JP3658076B2 - Camera control system and video display method thereof - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a camera control system and image display method thereof, and more particularly relates to a camera control system and a video display method for remotely operating the one or more cameras a plurality of persons.
[0002]
[Prior art]
A video transmission system that enables video and audio conversations between any number of points (between two points or more than two points) by arranging a large number of cameras and computers in the building and networking is proposed. Has been. For example, use as a video conference system or a remote monitoring system is considered. For this purpose, cameras that can externally control the camera direction, zoom, and the like are also commercially available. In such a video transmission system, it is possible to remotely control another arbitrary camera from an arbitrary point and display the video of the arbitrary camera on the own computer screen.
[0003]
In video transmission systems that allow remote control of any camera, it is necessary to easily know where each camera is installed, especially as the number of cameras to be operated increases. The present applicant has already proposed a method for displaying a camera symbol on a map image indicating its installation location. The applicant has also proposed a configuration in which the direction of each camera is displayed in the direction of the camera symbol.
[0004]
By the way, in such a camera control system, any user who uses the system can freely remotely control a camera connected to another host and view the image. However, for those who are within the image capturing range of the remotely operated camera, the situation is as if they are being monitored, which may give a strong discomfort. Therefore, the applicant can set a range that does not allow shooting for each camera on the map image, that is, a shooting non-permitted range, so that the shooting non-permitted range cannot be physically or substantially shot by remote control. The proposed camera control system is also proposed.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in such a camera control system, if the shooting disallowed range set by the user on the map slightly overlaps the shooting range of the camera that is displaying the video, that is, the range that is displaying the video, the shooting is not allowed. Regardless of whether or not an area for which permission is not set is included in the video, the video cannot be seen at all. In other words, video display is prohibited to the extent that video display is originally permitted.
[0006]
In addition, by hiding the image of the non-permitted range and not displaying that portion of the image at all, the user watching the image of the target camera can completely detect what is happening in that area. May cause discomfort or anxiety.
[0007]
It is an object of the present invention to provide a camera control system and a video display method for solving such a problem.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-described problems, a camera control system according to the present invention is a camera control system that selects one of a plurality of controllable cameras connected on a network, displays an image, and controls the camera. The map display means, the symbol display means for superimposing and displaying one or more camera symbols each representing a camera on the map displayed by the map display means, and the map displayed by the map display means The designated area is set as a photographing non-permitted area by performing area designation, and the set photographing non-permitted area among the photographing images obtained by the restricted cameras is set. Camera image display restricting means for restricting display of a corresponding range of images.
[0009]
The video display method of the camera control system according to the present invention is a video display method of a camera control system for selecting one of a plurality of controllable cameras connected on a network and displaying the video and controlling the camera. A display step of displaying a map and superimposing one or more camera symbols each representing a camera on the map, and specifying a region for the map displayed by the map display step. A shooting non-permitted area setting step for setting the designated area as a non-photographing area, and out of the video corresponding to the set non-permitted area among the captured videos obtained by the restricted camera. And a camera image display restricting step for restricting display.
[0011]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
[0012]
FIG. 1 shows a schematic block diagram of a computer system connected to a video communication terminal device, ie, a plurality of camera devices, which is a basic element in this embodiment. One or more computers having the configuration shown in FIG. 1 and / or one or more computers having a similar configuration are connected to each other via a computer network.
[0013]
In FIG. 1, 10 (10-1, 10-2, 10-3,...) Is a video camera, and 12 (12-1, 12-2, 12-3,...) Is according to an external control signal. , A camera control circuit 14 that directly controls panning, tilting, zooming, and focusing of the video camera 10, which video camera 10 is controlled, and its output signal (usually a video signal, but for a camera with a microphone) In this case, it is a video signal and an audio signal, which will be described below as a video signal only). As the control signal line, various serial or parallel input / output interfaces can be used. For example, there is RS-232C, but it is clear that the present invention is not limited to this.
[0014]
A video communication terminal 20 controls the video camera 10 associated with the camera control circuit 12 by sending a control command to the desired camera control circuit 12 via the camera input selection device 14 and receives video from the network. Device.
[0015]
A video communication terminal 20 is a CPU that controls the whole, 22 is a main memory, 24 is a secondary storage device (for example, a hard disk device), 28 is a mouse as a pointing device, and 30 is a keypad.
