KR101704551B1 - Monitoring System Employing Thermal Imaging Camera and Nighttime Monitoring Method Using the Same - Google Patents

Abstract

By adopting a thermal camera, it is possible not only to maintain the monitoring function at night, but also to provide a pan / tilt function to the thermal camera to selectively monitor the points required for monitoring, Surveillance system that makes it easy to check, and nighttime monitoring method using it.
A surveillance system of the present invention includes an image pickup section, an image processing section, and a display section. The imaging unit includes an optical camera for acquiring an optical image for the monitored area and a thermal camera for acquiring a thermal image for the monitored area. The image processing unit forms an output image by formatting the nighttime image acquired in real time and the weekly optical image acquired and stored in the daytime. The display unit displays the output image.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to a surveillance system employing a thermal camera and a nighttime monitoring method using the same,

The present invention relates to a surveillance system, and more particularly, to a surveillance system of a closed circuit television (CCTV) system. In addition, the present invention relates to a remote monitoring method using such a monitoring system.

The camera used in a typical closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance system employs a CCD or CMOS image sensor, which can not be used for no-light or night surveillance.

In recent years, cameras with infrared illumination have also been used to monitor surveillance in low light conditions. However, since such an infrared light can be confirmed by a simple infrared detecting device such as a camera for a mobile phone, a person with an intention to approach or intrude hides in the grass and approaches or breaks the rotation of the camera It is highly likely to be missed. In addition, the infrared camera may fail to perform surveillance even on foggy or bad weather days.

The use of a thermal camera is desirable to maintain a covert surveillance function in low illumination conditions. A thermal camera refers to a camera that detects the temperature difference between an object and the surrounding background of the object by the radiant energy emitted from each object, converts the detected temperature difference into an electric signal, and images it. Since the human body has a large difference between ambient inanimate matter and temperature and radiation energy, the thermal camera provides an image that can easily distinguish the human body from the background. Therefore, the thermal camera can be operated at night as well as during daytime, so that it is widely used for night surveillance or night operation in the military, and is being applied to civilian and industrial applications as well.

Despite the advantage of day and night operation, the thermal image taken by a thermal camera allows only the outline or presence of a person or other creature to be identified. In addition to not being able to specifically identify the object, It is difficult to recognize such a problem. Accordingly, when a thermal camera is provided with a pan / tilt function and used for remote monitoring, it is impossible to identify which position the thermal image was photographed. Therefore, the thermal camera used for monitoring can be used only in the form of a fixed camera, and it is practically impossible to use the camera as a pan / tilt camera.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems. It is an object of the present invention to provide a thermal camera capable of maintaining a monitoring function at night by adopting a thermal camera, And it is an object of the present invention to provide a surveillance system that allows a user to easily confirm a thermal imaging position in a surveillance target area.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a nighttime monitoring method which can easily identify a thermal image taking position in a monitoring target area while selectively monitoring points required to be monitored by a thermal image camera.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a surveillance system including an imaging unit, an image processing unit, and a display unit. The imaging unit includes an optical camera for acquiring an optical image for the monitored area and a thermal camera for acquiring a thermal image for the monitored area. The image processing unit forms an output image by formatting the nighttime image acquired in real time and the weekly optical image acquired and stored in the daytime. The display unit displays the output image.

In the present specification including the claims, the term "optical image" is used to refer to a light image of a visible light or near-infrared light region condensed by a condenser lens, which is imaged by a normal image sensor. The term "thermal image" is used to mean a thermal image obtained by detecting a radiant energy or a temperature difference in a far infrared ray region (8 to 12 mu m) or a shorter wavelength region emitted from the subject and converting the same into an electric signal do.

In a preferred embodiment, the image processing unit determines a reference image from a weekly optical image, and formats an output image by formatting a reference image and a night image.

In a preferred embodiment, the thermal camera has a pan / tilt driver for adjusting the photographing direction. The image processing unit determines a reference image based on the pan / tilt adjustment amount of the pan / tilt driving unit from the inter-day optical image.

Preferably, the image processing unit is provided in a remote monitoring unit connected to the image pickup unit via one or more signal lines.

