JPH0437278A - Direction controller for monitor camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To surely pickup an object by receiving a reflected wave of an ultrasonic wave signal at an ultrasonic wave signal reception section provided at plural positions, calculating a difference of reception times so as to discriminate the arrival direction of the reflection wave thereby controlling the direction of a monitor camera. CONSTITUTION:The controller consists of a drive section 4 driving a monitor camera 11 with a signal from a control signal generating section 3, ultrasonic wave signal reception sections 1 (14A-14C), an arithmetic section 2, and a control section controlling the control signal generating section 2 and the drive section 4. That is, a reflecting wave of an ultrasonic wave signal radiating from an ultrasonic wave signal radiation section 6(12) added to the monitor camera 11 in an object 13 or the like with respect to the monitor camera 11 is received by the plural ultrasonic wave signal reception sections 1(14A-14C), a difference among the reception times of the reception sections is calculated and the pickup direction of the monitor camera 11 is controlled so that the calculated value reaches a setting value or below. Thus, the object 13 is displayed almost in the middle of the picture by the monitor camera 11 and the object 13 is surely picked up.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to a surveillance camera device, and more particularly to a device for controlling the imaging direction of a surveillance camera.

[Prior art] With surveillance camera devices, if the surveillance range is narrow (-), the surveillance camera can be fixed and a lens suitable for the surveillance viewing angle can be used. If the required range cannot be captured as is, for example,
The surveillance camera is rotated at an appropriate speed or oscillated in a fan shape, thereby capturing images of the necessary range. In such a device, when an abnormality occurs, such as a suspicious person crossing a corner within the surveillance range, if the surveillance camera is not facing in this direction at this time, the abnormality will not occur. This meant that the images were not captured by surveillance cameras, and improvements were needed.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The present invention has been made in view of these problems, and includes an ultrasonic signal transmitter attached to a surveillance camera, and a signal from the ultrasonic signal transmitter that is reflected by a subject. is received by a plurality of ultrasonic signal receivers, the difference in reception time in the plurality of ultrasonic signal receivers is calculated, and the imaging direction of the surveillance camera is controlled so that this calculated value is less than or equal to a set value.
An object of the present invention is to provide a pointing control device for a surveillance camera that can reliably image a subject that reflects an ultrasonic signal.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides an ultrasonic signal source that is provided on a horizontal line or a vertical line that is substantially perpendicular to the imaging direction of the surveillance camera, and that is attached to the surveillance camera. a plurality of ultrasonic signal receiving sections that receive reflected waves of the ultrasonic signals; a calculation section that calculates a difference in reception time of the reflected waves at the plurality of ultrasonic signal reception sections; a control signal generation section that generates a signal for controlling the imaging direction of the surveillance camera; a drive section that drives the surveillance camera based on the signal from the control signal generation section; the ultrasonic signal receiving and calculating section; and a control signal generation section. An object of the present invention is to provide a pointing control device for a surveillance camera, which includes a control section and a control section that controls the drive section.

[Operations] As configured as described above, in the surveillance camera pointing control device according to the present invention, the ultrasonic signal emitted from the ultrasonic signal transmitter attached to the surveillance camera is reflected by the subject of the surveillance camera, etc. The waves are received by a plurality of ultrasonic signal receiving units, the difference in reception time between the receiving units is calculated, and the imaging direction of the surveillance camera is controlled so that the calculated value is equal to or less than a set value.

[Embodiment 1] Hereinafter, embodiments of the pointing control device for a surveillance camera according to the present invention will be described in detail based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a bronch diagram of a main part of an embodiment of a pointing control device for a surveillance camera according to the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes an ultrasonic signal receiving section, which receives reflected waves of ultrasonic signals from an ultrasonic signal transmitting section 6 attached to a surveillance camera. There are multiple levels spaced equally apart on the horizontal line. 2 is a calculation unit that calculates the difference in reception time by the plurality of ultrasound signal reception units 1; Reference numeral 3 denotes a control signal generating section, which generates a signal for controlling the imaging direction of the surveillance camera based on the signal from the calculating section 2. Reference numeral 4 denotes a driving section, which is driven by a signal from the control signal generating section 3 so that the imaging direction of the surveillance camera becomes the arrival direction of the reflected wave. 5 is a control unit that controls each part of the device.

Next, the operation of the pointing control device for a surveillance camera according to the present invention will be explained with reference to FIG. 2, which is a perspective view of an example of the arrangement of an ultrasonic signal receiving section, etc. Ultrasonic signals (for example, pulsed signals) from the ultrasonic signal transmitter 12 attached to the surveillance camera 11
The reflected waves A, B, and C of the ultrasonic signals are, for example, ultrasonic signals placed on a horizontal line that is approximately perpendicular to the imaging direction of the surveillance camera 11. The signal reaches the signal receiving sections 14A, 14B and 14C and is received by each of them. These ultrasonic signal receiving units 14A, 14B, and 14C are arranged on the horizontal line, for example, at equal intervals, and the ultrasonic signal receiving unit 14B
is located below the surveillance camera 11, and the subject 13 is, for example, on the left side when facing the surveillance camera 11 and approximately in front of the ultrasound signal receiving section 14A, the reflected waves A, B, and C are reflected waves A, B, and C when the ultrasound signal is received. Part +4A, 14B and 14C
Let a, b, and C be the times it takes to reach and be received, respectively, then the relationship between these arrival times a, b, and C is a<b<c (b is greater than a, and C is greater than b). ). The calculation unit 2 inputs the data of times a, b, and C via the control unit 5, and calculates that a-b<01c-b.
> Calculate O.