[0016]
Reference numeral 32 denotes an I / O port for connecting the camera input selection device 14 and supplying camera control commands and the like to the camera input selection device 14. Reference numeral 34 denotes a video output signal of the video camera 10 selected by the camera input selection device 14. In addition, a video capture device 36 displays video from a plurality of cameras on the bitmap display 35. A video compression / decompression 36 compresses video information obtained by the video capture device 34 and decompresses the compressed video information. The device 38 is a video processing device that performs designated image processing (display restriction processing) on a designated region of the camera video in accordance with a command from the CPU 22. In FIG. 1, the video processing device 38 is provided separately from the CPU 22, but it goes without saying that the video processing by the video processing device 38 can be realized by software processing by the CPU 22.
[0017]
Reference numeral 40 denotes a network interface for connecting the video communication terminal apparatus 20 to a computer network or a communication network, and reference numeral 42 denotes a system bus for connecting the devices 22 to 34 and 36 to 40 to each other. The network interface 40 can send a camera control signal to a video communication terminal apparatus similar to the video communication terminal apparatus 20 via the network, and remotely control a remote camera.
[0018]
The camera input selection device 14 selects one of a control signal line and a video output that hangs over the plurality of camera control circuits 12, supplies the selected video output to the video capture device 34, and selects the selected video output. A control signal line is logically connected to the I / O port 32. An example of the video output is an NTSC signal. The video capture device 34 captures the video signal output from the camera input selection device 14. The captured video signal is subjected to display restriction processing by the video processing device 38 as necessary, and then displayed as a moving image in a predetermined window of the bitmap display 35 and / or information compressed to another communication terminal. Sent to the device.
[0019]
The secondary storage device 26 stores various information related to the camera 10 and other cameras connected via the network, such as camera position information data and camera graphic data.
[0020]
When only one camera 10 is connected, the camera input selection device 14 is not necessary, and the camera control circuit 12 is directly connected to the I / O port 32. When the camera cannot be controlled such as pan / tilt, the camera control circuit 12 is unnecessary. When no camera is connected, that is, when the camera connected to another control device is remotely controlled on the video communication terminal and only the camera video is displayed, the camera 10 and the camera control circuit 12 are connected. And the camera input selection device 14 becomes unnecessary.
[0021]
The apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is connected to a network as a communication terminal, for example, as shown in FIG. It is not necessary for all communication terminals to have the same configuration as shown in FIG. For example, there may be a communication terminal to which only one camera is connected, or a terminal to which one camera is not connected (that is, only a camera connected to another terminal is remotely operated and its image is displayed. Terminal having a function of (1). In general, communication terminals having such various configurations are mixed in one network. Note that the network used in this embodiment is assumed to be a LAN or WAN having a transmission bandwidth sufficient to transmit digital moving image data and camera control signals. The moving image data is usually compressed and transmitted, but in this embodiment, various existing methods can be used as the moving image compression method, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted.
[0022]
In the video processing device 20, the video data captured by the video capture device 34 is transferred to the video processing device 38 via the bus 42 as necessary and displayed on the bitmap display 35. The video captured by the video capture device 34 is not only sent to the bitmap display 35 and displayed, but also supplied to the video compression / decompression device 36 for information compression. The compressed video information is packetized and transmitted from the network interface 40 to a specified transmission destination via the network. A camera operation command, a camera switching command, and the like are also packetized and transmitted from the network interface 40 to the network. These pieces of information are transmitted to the specified terminal or all terminals depending on the contents of data to be transmitted and the necessity.
[0023]
The same applies to reception. That is, when the packetized video data and the camera operation command and the camera switching command are received, each video communication terminal device 20 decompresses the received video data and supplies it to the pit map display 35 for video display. Let The received camera operation command and switching command are handled in the same manner as the same internal command. Information about the entire system is used to update the system display of a user interface described later.
[0024]
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the software configuration of this embodiment. In FIG. 3, a plurality of video communication terminal devices 20 and a camera management server 50 are connected to a computer network 52. The video communication terminal device 20 is a camera that controls the camera 10 in accordance with a camera control signal (including a selection signal when a plurality of cameras are connected) input from the own terminal or transmitted from another terminal. The control server 54, the camera control client 56 that remotely operates the camera 10 of the own terminal or another terminal, and the video of the camera 10 of the own terminal are supplied to the other terminal via the network 52, and the other terminal via the network 52 The video transmission / reception software 58 for installing the video transferred from the terminal 10 and the video of the camera 10 of the local terminal to the display 35 of the local terminal is installed.
