JP5623216B2 - Imaging system and information processing method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an imaging system and an information processing method that are particularly suitable for automatically adjusting the shooting direction of a surveillance camera.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is known a surveillance camera system that monitors a video by controlling a camera by remote operation via a network or a dedicated line. According to such a monitoring camera system, since the shooting direction can be set by adjusting the pan angle, the tilt angle, etc. after adjusting the focus and zoom of the monitoring camera, the monitoring camera is mainly used for monitoring. Installed on the ceiling or wall.

  Many surveillance cameras have a dome-type camera in which an imaging device and a dome that protects a photographing unit are integrated. When a dome-type surveillance camera is installed on a wall or ceiling by manually adjusting pan, tilt, and rotation (hereinafter referred to as PTR, P is pan, T is tilt, and R is rotation). It is possible to freely set the shooting direction. Then, when the surveillance camera is installed, the user himself / herself determines the shooting direction, and after the installation, the camera is used as a fixed camera device without changing the shooting direction.

  For example, in Patent Document 1, in order to extend the product life of a video camera device, after the iris operation or autofocus operation is completed, the drive of the iris motor or focus motor is locked to extend the life of the focus motor or iris motor. Techniques for disclosing are disclosed.

JP-A-7-245724

  As described above, the conventional dome type surveillance camera is manually installed. However, each time the surveillance camera is manually installed, the user needs to adjust while watching the video, and the installation work is very troublesome. In order to solve this problem, it is conceivable to introduce a surveillance camera that performs PTR control by electric control.

  When the PTR is driven electrically, if the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 described above is applied to a PTR driving motor, the life of the PTR driving motor can be extended. However, since the thin coaxial line through which the motor drive signal passes is wired between the imaging unit and the movable unit in the shooting direction, when the shooting direction is changed, the rotation mechanism part in the camera rotates to pass the motor drive signal. Therefore, a twist occurs in the thin coaxial line. As a result, a large stress is applied to the thin wire coaxial or the contact of the thin wire coaxial.

  As described above, when the thin coaxial line is used, the upper limit number of rotations that can be driven by the PTR is about 100 rotations, but it is considered that the number of rotations is sufficient when the PTR is driven only when the surveillance camera is installed. However, the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 does not consider the life of a thin coaxial cable for passing a motor drive signal. For this reason, if the rotational speed of the PTR drive exceeds the upper limit rotational speed, the thin wire coaxial line is disconnected before the life of the motor itself is exhausted, and the drive mechanism of the PTR becomes uncontrollable.

  In order to prevent such a situation, it is desirable that an upper limit is set for the number of driving times of each motor that drives the PTR so that the driving mechanism reaches the end of its life before the thin coaxial line is disconnected. However, when the PTR suddenly stops driving, the cause is unknown and the user may be confused. Also, if the wiring is a flat cable in order to electrically control the surveillance camera, the cost is greatly increased compared to a wire such as a thin coaxial used in a conventional dome-type surveillance camera. It is desirable.

An object of the present invention is to make it possible to notify a user that a predetermined number of camera drive mechanisms have been driven.

The imaging system of the present invention is an imaging system configured by connecting an imaging device and an information processing device that instructs the imaging device to move a shooting direction, and the imaging device is a subject. Via the thin line coaxial line wired between the imaging unit and the movable unit in the imaging direction based on the imaging means for generating the video data and the motor drive signal according to the instruction from the information processing device Driving means for moving the imaging direction of the imaging means by driving the motor, counting means for counting the cumulative number of rotations of the motor driven by the driving means, and video data generated by the imaging means And transmitting means for transmitting information on the accumulated rotational speed counted by the counting means to the information processing apparatus. The video data transmitted by the transmission means is received, the receiving means for receiving the information on the cumulative rotational speed, the video related to the video data received by the receiving means is displayed on the display unit, and the cumulative rotational speed Display control means for displaying on the display unit a display indicating that the value has reached a predetermined value, and the counting means of the imaging device has a movement amount when the driving means is driven is equal to or less than a predetermined value. Is not added to the cumulative rotational speed of the driving means.

