304. In addition, with the input device connected to the image pattern recognition device 301, the image composition unit 315 accepts an instruction to reproduce the image data stored in the data storage device 302 from the user via the input device. You may do it.

  When receiving an instruction to reproduce the image data stored in the data storage device 302, the image composition unit 315 reads the specified image data from the data storage device 302. Further, when the image composition unit 315 reads and acquires image data from the data storage device 302, the image composition unit 315 acquires “setting information” from the image processing determination unit 314 in the same manner as described above.

  Then, when the “setting information” is information indicating that image processing is performed, the image composition unit 315 acquires image processing data corresponding to the image data acquired from the data storage device 302. After that, the image composition unit 315 performs the same processing as that described in FIG. On the other hand, when the “setting information” is information indicating that image processing is not performed, the image composition unit 315 outputs the received image data as it is to the image display unit 316 as in the description of FIG. .

  Next, the hardware configuration of the image pattern recognition apparatus of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 5 is a hardware configuration diagram of the image pattern recognition apparatus of the present embodiment.

  As shown in the figure, an image pattern recognition device 301 includes a CPU (central processing unit) 601, a main storage device 602 such as a RAM (Random Access Memory) that temporarily stores programs executed by the CPU 601, and an external device. A computer (computer) having an IOI / F 603 for controlling input / output of data performed between them and an auxiliary storage device 604 for storing data and various programs can be used.

  The auxiliary storage device 604 implements the functions of the image acquisition unit 311, the image pattern matching unit 312, the image processing data creation unit 313, the image processing determination unit 314, the image composition unit 315, and the image display unit 316 shown in FIG. (Programs for image acquisition, image pattern matching program, image processing data creation program, image processing determination program, image composition program, and image display program) are stored.

  The CPU 601 uses the auxiliary storage device for the functions of the above-described units (the image acquisition unit 311, the image pattern matching unit 312, the image processing data creation unit 313, the image processing determination unit 314, the image synthesis unit 315, and the image display unit 316). This is realized by loading the program stored in 604 into the main storage device 602 and executing it. The “display setting information” received by the image acquisition unit 311 and the “setting information” received by the image processing determination unit 314 are stored in the main storage device 602 and the auxiliary storage device 604.

  Next, image processing data creation processing performed by the image pattern recognition apparatus of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a flow of image processing data creation processing performed by the image pattern recognition apparatus of the present embodiment.

  First, the image acquisition unit 311 of the image pattern recognition apparatus 301 acquires image data captured by the monitoring destination system 100 via the image reception apparatus 305. The image pattern recognition device 301 outputs the acquired image data to the image pattern matching unit 312, the image composition unit 315, and the data storage device 302 (S501).

  Subsequently, the image pattern matching unit 312 of the image pattern recognition apparatus 301 receives the image data output from the image acquisition unit 311. When receiving the image data, the image pattern matching unit 312 reads the pattern information 400 (see FIG. 4) stored in the data storage device 302. Then, the image pattern matching unit 312 performs matching between the received image data and the read pattern information 400. Specifically, the image pattern matching unit 312 determines whether or not the received image data is image data that includes information that matches the pattern image stored in the entry 402 of the pattern information 400 (S502). ).

  If the image pattern matching unit 312 can search the received image data for an image that matches the pattern image, the image pattern matching unit 312 determines that the image data includes image that matches the “pattern image”. Then, the image pattern matching unit 312 requests the image processing data creation unit 313 to create image processing data, and proceeds to the processing of S503. On the other hand, if the image pattern matching unit 312 cannot retrieve an image that matches the pattern image in the received image data, it determines that there is no image that matches the pattern image in the image data. The process is terminated. Note that the matching process between the received image data and the read pattern information 400 performed in this processing step is realized by a conventional technique.

  In step S <b> 503, the image processing data creation unit 313 receives an image processing data creation request from the image pattern matching unit 312 and creates image processing data. Specifically, the image processing data creation unit 313 acquires image data, pattern image information 400, and information indicating a matched pattern image from the image pattern matching unit 312. Then, the image processing data creation unit 313 uses the acquired “image data”, “pattern image information 400”, and “information indicating the matched pattern image” to identify the region that matches the pattern image in the image data. Position information (coordinate values) is calculated.

