JP3075936B2 - Motion vector detection circuit and subject tracking camera device using the same - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a motion vector detecting circuit and a subject tracking camera apparatus using the same, and more particularly, to a motion vector detecting circuit used for a video camera for automatically tracking a subject and a subject using the same. The present invention relates to a tracking camera device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a subject tracking technique when a subject moving in a screen is photographed by a camera, there is a technique using color information. For example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 4-354490, a specific color is designated as a target of a subject, the specific color is detected from a video signal, and the subject is tracked.

[0003]

In this prior art, it is a prerequisite that a plurality of objects of the same color as the target do not exist in the screen. There was a problem that tracking could not be performed well. Therefore, a main object of the present invention is to provide a novel motion vector detecting circuit.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a subject tracking camera device which can favorably track a subject.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a motion vector detecting circuit for setting a plurality of detection blocks in a motion vector detection area and detecting a motion vector of a subject using color information of the detection blocks. A first calculating means for obtaining first color information data based on color information of a specific detection block; a second calculation for obtaining second color information for each detection block based on color information of each detection block Means, a same-color block detection means for detecting a same-color detection block that can be regarded as the same color as a specific detection block based on the first color information data and the second color information data, and a small block for detecting a small block constituted by the same color detection block A motion vector detection circuit comprising: a detection unit; a center of gravity detection unit that detects a center of gravity of a small block; and a unit that detects a motion vector of a subject based on the center of gravity. A.

A second invention is a subject tracking camera device using the above-described motion vector detection circuit.

[0007]

The first operation means calculates first color information data based on the color information of a specific detection block,
The calculation means calculates the second color information data for each detection block based on the color information for each detection block.
The color information includes three different types of color elements such as Y, RY, BY signals and Y, Cr, Cb signals.

Then, the same color block detecting means
Based on the first color information data and the second color information data, the same color detection block that can be regarded as the same color as the specific detection block is detected. For example, a correlation value between the first color information data and the second color information data is obtained, and if the correlation value is smaller than a predetermined threshold, the block is determined to be the same color detection block. Next, a small block is detected by the small block detecting means in accordance with the connection of the same color detection blocks. If there are a plurality of small blocks, the selecting means selects the largest small block.
Therefore, even when there are a plurality of objects of the same color as the target, the target subject is selected. Then, the center of gravity of the largest small block is detected by the center of gravity detection means,
A motion vector of the subject is detected based on the center of gravity of the small block.

The subject is tracked based on the motion vector. Note that the detection blocks may be arranged to overlap.

[0010]

According to the present invention, a target subject can be selected even when a plurality of objects of the same color as the target exist on the screen, so that only the subject can be tracked well. Further, when the detection blocks are arranged in an overlapping manner, the number of the second color information data of the other detection blocks to be compared with the first color information data of the specific detection block increases, so that the tracking of the subject can be performed with higher accuracy. Can be done.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of embodiments with reference to the drawings.

[0012]

FIG. 1 shows an object tracking camera device 10 constructed using a motion vector detecting circuit 14. As shown in FIG. The subject tracking camera device 10 includes a camera 12 that images a subject and converts the image into a video signal. The video signal from the camera 12 is provided to the motion vector detection circuit 14. The motion vector detection circuit 14 is configured, for example, as shown in FIG.

The motion vector detecting circuit 14 shown in FIG.
An A / D converter 16 is included. The A / D converter 16 converts the given video signal into digital data for each pixel. This digital data is, for example, Y, RY, B
-Data obtained by digitizing the Y signal. The video signal is supplied to the H-SYNC separation circuit 18 and the horizontal address counter 20. Horizontal address counter 20
In, the number of pixels in the horizontal direction is counted according to the video signal, and is reset for each line based on the horizontal synchronization signal from the H-SYNC separation circuit. The output from the horizontal address counter 20 is applied to a horizontal decoder 22, which outputs four types of horizontal signals H0 to H3.
Is output.

The video signal is applied to a V-SYNC separation circuit 24 and a vertical address counter 26. In the vertical address counter 26, the number of pixels in the vertical direction is counted according to the video signal, and V-SYN
It is reset based on the vertical synchronization signal from the C separation circuit 24. The output from the vertical address counter 26 is applied to a vertical decoder 28, which outputs three types of vertical signals V0 to V2.

