JPH11205774A - Monitoring device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically detect a target by comparing an actual image signal with a predicted image signal and detecting the difference between them. SOLUTION: An analog image signal 3 of a TV camera 2 undergoes analog/ digital conversion, an image that is continuously expanded is decomposed into quantized pixels and a pixel position coordinate transform unit 10 produces a real image signal 11 which associates azimuth of respective pixels from the angle of visibility of the TV camera based on an angle signal 9 that is the orientation of a gimbal device 1 and outputs it. An azimuth image recorder 12 estimates the azimuth of a pixel in a visual field of the camera 2 from the signal 9 of the device 1 and outputs a corresponding predictive image signal 13. An image signal comparator 14 compares the signal 11 with the signal 13, and as a target exists if these is difference, it outputs a target existence signal 15. A video signal switch 16 connects the signal 3 to a TV monitor 7, captures a target on the monitor 7 and allows a person to confirm the target.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a monitoring apparatus for automatically detecting a target by image monitoring.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a conventional monitoring device. In the figure, 1 is a gimbal device, 2 is a TV camera mounted on the gimbal device 1, 3 is an analog image signal output from the TV camera 2, 4 is a movement of the gimbal device 1 according to a drive pattern signal 6 of the gimbal device 1. 5 is a drive pattern generator that supplies a gimbal drive pattern signal 6 to the gimbal controller 4, 7 is a T that displays the analog image signal 3 in a plane so that it can be visualized.
V monitor. FIG. 8 is a specific example of use, in which the gimbal device 1 is installed in the upper part of the corner of the room, and the gimbal device is driven to swing the field of view of the TV camera 2 left, right, up and down, and is used for a person as a target. I do. Of course, the gimbal device 1 can be installed in a place such as outdoors and used as a target for a mobile object such as a person or a car. FIG. 9 shows an example of a drive pattern generated by the drive pattern generator 5. In this case, it is assumed that the gimbal device is composed of a two-axis turning axis and an elevation axis, and the turning is performed at a constant speed with respect to a certain elevation axis angle. FIG. 5 shows an example of repetition in which when the rotation angle reaches a set value, the elevation rotation angle is changed stepwise, and the rotation axis is rotated.

Next, the operation will be described. The conventional monitoring device is configured as described above, and the gimbal controller 4 controls the gimbal device 1 based on a gimbal drive pattern signal 6 output from a preset drive pattern generator 5 and controls the TV on the gimbal device 1. The camera 2 turns in each direction according to the movement of the gimbal device 1. At this time T
Since the analog image signal 3 output from the V camera 2 is visualized by the TV monitor 7, a person can easily visually confirm and detect a target.

[0004]

In the conventional monitoring apparatus as described above, it is necessary for a person to constantly monitor the TV monitor, and a long-time monitoring requires the patience of the observer. .

The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and has as its object to obtain a monitoring device capable of automatically detecting a target.

[0006]

In a monitoring apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention, the presence of a target is automatically detected by using a predicted image of an azimuth image recorder serving as a reference.

Further, the second invention automatically detects by using a predicted image of an azimuth image recorder based on the existence of a target,
In addition, the target is automatically tracked.

A third aspect of the present invention is to automatically detect a target by reflecting a steady change of a real image signal from a TV camera on an azimuth image recorder.

A fourth aspect of the present invention is to automatically detect a target and automatically track the target by reflecting the steady change of the real image signal from the TV camera to the azimuth image recorder. is there.

In a fifth aspect of the present invention, a gyro device is provided and a drive pattern of a gimbal for canceling the movement of the moving body on the moving body is formed. This is to detect.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a first embodiment of the present invention, and shows an example of a configuration in which a detected target is notified to a person in the figure. Reference numerals 1 to 7 are exactly the same as those of the conventional device. 8 is an image digital converter for converting the analog image signal 3 into a digital image signal, 9 is an angle signal indicating the direction in which the gimbal device 1 is pointing, 10 is a digital image signal from the image digital converter 8 and an angle signal 9 A pixel position coordinate converter for generating a real image signal 11; an azimuth image recorder 12 in which image information of a position which can be pointed by the TV camera 2 on the gimbal device 1 registered in advance is recorded as a digital image; Reference numeral 13 denotes a predicted image signal output from the azimuth image recorder 12 in accordance with the angle signal 9 of the gimbal device 1, and reference numeral 14 denotes an image signal comparator which outputs the presence or absence of a target based on a difference between the actual image signal 11 and the predicted image signal 13. , 15 are target presence signals indicating that the image signal comparator 14 indicates the presence of a target, and 16 is a TV monitor which monitors the analog image signal 3 based on the target presence signal 15. A video signal switch to tell.

