JPH11234659A - Controller and control method for remote supervisory camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the controller and control method that surely and easily control a camera in a desired attitude even while observing a video image of a remote supervisory camera having a transmission delay. SOLUTION: A center side main control section 4 sequentially stores an attitude change of a universal head 2 to a locus recording section 12. Furthermore, the control section 4 gives a moving command to a camera/universal head drive control section 3 by using an attitude of the universal head 2 as an object position at a point of time dated back by a delay time of a video image till the universal head 2 is completely stopped after the command stop is issued by the operator. Then a video segmentation section 11 segments a video image at the moment of command stop issuance as a still image, and a video changeover section 10 replaces the video image of an image display section 7 with its still image. When the universal head 2 reaches an object position and the delay time of the video image elapses, then the video image of the actual object position is sent to the center, the video image of the video display section 7 being replaced with the video image by a supervisory camera 1 again.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a remote monitoring camera apparatus for monitoring a situation in a remote place by controlling a monitoring camera installed in a remote place, and more particularly, to transmitting a picture taken by the monitoring camera. The present invention relates to a control device and a control method for a remote monitoring camera in a system where a delay occurs in the system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional remote monitoring camera apparatus for controlling a monitoring camera installed in a remote place to monitor the situation in a remote place. Here, 1 is a monitoring camera, 2 is a pan head, 3 is a camera / pan head drive control section, 4 is a main control section, 5 is a video compression section, 6 is a video decompression section,
Reference numeral 7 denotes an image display unit, 8 denotes a transmission control unit, and 9 denotes an operation panel.

The monitoring camera 1, the camera platform 2, the camera / camera head drive control unit 3, and the video compression unit 5 are installed at remote locations.
The main control unit 4, the video decompression unit 6, the video display unit 7, and the operation panel 9 are installed on the center side. The video compression unit 5 and the camera / pan head drive control unit 3 at the remote location and the main control unit 4 and the video decompression unit 6 on the center side are connected by a signal transmission unit 8.

The surveillance camera 1 can be driven by the camera platform 2 in any horizontal and vertical directions. Further, the camera / head drive control unit 3 drives the head 2 in the horizontal and vertical directions based on a command from the main control unit 4 and also controls the state of the monitoring camera 1 (for example, the aperture of the lens and the zoom amount). ,
Focus, etc.).

[0005] The video of the surveillance camera 1 is transmitted through a signal transmission unit 8 after being compressed by a video compression unit 5, converted into an original video again by a video decompression unit 6 and displayed on a video display unit 7. Is done.

The operator operates the operation panel 8 while watching the image of the camera displayed on the image display section 7 to thereby control the direction (horizontal direction, vertical direction) and state (lens aperture, zoom) of the monitoring camera 1. Amount, focus, etc.)
The situation at the desired location can be displayed on the video display unit 7.

Note that a public line or a dedicated line is used for the signal transmission unit 8.

[0008]

In the conventional remote monitoring camera apparatus configured as described above, the operability of the camera is reduced due to a delay in driving the camera platform, a delay in transmitting a video signal, and a delay in video compression / expansion. There has been a problem that it is significantly reduced. That is, since it is necessary to operate while watching the past video for the time corresponding to the video compression / expansion time and the signal transmission delay, for example, while moving the camera, On the other hand, even if an attempt is made to stop the camera, the camera has already advanced, and stops at a position different from the position on the video.

This will be described with reference to FIG. 7. Since the operator operates while watching the past video for the video delay time with respect to the actual movement of the surveillance camera, the time when the stop instruction is issued is given. So, surveillance cameras are already ahead. As a result, from the operator's point of view, the surveillance camera continues to move for a while after issuing the stop command, and the surveillance camera stops at an excessive position only for a time corresponding to the video delay time. .

Accordingly, the present invention provides a system in which an image captured by a surveillance camera is displayed with a delay due to a transmission delay or the like. Another object of the present invention is to provide a control device and a control method that can be easily and easily controlled.

