JPH06284330A - Monitor camera controller linked with map information - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To grasp a camera position on a map, to variably display the reduced scale of a map according to the zoom rate of a camera lens, and to display the area information of a camera picked up video on the same CRT CONSTITUTION:The photographed video and object of a camera 6, and the map information in the neighborhood are displayed on a same CRT device 1, camera control is operated from the map by an area information inputting means 2, camera control information (pan, tilt, and zoom) is obtained from a camera universal head controller, the pertinent area or the map of the different reduced scale is retrieved from a storage device 8 and displayed while being linked with it, a camera photographing range is displayed on the map from the camera control information, and the specific area information is displayed on the CRT device 1 by indicating the photographed video of the camera 6 by the area information inputting means 2. The above mentioned processing is realized by constituting an arithmetic control unit 3 as a center.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is applied to the case where camera control information is input to a surveillance camera for public buildings (for example, roads, dams, rivers) or a watchtower camera for monitoring an urban area, or when a photographed image indicates a shooting location. The present invention relates to a surveillance camera control device applied when searching a map, displaying a mark indicating a camera shooting range on a map, and displaying and outputting specific area information from a camera shot image.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 15 and FIG.
13 is a configuration diagram and a control algorithm showing a conventional camera control device disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 13 publication. In the figure, 1 is a monitor device for displaying a digital map of an object and its vicinity, 2
Is a touch panel that is installed on the display surface of the monitor device and outputs the corresponding coordinate signal when the position on the map is instructed. 3 is a calculator for calculating the pointing direction of the camera from the coordinate signal from the touch panel. 4 is the camera. Support camera platform,
Reference numeral 5 is a camera platform control device for controlling the camera platform, 6 is a camera, and 7 is a monitor device for displaying a camera image.

Next, the operation will be described. When the operator looks at the digital map displayed on the display surface of the monitor device 1 and presses the display surface to specify a desired position to which the camera is aimed, a coordinate signal is input from the touch panel 2 to the calculator 3. The calculator 3 calculates the deviation signal from the pointing angle of the camera 6 based on the input coordinate signal and outputs the deviation signal from the camera platform controller 5.
Send to. The camera platform control device 5 controls the camera platform 4 according to the input and controls the camera 6 to point to the designated position.

[0004]

Since the conventional camera control device is configured as described above, only the camera pointing direction (pan, tilt) is calculated from the map information displayed on the monitor to control the camera. Met. With this method, you can always control the camera only from the map, so even if you try to control the surveillance camera, you need to know the approximate object position with the naked eye first, and if you do not know the object position from the map information displayed on the monitor. I could not operate the camera. In addition, when the map is displayed, the use of different scale maps is not taken into consideration, so that the camera control cannot perform map-linked control associated with the zoom function. As described above, since the display map is at a constant scale regardless of the enlargement ratio of the captured image, it is difficult to see the map of the captured object and its vicinity. Further, since the related map display function is not taken into consideration from the current camera orientation angle, it becomes unclear which one the camera is taking on the map. In addition, it is not possible to obtain information on the camera shooting range or a specific area in the shot video, and it is difficult to see because the map display and the shot image are not displayed on the same CRT but on different CRTs or monitors. There was a point.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems, and the position of the camera can be grasped on the map, and the scale of the map can be variably displayed according to the zoom ratio of the camera lens. It is an object of the present invention to provide a device capable of simultaneously displaying a map indicating a camera position on a CRT monitor and a video image captured by the camera and displaying the video image captured by the camera on a CRT based on regional information.

[0006]

A map information interlocking camera control device according to the present invention includes a surveillance camera, a pointing direction (pan, tilt) of the camera, and a zoom ratio of a zoom lens.
A camera platform control device for controlling focus and the like, an image synthesizing device for synthesizing a computer image and a video image taken by the camera, a target of the surveillance camera and a map in the vicinity thereof, and a video image taken by the surveillance camera on the same display surface. CRT device for simultaneously displaying, area information input means, storage device for storing / accumulating / reproducing map information and area information of different scales, the monitoring camera, the camera platform control device, the video synthesizing device, and the CRT. It is composed of an arithmetic control device to which the device, the area information input means, and the storage device are connected,
It is characterized in that the CRT device displays the composite image combined by the image combining device.

