JP2007251693A - Image processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image processing apparatus in which an area for protecting the privacy of a picked-up image is set to an optimal size. <P>SOLUTION: In the image processing apparatus which sets a mask for preventing any object that violates the privacy of the other person from being photographed in a monitoring picture, when a reference mask area is set, on the basis of that reference mask area, mask areas at levels of enlargement and reduction are determined. Based on the ratio of size between the determined mask areas and the reference mask area, zoom magnification powers at the respective levels are determined, and the mask areas and the zoom magnification powers are stored in a table. When enlargement/reduction is instructed by a user during monitoring, based on the mask areas and the zoom magnification powers stored in the table, enlargement/reduction processing is performed on the image and the mask areas. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, and more particularly to a surveillance camera system that changes the size of a mask for privacy protection in an image captured by a surveillance camera, for example.

  Some surveillance cameras have a privacy mask function that is a function of hiding an arbitrary place in a captured image. Patent Document 1 discloses a surveillance camera having such a function, which holds mask data for masking a privacy zone that hides an arbitrary place reflected in an image, and masks a part of the image according to the mask data. .

Also, Patent Document 2 discloses a surveillance camera having a function of enabling adjustment while displaying the current state on a display, such as a CRT display or a liquid crystal display.
JP 2001-69494 A [H04N 7/18] JP 2000-115697 A [H04N 5/915]

  From the prior art 1 and the prior art 2, it can be considered that the privacy mask is realized by on-screen display, that is, the privacy mask is set by using the on-screen display.

  Specifically, when one character on-screen display is used as a mask, for example, when a zoom operation is performed on an image of interest, if the mask size is changed in accordance with the zoom amount, the privacy zone is completely displayed. You can not let it.

  However, in that case, one character for on-screen display is used as a mask, and since the mask size is in units of one character for on-screen display, the mask size cannot be set finely. There was a problem that even a portion that did not need to be hidden could not be displayed with a mask.

  The present invention solves the above-described problem, and provides an image processing apparatus in which an area for protecting the privacy of a captured image is set to an optimum size.

  An image processing apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a display means (22) for displaying an image including a mask desired object, a zoom instruction means (20) for instructing an enlargement area or reduction operation of the image as a zoom instruction, First setting means (S3, S5) for setting a reference mask area at a desired position in association with the zoom instruction, and a plurality of mask areas having different sizes from the reference mask area at the desired position of the image as the zoom instruction Second setting means (S5) for setting in association with each other, and mask processing means (18) for performing mask processing in an area corresponding to the zoom instruction from the reference mask area and the plurality of mask areas when a zoom instruction is received. And zoom processing means (S27) for performing zoom processing for enlarging or reducing the image according to the zoom instruction.

  Therefore, the area for protecting the privacy of the image can be set to an optimum size.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image processing apparatus of the first aspect, the zoom processing means sets a zoom magnification for the image based on the sizes of the reference mask area and the plurality of mask areas, and the zoom magnification for the image A zoom process is performed.

  According to a third invention, in the image processing apparatuses of the first and second inventions, the mask area is an on-screen display area.

  A block diagram of a surveillance camera system which is an example of an image processing apparatus in the present embodiment is shown in FIG.

  The monitoring camera system 10 of this embodiment includes a monitoring camera 12, a video signal processing unit 14, a CPU 16, an on-screen display processing unit 18, an operation unit 20 (including cursor keys 20a and a SET key 20b), a monitor 22, and a flash memory 24. And a zoom drive unit 26.

The monitoring camera 12 takes in an optical image of the subject and outputs it to the video signal processing unit 14 as an imaging signal. The video signal processing unit 14 converts the imaging signal into a video signal. The CPU 16 is connected to the monitoring camera 12, the video signal processing unit 14, the on-screen display processing unit 18, and the zoom driving unit 26. The CPU 16 controls the monitoring camera 12, the on-screen display processing unit 18, and the zoom driving unit 26 according to a program stored in the flash memory 24.

  The operation unit 20 includes a cursor key 20a and a SET key 20b shown in FIG. By operating the cursor key 20a, the cursor of various setting menu screens by on-screen display is moved, and a desired item is set by operating the SET key. Further, by operating the cursor key 20a up and down, the imaging screen can be optically enlarged and reduced.

  When an imaging operation is performed by the operation unit 20, the CPU 16 controls the monitoring camera 12 to perform imaging. The imaging signal output from the monitoring camera 12 is subjected to the above-described processing by the video signal processing unit 14, and the video signal is output to the on-screen display processing unit 18. If there is no setting for on-screen display such as time display, the on-screen display processing unit 18 outputs the video signal as it is to the monitor 22. If there is an on-screen display setting, the on-screen display processing unit 18 superimposes the desired character stored in the flash memory 24 and the video signal and outputs the superimposed signal to the monitor 22.