According to the present invention, the user can recognize that a predetermined number of driving mechanisms of the camera have been driven.

It is a flowchart which shows an example of the procedure which displays the durable condition of PTR. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen displayed on the display part of a 1st client terminal. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the whole system containing the monitoring camera which concerns on embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the detailed structural example of a 1st camera. It is a block diagram which shows the detailed structural example of a 1st client terminal. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process sequence until a control right is provided. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process sequence which acquires a control right. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process sequence of step S108 of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process sequence which notifies the durability condition of PTR. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process sequence which accumulate | stores rotation speed.

(First embodiment)
Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the entire imaging system including the monitoring camera according to the present embodiment.
In FIG. 3, a first camera 301 and a second camera 302 are network cameras for photographing a subject and distributing the video data, and have a PTR (pan, tilt, rotation) control function. . The video data generated by the first camera 301 and the second camera 302 is delivered via the network 303.

  Specifically, the first client terminal 304 and the second client terminal 305 functioning as an information processing apparatus receive the video data transmitted from the first camera 301 and display the video (see FIG. PC). The first camera 301, the first client terminal 304, and the second client terminal 305 are each connected to a network 303 such as a LAN or the Internet. As described above, the first client terminal 304 and the second client terminal 305 receive the video data delivered from the camera 301 via the network 303. Further, by connecting a plurality of cameras such as the second camera 302 to the network 303, the first client terminal 304 and the second client terminal 305 receive the video data of a plurality of remote locations and display the video. be able to.

  The recording server 306 is a server for recording video data received from the first camera 301 and the second camera 302. The user usually gives an instruction to the first camera 301 or the second camera 302 connected to the network 303 by operating the first client terminal 304 or the second client terminal 305. As a result, the user can view images taken by the first camera 301 and the second camera 302. Note that the number of cameras, the number of client terminals, and the number of recording servers are not limited to the numbers shown in FIG. 3 and can be arbitrarily increased or decreased.

Next, the operation of the first camera 301 of this embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIG.
FIG. 4A is a block diagram illustrating a detailed configuration example of the first camera 301 in the present embodiment. Note that the configuration of the second camera 302 is the same as the configuration of the first camera 301, and thus description thereof is omitted.
In FIG. 4A, a communication I / F 401, a CPU 402, a storage unit 403, an imaging control unit 404, a PTR control unit 405, and a PTR rotation number counting unit 406 are connected to a bus 407.

  The storage unit 403 is a non-volatile memory for storing an identification ID for identifying the first camera 301. Further, the drive number (cumulative rotation) of the pan driving unit 409, the tilt driving unit 410, and the rotation driving unit 411 is stored. Information). The imaging control unit 404 controls the imaging unit 408, and the PTR control unit 405 controls the pan driving unit 409, the tilt driving unit 410, and the rotation driving unit 411. By controlling the imaging unit 408, pan driving unit 409, tilt driving unit 410, and rotation driving unit 411 in this way, the shooting direction of the first camera 301 can be determined. The PTR rotation number counting unit 406 counts the rotation number of each motor used in the pan driving unit 409, the tilt driving unit 410, and the rotation driving unit 411. The imaging control unit 404, the PTR control unit 405, and the PTR rotation number counting unit 406 are controlled by the CPU 402.

Next, the operation of the first client terminal 304 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a detailed configuration example of the first client terminal 304. Note that the configuration of the second client terminal 305 is the same as the configuration of the first client terminal 304, and thus description thereof is omitted.

  In FIG. 5, a communication I / F 501, a CPU 502, a storage unit 503, a camera operation unit 504, and a PTR drive display unit 505 are connected to a bus 506. Video data sent from the first camera 301 and the second camera 302 is input to the communication I / F 501 via the network 303.

  The storage unit 503 stores information on the accumulated rotational speed of each motor used to drive the pan driving unit 409, the tilt driving unit 410, and the rotation driving unit 411 of the first camera 301 (second camera 302). Remember. The storage unit 503 also stores an identification ID of a camera that can be operated from the first client terminal 304, and operates the camera from the camera operation unit 504 only for a camera having the same identification ID as the first client terminal 304. Can do.

