JP2008288745A - Video information processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve a problem that there exists an imaging apparatus utilizing infrared rays or GPS to detect the position of an object as a conventional apparatus, but there is no system or no apparatus capable of photographing an object by using a wireless tag and face detection. <P>SOLUTION: By using the wireless tag, the position of an object can be efficiently searched by position detection of the object even when a video camera is started or the sight of the object is lost. Further, object recognition allows the performance of photographing or recording when a face is detected, and stops the photographing or recording when a face can not be detected. In position detection, the position information of the object can be acquired by receiving a radio signal and utilizing a trilateration principle and the object can be efficiently photographed on the basis of the position information. Since the object can be photographed by automatic panning and tilting according to the position information, the object can be automatically photographed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a video information processing apparatus such as a video camera, a digital camera, a surveillance camera, and a fixed-point camera having an imaging function.

  In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-133620, in response to the problem of “easy to perform shooting aimed at a specific subject”, “an infrared transmitter 102 is attached to the subject 100 and an infrared light sensor is attached to the video camera body 101. 103. The detection angle of view of the sensor 103 is wider than that of the imaging unit 1. The photographer aims at the subject 100 while looking at the viewfinder 10, but even if the subject 100 deviates from the imaging angle of view at this time, the sensor In 103, the subject 100 is detected by infrared light. Based on this detection, information such as the infrared light transmission position, that is, the position and direction of the subject, is calculated and displayed on the finder 10 with a mark or the like. " It is described that the above solution is used.

  Further, Patent Document 2 discloses that “a face image storage system is a face image storage system in which more face images are stored by compressing a face image used for authentication at a higher compression rate”. An imaging unit that captures a user's face image, a face image storage unit that stores a plurality of face images, and a plurality of face images that are stored in the face image storage unit. Based on the difference between the similar face image and the captured face image, and a similar face image selection unit that selects a similar face image that shows a degree of similarity greater than or equal to a predetermined reference value, the captured face image is differentially compressed. Providing a face image storage system that includes a difference compression unit that performs the above processing and a storage processing unit that stores the captured face image differentially compressed by the difference compression unit in the face image storage unit. .

JP 09-023359 JP2006-59200

  Shooting a subject with a video camera requires time and effort when searching for the camera or when the subject is lost. Also, in order to extract scenes where subjects appear from shooting information shot with a video camera and put them together on a recording medium such as a DVD, it has been necessary to manually edit with a device having an editing function.

  When the subject has an infrared sensor, the subject may not be properly photographed even if the video camera has a face recognition function.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a video information processing apparatus that appropriately captures a subject and improves the usability of the video information processing apparatus.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, according to an embodiment of the present invention, an imaging unit that captures an image of a subject, a communication unit that communicates with a wireless tag, and a subject recognition unit that recognizes the subject based on information captured by the imaging unit And a position detection unit that detects position information of the subject based on information from the wireless tag obtained by the communication unit.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to appropriately shoot a subject and improve usability of the video information processing apparatus.

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

  FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of a video information processing apparatus based on position information obtained from a wireless tag according to the present embodiment and imaging information obtained from an imaging unit. Note that the position information refers to, for example, information related to a position indicating a three-dimensional distance from the camera to the subject, and the imaging information refers to, for example, an image of the subject obtained from the camera.

  The operation of the video camera in FIG. 1 will be briefly described.

  The video camera 3 has a tripod screw portion (not shown), and the tripod screw portion is fixed to the pan head 411 of the tripod 410. The pan / tilt head is provided with a movable portion that can automatically move up / down / left / right according to position information. The video camera 3 is turned on. After the video camera 3 is turned on, the automatic shooting mode changeover switch (not shown) is set to the automatic shooting mode. The wireless tag 1 has unique identification information. When the wireless tag 1 is turned on, unique identification information is transmitted by a wireless signal. When the video camera 3 is in the automatic shooting mode, the wireless reception unit having at least three antennas (not shown) receives the wireless signal of the wireless tag 1, and the received wireless signal is transmitted to the position of the communication unit 401. The position of the wireless tag 1 is detected by the detection function.

  In order to detect the position of the wireless tag 1 held by the subject 2, the video camera 3 has various connection devices and an antenna described later in some of each component. As an example, the antenna is provided on a tripod 410, a pan head 411, a hood 412, a microphone 413, a camera housing 414, a remote controller 415, and the like. The wireless receiver 4 receives a wireless signal from the wireless tag 1 held by the subject 2 and extracts position information. The subject 2 is equipped with a portable wireless tag 1, and the wireless tag 1 transmits subject identification information including at least unique identification information. In addition to the unique identification information, the subject identification information may include information such as positioning information for positioning and other data.

