JPH11346358A - User interface device for camera control - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To facilitate the operation of a remote control camera, and to efficiently obtain the related information of a photographing place by displaying a panorama image being an image in a whole range in which the remote control camera can rotate, commanding a coordinate on the panorama image by an inputting means such as a mouse for setting the rotating position, and selecting a pop-up menu for setting magnification. SOLUTION: A rotatable camera is connected to a network, and controlled by using a graphic user interface on a personal computer. A user decides a photographing target in the scenery of a panorama image 12 on a control screen 11, and transmits the position information of a point in the panorama image decided by operating an inputting device to a control part. The control part displays a pop-up menu 13 on the panorama image. When the user selects magnification in the pup-up menu 13, the control part sets the rotation and magnification of the camera through the network, and operates photographing, and displays a photographed result 14 with the panorama image.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a user interface for determining a turning direction and a magnification when remotely controlling an installed swivelable camera.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a user interface for remotely controlling the direction of a camera, a user interface is provided with an arrow provided on an operation panel and pressed, a scroll bar on the operation panel is used to similarly determine a turning direction, Alternatively, a method of directly inputting a numerical value of a turning angle from a keyboard or the like is known. Further, as a user interface for operating the magnification of the camera, there is a user interface which is determined by inputting a numerical value into a control data input mechanism prepared separately from the control data input mechanism for turning operation or pressing a button. This input operation needs to be input separately from the turning position operation and the photographing start instruction input.

The prior art described above has the following inconveniences. First, when determining the turning position, the user does not know where to set the target. Even if the user has already determined the target, the user interface of the arrow and scroll bar makes it difficult for users who are not proficient in camera operation to know where to turn and shoot the target, so that the user can smoothly aim It is not always easy to move the camera angle to the position. The interface that inputs numerical values with a keyboard or the like to match the target position knows exactly the direction where the camera is installed,
You need to know in advance how much angle to enter. Also, when determining the magnification,
In the prior art, the operation of determining the turning position and the operation of starting shooting must be performed separately. If it is desired to perform the turning position operation and the magnification operation together, it is necessary to perform each operation as completely different operations. there were. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a camera control user interface device capable of easily operating a remote control camera and efficiently providing an operator with relevant information about a place where the camera is shooting.

According to the present invention, a panoramic image, which is an image of the entire range in which the camera can turn, is provided as a photographing position determining means. The coordinates of the points that make up the image are
It is possible to uniquely determine the turning coordinate value of the camera. In order for the user to determine the turning position and the turning position, the coordinates on this image are commanded by a pointing device such as a mouse. Therefore, after confirming the position of the target on the panoramic image in advance, the user can immediately turn the shooting camera with respect to the target. There is a pop-up menu as a means for determining the magnification at the same time as the photographing position. When a panorama image is specified, a menu showing the magnification opens, and a desired magnification is selected there. When the selection of the magnification is completed, commands for determining the turning position, determining the magnification, and photographing are transmitted to the camera, and photographing is performed. Also, when the display of information is selected instead of the magnification when specified on the panoramic image, information preset for the position is displayed. As described above, easy turning position designation, magnification designation, and acquisition of information on an object photographed by the camera by a panoramic image are realized by simple operations.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, a rotatable camera is connected to a network, and is controlled on a personal computer or a workstation using a graphical user interface (GUI). FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention. According to the embodiment of the present invention, the input device 1, the control unit 2, the display 3, the network 4 connecting the control unit 2 and the camera 5, and up, down, left, right, only up and down, or only left and right can be turned It comprises a camera 5 and a storage device 6. The input device (01) is a pointing device such as a mouse, and is required to have a function capable of designating a point on the display 3. If the input device (01) can designate a point by pressing a specific key on a keyboard, , Can also be configured with a keyboard. The control unit 2 is configured by a personal computer, a workstation, or the like, and can be interactively operated by a user operating an input device. As described later, control of an input / output device and communication with a camera are performed. I do. In this embodiment, the receiving control of the photographing result of the camera and the output control to the display are also performed.
This is performed by the control unit. The display 3 is a display for outputting an operation screen described later. In this embodiment, the photographing result of the camera 5 is also displayed on the display 3.
Will be displayed. The camera (05) can be turned up and down, left and right, or only up and down, and only left and right. The camera itself can be connected to a network or connected to a computer or the like to perform communication and remote operation via the control unit 2 and the network 4. It is possible. In this embodiment, the camera 5 transmits a photographing result to the network 4. The storage unit 6 stores camera sync information data. The camera sync information data is information on an object photographed by the camera 5 and is searched using the position information generated by the control unit 2 based on the data supplied from the input device 1 as a key. As long as the data of the camera sync information can be searched for by the control unit 2 that performs input and output of the operation, the data need not be in the auxiliary storage device directly connected to the control unit as shown in FIG. It may be stored in another computer system connected via a network. Next, an operation screen displayed on the display will be described with reference to FIG. On the operation screen 11, a panoramic image 12, a still image or a moving image photographed by the camera 5 is displayed as a photographing result 14.