  The display unit 507 is configured by a touch panel or the like, and includes a camera operation unit 504 and a PTR drive display unit 505. The camera operation unit 504 is an operation unit for sending an instruction to drive the imaging unit 408, pan driving unit 409, tilt driving unit 410, and rotation driving unit 411 of the first camera 301 (second camera 302). . A control command output by operating the camera operation unit 504 is transmitted by the CPU 502 to the first camera 301 or the second camera 302 via the communication I / F 501 and the network 303. Then, the CPU 402 of the first camera 301 sends the control command to the control unit required to execute the control command sent from the first client terminal 304 among the imaging control unit 404 and the PTR control unit 405. send. The PTR drive display unit 505 displays the durability status of the imaging unit 408, pan drive unit 409, tilt drive unit 410, and rotation drive unit 411 of the first camera 301 (second camera 302). .

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing procedure until the control right is given to the first client terminal 304 by the first camera 301. Each process shown in FIG. 6 is performed under the control of the CPU 402.
First, it waits until it receives a control right acquisition request for the first camera 301 from the first client terminal 304 via the communication I / F 401 (step S601). When receiving a control right acquisition request for the first camera 301, the control waits until an identification ID is received from the first client terminal 304 via the communication I / F 401 (step S602). Here, the identification ID represents an identification ID inherently possessed by the first client terminal 304, and the first camera 301 similarly has a unique identification ID.

  When the identification ID is received from the first client terminal 304, the identification ID of the first client terminal 304 is compared with the identification ID of the first camera 301. And it is determined whether both identification ID corresponds (step S603). The first client terminal 304 can acquire the control right of the first camera 301 only when the identification IDs of both coincide with each other by this determination. The identification ID given to the client terminal side or the camera side may be a fixed ID that can identify the camera or the client terminal such as a MAC address or a serial number.

  If the identification ID of the first camera 301 matches the identification ID of the first client terminal 304 as a result of the determination in step S603, the control right of the first camera 301 is given to the first client terminal 304. (Step S604). Specifically, a notification for permitting control is transmitted to the first client terminal 304 via the communication I / F 401.

  Next, the process waits until a request for information on the motor rotation speed (cumulative rotation speed) in each drive unit of the PTR of the first camera 301 is received from the first client terminal 304 (step S605). Upon receiving a request for information on the number of rotations of each motor, information on the number of rotations of each motor of the pan driving unit 409, the tilt driving unit 410, and the rotation driving unit 411 is transmitted to the first client via the communication I / F 401. It transmits to the terminal 304 (step S606).

  On the other hand, if the identification ID of the first camera 301 does not match the identification ID of the first client terminal 304 as a result of the determination in step S603, a camera operation non-permission notification is sent via the communication I / F 401. To the client terminal 304 (step S607).

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing procedure for acquiring a control right for the first camera 301 by the first client terminal 304. Each process shown in FIG. 7 is performed under the control of the CPU 502.
First, the user waits for an instruction to acquire a control right for the first camera 301 by operating the camera operation unit 504 (step S701). When receiving a control right acquisition instruction to the first camera 301, a request to acquire the control right of the first camera 301 is transmitted to the first camera 301 via the communication I / F 501 (step S702).

  Next, it waits until it receives permission / inhibition of control right acquisition from the first camera 301 (step S703). Then, when receiving whether or not the control right can be acquired, it is determined whether or not the received result is a notification permitting the control of the first camera 301 (step S704). If the result of this determination is a notification permitting control, a request for the rotational speed of each drive unit of the PTR is transmitted to the first camera 301 via the communication I / F 501 (step S705).

  Next, it waits until it receives information on the rotational speed (cumulative rotational speed) of the motor in each drive unit of the PTR from the first camera 301 (step S706). When the information on the rotational speed of the motor in each drive unit of the PTR is received, the received information on the rotational speed of the motor in each drive unit of the PTR is stored in the storage unit 503 (step S707). Then, the user is notified that the first camera 301 can be operated (step S708).

