JP2008118402A - Surveillance camera system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a surveillance camera system capable of setting up the three-dimensional coordinates of each camera easily, when a moving object of detection is traced with two or more cameras. <P>SOLUTION: The surveillance camera system which is equipped with the cameras that are installed to trace a moving object switching them from one to the other and making them cooperate with each other. Each camera is equipped with a range finder unit 200, which measures the distance to the object, a coordinate measuring unit 201 which measures the three-dimensional position information as to the object with own three-dimensional coordinate system; an image photographic unit 203 for recognizing other camera identification information; a position information managing unit 204, which stores the other camera identification information and three-dimensional position information; a camera information managing unit 205 that stores camera's original information, a communication unit 202 which communicates with the other cameras via a network, and a control unit which converts the three-dimensional position information on the moving object to a three-dimensional coordinate system of a camera itself and determines whether the moving object is located within the photographic range of the camera itself, on the basis of the converted three-dimensional position information of the moving object and photographing function information stored in the camera information managing unit. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a monitoring camera system in which a plurality of cameras are installed and the movement detection object is tracked by switching the cameras, and more particularly to a monitoring camera system that facilitates the linkage of the cameras.

  Conventionally, a system for performing movement tracking of a detected object using a plurality of cameras has been proposed (for example, see Patent Documents 1 and 2 below). In such a system, it is necessary to set the three-dimensional coordinates at which each camera is arranged in order to switch the camera when tracking the movement detection object. However, there are some cameras that cannot be searched depending on the installation position of the cameras just by installing a plurality of cameras along the movement path, and the three-dimensional coordinates in a certain coordinate system of each camera cannot be obtained. An operation for obtaining the three-dimensional coordinates of each camera using a simple apparatus is necessary, and the operation is generally difficult to adjust and takes time.

An optical wireless base station that automatically calculates the three-dimensional coordinates of each optical wireless base station in an optical wireless communication system having a plurality of optical wireless base stations that relay communication between optical wireless communication terminals has been proposed. However, for example, in order to exchange information, it is necessary to perform communication between optical wireless base stations using direct optical wireless communication.
JP 2005-117542 A JP-A-9-331520 JP 2006-101246 A

  As described above, a system for tracking a movement detection object by linking a plurality of cameras has a problem in that it is difficult to set the three-dimensional coordinates of each camera.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a surveillance camera system capable of easily setting the three-dimensional coordinates of each camera when tracking a moving detection object using a plurality of cameras.

  As means for achieving the above object, a surveillance camera system according to the present invention is provided by connecting a plurality of cameras, each having identification information that is optically recognizable from the outside, connected to a communication line. A surveillance camera system for tracking and shooting a moving body by panning, tilting, or zooming operation and a camera switching operation in which each camera is linked, and each camera is configured to perform the panning, tilting, or zooming operation, The moving body is detected by the video imaging unit and the video imaging unit that detects and detects the moving body and captures identification information attached to other cameras other than the camera. A distance measurement unit that measures the distance between the camera and the subject, and the distance measured by the distance measurement unit and the video shooting unit A coordinate measuring unit that measures the three-dimensional position information of the subject in the three-dimensional coordinate system of the camera based on the pan and tilt angles, the identification information of the other camera identified by the video photographing unit, and the coordinate measurement Camera-specific information including a position information management unit that stores the three-dimensional position information of the other camera measured by a unit, identification information of the other camera, and shooting function information related to pan, tilt, or zoom control of the video shooting unit Acquisition information composed of the camera information management unit stored as the camera information, the camera specific information stored in the camera information management unit, the identification information of the other camera and the three-dimensional position information stored in the position information management unit, respectively. And when the video photographing unit detects the moving body, the three-dimensional position information of the moving body measured by the coordinate measuring unit is transmitted to the other camera. The communication unit that receives the acquisition information transmitted from the other camera and the three-dimensional position information of the moving body, and the three-dimensional position information of the other camera stored in the position information management unit and the acquisition that is received by the communication unit, respectively. Converting the three-dimensional position information of the moving body into the three-dimensional coordinate system of the camera based on the three-dimensional position information of the other camera corresponding to the identification information of the camera in the information and the three-dimensional position information of the moving body; A control unit for determining whether or not the moving body is within the shooting range of the camera based on the three-dimensional position information of the moving body after the conversion and the shooting function information stored in the camera information management unit; Is provided.