  In addition, the image processing data creation unit 313 specifies “pattern number” and “image processing method” associated with the matched “pattern image” using the acquired pattern image information 400. Further, the image processing data creation unit 313 creates information (image data identification information) for identifying the collated image data. In the present embodiment, the process for creating the image data identification information is not particularly limited. Hereinafter, a case where image data identification information is created by extracting information that can identify image data from information included in the collated image data will be described as an example. Specifically, in the present embodiment, it is assumed that “time stamp” and information (“name of image data”) indicating the location where the image data is captured are included in the image data. Then, the image processing data creation unit 313 extracts “time stamp” and “name of image data” included in the image data, and uses the extracted “time stamp” and “name of image data” as image data identification information. Use.

  The image processing data creation unit 313 then extracts the extracted “image data identification information”, the calculated “position information of the region that matches the image”, the identified “pattern number”, and the “image processing information”. Image processing data 700 in which “type” is associated is created. The image processing data creation unit 313 creates the image processing data 700, stores the created image processing data 700 in the data storage device 302, and ends the processing. When the image processing data creation unit 313 receives a transmission request for the image processing data 700 from the image synthesis unit 315, the image processing data creation unit 313 outputs the created image processing data 700 to the image synthesis unit 315. The case where the transmission request of the image processing data 700 from the image composition unit 315 is accepted is processing performed when the image data acquired by the image pattern recognition device 301 is displayed on the display device 303 in real time.

  Next, image processing data created by the image processing data creation unit 313 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram schematically illustrating an example of image processing data created by the image data processing system 300 according to the present embodiment.

  As illustrated, the image processing data 700 has a plurality of entries 701 to 705. Each of the entries 701 to 705 is associated with “pattern number”, “type of image processing”, “position information of an area matching the image”, “image data name”, and “time stamp”. Stored.

  The illustrated image processing data 700 is created from the image data 320 shown in FIG. 3 and the image information 400 shown in FIG. Therefore, all the entries 704 corresponding to the respective rows 710 to 712 of the image processing data 700 store “street 1” which is the name of the image data shown in FIG. In addition, information indicating the same date and time is stored in the entry 705 that stores the “time stamp” corresponding to each of the rows 710 to 712.

  Also, “1” is stored in the entry 701 storing “pattern number” corresponding to the top row 710 of the image processing data 700, “mosaic processing” and “image” are stored in the entry 702 storing “type of image processing”. “Information indicating the coordinate position of the face display position” is stored in the entry 703 for storing “position information of the processing range”. “2” is stored in the entry 701 storing the “pattern number” corresponding to the second row 711 from the top of the image processing data 700, “painting processing” is stored in the entry 702 storing the “type of image processing”, and “image processing”. In an entry 703 for storing “range position information”, “information indicating the coordinate position of the display position of the license plate” is stored. Also, “3” is entered in the entry 701 that stores the “pattern number” corresponding to the third row 712 from the top of the image processing data 700, and “the process that is enclosed in yellow circles” is entered in the entry 702 that stores the “type of image processing”. ”And“ information indicating the coordinate position of the display position of the bag ”are stored in the entry 703 that stores“ position information of the image processing range ”.

  Next, image display processing performed by the image pattern recognition apparatus of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining a flow of image display processing performed by the image pattern recognition apparatus of the present embodiment.

  The image composition unit 315 of the image pattern recognition device 301 receives the image data output from the image acquisition unit 311 or instructs the display processing of the image data stored in the data storage device 302 from the user. The following processing steps are started when received. The case of acquiring image data from the image acquisition unit 311 is a process performed when the acquired image is displayed on the display device 303 in real time.

  Specifically, when receiving the image data output from the image acquisition unit 311, the image composition unit 315 acquires information (setting information) indicating whether or not to perform image processing from the image processing determination unit 315. In addition, when receiving an instruction for display processing of image data stored in the data storage device 302 from the user, the image composition unit 315 reads out image data designated by the user from the data storage device 302. In addition, “setting information” is acquired from the image processing determination unit 315 (S801).