The horizontal signals H0 to H3 and the vertical signal V
0 to V2 are signals as shown in FIGS. 3A to 3C, for example. FIG. 3 shows a screen 30 of the viewfinder 12 a of the camera 12.
The motion vector detection area 32 displayed at 0 is divided into, for example, 25 detection blocks 34 in this embodiment.

Further, the motion vector detecting circuit 14 uses the CP
U36. A tracking mode switch 38 for setting the subject tracking mode is connected to the CPU 36. When the tracking mode switch 38 is turned on, the CPU 36 outputs the initial field signal a in the field immediately after the start of the tracking operation of the subject, that is, in the initial field.

Further, a ROM 40 and a RAM 42 are connected to the CPU 36. The ROM 40 stores a program for controlling the operation of the motion vector detection circuit 14. The RAM 42 stores information indicating whether each detection block 34 is the same color detection block. If the detection block 34 is a detection block, A small block number, a change flag, and the like are stored.

The digital data of the video signal is
Based on the horizontal signals H0 and H1, the vertical signals V0 and V1, and the initial field signal a, the latch circuit 4
4 latched. That is, the tracking mode switch 38
Is turned on, an initial field signal a is output to the AND gate 46 during the initial field period. When the horizontal signal H0 and the vertical signal V0 are output in this initial field, an enable signal is output to the latch circuit 44 via AND gates 48 and 46.

The latch circuit 44 latches the data of each pixel of the specific detection block 34a shown in FIG. 4A based on the enable signal from the AND gate 46. In this embodiment, the central detection block 34 of the motion vector detection area 32 is selected as the specific detection block 34a. In the fields subsequent to the initial field, the initial field signal a is not output. Therefore, in the fields after the initial field,
When the horizontal signal H1 and the vertical signal V1 are output, AN
An enable signal is output to latch circuit 44 via D gates 50 and 52.

The latch circuit 44 latches the data of each pixel of each of the 25 detection blocks 34 shown in FIG. 4B based on the enable signal from the AND gate 52. Then, the latch circuit 44 outputs a detection block (the detection block 34a in FIG. 4A and the 25 detection blocks 3 in FIG. 4B) corresponding to the enable signal.
4) is supplied to the detection block integration circuit 54.

The operation of the detection block integration circuit 54 is shown in FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. The detection block 34 shown in FIG. 5 includes, for example, 8 × 8 = 64 pixels. As shown in FIG. 5, let the respective values of the three color elements constituting the color information of each pixel be y _ij , (ry) _ij , and (by) _ij . Then, the integrated color data of the color information of the pixels included in the specific detection block 34a is obtained by Expression 1.

[0022]

(Equation 1)

This integrated color data is obtained in the initial field. The selector 56 receives the initial field signal a
When the initial field signal a is output, the integrated color data from the detection block integration circuit 54 is stored in the representative color memory 58 via the selector 56 as representative color data. Further, in the fields subsequent to the initial field, the latch circuit 44 outputs signals from the latch circuit 44 based on an enable signal given through the AND gate 52 as shown in FIG.
The data of the pixels of all the 25 detection blocks 34 shown in FIG. In the detection block integrating circuit 54, 25 detection blocks 34
, Color information is integrated, and integrated color data is obtained. The integrated color data obtained by integrating the color information of the pixels for each of the detection blocks 34 is obtained by Expression 2.

[0024]

(Equation 2)

In the fields subsequent to the initial field, since the initial field signal a is not output to the selector 56, the number of detection blocks 34 (2 in this embodiment) is used.
The five integrated color data are stored in the integrated color memory 60 via the selector 56. The detection block integration circuit 54 includes, for example, a counter (not shown) that counts the number of pixels provided from the latch circuit 44. In this embodiment, if the counter counts 8 × 8 = 64 in the initial field, the integrated color data is output from the detection block integration circuit 54 to the representative color memory 58. Similarly, if the counter counts 8 × 8 × 25 = 1600 in the fields after the initial field, the integrated color data is output from the detection block integrating circuit 54 to the integrated color memory 60.

