WO2019033289A1 - System and method for expanding field of view of video camera - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and a method for expanding a field of view of a video camera. The system for expanding a field of view of a video camera comprises a lens module, a detection module, a driving module, a microcontroller, and a power source. The lens module, the detection module, the driving module, and the power module are all connected to the microcontroller. The lens module is configured to capture image information. The detection module is configured to detect whether an object to be captured exceeds a horizontal field of view of an image capturing area of the lens module. The driving module is configured to drive rotation of the lens module. The present invention can automatically rotate a lens module according to movement dynamics of an object being captured and switch the horizontal edges and the vertical edges of video pixels without increasing the complexity of a video algorithm, so as to increase the viewing angle of videos in a vertical or horizontal orientation according to the scene being filmed, expand a surveillance viewing angle of a video camera, and broaden usage environments and usage fields of common webcams.

Description

 System and method for expanding camera image field of view

 The present invention relates to the field of imaging, and more particularly to a system and method for expanding the field of view of a camera image.

 Background technique

With the development of the times, the use of network cameras has become more and more extensive, and there are higher requirements for monitoring the viewing angle. Therefore, there are a variety of ways to expand the camera's viewing angle, such as fisheye, panorama, etc., but this significantly improves the development of hardware and software and increases the hardware cost, which limits the convenience and economy of the network camera in a simple scenario.

At present, there are several ways to increase the viewing angle of the camera. 1. The fisheye lens technology requires video distortion correction at the software level. It is technically difficult to achieve better results, and the fisheye lens is expensive; The way the lens is captured significantly increases the hardware cost, and the software's video seamless bonding algorithm is more complicated.

Therefore, the network camera realized by the above two methods is basically a high-end product, and is often used in special occasions that are not sensitive to price, which greatly limits the field of use and environment.

 Invention content

 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to overcome the deficiencies of the prior art and to provide a system and method for expanding the field of view of a camera image.

 To achieve the above object, the present invention adopts the following technical solutions:

 A system for expanding the field of view of a camera image The lens module, the detecting module, the driving module, the micro controller and the power source; the lens module, the detecting module, the driving module and the power source are all connected with the microcontroller;

 The lens module is configured to capture image information;

 The detecting module is configured to detect whether the object to be photographed exceeds a narrow side field of view of the shooting area of the lens module;

 The driving module is configured to drive the rotation of the lens module.

 A further technical solution is: The detection module is a VA detector or an image sensor.

 Its further technical solution is: The driving module is a motor, and the motor is provided with a limit switch, and the limit switch has a limiting angle of 0°-180°.

 A further technical solution is: The motor is a stepping motor.

 A method of extending the field of view of a camera image includes the following steps:

 S1, the detecting module detects whether the object to be photographed exceeds the narrow side field of the camera image area of the camera, If yes, go to S2, if not, go to S3;

 S2, the lens module is rotated by 90°;

 S3, acquiring video image information.

 The further technical solution is as follows: Before the S1, the following content is also included:

 The system powers up and the lens module starts working.

 A further technical solution is: the imaging surface of the lens module is rectangular.

 A further technical solution is as follows: The S1 further includes the following specific steps:

 S11. The detecting module sends a signal to the microcontroller that the object is beyond a narrow field of view of the imaging area;

 S12. The microcontroller issues an instruction to rotate the lens module to the driving module.

 Its further technical solution is: The S2 includes the lens module rotating 90°, touching the limit switch, the microcontroller receiving the level change signal of the driving module, and the driving module stops driving the lens module to rotate.

 A further technical solution is as follows: The S2 further includes the following steps:

 S21: Start a video image processing thread to switch between a narrow side and a long side of the video pixel.

 Advantageous effects of the present invention compared with the prior art Yes: the lens module, the detection module, the driving module, and the power source are all connected to the microcontroller, and the driving module is used to drive the rotation of the lens module; In the case that the difficulty of the video algorithm is not involved, the lens module can be automatically rotated according to the movement dynamics of the object to be photographed, and the narrow side and long side switching of the video pixel can be adjusted. The purpose of increasing the video viewable angle in the vertical or horizontal direction according to the scene is extended, the monitoring angle of the camera is expanded, and the use environment and the use field of the common network camera are improved.

