JPH0638204A - Camera control type picture signal transmitter - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To quickly detect a moving quantity of a camera by sending a control signal representing a direction of camera movement and its amplitude to a picture coding section and suppressing a picture data output when the signal is received. CONSTITUTION:When the direction of a camera 10 is changed, a camera control section 1 sends a control signal representing a direction of camera movement and its amplitude, the direction is changed by the amplitude and the control signal is inputted to a control section 3-1 of a picture coding section 2. Then a picture signal from the camera 10 is sampled by a sampling section of a coding section 2 implementing coding in matching with a characteristic of picture data. Furthermore, the sampled picture data are quantized by a quantization section 8, and a coding section 9 finds out the characteristic of picture data and encodes the data by an optimum method and outputs the result. In this case, the control section 3-1 suppresses the picture data output while the section 3-1 receives the control signal from the control section 1 and reduce the size of the picture data sampled by the sampling section 7 by increasing the quantization step of the quantization section 8. Then the moving quantity is quickly detected even when the direction of the camera 10 is changed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a camera control unit for use in a TV conference system or the like, which sends a control signal indicating a moving direction and a moving size of a camera, and encodes and transmits image data from the camera. The present invention relates to improvement of a camera-controlled image signal transmission device including an image encoding unit.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a conventional camera control type image signal transmitting apparatus. The camera control type image signal transmission device of FIG. 4 (a) has an image encoding unit 2 ′ which performs encoding according to the characteristics of image data, and the camera control type image signal transmission device of FIG. The coding unit is the motion compensation coding unit 2'-1.

4A and 4B, when the direction of the camera 10 is changed up, down, left and right, a control signal indicating the moving direction and the moving size of the camera 10 is sent from the camera control section 1 '. Is changing the direction.

In FIG. 4A, the image signal from the camera 10 is sampled by the sampling section 7 of the image coding section 2'which performs coding according to the characteristics of the image data, and is quantized by the quantizing section 8. Quantization, the encoding unit 9 finds the characteristics of the image data, finds the most suitable method such as intra-frame coding, inter-frame coding, motion compensation, and frame dropping, and codes one or more methods in combination. It is output after compressing the band.

In FIG. 4B, the image signal from the camera 10 is input to the motion compensation coding unit 2'-1, and the motion compensation vector detection unit 5'detects the motion amount between the front and back screens. The previous screen is moved by the detected amount of motion to create a prediction screen that is very similar to the current screen, and the difference between this screen and the current screen is taken.
The band is compressed and output by transmitting it together with the motion information.

[0006]

However, as shown in FIG.
In the case of (a), the direction of the camera 10 is not changed, and for example, when the person in the center of the screen moves, the image from the camera 10 changes only by this change, but if the direction of the camera 10 is changed, The amount of change in direction 10 is superimposed and changed, so that the amount of change increases and a large amount of image data is generated. The encoding unit 9 drops frames and reduces the number of frames to be transmitted, and the screen becomes jerky when decoded. There is a problem to do.

In the case of FIG. 4B, when the direction of the camera 10 is not changed and, for example, the person at the center of the screen moves, the image from the camera 10 changes only by this change, and the motion compensation coding unit. The motion compensation vector detection unit 5'of 2'-1 detects the motion of this person between the front and back screens, moves the previous screen by the detected motion amount, and creates a prediction screen that is very similar to the current screen. The difference between the motion compensation vector detection unit 5'and the current screen is transmitted and is transmitted together with the motion information. However, when the direction of the camera 10 is changed, the change in the direction of the camera 10 is superposed and changed. Then, between the front and rear screens, the movement of the person and the change in the direction of the camera 10 (camera 1
Since the motion signal is predicted by the control signal for changing the direction of 0), the motion superimposed on the motion vector must be detected, and it takes time to detect the motion amount and the detection efficiency is poor.

According to the present invention, in the case where an image coding unit for coding the characteristics of image data is provided, the decoded screen does not become jerky even when the camera direction is changed, and the image coding unit performs motion compensation. It is an object of the present invention to provide a camera control type image signal transmitting apparatus which can detect the amount of movement quickly even when the direction of the camera is changed when the encoding section.

[0009]

In the case of having an image coding unit for coding according to the characteristics of image data, FIG.
As shown in (a), the camera control unit 1 that sends a control signal indicating the moving direction and the moving size of the camera 10, and the image coding that codes and transmits the characteristic of the image data from the camera 10. In the camera control type image signal transmitting apparatus including the unit 2, the camera 10 from the camera control unit 1
A control signal indicating a moving direction and a moving amount is transmitted to the image coding unit 2, and when the control signal is input to the image coding unit 2, the output image data amount is suppressed. The suppression means 3 is provided.

When the image coding unit is the motion compensation coding unit,
As shown in FIG. 1B, a camera control unit 1 that sends a control signal indicating a moving direction and a moving amount of the camera 10, and an image coding unit 2-1 that codes and sends image data from the camera 10. In the camera control type image signal transmitting device, which is a motion compensation coding unit, a motion compensation of the image coding unit 2-1 is transmitted from the camera control unit 1 by a control signal indicating a direction and a size of moving the camera 10. Vector detector 5
The motion compensation vector detecting section 5 detects the motion compensation vector based on the position corresponding to the movement amount of the control signal.