Further, by pointing the specific location on the map displayed on the CRT device with the area information input means, the actual pointing direction (pan, tilt) of the surveillance camera from the pointing position on the CRT device. And the zoom ratio and focus value of the surveillance camera are calculated so that shooting can be performed with a predetermined shooting screen size (zoom ratio), and these are used as camera control information (pan, tilt, zoom ratio, etc.) in the camera cloud. It is characterized in that it is transmitted to a stand control device to control the surveillance camera.

Also, based on the camera control information (pan, tilt, zoom ratio, etc.) received from the camera platform control device, an appropriate scale corresponding to the zoom ratio is displayed on the object currently photographed and the map in the vicinity thereof. Is retrieved from the storage device and displayed on the CRT device.

Further, it is characterized in that a mark indicating the photographing range of the surveillance camera is displayed on the map information.

Further, by instructing the specific location or area information of the image taken by the surveillance camera displayed on the CRT device by the area information input means, the arithmetic and control unit is based on the instructed area information. Then, the associated map information is retrieved from the storage device, and a map or a photographed image based on the retrieved map information is displayed on the display device.

Further, the area information of the instructed portion is set to the above C.
It is characterized by displaying on an RT device.

[0012]

The map information interlocking surveillance camera control device according to the present invention synthesizes the map information and the camera-captured image by the image synthesizing device, and based on the camera control information (pan, tilt, zoom lens ratio, etc.), the map information and the camera. Shooting video on one CRT
Display on the device. Also, the pointing direction of the camera and the zoom lens ratio are controlled according to the designated position on the map. Also,
At the time of displaying the map, the storage means retrieves and displays the map information of the optimum scale according to the zoom lens ratio based on the stored map information. Also, the shooting range of the camera is displayed on the map. In addition, a specific position of the image taken by the camera
By entering local information such as address and telephone number,
Display a map of the specified location. In addition to the map display, specific area information is also displayed.

[0013]

EXAMPLES Example 1. An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, corresponding parts in FIG. 15 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and descriptions of functionally similar parts will be omitted.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 2 is a region information input means for inputting a map display on the CRT device 1 or a specific position of a video image taken by a camera. In this embodiment, a mouse 3 is used to calculate a control value of the camera 6. , An arithmetic and control unit for searching and displaying corresponding map information based on the current directivity angle and zoom lens ratio of the camera 6, and searching and displaying specific area information, 6 is a camera with a zoom lens, and 8 is map information data of different scales. The storage device 9 stores the specific area information, and the image synthesizer 9 displays a computer image such as map information and a video image taken by the camera on the same screen.

FIG. 2 shows a camera control algorithm corresponding to FIG.

FIG. 3 is a reference diagram for explaining a method for specifying the position of the photographing point from the image photographed by the camera, and is a diagram of the camera device seen from the horizontal direction.

FIG. 4 is a reference diagram for explaining a method of specifying the position of the photographing point from the image photographed by the camera, and is a diagram of the camera device seen from the vertical direction.

FIG. 5 shows an algorithm for retrieving specific area information from a video image taken by a camera.

Further, FIGS. 6, 7, 8, and 9 are diagrams for explaining the details of the present invention. In these drawings, FIG.
1 is a basic screen of the T device 1, 11 is a display frame, 12 is a map information display frame, 13 is a camera captured image display frame, 14 is area information display frame, 15 is a camera control display frame, and 16 is a map The camera installation position on the display, 17 is a boundary line indicating the photographing range of the camera on the map display, and 18, 29, 20 are positions indicated by the mouse 2 on the map display or the camera-captured image.