  On the other hand, if the result of determination in step S704 is that the first camera 301 is not permitted to be controlled, the user is notified that the first camera 301 cannot be operated (step S709).

  In steps S708 and S709, as a specific method of notifying the user of whether or not camera control is possible, there is a method of displaying whether or not camera control is possible on the display unit 507. In addition to the display unit 507, a dialog box may be launched to display whether or not camera control is possible, and buttons necessary for camera control may be hidden on the camera operation unit 504.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing procedure for displaying the durability status of the drive mechanism of the first camera 301 by the first client terminal 304. Each process shown in FIG. 1 is performed under the control of the CPU 502.
First, it waits until a user operates the camera operation unit 504 to receive a drive instruction from any of the pan drive unit 409, the tilt drive unit 410, and the rotation drive unit 411 of the first camera 301 (step S101). When a drive instruction is received, a drive request is transmitted to the first camera 301 via the communication I / F 501 (step S102).

  Next, a request for information on the upper limit value of the rotational speed of the motor driven by each drive unit of the PTR of the first camera 301 is transmitted to the first camera 301 via the communication I / F 501 (step S103). And it waits until it receives the information of the upper limit of the rotation speed of the motor which each drive part of PTR drives from the 1st camera 301 (step S104). When information on the upper limit value of the rotational speed of the motor driven by each drive unit of the PTR is received, a request for information on the rotational speed of each motor after starting the drive of the PTR via the communication I / F 501 is sent to the first camera. It transmits to 301 (step S105).

  Next, it waits until it receives information on the rotational speed (cumulative rotational speed) of each motor after starting the driving of the PTR (step S106). When the information on the rotational speed of each motor after starting the driving of the PTR is received, the upper limit value of the rotational speed of each motor that drives the PTR received in steps S104 and S106 and the rotation of each motor after driving the PTR. Information about the number is stored in the storage unit 503 (step S107). Then, based on the two pieces of information received in steps S104 and S106, the endurance status of the PTR is calculated and displayed on the PTR drive display unit 505 (step S108).

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed on the display unit 507 of the first client terminal 304 by the display control of the CPU 502.
As shown in FIG. 2, when the camera is installed, the user determines the shooting direction by operating the operation buttons 201 to 205 while viewing the video 206 distributed from the first camera 301.

  The PTR drive display unit 207 corresponds to the PTR drive display unit 505 shown in FIG. 5, and depends on the endurance status of the PTR calculated from the cumulative rotation speed of the motor used to drive the PTR of the first camera 301. The display color is gradually changed from blue to green to yellow to red. That is, as the cumulative number of rotations of the motor increases, the display color changes from blue to green, green to yellow, and yellow to red, and the number of movements of the drive mechanism of the first camera 301 decreases as the display color changes. It represents that.

  Further, when the PTR drive display unit 207 turns red, it indicates that the upper limit of the number of movements of each drive unit of the PTR has been reached. Note that the timing for changing the display color of the PTR drive display unit 207 from blue to green, green to yellow, and yellow to red is the most cumulative rotational speed among the three-axis motors used in each drive unit of the PTR. It depends on the number of motor rotations.

  For example, when the cumulative rotational speed of each drive unit of the PTR reaches an upper limit value (predetermined value), the display color of the PTR drive display unit 207 is changed to red. When the cumulative rotational speed of each drive unit of the PTR reaches 2/3 or more of the upper limit value, the display color of the PTR drive display unit 207 is changed to yellow, and the cumulative rotational speed of each drive unit of the PTR is the upper limit. When the value reaches 1/3 or more, the display color of the PTR drive display unit 207 is changed to green. Further, when the cumulative number of rotations of each drive unit of the PTR is less than 1/3 of the upper limit value, the display color of the PTR drive display unit 207 is blue.

