JP3850021B2 - Imaging device with infrared illumination - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a photographing apparatus with infrared illumination that can shoot by irradiating near infrared rays so that the function can be sufficiently performed even at night when photographing the surroundings with a camera. The present invention relates to a photographing apparatus with infrared illumination that prevents a halation phenomenon from occurring in an image by receiving illumination of a camera mounted on the system.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Due to recent technological development and rapid spread of digital cameras and video cameras, these cameras have been widely used, such as being mounted on small personal computers and PDAs, and further mounted on mobile phones. It can be used for. It has also been proposed to use this for various purposes by attaching a vehicle.
[0003]
In that case, for example, a video camera is installed at the rear of the vehicle, and the driver moves the vehicle backward while referring to the image of the rear of the vehicle displayed on the monitor screen. It has been proposed to allow safe driving by photographing things outside the driver's field of view, such as having time assistance, and displaying them on a monitor.
[0004]
In addition to the recent improvement in image processing speed and advancement in image recognition technology, in addition to displaying images taken with a video camera as described above directly on a monitor and using them, for example, driving lanes taken with a video camera are image processed. It is proposed to recognize this and inform that the lane is changed unintentionally, or to inform that the distance between the vehicle and the vehicle ahead is too close.
[0005]
In addition, it detects traffic signals ahead and prevents the driver from overlooking red traffic lights, detects passing traffic intersections, and detects traffic restrictions such as one-way traffic and entry prohibition. To recognize the specific object or shape by processing the captured video signal, such as alerting the driver, detecting obstacles such as pedestrians around the pedestrian crossing and road, guardrail, other vehicles, etc. It has been proposed to show various information to the driver.
[0006]
The above video camera means one that continuously captures one frame image at a predetermined time interval. In addition to the one used as a moving image, the video camera may be decomposed for each frame and used as a still image. . Accordingly, this is the same technique as that used to shoot a digital camera that captures a still image at a predetermined time interval, and these are hereinafter collectively referred to as “camera” in a sense that includes all of them.
[0007]
On the other hand, navigation devices are widely used in recent vehicles, and it is possible to reliably and safely guide a vehicle to a destination along a guidance route. However, simply using the navigation device, for example, when there are multiple lanes on one side and traveling in the left lane, change the lane in advance according to the relationship between the driving lane and the right / left turn at the intersection If the navigation device cannot know which lane you are currently driving, even if you are driving in the right lane, for example, “Turn right at the next intersection. Please drive in the right lane. "
[0008]
As a countermeasure, a camera is installed in the vehicle as described above, and a plurality of lanes are photographed to detect which lane the vehicle is traveling. It is proposed to provide appropriate guidance. In addition, by combining the navigation device and the camera in this way, a right turn road, a straight road, a left turn road displayed as an arrow on a road near the intersection other than the lane marked on the road as described above In addition, it is possible to recognize road markings such as a left turn and a straight road, and collate the currently traveling lane with the guidance route to determine whether or not the traveling is appropriate.
[0009]
When a system in which a navigation device and a camera are combined is used, it is possible to provide a navigation device that performs appropriate guidance as described above, and also travels by detecting road signs, detecting obstacles, and detecting white lines as described above. It is possible to detect lanes, detect road markings, etc., and thereby present various information to the driver, output warnings as appropriate, and contribute to safe driving. The applicant has already proposed a method (Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-035261). Furthermore, the present applicant has already proposed a method capable of reliably processing a photographed image by such a camera at high speed (Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-318642).
[0010]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
As described above, the camera is mounted on the vehicle, the surroundings are captured and the images are captured, and the captured images are directly displayed on the monitor, or the captured images are processed to recognize road markings and the like. Although a system that contributes to driving can be configured, an ordinary camera is not equipped with a lighting device, so only a range of vehicle illumination can be taken at night, and the image is also unclear. It must be a thing. In addition, it is prohibited to add a normal lighting device to clearly capture the surroundings because it interferes with the traveling of other vehicles. Therefore, a normal lighting device including a commonly used strobe is not allowed. Cannot be used to shoot.
[0011]
In addition, when equipped with a high-performance camera that can sufficiently capture the road surface even at night, for example, it is dazzled by the strong light of the oncoming vehicle, causing halation in the captured image every time the oncoming vehicle comes, and taking a picture substantially It will continue to be impossible. As a countermeasure, it is equipped with a near-infrared illumination device that has been used for surveillance cameras in the past and has recently been used in some general-purpose cameras, and a filter that allows only near-infrared rays to pass through the camera lens. It can be considered to be a system that can capture a road surface and the like even at night without being dazzled by the light.
