JPH07162899A - Viewer monitoring device for television receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To cover a wide range in a room by one monitoring device and to specify an individual by measuring the height of the individual intruding a monitoring area. CONSTITUTION:An image pickup apparatus 1 image-picks up the monitoring area in the room where a television set exists almost in a lateral direction, and image-picks up the image of an object in the monitoring area by compressing to one image extending in a vertical direction by a lens system 17 including a cylindrical lens 17a. Distance measuring equipment 2 measures distance to the object setting a direction directing a prescribed part in the monitoring area from the image pickup apparatus 1 as a direction of range finding. A controller 5 specifies the picture element of a line sensor 10 in accordance with the head apex part of the individual intruding the monitoring area from the change of the output of the image pickup apparatus 1, and also, specifies the distance to the individual intruding the monitoring area from the change of the output of the distance measuring equipment 2, and estimates the height of the individual based on the position of a specified picture element and measured distance, and specifies an intruding individual by collating it with the height of the individual registered in advance.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a television receiver viewer monitoring apparatus for specifying who is an individual who has entered a room in which a television receiver is installed. Regarding

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a viewer monitoring device for a television receiver, a television receiver (hereinafter, simply referred to as a television) is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application No. 4-253889.
There is a device that periodically scans the viewable range with a distance sensor and detects the presence or absence of a viewer within the viewable range based on a change in the output of the distance sensor. Further, as another device, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-104533, a device for detecting the presence or absence of a heating element in front of a television with an infrared detecting element has been proposed.

However, since all of these monitoring devices only monitor the presence or number of people watching television, they are effective in measuring the so-called household audience rating, but who in that household is not. Since it is not possible to monitor whether or not you are watching, it was not suitable for measuring the so-called individual viewer rating.

On the other hand, in Japanese Patent Application No. 4-69529, a height sensor utilizing ultrasonic waves is installed above the entrance of a room in which a television is installed, and the height sensor measures the height of an individual entering the room. However, there has been proposed an apparatus for identifying an individual by comparing the height of each individual registered in advance.

[0005]

However, in the case of such a height sensor, there is only one doorway in the room in which the television is installed, and if it is half the size, it is sufficient to install one height sensor. However, there are multiple entrances and exits,
In a home where each doorway is also a size,
The area covered by one height sensor is only about half the size, so many height sensors must be installed.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a television receiver capable of covering a wide area in a room with a single monitoring device and measuring the height of an individual who has entered the area to identify the individual. It is to provide a viewer monitoring device for a machine.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a viewer monitoring device for a television receiver according to the present invention comprises:
It is installed in a direction that captures the image of the room where the television receiver is located from the lateral direction, and the image of the object existing in the surveillance area is compressed into a single image that extends in the vertical direction by a lens system that includes a cylindrical lens. An image pickup device for picking up an image with a sensor, a distance measuring device installed in the vicinity of the image pickup device and having a distance measuring direction in a direction in which a predetermined portion in the monitoring area is desired from the image pickup device, and a change in output of the image pickup device From to measure the distance from the change in the output of the distance measuring device to the individual invading the monitoring area together with specifying the pixel of the line sensor corresponding to the crown of the individual invading the monitoring area, The height of the individual is estimated based on the position of the specified pixel and the measured distance, and the height of the individual is compared with the height of each individual registered in advance to detect the individual entering the monitoring area. And a specific control device.

[0008]

In the television receiver viewer monitoring apparatus of the present invention, the image pickup device installed in a direction in which the image of the room in which the television is present is imaged from a substantially horizontal direction is used. A line sensor is used to compress a single image that extends in the vertical direction by a lens system that includes a lens, and a distance measuring device installed near the image sensor, from the image sensor to a predetermined part in the monitoring area, For example, a direction in which a substantially central portion of a portion covered by a pixel that captures a lowest position in a room or a position slightly higher than that position among a plurality of pixels of a line sensor, or a plurality of different portions on the left and right sides of the central portion are desired. Is the distance measurement direction, and the distance to the object existing in that direction is measured.

