JPH1065953A - Remote control image input device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily stop a camera at a desired position by sending a stop center display position signal to an image restoring part from an operation controlling part of a remote control and showing the stop center after delay that is caused by compression and restoration on the restored image at the time when a camera stop command is inputted on a CRT. SOLUTION: An operation controlling part 7A sends an operation command that comes from a joystick 9 to a turntable controlling part 4 through a communication line 5, and an image restoring part 6A restores a compressed image that is received from an image compressing part 3 through the line 5. The part 7A preliminarily obtains a delay time Td which accompanies with compression and restoration at the time of the transmission of an image, and when the part 7A receives a command that stops the variation of an attitude of a camera 1, it sends a stop center display position signal 10 to the part 6A. By the signal 10, the part 6A adds stop center display to a restored image at the time when a stop command is inputted at the position where an image in a CRT 8 is further moved for the time Td and stopped, and shows it on the CRT 8. With an image on the CRT 8 watched, the rotation of the attitude of the camera 1 can be stopped at a desired position.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a digital camera which changes the imaging direction of a camera while driving and controlling the attitude of a remote camera via a communication line, and digitizes and compresses the captured image via a communication line. Receives and restores the received compressed image and displays it on a CRT or the like. For example, monitoring the water level of a dam,
A remote control image input device used for an observation system, etc., which has a function for facilitating an operation of stopping a camera at a desired position, irrespective of image display delay caused by image compression / decompression. The present invention relates to a control image input device.

[0002] In the drawings, the same reference numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a conventional apparatus of this kind. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a remotely-installed TV camera (also simply referred to as a camera); , In other words, vertical,
A camera turntable for moving in the horizontal direction, 3 is an image compression unit for digitizing and compressing an image output from the camera 1 by scanning its image plane, 5 is a communication line, 6 is an image for restoring a compressed and transmitted image. A restoration unit 8 is a CRT for displaying the restored image.

[0004] Next, 4 controls a rotation drive mechanism (not shown) in the camera turntable 2 (ie, a drive mechanism for changing the attitude of the camera 1) based on an operation command received via the communication line 5. A turntable control unit 9 is a joystick for the operator to input an operation command for changing the attitude of the camera 1, and 7 is an operation for transmitting the operation command input from the joystick 9 to the turntable control unit 4 via the communication line 5. It is a control unit.

In this device, when the operator operates the joystick 9, a signal (operation command) is sent from the operation control unit 7 to the turntable control unit 4 via the communication line 5, and the turntable control unit 4 transmits the operation command. Of the camera turntable 2 according to the above, and changes the attitude of the camera 1 and thus the imaging direction thereof. On the other hand, the image output from the camera 1 is digitized and compressed by the image compression unit 3, sent to the image restoration unit 6 via the communication line 5, and restored. The restored image is input to the CRT 8 and displayed, and is recognized by the operator.

[0006]

In such an apparatus, the camera is pointed in a desired imaging direction, in other words, the camera is stopped at a desired position, due to a delay time generated when the image is compressed and decompressed. I can't do it easily. FIG. 4 shows a change in time between the input image Fi of the camera 1 and the display image Fo of the CRT 8 when the camera 1 is rotated rightward to stop at a desired position by operating the joystick 9. In the figures shown in order, Td is the above delay time.

If the operator inputs a command to stop the rotation of the camera 1 with the joystick 9 while watching the image Fo on the CRT 8 at time t1 in FIG. The rotation of the camera 1 is promptly transmitted to the turntable control unit 4 via the control unit and stops the rotation of the camera 1. However, the operator views the image captured by the camera 1 at the time of the stop after the delay time Td, and it is highly likely that the image differs from the desired image.

