JPH03185997A - Remote monitor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain quick remote control of a desired attitude of a video input means by designating a coordinate of video image information by a displayed remote monitor and calculating a position when the designated coordinate is a prescribed value so as to control automatically the attitude of the remote video input means. CONSTITUTION:Monitor pickup information from a TV camera of a remote video input means 11 is sent by a transmission means 12, received by a central supervisory room and displayed on a picture display means 13. When the picture is monitored and a coordinate input means 14 inputs a desired coordinate, the attitude information arithmetic means 15 calculates the attitude control information of the means 11 so that the coordinate position comes to a prescribed position. Then the calculated information is sent and received and the attitude control of the means 11 is controlled automatically via a drive means 16 and the desired attitude of the video input means is quickly remote-controlled.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention monitors the status of a process, etc. captured by a monitoring television camera installed in an unmanned facility, etc. from a remote central monitoring room. The present invention relates to a remote monitoring device, and more particularly to a remote monitoring device with an improved operating means for a television camera for remote monitoring performed in a central monitoring room.

(Prior Art) Generally, in this type of remote monitoring device, a television camera is installed in an unmanned facility in a remote location, and the images taken by the television camera are displayed on a monitor device in a central central monitoring room. Therefore, a method is being adopted to centrally monitor the situation inside unmanned facilities.

Television cameras installed in such unmanned facilities are equipped with a vertical angle drive mechanism and a horizontal angle drive mechanism to control the camera's attitude, as well as a zoom mechanism to adjust the viewing angle, and each mechanism can be accessed from a central monitoring room. By giving predetermined commands to set the vertical angle, horizontal angle, and zoom magnification, the situation of the desired facility can be accurately monitored.

Hereinafter, such a remote monitoring device will be explained with reference to FIG. 7. A video image taken by a television camera 1 installed in an unmanned facility is A/D converted by a video conversion device section 21 of a television camera control device slave station 2 and sent to a transmission device slave station 3. The transmission device slave station 3 converts the video signal into text data in units of screens and sends it through the communication line 4 to the transmission device master station 5.
Send to.

The transmission device master station 5 receives text data from the transmission device slave station 3 and sends it to the television camera control device master station 6. In the television camera control device master station 6, a built-in image conversion device section 61 converts text data back into a video signal and displays it on the monitor device 7, thereby making it possible to reproduce and display the video taken by the television camera 1. However, since the normal communication line 4 uses an analog line that provides voice band service, the upper limit of communication speed is 980.
It is about 0 bps. Therefore, it takes several seconds to several tens of seconds to finish transmitting one screen's worth of text data, resulting in what is called a still image display.

In FIG. 7, 2 □ is a drive control unit that controls the drive device 8 to set the vertical and horizontal angles of the television camera 1, 62 is a camera attitude setting unit, and 9 is an operation panel.

On the other hand, the television camera 1 is remotely controlled as follows. When the video taken by the television camera 1 can be monitored without time delay, the operator operates the operation panel 9 while looking at the screen of the monitor device 7 to change the vertical angle and horizontal angle in real time. On the other hand, if the communication line 4 with a large transmission delay is used, the feedback operation of the monitoring results will be delayed, and therefore the operation cannot be performed in real time.

Therefore, in a conventional remote monitoring device, when the installation location of the monitoring equipment or the television camera 1 is determined, the camera posture setting section preliminarily stores the posture information of the television camera 1 from which desired information is to be obtained in accordance with the installation location. 62 and store it as a menu, and the operation panel 9 is also provided with a switch corresponding to the menu. For example, selection switches such as "pump well image" and "sand basin gate image" are provided on the operation panel 9. Then, the operator selects these switches, generates the stored attitude information in the camera attitude setting section 6□, and transmits it to the communication line 4 via the transmission device master station 5. Here, when the transmission device slave station 3 sends the received attitude information to the drive control device section 22, the drive control device section 22 controls the drive device 8 to control the vertical angle and horizontal angle of the television camera 1. .

(Problem to be solved by the invention) However, in the above-mentioned remote monitoring device,
Since the system uses a still image transmission system, the image on the monitor device 7 is displayed on each screen at intervals of several tens of seconds, making it difficult to continuously control the posture of the television camera 1. You can only monitor the menus that have been set.

