JPH09107590A - Remote control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily enable a control station to be unmanned without remarkable change in the remote control system. SOLUTION: A display device 3 for man-machine interface provided to an unmanned monitor room 1 is picked up by a camera 4 and the operator uses a monitor display device 6b to attain a cursor operation of the display device 3 via a mouse 7, a converter 8a and an interface 9. Thus, a host control station facilitate the monitor of an unmanned control station.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a remote control system for a supervisory control system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, unattended control stations associated with each facility have been promoted in accordance with the increase in scale and labor saving of supervisory control systems. When the control station is unmanned, it is necessary to leave the conventional monitoring room as it is in order to deal with emergencies and the like, while allowing the functions performed there to be performed in the higher control station. Therefore, conventionally, in many cases, a system is redesigned to display a monitoring screen on the display of a host control station that enables the same work, and a control panel and a large status display panel are newly installed.

[0003]

However, the above method has the following problems. (1) The system of the host control station must be redesigned, which increases the cost for unmanned operation. (2) It is necessary to communicate system status data and setting data via the network between the host control center and the unmanned control center, which increases the load on the system. (3) Although it is possible to transfer only the display screen for the man-machine interface, the unmanned control station usually has a large-sized status display panel or control panel, and the information to be displayed by the host control station is The information displayed on the display for the man-machine interface is not enough. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily deal with unmanned control stations without making major modifications.

[0004]

In order to solve such a problem, the present invention is as follows. That is, a first display device for a man-machine interface of a computer, a camera for displaying its screen, and a second display for monitoring for displaying the camera image are provided, and all the information displayed on the first display is provided as a high-order. Make it visible at the control station. At this time, cursor operation means that enables mouse operation while viewing the image captured by the camera on the second display, and selection of an icon (item) on the first display displayed as an image on the second display. By providing the selection operation means that enables the operation, the operation can be performed as if the operator is in the monitoring room of the unmanned control station while being in the host control station.

Further, by enabling control of camera parameters including pan and zoom of the camera, the state of not only the first display but also the display device in the monitoring room can be known. In addition, an input interface for a pointing device such as a touch panel is provided on the first display, and the pointing operation point on the second display for monitoring is converted into position information on the first display and the position information is input to the input interface. By inputting, when the operation instruction is given on the second display
Make sure that the same value is input to the computer when you give an operation instruction on the display. As a result, the remote instruction operation of the icon (item) displayed on the second display as an image on the first display can be easily realized without changing the software.

[0006]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a monitoring room, 2 and 5 are computers, 3 and 6 are displays, 4 is a camera as an imaging means, 7 is a mouse, 8a is a converter, and 9 is a mouse interface. Monitoring room 1 of the unmanned control station
The man-machine interface display 3 and its screen are captured by the camera 4, and the image is displayed on the monitor display 6 of the computer 5 in the host control station.

The amount of movement of the mouse 7 and the state of the button are input to the converter 8a via the network, and the converter 8a calculates the received amount of movement of the mouse 7 and the state of the button from the computer 2
To the mouse interface 9 of. Therefore, the operator can move the cursor on the display 3 by operating the mouse 7 while watching the contents of the display 6, and can perform a predetermined operation on the computer 2.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention. As is clear from the figure, the converter 8a and the mouse interface 9 of FIG. 1 are replaced by a converter 8b and a pointing device interface 10 such as a touch panel. That is,
When the button operation of the mouse 7 is performed on the image, the display 3 displays the relative position information on the image on the display 6.
The designated position of the cursor above is calculated, and the designated position and the state of the button of the mouse 7 are input to the converter 8b via the network. The converter 8b inputs the pointing position of the display 3 and the button information of the mouse 7 to the input interface 10 for the pointing device of the computer 2.

With the configuration as shown in FIG. 2, the contents of the display 3 are displayed on the display 6 as an image. Therefore, the operator moves the cursor on the display 6 to indirectly instruct the screen of the display 3,
The calculator 2 can be moved in the same manner as the touch operation on the display 3. Further, since the pointing device interface is used, there is an advantage that the system can be easily configured without changing the software.

Calculation of the pointing position of the cursor on the display 3 from the relative position information on the image on the display 6
Perform as shown in FIG. (1) First, the four vertices of the display 3 on the image of the display 6, that is, the coordinates of P1 to P4 in this case are held. (2) Now, the designated position on the image is (P, Q), 4 vertices P
The coordinate positions of 1 to P4 are (X1, Y1), (X
2, Y2), (X3, Y3), (X4, Y4),
If R, r, S and s are defined as shown in FIG.
Since r and Ps are points at infinity, the indicated coordinate position (P, P,
The coordinate position (X, Y) of the display 3 in Q) can be obtained.