[0011]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an apparatus according to the present invention comprises a surveillance camera, a pan head for changing the posture of the surveillance camera and detecting the posture, and A head drive control unit that drives and controls the head and transmits the detected attitude; and a camera control unit that controls the state of the monitoring camera, is installed at a remote location, and the head drive control unit is provided. Alternatively, a main control unit for issuing an operation command to the camera control unit to control the posture or state of the monitoring camera, and a recording unit for recording momentarily a change in the posture of the camera platform transmitted to the main control unit And a video cutout unit that cuts out a still image from the transmitted video of the monitoring camera, and a video switching unit that switches the video to be displayed between the video of the monitoring camera and the still image cut out by the video cutout unit. The display unit for displaying the switched image, and, installed on the center side, the main control unit, after receiving a stop command from the operator, until the pan head unit is completely stopped from the recording unit The posture at the time when the image is delayed by the delay time of the image is taken out, and the posture is set as a target position, and an operation command is issued to the head drive control unit. After the image of the moment of the stop command is cut out as a still image, the image switching unit switches the image to be displayed on the display unit to the still image, and after the pan head reaches the target position. Then, after the delay time of the video has elapsed, control is performed to switch the video displayed on the display unit to the video of the monitoring camera again.

The head drive control section has a built-in clock, and transmits time information of the clock together with the attitude of the head section to a main control section. The main control section transmits the time information to the main control section. A change in the attitude of the camera platform is recorded in the recording unit.

Also, a monitoring camera, a camera platform for changing the attitude of the monitoring camera and detecting the attitude, driving and controlling the camera platform, and transmitting the attitude information of the detected attitude. A head control unit, a camera control unit that controls the state of the monitoring camera, and a combining unit that embeds the transmitted attitude information at each frame of the video of the monitoring camera. And a main control unit that issues an operation command to the camera platform drive control unit or the camera control unit to control the posture or state of the monitoring camera, and the monitoring unit from the transmitted image of the combining unit. A separating unit that separates a camera image from the posture information, a video clipping unit that clips a still image from the separated video, and a video to be displayed that is separated by the separated video and the video clipping unit. A video switching unit that switches between the issued still image and a display unit that displays the switched video, is installed on the center side, and the main control unit receives a stop command from the operator, The posture information of the camera platform embedded in the frame corresponding to the image displayed at the moment of receiving the stop command from the separation unit is read, and the posture of the posture information is targeted for the camera platform drive control unit. A motion command is issued as a position, and the image at the moment of the stop command is cut out as a still image for the image cutout unit, and the display unit is displayed until the camera platform reaches the target position for the image switching unit. After the video displayed on the display unit is switched to the still image, the video displayed on the display unit is displayed again after the delay time of the video has elapsed after the camera platform reaches the target position. Characterized in that shall perform control to switch to the video.

[0014] Similarly, in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, a method according to the present invention is to arrange a surveillance camera having a head section for changing a posture in a remote place, and an operator on the center side to operate the surveillance camera. In the method of controlling the posture of the monitoring camera while watching an image, the posture information of the operating camera platform is detected every moment and transmitted to the center side.
The transmitted posture information is recorded momentarily, and when a stop command is received from the operator, the recorded posture information at the time when the head goes back by the delay time of the image until the head section is completely stopped is recorded. Take out and operate the camera platform with the posture of the posture information as the target position, until the camera platform reaches the target position, cut out and display a video at the moment of the stop command as a still image, After the camera platform reaches the target position, an image of the surveillance camera is displayed again after a lapse of the image delay time.

In the step of detecting the attitude information of the camera platform during operation and transmitting the information to the center side, transmitting the time information together with the attitude information, and recording the transmitted attitude information instantaneously. Then, the posture information is recorded based on the transmitted time information.

Also, a method is provided in which a monitoring camera having a camera platform for changing the attitude is arranged at a remote location, and an operator on the center side controls the attitude of the monitoring camera while watching the image of the monitoring camera. In, the attitude information of the operating platform head is detected momentarily, and the detected attitude information is embedded for each frame of the video of the monitoring camera and transmitted to the center side, and the transmitted video is transmitted to the center side. From the image of the monitoring camera and the attitude information is separated from the frame corresponding to the image that was displayed when a stop command was received from the operator, the attitude of the separated attitude information as the target position, Operate the head section, until the head section reaches the target position, cut out and display a video at the moment of the stop command as a still image, and after the head section reaches the target position. , Picture And displaying again image of the monitoring camera after a lapse delay time period.

According to the present invention, the change in the attitude of the camera platform is sequentially recorded, and the attitude of the camera platform at a point in time after the stop command is traced by the image delay time until the camera platform completely stops. Is set as the target position, an operation command is issued to the camera platform, and the displayed image is switched to the still image of the image at the moment of the stop command. After that, when the camera platform reaches the target position and the image delay time elapses and the image of the actual target position is transmitted to the center side, the image of the surveillance camera is monitored again from the still image Switch to the camera camera image. This allows the operator (operator) to position the target reliably and easily even while watching a delayed image.