  Subsequently, if the acquired “setting information” is information indicating that image processing is to be performed, the image composition unit 315 proceeds to the process of S803. On the other hand, if the acquired “setting information” is not information indicating that image processing is to be performed, the image composition unit 315 outputs the image data acquired in S801 to the image display unit 316 and proceeds to the processing of S805 (S802). .

  In step S803, the image composition unit 315 performs image processing data reading processing. Specifically, when the image composition unit 315 acquires image data from the image acquisition unit 311 in step S <b> 801, the image composition unit 315 specifies “time stamp” and “name of image data” included in the acquired image data. The image composition unit 315 acquires image processing data having the specified “time stamp” and “name of image data” from the image processing data creation unit 313. In S801, the image composition unit 315 specifies “time stamp” and “name of image data” included in the acquired image data when the image data is acquired from the data storage device 302. The image composition unit 315 acquires image processing data having the specified “time stamp” and “name of image data” from the data storage device 302.

  Subsequently, the image composition unit 315 creates image data obtained by overlaying the image data indicated by the image processing data 700 acquired in S803 on the image data 320 acquired in S801, and displays the generated image data as an image display. The data is output to the unit 316 (S804).

  In step S805, the image display unit 316 causes the display device 303 to display the acquired image data. Specifically, when it is determined in S802 that the setting for performing image processing is not performed and image data that has not been subjected to image processing is output to the image display unit 316, the image display unit 316 performs image processing. The image data not applied is displayed on the display device 303. On the other hand, when the image data subjected to the image processing is output to the image display unit 316 in S804, the image display unit 316 causes the display device 303 to display the image data subjected to the image processing.

  Next, a case where the user changes the content of image processing performed on the image data to the image pattern recognition apparatus 301 during monitoring will be described.

  When the user considers changing the contents of the image processing during monitoring, the user performs a process of changing the pattern image information 400 stored in the data storage device 302 via the management terminal 304. In such a case, the image pattern recognition apparatus 301 creates image processing data according to the changed pattern image information 400 for the image data acquired after the pattern image information 400 is changed.

  However, when the image data stored in the data storage device 302 is displayed on the display device 303 before the pattern image information 400 is changed, the change in the pattern image information 400 is not reflected in the displayed image. Therefore, in this embodiment, when the management terminal 302 accepts a change in the pattern image information 400, the user is inquired whether to change the image processing data corresponding to the image data stored in the data storage device 302. To. This change can be realized by changing the image processing type of all image processing data extracted from the management terminal 304 using the pattern number as a key.

  Next, a display screen example of image data subjected to image processing displayed on the display device 303 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a display screen example of image data displayed on the display device of the present embodiment.

  A screen 900 shown in the figure shows an example of a screen displayed on the display device 303 by performing image processing on the image data 320 (see FIG. 3) using the image processing data 700 shown in FIG.

  Now, on the screen 900, a mosaic 901 is applied to the face of the person, a fill 902 is applied to the license plate of the car, and a display process of a circle 903 is applied to a large bag. That is, on the screen 900, images of “person's face” and “car license plate” that require privacy protection are hidden by mosaic processing and painting processing. Also, on the screen 900, the priority monitoring points are marked with a circle 903 so as to draw the attention of the supervisor.

  The mosaic 901 illustrated is created according to the data stored in the entries 701 to 705 corresponding to the row 710 of the image processing data 700 (see FIG. 7). The fill 902 is created by the image composition unit 315 according to the data stored in the entries 701 to 705 corresponding to the row 711 of the image processing data 700. A circle 903 is created by the image composition unit 315 according to the data stored in the entries 701 to 705 corresponding to the row 712 of the image processing data 700. On the screen 900, the image composition unit 315 creates image data in which the mosaic 901, the fill 902, and the circle 903 are overlaid on the image data 320, and the overlaid image data is transmitted via the image display unit 316. It is displayed on the display device 303.

