KR20210065647A - MULTI CAMERA FIXING DEVICE and VIDEO MONITORING SYSTEM using it - Google Patents

Abstract

According to the present invention, a camera fixing device includes: a main camera module mounting unit equipped with an RGB or infrared camera and auxiliary means therefor, wherein a photographing center point of the RGB camera and projection or the photographing center points of the auxiliary means are aligned with a predetermined alignment axis; an additional camera device mounting unit in which an additional camera is mounted in a form in which the photographing center of the additional camera is aligned with the alignment axis; and a control board mounting unit in which a control board is mounted in such a way that the photographing center of a board camera module attached to the control board is aligned with the alignment axis. Therefore, it is possible to efficiently monitor safety facilities in a wide area.

Description

Multi-camera fixing device and video monitoring method using same {MULTI CAMERA FIXING DEVICE and VIDEO MONITORING SYSTEM using it}

The present invention relates to a multi-camera fixing device for establishing a multi-camera monitoring system capable of monitoring a safety facility in a wide area in an unattended state, and an image monitoring method using the same.

A substation is a facility installed to change the properties of voltage or current in the process of sending power produced by a power plant to consumers through a transmission line or distribution line. Recently, substations are increasingly being operated unmanned. The manager of the unmanned substation inspects the unmanned substation facilities while circulating at regular intervals, and monitors the operation status of various facilities in the substation and through remote monitoring to protect various facilities from unauthorized trespassing.

Currently, the monitoring means for unmanned substations is a substation video surveillance system based on a fixed 360-degree camera. By installing a 360-degree camera on the ceiling of the substation, this system enables monitoring that minimizes blind spots by utilizing the camera's wide angle of view (FoV).

Meanwhile, a remote monitoring system capable of monitoring a dangerous area or a narrow area by adjusting the position and direction of a camera based on a mobile device that can be moved by remote control has been proposed.

However, since both the above-described fixed camera system and mobile monitoring technology use a single RGB camera module, they were not robust to various environmental factors that may occur in a substation.

Republic of Korea Registration No. 10-1064161

An object of the present invention is to provide a multi-camera fixing device capable of constructing a multi-camera monitoring system capable of efficiently monitoring a safety facility in a wide area, and an image monitoring method using the same.

The present invention provides an efficient monitoring system robust against various environmental factors using various sensors such as infrared cameras and thermal imaging cameras in efficiently monitoring safety facilities in a wide area in an unmanned state such as an unmanned substation, a multi-camera fixing device and the We would like to present a video monitoring method using

A multi-camera fixing device according to an aspect of the present invention is equipped with an RGB or infrared camera and auxiliary means for the same, and the center point of the RGB or infrared camera and the projection or photographing center points of the auxiliary means are aligned with a predetermined alignment axis a main camera module mounting unit; an additional camera device mounting unit in which the additional camera is mounted in a form in which the shooting center of the additional camera is aligned with the alignment axis; and a control board mounting unit on which the control board is mounted in a form in which the photographing center of the board camera module attached to the control board is aligned with the alignment axis.

Here, the additional camera device mounting unit may include a height adjusting means to align the shooting center of the additional camera to the alignment axis.

Here, the additional camera may be a video camera in the form of an independent product.

Here, the control board mounting unit may include a board height adjusting means so that the photographing center of the board camera module attached to the control board is aligned with the alignment axis.

Here, the control board may be an Anuino or Raspberry Pi or a likelihood board, and the board camera module may be an infrared camera module for an Anuino or Raspberry Pi or a likelihood board.

Here, the main camera module mounting unit may include a device attachment means that can be attached to a device that moves in a space to be monitored.

A monitoring method using multiple cameras according to another aspect of the present invention includes: selecting camera modules to be attached to a mobile monitoring device according to characteristics of a monitoring target area; aligning the photographing centers of the selected camera modules attached to the mobile monitoring mechanism; photographing using the camera modules; and matching the captured images.

Here, in the step of aligning the shooting center, the checker board is photographed with all camera modules mounted on the multi-camera device, and errors of positions of specific objects specified on the checker board are identified and recorded in the captured images. method calibration,

In the matching step, the recorded error may be applied.

When the multi-camera fixing device and the image monitoring method using the multi-camera fixing device of the present invention according to the above-described configuration are implemented, there is an advantage in that a multi-camera monitoring system capable of efficiently monitoring a safety facility in a wide area can be constructed.

The multi-camera fixing device of the present invention has the advantage of extracting the camera parameters only once because each camera is firmly fixed through the precision fixing device.

The image monitoring method using multiple cameras of the present invention has an advantage in that it repeatedly performs matching through re-projection and reverse-projection processes of images through corresponding parameter values, and enables efficient monitoring of various image information at once.