  The timing for changing the display color of the PTR drive display unit 207 can be freely changed according to the durability of each drive unit of the PTR and the product specifications. Note that the display mode of the PTR drive display unit 207 is not limited to the method described above, and may be a method of displaying a numerical value obtained by incrementing or decrementing the cumulative rotation speed of each drive unit of the PTR. In addition, a display method may be used in which the cumulative number of rotations of each drive unit of the PTR is represented by a display bar and incremented or decremented. A message indicating that the upper limit has been reached may be displayed. The message may be output by voice.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing procedure for displaying the durability status of the PTR in step S108. As a method for displaying the durability status of the PTR, an example in which the display color is changed as shown in FIG. 2 will be described. Each process shown in FIG. 8 is performed under the control of the CPU 502.
First, among the three-axis motors used for each drive unit of the PTR, the motor with the largest cumulative number of revolutions is determined (step S801). Then, it is determined whether or not the accumulated rotational speed has reached the rotational speed (upper limit value) at which the display color of the PTR drive display unit 207 is red for the determined motor having the largest cumulative rotational speed (step S802). As a result of this determination, if the rotation speed has reached the red display color, the display color of the PTR drive display unit 207 is changed to red (step S803).

  On the other hand, as a result of the determination in step S802, if the rotation speed at which the display color becomes red has not been reached, the rotation speed at which the display color of the PTR drive display unit 207 becomes yellow (for example, 2/3 or more of the upper limit) has been reached. It is determined whether or not (step S804). As a result of this determination, when the rotation speed has reached the yellow value, the display color of the PTR drive display unit 207 is changed to yellow (step S805).

  On the other hand, as a result of the determination in step S804, when the rotation speed at which the display color becomes yellow has not been reached, the rotation speed at which the display color of the PTR drive display unit 207 becomes green (for example, 1/3 or more of the upper limit) has been reached. It is determined whether or not (step S806). If the result of this determination is that the rotation speed has reached the display color of green, the display color of the PTR drive display unit 207 is changed to green (step S807). On the other hand, as a result of the determination in step S806, when the rotation speed at which the display color becomes green has not been reached, the display color of the PTR drive display unit 207 is set to blue (step S808). As described above, in FIG. 8, the display color is changed every time the cumulative number of revolutions reaches a predetermined number of revolutions (predetermined value). When the cumulative number of revolutions reaches the upper limit value, a red display indicating that the upper limit value has been reached is displayed.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing procedure in which the first camera 301 notifies the first client terminal 304 of the durability status of each drive unit of the PTR. Each process shown in FIG. 9 is performed under the control of the CPU 402.
First, it waits until it receives a drive request for the pan drive unit 409, tilt drive unit 410, and rotation drive unit 411 transmitted from the first client terminal 304 (step S901). When the drive request is received, the pan drive unit 409, the tilt drive unit 410, and the rotation drive unit 411 are driven by the PTR control unit 405 in accordance with the request from the first client terminal 304 (step S902).

  Next, the PTR rotation number counting unit 406 obtains the accumulated rotation number of each motor used in the pan driving unit 409, the tilt driving unit 410, and the rotation driving unit 411, and the storage unit 403 stores information on the obtained accumulated rotation number. (Step S903).

  Here, how to obtain the cumulative number of rotations of the motor used in each drive unit of the PTR will be described. For example, when a stepping motor having a reduction ratio of 1: a and a driving angle of b ° per step is used for each driving portion of the PTR, the number of steps necessary to drive the motor once is 360 / b steps. is there. Therefore, the number of steps necessary to drive each drive unit of the PTR one rotation is a × 360 / b steps. When the total count value of the number of pulses given for driving the motor is c, the rotation speed of each drive unit of the PTR is c ÷ (a × 360 / b).

  Next, it waits until it receives a request for information on the upper limit value of the rotational speed of each drive unit of the PTR transmitted from the first client terminal 304 (step S904). Upon receiving a request for information on the upper limit value of the rotational speed, information on the upper limit values of the rotational speeds of the pan driving unit 409, the tilt driving unit 410, and the rotation driving unit 411 is transmitted to the first client via the communication I / F 401. It transmits to the terminal 304 (step S905).