In a preferred embodiment, the pan / tilt adjustment amount is detected by the imaging unit and provided to the remote monitoring unit. However, in a modified embodiment of this embodiment, the remote monitoring section includes a camera control section for determining the pan / tilt adjustment amount and controlling the image pickup section, and the camera control section provides pan / tilt adjustment amount information to the image processing section You may.

In one embodiment, the remote monitoring unit further includes an image storage unit for storing the inter-day optical image. In the image processing unit, the reference image constructing unit extracts the reference image of a predetermined size from the interstate optical image stored in the image storage unit, adds a pointer indicating the position of the thermal image based on the pan / tilt adjustment amount, The part forms the output image by formatting the reference image and the thermal image to which the pointer is attached.

In another embodiment, the remote monitoring unit further includes a reference image extracting unit for extracting the reference image of a predetermined size from the inter-day optical image, and an image storing unit for storing the reference image. The image processing unit formats the reference image and the thermal image, and adds a pointer indicating a thermal image position based on the pan / tilt adjustment amount.

In another embodiment, the remote monitoring unit further includes an image storage unit for storing the inter-day optical image. In the image processing unit, the reference image forming unit generates a reference image in a different position from the optical image stored in the image storing unit according to the pan / tilt adjustment amount, and the output screen forming unit formats the reference image and the thermal image, Respectively.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a surveillance method for acquiring and storing an optical image of an area to be monitored by an optical camera during a day. Then, at the nighttime, a thermal image is acquired by the thermal camera to determine the reference image based on the stored optical image, and the thermal image and the reference image are formatted to form one output image.

In a preferred embodiment, the thermal camera includes a pan / tilt driver for adjusting a photographing direction. In order to acquire the thermal image at night, the fan / tilt driver is driven to acquire the thermal image. At this time, the fan / tilt adjustment amount of the fan / tilt driver is determined. Then, the reference image is variably determined according to the pan / tilt adjustment amount.

In driving the thermal camera, it is preferable to initialize the pan / tilt driver periodically or non-periodically.

The monitoring system according to the present invention acquires image information in real time in daytime as well as nighttime by adopting a thermal image camera, and allows an operator to precisely monitor an area to be monitored based on the image information. There is an effect that installation is not easily exposed. In addition, since the thermal camera is provided with a pan / tilt function, there is an advantage in that it is possible to selectively monitor points required for monitoring.

In addition, since the reference image is generated based on the image photographed during the day and is displayed together with the thermal image, the user can easily confirm the thermal image taking position in the monitoring target area and recognize the surrounding situation. In particular, since the thermal imaging position is determined on the basis of the pan / tilt adjustment amount of the thermal camera and the reference image is varied based on the thermal imaging position, the utility of the reference image enabling the thermal imaging position to be confirmed is maximized.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described more specifically with reference to the accompanying drawings. For the sake of convenience, the same reference numerals are used for the same or corresponding elements or members in each drawing whenever possible. In the figure,
1 is a schematic block diagram showing the overall configuration of a monitoring system according to the present invention;
2 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a camera unit according to the present invention;
3 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a camera unit according to the present invention;
4 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a remote monitoring device according to the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a monitoring process in a monitoring system having the remote monitoring apparatus of FIG. 4;
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an image processing process in the monitoring process of FIG. 5;
Figure 7 is a block diagram of a modified embodiment of the camera unit of Figure 3;
Figure 8 is a block diagram of a modified embodiment of the remote monitoring device of Figure 4;
9 is a block diagram of another embodiment of a remote monitoring apparatus according to the present invention;
10 is a flowchart showing a monitoring process in a monitoring system having the remote monitoring apparatus of FIG. 9;
FIG. 11 is a view showing an image processing process in the monitoring process of FIG. 10; FIG.
12 is a block diagram of another embodiment of a remote monitoring apparatus according to the present invention;
FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a monitoring process in a monitoring system having the remote monitoring apparatus of FIG. 12; FIG. And
FIG. 14 is a view showing an image processing process in the monitoring process of FIG.