  The video camera 3 has a built-in hard disk drive storage device (hereinafter referred to as HDD; not shown) as a main recording unit, and a DVD drive (not shown) as a sub-recording unit, and a DVD-Video disc 500 (hereinafter, not shown). (Referred to as “DVD”).

  In the present embodiment, a method of positioning based on the principle of triangulation using the arrival time difference of radio signals is used. The communication unit 4 includes a predetermined positioning algorithm that performs positioning based on the principle of trilateral surveying. The wireless receiver 4 of the video camera 3 has at least three antennas (not shown), and receives the subject identification information 5 sent from the wireless tag 1 by the antenna. The received subject identification information 5 is received from the wireless reception unit 4 by the communication unit 401 and positioned.

  Based on the extracted position information, the video camera 3 outputs the position information to, for example, a display unit of the video camera 3 or outputs it to a sound output unit (not shown) as a voice, and controls the camera platform 411. , Pan and tilt to image the subject 2. Further, zoom control is performed so that the image of the subject 2 is displayed with a predetermined size at the angle of view of a display unit (not shown) based on the position information extracted by the video camera 3.

  As an example of the display of the position information, the periphery of the wireless tag 1 held by the subject 2 whose position has been detected is surrounded by a frame 311, or the position of the wireless tag is indicated by a mark 312.

  After the video camera 3 is ready to image the subject 2, it is possible to display imaging information on the display unit 310 and record information such as identification information, position information, and imaging information in the recording unit. 3 can save battery and recording area.

  Further, a central processing unit (having a general CPU function) built in the video camera 3 as a management unit (not shown) that controls each unit outputs unique identification information, position information, and imaging information to an external device. .

FIG. 2 shows an example of a configuration diagram of the video camera 3 of the present embodiment. The video camera 3 includes a wireless reception unit 4. As described above with reference to FIG. 1, the wireless receiver 4 is wirelessly connected to a tripod 410, a camera platform 411, a lens hood 412, a microphone 413, a housing 414 that houses the display unit 310, and a remote controller 415 that operates the video camera 3. It has a function of an antenna for receiving a signal. For simplicity of explanation, some elements are not shown. Further, it has a main recording unit 303 and a sub recording unit 304 for recording video information.
The communication unit 401 has a function of exchanging information with an external device in addition to wireless reception, and outputs at least information such as imaging information to the external device. The subject identification information 5 of the subject 2 received by the video camera 3 is measured by a predetermined positioning method based on the unique identification information of the wireless signal and the positioning information, and the position information is extracted.

  Based on the position information, control information is output according to a predetermined control algorithm, and the pan / tilt head 411 is controlled vertically and horizontally to adjust the orientation of the video camera 3 so that the wireless tag 1 can be imaged. After the orientation of the video camera 3 is adjusted and the video camera 3 is adjusted so that the wireless tag 1 can be imaged, the subject is imaged by the imaging unit 301 and the imaging information is sent to the subject recognition unit 302. When the face of the subject 2 can be detected by the subject recognition unit 302, the auto zoom control unit (not shown) zooms so that the size of the face to be displayed becomes a predetermined value, and the subject 2 is photographed. When the face of the subject 2 cannot be detected by the subject recognition unit 301, the vicinity of the subject 2 is photographed by controlling to a predetermined zoom value according to the distance obtained from the position information. Further, the video camera 3 may have an electronic pan and electronic tilt function without a pan head, and may take an image according to the movement of the wireless tag 1 held by the subject 2.

  After preparing the video camera 3 in a state where the wireless tag 1 can be imaged as in the first embodiment, the zoom value is always controlled to a predetermined zoom value according to the distance of the wireless tag 1. After controlling to a predetermined zoom value to make it possible to shoot, face detection is performed. If a face is detected, shooting is started and recording is performed. If face detection is not performed to detect a face, shooting is stopped and recording is stopped. In this way, the zooming is performed according to the distance from the wireless tag 1, and the image is captured and recorded only when a face is detected while always being in an imageable state.

  The video camera 3 extracts subject detection accuracy information including a value indicating how accurately the subject 2 has detected the face of the subject 2 from the imaging information. Further, position detection accuracy information including a value indicating how accurately the position of the wireless tag 1 is detected is extracted.