  As described above, in this embodiment, mosaic processing or the like is performed on a portion requiring privacy protection so that it cannot be seen by the user, and the monitoring priority points are marked with a circle or the like. Alerts the user. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to efficiently perform monitoring work for ensuring security while protecting privacy. That is, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to provide more advanced monitoring service by performing more reliable privacy protection and designation of a monitoring priority point.

  In the present embodiment, whether the image processing determination unit 314 receives data (setting information) indicating whether or not to perform image processing from the user, and performs image processing such as mosaic processing according to the received setting information. It is determined whether or not. That is, in the present embodiment, whether or not to perform image processing on image data captured by the monitoring destination system 100 can be changed by a user setting. Therefore, in this embodiment, for example, in normal monitoring work, image processing such as mosaic processing is applied to image data to protect privacy, and information such as a person's face is required as in criminal investigations. Only in such a case, it is possible to change the setting for a person having a predetermined authority to not perform image processing. And when this embodiment is utilized as mentioned above, both security ensuring and privacy protection are realizable.

  The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the gist of the present invention.

  For example, the pattern image information of this embodiment may be set for each user, and the content of image processing may be changed for each user. In this case, user identification information for identifying the user is determined in advance. The pattern image information 400 stored in the image data processing system 300 is set for each user identification information. In addition, when the user displays an image on the display device 303, input of user identification information is accepted. The image data processing system 300 creates image processing data using the pattern image information 400 set for each user identification information, and performs image processing on the image data using the created image processing data. By configuring in this way, it is possible to change the target for performing the mosaic process or the like according to the authority given to the user, or change the setting of the priority point to be monitored for each user.

  In the above-described embodiment, whether or not to perform image processing on the acquired image data is determined using the setting information received by the image processing determination unit 314 of the image pattern recognition apparatus 301. However, the present invention is particularly limited to this. It is not a thing. For example, the image processing determination unit 314 may accept a setting as to whether or not to perform image processing for each “pattern image” stored in the entry 402 of the pattern image information 400. By comprising in this way, the monitoring system corresponding to a user's use can be provided.

  Furthermore, the monitoring system of this embodiment can be used for purposes other than video monitoring. The image pattern recognition apparatus 301 of the present embodiment can display an image such as a circle overlaid on the attention point of the acquired image data. Therefore, the above functions of the image pattern recognition apparatus 301 of the present embodiment can be applied to educational materials and the like.

  Further, the pattern image information 400 shown in the drawing is merely an example. For example, another pattern image may be stored as the pattern image stored in the entry 402. Also, the illustrated image processing method is merely an example. For example, as the image processing method, the pattern image information 400 may be defined to perform video processing for adding an arrow to a pattern image, video processing for adding a circle or square mark, and the like. Further, for example, a plurality of levels of mosaic processing may be defined in the pattern image information 400.

  Further, the data configuration of the image processing data shown in FIG. 7 created by the above-described image processing data creation unit 313 is merely an example. For example, in step S503 of FIG. 6, the image processing data creation unit 313 generates an image that has been subjected to the image processing indicated by the specified “type of image processing” at the calculated “position information of the region matched with the image”. (For example, the mosaic 902 shown in FIG. 9 is generated). Then, the image processing data creation unit 313 may create information associating the generated image with “image data identification information (image data name and time stamp)” as image processing data. In this case, the image composition unit 315 creates image data obtained by overlaying the image processing data on the acquired image data, and outputs the created image data to the image display unit 316.

  In this embodiment, the image data processing system 300 includes the image pattern recognition device 301, the data storage device 302, the display device 303, the management terminal 304, and the display device 305. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the functions realized by the image data processing system 300 described above may be realized by a single computer device.