Referring to FIG. 1, the monitoring system according to the present invention includes a camera unit 10 installed in a monitored area, and a remote monitoring device 60 connected to the camera unit 10 via one or more signal lines. The camera unit 10 includes a fisheye lens camera 20 using a wide-angle lens, for example, a fisheye lens as a condensing lens, and a thermal camera 30 for detecting a difference in radiant energy emitted from the subjects.

2 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the camera unit 10. Fig. The housing 12 of the camera unit 10 is made of metal or synthetic resin, the upper side thereof is cylindrical, and the lower side thereof is substantially in the form of a bell. A dome 14 made of a synthetic resin material is provided on the bottom surface of the housing 12. On the upper surface of the housing 10, a bracket 16 for mounting the camera unit 10 on a wall surface or a pole is integrally or detachably mounted. In a preferred embodiment, the fisheye lens camera 20 is installed on the upper cylindrical outer peripheral surface of the housing 12, and the thermal camera 30 is installed in the dome 14 on the bottom surface of the housing 12.

3 is a block diagram of the camera unit 10 shown in Fig. The camera unit 10 includes a fisheye lens camera 20, a thermal imaging camera 30, analog-digital converters 50 and 52, a multiplexer 54, a control unit 56 and an interface port 58.

In the fisheye lens camera 20, the fisheye lens 22 condenses light incident within a viewing angle range of, for example, 150 DEG or more, and the image sensor 24 converts the condensed light into an electrical signal. The optical image output by the fisheye lens camera 20 may be a typical moving image with a frame rate of 30 frames or 25 frames per second. However, when the surveillance system of Fig. 1 is operated only for nightly surveillance purposes, the optical image may be a still image that is captured periodically or aperiodically.

The thermal camera 30 detects a temperature difference between the objects in the monitored area and converts the temperature difference into an electrical signal, thereby outputting a thermal signal for visualizing the objects by the radiant energy. In the thermal imaging camera 30, the optical unit 32 receives radiation energy generated from the subject, and the thermal image detector 34 scans the input radiant energy to convert the temperature into an electrical signal in pixel units. Here, the detection elements in the thermal detector 34 are generally not only weak in output, but also have non-uniform sensitivity and response characteristics, which may cause fixed pattern noise in a reproduced thermal image, thereby deteriorating observation performance. The correction circuit 36 corrects such uneven response characteristics between the detection elements to make them uniform. The present invention is not limited to a specific thermal image detection method or a correction method, and a specific configuration of the thermal image camera 30 can be easily implemented by those skilled in the art, so a detailed description thereof will be omitted. The frame rate of the thermal image output by the thermal imaging camera 30 may be 30 frames or 25 frames per second or may be 9 frames or less per second.

The panning motor driver 38 drives the panning motor 40 in response to a control signal from the control unit 56 so that the panning motor 38 drives the optical part 32 of the thermal camera 30 and the thermal detector 34) Rotate the assembly horizontally. The tilting motor driver 42 drives the tilting motor 44 in response to the control signal from the control unit 56 so that the tilting motor 44 drives the optical unit 32 and the thermal detector 34 assembly in the vertical direction . The panning motor 40 and the tilting motor 44 are preferably implemented by a stepping motor capable of precisely controlling the amount of rotation.

The first analog-to-digital converter 50 converts the optical image signal into digital data, and the second analog-to-digital converter 52 converts the column image signal into digital data. The multiplexer 54 multiplexes the digitized optical image signal and the column image signal into a single bit string, and transmits the multiplexed image signal to the remote monitoring apparatus 60 through a video signal line, for example, a coaxial cable. In the preferred embodiment, the multiplexer 54 transmits both the optical image signal and the thermal image signal to the remote monitoring device 60 during the daytime, but selects only the thermal image signal at nighttime and transmits the selected image signal to the remote monitoring device 60. [ Here, the optical image signal may be a periodic or aperiodic still image. However, in a modified embodiment, the multiplexer 54 may transmit both the optical image signal and the thermal image signal to the remote monitoring apparatus 60 regardless of day or night.