[0012]
The light from such a near-infrared illuminating device is not visible to humans because it is out of visible light, and even if it is mounted on a vehicle, it does not affect other vehicles or surrounding people. Therefore, by using such a system, it is possible to photograph road markings etc. by receiving the reflected near infrared rays reflected from the object by the camera, and processing the captured image at night. However, it is possible to assist safe driving as described above.
[0013]
In particular, headlights using conventional halogen lamps as lighting devices for vehicles in recent years are increasingly being used with xenon lamps that are smaller, brighter and consume less power. Has a higher radiation intensity on the visible light side than a halogen lamp, and tends to be lower in the near infrared part. However, there are many examples that are shared with halogen lamps with many near infrared components. Therefore, in the camera for photographing near infrared rays as described above, the light from the halogen lamp can be used as auxiliary light in addition to the illumination device as described above. It can be considered as a means.
[0014]
In this way, a camera equipped with a near-infrared illumination device can be used to shoot road markings at night to photograph road markings and recognize this, but at this time the near-infrared illumination device In order to install the vehicle toward the front of the vehicle, for example, the oncoming vehicle has a system with a similar near-infrared irradiation device and photographing device, and when the system is operating, the headlight of the oncoming vehicle runs up. The near-infrared photographing device may cause so-called halation that is dazzled by the light, just as it is dazzling when it is moving.
[0015]
That is, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, when a near-infrared imaging system equipped with this near-infrared illumination device photographs a road marking as shown in FIG. When the oncoming vehicle equipped approaches, the light reception is less at first, so the illumination is slightly reflected on the screen as shown in the figure (b), while it is in a small halation state, When approaching, the light becomes stronger, so that the light covers a large part of the screen and causes a large halation as shown in FIG. End up. The same applies to the case where the same system is operated in the vicinity of the vehicle and the near infrared ray is received other than when the opponent is an oncoming vehicle.
[0016]
In this way, illumination is performed by irradiating near-infrared rays for night-time shooting, and when shooting with the reflected light by the CCD camera, the shot image is received by receiving the illumination irradiated from the camera system having the same function. The occurrence of halation is not limited to the camera system mounted on the vehicle as described above. For example, in a recent digital video camera, it is possible to shoot by irradiating near infrared rays as a night shooting assistance function. The same phenomenon may occur when a plurality of people who use such a camera use it at the same place at night.
[0017]
Therefore, the present invention mainly aims to prevent halation in a captured image by receiving other illumination using a similar device when using an imaging device that illuminates with near infrared rays and performs imaging. It is said.
[0018]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-described problems, an imaging device with infrared illumination according to the present invention provides: At a predetermined infrared irradiation timing An illumination device that emits infrared rays; In synchronization with the infrared irradiation timing of the illuminating device, a camera that receives and shoots infrared rays from the illuminating device at a predetermined charge accumulation start timing, the predetermined infrared irradiation timing, and the predetermined infrared irradiation timing Synchronized, predetermined charge accumulation start timing An operation timing control means for switching between an operation at a predetermined interval and an operation at a random interval; At a predetermined infrared irradiation timing An external infrared irradiation detecting means for detecting that the camera is irradiated with infrared rays from an external illumination device that emits infrared rays, and the operation timing control means is externally connected by the external infrared irradiation detecting means. When it detects that the camera is receiving infrared light from the lighting device, From operation at predetermined intervals The operation is switched to a random interval operation.
[0019]
Further, another imaging apparatus with infrared illumination according to the present invention includes an image processing unit that processes an image from the camera, An image recognition unit that performs image recognition for comparing the data image-processed by the image processing unit with template data of a template database having predetermined template data to determine whether or not they match Is.
[0020]
In another imaging apparatus with infrared illumination according to the present invention, the external infrared irradiation detection means is a halation detection means for detecting the presence of halation in an image photographed by the camera.
[0021]
In another imaging apparatus with infrared illumination according to the present invention, the operation at the random interval is switched to the operation at the predetermined interval after a predetermined time.
[0022]
In another imaging device with infrared illumination according to the present invention, the external infrared irradiation detection means is an infrared detector that directly detects infrared rays from an external illumination device.