[0025]
The camera management server 50 is software that manages all the cameras 10 connected to the network 52, and holds information such as the camera name, host name, installation position, and current status of each camera. The camera management server 50 also manages the registration of cameras newly available via the network 52 and the deletion associated with the separation from the network 52, and manages the management information of each camera 10 to all the camera control clients 56. Announce regularly and on request. The camera management server 50 may be stored in any one terminal connected to the network 52.
[0026]
The camera control client 56 displays the arrangement and direction of all cameras available via the camera 10 of the own terminal and the network 52 on the screen of the display 35 of the own terminal by superimposing them on the map with a predetermined camera symbol. To do. The camera control client 56 also updates the display state of each camera symbol in real time based on the camera information periodically sent from the camera management server 50.
[0027]
FIG. 4 shows an example of a camera display control panel displayed on the display 35 by the camera control client 56. Reference numeral 60 denotes a map window that superimposes and displays a camera icon indicating the installation position and direction of each camera on a map indicating the installation location of the operable camera. Reference numeral 62 denotes a camera video window for displaying video of one selected camera. A camera operation panel 64 includes various camera control buttons and operates pan, tilt, and zoom of the selected camera. In this embodiment, it is assumed that a window display system capable of simultaneously displaying a plurality of windows is operating.
[0028]
In the map window 60, a map showing the seat arrangement of the office and the like is displayed. On the map, a camera icon 66 showing the arrangement location of each camera installed in the office is displayed. Each camera icon 66 has a separate icon so that a camera selected for video display or remote control, a camera used by another user, and a camera not used by anyone can be identified from each other. Displayed in color.
[0029]
An operation panel 64 is displayed below the camera video window 62. The operation panel 64 includes a rotation operation button for panning and tilting, and two buttons for zoom-in and zoom-out operations. By operating these buttons, an arbitrarily designated camera can be rotated and zoomed. When the selected camera is inoperable (for example, when the camera is already operated by another user), both the rotation operation and the zoom button are displayed in an inoperable display mode.
[0030]
For example, when a user wishes to access a certain camera (in this case, remote operation), a target camera icon is double-clicked. In response to this, the camera control client 56 requests the camera management server 50 for the right to operate the camera, and the camera management server 50 refers to a camera status list, which will be described later. If the right to operate the camera is not granted to another user, allow remote control of the camera (it is clear that video display is also included), and If not, the operation right is rejected. When the operation right is permitted, the output video of the camera is displayed in the camera video window 62, and the operation by the camera operation panel 64 becomes possible.
[0031]
On the lower side of the operation panel 64, a setting button 68 for a photographing non-permitted area and a clear button 70 for releasing the set photographing non-permitted area are displayed. As a result, it is possible to arbitrarily set a shooting non-permitted area that does not allow shooting in a camera control system in which an arbitrary camera can be remotely operated in the entire range where it can be physically operated. For a camera in which a shooting non-permission area is set, video display is restricted so that an image in the shooting non-permission area is not displayed in the video window 62. Details thereof will be described later.
[0032]
When the user clicks the shooting disapproval area setting button 68, the camera control client 56 draws vertical and horizontal lines on the map window 60 as shown in FIG. An area divided by these vertical and horizontal lines is a setting unit for the non-permitted area. On the map window 60, the user designates one or a plurality of divided areas that are not desired to be photographed. For example, the designated divided area (for example, the area 92 in FIG. 5) can be easily distinguished from other divided areas. Displayed in red. Note that the clear button 70 may be clicked with the mouse when it is desired to cancel the non-permitted area.
[0033]
FIG. 6 is a display example of a camera video window 62 of a camera video in which a photographing non-permission area is set. In FIG. 6, a photographing non-permission area is set at the center of the photographing range. When the camera pans so that the area that is not permitted to be photographed partially or entirely overlaps the photographing range, as shown in FIG. 6, the image that is not permitted to be photographed is displayed in black, The photographed image is displayed in the same manner as usual. When the camera is panned or zoomed by the camera control, the black portion of the photographing non-permitted region also fluctuates accordingly.
[0034]
FIG. 7 is a basic flowchart of the camera management server 50 regarding the setting and change of the imaging non-permitted area. When the imaging non-permission area is set or changed, the camera control client 56 notifies the camera management server 50 of information on the set non-permission area (new setting or change setting) (S1). Then, the coordinate information (rectangular diagonal coordinates) of the set photographing non-permitted area is acquired.
[0035]
The camera management server 50 selects a camera that may include the set non-permitted shooting area in the shooting range (S2). Here, only the camera 10 of the local station that is locally connected to the host (video communication terminal device 20) that has set the imaging non-permission area is targeted. The camera management server 50 refers to the registered host information of each camera and selects a corresponding camera.
