JP4402933B2 - Image search system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an image search system, and more particularly, to an image search system that can search for images of participants in various events.

  A system for photographing participants in an event is disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 1 below.

According to Patent Document 1, in a theme park, for example, a saddle-ridden scene is photographed by a motion camera, and is obtained as a continuous image piece. Since the captured image sequence consists of several frames, there is a high possibility that a definitive moment has been captured in any frame, and the experience of a vacationer event participant is recorded. In this case, the shooting timing is triggered automatically by, for example, a switch mounted on the foot of a theme park or by an operator.
JP-A-11-327005 (FIG. 4, paragraph numbers 0009, 0013, etc.)

  A conventional method for obtaining an image at a specific moment of an event participant has been configured as described above. When an image is taken, the image is automatically taken when a vehicle such as a kite passes a certain position. Therefore, a desired image can be obtained in an event of periodic movement such as a kite. However, a desired image cannot be obtained in an event where shooting objects are concentrated or occur only irregularly.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image search system capable of obtaining a desired image even when photographing objects are concentrated or occur only irregularly. And

  According to the present invention, an image search system for retrieving an image when an event participant having an identification number each arrives at a specific position is provided at a specific position, and a photographing means for photographing an image of the event participant, Detected by the first storage means for storing the image taken by the photographing means together with the photographing time, the arrival time detecting means for detecting the arrival time of the participant when the participant arrives at a specific position, and the arrival time detecting means Second storage means for storing the identification number of the event participant together with the arrival time, means for specifying the identification number, and arrival time detection means for detecting the arrival time from the second storage means based on the specified identification number And image retrieval means for retrieving the image of the event participant corresponding to the arrival time by searching the first storage means based on the arrival time.

  When the identification number is specified, the arrival time is detected based on the specified identification number, and the event participant image corresponding to the arrival time is extracted based on the arrival time.

  As a result, it is possible to provide an image search system that can obtain a desired image even when shooting objects that are event participants are concentrated or occur only irregularly.

  Preferably, it includes time information output means for receiving time standard information and outputting time information, and the photographing time, photographing time, and arrival time are determined based on time information from the time information output means.

  Since the shooting time and the arrival time are determined based on information that is the standard of time, there is no time lag. Note that the information used as the time standard may be a standard radio wave or a signal from GPS.

More preferably, it further includes means for displaying the image taken out by the image taking-out means.
More preferably, the image fetching unit fetches a plurality of images, the display unit displays the plurality of images, and the event participant further includes a unit for selecting a desired image from the displayed plurality of images.

  More preferably, the event is a marathon.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall block diagram in a case where an image search system according to an embodiment of the present invention is used for photographing a marathon participant at a goal point of a marathon and searching for the image. Referring to FIG. 1, the marathon participant image search system 10 detects a marathon player (event participant) 50 video camera 60 in the vicinity of the marathon goal 41 and the marathon player 50 goal. The goal detection unit 100 including the antenna 101 to be described, and the data management device 20 connected to the antenna 101 and the video camera 60 are included.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the data management apparatus 20. Referring to FIG. 2, the data management device 20 includes a CPU 21 that controls the entire device, an input / output interface 22 connected to the CPU 21, a connection to the input / output interface 22, and the goal of the marathon player 50 using the antenna 101. 41, a goal detection unit 100 that detects arrival at 41, a video image reception unit 24 that is connected to the video camera 60 and receives a captured image of the marathon player 50, and an image received by the video image reception unit 24. A video image recording unit 25 for recording with a time to be described, a goal time data recording unit 26 for recording goal time data of the marathon player 50 detected by the goal detection unit 100 together with time information to be described later, and an input device such as a keyboard 27, a display 28 for displaying the photographed image, and a printer for printing the image. And a printer 29.

  Next, the goal detection unit 100 will be described. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the goal detection unit 100. Referring to FIG. 3, each of the plurality of marathon athletes 50 runs with the ID tag 40 that outputs a unique identification number (ID signal) corresponding to the bib number assigned to each bib number. Goal to goal 41. The detection device 100 includes a main controller 111 provided in the vicinity of the goal 41.

  The main controller 111 transmits a trigger to the ID tag 40 and receives an ID signal from the ID tag 40. The main controller 111 is connected to the antenna 101 described above that transmits a trigger signal and receives an ID signal from the ID tag 40. The main controller 111 is connected to a control unit 130 that controls the whole.