The control unit 56 controls the signal selection and transmission of the multiplexer 54. The control unit 56 receives a control signal from the remote monitoring apparatus 60 through the interface port 58 and controls the panning motor driver 38 and the tilting motor driver 42 in response to the control signal. The control signal receiving channel from the remote monitoring apparatus 60 can be implemented, for example, in conformity with the RS-232C or RS-485 standard.

4 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the remote monitoring device 60 shown in FIG. The remote monitoring apparatus 60 includes an image separating unit 62, an image storing unit 64, an inputting unit 66, a camera controlling unit 68, an interface port 70, a thermal location determining unit 72 A reference image constituting section 74, an output screen constituting section 76, and a display section 78.

The image separating unit 62 separates the optical image signal and the column image signal from the signal received from the camera unit 10, and the image storing unit 64 stores the separated optical image signal and the column image signal. Particularly, the image storage unit 64 stores the optical image signal obtained during the day, thereby enabling the optical image photographed during the day to be utilized for generating a reference image to be displayed along with the thermal image at night.

The input unit 66 includes a keyboard, a mouse, and / or a joystick, and allows the user to operate the system and input control commands, in particular, to apply a pan / tilt command. The camera control unit 68 transmits a camera control signal for controlling the pan / tilt drive to the camera unit 10 via the interface port 70 in response to a control command from the input unit 66. [ Here, the pan / tilt driving may be performed automatically according to a predetermined pattern by the program, or according to the result of the detection of the subject or the subject movement in the image. In the process of manually or automatically generating the camera control signal, the camera control unit 68 estimates the pan / tilt adjustment amount of the thermal imaging camera 30. [

The thermal image positioning unit 72 receives the pan / tilt adjustment amount from the camera control unit 68, and determines a direction in which the thermal camera 30 faces based on the pan / tilt adjustment amount. A nonvolatile memory (not shown) of the remote monitoring apparatus 50 stores a lookup table indicating a correspondence relationship between the camera direction and the pointer position. The column position determining unit 72 refers to the lookup table and outputs pointer position information according to the camera direction.

The reference image constructing unit 74 extracts a reference image having a predetermined size from the interstate optical image stored in the image storage unit 64 and adds a pointer indicating the column position according to the pointer position information from the column position determining unit 72 . The output screen configuration unit 76 forms an output image by formatting a reference image and a column image to which a pointer is added, and outputs the output image through the display unit 78.

The night monitoring process in the monitoring system 10 will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6. FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the night monitoring process as a whole, and FIG. 6 is a view showing an image processing process in the night monitoring process.

5, the camera unit 10 acquires an optical image and a thermal image of the monitored area in the daytime and transmits the obtained optical image and the thermal image to the remote monitoring device 60, And lacquer can be displayed. In this process, at least the optical image of the optical image and the thermal image is stored in the image storage unit 64 of the remote monitoring apparatus 60 (operation 80). Here, the optical image (100 in Fig. 6) taken by the fisheye lens camera 20 is circular.

At night, the night surveillance process of steps 82 to 96 is performed. The camera control unit 68 of the remote monitoring apparatus 60 periodically or non-periodically transmits a control signal for initializing the panning motor 40 and the tilting motor 44 of the thermal imaging camera 30 to the camera unit 10). Thus, the positions of the panning motor 40 and the tilting motor 44 are initialized, and the pan / tilt adjustment amount due to the driving of the panning motor 40 or the tilting motor 44 is accurately predicted until the initialization is subsequently performed again (Step 82).

In this state, the panning motor 40 and / or the tilting motor 44 are driven automatically by a program or in response to a command from the input unit 66, and a thermal image is obtained through the thermal camera 30 84). At this time, the camera control unit 68 estimates the pan / tilt adjustment amount of the thermal imaging camera 30 from the driving amounts of the panning motor 40 and the tilting motor 44, and the thermal positioning unit 72 estimates the pan / The photographing direction of the thermal imaging camera 30 is determined on the basis of the amount of the incident light (step 86). The thermal position determining unit 72 determines the position of the pointer mapped to the photographing direction of the thermal camera 30 with reference to the lookup table of the memory (operation 88). As shown below, the pointer is a mark indicating the position of the thermal image in the reference image.