  According to the surveillance camera system of the present invention, when a plurality of cameras are installed, the three-dimensional coordinates of each camera are automatically calculated, and each camera can obtain the three-dimensional position information of each camera. The setting of the three-dimensional coordinates can be omitted explicitly.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of an embodiment of a surveillance camera system according to the present invention. The surveillance camera system according to the present embodiment installs a plurality of cameras, switches the cameras and links them to track the movement detection object. As shown in FIG. 1, for example, three cameras 100, 101, When the camera 102 is provided, the cameras 100, 101, and 102 acquire the mutual three-dimensional position information, and the setting of the three-dimensional coordinates is omitted. Hereinafter, specific embodiments will be described.

<Embodiment 1>
As shown in FIG. 1, there are three cameras 100, 101, and 102 that are surveillance cameras for tracking and shooting a moving detection object (moving body), and the cameras 100, 101, and 102 acquire each other's three-dimensional position information. How to do. The three cameras 100, 101, and 102 can be identified by photographing identification information of other cameras by pan, tilt, or zoom operations, respectively. For example, in the first embodiment, a case where the camera 100 can identify the identification information 111 and 112 of the cameras 101 and 102 and the camera 101 can identify the identification information 110 and 112 of the cameras 100 and 102 will be described as an example. Here, the identification information 110, 111, and 112 are not limited to numbers and patterns as long as each camera can be uniquely identified. The identification information is picked up by another camera and identifies the camera to which the identification information is attached, and is attached to the case of each camera 100, 101, 102 in the example of FIG. The cameras 100, 101, and 102 are connected via a network.

  FIG. 2 is a functional configuration diagram included in each of the cameras 100, 101, and 102 shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, each camera detects a moving body or identifies identification information attached to another camera, and measures a distance measuring unit 200 that measures the distance between the camera and the subject. A coordinate measuring unit 201 that measures the three-dimensional position information of the subject in the three-dimensional coordinate system of the own camera based on the distance measured by the measuring unit 200 and the pan and tilt angles set in the video photographing unit 203 to be described later; A communication unit 202 having a function of performing communication with a camera via a network, a video shooting unit 203 that provides a function of shooting and identifying camera pan, tilt, or zoom operations and identification information of other cameras, and a search described later Information and information acquired from other cameras are recorded and managed so that the three-dimensional position information of each camera can be recognized, identification information of other cameras, and video shooting Camera information management for storing camera-specific information such as camera ID, network identifier, identification information, and shooting function information of the own camera. A unit 205 and a control unit 206 for controlling each of these components are provided, and the functional configuration in these cameras is actually constituted by a CPU.

  Here, the communication unit 202 includes acquisition information composed of camera-specific information stored in the camera information management unit 205, identification information of other cameras stored in the position information management unit 204, and three-dimensional position information, respectively. When the video photographing unit 203 detects a moving body, the moving body 3D position information measured by the coordinate measuring unit 201 is transmitted to another camera, and the acquired information transmitted from the other camera and the 3D position of the moving body are transmitted. The control unit 206 corresponds to the camera identification information in the three-dimensional position information of the other camera stored in the position information management unit 204 and the acquired information received by the communication unit 202, respectively. The three-dimensional position information of the moving body is converted into the three-dimensional coordinate system of the camera based on the three-dimensional position information of the other camera and the three-dimensional position information of the moving body. Based on the stored photographing function information to the position information and the camera information manager 205, the moving body is provided with a function of determining whether or not contained in the photographing range of the camera.

  Next, the search operation of the video photographing unit 203 shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3 and the communication unit 202 shown in the flowchart of FIG. 4 related to the function of the camera whose internal configuration is configured by the CPU, particularly the function of the control unit 206. The process will be described with reference to the process of the coordinate measuring unit 201.

  For example, the video photographing unit 203 of the camera 100 searches for other cameras by panning, tilting, or zooming (step S301), reads the identification information 111 and 112 of the other cameras 101 and 102, and uses the distance measuring unit 200. The distance to the other cameras 101 and 102 is acquired (steps S302 to S305).

  Next, the distance to the other cameras 101 and 102 acquired by the distance measuring unit 200 and the pan and tilt angles (hereinafter, “angle” is abbreviated as “angle”) by the video photographing unit 203 are passed to the coordinate measuring unit 201. The three-dimensional position information of the other cameras 101 and 102 in the three-dimensional coordinate system of the camera 100 is acquired (step S306). Next, the identification information 111 and 112 of the other cameras 101 and 102 read by the video photographing unit 203 and the three-dimensional position information of the other cameras 101 and 102 obtained by the coordinate measuring unit 201 are registered in the position information management unit 204. (Step S307).

