JPH04257190A - Moving body tracking and display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily find a suspicious person which appears continuously in a monitor area by reducing the load on an operator who performs a monitor process and easily tracing a moving body. CONSTITUTION:An image input part 1 inputs an image continuously in time series and a variation area extraction part 3 extracts the variation area of the moving body by using the inputted image which succeeds in time series. A sequential number assignment part 5 gives a sequential number to the variation area in order each time the variation area is extracted and a variation area display memory 4 displays the assigned sequential number on a display monitor 6 together with the extracted corresponding variation area.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a moving object tracking and display device for tracking and displaying a moving object in an image monitoring system that detects illegal intruders using images captured by a television camera, for example.

0002

[Background Art] In recent years, image monitoring devices that detect illegal intruders, etc. by using images captured by television cameras (hereinafter referred to as television cameras) have become widespread, for example in security systems. . This is because recent remarkable developments in semiconductor and computer system technology and the widespread use of digital image processing technology have made it possible to create low-cost devices.

In such an image monitoring device, when detecting and tracking a moving object, a changing region of the moving object is extracted by differential processing between images that are continuously inputted in time series, and a changing region of this changing region is extracted. The object is determined to be a moving object using information such as area. The operator himself tracks and monitors the moving object by displaying a rectangular mark surrounding the moving object on an image monitor.

0004

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in conventional image monitoring devices, the means for tracking a moving object after it has been detected is such that, as described above, a rectangular mark surrounding a changing area is used to continuously display a moving object on an image monitor. The operator must constantly monitor what is being displayed and output. For example, when monitoring an area that is rarely penetrated by moving objects, the operator does not have to monitor the image monitor all the time, but can monitor the image monitor based on the system's automatic change detection results and then track a single moving object. I will do it. Furthermore, when monitoring an area where a moving object enters and exits, the operator needs to constantly monitor the image monitor in order to track the moving object. Therefore, even when monitoring an area where moving objects hardly enter, the burden of monitoring the image monitor on the operator is heavy. Furthermore, when monitoring an area where relatively many moving objects enter and exit, it is necessary to constantly check the moving objects that enter and exit in order to determine whether the moving object is an illegal trespasser based on the path of the moving object that has entered the monitoring area. There was a problem in that the situation had to be monitored on an image monitor, which was a huge burden.

[0005] Therefore, the present invention aims to reduce the burden on the operator who performs the monitoring process, and to easily track moving objects and to easily find suspicious persons who are continuously present in the monitoring area. An object of the present invention is to provide an object tracking display device.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] A moving object tracking and display device of the present invention includes an image input means for inputting images continuously in chronological order, and a continuous image in chronological order inputted by the image input means. a changing area extracting means for extracting a changing area of a moving object using the changing area; an identifier assigning means for assigning a different identifier to the changing area each time a changing area is extracted by the changing area extracting means; The apparatus further includes display means for displaying the identifier assigned by the identifier assigning means together with the corresponding changed area extracted by the changed area extracting means.

[0007]

[Operation] Extracts the changing area of a moving object using the input chronologically continuous images, and each time a changing area is extracted, a different identifier is assigned to the changing area. By displaying the identifier together with the corresponding extracted region of change, the operator can easily track the target region of change (moving object) within the monitoring area. In addition, by analyzing the pattern of identifiers remaining in the monitoring area, the operator does not have to constantly look at the display means as an image monitor, and can automatically take action according to the processing results, reducing the burden on the operator. It can be significantly reduced. Furthermore, the operator can easily know whether the intruding moving object is always present within the monitoring area by looking at the displayed identifier.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of a moving object tracking and display device according to the present invention. That is, the image input unit 1 is mainly composed of, for example, a television camera, and performs processing such as A/D conversion on images from the television camera to generate digital multivalued images that are continuous over time. Enter as . A digital multivalued image input from the image input section 1 is stored in the image storage section 2 as digital information. The image storage unit 2 stores a plurality of chronologically continuous images in order to extract changing regions of a moving object, and these images are updated with new images as needed.

The changing area extracting unit 3 extracts the changing area of the moving object as a binarized image by performing a pixel-by-pixel difference calculation between a plurality of chronologically continuous images stored in the image storage unit 2. Extract. This binarized image of the change area is an image that is output as a continuous image in time series every time the input multivalued image is updated.

The binarized image from which the changed area has been extracted, which is output from the changed area extraction section 3, is sent to a changed area display memory 4. On the other hand, the sequential number allocating unit 5 serving as an identifier receives information on the order in which changed areas are extracted from the changed area extracting unit 3, and sequentially allocates sequential numbers corresponding to the changed areas. The changed area display memory 4 superimposes the above two types of information, that is, the binarized image from which the changed area has been extracted, and the assigned sequential number information, and displays them on the image monitor 6 as a display means. This method superimposes the input multivalued image.