Next, the operation will be described. The camera 6 is fixedly installed so as to be integrated with the camera platform, and in general, various controls as described below can be performed by a command from the outside. Camera horizontal angle (pan), camera vertical angle (tilt), zoom, etc. It should be noted that the camera may be controlled in addition to the focus, diaphragm, heater for preventing dew condensation, wiper, etc., but since they are irrelevant to the present invention, description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a camera control algorithm based on this embodiment. In this embodiment, the arithmetic and control unit 3 is controlled by the camera platform control unit 5,
Enter the camera status regularly. The arithmetic and control unit 3 controls the camera in order to control the camera (pan, tilt,
Although it is possible to control the camera by calculating (zoom ratio, etc.) and transmitting it to the camera platform controller 5, the camera itself and the camera platform controller itself generate camera control information, or There is a case where the operation is performed based on the camera control information sent from the arithmetic and control unit 3. Therefore, the camera control device 3 checks the current state of the camera from the camera platform control device 5 periodically or at an arbitrary time. The flowchart shown in FIG. 2 is executed every time the arithmetic and control unit inputs the state of the camera from the camera platform control unit.

First, in S1, the camera platform controller 5
Then, the arithmetic and control unit 3 inputs the current pointing direction of the camera and the numerical values of the zoom lens ratio. Next, the arithmetic and control unit 3 uses S
At 2, the operator checks whether or not there is a camera control instruction from the map displayed on the CRT device value by using the area information input means 2 such as a mouse. If a specific location on the map is specified with a mouse, etc.,
In S3, the value of the control instruction based on the specified specific portion, the current pointing direction of the camera input from the camera platform controller 5 in S1, and the deviation numerical value of the zoom lens ratio are calculated.

Next, in S4, the arithmetic and control unit 3
Based on the calculated deviation value, the camera pointing direction and the amount of movement of the zoom lens ratio are sent to the camera platform controller 5. The camera platform control device 5 receives the camera control information from the arithmetic and control unit 3 and controls the camera in a designated state. If there is no camera control instruction from the mouse or the like in S2, the arithmetic and control unit 3 changes the previous camera pointing direction and the numerical value of the zoom lens ratio stored this time in advance in S5. Check. If there is a change between the previous numerical value and the current numerical value, the deviation numerical value between the pointing direction and the zoom lens ratio is calculated in S6. Then, in S7, the map information stored in the storage device is searched based on the calculated deviation value,
A map is displayed on the CRT device from the searched map information.

By going through the steps from S5 to S7 in this way, the CRT device displays the map information on the latest image taken by the camera.

If there is no change in the previous value and the current value in S5 described above, it means that the camera is shooting the same place, so that the display content of the CRT device remains the same in S8, and the same value is displayed. Map information continues to be displayed.

The operator operates using the mouse 2 and the CRT 1 connected to the arithmetic and control unit 3. FIG. 6 is a basic screen of the CRT device 1, various display frames are displayed when a function corresponding to the display frame is required, and this display control is performed by the arithmetic and control unit 3.

FIG. 7 is a screen in which specific display contents are described on the basic screen of FIG. In FIG. 7, reference numeral 12 denotes a map information display frame. On the map, a boundary line indicating a camera installation position 16 and a camera shooting range 17, and a display frame displaying a video image currently shot by the camera are displayed. 13 is a screen example in which 13 is displayed. The image synthesizing device 9 has a function of displaying a computer image such as map information and a video image on the same screen.

In this figure, since the camera is fixedly installed at the camera installation position 16, it is displayed on the map by being registered in the arithmetic and control unit 3 in advance. Further, the boundary line showing the photographing range 17 of the camera is the camera horizontal angle (pan) of the camera,
Information indicating a camera vertical angle (tilt) and zoom is input from the camera platform control device 5, and calculation and display are performed based on this information, the installation altitude value of the camera registered in advance, and the scale of the display map. The boundary line indicating the photographing range 17 of the camera is generated as a computer image, and is displayed on the same screen by the video synthesizing device 9 together with other computer images such as map information.