When an individual in the monitor household enters the surveillance area, the output of the image pickup device changes from that before the entry. That is, of the pixels of the line sensor, the output level of the pixel imaging the upper part of the intruder's head does not change, but the output level of the pixel imaging the lower part of the head of the intruder is It will change slightly due to the difference in the reflection coefficient from the hair. When an individual enters the monitoring area, the output of the distance measuring device changes from that before the intrusion. That is, the output of the distance measuring device before the intrusion indicates the distance from the imager to the background, but when an individual intrudes, the individual intervenes between the background and the imager, so the distance changes from the imager to the individual. To do. Therefore, the control device identifies the pixel of the line sensor corresponding to the top of the head of the individual who has entered the monitoring area from the change of the output of the image pickup device, and has entered the monitoring area from the change of the output of the distance measuring device. Measures the distance to an individual, estimates the height of the individual based on the position of the specified pixel and the measured distance, and enters the monitoring area by collating with the height of each individual registered in advance. Identify the individual who has.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, an embodiment of a viewer monitoring apparatus for a television receiver of the present invention is an image pickup device 1, a distance measuring device 2, a pyroelectric sensor 3, and an input / output interface 4. And a control device 5 including an MPU and the like. Reference numeral 6 is a memory for storing programs executed by the control device 5, various parameters, measurement result information, and the like, and reference numeral 7 is a known television for detecting ON / OFF states of a television (not shown) and channel information during channel selection. A sensor, 8 is a clock, and 9 is a terminal controller that sends measurement result information to the center through a telephone line or the like, and constitutes a television audience rating measuring apparatus as a whole.

The image pickup device 1 is installed on the television, for example, in such a direction as to pick up an image of the room in which the television is present from a lateral direction, and a single image of an object present in the surveillance area is extended vertically by a lens system. It is an imager that compresses an image and takes it with a line sensor. In the present embodiment, the image pickup device 1 includes, for example, a CCD line sensor (hereinafter, simply referred to as a line sensor) 10 having 1024 pixels, and a scanning signal generation circuit 11 that generates a scanning signal for an exposure time designated by the control device 5. ,
A driver 12 that drives the line sensor 10 according to the generated scanning signal, an amplifier 13 that amplifies the output signal of the line sensor 10, a sample hold circuit 14 that samples and holds this output, and its output is, for example, an 8-bit digital value. A / D converter 15 for converting to digital, a memory 16 for storing this digital value, and a line sensor 1
Lens system 17 and filter 18 arranged in front of 0
It consists of and.

Here, the lens system 17 is composed of a combination of at least one cylindrical lens 17a and at least one spherical lens 17b, and the horizontal width and vertical direction of the monitoring area which can be imaged by one line sensor 10. Is designed to be wider.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of the monitoring area of the image pickup device 1 and the distance measuring direction of the distance measuring device. The line sensor 10 of the image pickup device 1 is shown in FIG.
When the image forming plane (direction in which CCDs are arranged) is perpendicular to the floor, the four vertices of a rectangle composed of a vertical line of 2 m and a horizontal line of 1 m at a distance of 3 m and the center of the lens system 17 are This indicates that the area surrounded by the connecting lines L1 to L4 can be monitored.

On the other hand, the distance measuring device 2 is installed in the vicinity of the image pickup device 1 in a housing (not shown) for accommodating the image pickup device 1 and exists in a desired direction within a monitoring region of the image pickup device 1. Measure the distance to the object. The distance measuring device 2 of the present embodiment is of a type that uses an infrared light emitting diode and a PSD used for distance measurement of an autofocus camera, and is mounted at the same height as the lens system 17 of the image pickup device 1. A light emitting unit 20 which is an infrared light emitting diode, a light receiving unit 21 which is a PSD, a measurement control unit 22 which controls the light emission of the light emitting unit 20 and a distance calculation based on the output of the light receiving unit 21,
It is composed of an infrared filter 23 arranged in front of the light emitting part 20 and the light receiving part 21. Although only one set of the light emitting unit and the light receiving unit is shown in the drawing, a plurality of such sets, for example, three sets are provided to enable distance measurement in three different distance measuring directions. Of course, the distance may be measured only in one direction.

