JP3147553B2 - Automatic photography equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic photographing apparatus,
In particular, the present invention relates to an automatic photographing apparatus for automatically selecting a desired subject from a photographing area and photographing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a technique for automatically photographing a desired subject, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, a desired subject is selected from a video I taken by a television camera (not shown). In order to automatically narrow down the photographing area and obtain the image, first, the entire photographing area is photographed by a television camera (not shown), and a template depicting the subject A to be automatically photographed is prepared in advance. The image is captured and stored, and the correlation between the image I obtained by the television camera and the image obtained by shooting the template is calculated, and the shooting area is automatically narrowed to a part B having a high correlation in the shooting area. It is known to obtain a photographed image of a desired subject A (for example, "Digital Image Processing" (published by Modern Science Co., Ltd.)
306-P312).

[0003]

However, in the above-described technique, it is necessary to provide a template for depicting a desired subject, and there is a problem that it takes time and effort to take a picture and lacks in convenience.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides an automatic photographing apparatus capable of performing automatic photographing with a simple configuration.

[0005]

[MEANS FOR SOLVING THE PROBLEMS] To achieve the above object
The automatic photographing apparatus according to the present invention is a television camera that outputs a video signal at a constant frame period, and a selection light generation unit that blinks light of a specific wavelength at a period twice as long as the frame period of the television camera. A reflecting member that reflects light from the selection light generating means and is attachable to an object desired to be photographed;
A difference detection unit that detects a difference between a video signal acquired by the television camera in the light emission state of the selection light generation unit and a video signal acquired by the television camera in the off state of the selection light generation unit. Do
It is characterized by.

[0006]

Since the reflection of the light emitted from the selection light generating means in the light emission state of the selection light generation means is greater than that of the selection light generation means in the light emitting state of the selection light generation means from the subject to which the reflection member is attached. When the difference between the video signal captured by the television camera when the means is in the light emitting state and the video signal captured by the television camera when the selection light generating means is in the off state, the object to which the reflective member is attached is obtained. Can be recognized, the position in the video captured by the television camera can be recognized, and the television camera can be automatically pointed at a desired subject to obtain an appropriate video.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An automatic photographing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. Here, FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a configuration of an automatic photographing apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a configuration of a processing section constituting the automatic photographing apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of the selection light generator used in the automatic photographing apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a document for explaining a document to be subjected to zoom photographing in the embodiment shown in FIG. FIG.

First, this automatic photographing apparatus includes a camera unit 1
, An illumination unit 2, a selection light generation unit 3, and a processing unit 4. As shown in FIG. 1, the camera unit 1, the illuminating unit 2, and the selection light generating unit 3 are mounted on the ceiling of a room to be photographed. The camera section 1 includes a camera body 5 having a zoom lens 6 and a moving mechanism 7 for moving the camera body 5 vertically and horizontally. The zoom lens 6 is controlled by a control circuit (not shown) in the camera body 5 in response to a control signal from a processing unit 4 described later. The camera body 5 is preferably a color television camera because it has a higher sensitivity to the wavelength of light than a monochrome television camera. The illumination unit 2 illuminates the photographing space, and a filter 9 for blocking transmission of light of a specific wavelength is provided on the front surface of the illumination unit 2. here,
The wavelength of the light cut off by the filter 9 is set to the wavelength of the light output from the selection light generation unit 3 described later.

The selection light generator 3 generates light of a single wavelength. In this embodiment, the selection light generator 3 is composed of a plurality of high-brightness LEDs 19, and is arranged on an original (see FIG. 1 (not shown).
The selection light generating section 3 blinks at a period twice as long as the frame period of the camera body 5 and in synchronization with the frame of the camera body 5. On the other hand, the processing section 4 includes a frame memory 10, a difference circuit 11, a threshold processing circuit 12, a position detection circuit 13, and a camera control circuit 14. The frame memory 10 stores one frame of video signal photographed by the camera unit 1, and its output terminal is connected to the difference circuit 11. The difference circuit 11 calculates the difference between the video signal for one frame input from the frame memory 10 and the video signal input from the camera body 5, and its output terminal is a threshold processing circuit 12 It is connected to the.

The position detecting circuit 13 includes a threshold processing circuit 1
The position of a desired subject is determined based on the result of step 2, and the position information is output to the camera control circuit 14. The camera control circuit 14 generates a control signal necessary for the moving mechanism 7 to move the camera body 5 to a position suitable for subject photographing, based on the position information of the desired subject inputted from the position detecting circuit 13 and , And outputs a control signal necessary for adjusting the zoom lens 6 to the camera body 5.

The operation of the apparatus having the above configuration will be described below. First, the present apparatus is used under the following circumstances. That is, in the present apparatus, the presenter can communicate with other attendees based on the manuscript 15 on the table 8 (see FIG. 4A) while sitting at a conference or the like held in the room where the present apparatus is provided. At the time of explanation, the document 15 is photographed by the present apparatus, and is used for the convenience of other attendees by displaying it on a monitor-television (not shown) in the conference room. The explainer may, for example, be manuscript 1
If it is desired to show the upper three lines in 5 to other attendees, an underline 17 as a reflection member is drawn in the horizontal direction of the original 15 with a marker pen 16 immediately below the three lines (FIG. 4 (a)
reference). Here, the marker pen 16 uses a paint that reflects light of a specific wavelength as ink, and in the present embodiment, selectively reflects the light of the LED 19 constituting the selection light generating unit 3. It is made using ink.

