JPH08289189A - Camera control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To easily select a camera that is a controlled system. CONSTITUTION: The name of the camera that is the controlled system is displayed on the camera name display column of a camera operating interface 60. When an expansion button 128 sideways is depressed, the names of the cameras possible to be the controlled systems are displayed in a summary table as a pull-down menu 130 in sequence of higher frequency in use. As the frequency in use, for example, the number of times of selection of the controlled object, a time being selected, or the number of times of issuance of a camera control command, etc., are prepared.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a camera control system for remotely controlling a video camera, and more specifically, to display a video camera of a partner and / or one's own video camera on a monitor screen. The present invention relates to a camera control system controlled by a user interface displayed on the screen.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a video communication conference system, a video camera is connected to each communication terminal device, and the input video is mutually transmitted via a communication line. Each user has a conversation while watching an image from a communication partner displayed on the monitor screen of his or her communication terminal device and, if necessary, a material graphic or the like. It is also possible to exchange data with each other. Normally, the video camera connected to each communication terminal device is configured to externally control pan, tilt, and zoom, and each communication terminal device communicates with the video camera connected to the communication terminal device of the communication partner. It can be operated remotely via a line. On the monitor screen, a camera operation interface for operating the video cameras of the partner terminal and the self terminal is displayed, and the user or the operator arbitrarily selects various graphical elements of the camera operation interface and a pointing device such as a mouse. By selecting and operating with, the pan, tilt, zoom, etc. of the desired camera can be operated.

FIG. 20 shows a conventional camera operation interface. This camera operation interface 310
Is a left pan operation button 312 for instructing left pan and a right pan operation button 31 for instructing right pan as camera operations.
4, up tilt operation button 3 for instructing tilt up
16, a downward tilt operation button 318 for instructing a downward tilt, a home position button 320 for instructing a return to a reference direction (usually the front), a tele button 322 for instructing a zoom in a tele direction, and a wide angle. A wide button 324 for instructing a zoom in a direction is provided.

The interface 310 further comprises a camera name display field 326 for displaying the name of the camera to be controlled.
By pressing the expansion button 328, as shown in FIG.
A list of all camera names that can be controlled is displayed as a pull-down menu 330 below the camera name display field 326. The camera name displayed in the camera name display field 326 is the camera name displayed at the top of the pull-down menu 330. 332 is a pull-down menu 33
This is a registration button operated when a new camera to be controlled is to be registered at 0.

When the user clicks the mouse button on the registration button 332, the registration window 334 shown in FIG. 22 is accordingly displayed on the monitor screen. The registration window 334 includes a camera name input field 336, an IP address input field 338, and a camera number input field 340. In the camera name input field 336, the camera name (Computer1 in FIG. 22) desired to be added to the control target is input in a character string that is easy for the user to understand. In the IP address input field 338, the IP address of the computer network of the communication terminal device to which the camera to be added is connected is input. In the camera number input field 340, the IP
From the cameras connected to the communication terminal specified by the address, enter the number of the camera you want to add to the control target.

In the camera name display field 326 and the pull-down menu 330, the camera name input in the camera name input field 336 is displayed. The camera identified by the camera name currently displayed in the camera name display field 326 is the camera currently controlled. In the pull-down menu 330, camera names are displayed in a list as shown in FIG. 21, but in the conventional example, the display order is fixed to the registration order or the reverse order of registration.

[0007]

As described above, in the conventional example, the pull-down menu displayed when selecting the camera to be controlled displays the camera names in a fixed order. Since the high-quality camera does not always come to the top, there is a drawback that the operation of selecting the camera to be controlled becomes troublesome.

Although the conventional example of the video communication conference system has been described, such an inconvenience is caused in a video surveillance system using a large number of video cameras, by disposing an arbitrary camera in a central surveillance center. The same applies to a camera control system that selects and operates the camera.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a camera control system that eliminates such inconvenience.

[0010]

A camera control system according to the present invention is a camera control system capable of controlling a plurality of cameras, and includes counting means for counting the frequency of use of each video camera and the counting means. List display means for displaying the camera list in the order according to the count value is provided, and the camera to be controlled is selected from the camera list displayed by the list display means.

