JP2024062675A - Recording Control Method - Google Patents

Abstract

[Problem] To provide a technology for controlling ON/OFF of a recording function of a wearable imaging device. [Solution] A recording control method according to one aspect of the present disclosure is a recording control method for controlling a recording function of an imaging device that can be worn by a person, in which a computer executes a determination procedure for determining whether or not the person's hand is detected within an imaging range of the imaging device, and a control procedure for enabling the recording function if the person's hand is detected within the imaging range, and disabling the recording function if the person's hand is not detected within the imaging range. [Selected Figure] Figure 2

Description

This disclosure relates to a recording control method.

In recent years, wearable cameras have been increasingly introduced in factories, work sites, and the like (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 1). Images captured and recorded by these wearable cameras are expected to be used for various purposes, such as improving safety at the site, improving work efficiency, and technology transfer. On the other hand, images captured at factories, work sites, and the like may contain unrelated third parties or personal information, and there may be scenes that cannot be saved without permission from the perspective of privacy protection. In addition, although this is not a problem from the perspective of privacy protection, it is possible that unnecessary scenes other than those during work may be captured and recorded.

For this reason, conventionally, workers often manually turn the camera's recording function on and off depending on whether or not unrelated third parties or personal information is likely to be captured on camera, whether or not they are working, etc. In addition to switch and button operations, operations for turning the recording function on and off also include, for example, voice operations and gesture operations.

"On-site Work DX Solution", Internet <URL: https://www.ntt-tx.co.jp/products/fw-sol/>

However, when manually turning the camera's recording function on and off, the worker may forget to do so. This may result in, for example, recording footage that shows third parties or personal information, or recording unnecessary footage. Conversely, the camera may fail to record necessary footage. Furthermore, when turning the recording function on and off by voice control, voice recognition may fail depending on the surrounding noise, and as a result, the recording function may fail to be turned on and off. Similarly, when turning the recording function on and off by gesture control, gesture recognition may fail, and there is also the problem that it is time-consuming because the worker must consciously make gestures that are easily recognized.

It is also possible to protect privacy by applying image processing to the captured or recorded video to blur third parties or personal information, but this has the problem of being time-consuming and costly.

This disclosure has been made in consideration of the above points, and aims to provide a technology for controlling the ON/OFF of the recording function of a wearable imaging device.

A recording control method according to one aspect of the present disclosure is a recording control method for controlling a recording function of an imaging device that can be worn by a person, in which a computer executes a determination step for determining whether or not the person's hand is detected within an imaging range of the imaging device, and a control step for enabling the recording function if the person's hand is detected within the imaging range, and disabling the recording function if the person's hand is not detected within the imaging range.

A technology is provided for controlling the ON/OFF of the recording function of a wearable imaging device.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a wearable imaging device according to the present embodiment. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of a recording control process according to the embodiment; 1A to 1C are diagrams illustrating an example of the positional relationship between an arm and a captured image according to the position at which the wearable imaging device is worn.

One embodiment of the present invention will be described below. In the following embodiment, a wearable imaging device 10 capable of controlling ON/OFF of a recording function will be described, assuming that the device is worn by a worker in a factory, work site, etc. However, wearing the wearable imaging device 10 by a worker in a factory, work site, etc. is just one example, and is not limited to this. The wearable imaging device 10 described below may be worn by a worker performing some kind of work in various locations. The wearing position of the wearable imaging device 10 is not limited to a specific position, but it is assumed that the device is worn, for example, above the worker's head, on the chest, on the waist, etc.

Here, workers generally want to record footage of themselves working, but not footage of themselves not working. This is because footage of themselves working is useful for purposes such as improving on-site safety, work efficiency, and technology transfer, while footage of themselves not working is often unnecessary footage that is not useful for such purposes. Furthermore, footage of themselves not working may contain, for example, unrelated third parties or personal information, and may not be able to be saved from the standpoint of privacy protection, or may require image processing such as blurring or mosaic.

Focusing on the difference between video of the worker working and video of the worker not working, the worker's hands are often visible in the video of the worker working, whereas the hands are often not visible in the video of the worker not working. Therefore, in the wearable imaging device 10 according to this embodiment, the recording function is controlled to be turned on/off based on whether hands are visible in the video. This makes it possible to control the recording of video of the worker working while not recording video of the worker not working. This prevents, for example, unnecessary video from being recorded, or video that cannot be saved from the standpoint of privacy protection or requires image processing from being recorded, making it possible to record only the necessary video.

<Example of Functional Configuration of Wearable Imaging Device 10>
An example of the functional configuration of the wearable imaging device 10 according to this embodiment is shown in Fig. 1. As shown in Fig. 1, the wearable imaging device 10 according to this embodiment has an imaging unit 101, a recording control unit 102, and a recording unit 103. Each of these units is realized by, for example, processing executed by one or more programs installed in the wearable imaging device 10 in a computing device such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or an MPU (Micro Processing Unit).