It is a figure for demonstrating schematic structure of the monitoring system of embodiment of this invention. It is a functional block diagram of the image pattern recognition apparatus of this embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed an example of the image data which the monitoring destination system 100 of embodiment of this invention imaged. It is the figure which showed an example of the pattern image information of embodiment of this invention in simulation. It is a hardware block diagram of the image pattern recognition apparatus of embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the flow of the image processing data creation process which the image pattern recognition apparatus of embodiment of this invention performs. It is the figure which showed an example of the image processing data which the image data processing system of embodiment of this invention produces. It is a figure for demonstrating the flow of the image display process which the image pattern recognition apparatus of embodiment of this invention performs. It is a figure for demonstrating the flow of the process performed in an acquisition / verification phase. It is the figure which showed the example of a display screen of the image data displayed on the display apparatus of embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Monitoring destination system, 101 ... Camera, 102 ... Image transmitter, 200 ... Network, 300 ... Image data processing system, 301 ... Image pattern recognition apparatus, 302 ... Data storage apparatus, 303 ... Display apparatus, 304 ... Management terminal, 305... Image receiving device, 311... Image acquisition unit, 312... Image pattern matching unit, 313... Image processing data creation unit, 314. 602 ... Main memory, 603 ... IOI / F, 604 ... Auxiliary memory

Claims (6)

An image processing apparatus that acquires image information captured by an imaging apparatus and performs image processing on the acquired image information,
A display device and a storage device are connected to the image processing device,
Means for accepting a setting as to whether or not to perform image processing from a user;
Means for storing, in the storage device, pattern image information in which processing information indicating the contents of image processing is associated for each pattern image indicating an object to be subjected to image processing;
Means for determining whether or not the acquired image information includes an image that matches a pattern image stored in the storage device;
If an image that matches the pattern image is included, the position of the image that matches the pattern image in the image information is calculated, identification information that identifies the image information is created, and the calculated position is Means for creating processing information associated with the pattern image and image processing data in association with the identification information for each position information shown;
When the setting for performing the image processing is accepted, the image processing is performed on the acquired image information by using the position information and the processing information of the image processing data including the identification information for identifying the acquired image information. Means,
When the setting for performing the image processing is accepted, the image information subjected to the image processing is displayed on the display device, and when the setting for not performing the image processing is accepted, the acquisition is performed without performing the image processing. An image processing apparatus comprising: means for displaying the image information on the display device. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1,
Means for storing the acquired image information and the image processing data in the storage device;
Accepting means for accepting a display request for causing the display device to display image information stored in the storage device;
Means for reading out the image information of the target of the display request from the storage device when the receiving means receives the display request;
The image processing means includes image processing data including identification information for identifying the read image information when the display request is received and a setting for image processing is received. Is read out from the storage device, and using the position information and processing information of the read image processing data, image processing is performed on the read image information,
The means for displaying on the display device, when accepting the setting for performing the image processing, displays the image information on which the image processing has been performed on the display device, and accepts the setting for not performing the image processing. In this case, the image processing apparatus displays the image information read by the reading unit on the display device. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
The content of the image processing includes mosaic processing, painting processing, and surrounding processing for an object. The image processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
An image processing apparatus comprising: means for accepting a change request for the stored pattern image information and updating the stored pattern image information. The image processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The means for performing the image processing is:
An image processing apparatus that performs image processing indicated by processing information associated with position information on a position indicated by the position information of the image information. An image processing system having one or more imaging devices and an image processing device connected to the imaging devices via a network,
The imaging device
Means for imaging a monitoring object and transmitting the captured image information to the image processing apparatus via the network;
The image processing apparatus includes:
A display device;
A storage device;
Means for receiving image information transmitted by the imaging device;
Means for accepting a setting as to whether or not to perform image processing from a user;
Means for storing, in the storage device, pattern image information in which processing information indicating the contents of image processing is associated for each pattern image indicating an object to be subjected to image processing;
Means for determining whether or not the received image information includes an image that matches a pattern image stored in the storage device;
If an image that matches the pattern image is included, the position of the image that matches the pattern image in the image information is calculated, identification information that identifies the image information is created, and the calculated position is Means for creating processing information associated with the pattern image and image processing data in association with the identification information for each position information to be indicated;
When the setting for performing the image processing is accepted, the image processing is performed on the acquired image information using the position information and the processing information of the image processing data including the identification information for identifying the received image information. Means,
When the setting for performing the image processing is accepted, the image information subjected to the image processing is displayed on the display device, and when the setting for not performing the image processing is accepted, the reception is performed without performing the image processing. And an image processing system for displaying the processed image information on the display device.

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