The camera control system according to the present invention also includes
A camera control system capable of selectively controlling one or more cameras directly controllable and one or more cameras indirectly controllable via a communication line. A first designating means for designating one or more controllable cameras and a second designating means for designating one or more indirectly controllable cameras as a camera to be controlled are provided. To do.

The camera control system according to the present invention further comprises:
A camera control system capable of selectively controlling one or more cameras directly controllable and one or more cameras indirectly controllable via a communication line. It is characterized in that a designation means for alternately designating one or more controllable cameras and one or more indirectly controllable cameras is provided.

[0013]

With the above means, the camera name candidates are displayed in descending order of frequency of use, which simplifies the selection operation. Further, in the case of a two-party conference, by providing a means for selectively specifying which of the communication partner camera and the own camera is the control target, the control target camera can be switched quickly.

[0014]

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

An embodiment of the present invention in the video communication conference system will be described. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration block diagram of a communication terminal device, FIG. 2 is a network connection configuration diagram, and FIG.
Is an example of a monitor screen.

First, the configuration of the terminal device shown in FIG. 1 will be described. 10 is a CPU for controlling the whole, 12 is a RAM, 14
Is a ROM for storing a program for loading an OS (operating system) into the RAM 12, other programs and fixed data, 16 is an image compression / decompression circuit for compressing and decompressing image data, and 18 is for displaying on the display monitor 20. Video memories that store the image data to be processed, which can be connected to the memory bus 22 and transfer data to each other.

The memory bus 22 further includes an I / O bus 24.
Connected to the I / O bus 24, a keyboard 26, a mouse 28, an external storage device (hard disk device, etc.) 3
0, a video input device 34 for connecting the video camera 32,
A voice input device 38 for connecting the microphone 36, a speaker 40
An audio output device 42 for supplying an audio signal to the camera, a camera control circuit 44 for controlling pan, tilt and zoom of the video camera 32, and a network transmission / reception device 48 connected to a network 46 are connected.

The video input device 34 converts the analog video signal output from the video camera 32 into a digital signal and stores it in the internal RAM. The voice input device 38 also
The analog voice signal from the microphone 36 is converted into a digital signal and stored in the internal RAM. The CPU 10 can access the video data stored in the RAM of the video input device 34 and the audio data stored in the RAM of the audio input device 38 via the memory bus 22 and the I / O bus 24. The audio output device 42 includes a RAM for temporarily storing audio data from the I / O bus 24, and the audio data stored in the RAM is sequentially converted into an analog signal and applied to the speaker 40.

A plurality of terminal devices 50, 5 having the configuration shown in FIG.
2, 54 and 56 are connected to the network 46 as shown in FIG. 2 so that they can communicate video, voice and data with each other to construct a video communication conference system.
The network 46 is Ethernet (trademark) in this embodiment.
, Etc., but the invention is not limited to such a particular network. In this embodiment, one video camera is connected to each of the four communication terminal devices and a video communication conference is held between the four parties.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the screen of the monitor 20. 60
Is a camera operation interface, which is the same in appearance as the conventional example shown in FIG. 20, and is provided with operation buttons for photographing direction and magnification, and a camera name display field for displaying a control target, and selects the control target. Can display a pull-down menu for Although details will be described later, in the present embodiment, the display method of the camera name list in the pull-down menu for selecting the control target is different from the conventional example. 62,6
Reference numerals 4, 66 and 68 are video display windows that normally display images taken by the video camera 32 connected to the communication terminals 50, 52, 54 and 56 that make up the video communication conference system. Any video display window (for example, 6
In 2), the image taken by the video camera 32 of the own terminal is displayed. In the present embodiment, since a communication conference between four persons as shown in FIG. 2 is assumed, the four video display windows 6
2, 64, 66 and 68 are provided.