After the underline 17 is drawn on the original 15 by the marker pen 16 as described above, the entire table 8 is photographed by the camera section 1. Here, the frame cycle of the camera body 5 is 1/2 of the blinking cycle of the selection light generating unit 3, and therefore, as shown in FIG. Then, a video signal of one frame is obtained by the camera body 5. For example, if an image for the first frame is obtained by the camera body 5 when the selection light generating unit 3 is in the light emitting state, the first video signal is temporarily stored in the frame memory 10.
In the next frame, the selection signal generator 3 is turned off, and the video signal of the entire table 8 in a state where the light from the selection light generator 3 is not irradiated is compared with the difference circuit 11 and the frame memory 10. Are input at the same time.

In the frame memory 10, at the same time as the input of a new video signal, the previously stored video signal one frame before is output to the difference circuit 11, and the stored content is stored in the newly input video signal. It will be updated to a signal. On the other hand, in the difference circuit 11, the video signal input from the frame memory 10, that is, the video signal Sa photographed in the light emission state of the selection light generation unit 3, and the selection light generation unit 3 input from the camera unit 1 Is calculated with the video signal Sb photographed in the unlit state. That is,
An underline drawn on the original 15 by the marker pen 16
In the line 17, in particular, the light from the selection light generating unit 3 is reflected more than its surroundings.
By taking the difference between the data and the video signal Sb, only the portion where the underline 17 is applied remains in the image of the entire table 8 taken. And this difference circuit 11
The threshold value processing circuit 13 determines whether or not the difference calculated in step (1) exceeds a predetermined threshold value. When the threshold processing circuit 13 determines that the difference exceeds a predetermined threshold, the position detection circuit 13 determines the position at which the difference is detected,
That is, the position of the underline 17 is determined, and the position information is output to the camera control circuit 14.

The camera control circuit 14 outputs a control signal to the moving mechanism 7 based on the position information input from the position detection circuit 13 so that the camera body 5 is directed toward the original 15 on which the underline 17 is provided. At the same time, as shown in FIG. 4B, a control signal is output to the camera body 5 so that a portion above the underline 17 is zoomed.

Next, another embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, the point that the photographing target is a person is
This is different from the previous embodiment. That is, in this embodiment, the subject wears the helmet 18, and the helmet 18 is coated with a paint that reflects the light of the LED 19 constituting the selection light generating unit 3 (the shaded portion in FIG. 5). Therefore, even if the subject changes the position, the camera body 5 is moved based on the same principle as described in the previous embodiment.
Will always capture the subject.

In this embodiment, a marker pen 16 is used in which the object to be photographed is an ink made of a paint that reflects the light generated by the LED 19 of the selection light generator 3.
The underline 17 is applied to the original 15 or the paint is applied to the helmet 18. However, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and any reflective member that reflects the light of the LED 19 may be used, for example. Alternatively, something like a file may be attached. The selection light generating unit 3 has L
Although the ED 19 was used, if the light has a specific wavelength from the infrared region to the visible light region, in particular, as in this embodiment, L
It need not be ED light.

In this embodiment, the selection light generating section 3 for emitting light of a specific wavelength which blinks at a cycle twice as long as the frame cycle of the camera body 5 is provided. By attaching a reflecting member to be reflected to a desired subject, and taking a difference between a video signal when the selection light generation unit 3 is in a light emitting state and a video signal when the selection light generation unit 3 is in an off state, So that you can determine the position of the subject,
Since the camera body 5 is directed to the subject to which the reflection member is attached based on the position information, the operation required for preparation for automatic photographing can be simplified as compared with the related art.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Synchronous with the frame of the TV camera and the frame period 2
When the selection light generating means for repeating the blinking of the light of the specific wavelength at a double cycle is provided, while a reflecting member for reflecting the light of the selection light generating means is attached to the subject, and the selection light generating means is in a light emitting state. The position of the subject can be determined from the difference between the video signal and the video signal when the selection light generating means is off .
For example, if the television camera is configured to be directed to this position , it is only necessary to attach the reflecting member to the subject to be photographed before photographing. This makes it possible to automatically aim the camera at the subject to be photographed .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram illustrating a configuration example of an automatic photographing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a processing unit included in the automatic photographing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a timing chart for explaining an operation of a selection light generator used in the automatic photographing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the document for explaining the document to be zoomed in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram showing another embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a conventional automatic photographing technique.

[Description of Signs] 1 ... Camera section 2 ... Illumination section 3 ... Selection light generation section
4 processing unit, 5 camera body, 7 moving mechanism, 1
0: Frame memory, 11: Difference circuit, 12: Threshold processing circuit, 13: Position detection circuit, 14: Camera control circuit

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A television camera for outputting a video signal at a constant frame period, and a television camera having a frame period of 2
Selection light generating means for blinking light of a specific wavelength at a double cycle, a reflecting member that reflects light from the selection light generation means and can be attached to an object desired to be photographed, and the selection light generation means characterized in that it comprises a and a difference detection means to detect a difference between the video signal obtained by the television camera at off state of the acquired video signal and the selected light generating means by the television camera in the light emitting state of the Automatic photographing device.