  The control unit 130 includes a CPU 131, a trigger signal receiving unit 132, a memory 136 that stores reception data received by the trigger signal receiving unit 132, and a system clock supply unit 120 that receives a standard radio wave and supplies a system clock to the CPU. And a clock display unit 138 that receives clock information from the system clock supply unit 120 and displays the time.

  The control unit 130 stores each detected ID signal in the memory 136 together with the time based on the standard radio wave. Further, the control unit 130 may include a display unit that displays the detection times of the detected plurality of ID signals.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the system clock supply unit 120. Referring to FIG. 4, system clock supply section 120 has an antenna 121 that receives standard radio waves, an amplifier 122 that is connected to antenna 121 and amplifies standard radio waves, and a band that is connected to amplifier 122 and extracts a predetermined frequency. A pass filter (BPF) 123, an amplitude limiter 124 connected to the band-pass filter 123, a clock information output unit 125 that is connected to the amplitude limiter 124 and extracts clock information from the standard radio wave, and a clock frequency is extracted from the standard radio wave. A clock synchronizer 126. As shown in FIG. 4, the output from the clock information output unit 125 is sent to the clock display unit 138 to display the time, and the clock synchronization signal from the clock synchronization unit 126 is supplied to the CPU 131. The time information from the clock information output unit 125 is used as time information at the time of goal detection and time data at the time of video data recording.

  Here, the case where a standard radio wave is used as the clock information has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and any information that becomes a time standard such as information from GPS may be used.

  FIG. 5A is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the ID tag 40, and FIG. 5B is a schematic diagram illustrating an appearance of the ID tag 40. Referring to FIG. 5A, an ID tag 40 includes a receiving antenna 40a, a trigger signal detection unit 41, a battery 49, a switch 42, and an ID number generation unit 43 that generates an ID number as a unique number. Including. The ID number generation unit 43 includes an address counting unit 45, an ID number storage unit 46, an oscillator 47, an output circuit 48, and a CPU 50 that controls the entire ID number generation unit 43.

  The transmission frequency of the ID tag 40 outputs an ID number at a plurality of frequencies that can be received by the trigger signal receiving unit 132, for example, any frequency of 300-322 MHz.

  If the ID tag 40 is rechargeable, the battery 49 need not be replaced and can be constructed economically.

  The receiving antenna 40a receives a trigger signal from the antenna 101 provided in the main controller 111, and the trigger signal detection unit 41 recognizes that the signal received by the receiving antenna 40a is the trigger signal. When this happens, the switch 42 is turned on. As described above, when the switch 42 is turned on, power is supplied to the ID number generation unit 43, and the ID number corresponding to the ID tag 40 is output from the ID number generation unit 43 via the transmission antenna 44. . The ID number thus output is converted into a high frequency signal by the oscillator 47 and transmitted from the transmitting antenna 44 via the output circuit 48.

  Here, a 5-digit identification number corresponding to the ID number is continuously transmitted from the oscillator 47 provided in the ID tag 40 and this signal is received by the antenna 101.

  Referring to FIG. 5B, the ID tag 40 has a rectangular shape with two sides a and b shown in the drawing having several tens of millimeters, and the thickness c is about several millimeters. The ID tag 40 worn by the marathon player 50 is very light and does not give the player a sense of incompatibility during the competition.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of recorded contents of data in the goal time data recording unit 26. Referring to FIG. 6, the goal time data recording unit 26 records the event, the race bib number, the ID number of the ID tag 40, the goal time, and the required time. Of these, the event, the bib number, and the ID number corresponding thereto are recorded in advance.

  When the goal detection unit 100 detects the goal time using the ID tag 40, the goal detection unit 100 transmits the goal time data recording unit 26 together with the ID number of the ID tag 40 to the goal time data for each marathon player 50 based on the ID number. The required time is recorded. The events are also included here because a plurality of events, for example, a men's full marathon, a boy's 20 km, a women's full marathon, a woman's 20 km, etc., are held simultaneously and may score goals at the same time.

  FIG. 7 shows the recorded contents of the video data recording unit 25. As shown in FIG. 7, the image of the marathon player 50 who has taken a goal imaged by the video camera 60 is recorded as a plurality of still images together with the time. In FIG. 7, an enlarged individual and an image including the periphery thereof are shown, but this may be performed by providing two video cameras, or by one imaging device. Then, the central portion may be taken out from the image and prepared.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart in the case where the CPU 21 of the management device 20 performs an image at the time when the marathon player 50 requests his / her goal photo after each marathon player finishes, etc. FIG. It is a figure which shows the display content of the display 28 in a case.