Video display windows 62, 64, 66, 6
8 can also be used to reproduce and display recorded images and the like stored in the corresponding communication terminal device. Therefore, buttons for controlling reproduction (rewind button 70, reproduction start button 72, fast-forward button 74, reproduction stop button 76) are provided below the video display windows 62, 64, 66, 68.
And switch button 7 to switch between recorded video and current video
8 are arranged. Needless to say, as long as the monitor 20 has a sufficient screen, a video display window can be further set and arbitrary current video and recorded video can be displayed.

As is well known, the user freely gives a desired instruction to the CPU 10 by freely moving the mouse cursor 80 with the mouse 28 and performing a predetermined operation on the camera operation interface 60 and various buttons 70 to 78. You can enter.

The basic operation of transmitting video / audio data via the network 46 will be described. Video input device 3
Reference numeral 4 converts the analog video signal output from the video camera 32 into a digital signal and expands it in the built-in RAM. The CPU 10 reads the video data from the RAM in the video input device 34, expands it in the RAM 12, packetizes the data, and outputs it from the network transmission / reception device 48 to the network 46. The packet is transferred from the other terminal device, for example, the terminal device 50 to the terminal devices 52, 54 and 56 via the network 46.

When the network transmission / reception device 48 senses that a packet has arrived from the network 46, it expands the packet in the internal RAM and notifies the CPU 10 of the reception of the packet. The CPU 10 reads data from the RAM in the network transmission / reception device 48 and
Expand to 12. Then, the CPU 10 takes out the video data included in the packet and writes it in a predetermined position of the VRAM 18. For example, the video is displayed in the video display window 64.
When it is to be displayed at, the address is written in the address of the VRAM 18 corresponding to the video display window 64. This allows
Images from other communication terminal devices are displayed in the image display windows 62 to 68 assigned to them.

The sound input from the microphone 36 is
Converted to a digital signal by the voice input device 38,
It is expanded in the internal RAM. The CPU 10 reads the voice data from the RAM in the voice input device 38, and the RAM 1
2 and packetize the data to output from the network transmission / reception device 48 to the network 46. The packet is transferred from the other terminal device, for example, the terminal device 50 to the terminal devices 52, 54 and 56 via the network 46.

When the network transmission / reception device 48 senses that a packet has arrived from the network 46, it expands the packet in the internal RAM and notifies the CPU 10 of the reception of the packet. The CPU 10 reads data from the RAM in the network transmission / reception device 48 and
Expand to 12. Then, the CPU 10 takes out the voice data included in the packet and stores the built-in R in the voice output device 42.
Write to AM. The audio output device 38 converts the audio data stored in the internal RAM into an analog signal and applies it to the speaker 40. As a result, sound from the other one or more communication terminal devices is acoustically output.

The CPU 10 also generates a camera control command according to the contents of the operation in response to the operation of the buttons on the camera operation interface 60 by the mouse 28, and designates the camera to be operated and the terminal device connected to this camera. The camera control command is designated and packetized and output from the network transmission / reception device 48 to the network 46. The designated terminal device takes in a packet containing the camera control command from the network 46, and when it confirms that the packet contains the camera control command, it transfers the camera control command to the camera control circuit 44. The camera control circuit 44 pans the video camera 32 according to the input camera control command,
Control tilt and zoom. In this way, not only the video camera connected to its own terminal device, but also the video camera connected to another terminal device is connected to the network 46.
Can be operated via.

In this way, a communication conference by video and audio can be held among the four persons, and the video camera connected to another terminal can be operated remotely.

Next, the camera operation interface 60 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 shows a detailed configuration of the camera operation interface 60. As described above, the external appearance is exactly the same as that of the conventional example shown in FIG. 20, and only the method of displaying the list of camera names in the pull-down menu for selecting the camera to be operated is different. That is, the left pan operation button 11 is used for camera operation.
2, right pan operation button 114, up tilt operation button 11
6, down tilt operation button 118, home position
A button 120, a tele button 122, and a wide button 124 are provided, and a camera name display field 126 for displaying the name of the camera to be controlled is provided.