[0036]
The camera management server 50 calculates a photographing non-permission direction for each selected camera (referred to as camera i) by a calculation formula described later (S3). Next, the camera management server 50 checks whether or not the camera i is displayed on any communication terminal (S4). If the image is being displayed, the camera management server 50 displays the direction in which shooting is not permitted and the shooting range (displayed in the video display window 62). (S5). When even a part of the images overlaps (S5), the camera management server 50 connects the camera i to the host so that the part corresponding to the non-photographing prohibited area is hidden as illustrated in FIG. The video transmission / reception software 58 is instructed to execute a compositing process in which a portion corresponding to a photographing non-permission area in the video of the camera i is a black image (S6). Details of the synthesis process will be described later. The video transmission / reception software 58 compresses information by the video compression / decompression device 36 and outputs the video from the camera i (when there is an overlap with the shooting non-permission direction) to the network 52 from the network interface 40.
[0037]
The video transmission / reception software 58 that has received the video of the camera i from the network 52 decompresses the compressed video information by the video compression / decompression device 36, supplies the compressed video information to the bitmap display 35 via the video capture device 34, and displays the video.
[0038]
S3 to S6 are executed for all the cameras selected in S2 (S7).
[0039]
The photographing non-permission direction (S3) is calculated as follows. That is, as shown in FIG. 8, for the camera i of interest, the shooting non-permission direction θd (where d <θd <D) of the camera i is calculated from the installation position and the coordinates of the shooting non-permission area. d and D are represented by an angle from the x direction (horizontal direction).
[0040]
FIG. 9 shows an example of a camera status table that stores fixed information of each camera and current information that the camera management server 50 has. It consists of information such as camera number, camera name, host name, camera installation position coordinates on the map, initial direction of the center of the camera at the time of activation, current direction, and current shooting range. The current shooting range is represented by an angle from the x direction (horizontal direction) as in d and D.
[0041]
The camera management server 50 always checks the camera state table and monitors the overlap between the shooting non-permission direction and the shooting range of the selected camera. In addition, the camera management server 50 periodically transfers the contents of the camera state table to the camera control client 56. The camera control client 56 updates the direction of the camera icon on the map window 60 displayed on the display 35 based on information from the camera management server 50.
[0042]
The image display restriction composition processing in S6 of FIG. 7 will be described. A portion to be displayed in true black in the video display window is calculated from the shooting non-permission direction of the camera obtained from the shooting non-permission area and the current shooting range of the camera, and the video processor 38 synthesizes the video. As shown in FIG. 10, when the shooting range (a, A) is set and the shooting non-permission direction is (d, D), there are the following three patterns in how the shooting non-permission direction and the shooting range overlap. . That is,
(1) A>D>a> d
(2) A>D>d> a
(3) D>A>d> a
11, 12 and 13 show display video examples in each of these cases.
[0043]
As shown in FIGS. 11 to 13, in order to fill a portion in the photographing non-permission direction with a black image, the range of the portion to be a black image can be calculated with a simple calculation. FIG. 14 shows a calculation example of the case corresponding to FIG. In FIG. 14, the ratio of W and w is obtained as follows.
[0044]
W: w = {tan ((A + a) / 2) + tan ((A + a) / 2-D)}: {tan ((A + a) / 2) -tan ((A + a) / 2-D)}
A camera image is divided into W: w in the horizontal direction, and a black image is overlaid on a rectangular area corresponding to w. In the case of FIGS. 12 and 13, the position and width of the black image can be calculated by the same calculation.
[0045]
In the above-described embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, substantially nothing is displayed as a black image in the video display window 62 with respect to the photographing non-permitted range. As shown in FIG. 15, the resolution of the image within the photographing non-permitted range is displayed as a mosaic shape that is much lower than usual, or as shown in FIG. 16, the image in the photographing non-permitted region is partially displayed as a blind shape. May be displayed.
[0046]
Further, the present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of a single device. It goes without saying that the present invention can also be applied to a case where the present invention is implemented by supplying a program to a system or apparatus. In this case, the storage medium storing the program according to the present invention constitutes the present invention. Then, by reading the program from the storage medium to the system or apparatus, the system or apparatus operates in a predetermined manner.
[0047]
【The invention's effect】
As can be easily understood from the above description, according to the present invention, when the camera that is displaying video attempts to capture a range that is not permitted to be captured on the map, only the permitted range is not permitted on the video display screen. The other parts are displayed in the same way as normal video. Since only the shooting non-permitted range is not displayed, it is possible to avoid prohibiting unnecessary video display.