The reference image constructing unit 74 reads out the interstate optical image 100 stored in the image storage unit 64 and extracts the reference image 102 of a predetermined size from the interstate optical image 100. In one embodiment, only a part of the reference image 102 is extracted in a rectangular shape among the circular interstate optical images 100. The reference image constructing unit 74 then adds the pointer 104 to the position indicated by the pointer position information from the thermal image positioning unit 72 in the reference image 102 (operation 90).

In operation 92, the output screen configuration unit 76 forms an output image by formatting the reference image 106 and the thermal image 110 to which the pointer 104 is added as one image, (Step 92 and step 94).

Subsequently, whether the panning motor 40 or the tilting motor 44 is additionally driven is monitored (Step 96). If the panning motor 40 or tilting motor 44 is further driven, the process proceeds to Step 86 The photographing direction estimation and the pointer position changing process are performed again.

3 and 4, the camera control unit 68 of the remote monitoring apparatus 60 determines the pan / tilt adjustment amount and controls the camera unit 10 or the camera unit 10 And estimates the pan / tilt adjustment amount on the basis of the drive control information. However, in another embodiment of the present invention, the camera unit 10 may provide the pan / tilt adjustment amount information to the remote control device 60. [ 7 and 8 show a camera unit 10 and a remote monitoring apparatus 60 according to this embodiment, respectively.

7 and 8, the control unit 56a of the camera unit 10 estimates the pan / tilt adjustment amount when the control signal for the panning motor driver 38 tilting motor driver 42 is generated, To the remote control device (60). Here, the control unit 56a of the camera unit 10 may detect the actual rotation amount of the panning motor 40 and the tilting motor 44 to determine the pan / tilt adjustment amount. The thermal positioning unit 72a of the remote control device 60 receives the pan / tilt adjustment amount from the camera unit 10, not the control unit 68a, and determines the pointer position based on the pan / tilt adjustment amount. Other features of the system shown in Figs. 7 and 8 are similar to the system shown in Figs. 3 and 4, so a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 9 shows another embodiment of the remote monitoring apparatus 60 according to the present invention.

In this embodiment, the reference image constructing unit 174 reads the reference image stored in the image storage unit 64 and adds a pointer indicating the column position according to the pointer position information from the column position determining unit 72 do. The output screen configuration unit 76 forms an output image by formatting a reference image and a column image to which a pointer is added, and outputs the output image through the display unit 78. Other features of the remote monitoring apparatus shown in FIG. 9 are similar to those of the apparatus shown in FIG. 4, so that a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The night monitoring process according to the remote monitoring apparatus of FIG. 9 will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11. FIG. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the night monitoring process as a whole, and FIG. 11 is a view showing an image processing process in the night monitoring process.

When the camera unit 10 acquires an optical image and a thermal image for the monitored area in the daytime and transmits the captured image to the remote monitoring apparatus 60, the reference image forming unit 174 of the remote monitoring apparatus 60 transmits the optical image 200, And stores the extracted reference image 202 in the image storage unit 64. The reference image 202 has a predetermined size. In one embodiment, the extraction of the reference image 202 may be performed by selecting only a part of the circular optical image 200 in a rectangular shape (operation 180).

The panning motor 40 and the tilting motor 44 of the thermal imaging camera 30 are initialized periodically or aperiodically and then the panning motor 40 or the tilting motor 44 is rotated until the initialization is performed again. (Step 182) so that the pan / tilt adjustment amount according to the driving of the first motor 44 can be accurately predicted. Next, the lapping image is acquired through the thermal camera 30 while the panning motor 40 and / or the tilting motor 44 are driven automatically by a program or in response to a command from the input unit 66 (operation 184) . At this time, the pan / tilt adjustment amount of the thermal imaging camera 30 is estimated from the driving amount of the panning motor 40 and the tilting motor 44, and the shooting direction of the thermal imaging camera 30 is determined based on the pan / tilt adjustment amount 186). In step 188, the position of the pointer corresponding to the photographing direction of the thermal imaging camera 30 is determined.