The three distance measuring directions are related to the monitoring area of the image pickup device 1 shown in FIG.
Is the direction of the three spots indicated by the symbols P1, P2, and P3 in FIG. 2, that is, among the portions covered by the pixels which image the lowest position of the plurality of pixels of the line sensor 10 or a position slightly higher than that position. The substantially central portion (P2) and its left and right (P1, P3) are aligned in the desired direction.
Such a configuration is possible by adjusting the mounting angle of the distance measuring device 2 in the housing that houses the image pickup device 1.

Referring again to FIG. 1, the pyroelectric sensor 3
Is a sensor that detects that a person has entered the area including the monitoring area of the image pickup device 1. As will be described later, the control device 5 starts the processing shown in FIG. 3 in response to this detection. In this embodiment, when the person is detected by the pyroelectric sensor 3, the image pickup device 1 and the distance measuring device 2 are activated to perform the image pickup and the distance measurement, so that the image pickup and the distance measurement are always performed. Power consumption is reduced as compared with the above, and the life of the line sensor 10 and the infrared light emitting diode can be extended. Of course, the pyroelectric sensor 3 may be omitted, and imaging and distance measurement may be performed regularly at all times.

The control device 5 estimates the height of the individual who has entered the monitoring area from the output of the image pickup device 1 and the output of the distance measuring device 2, and collates it with the height of each individual registered in the memory 6 in advance. By performing the processing for identifying the individual, the television audience rating measurement information is created from the information of the identified individual, the output of the television sensor 7, the time of the clock 8, etc. Control such as transmission from the controller 9 to the center is performed.

The operation of this embodiment will be described below.

Prior to actual operation, the television audience rating measuring apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is mounted on, for example, the television 41 as an apparatus indicated by reference numeral 40 in FIG. At this time, in this embodiment, the line L at the lower end of the monitoring area of the image pickup device 1 is used.
3, L4 are adjusted so as to face downward with respect to the horizontal line 42 by an angle α. Of course, in the relationship of the height ΔH from the floor of the center of the lens system 17 in the image pickup device 1 in the apparatus 40, the lines L3 and L4 may be adjusted to be substantially horizontal or upward. . The distance measuring direction of the distance measuring device 2 is substantially aligned with the directions of the lines L3 and L4.

After the device 40 is installed, various parameters shown in FIG. 4, that is, the height ΔH from the floor of the center of the lens system 17 in the image pickup device 1 in the device 40 is input from an input device not shown in FIG. , Unit length d in the horizontal direction (eg 1m)
Height H of monitoring area at remote locations, lines L3, L
The inclination angle α of 4 and the number of pixels of the line sensor 10 (for example, 1024 in this example) are set in the memory 16, and the height of each individual in the monitor household is also set in the memory 16. Further, the image pickup device 1 is started up, the output of the line sensor 10 in the state where no one is in the monitoring area is collected and stored in the memory 6 as the reference line sensor output, and the distance measuring device 2
Is activated to collect the distance measurement result when there is no individual in the monitoring area and save it in the memory 6 as a reference distance.

FIG. 5 schematically shows the relationship between the indoor monitoring area viewed from the imager 1 side and the output of the line sensor 10. FIG. 5A shows a state in which no individual is present. Reference numerals 50 and 51 denote calendars and paintings hung on the wall, tables and chairs placed on the floor, and the remaining portions are, for example, walls of the room (hereinafter, these are referred to as stationary objects).
The output of the line sensor 10 at this time is as shown on the right side of FIG. 9A, and the level (8-bit digital value) corresponding to the position of the stationary object and its reflection coefficient is obtained for each pixel. To be This is stored in the memory 6 as the reference line sensor output. In addition, in FIG. 5, G1 to G1024
Indicates each pixel of the line sensor.

After that, when the actual operation is started and a certain person in the monitor household enters the monitoring area, the fact is detected by the pyroelectric sensor 3. Then, in response to the detection signal sent from the pyroelectric sensor 3 through the input / output interface 4, the control device 5 starts the processing shown in FIG.