The AN connected to the latch circuit 62
A horizontal signal H2 as shown in FIG.
And the vertical signal V2, the representative color memory 58
Are integrated and supplied to the correlator 66. The AND gate 7 connected to the latch circuit 68
When the horizontal signal H3 and the vertical signal V2 as shown in FIG. 3C are applied to 0, the integrated color data in the integrated color memory 60 is latched and applied to the correlator 66. The horizontal signal H3 is output for the number of detected blocks. Therefore,
In this embodiment, 25 are output.

The correlator 66 performs an operation on the integrated color data from the latch circuit 62 and the integrated color data from the latch circuit 68. That is, the absolute value of the difference is calculated for the integrated color data of each color element according to Equation 3, and the sum D _xy is calculated.

[0028]

Equation 3] _{D xy = | Y xy -Y0 |} + | (R-Y) xy - (R
−Y) 0 | + | (B−Y) _xy− (B−Y) 0 | This calculation is performed for each detection block 34, and _Dxy, that is, a correlation value is obtained. This correlation value is provided to the CPU 36.

The operation of the CPU 36 will be described later in detail, but the CPU 36 compares the correlation value obtained for each detection block 34 with a predetermined threshold. The detection block 34 that satisfies the correlation value <the threshold value is a specific detection block 34a
Is determined to be the same color detection block that can be regarded as the same color. FIG.
(A) shows the same color detection block with diagonal lines. The same-color detection blocks are detected, and small blocks configured according to the concatenation of the same-color detection blocks are detected. If a plurality of small blocks are detected in the motion vector detection area 32,
The small block having the largest area is selected among them.
Further, the center of gravity of the small block having the largest area is determined. Then, the position data of the center of gravity of the small block having the largest area is given to the motion vector generation circuit 72.

The motion vector generating circuit 72 generates a motion vector as shown in FIG. 6B based on the given position data. In the next field, the motion vector is generated as shown in FIG.
As shown in (2), the motion vector detection area 32 is moved by the motion vector. The motion vector is shown in FIG.
Is output to the pan head control circuit 74 shown in FIG. Then, the camera platform control circuit 74 drives the driving device 76 based on the given motion vector. The movement of the camera platform 78 is controlled in the horizontal direction, the vertical direction, and the like by the driving device 76, and accordingly, the tracking operation of the camera 12 is controlled. That is, the camera 12 is controlled such that the motion vector becomes zero (the broken line portion 32a in FIG. 6C overlaps the motion vector detection area 32).

As described above, the detection block 34a for detecting a specific color is set, and the movement of the subject is detected by following the color. Next, with reference to FIGS. 7 to 9, main operations of the subject tracking camera device 10 using the motion vector detection circuit 14 will be described. First,
In step S1 shown in FIG. 7, a video signal is input, and the process proceeds to step S3. In step S3, it is determined whether or not the field is an initial field. Tracking mode switch 3
When the field 8 is turned on and the field is immediately after the start of the tracking operation of the subject, it is determined that the field is the initial field.

If "YES" is determined in the step S3, the vertical signal V0 is output in the step S5 and the horizontal signal H0 is output in the step S7.
Go to 9. In step S9, the detection block integration circuit 54 calculates the integration color data of the color information of the detection block 34a. In step S11, it is determined whether the counter in the detection block integration circuit 54 has reached a predetermined count value. . In this embodiment, it is determined whether or not the count value has reached 64. If “YES”, the flow proceeds to step S13, the integrated color data of the color information is stored in the representative color memory 58, and the flow proceeds to step S15. Step S
When 5, 5, and S11 are "NO", the process proceeds to step S15.

When the vertical signal V2 is output in step S15 and the horizontal signal H2 is output in step S17, the process proceeds to step S19. In step S19, the integrated color data stored in the representative color memory 58 is provided to the correlator 66 via the latch circuit 62, and the process returns to step S1. When steps S15 and S17 are "NO", the process returns to step S1.

Then, in step S1, a video signal is input, and if step S3 is "NO", the flow proceeds to step S21. When the vertical signal V1 is output in step S21 and the horizontal signal H1 is output in step S23, the process proceeds to step S25. In step S25, the detection block integration circuit 54 calculates the integrated color data of each of the 25 detection blocks 34, and then proceeds to step S27.
Proceed to. In step S27, it is determined whether the counter in the detection block integrating circuit 54 has reached a predetermined count value. In this embodiment, 64 × 25 = 1600
Is determined. If "YES", in step S29, the integrated color data is stored in the integrated color memory 60, and the process proceeds to step S31. Step S21,
When S23 and S27 are "NO", the process proceeds to step S31.