The pointer adding unit 176 reads the reference image 202 stored in the image storing unit 64 and adds the pointer 204 to the position indicated by the pointer position information in the reference image 202 . The output screen configuration unit 76 then forms an output image by formatting the reference image 206 and the thermal image 210 to which the pointer 204 is added to form an output image so that the output image is displayed on the display unit 78 (Operation 192, operation 194). Subsequently, whether the panning motor 40 or the tilting motor 44 is additionally driven is monitored (Step 196), and when the panning motor 40 or the tilting motor 44 is further driven, the process proceeds to Step 186 The photographing direction estimation and the pointer position changing process are performed again.

12 shows another embodiment of the remote monitoring apparatus 60 according to the present invention.

In this embodiment, the image storage unit 64 stores at least an optical image signal among the optical image signal and the thermal image signal separated by the image separator 62. The thermal image position determination unit 272 receives the pan / tilt adjustment amount from the camera control unit 68 and determines a direction in which the thermal camera 30 faces based on the pan / tilt adjustment amount. In the nonvolatile memory (not shown) of the remote monitoring apparatus 50, a lookup table indicating the correspondence relationship between the camera direction and the columnar position is stored. The column position determining unit 272 determines the column position in accordance with the camera direction with reference to the lookup table, and outputs the size / position information of the reference image according to the column position.

The reference image forming unit 274 reads out the interstate optical image stored in the image storage unit 64 and changes the size and position of the reference image based on the size / position information from the thermal image positioning unit 272, . The output screen configuration unit 76 forms an output image by formatting the extracted reference image and the thermal image, and outputs it through the display unit 78. Other features of the remote monitoring apparatus shown in FIG. 12 are similar to those of the apparatus shown in FIG. 4, so a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The night monitoring process according to the remote monitoring apparatus of FIG. 12 will be described with reference to FIGS. 13 and 14. FIG. FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the night monitoring process as a whole, and FIG. 14 is a view showing an image processing process in the night monitoring process.

When the camera unit 10 acquires the optical image and the thermal image for the monitored area in the daytime and transmits the captured image to the remote monitoring apparatus 60, the image storing unit 64 of the remote monitoring apparatus 60 displays, The optical image is stored (Step 280).

The panning motor 40 and the tilting motor 44 of the thermal imaging camera 30 are initialized periodically or aperiodically and then the panning motor 40 or the tilting motor 44 is rotated until the initialization is performed again. (Step 282) so that the pan / tilt adjustment amount due to the driving of the first motor 44 can be accurately predicted. Next, the lapping image is obtained through the thermal camera 30 while the panning motor 40 and / or the tilting motor 44 is driven automatically by a program or in response to a command from the input unit 66 (Step 284) . At this time, the pan / tilt adjustment amount of the thermal imaging camera 30 is estimated from the driving amount of the panning motor 40 and the tilting motor 44, and the shooting direction of the thermal imaging camera 30 is determined based on the pan / tilt adjustment amount Step 286). In step 288, reference image position / size corresponding to the photographing direction of the thermal camera 30 is determined.

In step 290, the reference image constructing unit 274 reads out the interstate optical image stored in the image storage unit 64 and reads out the interstice image from the interstage optical image in accordance with the size / position information from the thermal image positioning unit 272 The reference image 304 is extracted in a different size and position. The output screen configuration unit 76 then formats the extracted reference image 304 and the thermal image 310 into one image to form an output image so that the output image is displayed on the display unit 78 Step 294). If the panning motor 40 or the tilting motor 44 is additionally driven (step 296), the process proceeds to step 286. If the panning motor 40 or the tilting motor 44 is further driven, The photographing direction estimation and the pointer position changing process are performed again.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the invention.

For example, with reference to FIGS. 9 and 12, the description has been made on the case where a remote monitoring apparatus estimates a pan / tilt adjustment amount to generate or modify a reference image. However, In the embodiment, like the embodiment of Fig. 7, the pan / tilt adjustment amount information may be supplied from the camera unit 10 to the remote control device.

