JPH0622192A - Camera remote controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To decide the position of a camera or the like quickly by generating a control signal used to control the camera in the state that a still picture corresponding to a block recognized by a selection block recognition means is caught and sending the control signal to the camera. CONSTITUTION:The number of a block in which a noted section is in existence is inputted to a selection block recognition section 15 and the position information of the selected block is inputted to a camera control information management section 16. The management section 16 generates a camera operating quantity required for making the entire range caught by a monitor camera coincident with the selection block. Concretely, since the information such as the position of the camera, attitude and zoom is stored in a camera control information storage section 17, the operating quantity is calculated by comparing the information with the position information of the selection block. The operating quantity calculated by the management section 16 is sent as a control signal to a controlled station and the camera is controlled. When new still picture data are fetched and displayed on a monitor 13, the still picture of the selected block is displayed with magnification and fetched by one camera control.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a remote control device for a surveillance camera used as means for fetching still image data from a surveillance camera in a remote surveillance device or the like, and more particularly to a processing system for still image data Regarding improvement.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIG. 3, a conventional distant monitoring apparatus has a surveillance camera 2 installed at a distant controlled station 1, and the controlled station 1 is controlled via a communication line 3 such as ISDN. Connected to 4. Then, the image captured by the surveillance camera 2 of the controlled station 1 is transmitted as still image data from the controlled station 1 to the control station 4 via the communication line 3, and the still image is monitored by the monitor provided in the control station 4. 5 is displayed.

In such a remote monitoring device, a still image displayed on the monitor 5 of the control station 4 is monitored, and if there is a portion of interest in the still image, the monitoring camera 2 is remotely operated from the control station 4. Then, the region of interest is moved to the center of the monitor screen, and the region of interest is zoomed up and enlarged. In addition, when it is desired to display a part adjacent to the still image currently displayed on the monitor 5, the position of the monitoring camera 2 is moved from the control station 4.

As described above, when the desired still image data is taken in, it is necessary to adjust the position, posture, etc. of the surveillance camera 2. In the case of still image data, it is not possible to see the adjustment condition of the camera in real time like the video data, so
The following adjustments were made. That is, the control station 4 positions the monitoring camera 2, and sends the control data to the controlled station 1 to adjust the position of the monitoring camera 2. Next, the still image data captured by the adjusted surveillance camera 2 is displayed on the monitor 5 of the control station 4 to confirm whether the positioning of the surveillance camera 2 is performed as desired.

However, in reality, it is difficult to determine the camera position in a short time because it is difficult to determine how much the camera position should be moved to obtain the desired still image data.

Therefore, in the case where the change of the monitored object is rapid, the state has already changed when the camera position is determined, so that the change of the monitored object cannot be sufficiently monitored.

[0007]

As described above, in the conventional distant monitoring device, it is difficult to determine how much the camera should be adjusted to fetch the desired data, and it takes a long time to determine the camera position. Was.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is possible to quickly determine the position, posture, zoom and other states of a camera to very easily and quickly obtain a still image of a region of interest. It is an object to provide a camera remote control device that can be obtained.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, a camera remote control device of the present invention takes in still image data from a camera and visualizes it, and divides the visualized still image into a plurality of blocks. A division control unit, a selection block recognition unit for recognizing a block selected from the outside as the attention site among the blocks of the still image divided by the division control unit, and a recognition for the selection block recognition unit. And a camera control signal generation means for generating a control signal for controlling the camera in a state of capturing a still image corresponding to the block and sending the control signal to the camera.

[0010]

In the camera remote control device of the present invention, still image data taken in from the camera is visualized by the division control means and further divided into a plurality of blocks for display.
For this still image divided into multiple blocks,
A block to be a region of interest is selected from the outside. The block selected from the outside is recognized by the selected block recognition means. When a certain block is recognized in this way, the camera control signal generation means generates a control signal for controlling the camera to capture a still image within the range of the recognition block and sends it to the camera. The control signal sent from the camera control signal generation means adjusts the camera position, posture, magnification, and the like.

[0011]

EXAMPLES Examples of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 1 shows a functional block of a control station in a camera remote control device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The configuration other than the illustrated control station is the same as that of the remote monitoring device shown in FIG.

The control station shown in FIG. 1 is connected to a controlled station equipped with one or a plurality of monitoring cameras via a communication network, and the connection from the control station to the communication network is a transmission / reception processing unit. It will be held at 11.

The still image data sent from the controlled station to the control station via the communication network is the still image data output unit 1.
Entered in 2. The still image data output unit 12 monitors the still image data input from the transmission / reception processing unit 11 by the monitor 1.
3 and the divided block data input from the division control unit 14 is displayed so as to be superimposed on the still image on the monitor 13.

The division control unit 14 has a function of generating division block data for dividing the entire screen of the monitor 13 into N: M blocks in response to a division instruction request from the outside. For example, when a 4: 4 division instruction request is input, the still image displayed on the monitor 13 is divided into 16 parts. The still image data output unit 12 and the division control unit 14
And constitute the division control means.