 The invention is further described below in conjunction with the drawings and specific embodiments.

 DRAWINGS

 1 is a block diagram of a system circuit for expanding a field of view of a camera image according to the present invention;

 2 is a flow chart of a method for expanding a field of view of a camera image according to the present invention;

 Figure 3 is a flow chart of the detailed steps of Figure 2;

 Figure 4 is a schematic view showing the relationship between rotation of A and B in a specific embodiment;

 Figure 5 is a schematic illustration of the operational rotation of the image sensor in a particular embodiment.

 Reference numeral

 10 lens module 20 detection module

 30 drive module 40 microcontroller

 50 power supply

 Detailed ways

In order to more fully understand the technical content of the present invention, the technical solutions of the present invention are further described and illustrated in conjunction with the specific embodiments, but are not limited thereto.

 1 to FIG. 3, a specific embodiment of the present invention, a system for expanding a camera image field of view The lens module 10, the detecting module 20, the driving module 30, the microcontroller 40, and the power source 50; the lens module 10, the detecting module 20, the driving module 30, and the power source 50 are all connected to the microcontroller 40;

 The lens module 10 is configured to capture image information;

 The detecting module 20 is configured to detect whether the object to be photographed exceeds the narrow side field of the shooting area of the lens module 10;

 The driving module 30 is configured to drive the rotation of the lens module 10.

 The detection module 20 is a VA detector or an image sensor.

 specific, As shown in FIG. 1 , the driving module 30 is a motor, and the motor is provided with a limit switch. The limit angle of the limit switch is 0°-180°; when the lens module 10 is rotated 90°, the motor limit switch is triggered, then The motor drive level disappears and the motor stops.

 Preferably, the motor is a stepper motor.

In the present invention, the working principle of the camera is that the switching signal of the lens module is triggered by the camera main control system. The video camera has a video analysis function. When the camera is working, the moving object (such as the human body) enters the field of view from the horizontal direction. When the object approaches the camera, the object image becomes larger and larger, and the camera may exceed the narrow side of the camera in the vertical direction. Field of view, at this time, the video signal analysis (VA) result of the camera triggers the signal of the above-mentioned lens module switching, and the lens module rotates to continuously monitor the movement of the object or other subsequent actions in the vertical direction. When the object is far away from the camera, the VA triggers the lens module to perform the rotation switching between the narrow side and the long side direction, so that a wide range of monitoring can be performed in the horizontal direction.

 As shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 3, the present invention also discloses a method for expanding the field of view of a camera image, comprising the following steps:

 S1, the detecting module detects whether the object to be photographed exceeds the narrow side field of the camera image area of the camera, If yes, go to S2, if not, go to S3;

 S2, the lens module is rotated by 90°;

 S3, acquiring video image information.

 Among them, S1 also includes the following contents: System Power-on, the lens module starts working.

 The shooting surface of the lens module is rectangular.

 Specifically, as shown in Figure 3, the following specific steps are also included after S1:

 S11. The detecting module sends a signal to the microcontroller that the object is beyond a narrow field of view of the imaging area;

 S12. The microcontroller issues an instruction to rotate the lens module to the driving module.

Among them, S2 includes the lens module rotated by 90°, touches the limit switch, the microcontroller receives the level change signal of the drive module, and the drive module stops driving the lens module to rotate.

 The S2 further includes the following steps: S21: Start a video image processing thread to switch between a narrow side and a long side of the video pixel.

In the present invention, after the VA detector issues a rotation signal of the trigger lens module, the synchronization signal must be sent to the thread of the video processing, and when the processing thread receives the synchronization signal, the video image is transformed in the narrow side and the long side direction, and the pixel is converted. The conversion causes the output video stream of the network camera to still maintain the correct output when the video source is rotated by 90°. The user sees only the change in the length and width of the video image.

 Figure 4 As shown, the image is rotated 90° clockwise, and the pixels in each frame must be transformed to display the image correctly. Pixel transformation has the following relationship (A-->B), A and B are regarded as two-dimensional matrix, and mathematically, the conversion relationship is to obtain the transposed matrix B of A;

 B = A' (A transpose matrix, or AT).