Here, the time information at that time is transmitted together with the attitude of the camera platform, and the change in the attitude of the camera platform is rearranged and recorded based on this time information, whereby the variation in the transmission delay of the signal system is obtained. And correct positioning can be performed.

Also, for each video frame of the surveillance camera,
When the center receives a stop command from the operator, the attitude information embedded in the frame corresponding to the image at the moment of the stop command is transmitted to the target position. By issuing an operation command to the camera platform and switching the display image, the operator (operator) can watch the image with delay without being affected by the variation in the transmission delay of the signal system. However, it is possible to reliably and easily position the target.

[0020]

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

FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a first embodiment to which a control device and a control method of a remote monitoring camera according to the present invention are applied. Here, 1 is a monitoring camera, 2 is a pan head, 3 is a camera / pan head drive control section, 4 is a main control section, 5 is a video compression section, 6 is a video decompression section, 7 is a video display section, and 8 is a video display section. A transmission control unit, 9 is an operation panel, 10 is a video switching unit, 11 is a video clipping unit (still video generation unit), and 12 is a trajectory recording unit.

Surveillance camera (hereinafter abbreviated as camera) 1,
The head 2, the camera / head drive control unit 3, and the image compression unit 5 are installed at remote locations, and the main control unit 4, the image expansion unit 6, the image display unit 7, the operation panel 9, the image switching unit 10, the image Cutout unit (still image generation unit) 11 and trajectory recording unit 12
Is installed on the center side. The video compression unit 5 and the camera / pan head drive control unit 3 at the remote location and the main control unit 4 and the video decompression unit 6 on the center side are connected by a signal transmission unit 8.

In the remote monitoring camera control device according to the present embodiment, the current direction angle of the camera platform 2 and the zoom amount of the camera 1 are sent from the camera / camera head drive control unit 3 to the main control unit 4, and the time is calculated. It is recorded in the trajectory recording unit 12 as the time elapses. A video cutout unit 11 for extracting a video at an arbitrary moment of the video sent from the camera 1 as a still image;
An image switching unit 10 that switches an image displayed on the image display unit 7 between a still image generated by the image clipping unit 11 and an image transmitted from the camera 1.

When a stop command is given from the operator via the operation panel 9 while watching an image with a transmission delay, the main controller 4
Generates a still image at the moment when the stop command is given by the video clipping unit 11, and the video switching unit 10
The video displayed on the video display unit 7 is switched from the moving image sent from the camera 1 to the still image generated by the video clipping unit 11. At the same time, the main control unit 4 reads the direction angle and the zoom amount of the camera platform 2 at the point in time when the image delay time has elapsed, from the trajectory recording unit 11, and uses these as target positions to instruct the camera / panel drive control unit 3 to move. Is sent. The camera platform 2 moves to the target position based on the movement command and stops.

After the camera platform 2 has stopped at the target position, and after the delay time of the image plus the delay time of the stop command has elapsed, the image displayed on the image display unit 7 is again switched to the image from the camera 1 by the image switching unit 10. .

The relationship between the movement of the camera 1 in the above operation and the image displayed on the image display unit 7 will be described with reference to FIG. When the camera 1 is changing its direction at a certain speed, the direction of the image displayed on the image display unit 7 is behind the actual direction of the camera 1 by the delay time of the image. The operator sends a stop command while watching the delayed video, for example, at time TO. At this time, the direction of the image displayed on the image display unit 7, that is, the direction of the image viewed by the operator is A, but in reality, the camera is in the direction of B.

On the other hand, the direction of the camera platform 2, the zoom amount of the camera 1, etc.
The signal is transmitted to the main control unit 4 with a delay and is recorded in the trajectory recording unit 12 with the passage of time.
Is recorded as the direction angle of the camera platform 2 at a time that is earlier than the current time TO by the difference (Td−Ts) between the delay time Td of the video and the delay time Ts of the signal system.

Therefore, this value is used as the target position for the camera 1
The camera 1 can be directed in the target direction A specified by the operator.

At this time, from when the stop command is given to when the camera 1 actually turns in the direction A and further until the image arrives (transmission delay time of the signal system + moving time of the camera / pan head + image time) (Delay time), the video at time TO is displayed as a still image, and then the video switching unit 10 returns the video to the actual video of the camera 1 again.

As described above, the temporary image is switched to the still image for the operator, but the camera 1 can be reliably and easily turned to the target position.

Here, in this embodiment, errors such as the video delay time and the signal system delay time result in the final positioning error of the camera 1, but the video delay time can be obtained with relatively high accuracy and is constant. Is effective in the case of.