In FIG. 7, the operator displays the map display according to the current camera orientation and zoom ratio on the map, the boundary line 17 indicating the camera shooting range, and the camera shooting image in the same C.
It can be obtained on the RT device 1. Figure 7 shows an arbitrary point 18
Since this is an example of the CRT screen centered on, the case where the camera is controlled from the arbitrary point 18 to the arbitrary point 19 will be described below.

In FIG. 7, by pointing the arbitrary position 19 on the map with the mouse 2, the arithmetic and control unit 3 deviates from the current pointing direction of the camera based on the CRT coordinate position input from the mouse 2. Also, a camera zoom ratio is calculated so that the periphery of the arbitrary position 19 can be grasped, and this is passed to the camera platform controller to control the camera 6 and the camera platform 4 so that the captured image of the arbitrary position 19 and its periphery can be obtained. To At the same time, a map of an appropriate scale is retrieved by the camera zoom ratio and displayed on the CRT device 1. In addition, the camera horizontal angle (pan) of the camera newly corresponding to the arbitrary point 19,
A boundary line indicating the photographing range 17 of the camera is calculated from the vertical angle (tilt) of the camera, zoom information, the installed altitude value of the camera registered in advance, and the scale of the displayed map, and the boundary line is displayed on the newly searched and displayed map. FIG. 8 shows an example of the CRT screen as a result of performing this processing.

FIG. 8 shows an example in which the control display frame 15 of the camera is also displayed at the same time. It is also possible to use the control display frame 15 of the camera to control the camera 6 without instructing the map position. For example, by pointing the mouse “left” of the pan of the control display frame 15 of the camera with the mouse 2, the arithmetic and control unit 3 passes a control signal for rotating the camera 6 to the left to the camera platform controller 5. Other boundary lines indicating the camera installation position 16 and the camera shooting range 17 are as described above. At this time, if the shooting range of the camera cannot be displayed on the currently displayed map, appropriate map information is retrieved and displayed from the storage device 3, and the camera installation position 16 and the shooting range 17 of the camera are recalculated on this map. indicate.

FIG. 9 is an example of a screen in which the area information registered at this point is displayed in the area information display frame 14 by designating an arbitrary point 20 on the image of the camera-captured image display frame 13. The details of this display function will be described below. The arbitrary point 20 of the camera-captured video display frame 13 is input to the calculation display device 3 at the coordinates on the CRT device 1. In the arithmetic display device, the coordinates (for example, the angle and distance around the camera installation position 16) of the point currently displayed and specified by the mouse 2 are calculated from the pan, tilt angle, and zoom lens ratio of the camera by the algorithm of FIG. Pre-registered specific area information is searched based on the coordinates and displayed on the CRT device 1. Figure 5
Is an algorithm for obtaining specific area information by using this as a search key by finding the angle and distance centered on the camera installation position, and pointing with the mouse after computing the position of the center point of the camera shooting screen on the map The method of calculating the angle and distance of the selected position is described. 3 and 4 are reference diagrams for calculating the position on the map of the center point of the camera shooting screen, and show that the center point can be calculated by the installation altitude of the camera, pan, tilt angle, and zoom lens ratio. ing.

Next, based on the flowchart of FIG.
A method of calculating the deviation numerical value of the current pointing method, which is performed when there is an instruction of a specific place such as a mouse in S3 of FIG. 2 described above, will be described. The flowchart of FIG. 5 describes a method of searching specific area information in addition to the calculation of the deviation numerical value, and both will be described here together.