This means that when an accident suddenly occurs, it is not possible to change the attitude of the TV camera 1 in an appropriate direction to appropriately assess the accident, or to make fine adjustments to the attitude of the TV camera 1. TV camera 1 tailored to the process situation
operation is not possible.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a remote monitoring device that can quickly set the attitude of a television camera to an arbitrary position according to the monitoring situation of an unmanned facility.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a method for capturing and communicating video information of a monitored target in a remote location in a remote monitoring device using a still image transmission method. A video information input means for transmitting using a line, an image display means for reproducing the video information sent from the video information input means through a communication line, and an arbitrary image to be displayed on the image display means. coordinate input means for specifying a position and inputting coordinate information of the specified position; and posture information such that the specified position is located at a predetermined position of the image display means based on the coordinate information input from the coordinate input means. The image forming apparatus is configured to include an attitude information calculation means for calculating the above-mentioned image information input means, and a drive means for operating the attitude of the video information input means in response to the attitude information obtained by the attitude information calculation means.

(Function) Therefore, by taking the above-described measures, the present invention displays the video information of the monitoring target obtained from the video information input means on the image display means in the central monitoring room using the communication line. . Here, when the operator specifies an arbitrary position of the image displayed on the image display means using the coordinate input means, the coordinate information of the position is input to the posture information calculation means. The attitude information calculation means calculates attitude information such that the designated position is at a predetermined position on the image display means, and then sends the obtained attitude information to the drive means at a remote location. When the driving means receives the posture information, if the driving means drives the posture of the video information input means as specified, the image at the specified position among the video information from the video information input means is displayed at a predetermined position on the image display means. be able to.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing functional blocks of the apparatus of the present invention.

In the figure, reference numeral 11 denotes a video information input means for photographing an object to be monitored and inputting a video signal, and the video signal obtained here is transmitted to a central monitoring room at a remote location using a transmission means 12.

Reference numeral 13 denotes an image display means for reproducibly displaying the video signal sent from the video information input means 11 via the transmission means 12. Reference numeral 14 denotes coordinate input means for specifying an arbitrary position on the image displayed on the image display means 13 and inputting coordinate information. Reference numeral 15 denotes a posture information calculation means for calculating posture information for specifying the posture of the video information input means 11 based on the coordinate information from the coordinate input means 14, and the posture information obtained here is transmitted by the transmission means 12. It is transmitted to the video information input means 11 side. 16 is posture information calculation means 15
This drive means operates the attitude of the video information input means 11 based on the attitude information sent from the video information input means 11 via the transmission means 12.

Next, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the structure of the apparatus of the present invention in more detail. In the figure, reference numeral 21 denotes a television camera for photographing a subject to be monitored, and a video signal of the subject to be monitored photographed by this television camera 21 is sent to a video converter unit 221 of a slave station 22 of the television camera control device. This video converter unit 22° converts the video signal output from the television camera 21 into a digital signal representing the brightness of each mesh point, and sends it to the subsequent transmission device slave station 23. The transmission device slave station 23 converts the digital video signal into text for each screen and then transmits it to the communication line 24 at a predetermined transmission cycle. 25 is a drive device that controls the television camera 21 to a desired posture.

Reference numeral 26 denotes a transmission device master station, which introduces one screen worth of text data received through the communication line 24 into the image conversion device section 27□ of the television camera control device master station 27. The image conversion device section 27+ converts the text data received from the transmission device master station 26 into a video signal for image display, and then displays it on the monitor device 28. Two are transparent touch panel screens that generate two-dimensional coordinates of a position touched with a fingertip or the like, and X1Y coordinate signals of the touch position are sent to the camera attitude setting section 30.

The camera attitude setting unit 30 sends camera attitude information obtained by performing arithmetic processing to be described later based on the XSY coordinate signal to the transmission device master station 26, where the attitude information is converted into text data and transmitted via the communication line 24. It is transmitted to the device slave station 23. The transmission device slave station 23 guides the received posture information to the drive control device section 22□ of the television camera control device slave station 22, and controls the drive device 25 based on the posture information to adjust the vertical angle, horizontal angle, etc. of the television camera 21. operate. This drive device 25 is mechanically coupled to the television camera 21 and controls the posture of the television camera 21 by driving based on posture information.

The camera attitude setting unit 30 is a CPU'30+1 person data unit that executes data output and calculation control.