[0048]
In the present invention, the non-photographing-permitted range is displayed with a significantly reduced resolution compared to other video area ranges, or only a very small area is displayed. As a result, while protecting the privacy of the user who has set the shooting non-permitted range, information to the extent that the atmosphere of the shooting non-permitted range can be understood is sent to other users who view the camera video, thereby reducing discomfort or anxiety. it can.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a basic configuration of a computer system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a hardware configuration of the present embodiment in a network.
FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of a software configuration of the present embodiment in a network.
4 is an example of a camera display control panel displayed on a display 35 by a camera control client 56. FIG.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of setting of a photographing non-permission area.
FIG. 6 is a display example of a video window 62 of a camera in which photographing permission is set.
FIG. 7 is a basic flowchart of the camera management server 50 relating to setting and changing of a photographing non-permitted area.
FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a photographing non-permission direction.
FIG. 9 is an example of a camera state table.
FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a shooting range and a shooting non-permission direction.
FIG. 11 is an example of a video display screen in a case (1) where an imaging range and an imaging non-permission direction overlap.
FIG. 12 is an example of a video display screen in a case (2) where an imaging range and an imaging non-permission direction overlap.
FIG. 13 is an example of a video display screen in a case (3) where an imaging range overlaps an imaging non-permission direction.
FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram of calculation of a blacked portion of a display image for case (1).
FIG. 15 is another display example with respect to an imaging non-permission area.
FIG. 16 is another display example with respect to an imaging non-permission area.
[Explanation of symbols]
10 (10-1, 10-2, 10-3,...): Video camera 12 (12-1, 12-2, 12-3,...): Camera control circuit 14: Camera input selection device 20: Video communication terminal device 22: CPU
24: main memory 26: secondary storage device 28: mouse 30: keyboard 32: I / O port 34: video capture device 35: bitmap display 36: video compression / decompression device 38: video processing device 40: network interface 42 : System bus 50: Camera management server 52: Network 54: Camera control server 56: Camera control client 58: Video transmission / reception software 60: Map window 62: Camera video window 64: Camera operation panel 66: Camera icon 68: Shooting Non-permitted area setting button 70: Shooting non-permitted area clear button 92: Shooting non-permitted area

Claims (7)

A camera control system for selecting one of a plurality of controllable cameras connected on a network, displaying an image, and controlling the camera,
Map display means;
On the map that is more displayed on the map display means, and symbol display means for displaying by superimposing one or more cameras symbols each representing a camera,
By performing area designated for a map displayed by said map display means, and imaging disallowed region setting means for setting a designated region as the imaging disallowed region,
A camera control system, comprising: camera image display restricting means for restricting display of images in a range corresponding to the set non-permitted region among the photographed images obtained by the restricted camera. The camera image display restricting means substantially prohibits display of an overlapping portion of the photographed images when the photographing range and the photographing range corresponding to the set photographing non-permitted region overlap with respect to the restricted camera. The camera control system described in. The camera image display restriction means, when the shooting range and the shooting range corresponding to the set non-permitted area for the camera to be restricted overlap with each other, the overlapping portion of the shot video is compared with other video areas and the resolution is remarkably reduced. The camera control system according to claim 1, wherein the dropped video is displayed. The camera image display restricting means partially displays an overlapping portion of the photographed video when the photographing range and the photographing range corresponding to the set photographing non-permitted region overlap with respect to the restricted camera. The camera control system described. The map display means divides and displays the map into a plurality of areas, and the imaging non-permitted area setting means selects at least one of the divided areas based on a selection input from a predetermined operation input device. 6. The camera control system according to claim 1, wherein the designated area is set as a photographing non-permitted area in response to designation of “.”. 6. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising camera selection means for selecting the restricted camera based on a connection state of the plurality of controllable cameras and the photographing non-permitted area setting means on the network. The camera control system according to any one of the above. An image display method of a camera control system for selecting one of a plurality of controllable cameras connected on a network and displaying an image and controlling the camera,
A display step of displaying a map and superimposing and displaying one or more camera symbols each representing a camera on the map;
A shooting non-permitted region setting step for setting a designated region as a non-permitted region by performing region designation on the map displayed by the map display step;
Camera image display restriction process for restricting the display of images in the range corresponding to the set non-permitted area among the photographed images obtained by the restricted camera.
And a video display method for a camera control system.

Images