By pressing the expansion button 128 adjacent to the camera name display field 126, a list of all camera names that can be controlled is displayed as a pull-down menu 130 at the bottom of the camera name display field 126, as shown in FIG. To be done.
Similar to the conventional example, the camera name displayed in the camera name display field 126 is the camera name displayed at the top of the pull-down menu 130. In the present embodiment, the display order of the camera names in the pull-down menu 130 is not the registration order or the reverse order, but is the order of the most frequently used one, and the camera name display field 126 shows the most frequently used camera names. Is displayed. Reference numeral 132 denotes a registration button operated when a new camera to be controlled is to be newly registered in the pull-down menu 130.

Also in this embodiment, the user inputs a registration button 132.
If you click the mouse button above,
The registration window 334 shown in FIG. 22 is displayed on the monitor screen, and the camera name of the camera to be added to the control target, the IP address of the terminal device to be connected, and the camera number can be input.

The operation of the camera operation program for managing the camera operation interface 60 will be described in detail below. If one or more cameras are already registered as control targets, the registration file is loaded and the number of cameras, camera name, etc. are set in predetermined variables. A case where a camera name or the like is newly registered will be described.

When the camera operation program is started, first, the initialization routine shown in FIG. 6 is executed, and the variable num is set.
0 is substituted into _camera. Variable num_cam
era is a global variable that indicates the total number of controllable video cameras.

When the registration button 132 is clicked, input data is set in a predetermined variable according to the flowchart shown in FIG. That is, the local variable i is num_
The value of camera is substituted (S1). Due to the initialization shown in FIG. 6, the value of num_camera is 0 at this point. Next, the registration window shown in FIG. 22 is displayed.
Prompt for the camera name, the network address of the communication terminal device to which the video camera is connected, and the camera number of the communication terminal device (S
2). This is because the camera number is input when a plurality of video cameras are connected to one communication terminal device. In this embodiment, only one video camera is connected to one communication terminal device.

After the input, the camera name is the array variable ca.
mera [i]. The network address is the array variable camera [i] .name. In the address, the camera number is the array variable camera [i]. number
Respectively assigned to. Array variable camera [i].
freq and camera [i]. Substitute 0 for used (S3). The variable camera [i]. freq is
A counter that counts the frequency of use of the corresponding video camera. used is a flag used when determining the display order in the pull-down menu 130.

The value of the local variable i is incremented by 1 (S4),
Substitute the value of the variable i into the variable num_camera (S
5) and end. camera []. name is used as an entry in pull-down menu 130 and is listed.

When the mouse button is clicked on the expansion button 128 of the camera operation interface 60,
The pull-down menu 130 is displayed according to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, and information such as the camera name according to the user's selection is set in a predetermined variable. In addition,
In the present embodiment, basically, camera []. freq
In descending order of, the camera name and the registration number are substituted into the structure pdmenu_entry [] for the pull-down menu 130 (S13-24). Therefore, in order to display the camera list in order according to the selection frequency, the corresponding camera []. It is sufficient to increment freq (S31).

First, the loop variable i is set to the variable num_cam.
The value of era is substituted (S11). As described above, num_camera indicates the number of registered video cameras. Variable pdmenu_entry_m indicating the number of cameras displayed in the pull-down menu 130
Set the value of num_camera to ax (S1
2).

The variable num_camer is set to the local variable j.
Substituting the value of a (S13), the local variable max. fr
Substitute 0 for eq (S14). While decrementing j, the variable camera [j]. It is checked whether used is 0 (S15, 16, 17). camera [j].
If used is not 0, it means that the variable pdmenu_entr for creating the pull-down menu 130 is used.
Indicates that it has already been set to y. camera
[J]. If used is 0 (S15), camera
a [j]. freq and variable max. freq is compared (S18), camera [j]. When freq is large, the variable max. The camera [j]. f
Substituting req (S19), the local variable max. nu
The value of the variable j is substituted for m (S20). S18, 19,
20, the camera with the highest selection frequency is detected.