Memory 3 for storing performance input data and program data
0□, an interface 303 for the two touch panel screens, an interface 304 for the transmission device master station 26, etc., and these are connected to the pass line 30. connected via.

Next, the operation of the apparatus configured as above will be explained. Now, the position (a) of the screen shown in FIG. 3(a) is visible on the monitor device 28 through the two touch panel screens, with the center of the screen being visible. In this state, touch (b) in FIG. 3(a) with your fingertip and move the television camera 21 so that the position shown in (b) in FIG. 3(b) is at the center of the screen. .

Therefore, a method of calculating the vertical angle and horizontal angle for changing the attitude of the television camera 21 will be explained with reference to FIG. 4. FIG. 4 CB> represents the coordinates on the touch panel screen 29. The horizontal axis is the X coordinate axis, the vertical axis is the Y coordinate axis,
Let the intersection point be O(0,0). Therefore, to set (b) in Figure 3(a) at the center of the screen, set the center point of the screen to Q(
Xo, Yo), point Pa (x, y) in Figure 4(a), which corresponds to point (b) in Figure 3(a), is the point Q(x
o, yo). Therefore, the intersection of the straight line QXI-QX2 passing through point Q and parallel to the X-axis and the perpendicular line drawn from point Pa is point Sa (x).

yo), and the intersection of this perpendicular line and the top edge of the screen is defined as Ta (x, 2yo).

Further, the positional relationship between the actual monitoring target corresponding to the display screen and the television camera 21 is as shown in FIG. 4(b). In other words, the center point of the lens of the television camera 21 is R
It is assumed that the lens is in focus at a position sb that is a distance away from point R along the center line of this lens. Then, a point Tb is located at a distance H from a perpendicular line drawn to the straight line R-sb.
Take.

When the zoom magnification is -1, it is assumed that points sb and Tb are mapped to points Sa and Ta on the screen in FIG. 4(a). On the other hand, any zoom magnification K (1≦≦K
max), the point Tec in Fig. 4(b) is the point Ta
It is assumed that the image is mapped so that it is enlarged and displayed.

Now, when the zoom magnification is K, the change in the vertical angle to move the point Pa on the screen to the position of the point Sa is Δθ
y, the center of the 2 lens shown in Figure 4(b) changes Δ to R-Pb.
It is necessary to tilt the television camera 21 by θy along the Y axis. Since the distance between point sb and point Tc is H/, from the mapping relationship shown in Fig. 4 (a) and (b), h/ (H/K) = ()' - Vn ) / S
The relationship 'o - (1) holds true. However, h is a straight line p
The length is b-sb. Also, from tan(Δθ7)-h/L'' (2), the following can be obtained. In equation (3), yo is the center coordinate in the Y-axis direction on the screen and is a known constant, and H is the center coordinate of the screen in the Y-axis direction. Since the vertical field of view at a distance when the zoom magnification is 1 is 172, it is a known constant determined by the optical system of the television camera 21, and the zoom magnification is a known value that is separately set and stored in the memory 302. It is.

Therefore, the Y coordinate y of point Pa is changed from the touch panel screen 3 to the interface 30. When input via CPU30. Now, we can calculate Δθy by calculating equation (3) above, so we can calculate the new vertical angle θ
y is the vertical angle θ of the current 7[ stored in the memory 30□
It is determined from yo using equation (4).

θy−θy0+Δθy (4)
Similarly, the horizontal angle θX is θX − θXo + ΔθX
...obtained from (6). However, θXo is memory 3
02, ΔθX is the movement angle in the X-axis direction, W is 1/2 of the horizontal field of view at a distance when the zoom magnification is -1, and is a constant.