FIG. 3 shows the configuration of a second embodiment to which the control apparatus and control method for a remote monitoring camera according to the present invention are applied.

In the present embodiment, in addition to the first embodiment, a reference clock 13 is provided in the camera / head drive control unit 3.
The direction angle of the camera platform 2 and the amount of zoom of the camera 1 are sent from the camera / camera head drive control unit 3 to the main control unit 4 together with the instantaneous time data, and the main control unit 4 controls the camera / camera head drive control unit. The direction angle of the camera platform 2 and the amount of zoom of the camera sent from the camera 3 are rearranged on the time axis based on the sent time data and recorded in the trajectory recording unit 12.

According to this embodiment, even when the transmission delay of the signal system fluctuates, the main controller 4 rearranges the data based on the transmitted time data, so that the dispersion of the transmission delay can be corrected.

That is, in the first embodiment, it is assumed that the data of the directional angle of the camera platform 2 comes at fixed time intervals, and the trajectories are arranged on the basis of the time in the main control unit 4. If the arrival time varies due to the fluctuation, even if the direction changes at a constant speed, the speed appears to fluctuate.

On the other hand, in the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, even if there is a change in the transmission delay, the main controller 4 records the trajectory based on the time in the data. For,
The effect of fluctuations in transmission delay can be minimized.

FIG. 5 shows the configuration of a third embodiment to which the control device and control method for a remote monitoring camera according to the present invention are applied.

In the present embodiment, the video compression unit 5 compresses the video for each frame, and for each compressed frame, the time when the frame is photographed and transmitted from the camera / head drive control unit 3; The direction angle of the camera platform 2 corresponding to the frame, the zoom amount of the camera 1, etc.
Is added and transmitted.

On the side of the main control unit 4, from the transmitted video signal, the state signal such as the time added to each frame, the direction angle of the camera platform 2, the zoom amount of the camera 1, etc. Play and display the video after separation.

Here, when a stop command is given by the operator, the display image is switched to the still image at the moment when the stop command is given, as in the first and second embodiments. From the recorded state signal, the direction angle of the camera platform 2 at the time of capturing the video, the zoom amount of the camera 1 and the like are read, and a movement command is issued to the camera / camera controller 3 using these as target values. In this embodiment, the pan head 2 is directly added to the image.
In addition, since the state of the camera 1 is recorded and transmitted for each frame, even if the signal transmission delay or the video delay fluctuates, the camera can be accurately moved in the direction specified by the operator, The trajectory recording unit required in the second embodiment becomes unnecessary.

In this embodiment, the image delay time can be obtained from the time at the time of the stop command and the time information embedded in the frame corresponding to the display image at the time of the stop command. It can also be used when switching.

[0042]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In operation of surveillance camera with delay of video and signal,
The change of the posture of the monitoring camera transmitted from the monitoring camera is recorded, and the posture at the time when the image is delayed by the delay time of the image from the stop command is taken out, and the pan head unit is operated with this as a target, Until the operation is completed, the display image is stopped at the image at the time of the stop command, so that the operator (operator) can reliably and easily position the monitoring camera at the target while watching the image.

Here, when the time information at that time is transmitted together with the attitude of the camera platform, and the change in the attitude of the camera platform is rearranged and recorded based on this time information, the signal system It is possible to correct the variation in the transmission delay and to perform accurate positioning.

Further, for each video frame of the surveillance camera,
The head position information at that time is embedded and transmitted.At the time of a stop command, the head position is operated with the position information embedded in the frame corresponding to the video at that moment as the target, and displayed until the operation is completed. When the video is stopped at the video at the time of the stop command, the operator (operator) can reliably and easily position the target while watching the video without being affected by the variation in the transmission delay of the signal system. It is possible to do.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a remote monitoring camera according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a remote monitoring camera according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram of a remote monitoring camera according to a third embodiment to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a conventional remote monitoring camera.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the relationship between the movement of the camera and the display image when the conventional remote monitoring camera is used.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Monitoring camera 2 ... Head 3 ... Camera / head drive control part 4 ... Main control part 5 ... Video compression part 6 ... Video decompression part 7 ... Video display part 8 ... Transmission control part 9 ... Operation panel 10 ... Video Switching unit 11: Image cutout unit (still image generation unit) 12: Track recording unit 13: Reference clock 14: State signal synthesis unit 15: State signal separation unit

Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Yasuhide Nishida 3-19-2 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo Japan Telegraph and Telephone Corporation