When the vertical signal V2 is output in step S31 and the horizontal signal H3 is output in step S33, the process proceeds to step S35. In step S35, the integrated color data stored in the integrated color memory 60 is provided to the correlator 66 via the latch circuit 68, and the process proceeds to step S37. Steps S31 and S33 are "NO"
In this case, the process returns to step S1.

In step S37, a correlation operation is performed as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, for example. That is, first, in step S39 shown in FIG. 8, the correlator 66 calculates the correlation value, that is, _Dxy for each detection block 34 using Expression 3. Then, in step S41, it is determined whether or not the loop has been performed for the number of detected blocks. In this embodiment, it is determined whether the loop has been performed 25 times. If “NO”, the CPU proceeds to step S43.
At 36, it is determined for each detection block 34 whether or not the correlation value <the threshold value. If "YES", it is determined that the block is the same color detection block, and in step S45, the label 1 is set to the detection block 34, and the process returns to step S41. If “NO” in the step S43, it is determined that the block is not the same color detection block, and the detection block 34 is set to the label 0,
It returns to step S41. This processing is performed for all the detection blocks 34, and for example, a result as shown in FIG. When the above processing is completed for all the detection blocks 34, step S41 becomes "YES", and labeling for each small block, that is, classification of small blocks as described below is performed.

First, in step S49, i = co
nst (a given value may be arbitrarily set) is set, and in this embodiment, i = 5. Next, step S51
In, it is determined whether or not the loop has been performed for the number of detected blocks. As in step S41, in this embodiment, it is determined whether the loop has been performed 25 times. If “NO”, it is determined in step S53 whether or not the label of the detection block 34 is “1”, that is, whether or not the detection block 34 is the same color detection block. If “NO”, the process returns to the step S51, and if “YES”, the process proceeds to a step S55. In step S55, the label i is set in the detection block 34 of the label 1. In this embodiment, FIG.
First, a label 5 is set as shown in FIG. Then, in step S57, the change flag is turned off,
The process proceeds to step S59 shown in FIG. Hereinafter, the small block of the label 5 is detected.

In step S59, it is determined whether or not looping has been performed by the number of detected blocks. As in step S41, in this embodiment, it is determined whether the loop has been performed 25 times. If “NO”, it is determined in step S61 whether or not the label of the detection block 34 is i. In this embodiment, it is first determined whether or not the label is 5. “YE
If S ", it is determined in step S63 whether or not the label around the label i (up, down, left, right, diagonal) is" 1 ". If "YES", the label i is set in the peripheral detection block 34 in step S65. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 10C, the label 5 is set in the peripheral detection block 34. Then, step S6
At 7, the change flag is turned on, and the process returns to step S59. When steps S61 and S63 are "NO", the process returns to step S59. Step S59
Are repeated until the answer is "YES", the label i is added to the peripheral detection block 34.
Is set. Then, step S59 returns "YE
If S ”is reached, the process proceeds to step S69.

In step S69, it is determined whether or not the change flag is turned on. If "YES", the change flag is turned off in step S71, and step S71 is executed.
Return to 59. Then, it is determined again whether or not the label is "i" for each detection block 34, and in this embodiment, whether or not the label is "5". In the second label search,
If there is no detection block 34 of label 1 around the detection block 34 of label 5, the process proceeds to step S69 with the change flag turned off. On the other hand, in the second cycle of the label search, if there is at least one detection block 34 of the label 1 around the detection block of the label 5, the process proceeds to step S69 with the change flag turned on. to go into. Then, the above-described steps S59 to S59 are performed until the process proceeds to step S69 with the change flag turned off.
Step 71 is repeated. Thus, FIG.
As shown in (D) and (E), a small block of the label 5 is formed.