[0023]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a functional block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, a near-infrared illumination strobe 1 is provided, the operation of which is controlled by a strobe operation control unit 2, and this is disposed at an appropriate place in a vehicle. And installed so that the front of the vehicle can be photographed.
[0024]
Further, it is installed so that the front of the vehicle can be photographed by the CCD camera 3 that receives near infrared rays, and the near infrared rays irradiated by the near infrared illumination strobe 1 can receive the light reflected by the object. The operation is controlled by the CCD camera operation control unit 4.
[0025]
In this CCD camera 1, as shown in FIG. 5A, for example, as shown in FIG. 5A, the operation of the light receiving element is such that each element discharges the charge stored up to that time, the charge that performs imaging and stores the charge in each element. Each operation of the output for scanning the state of the electric charge is performed as one cycle. An image of one frame is obtained by such a cycle, and a normal video camera obtains a predetermined moving image by performing this 30 times per second.
[0026]
In addition, since the strobe as the lighting device uses a single light emitting diode or an assembly thereof and can emit light in 1/10000 seconds, the discharge is completed and charging starts in the CCD operating cycle. Operate according to the signal. The image photographed by the CCD camera 1 in this way is output at the time of scanning of the CCD cycle and taken out to the image processing unit 5. These synchronous operations are performed by timing pulses from an operation timing pulse supply unit 6 described later.
[0027]
Note that a normal video camera can be used as the CCD camera 3, and in this embodiment, it is shown for night photography. However, when a near-infrared selection filter is attached in front of the camera in this apparatus, during daytime photography. By removing this and not operating the illumination device, it is possible to take a picture with a normal camera. In addition to the optical filter as described above, when a filter circuit for selecting a specific wavelength of light received by the image processing unit is provided, the camera can be shared day and night by switching the filter of the circuit.
[0028]
The image of the CCD camera 3 taken into the image processing unit 5 is subjected to various known processes, and the image processed data in the image recognition unit 6 is compared with the data in the template database 7 to match. Image recognition is performed by determining whether or not something exists, and the recognition result is output to the outside.
[0029]
In this embodiment, on the basis of the image processed by the image processing unit 5 by the halation detection unit 8, for example, as shown in FIG. It is detected that halation has occurred in a part of. In order to detect the presence of such halation as soon as possible, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, a circuit that specifically monitors the screen area in the upper right part of the figure in a state where the screen is divided into four parts is provided, When the halation portion continues to exist for a predetermined time or more in size, it is possible to take a reliable halation countermeasure by determining that halation has occurred due to the same system of the oncoming vehicle.
[0030]
The discrimination signal from the halation detection unit 8 is output to the operation switching control unit 10, and the operation switching control unit 10 selects either the predetermined interval continuous operation unit 12 in the operation timing pulse supply unit 11 or the random operation unit 13. To activate. Among them, the predetermined interval continuous operation unit 12 supplies an operation pulse continuously at a predetermined interval as shown in the figure, while the random operation unit 13 receives pulses with random intervals as shown in the figure. Supply. The operation timing pulse supply unit 11 corresponds to the operation timing control means in the present invention.
[0031]
When these operation timing pulses are supplied, in a normal operation state, operation pulses at a predetermined interval are supplied from the predetermined interval continuous operation unit 12 so that 30 frames are imaged per second. On the other hand, when the halation detection unit 8 detects halation as shown in FIG. 4B, for example, the operation switching control unit 10 immediately switches the operation to the random operation unit 13, and the operation timing pulse supply unit 11 Supply random actuation pulses.
[0032]
In this random operation, the number of pulses that can capture 30 frames per second is set as a whole, as in normal imaging. In addition, the minimum time interval of each pulse is a time interval at which the CCD camera 3 can complete one cycle.
[0033]
When a random operation pulse as described above is supplied from the operation timing pulse supply unit 11, the CCD camera operation control unit 4 is activated by the timing pulse and performs a predetermined cycle. The strobe operation control unit 2 also emits light and illuminates in synchronization with the start of charge of the CCD in the CCD camera 3 by the timing pulse.
[0034]
With such a system, when the oncoming vehicle only illuminates the near infrared rays continuously by operating at a predetermined interval, the own vehicle side illuminates at random as described above, thereby causing the oncoming vehicle to emit strobe light. Since it deviates from the time, the photographing operation timing can be surely shifted, and it is possible to prevent the photographing from being disabled due to a large halation as shown in FIG.