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating information acquired by the own camera searching for another camera. As shown in FIG. 5, other camera identification information 501 and other camera position information 502 are acquired as information obtained by searching for and acquiring other cameras. The other camera identification information 501 is the identification information of the other camera that could be identified, and the other camera position information 502 is the three-dimensional position information of the other camera in the three-dimensional coordinate system of the own camera that performs the search.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing details of search information obtained by performing processing as described above and the camera 100 searching for other cameras 101 and 102. Search information 600 corresponds to search information of the other camera 101, and search information 601 corresponds to search information of the other camera 102. The other camera identification information Sa101 of the search information 600 is the identification information 111 of the camera 101, and the other camera position information Sb101 represents the three-dimensional position information of the camera 101 in the three-dimensional coordinate system of the camera 100. The search information 601 is similar information of the other camera 102, and includes the other camera identification information Sa102 and the other camera position information Sb102. These pieces of information are obtained from the distance measuring unit 200, the coordinate measuring unit 201, and the video photographing unit 203, and are managed by the position information management unit 204.

  Next, acquisition information to be described later is created and transmitted from the communication unit 202 to the network. At this time, necessary information is acquired from the camera information management unit 205 (step S308).

  In this search operation of the video photographing unit 203, the panning, tilting, or zooming operation is changed with a minimum amount. If no other camera is found in step S302, or the identification information of the other camera cannot be read in step S304. In this case, or when searching for another camera after the execution of step S308, the search by the pan, tilt, or zoom operation is continued as follows.

  First, it is determined whether or not the pan angle is the maximum. If the pan angle is not the maximum, a search by a pan operation is performed (steps S309 → S310 → S301). On the other hand, if the pan angle is the maximum, the pan angle is returned to the initial value, and then it is determined whether or not the tilt angle is 90 degrees (steps S309 → S311 → S312). If the tilt angle is not 90 degrees, a search by a tilt operation is performed (steps S312 → S313 → S301). On the other hand, if the tilt angle is 90 degrees, the tilt angle is returned to the initial value, and then it is determined whether or not the zoom is at maximum (steps S312 → S314 → S315). If the zoom is not the maximum, a search by zoom operation is performed (steps S315 → S316 → S301), and if the zoom is the maximum, the search is terminated.

  Further, the communication unit 202 of the camera 100 acquires acquisition information from the other cameras 101 and 102 (step S401). FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram showing information exchanged between cameras by communication. As information exchanged by communication between cameras, as shown in FIG. 7, camera ID 700 that is an ID unique to each camera and unique information that can identify the camera on the network, for example, a network such as an IP address or a MAC address Identification information 701, shooting function information 702 that is information regarding a shooting function such as a pan function, tilt function, zoom function, and angle of view of the camera, own camera identification information 703 that is identification information of the camera itself that transmitted the information, and camera Other camera identification information 704 that is the identification information of the other camera identified by searching and other information that is the three-dimensional position information of the other camera in the three-dimensional coordinate system of the own camera obtained when the identification information of the other camera is read Camera position information 705. The network identification information 701 can be omitted when a camera on the network can be specified by the camera ID.

  FIG. 8 shows acquisition information 800 and 801 acquired by the communication unit 202 of the camera 100 of FIG. 1 from the communication unit 202 of the other camera 101. Here, the acquired information 800 includes the camera ID Aa 101 of the camera 101, network identification information Ab 101, shooting function information Ac 101, own camera identification information Ad 101, and other camera identification information Ae 100 that is identification information of the other camera 100 read by the own camera 101. And other camera position information Af100 which is the three-dimensional position information of the other camera 100 in the three-dimensional coordinate system of the own camera 101. The acquired information 801 is similar information about the other camera 102 acquired by the camera 101, and includes the camera ID Aa101, network identification information Ab101, shooting function information Ac101, own camera identification information Ad101, and other camera identification information Ae102 of the camera 101. , And other camera position information Af102. These pieces of acquired information 800 and 801 are transferred to the coordinate measuring unit 200 (step S402).

