Information processing system, information processing apparatus and method, and program

• US 20060192887A1
• Filed: 02/23/2006
• Published: 08/31/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Suzuki, Masaharu, Miyamaki, Hideo, Tamura, Asako
• Granted Patent: US 7,656,430 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/347
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/66 Remote control of cameras or camera parts, e.g. by remote control devices

Abstract

An information processing apparatus and method is disclosed wherein a detailed image of a moving body can be picked up accurately. A tracking object pan tilt zoom module reads out moving body information stored in a moving body tracking rank management database at predetermined intervals of time, and pan tilt movement of a zoom camera is controlled based on angle-of-view information as appearance information corresponding to an angle of view of a moving body having the highest priority rank. At this time, an additional tracking object pan tilt module reads out the latest moving body information of the moving body tracking rank management database at intervals of time sufficiently shorter than the predetermined intervals of time at which the tracking object pan tilt zoom process is repeated, and the pan tilt movement of the zoom camera is further controlled repetitively.

Claims

1. An information processing system, comprising:

region image pickup means for picking up an image of a predetermined region;

detection means for detecting, based on a region image obtained by the image pickup by said region image pickup means, any moving body existing in the predetermined region;

moving body image pickup means for picking up an image of the moving bodies detected by said detection means;

calculation means for calculating an angle of view of each of the moving bodies detected by said detection means;

angle-of-view information storage means for storing information of the individual angles of view of more than one of the moving bodies calculated by said calculation means;

first moving body image pickup control means for controlling the image pickup by said moving body image pickup means based on the information of the angle of view of a particular one of the moving bodies from within the information of the angles of view of the moving bodies stored in said angle-of-view information storage means; and

second moving body image pickup control means for controlling the image pickup by said moving body image pickup means based on the information of the angle of view of the particular moving body whose image pickup is controlled by said first moving body image pickup control means at a timing after said moving body image pickup means is controlled by said first moving body image pickup control means.

2. An information processing apparatus, comprising:

detection means for detecting, based on a region image obtained by image pickup of a predetermined region, any moving body existing in the predetermined region;

calculation means for calculating an angle of view of each of the moving bodies detected by said detection means;

angle-of-view information storage means for storing information of the individual angles of view of more than one of the moving bodies calculated by said calculation means;

first moving body image pickup control means for controlling the image pickup by said moving body image pickup means based on the information of the angle of view of a particular one of the moving bodies from within the information of the angles of view of the moving bodies stored in said angle-of-view information storage means; and

second moving body image pickup control means for controlling the image pickup of the moving bodies based on the information of the angle of view of the particular moving body at a timing after the image pickup of the moving bodies is controlled by said first moving body image pickup control means.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising priority rank setting means for setting, based on a predetermined condition, priority ranks to the information of the individual angles of view of the moving bodies stored in said angle-of-view information storage means;

said first moving body image pickup control means being operable to select the particular moving body in a descending order of the priority degree set by said priority rank setting means from within the information of the angles of view of the moving bodies stored in said angle-of-view information storage means and control the image pickup of the moving bodies based on the information of the angle of view of the selected moving body.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the predetermined condition includes the time at which any of the moving bodies moves, the position of the moving body in the region image, the size of the moving body in the region image or the aspect ratio of the moving body.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said first moving body image pickup control means controls the position in a horizontal direction, the position in a vertical direction, and the telephoto magnification of the moving bodies upon the image pickup based on the information of the angle of view of the particular moving body from within the information of the angles of view of the moving bodies stored in said angle-of-view information storage means.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said second moving body image pickup control means controls the position in a horizontal direction and the position in a vertical direction of the moving bodies upon the image pickup based on the information of the angle of view of the particular moving body at a timing after the image pickup of the moving bodies is controlled by said first moving body image pickup control means.

7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said second moving body image pickup control means controls the image pickup of the moving bodies by a predetermined number of times at predetermined intervals of time based on the information of the angle of view of the particular moving body at a timing after the image pickup of the moving bodies is controlled by said first moving body image pickup control means.

8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the image pickup of the particular moving body starts based on the information of the angle of view of the particular moving body at a timing after the image pickup of the moving bodies is controlled by said first moving body image pickup control means.

9. An information processing method, comprising the steps of:

detecting, based on a region image obtained by image pickup of a predetermined region, any moving body existing in the predetermined region;

calculating an angle of view of each of the moving bodies detected by the process at the detection step;

storing information of the individual angles of view of more than one of the moving bodies calculated by the process at the calculation step;

controlling the image pickup of the moving bodies based on the information of the angle of view of a particular one of the moving bodies from within the information of the angles of view of the moving bodies stored by the process at the angle-of-view information storage step; and

controlling the image pickup of the moving bodies based on the information of the angle of view of the particular moving body whose image pickup is controlled by the process at the first moving body image pickup control step at a timing after the image pickup of the moving bodies is controlled by the process at the first moving body image pickup control step.

10. A program for causing a computer to execute a process comprising the steps of:

detecting, based on a region image obtained by image pickup of a predetermined region, any moving body existing in the predetermined region;

calculating an angle of view of each of the moving bodies detected by the process at the detection step;

storing information of the individual angles of view of more than one of the moving bodies calculated by the process at the calculation step;

controlling the image pickup of the moving bodies based on the information of the angle of view of a particular one of the moving bodies from within the information of the angles of view of the moving bodies stored by the process at the angle-of-view information storage step; and

controlling the image pickup of the moving bodies based on the information of the angle of view of the particular moving body whose image pickup is controlled by the process at the first moving body image pickup control step at a timing after the image pickup of the moving bodies is controlled by the process at the first moving body image pickup control step.

11. An information processing system, comprising:

a region image pickup section for picking up an image of a predetermined region;

a detection section for detecting, based on a region image obtained by the image pickup by said region image pickup section, any moving body existing in the predetermined region;

a moving body image pickup section for picking up an image of the moving bodies detected by said detection section;

a calculation section for calculating an angle of view of each of the moving bodies detected by said detection section;

an angle-of-view information storage section for storing information of the individual angles of view of more than one of the moving bodies calculated by said calculation section;

a first moving body image pickup control section for controlling the image pickup by said moving body image pickup section based on the information of the angle of view of a particular one of the moving bodies from within the information of the angles of view of the moving bodies stored in said angle-of-view information storage section; and

a second moving body image pickup control section for controlling the image pickup by said moving body image pickup section based on the information of the angle of view of the particular moving body whose image pickup is controlled by said first moving body image pickup control section at a timing after said moving body image pickup section is controlled by said first moving body image pickup control section.

12. An information processing apparatus, comprising:

a detection section for detecting, based on a region image obtained by image pickup of a predetermined region, any moving body existing in the predetermined region;

a calculation section for calculating an angle of view of each of the moving bodies detected by said detection section;

an angle-of-view information storage section for storing information of the individual angles of view of more than one of the moving bodies calculated by said calculation section;

a first moving body image pickup control section for controlling the image pickup by said moving body image pickup section based on the information of the angle of view of a particular one of the moving bodies from within the information of the angles of view of the moving bodies stored in said angle-of-view information storage section; and

a second moving body image pickup control section for controlling the image pickup of the moving bodies based on the information of the angle of view of the particular moving body at a timing after the image pickup of the moving bodies is controlled by said first moving body image pickup control section.