  Next, the process waits until a request for information on the rotational speed (cumulative rotational speed) of each drive unit of the PTR transmitted from the first client terminal 304 is received (step S906). Upon receiving the request for the rotational speed information, the rotational speed information of each motor after driving the pan driving unit 409, the tilt driving unit 410, and the rotation driving unit 411 via the communication I / F 401 is obtained as the first information. The data is transmitted to the client terminal 304 (step S907).

  Next, it is determined whether or not at least one of the pan driving unit 409, the tilt driving unit 410, and the rotation driving unit 411 has reached the rotational speed at which the lifetime is reached (step S908). As a result of the determination, when at least one of the drive units of the PTR has reached the rotation speed at which the lifetime is reached, the PTR control unit 405 locks and drives the pan drive unit 409, the tilt drive unit 410, and the rotation drive unit 411. (Step S909). On the other hand, as a result of the determination in step S908, if none of the drive units of the PTR has reached the rotation speed that will be the lifetime, the process returns to step S901.

  As described above, the cumulative number of rotations of each motor used in the pan driving unit 409, the tilt driving unit 410, and the rotation driving unit 411 is detected on the first camera 301 side. Then, the information is transmitted to the first client terminal 304. On the other hand, on the first client terminal 304 side, the upper limit of the drive mechanism can be visually notified to the user by changing the display color of the PTR drive display unit 207 stepwise based on the detection result. On the first camera 301 side, the drive mechanism can be protected by locking so that the drive mechanism is not driven when it reaches the end of its life.

  In this embodiment, when adding the rotation speed of each drive unit of the PTR, the rotation speed is accumulated according to the amount of movement of the PTR based on the number of steps given to the motor used in the PTR. May be accumulated as the number of rotations.

(Second Embodiment)
Hereinafter, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Since the overall configuration in the present embodiment is the same as the configuration shown in FIG. 3 described in the first embodiment, description of the same parts is omitted. Further, the configuration of the first client terminal 304 is the same as that of the first embodiment, and thus the description thereof is omitted. Further, the processing procedure by the first camera 301 until the first client terminal 304 acquires the control right of the first camera 301 is the same as that in FIG. 6, and the processing procedure by the first client terminal 304 is shown in FIG. 7 is the same as in FIG.

FIG. 4B is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the first camera 301 in the present embodiment. In FIG. 4B, the same portions as those in FIG. 4A described in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.
In FIG. 4B, the PTR movement amount detection unit 451 detects the movement amount of each motor used in the pan driving unit 409, the tilt driving unit 410, and the rotation driving unit 411. The PTR movement amount detection unit 451 may be any means that can detect the movement amount of each drive unit generated by rotation of each drive unit of the PTR, such as an encoder.

  In the present embodiment, the processing procedure for the first camera 301 to notify the first client terminal 304 of the durability status of each drive unit of the PTR is substantially the same as that in FIG. The difference is that when the number of rotations after driving the PTR in step S903 is calculated, the number of rotations accumulated by the number of movement steps detected by the PTR movement amount detection unit 451 is weighted as the amount of movement of each drive unit of the PTR. I do.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing procedure for accumulating the rotation speed when any of the PTR drive units is driven by the PTR movement amount detection unit 451 in step S903. In the present embodiment, when the number of moving steps of any of the drive units is less than α, the number of rotation steps is divided into three cases: α or more and less than β, and β or more. Weighting is performed. Α and β are positive integers, and α <β.

  First, it is determined whether or not the number of movement steps is less than α (step S1001). If the result of this determination is that the number of movement steps is less than α, the number of steps detected by the PTR movement amount detection unit 451 is used as it is (step S1005). On the other hand, if the result of determination in step S1001 is that the number of movement steps is greater than or equal to α, it is determined whether or not the number of movement steps is greater than or equal to α and less than β (step S1002). As a result of this determination, if the number of movement steps is greater than or equal to α and less than β, the number of steps detected by the PTR movement amount detection unit 451 is set as the number of steps (step S1003).