In the monitoring apparatus constructed as described above, the analog image signal 3 of the TV camera 2 is converted from analog to digital by the image digital converter 8 to decompose a continuously widened image into quantized pixels. Coordinate converter 1
Based on the angle signal 9 which is the directional direction of the gimbal device 1 based on 0, an actual image signal 11 in which the orientation of each pixel is associated with the viewing angle of the TV camera is generated and output. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, if the azimuth (θ, φ) indicated by the angle signal 9 of the gimbal device 1 is set in advance so as to be at the center of the field of view of the TV camera 2, the pixel at the end of the field of view will be the center of the field of view. Using the fact that the azimuth deviates by half of the viewing angle (α, β) from the azimuth angle, the pixel at the end of the viewing angle is obtained by adding the angle signal 9 to the azimuth (θ−α / 2, φ−β / 2), and the azimuth is assigned to each pixel in the same manner. Further, the azimuth image recorder 12 records in advance a signal similar to the real image signal 11 in a state where no target exists in all directions in which the TV camera 2 can point when the gimbal device 1 is driven. The azimuth of a pixel in the field of view of the TV camera 2 is predicted from the angle signal 9 of the gimbal device 1, and a predicted image signal 13 corresponding to the azimuth is output. Specifically, the azimuth image recorder 12
Records the direction of the center corresponding to one pixel viewed from the TV camera 2 by combining the two-dimensional angle and the pixel information of the pixel. Therefore, if a two-dimensional angle is specified, only one pixel information will appear. If the two-dimensional angle of the center direction of the TV camera 2 can be specified from the angle signal 9 of the gimbal device, the pixel information of that direction is If the pixel information adjacent to the pixel information is designated by being shifted by the angle of the pixel, only the pixel information is determined. By repeating this, TV camera 2
Is determined from the azimuth image recorder 12 as a predicted image signal 13. The image signal comparator 14 compares the real image signal 11 with the predicted image signal 13. If there is no difference, the range of the field of view of the TV camera 2 is the same as the previously recorded state, so that there is no object hitting the target. That is, if there is a difference, the target exists in the range of the field of view of the TV camera 2 from the previously recorded state, so that the target exists, and the target existence signal 15 is output. The video signal switch 16 receives the target presence signal 15, connects the analog image signal 3 to the TV monitor 7, captures the target on the TV monitor 7, and can expect that a person can confirm the target on the TV monitor 7.

Embodiment 2 FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the second embodiment of the present invention, and shows an example of a configuration in which a target detected in the figure is notified to a person, and 1 to 16 are completely the same as those of the first embodiment. Reference numeral 17 denotes a target azimuth signal output from the image signal comparator 14, and reference numeral 18 denotes a drive pattern signal 6 to the gimbal device 1 from the drive pattern generator 5 and a target azimuth signal 17 from the image signal comparator 14 to a target presence signal 15. Is a drive pattern changeover switch which is switched by the following.

In the monitoring apparatus configured as shown in FIG. 3, when a target is detected by the image signal comparator 14, the direction of the target is determined from pixels having a difference between the real image signal 11 and the predicted image signal 13. Is the target direction signal 17. Since the target direction signal 17 indicates the direction in which the target exists, the drive pattern signal 6 of the gimbal device 1 is switched from the drive pattern generator 5 to the target direction signal 17 by the drive pattern changeover switch 18 by the target presence signal 15. Thus, the gimbal device 1 can always be directed in the target direction. For this reason, the TV monitor 7 can always track the detected target, and the same operation as in the first embodiment can be expected even when the target moves.