  Referring to FIGS. 8 and 9, when a player first requests his / her goal photo, the data management device 20 reports the event he / she participated in and the bib number. These pieces of information are input to a predetermined input position of the display 28 via the input device 27 such as a keyboard (step S11 in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9A, and the following steps are omitted). Since the event, the bib number, and the ID number are associated as shown in FIG. 6, the ID number of the ID tag 40 can be specified from these pieces of information.

  Suppose that the event that I participated in was a men's full marathon and that the number number was 55. The CPU 21 searches the ID number 1055 of the ID tag 40 from the goal time data recording unit 26 with reference to FIG. 6 (S12 in FIG. 8), and specifies the goal time therefrom (S13 in FIG. 8, in this case, 11:30: 00). Based on this data, the video data recording unit 25 shown in FIG. 7 is searched (S14 in FIG. 8). If there are images (YES in FIG. 8 S14), the images A1 and A2 are specified (FIG. 7) and both are displayed on the display 28 (FIG. 8 S15, FIG. 9 (B)). This image is shown to the marathon player 50 to inquire whether or not it is necessary (S16 in FIG. 8). If necessary, the “YES” button in FIG. 9B is clicked and output by the printer 29 (S17 in FIG. 8).

  In the above embodiment, the bib number is used together with the item to specify the tag ID. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the ID number of the tag may be specified from the item and the name of the marathon player 50.

  In the above embodiment, an example of searching for and outputting an image of a marathon player at a goal point of a marathon has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be used to provide an image at a predetermined position in an arbitrary event. For example, it can be used for a tee shot player image of each hole in a golf competition.

  In the above embodiment, an image is taken using a video camera. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a digital camera or the like may be used.

  In the above embodiment, the example in which the data management device performs the detection of the goal time of the marathon participant, the recording of the video image, etc. by one data management device has been described. A similar function may be executed using an apparatus.

  In the above embodiment, an image is output by a printer. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a still image may be output to an arbitrary medium such as an FD, CDR, or DVD. A moving image may be output.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described with reference to drawings, this invention is not limited to the thing of embodiment shown in figure. Various modifications and variations can be made to the illustrated embodiment within the same range or equivalent range as the present invention.

  The image search system according to the present invention is used for taking a picture of a marathon participant's goal and searching for the image. Even when a marathon player who is an event participant concentrates or finishes only irregularly, It is used as an image search system for obtaining a desired image.

It is a schematic diagram which shows the whole structure at the time of utilizing the image search device concerning this invention for the image photography of the goal point of a marathon. It is a block diagram which shows the whole structure of a data management apparatus. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of a goal detection part. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of a system clock supply part. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of an ID tag. It is a figure which shows the data structure of a goal time data recording part. It is a figure which shows the data structure of a video data recording part. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of a data management apparatus. It is a figure which shows the input and output example to a display.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Image search system, 20 Data management apparatus, 21 CPU, 22 Input / output interface, 24 Video image receiving part, 25 Image data recording part, 26 Goal time data recording part, 27 Input device, 28 Display, 29 Printer, 40 ID tag , 50 marathon players, 60 video cameras, 100 goal detectors, 101 antennas

Claims (3)

An image retrieval system that retrieves images when event participants each having an identification number arrive at a specific location,
A photographing means provided at the specific position for photographing an image of the event participant;
First storage means for storing an image photographed by the photographing means together with a photographing time;
An arrival time detecting means for detecting an arrival time of the participant when the participant arrives at the specific position;
Second storage means for storing an identification number of the event participant together with the arrival time detected by the arrival time detection means;
Means for identifying the identification number;
An arrival time detecting means for detecting an arrival time from the second storage means based on the identified identification number;
The first searching for storage unit based on the arrival time, and determining means for determining whether the event participants of the image at the arrival time,
When it is determined by the determination means that the image at the arrival time is present, an image extraction means for extracting a plurality of images at the arrival time of the event participant ;
Display means for displaying the plurality of images taken out by the image take-out means;
The event participant includes a selection unit that selects a desired image from the plurality of images displayed by the display unit.
Image search system.   The time information output means which receives the information used as the standard of time, and outputs time information is provided, The said imaging | photography time and the said arrival time are defined based on the time information from the said time information output means. The described image search system.   The image search system according to claim 1, wherein the event is a marathon.

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