Then, these data are applied to the control signal generation section 3 via the control section 5, and the control signal generation section 3 generates a signal for changing the imaging direction of the surveillance camera 11 to the right. This signal is applied to the drive unit 4 via the control unit 5, and the drive unit 4 drives the monitoring camera 11 so as to swing to the right. During this swing drive, the ultrasonic signal receiving sections 14A, 14B, and 14C continue to receive the reflected waves A, B, and C of the ultrasonic signal from the ultrasonic signal transmitting section 12 by the subject 13. As for the calculated values in section 2, the negative value of a-b gradually approaches 0 and eventually becomes a positive value, and at the same time, the value of C-b gradually decreases. The signal generated by the control signal generator 3 generates a signal that shifts the imaging direction of the surveillance camera 12 to the right when these calculated values are larger, for example, the value of c-b than the value of a-b (absolute value). Do, etc. When the direction of the monitoring force cod 11 substantially coincides with the direction of the subject 13, the calculated value in the calculation section 2 becomes a-t)=c-b, and the control signal generation section 3 stops generating the control signal. , the drive section 4 stops the swinging drive of the surveillance camera 11. As a result, the subject 13 is displayed approximately in the middle of the image taken by the surveillance camera 11.

Note that in calculating the difference between a-b and c-b, the calculated values do not necessarily have to be equal, as long as the position of the subject 13 is within the imaging viewing angle of the surveillance camera 12, so these should be taken into consideration. to set the tolerance for the calculated value.

In the above description, the ultrasonic signal receiving sections 14A, 4B, and 14C are installed on a horizontal line that is approximately perpendicular to the imaging direction of the surveillance camera 11, but these receiving sections are installed on a horizontal line that is approximately perpendicular to the imaging direction. is first arranged on a vertical line, and the angle of depression of the surveillance camera 11 installed on the second floor or the like can be controlled based on the difference in reception time by the plurality of reception sections. In addition, if the ultrasonic receiving unit is placed both on a horizontal line and a vertical line that are substantially perpendicular to the ↑most image direction of the surveillance camera 11, the direction of the surveillance camera 11 can be swung up and down and left and right to detect the direction in which an abnormality has occurred. It can also be used to capture images.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the directional control device for a surveillance camera according to the present invention, the reflected waves of the ultrasonic signal emitted from the ultrasonic signal transmitter are provided at a plurality of locations to receive the ultrasonic signal. The ultrasonic signal is received by the ultrasonic signal receiver, and the difference in reception time between these ultrasonic signal receivers is calculated to determine the arrival direction of the reflected wave, and the direction of the surveillance camera is controlled based on this determination.
Unlike when a surveillance camera is rotated at a constant speed or swiveled in a fan shape for surveillance, failures such as overlooking the occurrence of abnormalities due to viewing angles do not occur.

Furthermore, since ultrasonic signals are inaudible to the human ear, for example, if they are installed in combination with a highly sensitive surveillance camera, surveillance can be carried out even in the dark without being detected by suspicious persons. It has many advantages and has a wide range of applications.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a main part of an embodiment of a directional control device for a surveillance camera according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an example of the arrangement of an ultrasonic signal receiving section, etc. of the directional control device for a surveillance camera. . In the figure, 1 and 14A to 14C are ultrasonic signal receiving units;
2 is an arithmetic unit, 3 is a control signal generator, 4 is a drive unit, 5 is a control unit, 6 and 12 are ultrasonic signal transmitters 11 is a surveillance camera, and 13 is a subject. Figure 1 Patent applicant Fujitsu General Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A plurality of ultrasonic signal receiving units that are provided on a horizontal line or a vertical line that is substantially perpendicular to the imaging direction of the surveillance camera, and that receive reflected waves of ultrasonic signals from an ultrasonic signal source attached to the surveillance camera. a calculation unit that calculates the difference in reception time of the reflected waves at a plurality of ultrasonic signal reception units; and a control signal generation unit that generates a signal for controlling the imaging direction of the surveillance camera based on the signal from the calculation unit. a drive unit that drives the surveillance camera with a signal from the control signal generation unit, and a control unit that controls the ultrasonic signal reception unit, the calculation unit, the control signal generation unit, and the drive unit. Directional control device for surveillance cameras. (2) The pointing control device for a surveillance camera according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of ultrasonic signal receiving sections are provided on a horizontal line and a vertical line that are substantially perpendicular to the imaging direction of the surveillance camera.