The imaging unit 101 is a functional unit that realizes an imaging function, and controls the camera device provided in the wearable imaging device 10 to capture images within the imaging range of the camera device. As the imaging unit 101 captures images within the imaging range, a video (moving image) is created in which the images within the imaging range (hereinafter also referred to as captured images) are used as frame images. Note that capturing images may also be referred to as "photographing." In addition to controlling the camera device, the imaging unit 101 may also control a microphone provided in the wearable imaging device 10 to collect surrounding sounds.

The recording control unit 102 is a functional unit that controls ON/OFF of the recording function, and turns the recording function ON or OFF based on whether or not a hand is captured within the range of the image captured by the imaging unit 101. Whether the recording function is ON or OFF can be expressed, for example, by a flag or the like. Note that the ON/OFF of the recording function may also be referred to, for example, as the enable/disable of the recording function.

The recording unit 103 is a functional unit that realizes a recording function, and when the recording function is ON, it records images (captured images) within the imaging range captured by the imaging unit 101. The recording unit 103 may store the video composed of these recorded captured images in a memory (e.g., a flash memory or USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory or microSD card provided in the wearable imaging device 10), or may store the video in another device (e.g., a PC (personal computer) or a server) connected wirelessly or wired to the wearable imaging device 10.

<Recording control process>
In the following, assuming that the imaging range is imaged by the imaging unit 101, a recording control process for controlling recording of the image generated by the imaging will be described with reference to Fig. 2. Steps S101 to S105 in Fig. 2 are repeatedly executed during imaging (for example, repeated every nΔ seconds, where the frame interval between frame images is Δ seconds and n is a predetermined integer of 1 or more). In the following, the current time will be represented as t.

First, the recording control unit 102 determines whether the recording function is ON (step S101).

If it is not determined in step S101 above that the recording function is ON (i.e., the recording function is OFF at the current time t), the recording control unit 102 determines whether or not a hand has been detected in the captured image at the current time t (step S102). The recording control unit 102 may determine whether or not a hand has been detected in the captured image using, for example, existing image recognition technology.

The recording control unit 102 may determine whether or not a hand has been detected by using captured images from time t-mΔ to the current time t, where m is a predetermined integer equal to or greater than 1. This allows for more accurate detection of hands.

If it is determined in step S102 above that a hand has been detected in the captured image at the current time t, the recording control unit 102 turns on the recording function (step S103). As a result, the captured image is recorded by the recording unit 103 from the current time t onwards until the recording function is turned off.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S102 above that a hand is not detected in the captured image at the current time t, the recording control unit 102 ends the recording control process. In this case, the recording function remains OFF.

If it is determined in step S101 above that the recording function is ON (i.e., the recording function is ON at the current time t), the recording control unit 102 determines whether or not a hand has been detected in the captured image at the current time t, similar to step S102 above (step S104).

If it is determined in step S104 above that a hand has not been detected in the captured image at the current time t, the recording control unit 102 turns off the recording function (step S105). This stops the recording of the captured image by the recording unit 103 from the current time t onwards until the recording function is turned on.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S104 above that a hand has been detected in the captured image at the current time t, the recording control unit 102 ends the recording control process. In this case, the recording function remains ON.

As described above, the wearable imaging device 10 according to this embodiment has the recording function ON while a hand is detected in the captured image, and OFF the recording function otherwise. This makes it possible to turn the recording function ON only while the worker is working, and as a result, only footage of the worker working is recorded, and recording of other footage can be prevented. This prevents, for example, unnecessary footage from being recorded, or footage that cannot be saved from a privacy standpoint or that requires image processing from being recorded, making it possible to record only the necessary footage.

Moreover, since there is no need to perform any operation to turn the recording function on or off, the worker can turn the recording function on and off without even thinking about it. This makes it possible to prevent situations where, for example, necessary images are not recorded due to an oversight, or conversely, unnecessary images are recorded.

<Modification>
Modifications of the above embodiment will now be described.

<Modification 1>
In the above embodiment, there is no particular limitation on the hands detected in the captured image, but for example, the recording function may be turned on/off only when a right hand is detected, the recording function may be turned on/off only when a left hand is detected, or the recording function may be turned on/off only when both hands are detected.

<<Modification 2>>
In the above embodiment, only the ON/OFF of the recording function is controlled, but in addition to this, for example, the imaging mode of the imaging unit 101 may be controlled depending on whether a "left hand", a "right hand", or "both hands" is detected. As a specific example, for example, when "both hands" are detected, the hands are zoomed in (enlarged), and when a "left hand" or a "right hand" is detected, the hands are zoomed out (reduced).