  When a zoom operation is performed with the cursor key 20a during imaging, the CPU 16 controls the zoom driving unit 26, and the zoom driving unit 26 moves an imaging lens (not shown) in the monitoring camera 12. When the operation unit 20 performs an on-screen display setting operation of the monitoring camera 12, the CPU 16 controls the on-screen display processing unit 18 and outputs a setting screen to the monitor 22 by the on-screen display.

  Now, the surveillance camera system 10 according to the present embodiment is equipped with a function that can be hidden by a mask in advance so as not to shoot anything that violates the privacy of others in the surveillance screen. The masked one is set not to be displayed on the monitor. The mask is an aggregate in which a double angle for one character of on-screen display is used as a mask area unit. Next, mask setting will be described with reference to FIGS.

  First, the “MAIN MENU” screen shown in FIG. 3A is displayed on the monitor 22 by continuously pressing the SET key 20b for 1 second or longer. By operating the cursor key 20a and selecting the "OPTION" item and pressing the SET key 20b, the items on the "OPTON" screen shown in FIG. 3B are displayed. Next, when the cursor key 20a is operated to select the “PRIVACY MASK” item and press the SET key 20b, the “PRIVACY MASK SETTING” screen item shown in FIG. 3C is displayed. Similarly, when the cursor key 20a is operated to select the “MASK SET” item and press the SET key 20b, the items on the “MASK NO. SELECT” screen shown in FIG. 3D are displayed, and an arbitrary MASK number is displayed. By selecting an item and pressing the SET key 20b, a mask is registered with that number.

  The following processing is performed before an operation for designating an area to set a mask. FIG. 4A shows a monitor display area a and an on-screen display area b in on-screen display. The on-screen display area b of the on-screen display in the state of FIG. 4 (A) is configured by 12 vertical units × 24 horizontal = 288 area units (character display area units), and the size of this area unit is defined as a single double angle. To do. If an attempt is made to set a mask using on-screen display in this state, an area such as area c (shaded portion) where the mask cannot be set exists.

  Therefore, in order to enable the on-screen display area b to set the mask of all areas of the monitor display area a, the start point X of the on-screen display area b is outside the monitor display area a as shown in FIG. shift. Then, the size of the on-screen display area b is doubled both vertically and horizontally. Accordingly, the area unit for masking (mask area unit) is a double angle for one character on-screen display in the case of FIG. In the present embodiment, the mask setting area range is a double angle for one character on-screen display, and the mask setting is performed by selecting an arbitrary area from 8 × 16 × 128 areas. .

  Next, an operation for designating an area for which a mask is to be set will be described. Although the description will return, when an item with an arbitrary MASK number is selected in FIG. 3D and the SET key 20b is pressed, the CPU 16 controls the monitoring camera 12 to output the captured image to the video processing unit 14 for video processing. The above processing is performed by the unit 14, and a video signal is output to the on-screen display processing unit 18. As shown in FIG. 5, the on-screen display processing unit 18 superimposes the mask designation screen showing 128 areas and the video signal, and displays them on the monitor 22. The subject displayed on the monitor 22 includes the objects P and Q. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the user sets a mask for the object P.

  Referring to FIG. 5, in the 128 areas displayed on the monitor 22, the area including the start point L is represented by the coordinates (X, Y) = (1, 1) where X is the horizontal direction and Y is the vertical direction. In this case, the position of the object P exists within (X, Y) = (8, 4), (8, 5), (9, 4), (9, 5). Therefore, the user sets four areas (X, Y) = (8, 4), (8, 5), (9, 4), (9, 5) as mask areas to be designated. . These four areas are set as reference mask areas.

  As a method for specifying the reference mask area, referring to FIG. 6, the cursor 20a is operated to move the cursor key 20a to (X, Y) = (8, 4), and the SET key 20b is pressed. With reference to (X, Y) = (8, 4), the cursor key 20a is operated up / down / left / right and the SET key 20b is pressed, so that the size, that is, the selected area (X, Y) = (8, 4). ), (8, 5), (9, 4), (9, 5) are determined. Then, the cursor key 20a is operated and moved to the “SET” item at the lower right of the screen displayed on the monitor 22, and the SET key 20b is pressed. Then, the coordinates (X, Y) = (8, 4), (8, 5), (9, 4), (9, 5) of the currently selected area are stored in the flash memory 24. Thus, the reference mask area is set.