(Equation 1)

In the equation (1), X is the horizontal coordinate of the display 3, and Y is the vertical coordinate of the display 3. Further, R, r, S, and s are, as shown in the following equation (2) of Formula 2, between P1 and P2, between P2 and P3,
Vectors between P3 and P4 and between P4 and P1 are (X
a, Ya), (Xb, Yb), (Xc, Yc), (X
d, Yd), and the vector from the coordinate position (P, Q) of the designated point to P1 is defined as (Xe, Ye), (3)
It can be calculated as

(Equation 2)

(Equation 3)

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a third embodiment of the present invention. This is provided with a camera control stand 11 in addition to the one shown in FIG. 2 and enables remote operation such as pan, tilt and zoom of the camera from the computer 5. The swinging angle (pan angle, tilt angle) and focal length of the camera during operation can be read by the computer 5. Therefore, the operation is exactly the same as that of FIG. 2 except for the method of calculating the cursor pointing position on the display 3. Calculation of the cursor position on the display 3 is performed as follows.

(1) As shown in FIG. 5, vectors (x1, y1, z1), (x2, y2, z2) from the center point of rotation and zoom of the camera to the four vertices of the display 3,
(X3, y3, z3) and (x4, y4, z4) are held in advance. (2) The direction in which the camera is facing (pan angle θ, tilt angle φ) and the focal length f of the camera during the operation as shown in FIG.
Is read out, the coordinates (X1, Y) of the four vertices P1, P2, P3 and P4 of the display 3 which are previously held in advance are read.
1), (X2, Y2), (X3, Y3), (X4, Y
4) can be uniquely calculated by using the equation (4) of the following Expression 4. Even if the four vertices are not in the image, the coordinate position is virtually calculated using Equation 3. (3) The designated coordinates of the display 3 are obtained from the equations 1, 2 and 3.

(Equation 4)

[0014]

According to the present invention, the following effects can be expected. (1) Since the remote control can be performed using the existing system as it is, the centralized monitoring operation can be performed by the same interface as the unmanned control station. (2) Remote operation is possible using the existing system as it is, and there is no need to create a new monitoring screen when unmanned. As a result, unmanned operation becomes easy. (3) By taking a picture of an unmanned room using a camera, it becomes possible to see not only the screen of the computer display but also other control panels and panels in the room. As a result, remote monitoring can be performed as if in an unmanned monitoring room. (4) By enabling the camera to swivel and zoom, it is possible to see the state of the unmanned surveillance room in a wider range and in more detail, and the instruction operation on the display can be zoomed to make it easier and more accurate. become able to. (5) When an input interface for a pointing device such as a touch panel is provided on the man-machine interface display of the computer, and an icon (item) on the man-machine interface display displayed as an image on the monitoring display is operated. In addition, by converting the pointing operation point on the monitor display into the position information on the display for the man-machine interface of the computer and inputting the position information into the input interface, the existing pointing device interface can be used. It is possible to easily build a remote control system.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a coordinate conversion operation in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a third embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of vectors from the center of the camera to the four vertices of the display.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of camera parameters.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Monitoring room, 2, 5 ... Computer, 3, 6 ... Display,
4 ... Camera (imaging means), 7 ... Mouse, 8a, 8b ... Converter, 9 ... Mouse interface, 10 ... Pointing device interface, 11 ... Camera control stand.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A first display device as an interface of a computer arranged in a remote control station, an image pickup means capable of photographing its screen, a second monitor display for displaying an image of the image pickup means, and 2 While watching the image on the 1st display projected on the 2nd display,
A remote operation system comprising: a cursor operation means for remotely operating a cursor on a display. 2. A first display device as an interface of a computer arranged in a remote control station, an image pickup means capable of photographing its screen, a second monitor display for displaying the image of the image pickup means, and 2. A remote control system characterized in that selection operation means is provided for performing a predetermined operation on the display and selecting a desired item on the first display that is displayed as an image. 3. The remote control system according to claim 1, further comprising a parameter control unit capable of controlling a camera parameter of the image pickup unit. 4. An input interface for a pointing device is provided for the selection operation means, and when a desired item is selected on the first display by performing a predetermined operation on the second display, the second display is displayed. The remote control system according to claim 2, wherein the selected position information is converted into position information on the first display and is input to the input interface.