[0035]
Moreover, in the same system in the oncoming vehicle, when the own vehicle has a function of switching to the same random light emission as the own vehicle, when the own vehicle first detects the halation of the oncoming vehicle and performs the random light emission as described above, Will continue to emit light continuously without being aware of the occurrence of halation.
[0036]
On the other hand, when the other party's system detects halation ahead of the host vehicle and randomly emits light, it does not cause halation in the systems on both sides of the company or continues to emit light without being aware of it. In any case, the systems will pass each other in a normally functioning state without causing great halation.
[0037]
Also, even if both detect halation at the same time and perform random light emission at the same time, when the start timing of random operation starts from different parts of the random number sequence, they will not be the same timing as each other, Can be maintained.
[0038]
As described above, by detecting the halation by the illumination of the same system of the oncoming vehicle, the illumination by the random strobe operation is performed as described above, and the CCD camera is also operated at random in synchronism with this to shoot. However, in this embodiment, a predetermined time elapse determining unit 9 is provided, and it is determined whether or not a predetermined time such as 10 seconds has elapsed since the halation detecting unit 8 detects the halation as described above. When the time has elapsed, the supply is switched from the supply of the random operation pulse from the random operation unit to the pulse supply from the continuous operation unit 12 at a predetermined interval in the steady state. Various other methods can be adopted as this switching method.
[0039]
In the above-described embodiment, the example in which the oncoming vehicle adopts the same camera system to detect halation due to the illumination is detected from the captured image of the camera. For example, FIG. As indicated by a two-dot chain line as an input signal to the vehicle, a separate external near-infrared illumination detection unit 15 is provided to detect the illumination by the near-infrared light of the oncoming vehicle. As described above, random imaging can be performed by the random operation unit 13.
[0040]
In this case, the external near infrared illumination detector 15 can detect that an oncoming vehicle that has become an obstacle in the system of the host vehicle has passed, and a normal continuous pulse is transmitted from the continuous operation unit 12 at a predetermined interval according to the signal. It can be switched to supply. Therefore, in the present invention, two types of modes are shown side by side as external infrared irradiation detection means for detecting that infrared rays from an external illumination device that irradiates infrared rays intermittently enter.
[0041]
In this embodiment comprising the functional blocks having the functions as described above, they can be operated in sequence according to an operation flow as shown in FIG. FIG. 2 shows an example in which the near-infrared illumination of an oncoming vehicle equipped with a similar camera system is detected by the halation detection unit 8 in FIG. 1 to perform image recognition processing. First, the operation of this camera system is shown. About the reference | standard operation pulse, it starts from supply of the operation pulse of a predetermined interval (step S1).
[0042]
Next, the strobe and the CCD camera are synchronized in accordance with this operation pulse (step S2). By this operation, a photographed image is output from the CCD camera (step S3), and image processing is performed in the image processing unit 5 of FIG. 1 (step S4). Based on the result of this image processing, it is determined whether or not there is halation on the shooting screen (step S5). When there is no halation, image recognition processing is immediately performed based on the image, and processing for outputting the recognition result is performed (step S6). ).
[0043]
Next, in this embodiment, it is determined whether or not the current operation is an operation in which a random operation pulse is being supplied (step S7). In this state, a random operation pulse is not being supplied but a predetermined interval operation pulse is being supplied. Therefore, the process returns to step S1 and the above operation is repeated.
[0044]
When it is determined in step S5 that there is halation on the shooting screen, a random operation pulse is supplied (step S9), and the process returns to step S2 to perform a predetermined synchronization operation between the strobe and the CCD camera as described above. Therefore, in the subsequent operation, the strobe and the CCD camera operate in synchronization with each other at random timing.
[0045]
Thereafter, the same operation is performed to output the captured image from the CCD camera (step S3) and image processing (step S4) in this order, and in this embodiment, an example is shown in which it is determined again whether there is halation on the captured screen. (Step S5). By this operation, when the random pulse is synchronized by the same random control on the counterpart side, another random operation pulse can be supplied again. However, when this is not necessary, the step S5 is bypassed. In step S6, the image recognition and the recognition result output process may be performed as they are.