When j becomes 0 (S24), that is, all registered cameras are checked. At this point, ma
x. In num, camera []. Among the cameras whose used is 0 (that is, the cameras which are not yet registered in the structure pdmenu_entry [] for the pull-down menu 130), the number indicating the registration order of the camera with the largest camera [] · freq ( That is, the serial registration number starting from 0 is set. camera
a [max. num]. Set 1 to used (S2
1), array variable pdmenu_entry [num_c
amera-i]. The variable camerara [ma]
x. num]. Substituting the character string (or pointer) of name, array variable pdmenu_entry [num_c
amera-i]. variable max. The value of num is substituted (S22). The value of the variable i is decremented by 1 (S23).

Steps S13 and thereafter are repeated until the variable i becomes 0 (S24). In this way, the camera name and the number indicating the registration order can be stored in the array variable pdmenu_entry [] in the descending order of the number of times selected, and pdmenu_entry [0]. name ~
pdmenu_entry [num_camera-
1]. The names are displayed in order as the pull-down menu 130 as shown in FIG. 5 (S25). The camera names are computer1, computer2, and co.
computer3, computer4 and computer
er5 is registered in this order, and in the conventional example, this order is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the pull-down menu is displayed. However, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
computer3, computer4, compute
r1, computer2, and computer5 are displayed in this order.

In S11 to S24, the sorting result in the order of the selection frequency is obtained by the double loop.
It goes without saying that an algorithm can be adopted. Usually, the number of cameras is considered to be small, so it is preferable to adopt an algorithm that can efficiently obtain a result when the number of objects is small.

After the pull-down menu 130 is displayed, the user waits for input (S26), and when there is user input (S27). The menu acquisition number is assigned to the local variable n (S28), and pdmenu_en is set to the local variable m.
try [n]. The value of no is substituted (S29). The value of m indicates the registration number of the selected camera name. Global variable camera_name, c indicating the current control target
camera_address and camera_num
camera [m]. name,
camera [m]. address and camera
[M]. The number is substituted (S30).

Since selected, camera [m]. f
Increase req by 1 (S31), camera_name
The character string stored in is displayed in the camera name display field 126 (S32).

To prepare for the next display of the pull-down menu 130, camera []. All used are set to 0. That is, the loop variable i is num_ca
Set the value of mera (S33), camera
[I]. Substitute 0 for used (S34) and decrement i by 1 (S35). While i is 1 or more, S34 and S35 are repeated.

In FIG. 8, the pull-down menu 130 lists camera names in descending order of the frequency of selection of video cameras, and the frequency of selection is evaluated as the frequency of use. The more frequently selected, pull-down menu 1
It is displayed at the top of 30. Although not realized in the flowchart shown in FIG. 8, the camera name with the highest selection frequency is displayed in the camera name display field 126 of the camera operation interface 60 without the operation of displaying the pull-down menu 130. preferable. To do that, S
11 to S24, the camera operation interface 6
It is preferable to execute in advance before displaying 0 or after the selection operation. In this way, the camera name with the highest selection frequency is the camera name display field 126.
The pull-down menu 130 does not have to be displayed for the selection of this camera.

Next, a modified embodiment of this embodiment will be described.
In the above embodiment, the frequency of use is evaluated by the number of selections, but the frequency of use may be evaluated by the time of the selected state. To this end, FIG. 9 is changed as shown in FIG.
The functions shown in the flowcharts of FIGS. 11 and 12 may be incorporated into the. The part of S30 in FIG. 9 is changed to S37 in FIG. 10, and S31 is deleted,
camera []. used clear processing (S33-3)
6) was deleted. In S37, in addition to the processing in S30,
Registration number of camera selected as control target (variable m)
To the global variable camera_entry_no. As shown in FIG. 11, the CPU 10 starts a timer routine at regular time intervals (S41) (S41).
42). In the timer routine, as shown in FIG. 12, the array variable camera [camera_entr is
y_no]. The value of freq is incremented by 1 (S43). In this way, the selected time of the camera selected as the control target is counted, and the camera []. fre
It is stored in q.

As a result, the pull-down menu 130
Will list the camera names in ascending order of time selected for control.