The video monitoring method using a multi-camera of the present invention has the advantage of providing convenience and efficiency that allows a monitor to smoothly monitor in various environments as an optimal video matching.

The video monitoring method using multiple cameras of the present invention has the advantage that it can be applied in various environments requiring precise monitoring, such as monitoring of an existing unmanned substation.

1 is a front view showing a multi-camera fixing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a top view showing a multi-camera fixing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 3 is a side cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of the board height adjustment means of the control board mounting portion of the multi-camera fixing device of Figure 1;
Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing a movable monitoring mechanism to which the multi-camera fixing device of Fig. 1 can be attached;
5 is a flowchart illustrating an image monitoring method for a monitoring target area using a multi-camera device implemented using the multi-camera fixing device of FIG. 1 .
6 is a front view of a multi-camera fixing device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

In describing the present invention, terms such as first, second, etc. may be used to describe various components, but the components may not be limited by the terms. The terms are only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another. For example, without departing from the scope of the present invention, a first component may be referred to as a second component, and similarly, a second component may also be referred to as a first component.

When a component is referred to as being connected or connected to another component, it may be directly connected or connected to the other component, but it can be understood that other components may exist in between. .

The terms used herein are used only to describe specific embodiments, and are not intended to limit the present invention. The singular expression may include the plural expression unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

In this specification, the terms include or include are intended to designate that a feature, number, step, operation, component, part, or combination thereof described in the specification exists, and includes one or more other features or numbers, It may be understood that the existence or addition of steps, operations, components, parts or combinations thereof is not precluded in advance.

In addition, shapes and sizes of elements in the drawings may be exaggerated for clearer description.

1 and 2 are views illustrating a front and top view of a multi-camera fixing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The operation of the present invention performs multi-camera image registration through mounting each camera module in a multi-camera precision fixing device, acquiring an image from each camera module, extracting parameter values for each camera through camera calibration, and reverse-projecting and re-projecting the image. The multi-camera consists of an RGB camera, an infrared camera, and a thermal imager (Figs. 3 and 4). The operation of the present invention will be described in detail.

The multi-camera fixing device shown is a multi-camera precision fixing means capable of fixing the lens of the camera to one axis for convenient matching with respect to the images of each camera module, and includes the mail camera mounting unit, the additional camera mounting unit and the control board mounting unit. suggests a connection. The three camera mounting units may be designed to position the cameras so that other cameras are not visible within the angle of view (FoV) in consideration of the angle of view (FoV) of each camera.

In the illustrated multi-camera fixing device, the main infrared camera 122 and the photographing auxiliary means 124 therefor are mounted, and the photographing center point of the main infrared camera 122 and the projection or photographing center point of the photographing auxiliary means 124 are mounted. a main camera module mounting unit 120 mounted in alignment with a predetermined alignment axis; an additional camera device mounting unit 140 on which the additional camera is mounted in a form in which the shooting center of the additional camera is aligned with the alignment axis; and a control board mounting unit 160 on which the control board 610 is mounted in a form in which the photographing center of the board camera module 660 attached to the control board 610 is aligned with the alignment axis.

Here, the auxiliary means 124 may be a distance measuring means for photographing, a photometric sensor, a flash, an infrared/ultraviolet lamp, and the like, and the photographing center may generally be a lens central axis point.

The additional camera device mounting unit 140 may include a holding means for fixing the additional camera device 400 so that third-party products such as a video camera or an action cam of an independent product can be fixed; And it may be provided with a height adjustment means so that the center of the photographing of the additional camera is aligned with the alignment axis.

The holding means may apply the implemented or proposed smart phone holding/grip structure or action cam holding/grip structure.

The height adjusting means of the additional camera device mounting unit 140 may also be implemented with various height adjusting mechanisms, and may be implemented in the same manner as the board height adjusting means of the control board mounting unit 160 to be described later.

The additional camera may be selected according to various purposes/strategies.

For example, if there are a number of monitoring target locations and the level of information required for each monitoring target location is different for each monitoring target location, an infrared camera module with little change in required specifications depending on the location is commonly provided, and RGB camera devices are the corresponding monitoring target location. It can be reflected in different resolution products for each mobile monitoring device that is put into a place. In this case, an RGB camera module having a required resolution may be selectively mounted on the additional camera device mounting unit.

For example, if there are a plurality of monitoring target locations and the level of information required for security policy is different for each monitoring target location, the RGB camera module is provided in common, and other camera devices are provided for each mobile monitoring device input to the corresponding monitoring target location. It can be set differently. In this case, an additional camera module required for the additional camera device mounting unit may be selectively mounted.

For example, if the wireless communication network assigned to the mobile monitoring device is not easy to transmit high-capacity information such as moving images, a separate independent video camera device (product) is mounted on the additional camera device mounting unit, and video information stored in the additional video camera device may be collected separately by the administrator.

For example, the additional camera may be used as a means for acquiring and storing a preliminary image in preparation for a failure of the main camera module or control board, such as a video recording device, so-called black box equipment.

In FIG. 1, an RGB camera is mounted as the additional camera. That is, the illustrated multi-camera fixing device is equipped with an infrared camera 122 as a main camera, an RGB camera as an additional camera, and a thermal imaging camera as a board camera. Here, the infrared camera 122 is for acquiring an image in an environment where the amount of light is insufficient, the RGB camera is for acquiring an image in an environment with a sufficient amount of light, and the thermal imaging camera is a monitoring target (moving object) or a facility of interest (fixed). object) to acquire thermal image information as additional information for monitoring.

As mentioned above, the main camera 122 is provided in common for all mobile monitoring devices, and accordingly, the multi-camera fixing device is installed in the movable monitoring device via the main camera module mounting unit 120 . It is preferable to be

To this end, the main camera module mounting unit 120 may include a device attachment means 190 that can be attached to a device moving in a space to be monitored.

The control board mounting unit 160 is for mounting a control board 610 for controlling the image acquisition operation of the multi-camera fixing device, collecting captured image information and transmitting it to an external monitoring server.

However, the control of the above-described image acquisition operation is performed in such a way that a shooting instruction is given to each camera module, and image data collection also does not require a large operation, whereas individual settings such as communication conditions and monitoring time are required for each monitoring target area. As needed, it is advantageous that customization is easier than a unified control device. To this end, the control board 610 is preferably a customizing board such as an Anuino, Raspberry Pi, or Udo board, which is very advantageous in customization.

There are various third-party camera modules that can be mounted on the Anuino or Raspberry Pi or Udo board. In particular, various distance sensing products such as a thermal imaging camera, an infrared camera, and a lidar may be mounted on the customizing board. In the present invention, as a board camera module mounted on the Anuino or Raspberry Pi or Udo board, the above-described products may be used. That is, the board camera module 660 may be a product for a custom board, such as an infrared camera module for an Anuino or Raspberry Pi or a Udo board.

At this time, since the height of each third-party product is different, the control board mounting unit 160 is configured so that the shooting center of the board camera module 660 attached to the control board 610 can be aligned with the alignment axis. It is preferable to have board height adjustment means.

3 shows an embodiment of the board height adjusting means of the control board mounting part.

In the drawing, the lower plate is a part of the frame surface 161 of the control board mounting part, and the upper plate is the control board 610 (ie, Anuino or Raspberry Pi or Udo board).

The support posts provided between the lower plate and the upper plate shown are similar to the mounting structure of a general circuit board, but each support post 164 has a male threaded part 165-1 and a female threaded part 165-2 for height adjustment separately. There is a difference in availability. The number of length-adjustable support posts 164 as shown between the lower plate and the upper plate may be three or four, or more.

4 is a perspective view illustrating a mobile monitoring mechanism to which the multi-camera fixing device of FIG. 1 can be attached.

That is, each multi-camera module is mounted on the multi-camera precision fixing means provided in the multi-camera fixing device of FIG. 1 , and each camera module can be firmly fixed by mounting to the fixing device based on the above.

5 is a flowchart illustrating an image monitoring method for a monitoring target area using the mobile monitoring device of FIG. 4 .

The illustrated monitoring method includes: selecting camera modules to be attached to a mobile monitoring device according to the characteristics of the monitoring target area (S110); aligning the photographing centers of the selected camera modules attached to the mobile monitoring mechanism (S120); photographing using the camera modules (S140); and matching the captured images (S160).

In the step (S110) of selecting the camera modules, there are a plurality of monitoring target locations, and when the required information level is different for each monitoring target location, depending on the security policy, the required information is different, so that the desired camera modules are different. will be.

In the case of using the multi-camera device shown in FIG. 1, the RGB camera module is provided in common, and in the step of selecting the camera modules (S110), the board camera module mounted on the control board mounting unit and/or the addition An additional camera device to be mounted on the camera device mounting unit is selected.

The step of selecting the camera modules (S110) is performed in a manner of determining additional camera means necessary for each monitoring target location from the collected monitoring requirement information for each monitoring target location in the server building the entire monitoring system. can be The information on the additional camera means determined by the server may be transmitted to a monitoring server and a server managing the mobile monitoring device.

Here, the camera module is a concept including a means for acquiring a two-dimensional image, as well as a distance sensing means such as a lidar, a radar sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, and an infrared sensor.

The multi-camera alignment, which is meant in the step (S120) of aligning the photographing centers of the camera modules, consists of mechanical alignment and calibration.