When the process proceeds to step S69 with the change flag turned off, step S69 becomes "NO" and the process proceeds to step S73. In step S73,
i is incremented by 1 (i = i + 1), and step S5
Return to 1. Then, the same processing as described above is repeated. That is, a small block is formed for the label 6, and then a small block is formed for the label 7 (FIGS. 10F to 10H). Then, a small block is searched for the label 8, but since the detection block 34 for the label 1 has already been deleted, steps S51 and S5 are performed.
The process proceeds to step S75 only by looping through step 3 without detecting the small block of label 8. Step S75
In, the small block having the largest area among the plurality of small blocks is selected. At this time, by counting the number of detection blocks 34 having the same label, a small block having the largest area can be found. Next, in step S77, the center of gravity of the largest small block is obtained. At this time,
The center of gravity is obtained by dividing the sum of the X coordinate and the sum of the Y coordinate of each detection block 34 included in the small block having the maximum area by the number of detection blocks.

In step S 79, the position data of the center of gravity of the small block having the largest area is output to the motion vector generation circuit 72. Returning to FIG. 7, in step S81, a motion vector is generated by the motion vector generation circuit 72 using the distance between the center of the detection block 34a and the center of gravity of the small block having the largest area as the movement amount.
At 3, the motion vector is output to the camera platform control circuit 74.

That is, the area of the subject is smaller than the screen 30 and the same color detection block is
If there is only one for two, it is determined that the detection block 34a, that is, the center of the motion vector detection area 32 has moved to the center of gravity of the same color detection block. When the area of the subject is large with respect to the screen 30 and the same color detection block occupies a large area with respect to the motion vector detection area 32, it is determined that the center of the detection block 34a has moved to the center of gravity of the small block. You. Further, when the same color detection block is divided into a plurality of small blocks with respect to the motion vector detection area 32, it is determined that the center of the detection block 14a has moved to the center of gravity of the small block having the largest area. In this way, the movement amount of the detection block 34a is detected, and a motion vector is output.

Based on the motion vector, the object tracking operation of the camera 12 is controlled as described above, and the operation ends. In this way, the movement of the subject is detected as the movement of the detection block 34a in the motion vector detection area 32, and the direction of the camera 12 is controlled so as to track the detection block 34a.

Further, the subject tracking camera device 10 is
A motion vector detection circuit 14 'as shown in FIG. The motion vector detection circuit 14 'employs a method of overlapping detection blocks. Here, as shown in FIG. 12, a detection block 80 indicated by a broken line is arranged so as to overlap the detection block 34 similar to the embodiment of FIG. There are 25 detection blocks 34 and 16 detection blocks 80
There are pieces. Each of the detection blocks 34 and 80 has the same area, and the degree of overlap between the detection blocks 34 and 80 is, here, the detection block 34 (detection block 80).
Is about 1/4 of the area. When the detection blocks are overlapped as shown in FIG. 12, the distance between the center detection block 34a and the upper, lower, left and right detection blocks 80 becomes uniform, and the detection block 34a and the upper left, lower right, upper left, lower left,
The distance from each detection block 80 at the lower right becomes uniform.
That is, since the detection blocks 80 can be arranged obliquely vertically, horizontally, and symmetrically around the detection block 34a, the motion vector can be detected with the same accuracy in any direction.

This motion vector detecting circuit 14 'is provided with the configuration shown in FIG.
A latch circuit 82, a detection block integrating circuit 84, AND gates 86 and 88 are added to the motion vector detection circuit 14 shown in FIG.
Is added. The other configuration is the same as that of the motion vector detection circuit 14, and the description thereof will not be repeated. In the motion vector detecting circuit 14 ', when the horizontal signal H2 and the vertical signal V2 are output in a field where the initial field signal a is not output to the latch circuit 88, that is, in a field after the initial field,
An enable signal is applied to latch circuit 82 via AND gates 86 and 88. Thus, when the latch circuit 82 is enabled, the A / D converter 1
The digital data of each detection block 80 from No. 6 is latched, and the same calculation as that of the above-described detection block integration circuit 54 is performed in the detection block integration circuit 84. The integrated color data, which is the calculation result of the detection block integrating circuit 84, is stored in the integrated color memory 60. Therefore, the integrated color memory 60 stores the integrated color data of two systems of the detection blocks 34 and 80.