FIG. 2 is for explaining an effective example of this embodiment. For example, consider a case where a television camera is photographing the surroundings of a house. Suppose now that in the image at time t in FIG. 4A, person A, person B, and truck C are extracted as changing regions, that is, moving objects. As a result of assigning sequential numbers to the order extracted by the processing according to this embodiment, person A is “1” and person B is “2”.
”, and track C becomes “3”.

In the image at time t+1 shown in FIG.
Truck C has disappeared outside the monitoring area, and person B has moved to the right and is about to disappear from the monitoring area. It can be seen that Person A is moving slightly to the right. In other words, the sequential number "3" assigned to track C will no longer be managed by the system when track C disappears, and the sequential number "1" and "2" assigned to person A and person B will not be tracked. subject to.

In the image at time t+2 in FIG. 2(c),
Person B has disappeared from the monitoring area as a result of moving to the right. Person A now remains within the monitoring area as a result of moving to the left. It can be seen that a moving object that appears to be Person D is newly entering the monitoring area from the bottom of the screen. Therefore, the sequential number "2" assigned to person B is also not subject to management. The moving object that appears to be the newly intruding person D has the sequential number “4”.
is assigned.

By repeating the above process,
It can be seen that the moving object with the sequential number "1", that is, the person A, exists within the monitoring area, and can be determined to be a suspicious person wandering around the house. In other words, by analyzing the pattern of sequential numbers remaining within the monitoring area, the operator does not need to constantly look at the image monitor and can automatically take action according to the processing results, greatly reducing the burden on the operator. be able to.

As described above, according to the above embodiment, changing regions of a moving object are extracted at any time using inputted images that are continuous in time series, and the extracted changing regions are determined in the order in which they were extracted. By assigning a sequential number to a moving object, displaying this sequential number on the image monitor together with the corresponding moving object, and removing the assigned number from the management target when the moving object leaves the monitoring area, the operator can It is possible to easily track a target changing area (moving object) within the object. In addition, by performing the above processing, the number assigned to a changing area, that is, a moving object that remains within the monitoring area forever, will be a discontinuous number compared to the number assigned to a moving object that enters and exits. It is easy for the number to be checked automatically or for the operator to find the discontinuous number.

[0017] Furthermore, even if a plurality of moving objects come together and stop within the monitoring area and no new moving objects enter the monitoring area, the number is not updated while the changing area is being extracted, so that the monitoring area is continuously updated. It can be determined that it remains within the range.

Further, since sequential numbers are assigned to the extracted changing regions in the order of extraction, it is possible to easily know the number of moving objects extracted up to now.

[0019]Furthermore, in the case of a place where a person constantly goes in and out, a so-called suspicious person who goes back and forth to the place being photographed by a television camera remains as a moving object with the same sequential number on the image monitor, so the operator cannot You can identify this suspicious person at a glance.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. For example, in the embodiment described above, sequential numbers are displayed and output superimposed on the moving object on the image monitor, but the correspondence between the moving object and the assigned number is not obtained as result information of the moving object extraction process. Therefore, by pointing at a specific moving object on the image with a coordinate specifying means such as a light pen, the moving object can be tracked without displaying the sequential number.

[0021] It is also conceivable that a sequential number superimposed on a moving object approaching a specific area of the monitoring location itself be used as color information to indicate the degree of danger.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, sequential numbers are sequentially assigned to the detected moving object changing regions, but instead of this, label names that have meaning in each application may be assigned, or other identifiers may be assigned. can also be given.

[0023]

[Effects of the Invention] As detailed above, according to the present invention, the burden on the operator performing monitoring processing is reduced, and
It is possible to provide a moving object tracking and display device that can easily track a moving object and easily find a suspicious person who is continuously present in a monitoring area.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram schematically showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an effective example of the present invention, (a) is a diagram for explaining the relationship between a changed image at time t and an assigned sequential number, and (b) is a diagram for explaining an example at time t+1. Diagram for explaining the relationship between changing images and assigned sequential numbers, (c) is at time t
A diagram for explaining the relationship between the change image at +2 and the assigned sequential number.

[Explanation of symbols]

1... Image input section (image input means), 2... Image storage section, 3... Change area extraction section (change area extraction means), 4...
Memory for displaying a changed area, 5... Sequential number assignment section (identifier assigning means), 6... Image monitor (display means).

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: Image input means for inputting images continuously in chronological order, and change area extraction for extracting a change area of a moving object using the chronologically continuous images input by the image input means. means, an identifier assigning means for assigning a different identifier to the varying region each time the varying region is extracted by the varying region extracting means, and an identifier assigning means for assigning the identifier assigned by the identifier assigning means to the varying region extracting means. 1. A moving object tracking and display device comprising: display means for displaying a corresponding change area extracted in the above.