  The subject detection accuracy information and the position detection accuracy information are switched as reference information for auto-zoom control depending on how high or low each is relative to a predetermined threshold.

  If the face of the subject 2 is blocked by an obstacle or the like and cannot be detected accurately, the subject detection accuracy information of the subject is lower than the predetermined threshold value and the position detection accuracy information is higher than the predetermined threshold value, the position information for position detection Auto zoom according to

On the other hand, when the radio wave condition is poor and the value of the position detection accuracy information is lower than the predetermined threshold and the value of the subject detection accuracy information is higher than the predetermined threshold, auto zooming is performed according to the imaging information obtained by imaging the subject 2. The video camera 3 picks up the subject 2 with high accuracy by selecting information to be used during auto-zooming based on the value of each detection accuracy information and photographing it.
In addition, this invention is not limited to an above-described Example, Various modifications are included. For example, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail for easy understanding of the present invention, and are not necessarily limited to those having all the configurations described. Further, a part of the configuration of one embodiment can be replaced with the configuration of another embodiment, and the configuration of another embodiment can be added to the configuration of one embodiment.

  As described above, according to the embodiment described above, by providing position information and face detection to a video camera that has been picked up by relying solely on human senses, it is possible to start and Since it is not necessary to search around when losing sight of the subject, it is possible to shoot the subject more efficiently. Further, as compared with the case of using only the wireless tag, when the subject is hidden, it is not necessary to record wastefully, so that the recording capacity and power can be saved. When the subject cannot be detected well, auto-zoom according to the position detection information, or conversely, when the position detection accuracy is low and the subject detection accuracy is high, auto-zooming is performed according to the subject's imaging information, and one detection accuracy is low Thus, it is possible to perform auto zoom while compensating for the other detection result. According to the invention as described above, it is possible to efficiently shoot and record a subject to be photographed by performing photographing using wireless tag position detection and face detection, and the subject is lost due to unexpected movement of the subject. It is possible to avoid failing to shoot the subject in such a scene or when it is not known when it will appear. In addition to the recorded subject imaging information, unique identification information and information associated with the unique identification information, for example, recorded by the child's name, can be displayed. In addition, it is possible to obtain the convenience effect of outputting to other recording media.

  In addition, by attaching a wireless tag to the subject and receiving a signal of the wireless tag by the communication unit, position information such as the position and distance of the subject can be detected. Based on this position information, the moving unit can automatically pan and tilt to point the imaging device in a direction in which the subject can be photographed. Auto-zoom using subject recognition makes it possible to photograph the subject with a predetermined display size, and to start or stop recording by recognizing the subject. In addition, the direction of the subject can be transmitted to the photographer by the display means and the sound output means as to which direction the subject can be photographed. As described above, since the target subject can be automatically photographed and recorded using the unique identification information of the wireless tag and the subject recognition, the above-described problem can be solved.

  The video information processing apparatus of the present invention extracts information on the position of a subject by position detection using a wireless tag, and based on the information on the position even if the subject is lost or cannot be recognized by human eyes. In addition, it is possible to efficiently photograph the target subject. In addition, it is possible to take an image efficiently by detecting a face portion from a signal obtained from the imaging unit. For example, even in an athletic meet where children of similar physiques gather in similar clothes, based on the position information of the wireless tag based on the information from the wireless tag and the imaging information of the imaged subject, It is possible to know the position by display and sound, and it is possible to take an image efficiently.

It is a figure of the video information processing apparatus by position detection of a video camera. It is a block diagram of a video camera.

Explanation of symbols

1 Wireless tag
2 Subject to be imaged
3 Video camera
301 Imaging unit
302 Subject recognition unit
311 Frame surrounding wireless tag and subject
312 Arrow indicating wireless tag
320 Finder
303 Main recording section
304 Secondary recording section
4 Wireless receiver
401 Communication unit
410 tripod
411 pan head
412 Lens Hood
413 microphone
414 Display housing
415 Video camera remote control
5 Subject identification information
500 DVD

Claims (3)

An imaging unit for imaging a subject;
A communication unit that communicates with the wireless tag;
A subject recognition unit for recognizing a subject based on information captured by the imaging unit;
A position detection unit that detects position information of the subject based on information from the wireless tag obtained by the communication unit;
A video information processing apparatus comprising: The video information processing apparatus according to claim 1,
An image information processing apparatus that controls start and end of photographing based on the subject recognition result. The video information processing apparatus according to claim 1,
A video information processing apparatus that performs zoom control according to the subject recognition result and the position detection result.

Images