Monitoring Device

• US 20090040309A1
• Filed: 10/05/2005
• Published: 02/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Ishii, Hirofumi
• Application Number:
  US11/630,281
• Publication Number:
  US 20090040309A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/159
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19645 Multiple cameras, each having view on one of a plurality of scenes, e.g. multiple cameras for multi-room surveillance or for tracking an object by view hand-over
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19691 Signalling events for better perception by user, e.g. indicating alarms by making display brighter, adding text, creating a sound
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

It is provided to a monitoring apparatus in which a supervisor can monitor intuitively and operate when the supervisor monitors a trespasser or the like in a building. The monitoring apparatus includes a plurality of cameras 1 for picking up images of the inside of the building and a displaying unit 4 for displaying an image obtained by pasting picked-up images onto surfaces of a floor, a passage, and a wall of the building by a texture mapping based on camera parameters of the plurality of cameras 1 and structure data of the building.

Claims

1. A monitoring apparatus for monitoring a building by picking up an image of the building by cameras mounted in plural locations of the building to be monitored, comprising:

a storing portion that stores camera parameters necessary for controlling a plurality of cameras and structure data of the building;

an image synthesizing portion that synthesizes images picked up by the plurality of cameras in texture mapping, based on the camera parameters and the structure data of the building stored in the storing portion; and

a displaying unit that displays a synthesized image.

2. The monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of cameras have a night-vision near infrared imaging function, and

the monitoring apparatus further comprising:

a plurality of night-vision near infrared illuminating units that are provided to the inside of the building;

a near infrared illumination controlling unit that controls the plurality of night-vision near infrared illuminating units respectively individually;

a reflecting marker that are provided to the inside of the building; and

a correcting unit that corrects the camera parameters by analyzing a plurality of images which are picked-up while turning ON/OFF the plurality of near infrared illuminating units individually.

3. The monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein shooting areas are partitioned in the building by a plurality of floors, and

the monitoring apparatus further comprising:

a sensing unit that senses presence/absence of an abnormality in the building based on the images picked up by the plurality of cameras; and

an image selecting unit that selects images picked-up by the plurality of cameras on a floor, on which the camera, which picks up the image from which the abnormality is sensed, is mounted, from the picked-up images.

4. The monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a part or all of the plurality of cameras have a function for controlling an attitude and an angle of view;

wherein the cameras having the function includes a unit which transmits attitude information and angle-of-view information detected at a point of time of shooting together with the picked-up image; and

wherein the displaying unit includes a unit which pastes the picked-up image onto the building structure data by a texture mapping based on the attitude information and the angle-of-view information transmitted and displays a resultant image.

5. The monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein further comprising a the sensing unit which senses the presence/absence of the abnormality in the building from the images picked up by the plurality of cameras,

wherein a part of the plurality of cameras has a function of controlling the Attitude and the angle of view;

and

the monitoring apparatus further comprising;

a providing unit that preferentially provides control interfaces of the cameras mounted near a camera which picks up the image from which the abnormality is sensed, the cameras having the function of controlling the attitude and the angle of view, to a supervisor.