[0046]
Thereafter, in step S7, it is determined whether or not the random operation pulse is being supplied in the same manner as described above. Here, it is determined that the random operation pulse is being supplied. It is determined whether or not (step S8). Here, for example, when it is determined that a predetermined time such as 10 seconds has not elapsed, the process again proceeds to step S9, the supply of the random operation pulse is continued, the process returns to step S2 again, and the same operation is repeated.
[0047]
If it is determined in step S8 that a predetermined time has elapsed after the start of supplying the random operation pulse, the process returns to step S1 to supply an operation pulse at a predetermined interval, and the operation is in a steady state. However, when it is determined in step S5 that there is halation in the shooting screen, it is determined that the oncoming vehicle has not passed yet, and the process proceeds to step S9 again to supply a random operation pulse.
[0048]
In the above operation, an example is shown in which the occurrence of halation by near infrared illumination in a similar camera system mounted on an oncoming vehicle is detected by a captured screen. However, when the external near infrared illumination detector 15 in FIG. 1 is used. Can be operated in order according to the operation flow shown in FIG. That is, in the image recognition processing by near-infrared imaging shown in FIG. 3, first, the external near-infrared illumination detector 15 determines whether near-infrared illumination of the same system is received from the front (step S11). .
[0049]
As a result of the determination, when it is determined that such illumination is not received, an operation pulse at a predetermined interval is supplied (step S12), and the strobe and the CCD camera are operated in a predetermined synchronized manner as in the operation float (step S13). ), The captured image is output from the CCD camera (step S14), image processing is performed (step S15), image recognition and recognition signal output processing are then performed (step S17), and the same operation is performed again by returning to step S11. repeat.
[0050]
When the near-infrared illumination of the same system from the front is detected by the external near-infrared illumination detector 15, since it is determined that the illumination is received in the step S11, the process proceeds to step S18 and the random operation is performed. Supply pulses. Thereafter, the same operation as described above is repeated until it is determined in step S11 that the illumination is no longer received. When it is determined that the illumination is no longer received, the operation pulse is supplied again at a predetermined interval (step S12). .
[0051]
In the above embodiment, the example in which the camera system of the own vehicle causes halation when a vehicle having the same camera system travels from the opposite lane is shown, but the same applies to other vehicles around the camera. This system can be operated in the same way when similar halation is caused. In this case, such halation is detected from the entire screen without using the halation detection section as shown in FIG.
[0052]
Further, in the above-described embodiment, an example in which a camera system that shoots by irradiating near infrared rays is mounted on the vehicle is shown. However, in a digital video camera, shooting is performed by irradiating near infrared rays as a night shooting assistance function. Even in such a configuration, it is possible to prevent the same phenomenon from occurring when a plurality of people who use such a device use it at the same place at night.
[0053]
In the above embodiment, an example is shown in which a near-infrared light is illuminated and a camera that receives the near-infrared light is received in order to receive the reflected light. However, the definition of the near-infrared light is not necessarily defined, and photography according to the present invention is performed. Since the apparatus can operate in a wide infrared range, the apparatus is not limited to the imaging apparatus using near infrared rays as described above, but is shown as being usable for an imaging apparatus using infrared rays.
[0054]
Further, in the above-described embodiments, an example in which all images are taken with a CCD camera is shown, but it is natural that the present invention can be used for a camera that takes images using other light receiving elements.
[0055]
【The invention's effect】
In order to solve the above-described problems, an imaging device with infrared illumination according to the present invention provides: At a predetermined infrared irradiation timing An illumination device that emits infrared rays; In synchronization with the infrared irradiation timing of the illuminating device, a camera that receives and shoots infrared rays from the illuminating device at a predetermined charge accumulation start timing, the predetermined infrared irradiation timing, and the predetermined infrared irradiation timing Synchronized, predetermined charge accumulation start timing An operation timing control means for switching between an operation at a predetermined interval and an operation at a random interval; At a predetermined infrared irradiation timing An external infrared irradiation detecting means for detecting that the camera is irradiated with infrared rays from an external illumination device that emits infrared rays, and the operation timing control means is externally connected by the external infrared irradiation detecting means. When it detects that the camera is receiving infrared light from the lighting device, From operation at predetermined intervals Since it was made to switch to the operation of a random interval, there was a photographing device similar to this photographing device nearby, and the infrared device entered the photographing device by the lighting device provided by the device, causing halation. Since random photographing is performed when it is likely to occur, both photographing apparatuses do not operate at the same time, and occurrence of such halation can be reliably prevented.