As shown in FIGS. 13A to 13C, the horizontal decoder 22 outputs horizontal signals H0 to H4.
And vertical decoders 28 output vertical signals V0 to V3. Further, a horizontal signal H3 and a vertical signal V3 are supplied to the AND gate 64 connected to the latch circuit 62, respectively, as shown in FIG. 1
3C, the horizontal signal H4 and the vertical signal V3
Are given. The horizontal signal H4 is output by the number of detection blocks (25 + 16 = 41 in this embodiment). The detection block integration circuit 84 includes a counter similar to the detection block integration circuit 54. When the count value of this counter becomes 8 × 8 × 16 = 1024, the detection block integration circuit 84 stores the integrated color data from the integrated color memory 6
0 is given.

The main operation of the subject tracking camera device 10 using the motion vector detecting circuit 14 'will be described with reference to FIG. In step S101 shown in FIG.
First, a video signal is input, and it is determined in step S103 whether or not the current field is an initial field. If “YES”, if the vertical signal V0 is output in step S105 and the horizontal signal H0 is output in step S107,
Proceed to step S109. In step S109,
The detection block integrating circuit 54 calculates integrated color data,
Proceed to step S111. In step S111,
It is determined whether the counter in the detection block integrating circuit 54 has reached a predetermined count value. In this embodiment, 64
Is determined. If “YES”, in step S113, the integrated color data from the detection block integrating circuit 54 is stored in the representative color memory 58, and the process proceeds to step S115. If steps S105, S107 and S111 are "NO", then step S11
Go to 5.

When the vertical signal V3 is output in step S115 and the horizontal signal H3 is output in step S117, the accumulated color data stored in the representative color memory 58 is passed through the latch circuit 62 to the correlator 66 in step S119. And the process returns to step S101.
When steps S115 and S117 are "NO",
The process returns to step S101.

On the other hand, if step S103 is "NO", that is, if it is a field after the initial field, the process proceeds to step S121. In step S121, the vertical signal V
1 is output and the horizontal signal H is output in step S123.
When 1 is output, the process proceeds to step S125. In step S125, integrated color data is calculated for each of the 25 detection blocks 34, and the flow advances to step S127.
In step S127, the integration block detection circuit 54
It is determined whether or not the counter in the inside has reached a predetermined count value. In this embodiment, it is determined whether or not 8 × 8 × 25 = 1600. If "YES", each detection block 3 is stored in the integrated color memory 60 in step S129.
4 is stored, and the flow advances to step S131. If step S127 is "NO", step S1
Go to 31.

When the vertical signal V2 is output in step S131 and the horizontal signal H2 is output in step S133, the process proceeds to step S135. Step S1
At 35, the integrated color data of each of the 16 detection blocks 80 is calculated by the detection block integration circuit 84, and the process proceeds to step S137. In step S137, it is determined whether the counter in the detection block integrating circuit 84 has reached a predetermined count value. In this embodiment, 8 × 8 × 1
It is determined whether 6 = 1024. “YES”
If so, in step S139, the integrated color memory 60
Each detection block 80 from the detection block integration circuit 84
Is stored. And step S141
Proceed to. Steps S121, S123, S131, S1
When “33” is selected for S33 and S137, the process proceeds to step S141.

When the vertical signal V3 is output in step S141 and the horizontal signal H4 is output in step S143, the process proceeds to step S145. When steps S141 and S143 are “NO”, the process returns to step S101. In step S145, the integrated color data stored in the integrated color memory 60 is output to the correlator 66 via the latch circuit 68. In step S147, a correlation operation is performed. In this operation, the processing shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 is performed as in the previous embodiment. Then, in step S149, a motion vector is generated by the motion vector generation circuit 72.
At 151, a motion vector is output. The subject tracking operation of the camera 12 is controlled based on the motion vector, and ends.

As described above, by overlapping the detection block 80 with the detection block 34, the interval between the detection blocks is narrowed, and the detection accuracy of the movement amount is increased, so that a more accurate motion vector can be calculated. In the above-described embodiment, the three color information of the Y, RY, and BY signals are used as the color information.
One color element was used. This is effective when processing a video signal or the like. In addition, when processing signals of a primary color CCD or the like, three color elements of R, G, and B signals are used, and when processing a CCD or the like having a complementary color mosaic filter, Y, Cr is used. (= R-2G), Cb (=
B-2G) It is preferable to use three color components of the signal.