[0011]

In the case of FIG. 1A, in the image coding unit 2, the amount of image data output by the suppressing unit 3 while the control signal for changing the direction of the camera 10 is input from the camera control unit 1. Therefore, even if the person in the center of the screen moves while changing the direction of the camera 10, the amount of change is small and the frame is not dropped and the screen does not become jerky when decrypted.

In the case of FIG. 1B, the motion compensation coding unit 2
When the motion compensation vector detection unit 5 of FIG. 1 detects the amount of motion between the front and back screens, for example, when a person in the center of the screen moves based on the position corresponding to the amount of movement by the input control signal, Since this movement amount is obtained, the time for detecting the movement amount is shortened and the detection efficiency is improved.

[0013]

2 is a block diagram of a camera control type image signal transmitting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a camera control type image signal transmitting apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention and a vector search range. FIG.

In FIG. 2, when changing the direction of the camera 10, a control signal indicating a moving direction and a moving amount is sent from the camera control unit 1 and the direction is changed by this amount, and this control signal is supplied to the image coding unit 2. It is also input to the control unit 3-1 (suppression means).

The image signal from the camera 10 is sampled by the sampling unit 7 and the quantization unit 8 of the image coding unit 2 which performs coding according to the characteristics of the image data. At 9, the feature of the image data is found, the optimum method among the intra-frame coding, the inter-frame coding, the motion compensation, the frame dropping, etc. is found, and one or more methods are combined and coded and output. In the control unit 3-1, while the control signal is being input from the camera control unit 1, the sampling unit 7 performs sub-sampling or the quantization unit 8 increases the quantization step so that the image data amount is increased. To reduce.

Therefore, for example, when a person in the center of the screen moves, even if the direction of the camera 10 is changed, the amount of change is small and the amount of image data is small, so that frame drop is not performed and the image quality is degraded but the number of frames is small. Without decryption, the screen will not be jerky.

Since human vision is less sensitive to moving objects, deterioration of image quality is less noticeable and does not pose a problem even if the amount of data is suppressed. In FIG. 3A, when the direction of the camera 10 is changed, a control signal indicating the moving direction and the moving amount is sent from the camera control unit 1 to change the direction by this amount.
This control signal is also input to the motion compensation vector detection unit 5 of the motion compensation coding unit 2-1.

The image signal from the camera 10 is input to the motion compensation coding unit 2-1 and the motion compensation vector detection unit 5 detects the motion amount between the front and back screens, and the previous screen is moved by the detected motion amount. Move it to create a prediction screen that looks a lot like the current screen,
The difference between this screen and the current screen is taken and transmitted together with the motion information to compress and output the band. However, the motion compensation vector detection unit 5 receives the control signal as described above,
When the motion compensation vector detection unit 5 detects the amount of motion between the front and back screens, for example, when a person in the center of the screen moves based on the position corresponding to the amount of movement by the input control signal,
Since this movement amount is obtained, the time for detecting the movement amount is shortened and the detection efficiency is improved.

FIG. 3B shows the vector search range. For example, when the camera 10 moves to the right by the camera moving amount 11 according to the control signal, the image moves to the left by that amount. In the case of 1, the range shown by the dotted line moved to the left is obtained by the control signal, and the motion vector is obtained based on this range. Therefore, the time required is shortened and the detection efficiency is improved.

[0020]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, in the case of having an image encoding unit for performing encoding according to the characteristics of image data, the decoded screen is jerky even when the direction of the camera is changed. However, when the image encoding unit is the motion compensation encoding unit, even if the direction of the camera is changed, the amount of motion can be detected quickly and the detection efficiency can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the principle of the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a camera control type image signal transmitting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a camera-controlled image signal transmission device according to another embodiment of the present invention and a diagram showing a vector search range;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a conventional camera control type image signal transmission device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 1'is a camera control unit, 2, 2'is an image coding unit, 2
-1, 2'-1 is a motion compensation coding unit, 3 is a suppression means, 3
-1 is a control unit, 5 and 5'is a motion compensation vector detection unit, 7
Is a sampling unit, 8 is a quantization unit, 9 is an encoding unit, 10 is a camera, and 11 is a camera movement amount.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A camera control unit (1) which sends a control signal indicating a direction and a size of movement of a camera (10), and encodes and transmits the image data from the camera (10). In a camera-controlled image signal transmitting apparatus including an image encoding unit (2) for performing the image encoding, a control signal from the camera control unit (1) indicating a moving direction and a moving size of the camera (10) is encoded. And a suppression means (3) for suppressing the amount of image data to be output when the control signal is input to the image encoding unit (2). Camera control type image signal transmission device. 2. A camera control section (1) for sending a control signal indicating a moving direction and a moving size of a camera (10), and an image coding section for coding and transmitting image data from the camera (10). In a camera control type image signal transmitting apparatus which is a motion compensation coding unit (2-1), a control signal indicating a moving direction and a moving size of the camera (10) from the camera control unit (1) is used for the motion compensation. It is also sent to the motion compensation vector detection unit (5) of the encoding unit (2-1), and the motion compensation vector detection unit (5) performs motion compensation based on the position corresponding to the movement amount of the control signal. A camera control type image signal transmitting device characterized in that a vector is detected.