First, the control device 5 captures an image of the monitoring area by the image pickup device 1 by designating the scanning signal generation circuit 11 of the image pickup device 1 through the input / output interface 4 and activating the exposure time (S1). At this time, the scanning signal generation circuit 11 generates a scanning signal corresponding to the designated exposure time, and the driver 12 drives the line sensor 10 by this scanning signal. An image pickup signal obtained by picking up an image with the line sensor 10 is amplified by an amplifier 13, sampled by a sample hold circuit 14 for each pixel, and converted into an 8-bit digital value by an A / D converter 15. Are written in the memory 16.

In this example, the image pickup device 1 was activated when the pyroelectric sensor 3 was detected. However, the image pickup device 1 is activated in advance so that the image pickup device 1 periodically repeats image pickup, and the pyroelectric sensor 3 is activated. The contents of the memory 16 may be read at the time of detection.

The controller 5 reads the level of each pixel of the line sensor 10 stored in the memory 16, and compares these with the reference line sensor output held in the memory 6 to detect the head of the invading individual. The pixel corresponding to the top is specified (S2). That is, for example, when an image is taken in a state where an individual is at a position as shown in FIG. 5B, the output of the line sensor 10 becomes that shown on the right side of FIG. 5B, and the reference line of FIG. Compared with the sensor output,
The levels of the pixels from the highest-order pixel G1024 to the pixel Gx + 1 substantially match the level of the corresponding pixel of the reference line sensor output, but the pixel group below the pixel Gx that images the top of the individual's head is continuous and high. Since there is a level difference between the level of the corresponding pixel of the reference line sensor output and a certain threshold value or more in the range, the uppermost pixel Gx is specified as the pixel corresponding to the crown of the individual.

If the exposure time when the reference line sensor output is obtained and the brightness in the room are different from those during operation, it becomes difficult to detect the crown by only comparing the absolute levels of pixels. In that case, for example, the average value of the ratios of the levels of, for example, the upper few pixels of the line sensor 10 obtained by imaging and the levels of the corresponding pixels of the reference line sensor output is calculated, and this average value is used as the reference. Then, the continuous pixels in which the ratio of the level of each of the pixels of the line sensor 10 or less and the level of the corresponding pixel of the reference line sensor output is different from the reference ratio by a certain threshold value or more. When appears, the leading pixel may be specified as the pixel corresponding to the crown. Further, when underexposure or overexposure occurs, the parietal region cannot be detected. In that case, the exposure time may be changed within the range of, for example, 2 ms to 100 ms and the image may be taken again. .

When the control device 5 can specify the pixel corresponding to the parietal region (YES in S3), the distance measuring device 2 is activated through the input / output interface 4 to measure the distance in three directions (S5). ). Then, the distance measurement result is input through the input / output interface 4 and compared with the reference distance registered in the memory 6 to determine whether or not the distance to the individual can be measured (S6). That is, it is determined whether or not the distance measurement result in at least one direction is shorter than the corresponding reference distance by a certain threshold value or more, and if it is shorter, the shortened distance measurement result is set as the distance to the individual. . On the other hand, if none of the distance measurement results is much different from the reference distance, it is determined that the distance measurement to the individual has not been performed.

If the pixel Gx corresponding to the crown of the individual cannot be specified in step S3 or the distance to the individual cannot be measured in step S5, the process proceeds to step S4,
If a certain time has not passed from the start, step S
Returning to step 1, the above-mentioned processing is repeated, and if a certain time has elapsed, the processing of FIG. 3 is ended. On the other hand, if the pixel Gx corresponding to the crown of the individual can be specified in step S3 and the distance to the individual can be measured in step S5, the control device 5
The height h of the individual is estimated by the following formula (S7). h = {H × (x / 1024) × (D · cos α / d)} − D · sin α + ΔH (1)

Here, d is the unit length in the horizontal direction shown in FIG. 4, H is the height of the monitoring area at a location separated by the unit length d in the horizontal direction, D is the distance to the measured individual, and x is the line sensor. When the number of the lowest pixel of 10 is 1, and the number of the highest pixel is 1024, the pixel number corresponding to the top of the head, ΔH is the height from the floor of the lens system 17 in the image pickup device 1.

When the height h is estimated by the above equation, the control device 5 compares the estimated height h with the height of each individual registered in the memory 6, and determines the person having the most similar height as an intruder. Specify (S8).