Furthermore, the imaging mode of the imaging unit 101 may be controlled according to the shape of the hand, for example. As a specific example, when a "left hand" or a "right hand" is detected, the imaging unit 101 may zoom out, whereas when the shape of the hand is a pointing finger, the imaging unit 101 may zoom in on the pointing finger (or may not zoom out). This is because when a finger is being pointed at an object, it is considered that the object is being checked for appearance, and it is preferable to record the object without zooming out, or to record the object by zooming in.

<Modification 3>
When "both hands" are detected in the above modification 2 and the hands are zoomed in, the zoom in (enlargement) may be centered on the midpoint of the line segment connecting the coordinates of the left hand and the coordinates of the right hand. That is, for example, when the coordinates of the left hand are ( _x1 , _y1 ) and the coordinates of the right hand are ( _x2 , _y2 ), the center of the zoom in may be ( _xc , _yc ). Here, _xc = ( _x1 + _x2 )/2, _yc = ( _y1 + _y2 )/2. This is because, when working with both hands, the work object to be recorded as an image is likely to be near both hands.

The coordinates ( _x1 , _y1 ) of the left hand may be, for example, the center of gravity of the area representing the left hand, or the coordinates pointed to by the tip of the left hand. Similarly, the coordinates ( _x2 , _y2 ) of the right hand may be, for example, the center of gravity of the area representing the right hand, or the coordinates pointed to by the tip of the right hand.

<Modification 4>
In the above embodiment, it is determined whether or not a hand is detected in the captured image at the current time t, but even during work, the hand may temporarily disappear from the captured image range due to, for example, changing the grip of a tool, picking up a part, etc. For this reason, if it is simply determined whether or not a hand is detected in the captured image at the current time t, the recording function may be frequently switched on and off.

Therefore, for example, even if a hand is no longer detected in a captured image, if the time during which the hand is not detected is within a certain period of time (for example, within kΔ seconds, where k is a predetermined integer equal to or greater than 1), the recording function may not be turned off. This can prevent the recording function from being frequently switched on and off, causing the recorded video to become choppy.

<Modification 5>
In the above embodiment, it is determined whether or not a hand is detected in the captured image at the current time t, but it may be determined whether or not a hand is detected in any position or range in the captured image. In other words, it may be determined whether or not a hand is detected in the captured image taking into account the position of the hand.

This makes it possible, for example, to not detect a hand if it is at the edge of a captured image, but to detect a hand if it is near the center of the captured image. Therefore, for example, if the hand of someone other than the worker is at the edge of the captured image, it is possible to not detect the other person's hand, preventing malfunctions.

<Modification 6>
The positional relationship between the arm and the captured image when the hand is detected in the captured image may vary depending on the wearing position of the wearable imaging device 10. For example, as shown in FIG. 3A, when the worker wears the wearable imaging device 10 on his head, the arms 1100 and 1200 are likely to be present at the lower part in the captured image 1000 and to be in contact with the lower side, left side, and right side of the captured image 1000. For example, as shown in FIG. 3B, when the worker wears the wearable imaging device 10 on his chest, the arms 1100 and 1200 are likely to be present between the lower part and the upper part in the captured image 1000 and to be in contact with the left side and right side of the captured image 1000. For example, as shown in FIG. 3C, when the worker wears the wearable imaging device 10 on his waist, the arms 1100 and 1200 are likely to be present at the upper part in the captured image 1000 and to be in contact with the lower side, left side, and right side of the captured image 1000.

Therefore, when determining whether a hand has been detected in the captured image at the current time t, the positional relationship between the arm and the captured image (i.e., the position or area in which the arm is captured, which side of the captured image the arm is in contact with, etc.) may be taken into consideration depending on whether the wearable imaging device 10 is worn. This makes it possible to prevent the hand from being detected if the positional relationship between the arm and the captured image differs from a predetermined one. For example, when a worker wears the wearable imaging device 10 on their waist, even if another person's hand is captured at the bottom of the captured image, it is possible to prevent the hand from being detected, thereby preventing malfunction.

The present invention is not limited to the specifically disclosed embodiments above, and various modifications, changes, and combinations with known technologies are possible without departing from the scope of the claims.

10 Wearable imaging device 101 Imaging unit 102 Recording control unit 103 Recording unit

Claims (3)

A recording control method for controlling a recording function of a wearable imaging device, comprising:
a determination step of determining whether or not the person's hand is detected within an imaging range of the imaging device;
a control procedure for enabling the recording function when the person's hand is detected within the imaging range, and disabling the recording function when the person's hand is not detected within the imaging range;
The computer performs the recording control method. The determination procedure includes:
The recording control method according to claim 1, wherein when determining whether or not the person's hand has been detected within the imaging range, the determination as to whether or not the person's hand has been detected is also based on the positional relationship between the person's arm and the imaging range, depending on the position at which the imaging device is worn. The control procedure includes:
3. The video recording control method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of: when the person's hand is detected within the imaging range, controlling an imaging mode of the imaging device depending on whether the detected hand is a left hand, a right hand, or both hands.

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