The number of times the camera control command is issued may be counted instead of the time selected as the control target, and the pull-down menu 130 may be displayed in descending order of the count value.
For that purpose, instead of the functions shown in FIGS. 11 and 12,
The functions shown in FIGS. 13 and 14 may be incorporated in the CPU 10. That is, it is checked whether or not the mouse button is pressed on any of the camera operation buttons 112 to 124 of the camera operation interface 60 (S51), and when the mouse button is pressed on any button (S51), 14 is called (S52), and the array variable camera [camera_entry_no]. f
The value of req is incremented by 1 (S54). After that, the camera control command corresponding to the operated button is set to the variable camera.
A video camera connected to a communication terminal device indicated by a_address, which is a variable camera_numb.
Issued to the video camera with the camera number indicated by er (S53).

In this way, the frequency of use can be evaluated by the number of times the camera control command is issued. That is, in the pull-down menu 130, the camera names are displayed in a list in descending order of the number of times the camera control command has been issued, which makes it easy to select a camera that is frequently operated.

Next, a modified embodiment limited to the communication conference between two parties will be described. FIG. 15 shows an example of a display screen of the monitor 20. 140 is a camera operation interface. 1
Reference numeral 42 is a video display window for displaying a video from a communication partner, and 144 is a video display window for displaying a video from a video camera connected to its own terminal device. As described with reference to FIG. 3, a button for replaying a recorded image (rewind button 146, reproduction start button 148, fast forward button 150, reproduction stop button 152), and a switching button for switching a recorded image and the current image 154 are arranged. Reference numeral 156 is a mouse cursor.

FIG. 16 shows the camera operation interface 14
0 is shown in detail. Left pan operation button 1 for camera operation
60, right pan operation button 162, up tilt operation button 1
64, a lower tilt operation button 166, a home position button 168, a tele button 170, and a wide button 172. Further, 174 is a remote camera selection button that is pressed when the user desires to operate the camera (remote camera) of the communication partner, and 176 is a pull-down button for displaying a plurality of video cameras of the communication partner in a pull-down menu. Reference numeral 178 denotes a registration button for instructing registration of a camera name that is desired to be newly registered as a remote camera. Reference numeral 180 denotes a local camera selection button which is pressed when the user desires to operate the video camera (local camera) of the terminal itself, and 182 denotes a registration button for instructing registration of a camera name to be newly registered as a local camera.

When the user clicks the mouse button on the registration button 178, the registration window 334 shown in FIG. 22 is accordingly displayed on the monitor screen, and the camera name, network address and camera number can be input.

Further, when the user clicks the mouse button on the registration button 182, in response to this, FIG.
The registration window shown in Fig. 18 is displayed on the monitor screen.
The input camera name and camera number are set in predetermined variables according to the flowchart shown in FIG. That is, the input camera name is the global variable localcamer.
a. The entered camera number is set in the global variable localcamera.name. It is set to number.

The selection of the remote camera will be described. Basically, it operates according to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. When the mouse cursor is placed on the remote camera selection button 174 and the mouse button is pressed, the remote camera names are displayed in a list by the pull-down menu as in the case shown in FIG. You can choose. The point that the selected camera name is not displayed after selection is different from the first embodiment.

With reference to FIG. 19, the camera selection operation and the operation corresponding thereto will be described. When either the remote camera selection button 174 or the local camera selection button 180 is pressed (S61, 63), in the case of the local camera selection button 180 (S61), the variable localc
amera. The video of the camera number indicated by number.
A camera is set as a control target (S62), and in the case of the remote camera selection button 174 (S63), the variable camera is set.
A camera connected to a terminal device having a network address indicated by a_address, which is a variable cam.
The video camera with the video camera number indicated by era_number is targeted for control (S64).

In this embodiment, the button 174 for selecting the camera of the communication partner and the button 18 for selecting the own camera.
Since 0 is provided, the camera to be controlled can be switched quickly and simply. Selection button 17
4,180 may be replaced by one button that toggles.

[0058]

As can be easily understood from the above description, according to the present invention, a list for selecting one from a plurality of cameras is displayed in descending order of frequency of use, which facilitates selection.

Further, in the case of a two-party conference, by providing means for selectively designating which of the communication partner camera and the own camera is to be controlled, it is possible to quickly switch the cameras to be controlled. become.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a communication terminal device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a video communication conference system in which four communication terminal devices shown in FIG. 1 are connected to a network 46.