Is laid out. The photographing result 14 is a video photographed by a user's input operation. It may be a still image or a moving image. The panoramic image (12) is a rectangular image including the entire range that can be photographed by the camera. For example, when the camera shoots an outdoor landscape, the panoramic image looks like a wide-range landscape photograph as shown in FIG. The operator needs to prepare the panoramic image 12 before the user operates the camera. This is because the user determines the shooting position based on the panoramic image. Since the panoramic image includes the entire turning range of the camera, it cannot be shot at once by the camera 5. Therefore, this panoramic image is processed into a single image by connecting a plurality of images taken by appropriately dividing the entire landscape with the camera 5. Also, during this processing,
Image reduction processing can also be performed. At the time of processing a panoramic image, the following conditions must be satisfied in order to correctly obtain the camera turning coordinates. Camera 45
Is designed to turn up, down, left and right around one point. Therefore, assuming that the camera 5 can rotate up and down 360 °, when all the points having the same distance from the rotation axis of the camera 5 are focused, the set of the focal points becomes a sphere.
In other words, simply linking the captured images,
The image as if drawn on the inner surface of the sphere is created. However, since the panoramic image is rectangular, the inner surface of the sphere needs to be developed on a plane. For this, a method similar to the map projection method is used. Consider a function (matrix) f for converting the coordinates of a point on the acquired image into the coordinates of the point after plane development. (X ′, y ′) = f (x, y) The acquired image is applied to the f-expression, and the coordinates (x ′,
y '), and based on this, the obtained image is synthesized,
Panorama seeks an image. A panoramic image in which the point on the image matches the turning position of the camera is created. When an image is actually converted, it is more practical to use the inverse function f 'of f and (x, y) = f' (x ', y'). By using this, the coordinates of all points constituting the desired panoramic image can be calculated. Next, the pop-up menu 13 will be described. The pop-up menu appears superimposed on the panoramic image by designating a point on the panoramic image. From the pop-up menu, it is possible to select various magnifications, which will be described next as pop-up zoom, or information acquisition. The magnification displayed in the pop-up menu (“x1”, “x1.5”, “x2.5”, “x4”,
The magnification is determined by selecting “x8” and “x10”) using the input device 1. Hereinafter, a method of determining the magnification by such an operation is referred to as “pop-up zoom”. In the pop-up zoom, the angle of the camera 5 is determined at the same time when the magnification is determined on the panoramic image. As described above, the angle and the magnification of the camera 5 can be performed by two simple operations, that is, the designation of the coordinates on the panoramic image 12 and the selection of the magnification. The camera sync information stored in the storage unit 15 is information on a shooting target point of the camera. The type of data may be any type of character, image, or any other data that can be output to a display or a peripheral terminal of a computer. For example, if the camera sync information is described in hypermedia text language (HTML), data such as characters, images, moving images, and audio can be handled. With this camera sync information, the user can not only obtain a video by shooting with the camera but also efficiently obtain information on the shot target. The system builder associates information contents with points on the panoramic image in advance and prepares them so that the information can be extracted when the user selects information from the pop-up menu. The association with a point may be such that a point included in a polygonal surface including a plurality of coordinates (x, y) on the panoramic image is associated with one piece of camera sink information. The simplest way to find which polygon a point is in is when the polygon is a rectangle. The operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described. Since the present invention is a user interface, an operation including a user's decision is described first, and then an operation of the apparatus is described. The flow of the user's operation will be described with reference to FIG. As an example, assume a case in which a camera is installed so as to capture an outdoor scene. The user first looks at the prepared panoramic image 12 (step U0).
1). Since the camera is installed so as to photograph the outdoors, the panoramic image 12 looks like a landscape covering a wide area. Next, the user determines where in the scenery of the panoramic image 12 is to be taken (Step U02). Next, the user operates the input device while viewing the panoramic image, and transmits the position information of the determined point in the panoramic image to the control unit 2 (step U03). This is the input device 1
Can be easily achieved by using a pointing device such as a mouse. Then, the control unit 2 displays the pop-up menu 13 on the panoramic image 12, and the user views it (step U04). Through the processing in step U104, the user is prompted to select a magnification or information (step U05). When the magnification is selected in step U05, the user selects a desired magnification in the pop-up menu using the input device (step U0).
6, step U07). When the information is selected, "information" in the pop-up menu is selected by the input device (step U08). Thus, the operation of the user is completed. The user can view the image photographed at the designated position and magnification, and can also view the information when selecting the information. Subsequently, the operation of the control unit 2 of the present embodiment will be described step by step with reference to FIG. First, the control unit 2 executes step A01.