The divided block data generated by the division control unit 14 is input to the selected block recognition unit 15 in addition to the still image data output unit 12. The selected block recognition unit 15
When a predetermined block number is externally given to the still image dividedly displayed on the monitor 13, the division control unit 14
With reference to the divided block data from, the position information of the selected block in the still image is obtained and output to the camera control information management unit 16.

The camera control information management section 16 has a function as a camera control signal generating means for controlling the camera control information and generating a control signal for controlling the surveillance camera.

Further, the camera control information storage unit 17 has information necessary for controlling the cameras, such as the current camera position information, posture information, and zoom information, for each of all the surveillance cameras that are the targets of remote control. , Exposure information, etc. are stored, and the camera control information is stored in the camera control information management unit 1.
6 allows reading and updating. The camera control information stored in the camera control information storage unit 17 can also be read by a control information output request from the outside.

When the position information of the selected block regarding a certain surveillance camera is input from the selected block recognition unit 15, the camera control information management unit 16 reads out the current camera control information of the surveillance camera from the camera control information storage unit 17. . Then, by comparing the read camera control information with the position information of the selected block, the operation amount of the camera required to match the range captured by the surveillance camera with the selected block is calculated and transmitted as a control signal. Has become.

In the present embodiment configured as described above, for example, still image data captured by the surveillance camera 2 of the controlled station 1 shown in FIG. 3 is transmitted / received by the transmission / reception processing unit 11 of the control station via the communication network 3. Will be received at. The still image data received by the transmission / reception processing unit 11 is displayed on the monitor 13 by the still image data output unit 12.

If the still image displayed on the monitor 13 includes a region of interest to be enlarged and displayed, the operator inputs a division instruction request to the division control unit 14 using, for example, a keyboard.

FIG. 2 shows the transition of the display screen on the monitor 13. The screen A1 is a state in which a still image is initially displayed, and becomes a screen A2 divided into a plurality of blocks by a division instruction request.

Here, the number of divisions requested to be divided is determined according to the extent to which the region of interest is enlarged and displayed. That is, if you want to enlarge at a high magnification, increase the number of divisions,
On the contrary, if it is not necessary to enlarge the image so much, the number of divisions is reduced.

If there is no region of interest in the first capture of still image data, the surveillance camera is zoomed to capture still image data in a wide range. Alternatively, it is assumed that the position and angle of the surveillance camera are changed to move the range where the still image is captured, and then the still image data is captured again.

If the region of interest exists in the divided still image, the number of the block in which the region of interest exists is input to the selected block recognition unit 15. For example, it is assumed that the block in the shaded area of the image A3 in FIG. 2 is selected. The selected block is recognized by the selected block recognition unit 15, and the position information of the selected block is input to the camera control information management unit 16.

The camera control information management unit 16 creates camera control information (camera operation amount) necessary for matching the entire range captured by the surveillance camera with the selected block. Specifically, since information such as the current position, orientation, and zoom of the surveillance camera is stored in the camera control information storage unit 17,
The operation amount is calculated by comparing the information with the position information of the selected block. Camera control information management unit 1
The operation amount calculated in 6 is transmitted to the controlled station 1 as a control signal to control the surveillance camera 2.

After performing the above camera control, new still image data is taken in from the monitoring camera and the monitor 13
, The still image A4 of the selected block is enlarged and displayed on the entire surface of the monitor 13. Therefore, still image data of a desired block can be captured with one camera control.

Further, in this embodiment, the camera control information management unit 16 stores the data of the image A2 shown in FIG. 2 in the camera control information storage unit 17. Then, when there is no expected data in the newly selected block, the previous data of the image A2 can be read from the camera control information storage unit 17 and displayed on the monitor 13, and the new block selection can be accepted.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the still image on the monitor is divided into a plurality of blocks, the block selected from the divided blocks is recognized, and the position information of the selected block and its monitoring are detected. Since the camera control information necessary to capture the image of the selected block is created from the current camera control information of the camera, it is possible to capture the still image data of the desired block with one camera control. The time required to capture a desired still image can be shortened. The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[0030]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, it is possible to quickly determine the position, posture, zoom, etc. of a camera and obtain a still image of a target region very easily and in a short time. It is possible to provide a camera remote control device capable of performing.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a control station included in a camera remote control device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a transition of a display screen on a monitor provided in the camera remote control device of the above embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram of a remote monitoring device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Controlled station, 2 ... Surveillance camera, 3 ... Communication network, 11
... transmission / reception processing unit, 12 ... still image data output unit, 13 ...
Monitor, 14 ... Division control unit, 15 ... Selected block recognition unit, 16 ... Camera control information management unit, 17 ... Camera control information storage unit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A camera remote control device that sends a control signal to the camera to control the position, posture, etc. of the camera in order to capture still image data of a region of interest from the place where the camera is installed. , Capturing still image data from the camera for visualization, and dividing control means for dividing the visualized still image into a plurality of blocks, and from each block of the still image divided by the division control means, A selected block recognition unit that recognizes a block selected from the outside as the attention site, and a control signal that controls the camera to capture a still image corresponding to the block recognized by the selected block recognition unit are generated, A camera remote control device, comprising: a camera control signal generating means for sending to the camera.