Next, the operation of the camera attitude setting section 30 will be explained with reference to the flowchart of the attitude information processing program shown in FIG. When a certain point on the touch panel screen 29 is touched, the posture 4 information processing program is started due to an interrupt (step S1), and the coordinates (x, y) of the touched position are read (step S2).
). Here, the CPU 30+ receives the constant H from the memory 30□.
Read L, Vo, and set value K and calculate Δ based on equation (3).
After calculating θy (step S3), the memory 30□
The current vertical angle θVo is read from , and θy is determined based on equation (4). And θyo (θy−θyo
) is updated (step S4). Next, read the constants W, L, xo, and set value K from the memory 302 and perform the above (5).
Calculate ΔθX from the formula (step S5), read out the current horizontal angle θXo from the memory 302, and calculate the
), and similarly calculate θXO(θX→θX
O) is updated (step S6). Furthermore, after writing the updated angle θX11%θyo to the memory 30□ (
Step S7), θx via the interface 304
Send 1θy to the transmission device master station 26 (step 88)
. Although not shown in the flowchart below, the transmission device master station 2
6 converts the posture information 5 into text and transmits it to the communication line 24 using the same procedure as in the conventional example. When the transmission device slave station 23 side receives the text data of posture information from the communication line 24, it sends the text data to the drive control device section 22□. Here, the drive device 25 changes the attitude of the television camera 21 in response to a command from the drive control device section 22□, so that the newly transmitted image from the television camera 21 has a point Pa shown in FIG. 4 at the center of both sides. It will be displayed at the position of point Q.

Therefore, according to the embodiment described above, when an arbitrary position on the touch panel screen 29 is touched, the camera posture setting section 30 automatically adjusts the vertical and horizontal angles of the television camera 21 based on the coordinate information of the touched position. Since the position of the television camera 21 is changed to a predetermined posture by controlling the driving device 25, the image at the touch position can be easily displayed at the center of the display screen. Therefore, the field of view of the television camera 21 can be appropriately fine-tuned, and the field of view of the television camera 21 can be quickly varied in any direction for monitoring.

6 FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the device of the present invention.

This device is provided with a plane coordinate input device 31 such as a mouse, a lever switch, a keyboard, etc. in place of the touch panel screen 29, and from this plane coordinate input device 31
, Y2-axis coordinate information is input, and the interface 30. of the camera attitude setting section 30 is input. It is designed to be input.

Since the other configurations are the same as those of the above embodiment, detailed explanation thereof will be omitted.

Therefore, according to the above-described embodiment, the coordinate information input from the plane coordinate input device 31 is introduced into the CPU 30 via the interface 303, and the CPU 30 r inputs the coordinate information as shown in FIG. The attitude information calculated according to the flowchart is sent to the transmission device master station 26, and the coordinate information is normalized to the full-scale coordinates of the monitor device 28, and then sent via the interface 304 again to the image conversion device section 27□ Send to. Image conversion device section 27. For example, a video signal of a cross-shaped mark is generated and output to the television monitor 21 so that the center 7 position of the mark is at the coordinate position input from the CPU 301, superimposed on the video information. Therefore, the operator can achieve the same function as in the above embodiment by moving the mark to a desired position while looking at the screen.

In the above embodiment, the object of attitude control is a television camera, but the present invention can similarly be applied to the case of remotely controlling the attitude of a robot incorporating such a video information input means. In addition, the present invention can be implemented with various modifications without departing from the gist thereof.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, the posture of the television camera can be reliably and quickly set in any direction in accordance with the desired monitoring target of an unmanned facility. It is possible to provide a remote monitoring device that can perform appropriate monitoring according to the situation.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figures 1 to 5 are shown to explain the present invention in detail. Figure 1 is a functional block diagram of the remote monitoring device, and Figure 2 is a configuration diagram showing the device of the present invention in more detail. , Fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the change of image Shuno, Fig. 4
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the calculation procedure for posture information; FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram showing another embodiment of the remote monitoring device of the present invention; FIG. The figure is a configuration diagram showing a conventional remote monitoring device. 11... Video information input means, 12... Transmission means, 1
3... Image display means, coordinate input means, 15... Attitude information calculation means, 16... Driving means, 21... Television camera, 22... Television camera control device slave station, 221
...Video conversion device section, 222...Drive control device section,
23... Transmission device slave station, 24... Communication line, 25...
. . . Drive device, 26 . . . Transmission device master station, 27 . . . TV camera control device master station, 27. . . . Image conversion device section, 28 . . . Monitor device, two . . . touch panel screens, 30 .

Claims (1)

[Claims] A remote monitoring device using a still image transmission method includes a video information input means for capturing video information of a monitoring target in a remote location and transmitting it using a communication line; an image display means for reproducibly displaying video information, a coordinate input means for inputting coordinate information of an arbitrary position of the image displayed on the image display means, and a coordinate input means for inputting coordinate information input from the coordinate input means. posture information calculation means for calculating posture information such that the designated position is at a predetermined position of the image display means based on the image display means; 1. A remote monitoring device comprising a drive means for operation.