, The input of the position of the point on the panoramic screen 12 by the input device 1 is received. If the position information recognized by the camera (usually, the angle from the reference direction of the camera 5) is different from the unit of the coordinates selected from the panoramic image or the pop-up menu, in step A02, the information is converted into the unit recognized by the camera I do. This conversion is performed in steps A03 to A1.
After the processing of 0 is completed, the processing may be performed before step A11. Alternatively, a program that mediates between the camera and the device is provided, and the device transmits data to the mediation program, converts the data into a unit recognized by the camera, and transmits the data to the camera 5. In that case, the software shown in FIG. 4 does not need to convert the unit. When receiving a point on the panoramic image, the control unit 2 displays a pop-up menu 13 in step A03,
Wait for magnification or information to be selected. Step A04
Then, when the input to the pop-up menu 13 is received,
The control unit 2 determines in step A05 whether the selected input is a magnification or information. When the magnification is selected from the pop-up menu, the inputted magnification is set as magnification information to be transmitted to the camera 5 in step A06. When the information is selected from the pop-up menu, the control unit 2 searches the storage unit 6 for camera sync information using the given position information (x, y) coordinates as a search key in step A07. If there is camera sync information corresponding to the key coordinates (step A0)
8 "Yes", the control unit 2 displays the searched camera sync information on the display (Step A09), and does nothing ("No" in Step A08). When this process ends, the operation of the control unit 2 proceeds to step A1.
Go to 0. In step A10, the control unit 2 sets the magnification input in the immediately preceding operation or the magnification set as an initial value as magnification information to be transmitted to the camera. This may be performed before step A07. Step A0
When the process in Step 6 or Step A10 is completed, in Step A11, the control unit 2 transmits (turning) position information, magnification information, and a shooting command to the remote camera 5 via the network 4. Thereby, the camera 5 performs the turning and the magnification setting using the given turning position information and the magnification,
Takes a photograph, and transmits the photographed result to the control unit 2 via the network 4.
And the control unit 2 displays the photographing result on the display 3. In the embodiment described above, an example in which the photographing result 14 is displayed together with the panoramic image 12 on one display 3 has been described, but the photographing result may be output to a different output device. For example, it may be displayed on another display or output to a photo output device. Similarly, camera sync information may be output to a different output device. In the above embodiment, a computer is used for input / output control and communication, but an information terminal in which the computer and the input / output device are integrated may be used. Further, as for the camera sync information, in some cases, such as when the transmission of a captured image is slow, it is possible to display only the information without capturing an image. Further, in the above embodiment, the shooting result and the camera sync information are obtained in real time. However, for example, the shooting is performed by the camera 5 at the reservation time by the reservation, and the shooting result and the camera sync The present invention can be applied to a mode in which information can be seen.

The first effect is that the user can set a target for taking a panoramic image. Because it is a remote-controlled camera, it is more intuitive and simpler than specifying the turning direction with things like arrows up, down, left, and right.
Make quick decisions. The second effect is that the operation itself of simply showing a panoramic image on a pointing device such as a mouse is simple. The third effect is
The ability to select a magnification from a pop-up menu that opens immediately after deciding the position. As a result, the user can simultaneously determine the position, determine the magnification, and start shooting with two input operations. This operation is interactive, and G
In the UI, it is possible to prevent a problem that the user does not know which operation should be performed to perform a desired operation. The fourth effect is that by setting camera sync information, it is possible to obtain specific information such as what the user actually photographed, for example, what building was photographed. It is.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a flow of a remote operation of a camera by a user when the present invention is used.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the control unit of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 input device 2 control unit 3 display 4 network 5 camera 6 storage unit 11 operation screen 12 panoramic image 13 pop-up menu 14 shooting result 15 information

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Hisashi Okano 5-7-1 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo Inside NEC Corporation (72) Inventor Akira Yajima 5-7-1 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo Japan Inside Electric Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A camera control user interface device for controlling a camera installed in a remote place, a panoramic image display means for displaying a panoramic image covering a range where the camera can shoot, and Input means for inputting coordinates at the input means; pop-up menu display means for displaying a pop-up menu for specifying a magnification of the camera in a manner superimposed on the panoramic image in response to the coordinate specification by the input means; A camera control user interface device comprising: means for transmitting the coordinate value input by the means and the magnification selected in the pop-up menu to the camera; and a photographing result display means for displaying a photographing result from the camera. 2. The camera control user interface device according to claim 1, wherein said panoramic image display means and said photographing result display means are arranged on the same display means with their areas divided. 3. A method according to claim 1, wherein said coordinate values of said panoramic image correspond to coordinate values of:
The pop-up menu further includes a selection area for selecting camera sync information in addition to the magnification, and the control unit includes the pop-up menu. When camera sync information is selected in the menu, camera sync information corresponding to the coordinate values supplied from the input means is read from the storage unit, and information display means for displaying the camera sync information read by the control unit The camera control user interface device according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: