MONITORING METHOD AND CAMERA

• US 20140168432A1
• Filed: 12/18/2013
• Published: 06/19/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Axis AB (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Axis AB (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: NYSTROM, Johan
• Granted Patent: US 9,270,893 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/143
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/673 based on contrast or high frequency components of image signals, e.g. hill climbing method
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/695 Control of camera direction for changing a field of view, e.g. pan, tilt or based on tracking of objects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/70 Circuitry for compensating brightness variation in the scene
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 for receiving images from a single remote source
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/188 Capturing isolated or intermittent images triggered by the occurrence of a predetermined event, e.g. an object reaching a predetermined position signal generation from motion picture films H04N5/253

Abstract

A monitoring camera arranged to monitor a scene and a method of controlling camera settings for a monitoring camera arranged to monitor a scene wherein images are captured of different parts of the scene by altering a field of view of the camera, wherein data defining a camera settings control area within the scene is accessed, and it is determined if there is an overlapping region between a current field of view of the camera and the camera settings control area, and if there is an overlapping region, camera settings are controlled based on the overlapping region.

Claims

1. A method of controlling camera settings for a monitoring camera arranged to monitor a scene, the monitoring camera being arranged to capture images of different parts of the scene by altering a field of view of the camera, comprising the steps of

accessing data defining a camera settings control area within the scene,

determining if there is an overlapping region between a current field of view of the camera and the camera settings control area, and

if there is an overlapping region, controlling camera settings based on the overlapping region.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the camera settings include at least one of:

focus settings, exposure settings, white balance settings, IR cut filter mode, iris control settings and settings for an illumination unit.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of controlling camera settings comprises automatically controlling camera settings based on image data captured by the monitoring camera in the overlapping region.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of controlling camera settings comprises

accessing data relating to predefined camera settings values related to the camera settings control area, and

controlling camera settings according to the predefined camera settings values.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of accessing data defining a selection of camera settings to be controlled for the camera settings control area, and wherein the step of controlling camera settings comprises controlling the defined selection of camera settings.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein

the step of accessing data defining a camera settings control area comprises accessing data defining the camera settings control area in a coordinate system for the scene, and

the step of determining if there is an overlapping region comprises comparing coordinates of the camera settings control area to coordinates of the current field of view in the coordinate system for the scene.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of defining a camera settings control area comprises defining a first and a second camera settings control area,

wherein the step of determining an overlapping region comprises determining if there is a first and a second overlapping region corresponding to the first and the second camera settings control area, respectively, and,

wherein, if there is a first and second overlapping region, the step of controlling camera settings comprises selecting one of the first and the second overlapping region based on region properties for the first and the second overlapping region, and controlling camera settings based on the selected overlapping region, wherein the region properties include at least one of:

size of region, amount of detected motion in region, a priority setting for the camera settings control area corresponding to the respective region.

15. A computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for implementing the method according to claim 1 when executed on a device having processing capabilities.

8. A monitoring camera arranged to monitor a scene, comprising

a field of view altering unit arranged to alter a field of view of the camera such that the camera is able to capture images of different parts of a scene,

a data input arranged to receive data defining a camera settings control area within the scene,

an overlap determining unit arranged to determine if there is an overlapping region between a current field of view of the camera and the camera settings control area, and

a camera settings control unit arranged to control camera settings based on the overlapping region.

9. The monitoring camera of claim 8, wherein the field of view altering unit comprises a motor arranged to alter the field of view of the camera in at least one of a pan, tilt or zoom direction.

10. The monitoring camera of claim 8, wherein the camera settings control unit is arranged to automatically control camera settings based on image data captured by the monitoring camera in the overlapping region.

11. The monitoring camera of claim 8, wherein the camera settings control unit is arranged to access data relating to predefined camera settings values related to the camera settings control area, and control camera settings according to the predefined values.

12. The monitoring camera of claim 8, wherein the data defining a camera settings control area and/or data defining a selection of camera settings to be controlled are based on user input.

13. The monitoring camera of claim 8, wherein

the data input is arranged to receive data defining the camera settings control area in a coordinate system for the scene, and

the overlap determining unit is arranged to compare coordinates of the camera settings control area to coordinates of the current field of view in the coordinate system for the scene.

14. The monitoring camera of claim 8, wherein the data input is arranged to receive data defining a first and a second camera settings control area,

wherein the overlap determining unit is arranged to determine if there is a first and a second overlapping region corresponding to the first and the second camera settings control area, respectively, and,

wherein, if there is a first and second overlapping region, the camera settings control unit is arranged to select one of the first and the second overlapping region based on region properties for the first and the second overlapping region, and to control camera settings based on the selected overlapping region,

wherein the region properties include at least one of:

size of region, amount of detected motion in region, a priority setting for the camera settings control area corresponding to the respective region.