  Next, the CPU 16 refers to the coordinates of the reference mask area and determines a plurality of mask areas having different sizes according to a predetermined program stored in the flash memory 24. In this embodiment, three mask areas having different sizes are determined. The reference mask area is an aggregate of four areas located at coordinates (X, Y) = (8, 4), (8, 5), (9, 4), (9, 5). Referring to the reference mask area, a first mask area (coordinates (X, Y) = (7, 3), (7, 4),... (10, 5), which is an aggregate of 16 areas, (10, 6)), a second mask area (coordinates: (X, Y) = (6, 2), (6, 3),..., (11, 6)) that is an aggregate of 36 areas. , (11, 7)), a third mask area (coordinates: (X, Y) = (5, 1), (5, 2),..., (12, 7)) that is an aggregate of 64 areas. ,), (12, 8) These three mask areas are based on the reference mask area, and the concept of level is defined according to the size. One mask area is level 1, the second mask area is level 2, and the third mask area is level 3.

  After the plurality of mask areas are determined, the CPU 16 calculates a ratio between the size of the reference mask area and each mask area, and determines the zoom magnification of each mask area based on the ratio. The data is stored in the table shown in FIG.

  Here, the table shown in FIG. 9 will be described. The table stores the level, mask area coordinates, and zoom magnification corresponding to each other. Level 0 is the reference mask area coordinates and zoom magnification at the time of mask setting. That is, in this case, the reference mask area coordinates are (X, Y) = (8, 4), (8, 5), (9, 4), (9, 5), and zoom magnification: 1. Level 1 indicates a level obtained by raising one level from level 0, mask area coordinates, and zoom magnification. Mask area coordinates (X, Y) = (7, 3), (7, 4), (10, 5), (10, 6), zoom magnification: A. Level 2 indicates a level obtained by raising the second level from level 0, mask area coordinates, and zoom magnification. Mask area coordinates: (X, Y) = (6, 2), (6, 3 ,..., (11, 6), (11, 7), zoom magnification: B. Similarly, at level 3, mask area coordinates and zoom magnification are stored. In this embodiment, since the area of the on-screen display is 8 vertical lines, the maximum level is level 3. As described above, when the number of mask areas specified in the mask area setting is L × M in width, and the operation unit 20 is operated to increase the level by N levels, the number of mask areas is vertical (L + 2N). It becomes piece x side (M + 2N) piece.

  Next, a case where monitoring is performed using a mask set by the user will be described.

  When the user performs an imaging operation in the masked monitoring mode, the CPU 16 reads the level 0 coordinates and zoom magnification of the table recorded in the flash memory 24. Then, the on-screen display processing unit 18 and the zoom driving unit 26 are controlled based on the coordinates and the zoom magnification. In the on-screen display processing unit 18, the mask area coordinates: (X, Y) = (8, 4), (8, 5), (9, 4), (9, 5) are displayed in black. In such a manner, the image is superimposed on the video image and output to the monitor 22. As a result, as shown in FIG. 7, the object P is displayed so that it cannot be monitored by the mask.

  Next, a case where enlargement and reduction operations are performed by operating the cursor key 20a during monitoring will be described. When the cursor key 20a is pressed once, the level is increased by one level from the current level, and when the cursor key 20a is pressed once, the level is decreased by one level. In this embodiment, the upper limit of the level is 3 and the lower limit is 0.

  When the cursor key 20 a is pressed once in the level 0 state shown in FIG. 7, the CPU 16 reads the level 1 coordinate information stored in the table shown in FIG. 9 stored in the flash memory 24. The part corresponding to the mask area coordinates (X, Y) = (7, 3), (7, 4),... (10, 5), (10, 6) by controlling the on-screen display processing unit 18 Generates a mask to be displayed in black. In parallel, the CPU 16 reads the zoom magnification A of level 1 and supplies it to the zoom drive unit 26, and the zoom drive unit controls a zoom lens (not shown) of the monitoring camera 12 so that the zoom magnification A becomes the same. The image signal captured at the zoom magnification A is processed by the video signal processing unit 14 and output to the on-screen display processing unit 18. The on-screen display processing unit 18 superimposes the generated mask and the video signal and outputs them to the monitor 22. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 8, the object P is included in the 16 mask areas, and the object Q is not masked, and an optimum mask is made. Similarly, when shifting to level 2 and level 3, an optimal mask is possible.

Next, the control of the CPU 16 in the zoom process during imaging when the mask setting and the mask setting described above are performed will be described.

  First, the mask setting process will be described. When the mask setting process is operated by the cursor key 20a and the SET key 20b as described above, the CPU 16 executes a subroutine showing the mask setting process in FIG. The CPU 16 performs a process for enabling the mask setting of the entire area where the on-screen display area b is the monitor display area a (step S1). When the mask setting of all the areas becomes possible, next, a reference mask area selection setting process is performed (step S3). When the reference mask area is determined, the first to third mask areas are determined, and the zoom magnifications of level 1 to level 3 are determined based on the ratio of the first to third mask areas and the reference mask area. Then, the mask area setting process is terminated (step S5).