In other embodiments, the image can be rotated 180° clockwise, and the image is stitched into an image with a circumference equal to the long border. The principle and processing of the pixel transformation in each frame are the same as described above, and are used for static in most cases. In the monitoring system, it is mainly used to improve the sharpness of the captured image, and to make maximum use of the physical pixels of the image sensor, graphics As shown in Figure C, Figure C (for the sake of clarity, the image sensor's length and width dimensions are non-proportional exaggerated):

 For example, for an image sensor with an aspect ratio of 16:9, if the image sensor cannot be rotated, the pixel that can be utilized most is the image sensor. The pixel itself, in some 360° or panoramic scenes, the effective pixels are only the part shown by the circle in the D diagram of Figure 5; but according to the implementation in this example, the largest available pixel is shown in the figure. 5 E map The circle is shown in the section.

 16*16/(9*9)=316%, that is, the image visible pixels in this way are 216% higher than the original.

In other embodiments, the camera of the present invention is installed at the doorway for monitoring the environment around the porch and the accessory; when the courier carrying the package enters the surveillance field of the camera from a distance, the courier approaches the doorway and prepares to ring the doorbell. When the lower part of the body may have exceeded the narrow angle of the camera's shooting area; the VA detector detects that the courier's body overflows in the narrow side of the image, and automatically switches between the narrow side and the long side; through remote voice and video After interacting with the owner, the courier can place the package at the designated location on the doorway for the owner to remotely view and monitor through the IPC; the courier item is completely in the IPC video surveillance, and the item can be left in the advanced function of the camera or Item lost alarm.

 In summary, The invention can automatically rotate the lens module according to the movement dynamics of the object to be photographed, and adjust the narrow side and the long side of the video pixel to switch according to the scene, so as to increase the video in the vertical or horizontal direction according to the scene. The purpose of the perspective is to expand the surveillance perspective of the camera and improve the use environment and use of the common network camera.

The above technical description of the present invention is further described by way of example only, and is not to be understood by the reader, but the embodiments of the present invention are not limited thereto, and any technology extending or re-creating according to the present invention is subject to the present invention. protection of. The scope of the invention is defined by the claims.

Claims (10)

1. A system for expanding a field of view of a camera image, comprising: a lens module, a detection module, a driving module, a microcontroller, and a power source; wherein the lens module, the detecting module, the driving module, and the power source are all connected to the microcontroller;

   The lens module is configured to capture image information;

   The detecting module is configured to detect whether the object to be photographed exceeds a narrow side field of view of the shooting area of the lens module;

   The driving module is configured to drive the rotation of the lens module.
2.  A system for expanding a field of view of a camera image according to claim 1, wherein the detecting module is a VA detector or an image sensor.
3. The system for expanding the field of view of a camera image according to claim 1, wherein the driving module is a motor, the motor is provided with a limit switch, and the limit angle of the limit switch is 0°-180°. .
4. A system for expanding a field of view of a camera image according to claim 3, wherein said motor is a stepper motor.
5. A method for expanding a field of view of a camera image, comprising the steps of:

   S1, the detecting module detects whether the object is beyond the narrow side field of view of the camera's imaging area, and if so, enters S2, and if not, proceeds to S3;

   S2, the lens module is rotated by 90°;

   S3, acquiring video image information.
6. The method for expanding a field of view of a camera image according to claim 5, wherein the S1 further comprises the following contents:

   When the system is powered on, the lens module starts to work.
7. The method for expanding a field of view of a camera image according to claim 6, wherein the photographing surface of the lens module is rectangular.
8. The method for expanding the field of view of a camera image according to claim 5, wherein the S1 further comprises the following specific steps:

   S11. The detecting module sends a signal to the microcontroller that the object is beyond a narrow side view of the imaging area;

   S12. The microcontroller issues an instruction to rotate the lens module to the driving module.
9. The method for extending the field of view of a camera image according to claim 5, wherein the S2 comprises a lens module rotated by 90°, touching the limit switch, and the microcontroller receives the level change signal of the driving module. The drive module stops driving the lens module to rotate.
10. The method for expanding a field of view of a camera image according to claim 9, wherein the S2 further comprises the following steps:

    S21: Start a video image processing thread to switch between a narrow side and a long side of the video pixel.