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A surveillance camera, a head section for changing the posture of the surveillance camera and detecting the posture,
A head drive control unit that drives and controls the head unit and transmits the detected attitude, and a camera control unit that controls the state of the monitoring camera, are installed at a remote location, A main control unit that issues an operation command to a control unit or a camera control unit to control the posture or state of the monitoring camera, and records a momentary change in the posture of the camera platform transmitted to the main control unit. A recording unit, a video clipping unit that clips a still image from the transmitted video of the monitoring camera, and a video switching unit that switches a video to be displayed between the video of the monitoring camera and the still image clipped by the video clipping unit. And a display unit for displaying the switched image, on the center side, and the main control unit completely stops the pan head unit from the recording unit after receiving a stop command from an operator. Until you do The posture at the time when the image is delayed by the delay time of the image is taken out, and an operation command is issued to the pan head drive control unit with the posture as a target position. The video at the moment of the stop command is cut out as a still image, and the video switching unit switches the video displayed on the display unit to the still image, after the pan head reaches the target position. A control device for switching the image displayed on the display unit to the image of the surveillance camera again after an elapse of a delay time of the image. 2. The head drive control unit includes a clock,
The time information of the clock is transmitted to the main control unit together with the attitude of the camera platform, and the main control unit records a change in the attitude of the camera platform on the recording unit based on the time information. The control device for a remote monitoring camera according to claim 1, wherein: 3. A surveillance camera, a head section for changing a posture of the surveillance camera and detecting the posture,
A head drive control unit that drives and controls the head unit and transmits posture information of the detected posture, a camera control unit that controls the state of the surveillance camera, and each of images of the surveillance camera. A synthesizing unit that embeds the transmitted attitude information at that time for each frame, and a remote control unit that issues an operation command to the camera platform drive control unit or the camera control unit, and the attitude or state of the monitoring camera. A main control unit that controls the image of the monitoring camera and the attitude information from the transmitted image of the combining unit, and a video cutout unit that cuts out a still image from the separated video. A video switching unit that switches a video to be displayed between the separated video and a still image clipped by the video clipping unit, and a display unit that displays the switched video, When the main control unit receives a stop command from the operator, the main control unit of the pan head unit embedded in the frame corresponding to the video displayed at the moment of receiving the stop command from the separation unit The posture information is read out, an operation command is issued to the pan head drive control unit with the posture of the posture information as a target position, and the image at the moment of the stop command is cut out by the image cutout unit as a still image, and the image switching is performed. Until the pan head reaches the target position, the image displayed on the display unit is switched to the still image, and after the pan head reaches the target position, the image delay is caused. A control device for controlling the remote monitoring camera to switch the video displayed on the display unit to the video of the monitoring camera again after a lapse of time. 4. A method of arranging a monitoring camera having a camera platform for changing a posture in a remote place, and controlling an attitude of the monitoring camera while an operator on a center side views an image of the monitoring camera. In the above, when the attitude information of the operating platform head is detected from time to time and transmitted to the center side, the center side records the transmitted attitude information from time to time, and receives a stop command from the operator. Retrieving the recorded posture information at the time when the head is moved back by the delay time of the image until the head completely stops, operating the head with the posture of the posture information as a target position, Until the unit reaches the target position, the video at the moment of the stop command is cut out and displayed as a still image, and after the camera platform reaches the target position, after the delay time of the video has elapsed, Surveillance camera video The method of remote monitoring cameras, characterized in that, to display. 5. The step of detecting the attitude information of the camera platform during the operation and transmitting the information to the center side, transmitting time information together with the attitude information, and recording the transmitted attitude information every moment. Then
The control method of the remote monitoring camera according to claim 5, wherein the attitude information is recorded based on the transmitted time information. 6. A method of arranging a monitoring camera having a camera platform for changing a posture at a remote location, and controlling an attitude of the monitoring camera while an operator on a center side views an image of the monitoring camera. In the above, the attitude information of the operating pan head portion is detected every moment, and the detected attitude information is embedded for each frame of the video of the monitoring camera and transmitted to the center side, and the transmitted video is transmitted on the center side. From the image of the monitoring camera and the posture information, and the posture of the separated posture information from the frame corresponding to the image displayed when a stop instruction is received from the operator as the target position. Operate the head section, until the head section reaches the target position, cut out and display a video at the moment of the stop command as a still image, and after the head section reaches the target position. Of the picture It is displaying again image of the monitoring camera after a period of elapsed time, remote monitoring camera control method, characterized in that.