  A zoom process during photographing when the mask is set will be described. Referring to FIG. 11, when a zoom operation is performed with cursor key 20a, variable X in a memory (not shown) in CPU 16 is initialized (X = 0) (step S11). Here, the variable X is an integer value. Next, the direction in which the cursor key 20a is pressed is determined (step S13). When the pressed direction is down (“down”), it is determined whether the value of the variable is 1 or more (step S15). If the value of the variable is 1 or more (“Y”), the variable X is decremented by 1 (X = X−1) (step S17). If the value of the variable is less than 1 (N "), the variable X is updated to 0 (X = 0) (step S19) .After the variable X is updated in step S17 and step S19, the process proceeds to step S27. In step S29, the CPU 16 controls the zoom drive unit 26 to perform zoom processing at the magnification of the variable value X. Next, it is determined whether or not there is an end operation of the zoom operation (step S29). In the case ("Y"), the zoom operation is ended, and in the case where there is no zoom operation ("N"), the process returns to step S13 and is repeated until there is an end operation of the zoom operation.

  If the direction in which the cursor key 20a is pressed in step S13 is up (step S13: “up”), it is determined whether the value of the variable is 3 or more (step S21). If the value of the variable is 3 or more (“Y”), the variable X is updated to 3 (X = 3) (step S23). Conversely, if the value of the variable is less than 3 (“N”), the variable X is incremented by 1 (X = X + 1) (step S25). After the variable X is updated in step S23 and step S25, the process proceeds to step S27, and the processing after step S27 similar to the above is performed.

  In this way, by setting the zoom magnification so that the user can sufficiently hide the object that the user wants to hide with the mask, the user can accurately monitor the camera without masking the extra area. The video from can be confirmed.

  Further, the mask can be set inexpensively and easily by using the double angle of one character of the on-screen display.

  In addition, since the zoom magnification is determined in accordance with the mask size, it is effective when a user who does not require so fine zoom setting uses the mask and zoom together.

  In particular, the present invention is particularly effective when a portion where the user wants to set a mask and a portion where the user wants to confirm are adjacent to each other.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure which is one Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows a part of structure of the operation part 20 which is one Example of this invention. (A) is an illustration which shows an example of the display screen at the time of mask setting, (B) is an illustration figure which shows another example of the display screen at the time of mask setting, (C) is a display screen at the time of mask setting FIG. 10D is an illustrative view showing yet another example of the display screen at the time of mask setting. (A) is an illustration figure which shows an example of the relationship between a monitor screen and an on-screen display screen, (B) is an illustration figure which shows another example of the relationship between a monitor screen and an on-screen display screen. It is an illustration figure which shows an example of the relationship between the mask area which is one Example of this invention, and a to-be-photographed object. It is an illustration figure which shows an example of the relationship between the area at the time of mask setting operation which is one Example of this invention, and a to-be-photographed object. FIG. 3 is an illustrative view showing one example of a relationship between a masked area and a subject according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is an illustrative view showing one example of a relationship between an enlarged mask area and a subject according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is an illustration figure which shows an example of the relationship between the level which is one Example of this invention, a coordinate, and zoom magnification. It is a flowchart which shows an example of operation | movement of one Example of this invention. It is another flowchart which shows an example of operation | movement of one Example of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

12 ... surveillance camera 14 ... video processing unit 16 ... CPU
18 ... On-screen display processing unit 20 ... Operation unit 20a ... Cursor key 20b ... SET key 22 ... Monitor 24 ... Flash memory 26 ... Zoom drive unit

Claims (3)

Display means for displaying an image including a mask desired object;
Zoom instruction means for instructing an image enlargement area or reduction operation as a zoom instruction;
First setting means for setting a reference mask area at a desired position of an image in association with the zoom instruction;
A second setting means for setting a plurality of mask areas having different sizes from the reference mask area in association with the zoom instruction at a desired position of the image;
A mask processing means for performing mask processing in an area corresponding to the zoom instruction from the reference mask area and the plurality of mask areas when receiving the zoom instruction;
An image processing apparatus comprising: a zoom processing unit that performs zoom processing for enlarging or reducing the image according to the zoom instruction.   The zoom processing unit sets a zoom magnification for the image based on the sizes of the reference mask area and the plurality of mask areas, and performs zoom processing on the image at the zoom magnification. Image processing device. The image display processing device according to claim 1, wherein the mask area is an on-screen display area.

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