In a household having a plurality of individuals having the same or almost the same height, it is not possible to identify which one of them is the height. In such a case, for example, a display lamp corresponding to each individual is provided on the front surface of the device 40, and the control device 5 causes the display lamp corresponding to each individual to blink when there are a plurality of individuals estimated from the height, Device 40
It may be configured so that the person himself / herself can confirm it by operating the push button or the remote controller provided on the.

The control device 5 creates measurement result data based on the channel information detected by the television sensor 7 and the viewing condition of the identified individual, and records it in the memory 6. Then, the measurement result data recorded in the memory 6 is sent to the center by a terminal controller 9 through a telephone line or the like as is well known.

[0034]

As described above, according to the viewer monitoring device of the television receiver of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

An image of the room in which the television receiver is present is imaged from a substantially horizontal direction by the image pickup device, and the pixel of the line sensor corresponding to the top of the head of the individual who has entered the monitoring area is specified. Since the height of the individual is estimated from the measured distance to the individual, one monitoring device is provided as compared with a device that estimates the individual height by the height sensor installed above the entrance of the room and identifies the individual. Thus, a wide range of depth such as a certain place in the room, for example, the place where the television is installed to the wall of the room can be set as the monitoring area.

Further, since the image of the object existing in the monitoring area is compressed into one image extending in the vertical direction by the lens system including the cylindrical lens and the image is picked up by the line sensor, not only the depth but also the monitoring area is detected. The width can also be increased.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a viewer monitoring device for a television receiver of the present invention and a configuration example of an entire television audience rating measuring device.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a monitoring area of an image pickup device and a distance measuring direction of a distance measuring device.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing example of a control device.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of the principle of height measurement by the viewer monitoring device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing a relationship between a state in which a room included in a monitoring area is viewed from an imager side and an output of a line sensor.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Imaging device 10 ... CCD line sensor 11 ... Scan signal generation circuit 12 ... Driver 13 ... Amplifier 14 ... Sample hold circuit 15 ... A / D converter 16 ... Memory 17 ... Lens system 17a ... Cylindrical lens 17b ... Spherical lens 18 ... Filter 2 Distance measuring device 20 Light emitting part 21 Light receiving part 22 Measurement control part 23 Infrared filter 3 Pyroelectric sensor 4 Input / output interface 5 Control device 6 Memory 7 TV sensor 8 Clock 9 … Terminal controller

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Hiroyuki Inoue 2-16-7 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo Stock company video research

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An image of an object existing in a surveillance area is vertically extended by a lens system, which is installed in a direction in which a room in which a television receiver is present is imaged from a substantially horizontal direction.
An imager that compresses a book image and takes an image with a line sensor, and a distance measuring device that is installed in the vicinity of the imager and has a distance measuring direction in a direction in which a predetermined portion within the monitoring area is desired from the imager. From the change of the output of the image pickup device, the pixel of the line sensor corresponding to the top of the head of the individual who has entered the monitoring region is identified, and from the change of the output of the distance measuring device, the pixel has entered the monitoring region. Measures the distance to an individual, estimates the height of the individual based on the position of the specified pixel and the measured distance, and enters the monitoring area by collating with the height of each individual registered in advance. A viewer monitoring device for a television receiver, comprising: 2. The viewer monitoring device for a television receiver according to claim 1, wherein the lens system includes a cylindrical lens. 3. The distance measuring direction of the distance measuring device is set to a substantially central portion of a portion covered by a pixel which captures an image of a lowest position in the room or a position slightly higher than the lowest position of the plurality of pixels of the line sensor. 3. The viewer monitoring device for a television receiver according to claim 2, wherein the viewer monitoring device is adapted to match the desired direction. 4. The distance measuring device is composed of a distance measuring device for measuring a plurality of different distance measuring directions, and each distance measuring direction is defined as a maximum of the plurality of pixels of the line sensor in the room. 3. The television image receiving apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a substantially central portion of a portion covered by a pixel for imaging a low position or a position slightly higher than that position and different portions on the left and right sides thereof are made to coincide with desired directions. Viewer monitoring system for aircraft.