In the above description, the case where the camera 20 for photographing the optical image in the camera unit 10 adopts the fish-eye lens as the condensing lens has been mainly described, but other wide-angle lenses may be used instead of the fish-eye lens. Further, a general lens may be employed for the camera 20 for photographing the optical image. Also, the camera 20 may be a panoramic camera using a plurality of image sensors.

While the invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be practical exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

On the other hand, in the above description, the embodiment has been described in which the image storage section 64 for storing the inter-day optical image is provided in the remote control device 60. However, this storage device may be provided in the camera unit 10 have.

Therefore, it should be understood that the above-described embodiments are illustrative in all aspects and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims rather than the detailed description and all changes or modifications derived from the meaning and scope of the claims and their equivalents are to be construed as being included within the scope of the present invention do.

10: camera unit, 12: housing, 14: dome
20: fisheye lens camera, 30: thermal camera
60: Remote monitoring device

Claims (15)

An imaging unit including an optical camera for acquiring an optical image for a surveillance target area, and a thermal camera for acquiring a thermal image for the surveillance target area, the imaging camera including a pan / tilt driver for adjusting a photographing direction;
A reference image is determined from the inter-day optical image based on the pan / tilt adjustment amount of the pan / tilt driving unit, and the reference image is determined based on the pan / tilt adjustment amount of the pan / tilt driving unit An image processor for formatting the night image and the reference image to form the output image; And
A display unit for displaying the output image;
. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the image processing unit is provided in the remote monitoring unit connected to the image sensing unit via one or more signal lines. The surveillance system according to claim 2, wherein the image pickup section detects the pan / tilt adjustment amount and provides the detected pan / tilt adjustment amount to the remote monitoring section. The system according to claim 2,
A camera controller for determining the pan / tilt adjustment amount and controlling the image pickup unit;
And,
And the camera control unit provides the pan / tilt adjustment amount information to the image processing unit. The remote monitoring apparatus according to claim 3 or 4,
An image storage unit for storing the inter-day optical image;
Respectively,
The image processing unit
A reference image constructing unit that extracts the reference image of a predetermined size from the interstate optical image stored in the image storage unit and adds a pointer indicating the position of the thermal image based on the pan / tilt adjustment amount; And
An output screen forming unit configured to form the output image by formatting the reference image and the thermal image to which the pointer is added;
. The remote monitoring apparatus according to claim 3 or 4,
A reference image extracting unit that extracts the reference image of a predetermined size from the interstate optical image; And
An image storage unit for storing the reference image;
Respectively,
Wherein the image processing unit formats the reference image and the thermal image and adds a pointer indicating the position of the thermal image based on the pan / tilt adjustment amount. The remote monitoring apparatus according to claim 3 or 4,
An image storage unit for storing the inter-day optical image;
Respectively,
The image processing unit
A reference image constructing unit configured to generate the reference image at a different position from the optical image stored in the image storage unit according to the pan / tilt adjustment amount; And
An output screen component for formatting the reference image and the thermal image to form the output image;
. (a) acquiring and storing an optical image of a region to be monitored in the daytime using an optical camera;
(b) determining a pan / tilt adjustment amount of the pan / tilt driving unit by obtaining a thermal image for the monitored area at night by a thermal camera having a pan / tilt driving unit for adjusting a photographing direction; And
(c) determining a reference image from the optical image by varying the range according to the pan / tilt adjustment amount, formatting the thermal image and the reference image, and constructing and displaying one output image;
The nighttime monitoring method comprising: The method of claim 8,
Initializing the pan / tilt driver of the thermal imaging camera prior to performing the step (b);
Further comprising: The method of claim 9, wherein step (c)
Extracting the reference image having a predetermined size from the stored optical image, and adding a pointer indicating the position of the thermal image based on the pan / tilt adjustment amount;
The nighttime monitoring method comprising: The method of claim 9, wherein step (a)
Extracting the reference image of a predetermined size from the optical image; And
Storing the reference image;
/ RTI >
The step (c)
Adding a pointer indicating the position of the thermal image to the reference image based on the pan / tilt adjustment amount;
/ RTI > The method of claim 9, wherein step (c)
Extracting the reference image at different positions from the stored optical image according to the pan / tilt adjustment amount;
/ RTI > delete delete delete

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