In S10 of FIG. 5, specific area information is recorded in advance in the storage device for each distance L and azimuth θ starting from the camera installation position. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of specific area information stored in the storage device. Area information such as town name, mountain name, river name, building name, tower name, etc. is recorded as specific area information.A camera is installed to indicate the location of these area information. The distance L starting from the position and the azimuth θ are recorded.
As described above, a case where the arbitrary point 20 is instructed as shown in FIG. 9 in the state where the specific area information shown in FIG. 10 is recorded in the recording device will be described.

First, in S11, the center point of the current screen of the camera is calculated. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing this operation, and it is assumed that the point B is the center point of the current camera. It is assumed that the central point B has coordinates X1 and Y1 on the coordinate axis. From the pan and tilt angles of the camera, the distance L1 and the azimuth θ1 on the map of the center point of the imaged image screen of the camera are obtained as values indicating the center point. Next, in S12, the coordinate input value of the designated arbitrary point and the coordinate value deviation of the center point of the camera photographing screen are calculated. In FIG.
Assume that point C is an arbitrary point 20 designated by the mouse. The mouse coordinate input values at this point C are X2 and Y2.
Therefore, the mouse coordinate input value and the coordinate value of the camera photographing screen center point are X1, Y1 and X2, Y2, respectively, and the respective deviations are obtained by X1-X2 and Y1-Y2. Next, in S13, the distance deviation PL on the map between the mouse input location and the camera photographing screen center point is calculated based on the obtained coordinate value deviation. As shown in FIG. 11B, PL is obtained by the square root of the square of the absolute value of the difference between the X coordinates and the square of the absolute value of the difference between the Y coordinates. Next, in S14, the distance L1 and the azimuth θ1 at the center point of the image screen and the direction L2 and the azimuth θ2 where the mouse is input from the distance deviation PL described above.
Is calculated. Next, in S15, the specific area information shown in FIG. 10 is searched based on the obtained distance L2 and direction θ2 of the arbitrary point C. When searching, specific area information having a value closest to the distance L2 and the direction θ2 is searched,
Displayed on CRT device. For example, the distance L2 and the azimuth θ2 in FIG. 11 are the distance LA and the azimuth θ in FIG.
When it is determined that it is the closest to A, as shown in 14 of FIG. 9, the specific area information of the vicinity of XX town and the ΔΔ mountain is displayed as the specific area information.

Example 2. Next, FIG. 12 shows the configuration of another embodiment. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 12, a keyboard is added to the area information input means instead of the mouse shown in FIG. It can be instructed from the keyboard by moving a cursor to a specific position on the CRT device 1. Further, it is possible to input character data such as area information such as an address and a telephone number to the arithmetic and control unit 3. In the first embodiment, the case of inputting the cursor coordinate position has been described.
It is also possible to control the pointing direction and zoom of the camera from data such as an address and a telephone number.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of regional information according to this embodiment. FIG. 13 shows a case where an address, a telephone number, and a name are used as the specific area information. For example, if you enter the address from the keyboard,
The distance L and the direction θ corresponding to the address are searched. Similarly, the distance L and the azimuth θ can be searched by the telephone number.
Furthermore, the distance L and the azimuth θ can also be searched using the name.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing another example of area information, showing a case where a telephone pole number is used as specific area information. For example, by specifying the telephone pole number 1, it is possible to search the distance L and the azimuth θ at which the telephone pole exists. Further, as shown in FIG. 10 shown in the above-described embodiment, the name of town may be used as the specific area information. Alternatively, the name of the building, the name of the mountain, or the like may be used as the specific area information.

[0039]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to always grasp the photographing position of the camera, to use a detailed map according to the zoom lens ratio, and to specify a specific place name on the image. Since it is possible to grasp the information, there is an effect that even a person who is unfamiliar with the target map or who is unfamiliar with the camera operation can effectively use the surveillance camera.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a map information interlocking surveillance camera control device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a control algorithm of the surveillance camera according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a reference diagram illustrating a method of identifying a position of a shooting point from a video image captured by a surveillance camera according to an embodiment of the present invention, and is a diagram of the camera device viewed from a horizontal direction.