  On the other hand, if the number of movement steps is equal to or greater than β as a result of the determination in step S1002, the number of steps detected by the PTR movement amount detection unit 451 is set as the number of steps (step S1004). Then, the number of rotations of each drive unit is obtained using the determined number of steps (step S1005). The method for obtaining the rotational speed of the drive unit can be obtained by a method similar to the method described in the first embodiment.

  Due to the structure of the dome-type camera, the greater the amount of movement of each drive unit of the PTR, the more easily the stress is applied to the fine line coaxial or the fine line coaxial contact through which the motor drive signal is passed, and the life is quickly reached. Therefore, when the amount of movement of one of the drive units of the PTR in one camera operation becomes large, the number of rotations is accumulated by weighting. Specific cases of movement steps and weighting are not limited to those described above, and can be freely changed depending on the structure of the camera and the tolerance of the thin coaxial line. Further, when the rotation angle at which each drive unit of the PTR is rotated is small, stress is not applied to the thin wire coaxial line. Therefore, if the rotation angle is less than a predetermined value, the rotation number may not be added.

(Other embodiments)
The present invention can also be realized by executing the following processing. That is, software (program) that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus via a network or various storage media, and a computer (or CPU, MPU, etc.) of the system or apparatus reads the program. It is a process to be executed.

405 PTR control unit 406 PTR rotation number counting unit 408 imaging unit 409 pan driving unit 410 tilt driving unit 411 rotation driving unit 504 camera operation unit 505 PTR driving display unit 507 display unit

Claims (5)

An imaging system configured by connecting an imaging device and an information processing device that instructs the imaging device to move a shooting direction, connected to a network,
The imaging device
Imaging means for generating a subject and generating video data;
Based on a motor driving signal in accordance with an instruction from the information processing apparatus, the image pickup unit takes an image by driving the motor through a thin coaxial line wired between the image pickup unit and the movable unit in the image pickup direction. Driving means for moving the direction;
Counting means for counting the cumulative number of rotations of the motor driven by the driving means;
Transmitting means for transmitting the video data generated by the imaging means, and transmitting information on the cumulative number of rotations counted by the counting means to the information processing apparatus,
The information processing apparatus includes:
Receiving means for receiving the video data transmitted by the transmitting means, and receiving the information on the accumulated rotational speed ;
Display on the display unit the video related to the video data received by the receiving unit, and a display control unit that displays on the display unit a display indicating that the cumulative rotational speed has reached a predetermined value ,
Imaging system counting means of the imaging apparatus, when the movement amount when by driving the drive means is less than the predetermined value, characterized by be Rukoto to not added to the accumulated number of rotations of said drive means. 2. The imaging system according to claim 1 , wherein the transmission unit transmits information on a cumulative rotation speed of the driving unit to the information processing apparatus every time the driving unit is driven. The imaging system according to claim 1 , wherein the counting unit counts the cumulative number of rotations based on a number of steps necessary when driving the driving unit. The imaging system according to claim 1 , further comprising a permission unit that permits an instruction from the information processing apparatus when the identification ID of the information processing apparatus matches. An imaging unit that generates a subject and generates video data, and a thin coaxial line wired between the imaging unit and the movable unit in the imaging direction based on a motor driving signal in response to an instruction from the information processing device And an information processing apparatus for instructing the imaging apparatus to move the shooting direction is connected to a network by driving the motor to move the imaging direction of the imaging means. An information processing method in an imaging system configured as follows:
A counting step of counting the cumulative number of rotations of the motor driven by the driving means;
A transmission step of transmitting the video data generated by the imaging means, and transmitting information of the cumulative number of revolutions counted in the counting step to the information processing device;
Receiving the video data transmitted in the transmission step, and receiving the information of the cumulative rotational speed ;
A display control step of displaying on the display unit the video related to the video data received in the reception step, and displaying on the display unit a display indicating that the cumulative rotational speed has reached a predetermined value ,
The counting in the step, when the movement amount when by driving the drive means is less than the predetermined value, the information processing method characterized by be Rukoto to not added to the accumulated number of rotations of said drive means.

Images