[0056]
Further, another imaging apparatus with infrared illumination according to the present invention includes an image processing unit that processes an image from the camera, An image recognition unit that performs image recognition for comparing the data image-processed by the image processing unit with template data of a template database having predetermined template data to determine whether or not they match So when shooting a road sign, road marking, etc. with a camera in a vehicle and recognizing the shot image at night, when using it at night, infrared illumination from an oncoming vehicle equipped with a similar camera enters your camera, It is possible to prevent image recognition from becoming impossible due to halation, and a device that reliably recognizes road signs and road signs regardless of day or night can be provided.
[0057]
In another imaging device with infrared illumination according to the present invention, the external infrared irradiation detection unit is a halation detection unit that detects the presence of halation in an image captured by the camera. When halation due to the above occurs, this can be detected directly, and the halation caused by the external illumination device can be reliably prevented.
[0058]
In addition, since the imaging apparatus with infrared illumination according to the present invention switches the operation at the random interval to the operation at the predetermined interval after a predetermined time, random control is performed to prevent the influence of external infrared illumination. The special state being performed can be switched to the operation at the original predetermined interval at an appropriate time.
[0059]
Further, in another imaging apparatus with infrared illumination according to the present invention, the external infrared irradiation detection means is an infrared detector that directly detects infrared radiation from an external illumination apparatus. When irradiation is performed, random control can be performed at all times, and halation can be prevented. Further, when the external infrared illumination is not in the direction of the camera, it is possible to automatically switch to the operation at the original predetermined interval.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an operational flowchart of near-infrared captured image recognition processing using a halation detection unit as an external infrared irradiation detection unit in the same embodiment.
FIG. 3 is an operational flow diagram of near-infrared captured image recognition processing using an infrared detector that detects infrared rays from an external illumination device as external infrared irradiation detection means in the embodiment.
FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams showing an example of shooting a road sign with a near-infrared illuminated camera at night in the same embodiment, FIG. 4A shows a normal shooting state, and FIG. 4B is equipped with a similar illuminated camera; An example in which a slight halation is caused by the oncoming vehicle entering the field of view is shown, and (c) is a diagram showing an example in which a large halation is caused by the illumination mounted on the oncoming vehicle.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a strobe, a CCD operation cycle, and image output timing in a CCD camera with an illumination device.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of detecting similar illumination of an oncoming vehicle by image division when detecting halation in a captured image when detecting external infrared irradiation.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 Strobe for near infrared illumination
2 Strobe operation control unit
3 CCD camera
4 CCD camera operation controller
5 Image processing section
6 Image recognition unit
7 Template database
8 Halation detector
9 Predetermined time elapsed discriminator
10 Operation switching control unit
11 Operation timing pulse supply unit
12 Continuous operation part at predetermined intervals
13 Random actuator
15 External near-infrared illumination detector

Claims (5)

A lighting device that emits infrared rays at a predetermined infrared irradiation timing ;
A camera that receives and captures infrared rays from the lighting device at a predetermined charge accumulation start timing in synchronization with the infrared irradiation timing of the lighting device;
An operation timing control means for switching the predetermined infrared irradiation timing and a predetermined charge accumulation start timing synchronized with the predetermined infrared irradiation timing to an operation at a predetermined interval and an operation at a random interval;
An external infrared irradiation detecting means for detecting that the infrared ray is irradiated on the camera from an external illumination device that irradiates infrared rays at a predetermined infrared irradiation timing ;
The operation timing control means switches from an operation at a predetermined interval to an operation at a random interval when the external infrared irradiation detection means detects that infrared rays from an external illumination device are being applied to the camera. An imaging device with infrared illumination. An image processing unit for processing an image from the camera;
An image recognition unit that compares the data image-processed by the image processing unit with template data of a template database having predetermined template data and performs image recognition to determine whether or not they match. The imaging apparatus with infrared illumination according to claim 1. 2. The photographing apparatus with infrared illumination according to claim 1, wherein the external infrared irradiation detecting means is a halation detecting means for detecting the presence of halation in an image photographed by the camera. The imaging device with infrared illumination according to claim 3, wherein the operation at the random interval is switched to the operation at the predetermined interval after a predetermined time. 2. The photographing apparatus with infrared illumination according to claim 1, wherein the external infrared irradiation detecting means is an infrared detector that directly detects infrared rays from an external illumination device.

Images