FIG. 4 is a reference diagram for explaining a method of identifying the position of a shooting point from a video image shot by the surveillance camera according to the embodiment of the present invention, and is a diagram of the camera device as seen from the vertical direction.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an algorithm for retrieving specific area information from video captured by a surveillance camera according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a basic screen view of a CRT according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a CRT screen according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a CRT screen according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a CRT screen according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of specific area information according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining an operation of searching for specific area information according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of a map information interlocking surveillance camera control device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing specific area information according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing specific area information according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram of a conventional map information interlocking surveillance camera control device.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a control algorithm of a conventional map information interlocking surveillance camera control device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 CRT device 2 Mouse 3 Arithmetic control device 4 Camera pan head 5 Camera pan head control device 6 Camera 7 Monitor 8 Storage device 9 Image synthesizer 11 Display frame 12 Map information display frame 13 Camera captured image display frame 14 Regional information Display frame 15 Camera control display frame 16 Camera installation position 17 Boundary line showing shooting range 18 Arbitrary position 19 Arbitrary position 20 Arbitrary position

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A surveillance camera, a camera control device for controlling the surveillance camera based on camera control information, a storage device for storing area information and map information, and area information and map information stored in the storage device. A video composition device for composing a computer image based on the video image captured by the surveillance camera, a display device for displaying the composite image composited by the video composition device, area information input means for inputting a specific portion on a map, and A map information interlocking surveillance camera control device comprising a surveillance camera, the camera control device, the display device, the area information input means, and an arithmetic control device to which the storage device is connected. 2. A surveillance camera, a camera control device that controls the surveillance camera based on camera control information, a storage device that stores map information, and a location of a place where the surveillance camera is shooting based on the map information. A display device for displaying a map and a video image captured by the surveillance camera, an area information input means for inputting a specific portion on the map, the surveillance camera, the camera control device, the display device, the area information input means, and the storage. Comprised of arithmetic and control unit to which the device is connected,
The arithmetic and control unit is configured so that the specified point on the map can be photographed by the surveillance camera with a predetermined photographing screen size (zoom ratio) by instructing the specified point on the map with the area information input means. Controlling the monitor camera by calculating a zoom ratio of the monitor camera and transmitting the calculated zoom ratio as camera control information to the camera control device. 3. The arithmetic and control unit is further configured to display on the display unit a map of an appropriate scale according to the zoom ratio based on the map information stored in the storage unit based on the camera control information. The map information interlocking monitoring camera control device according to claim 1. 4. A surveillance camera, a camera control device that controls the surveillance camera based on camera control information, a storage device that stores map information, and a location of a place where the surveillance camera is shooting based on the map information. A display device for displaying a map and a video image captured by the surveillance camera, an area information input means for inputting a specific portion on the map, the surveillance camera, the camera control device, the display device, the area information input means, and the storage. Comprised of arithmetic and control unit to which the device is connected,
The arithmetic and control unit calculates the shooting range of the surveillance camera,
A map information interlocking surveillance camera control device characterized by displaying a mark indicating a calculated shooting range on a map displayed on a display device. 5. A surveillance camera, a camera control device for controlling the surveillance camera, a storage device for storing map information and area information associated with the map information, and a photograph taken by the surveillance camera based on the map information. A display device for displaying a map of the place where the image is taken and a video image captured by the surveillance camera, a region information input means for inputting the region information, the surveillance camera, the camera control device, the display device, the region information input means, and the region information input means. A storage device is connected to the arithmetic and control unit, and by inputting the regional information stored in the storage unit by the regional information input means, the arithmetic and control unit is based on the input regional information. , Searching the associated map information from the storage device, and displaying a map or a captured image based on the searched map information on the display device. Characteristic map information interlocking surveillance camera control device. 6. The map information interlocking surveillance camera control device, wherein the map information interlocking surveillance camera control device further displays area information on a display device.