Embodiment 3 FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the third embodiment of the present invention, and shows an example of a configuration for notifying a person of a detected target in the figure, and 1 to 16 are completely the same as those of the first embodiment. Reference numeral 19 denotes a pixel comparator that compares pixels for each direction from the real image signal 11 and the predicted image signal 13, 20 denotes a difference signal that is a comparison value of pixels for each direction output from the pixel comparator 19, and 21 denotes a difference signal. 20 is a target determiner for determining the presence or absence of a target, and 22 is a target determiner 21
Is a pixel signal output when is not determined to be a target, 23 is a pixel time series filter that filters with a lower response in a time sequence for each pixel than the pixel signal 22, and 24 is an azimuth image recorder output from the pixel time series filter 23. 12 is a pixel steady change signal for updating the recorded content of No. 12.

In the monitoring apparatus constructed as shown in FIG. 4, the pixel of each direction of the real image signal 11 and the predicted image signal 13 is compared, and the comparison value is set as a difference signal 20 by the pixel comparator 1.
9 is output. The target determiner 21 outputs a target presence signal 15 when the difference signal 20 appears within a certain set range with respect to the azimuth, and is regarded as a target when the difference signal 20 appears beyond a certain set range with respect to the azimuth. First, the pixel information is output as a pixel signal 22 on the assumption that the change is a steady change such as a change in the external environment between day and night. The certain setting range of the target determiner 21 is determined based on how many azimuths the target target falls within the viewing angle. The pixel time-series filter 23 captures the pixel signal 22 as a time-series change with respect to pixels in each direction, extracts a slow change from the pixel signal 22 like a low-pass filter, and sets it as a pixel steady change signal 24. The azimuth image recorder 12 receives the pixel steady change signal 24 and corrects the recording of the pixel in the azimuth that is changing. For this reason, in the case of long-term use regardless of day and night, the actual image signal
Since the recorded contents of the azimuth image recorder 12 are updated to reduce the difference between the predicted image signal 13 and the predicted image signal 13, it can be expected that the target can be stably captured on the TV monitor 7 for a long time so that the person can confirm the target.

Embodiment 4 FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the fourth embodiment of the present invention, and shows an example of a configuration for notifying a person of a detected target in the figure, and 1 to 24 are completely the same as those of the third embodiment.

In the monitoring device configured as shown in FIG. 5, when a target is detected by the target determiner 21, the direction of the target is determined from the difference signal 20 and is determined by the target direction signal 17.
And Since the target azimuth signal 17 indicates the direction in which the target exists, the drive pattern signal 6 of the gimbal device 1 receives the target presence signal 15 and receives the target azimuth signal 17 from the drive pattern generator 5 by the drive pattern changeover switch 18.
By switching to, the gimbal device 1 can always be kept facing the target direction. For this, TV
The detected target can always be captured on the monitor 7, and when the target moves, the same operation as in the second embodiment can be expected.

Embodiment 5 FIG. 6 is a configuration block diagram showing a fifth embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, an example of a configuration in which the gimbal device 1 is mounted on a ship as a moving body is shown.
16 are the same as in the first embodiment. 25 is a ship as a moving body, 26 is a gyro device attached to the fixed portion side of the gimbal device 1, that is, a ship side, and 27 is a sway correction for correcting the sway angle of the ship output from the gyro device 26 at sea. An angle signal 28 is a driving pattern signal 6 which is obtained by adding a fluctuation correction angle signal 27 to the driving pattern signal 6 and renewing it.
Is an adder.

In the monitoring device configured as shown in FIG. 6, when the ship 25 is anchored on the sea and detects a target, the gyro device 26 detects the shaking of the ship 25 on the sea,
An oscillation correction angle signal 27 that only corrects the oscillation is output. The motion correction angle signal 27 is added to the drive pattern signal 6 by the adder 28 and is again converted to the drive pattern signal 6 and is applied to the gimbal controller 4. For this reason, the detected target can always be captured on the TV monitor 7, and the same operation as in the first embodiment can be expected even in the case where the ship shakes at sea.

[0021]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects.

According to the first aspect, if the target is within the field of view of the image pickup device, the target can be automatically detected by comparing with the record of the azimuth image recorder.

According to the second aspect, when the target is within the field of view of the image pickup device, the target can be automatically tracked by giving the direction of the automatically detected target to the gimbal control.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the pixels for each direction are compared with the contents recorded in the direction image recorder, and the time-dependent change is updated to the recording without the direction image recorder, so that it takes a long time. The target can be automatically detected without being affected by a change in the image of the imaging device.