  The camera 100 can identify the three-dimensional position coordinates of the cameras 101 and 102 from the search information 600, the acquisition information 800, and the acquisition information 801 described above. In addition, the camera 100 can obtain information regarding the shooting range of the camera 101 from the shooting function information 702. This shooting range can be replaced with the shooting range in the three-dimensional coordinate system of the camera 100 from the three-dimensional position information of the camera 101 in the three-dimensional coordinate system of the camera 100. Therefore, when the detected object moves, deviates from the imaging range of the camera 100, and tracking is switched to another camera, the coordinate-converted imaging range can be used to select a camera that may be able to capture the moved detected object. .

  The coordinate measurement unit 201 of the camera 100 acquires the other camera position information Af100 that matches the other camera identification information Ae100 of the acquisition information 800 from the position information management unit 204 (step S403). If the matching information can be acquired, the coordinate conversion of the other camera position information Af100 into the three-dimensional position information of the camera 101 in the three-dimensional coordinate system of the own camera 100 using the pan and tilt angles of the photographing function information Ac101 is performed. (Step S404 → S405), and is registered in the position information management unit 204 (Step S406).

  Here, FIGS. 9 to 11 show a method of acquiring information necessary for tracking an object between cameras related to the coordinate conversion processing S405 (see FIG. 4) of the coordinate measuring unit 201 based on the control function of the control unit 206. FIG. The description will be given with reference. 9 shows the shooting ranges R100 and R101 of the cameras 100 and 101 when tracking the detected object 900. FIG. 10 shows the pan, tilt, or zoom of the camera 100 managed by the camera information management unit 205 of the camera 100. FIG. 11 shows detected object coordinates 901 that are position information of the detected object 900 in the three-dimensional coordinate system of the camera 101.

  First, it is assumed that the camera 101 detects and tracks an object. As shown in FIG. 9, when the detected object 900 is about to deviate from the shooting range R101 of the camera 101, in order to investigate other cameras (cameras other than the camera 101, the camera 100 in FIG. 9) capable of tracking and shooting the detected object 900. A method for obtaining necessary information will be described in detail.

The information that the camera 100 wants to know is the position information of the detection object 900 in the three-dimensional coordinate system of the camera 100. To know this location information,
(A) Position information of the camera 101 (other camera position information Sb101) in the three-dimensional coordinate system of the camera 100,
(B) Position information of the camera 100 (other camera position information Af100) in the three-dimensional coordinate system of the camera 101,
(C) Shooting function information 702 of the camera 100,
(D) Position information of the detection object 900 in the three-dimensional coordinate system of the camera 101 (detection object coordinates 901)
Is required.

  In the information (d) described above, since the detection object 900 is in the shooting range R101 of the camera 101, the detection object coordinate 901 can be acquired as position information of the detection object 900 in the three-dimensional coordinate system of the camera 101. This information (d) is acquired by the camera 100 from the camera 101 via the communication unit 202 via a network or the like. The detected object coordinates 901 are converted from information (a), (b), and (d) into position coordinates in the three-dimensional coordinate system of the camera 100, and the position coordinates converted using the information (c) are captured by the camera 100. It is determined whether it is within the range R100. In this way, it can be determined which camera can continuously track the detected object 900.

  Therefore, according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, when a plurality of cameras are installed, the three-dimensional coordinates of each camera are automatically calculated, and each camera can obtain the three-dimensional position information of each camera. It becomes possible, and the setting of three-dimensional coordinates can be omitted explicitly.

<Embodiment 2>
In the second embodiment, the camera 100 can identify the identification information 111 of the camera 101 but cannot identify the identification information 112 of the camera 102, and the camera 101 can identify the identification information 100 of the camera 100 and the identification information of the camera 102. A case where 112 can be identified will be described as an example.

  The camera 100 can acquire the acquisition information 800 and 801 shown in FIG. Further, the search information 600 shown in FIG. 6 can be acquired, and even when the identification information of other cameras not in the shooting range cannot be identified, the three-dimensional position coordinates of the other cameras not in the shooting range can be obtained. .

  That is, the camera 100 uses the other camera position information Sb101 of the search information 600 and the other camera position information Af100 of the acquisition information 800, and coordinates the other camera position information Af102 of the acquisition information 801 by coordinate conversion. 3D position coordinates of the camera 102 can be obtained.