FIG. 3 is an example of a monitor screen of this embodiment.

FIG. 4 shows a detailed configuration of a camera operation interface 60.

FIG. 5 is a display example of a pull-down menu 130.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an initialization routine of a camera operation program.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a camera registration routine.

FIG. 8 is a part of a flowchart for selecting a camera.

FIG. 9 is a part of a flowchart for selecting a camera.

FIG. 10 shows that the time of selection is used as the frequency of use.
It is the flowchart which changed.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a timer starting routine for counting the time at the time of selection.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a timer routine started in S42 of FIG.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of a basic routine in a modified example in which the number of times the camera control command is issued is used.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a routine started in S52 of FIG.

FIG. 15 is an example of a display screen of the monitor 20 suitable for a two-party conference.

16 is a detailed view of the camera operation interface 140. FIG.

FIG. 17 is a registration window of a remote camera.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart of registration of a remote camera.

19 is a flowchart of a camera selection operation and an operation corresponding to the camera selection operation in the camera operation interface shown in FIG.

FIG. 20 is a conventional camera operation interface.

FIG. 21 is an example of a conventional pull-down menu.

FIG. 22 is an example of a camera registration window in a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10: CPU 12: RAM 14: ROM 16: Image compression / expansion circuit 18: Video memory (VRAM) 20: Display monitor 22: Memory bus 24: I / O bus 26: Keyboard 28: Mouse 30: External storage device 32: video camera 34: video input device 36: microphone 38: audio input device 40: speaker 42: audio output device 44: camera control circuit 46: network 48: network transmission / reception device 50, 52, 54, 56: terminal device 60 : Camera operation interface 62, 64, 66, 68: Video display window 70: Rewind button 72: Playback start button 74: Fast forward button 76: Playback stop button 78: Switch button 80: Mouse cursor 112: Left pan operation button 114 : Right pan operation button 116: Upper chill Operation button 118: Down tilt operation button 120: Home position button 122: Tele button 124: Wide button 126: Camera name display field 128: Expansion button 130: Pull-down menu 132: Registration button 140: Camera operation interface 142: video display window 144: video display window 146: rewind button 148: playback start button 150: fast forward button 152: playback stop button 154: switching button 156: mouse cursor 160: left pan operation button 162: right pan operation button 164: Up tilt operation button 166: Down tilt operation button 168: Home position button 170: Tele button 172: Wide button 174: Remote camera selection button 176: Pull-down button 178: Registration button 180: Local camera selection button 182: Registration button 310: Camera operation interface 312: Left pan operation button 314: Right pan operation button 316: Up tilt operation button 318: Down tilt operation button 320: Home position Button 322: Tele button 324: Wide button 326: Camera name display field 328: Expansion button 330: Pull down menu 332: Registration button 334: Registration window 336: Camera name input field 338: IP address input field 340: Camera number Input field

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A camera control system capable of controlling a plurality of cameras, comprising: counting means for counting the frequency of use of each video camera; and a list display for displaying a camera list in an order according to the count value of the counting means. Means for selecting a camera to be controlled from the camera list displayed by the list display means. 2. The camera control system according to claim 1, wherein the counting means counts a selection operation from the camera list as a use frequency. 3. The camera control system according to claim 1, wherein the counting means counts a time during which the object is controlled as a use frequency. 4. The camera control system according to claim 1, wherein the counting means counts the number of times of control as a use frequency. 5. One or more cameras directly controllable,
A camera control system capable of selectively controlling one or more cameras that are indirectly controllable via a communication line, wherein the first or more directly controllable cameras are designated as cameras to be controlled. And a second designating unit for designating one or more indirectly controllable cameras as a camera to be controlled. 6. One or more cameras directly controllable,
A camera control system capable of selectively controlling one or more cameras that are indirectly controllable via a communication line, wherein one or more directly controllable cameras and the indirect cameras are controllable cameras. A camera control system, characterized in that a specification means for alternately specifying one or more controllable cameras is provided.