According to the fourth aspect, the pixels for each direction are compared with the contents recorded in the azimuth image recorder, and a time-dependent change is updated to the recording in the azimuth image recorder, so that it takes a long time. The target can be automatically detected and the target can be automatically tracked without being affected by the change in the image of the imaging device.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the target can be brought into the field of view of the image pickup device without giving the image pickup device the movement of the gyro device by applying the shake correction angle signal of the gyro device to the gimbal controller. For example, the target can be automatically detected by comparing with the record of the azimuth image recorder.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a first embodiment of a monitoring device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a digitized image according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of the monitoring device according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a third embodiment of the monitoring device according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a fourth embodiment of the monitoring device according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing Embodiment 5 of the monitoring device according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a conventional monitoring device.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an operation example of a conventional monitoring device.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a driving pattern.

[Description of Signs] 1 gimbal device, 2 TV camera, 3 analog image signal, 4 gimbal controller, 5 drive pattern generator,
6 drive pattern signal, 7 TV monitor, 8 image digital converter, 9 angle signal, 10 pixel position coordinate converter,
11 real image signal, 12 direction image recorder, 13 predicted image signal, 14 image signal comparator, 15 target presence signal, 16 video signal switch, 17 target direction signal,
18 drive pattern changeover switch, 19 pixel comparator, 21 target decision unit, 23 pixel time series filter, 2
4 Pixel steady change signal, 26 gyro device, 27 sway correction angle signal, 28 adder.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI H04N 5/232 H04N 5/232 C

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A drive pattern generator for generating a predetermined gimbal drive pattern signal, and a gimbal for outputting a gimbal control signal for controlling each axis of the gimbal in accordance with the drive pattern signal from the drive pattern generator. A controller, a gimbal driven by the gimbal control signal, an imager mounted on the gimbal, an image digital converter for converting an analog image signal from the imager into a digital image signal, and the digital image signal A pixel position coordinate converter that outputs a real image signal in which the azimuth is assigned to each pixel of the image from the gimbal angle signal, and a real image signal in a direction in which the imager on the gimbal can be turned by driving the gimbal Signal corresponding to the image captured by the imager in that direction according to the gimbal angle. An azimuth image recorder that can predict a signal and output it as a predicted image signal, and an image signal comparator that detects a target by comparing the actual image signal and the predicted image signal and detecting a difference. Monitoring device. 2. When the image signal comparator detects a target, a drive pattern signal of the drive pattern generator is switched to a target direction signal of the image signal comparator and the target direction signal is output to the gimbal controller. 2. The monitoring device according to claim 1, further comprising switching means for performing the switching. 3. A drive pattern generator for generating a predetermined gimbal drive pattern signal, and a gimbal for outputting a gimbal control signal for controlling each axis of the gimbal according to the drive pattern signal from the drive pattern generator. A controller, a gimbal driven by the gimbal control signal, an imager mounted on the gimbal, an image digital converter for converting an analog image signal from the imager into a digital image signal, and the digital image signal A pixel position coordinate converter that outputs a real image signal in which the azimuth is assigned to each pixel of the image from the gimbal angle signal, and a real image signal in a direction in which the imager on the gimbal can be turned by driving the gimbal Signal corresponding to the image captured by the imager in that direction according to the gimbal angle. Azimuth image recorder capable of predicting a signal and outputting the predicted image signal as a predicted image signal, a pixel comparator for comparing pixels between the predicted image signal and the actual image signal for each direction, and receiving a difference signal of each pixel from the pixel comparator. A target determiner for determining whether or not the target is a target by comparing with a preset difference; and obtaining a pixel steady change signal that is a temporal change of a pixel from the difference signal when the difference signal is larger than a preset value. A monitoring device, comprising: a pixel time-series filter that outputs a change signal to the azimuth image recorder. 4. A switch for switching a drive pattern signal of the drive pattern generator to a target direction signal of the target determiner and outputting the target direction signal to the gimbal controller when the target determiner detects a target. 4. The monitoring device according to claim 3, further comprising means. 5. A gyro device for capturing a movement of an inertial system of the moving body on a fixed portion of the gimbal on the moving body and outputting a shake correction angle signal with respect to the inertial system of the moving body, and adding a gimbal driving pattern signal. 2. The monitoring device according to claim 1, further comprising an adder for inputting the data to the gimbal controller.