Therefore, to stop the camera 1 at a desired position while viewing the image on the CRT 8, the camera 1
It is necessary to output an operation command (stop command) to stop the rotation of the CRT 8 and check the image on the CRT 8 each time, which causes a problem that the operation is troublesome. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a remote control image input device capable of easily stopping the rotation of the posture of the camera 1 at a desired position while viewing an image on the CRT 8. is there.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a remote control image input apparatus, comprising: an image pickup means (camera 1) for picking up an image of a symmetric object; and an operation received from a communication line (5). The attitude of the imaging means is variably driven based on the command,
The imaging direction of the imaging means is set to one or more predetermined directions (horizontal,
An image pickup direction changing means (camera turntable 2, turntable control unit 4, etc.) that changes in the vertical direction, an operation command input means (joystick 9, etc.) for inputting an operation command, and the input operation command An operation command transmitting unit (operation control unit 7A) for transmitting to the imaging direction changing unit via the line,
An image compression transmission unit (image compression unit 3) for digitizing and compressing an image captured by the imaging unit and transmitting the digitalized image to a communication line;
A remote control image input device including an image restoration unit (image restoration unit 6A) for restoring a compressed image received from the communication line and displaying the image on an image display unit (CRT 8); During this operation, when an operation command (hereinafter referred to as a stop command) for stopping the change of the attitude of the imaging means is input via the operation command input means, the first image as the image restored by the image restoration means at the time of input of the stop command is input. Of the image (display image Fo1 at the time of output of the rotation stop command of the camera), the image is taken by the imaging means at the same time as the input of the stop command, and the second image as the image restored after a delay time (Td) of the compression / decompression. At a predetermined position of the image portion corresponding to the image (display image Fo2 after the delay time has elapsed from the time of input of the stop command).
It is assumed that an image display control means (image restoration unit 6A, operation control unit 7A, etc.) for displaying an image with a position display (stop center display 11, etc.) on the image display means is provided.

The remote control image input device according to claim 2 is
2. The remote control image input device according to claim 1, wherein data relating to the position of the position display in the first image is output from the operation command transmitting means (as a stop center display position signal 10). . According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the remote control image input apparatus according to the first or second aspect, a predetermined position of an image portion corresponding to the second image is set at a center of the second image. A corresponding position.

The operation of the present invention is as follows. That is, the delay time Td associated with the compression / decompression at the time of image transmission is checked in advance, and when a stop command for stopping the change of the attitude of the camera 1 is input to the operation control unit 7A, the operation control unit 7A sends the image restoration unit 6A. The stop center display position signal 10 gives data relating to the position of the position display described below.
Display in which the position within which the image moves further by the delay time Td and stops can be seen (in this example, the stop center display 11 as the position that becomes the center of the screen when the image stops)
Is displayed on the CRT 8 along with the restored image of the image restoring unit 6A when the stop command is input.

[0012]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, and corresponds to FIG.
FIG. 1 is different from FIG. 3 in that the operation control unit 7 and the image restoration unit 6 are replaced with 7A and 6A, respectively, and that the connection between 7A and 6A is established. However, the point that the operation control unit 7A has a function of transmitting an operation command from the joystick 9 to the turntable control unit 4 via the communication line 5 is the same as the operation control unit 7, and the image restoration unit 6A Communication line 5
The function of restoring a compressed image received via the same is the same as that of the image restoring unit 6.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of FIG. In FIG. 2, it is assumed that the camera 1 is capturing the image shown in the camera input image Fi while rotating its posture rightward (that is, while moving the imaging direction from left to right). A rectangular area A2 indicated by a chain line of Fi.
Assuming that a command to stop the rotation of the attitude of the camera 1 is input to the operation control unit 7 from the joystick 9 at the time of imaging,
The camera 1 immediately stops in this state as in the case of FIG.

On the other hand, at this time, the CRT 8 displays the CRT display image F
As shown by o, the dotted rectangular area A1 of the camera input image Fi captured before the delay time Td before the capture of the dashed-dotted rectangular area A2 is displayed. Here, for convenience,
The CRT display image Fo corresponding to the rectangular area A1 is Fo1,
The CRT display image Fo corresponding to the rectangular area A2 is defined as Fo2.