  Here, in relation to the coordinate conversion processing S405 (see FIG. 4) of the coordinate measurement unit 201 based on the control function of the control unit 206, when the camera 102 cannot be seen from the camera 100, information on the camera 102 is obtained via the camera 101. The acquisition method will be further described in detail.

To obtain the position information of the camera 102 in the three-dimensional coordinate system of the camera 100,
(A) Position information of the camera 101 (other camera position information Sb101) in the three-dimensional coordinate system of the camera 100,
(B) Position information of the camera 100 (other camera position information Af100) in the three-dimensional coordinate system of the camera 101,
(C) Position information of the camera 102 in the three-dimensional coordinate system of the camera 101 (other camera position information Af102)
Is required.

  When the control unit 206 of the camera 100 acquires the information (a), (b), and (c), the coordinate measuring unit 201 performs the coordinate conversion process S405, so that the camera 102 in the three-dimensional coordinate system of the camera 100 Location information can be acquired.

  Therefore, according to the second embodiment of the present invention, even when the identification information of the other camera not in the shooting range cannot be identified, the other camera position information of the search information and the other camera position information of the acquired information are used. It is possible to obtain the three-dimensional position coordinates of other cameras that are not within the shooting range.

It is a figure which shows the whole structure of embodiment of the surveillance camera system which concerns on this invention. It is a block diagram of the function with which each camera shown in FIG. 1 is provided. It is a flowchart which shows the search operation | movement of the image | video imaging | photography part of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the process of the communication part of FIG. 2, and the process of a coordinate measurement part. It is a figure which shows the search information which the camera searched and acquired other cameras. It is a figure which shows the detail of the search information which the camera 100 acquired by searching the other cameras 101 and 102. FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the information exchanged by communication between cameras. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing acquisition information acquired from a camera 101 by the camera 100 of FIG. 1. It is explanatory drawing which shows the imaging | photography range R100 and R101 of the cameras 100 and 101 at the time of tracking the detection object 900. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing shooting function information 702 such as pan, tilt, or zoom of the camera 100 managed by a camera information management unit 205 of the camera 100. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating detected object coordinates 901 that are position information of the detected object 900 in the three-dimensional coordinate system of the camera 101.

Explanation of symbols

100, 101, 102 Camera 110, 111, 112 Identification information 200 Distance measurement unit 201 Coordinate measurement unit 202 Communication unit 203 Video shooting unit 204 Position information management unit 205 Camera information management unit 206 Control unit 600, 601 Search information 800, 801 Acquisition Information 900 Detected object

Claims (1)

A camera switching operation in which a plurality of cameras each having identification information optically recognizable from outside are connected to a communication line, and the panning, tilting, or zooming operation of each camera is linked to each camera. And a surveillance camera system for tracking the moving body,
Each of the cameras
A video photographing unit that photographs and detects the moving body by panning, tilting, or zooming operation and photographs and identifies identification information attached to a camera other than the camera; and
A distance measuring unit that measures a distance between the camera and the subject when the moving body is detected by the video photographing unit or identification information attached to the other camera is identified;
A coordinate measuring unit that measures the three-dimensional position information of the subject by the three-dimensional coordinate system of the camera based on the distance measured by the distance measuring unit and the pan and tilt angles set in the video photographing unit;
A position information management unit that stores identification information of the other camera identified by the video photographing unit and three-dimensional position information of the other camera measured by the coordinate measurement unit;
A camera information management unit that stores identification information of the other camera and shooting function information related to pan, tilt, or zoom control of the video shooting unit as camera-specific information;
Acquisition information composed of the camera-specific information stored in the camera information management unit, the identification information of the other camera and the three-dimensional position information stored in the position information management unit, respectively, and the video shooting unit is moved When a body is detected, the three-dimensional position information of the moving body measured by the coordinate measuring unit is transmitted to the other camera, and the acquired information transmitted from the other camera and the three-dimensional position information of the moving body are received. A communication unit
The three-dimensional position information of the other camera corresponding to the three-dimensional position information of the other camera stored in the position information management unit and the identification information of the camera in the acquired information respectively received by the communication unit, and the three-dimensional of the moving body Based on the position information, the three-dimensional position information of the moving body is converted into the three-dimensional coordinate system of the camera, and the three-dimensional position information of the moving body after the conversion and the photographing function information stored in the camera information management unit And a control unit that determines whether or not the moving body is within the shooting range of the camera,
Equipped with a surveillance camera system.

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