The mechanical alignment may be performed by using the control board mounting unit and the additional camera mounting unit of the above-described multi-camera device, and the calibration is performed with a minute alignment error remaining even after performing mechanical alignment using the control board mounting unit and the additional camera mounting unit. is to adjust

For example, in the calibration, a test (checker) board is photographed with all camera modules mounted on a multi-camera device, and errors in the positions of specific objects specified on the test (checker) board are identified from the captured images. can be performed. The identified errors may be recorded on the control board, and calibration may be reflected in a manner of providing a position offset as much as the corresponding error to image information obtained from a specific camera module later. For example, in the matching step, the registration may be performed by applying the recorded error (offset).

In the step of photographing using the camera modules (S140), the mobile monitoring mechanism performs photographing using the attached camera modules while moving the monitoring target area.

The computing device provided on the control board receives image information of the locations to be monitored in the photographing step (S140), stores it in an internal memory or a buffer, and in the step of matching the images (S160), the Stored image information can be read and combined into a single image file for monitoring. Data matched to the single image file may be transmitted to a monitoring server.

6 is a front view of a multi-camera fixing device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

In the illustrated multi-camera fixing device, the main RGB camera 122' and the photographing auxiliary means 124' for this are mounted, and the photographing center point of the main RGB camera 122' and the photographing auxiliary means 124' are mounted. a main camera module mounting unit 120 ′ in which the projection or photographing center points are aligned with a predetermined alignment axis; an additional camera device mounting unit 140 in which an infrared camera 400' is mounted as the additional camera in a form in which the shooting center of the additional camera is aligned with the alignment axis; and a control board mounting unit 160 on which the control board 610 is mounted in a form in which the photographing center of the board camera module 660 attached to the control board 610 is aligned with the alignment axis.

In the drawing, except that an RGB camera is applied as a main camera and an infrared camera is applied as an additional camera, the configuration is similar to that of FIG. 1 . On the other hand, it can be seen that when the infrared camera 400' is mounted, a height adjusting means having a structure similar to that shown in FIG. 3 is applied. A description overlapping with the case of FIG. 1 will be omitted.

Those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains should understand that the present invention can be embodied in other specific forms without changing the technical spirit or essential characteristics thereof, so the embodiments described above are illustrative in all respects and not restrictive. only do The scope of the present invention is indicated by the following claims rather than the detailed description, and all changes or modifications derived from the meaning and scope of the claims and their equivalent concepts should be construed as being included in the scope of the present invention. .

100: multi-camera fixing device 120: main camera module mounting part
122: main infrared camera 124: photographing auxiliary means
140: additional camera device mounting unit 160: control board mounting unit
164: support post 165-1: male thread for height adjustment
165-2: female thread for height adjustment 400: additional camera device
610: control board 660: board camera module

Claims (8)

a main camera module mounting unit in which an RGB or infrared camera and auxiliary means for the same are mounted, the center point of the photographing of the RGB or infrared camera and the projection or photographing center points of the auxiliary means are aligned with a predetermined alignment axis;
an additional camera device mounting unit in which the additional camera is mounted in a form in which the shooting center of the additional camera is aligned with the alignment axis; and
A control board mounting part in which the control board is mounted in a form in which the shooting center of the board camera module attached to the control board is aligned with the alignment axis
A multi-camera fixture comprising a.
According to claim 1,
The additional camera device mounting unit,
A multi-camera fixing device having a height adjusting means so that the shooting center of the additional camera can be aligned with the alignment axis.
3. The method of claim 2,
wherein the additional camera is a video camera in the form of an independent product.
According to claim 1,
The control board mounting unit,
A multi-camera fixing device having a board height adjusting means so that the shooting center of the board camera module attached to the control board can be aligned with the alignment axis.
5. The method of claim 4,
The control board is an Anuino or Raspberry Pi or Udo board,
The board camera module is a multi-camera fixing device that is an infrared camera module for an Anuino or Raspberry Pi or Udo board.
According to claim 1,
The main camera module mounting unit includes a device attachment means that can be attached to a device that moves in a space to be monitored.
selecting camera modules to be attached to the mobile monitoring device according to the characteristics of the monitoring target area;
aligning the photographing centers of the selected camera modules attached to the mobile monitoring mechanism;
photographing using the camera modules; and
Matching the captured images
Monitoring method using multiple cameras, including.
8. The method of claim 7,
In the step of aligning the shooting center,
The checker board is photographed with all camera modules mounted on the multi-camera device, and the calibration is performed by identifying and recording errors in the positions of specific objects specified on the checker board in the captured images.
In the matching step,
A monitoring method using multiple cameras to apply the recorded error.

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