The operation control section 7A knows the moving direction and the moving speed of the field of view of the camera 1 from the operation command input from the joystick 9 up to this point, and also obtains the delay time Td in advance. , The image at the time when the image on the CRT 8 stops (in other words, the CRT 8 displays the display image Fo2), in this example, the center position in the horizontal direction (referred to as a stop center) is the display image Fo1 currently displayed. You can see where it is located above. Therefore, the operation control unit 7A displays the display image Fo1 displayed on the CRT 8
The stop center display position signal 10 indicating this position is provided to the image restoring unit 6A so that the stop center display 11 is displayed at the above position.

The image restoring unit 6A operates the stop center display 11 so that the stop center display 11 appears at the position specified by the stop center display position signal 10 on the display image Fo1.
Is superimposed on the image signal currently received and restored from the communication line 5 and given to the CRT 8. This allows the operator to determine whether the CRT display image Fo2 after the delay time Td, which is the final CRT display image, becomes the image at the desired camera position from the CRT display image Fo1 including the stop center display 11 when the camera stop command is input. No, it is easy to know.

[0017]

According to the present invention, an operation command is transmitted from the operation control section 7A to the camera side via a communication line to variably drive the attitude of the remote camera, thereby changing the imaging direction and transmitting a compressed image of the input image of the camera. Receiving image via line and image restoration unit 6
A CRT display image and a final CRT at the time when the operator operates and inputs a stop command to stop the posture of the camera in the remote control image input device for restoring via A and displaying on the CRT
Due to the positional shift between the displayed image and the delay time associated with image compression and decompression, conventionally, it was necessary to perform several trials, such as issuing a camera stop command several times to determine the direction of the camera. According to the present invention, when the operation control unit 7A transmits a stop command to stop the posture change to the camera during the variable driving of the posture of the camera, the stop center display position signal is transmitted from the operation control unit 7A to the image restoration unit 6A. 10, the position of the portion corresponding to the compressed and decompressed image of the camera input image at the time of outputting the camera stop command (the position corresponding to the center of the compressed and decompressed image in this example) ), And the image restoring unit 6A displays the stop center display 11, which indicates this position, on the CRT along with the restored image at the time of outputting the camera stop command. The camera stop command only put out once,
The final CRT display image can be an image at a desired camera position.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration as one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an operation explanatory diagram of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a conventional block diagram corresponding to FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory diagram of FIG. 3;

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 camera 2 camera turntable 3 image compression unit 4 turntable control unit 5 communication line 6 image restoration unit 7 operation control unit 8 CRT 9 joystick 10 stop center display position signal 11 stop center display Fi camera input image Fo CRT display image Fo1 camera Display image when the rotation stop command is output Fo2 Display image after the delay time elapses Td Delay time

Claims (3)

[Claims] An image pickup means for picking up an image of a symmetrical object, and an image pickup means for variably driving an attitude of the image pickup means based on an operation command received from a communication line and changing an image pickup direction of the image pickup means to one or more predetermined directions. Direction changing means, operation command input means for inputting an operation command, operation command transmitting means for transmitting the input operation command to the imaging direction changing means via the communication line, and digitizing an image taken by the imaging means. A remote control image input device comprising: an image compression transmission unit for compressing and transmitting the compressed image to a communication line; and an image restoration unit for restoring a compressed image received from the communication line and displaying the image on an image display unit. During the variable drive of the attitude of the means, when an operation command (hereinafter referred to as a stop command) for stopping the change of the attitude of the imaging means is input through the operation command input means, the image is displayed at the time of inputting the stop command. Original means in the first image as the restored image, also captured imaging means to the stop command input time,
Thereafter, image display control means for displaying an image with a position display on the image display means at a predetermined position of an image portion corresponding to a second image as an image restored after a delay time of compression / decompression is provided. A remote control image input device, characterized in that: 2. The remote control image input device according to claim 1, wherein data relating to a position of a position display in said first image is output from said operation command transmitting means. Remote control image input device. 3. The remote control image input device according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined position of the image portion corresponding to the second image is a position corresponding to the center of the second image. Characteristic remote control image input device.