Further, three color elements of R / Y, G / Y, and B / Y signals obtained by dividing the R, G, and B signals by the Y signal may be used. In this way, by dividing by the Y signal and normalizing, it is possible to remove the influence of lightness due to a difference in illumination or the like, and assume that if the hue and the saturation are the same, they are regarded as the same color. Further, the threshold is arbitrarily set according to the required degree of correlation and the type of the color element constituting the color information.

In the above embodiment, the case where the motion vector detecting circuit is applied to the object tracking camera device 10 has been described. However, the motion vector detecting circuit of the present invention can be applied to a video camera having a camera shake correcting device. Needless to say.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a subject tracking camera device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a motion vector detection circuit.

3A is an illustrative view showing a horizontal signal and a vertical signal for generating an enable signal of a latch circuit 44, and FIG. 3B is a schematic diagram showing a horizontal signal and a vertical signal for generating an enable signal of a latch circuit 62; FIG. 4 is an illustrative view showing a signal,
FIG. 3C is an illustrative view showing a horizontal signal and a vertical signal for generating an enable signal of the latch circuit 68;

FIG. 4A is an illustrative view showing a specific detection block, and FIG. 4B is an illustrative view showing all detection blocks.

FIG. 5 is an illustrative view showing a detection block and pixels;

FIGS. 6A to 6C are illustrative views for explaining generation of a motion vector and an object tracking operation.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing main operations of this embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation of a correlation operation.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a continuation of FIG. 8;

FIGS. 10A to 10H are illustrative views for explaining a correlation operation.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing another example of the motion vector detection circuit.

FIG. 12 is an illustrative view showing a detection block used in the motion vector detection circuit in FIG. 11;

13A is an illustrative view showing a horizontal signal and a vertical signal for generating an enable signal of the latch circuits 44 and 82, and FIG. 13B is a schematic diagram showing a horizontal signal for generating an enable signal of the latch circuit 62; FIG. 9C is an illustrative view showing a horizontal signal and a vertical signal for generating an enable signal of the latch circuit 68; FIG.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing main operations of the embodiment in FIG. 11;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Camera tracking camera device 12 ... Camera 14, 14 '... Motion vector detection circuit 22 ... Horizontal decoder 28 ... Vertical decoder 32 ... Motion vector detection area 34,80 ... Detection block 34a ... Specific detection block 36 ... CPU 44,62 , 68, 82 ... Latch circuits 54, 84 ... Detection block integration circuit 56 ... Selector 58 ... Representative color memory 60 ... Integration color memory 66 ... Correlator 72 ... Motion vector generation circuit 74 ... Pan head control circuit 76 ... Driving device 78 ... Head

Claims (7)

(57) [Claims] 1. A motion vector detection circuit for setting a plurality of detection blocks in a motion vector detection area and detecting a motion vector of a subject using color information of the detection blocks, wherein a color of a specific detection block is First calculating means for obtaining first color information data based on information; second calculating means for obtaining second color information for each detection block based on color information for each detection block; first color information A same-color block detection unit that detects a same-color detection block that can be regarded as the same color as the specific detection block based on data and the second color information data; a small-block detection unit that detects a small block configured by the same-color detection block; A motion center comprising: a center of gravity detecting means for detecting a center of gravity of the small block; and means for detecting a motion vector of the subject based on the center of gravity. Torque detection circuit. 2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: selecting means for selecting a largest small block when there are a plurality of said small blocks in said motion vector detection area, wherein said center of gravity detecting means detects a center of gravity of said largest small block. 2. The motion vector detection circuit according to 1. 3. The motion vector detection circuit according to claim 1, wherein said color information includes three different types of color elements. 4. The three color elements are Y, RY, B-
4. The motion vector detection circuit according to claim 3, wherein the motion vector detection circuit is a Y signal. 5. The motion vector detecting circuit according to claim 3, wherein said three kinds of color elements are Y, Cr, Cb signals. 6. The motion vector detection circuit according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of detection blocks in the motion vector detection area are arranged in an overlapping manner. 7. An object tracking camera device using the motion vector detection circuit according to claim 1.