IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS, MONITORING SYSTEM, IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD, AND PROGRAM

• US 20170148178A1
• Filed: 06/01/2015
• Published: 05/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: OAMI, Ryoma, MIYANO, Hiroyoshi, TAKAHASHI, Yusuke, IKEDA, Hiroo, EBIYAMA, Yukie, KAWAI, Ryo, OGAWA, Takuya, KOYAMA, Kazuya, YAMADA, Hiroshi
• Granted Patent: US 10,269,126 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/292 Multi-camera tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/751 Comparing pixel values or logical combinations thereof, or feature values having positional relevance, e.g. template matching
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/53 Recognition of crowd images, e.g. recognition of crowd congestion
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19602 Image analysis to detect motion of the intruder, e.g. by frame subtraction
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources
• 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

Provided is an image processing apparatus (2000) including an index value calculation unit (2020) and a presentation unit (2040). The index value calculation unit (2020) acquires a plurality of images captured by a camera (3000) (captured images), and calculates an index value indicating the degree of change in the state of a monitoring target in the captured image, using the acquired captured image. The presentation unit (2040) presents an indication based on the index value calculated by the index value calculation unit (2020) on the captured image captured by the camera (3000).

Claims

1. An image processing apparatus comprising:

an index value calculation unit calculating an index value indicating a degree of change in a state of a monitoring target in a plurality of captured images using the captured image, the captured images being captured by a camera at different times; and

a presentation unit presenting an indication based on the index value on a first captured image captured by the camera.

2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a first indication color determination unit determining an indication color based on the index value, with respect to the monitoring target,

wherein the presentation unit changes a color of the monitoring target or a color around the monitoring target into the indication color determined for the monitoring target, in the first captured image.

3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the presentation unit presents an indication for emphasizing a monitoring target more as the index value of the monitoring target becomes larger, or presents an indication for emphasizing a monitoring target more as the index value of the monitoring target becomes smaller.

4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a divergence degree calculation unit calculating a degree of divergence between the index value and a reference degree of change,

wherein the presentation unit presents an indication for emphasizing a monitoring target more as the degree of divergence of the monitoring target becomes higher, or presents an indication for emphasizing a monitoring target more as the degree of divergence of the monitoring target becomes lower in the first captured image.

5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising a second indication color determination unit determining an indication color based on the degree of divergence calculated for the monitoring target, with respect to the monitoring target,

wherein the presentation unit changes a color of the monitoring target or a color around the monitoring target into the indication color determined for the monitoring target, in the first captured image.

6. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the index value calculation unit calculates a predicted value of the degree of change in the state of the monitoring target at and after a time when each image used for the calculation is captured, the calculation of the predicted value being performed using the calculated degree of change in the state of the monitoring target, and

wherein the index value calculation unit sets the predicted value as the index value.

7. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein when an image captured by the camera is not displayed during a certain period of time on a display screen for displaying the captured image, the index value calculation unit calculates the index value indicating a degree of change between a state of a monitoring target presented before the period of time and a state of the monitoring target displayed after the period of time, and

wherein the presentation unit uses a captured image presented after the period of time as the first captured image.

8. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein when a first partial region of a display screen for displaying the captured image is not included in a screen region corresponding to an eye gaze direction or a face direction of a user viewing the display screen during a certain period of time, the index value calculation unit calculates an index value indicating a degree of change between a state of the monitoring target presented on a first partial region before the period of time and a state of the monitoring target presented in the first partial region after the period of time, and

wherein the presentation unit presents an indication based on the index value calculated for the first partial region on a region presented in the first partial region in the first captured image, using the captured image presented after the period of time as the first captured image.

9. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the index value calculation unit calculates an index value indicating a degree of change in a position of the monitoring target.

10. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the index value calculation unit calculates an index value indicating a degree of change in a frequency at which the monitoring target is shown in the image.

11. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the index value calculation unit calculates an index value indicating a degree of change in a degree of crowdedness of a plurality of objects included in the monitoring target.

12. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the monitoring target includes a queue of objects, and

wherein the index value calculation unit calculates an index value indicating a degree of change in length or speed of the queue.

13. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the index value calculation unit calculates an index value indicating a degree of change in the number of objects included in the monitoring target.

14. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the monitoring target includes a person, and

wherein the index value calculation unit calculates an index value indicating a degree of change in a degree of dissatisfaction of the monitoring target, as the index value of the monitoring target.

15. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the monitoring target includes a person or a place, and

wherein the index value calculation unit calculates an index value indicating a degree of change in a degree of risk of the monitoring target, as the index value of the monitoring target.

16. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the monitoring target includes a person or a place, and

wherein the index value calculation unit calculates an index value indicating a degree of change of how sufficiently the monitoring target is monitored, as the index value of the monitoring target.

17. A monitoring system comprising:

a camera;

a display screen; and

the image processing apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the camera generates a plurality of captured images by performing image capturing at different times, and

wherein the display screen displays the first captured image on which an indication based on the index value is presented by the presentation unit.

19. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising a program causing a computer to operate as the image processing apparatus according to claim 1.

18. An image processing method performed by a computer, the method comprising:

calculating an index value indicating a degree of change in a state of a monitoring target in a plurality of captured images using the captured images, the captured images being captured by a camera at different times; and

presenting an indication based on the index value on a first captured image captured by the camera.

20. An image processing apparatus comprising:

a calculation unit calculating a degree of change in a state of a monitoring target in a plurality of captured images using the captured image, the captured images being captured by a camera at different times; and

a presentation unit changing a color of a region of the captured image into a color based on the calculated degree of change, the region showing the monitoring target.

21. An image processing apparatus comprising:

a calculation unit calculating a degree of change in a state of a monitoring target in a plurality of captured images using the captured image, the captured images being captured by a camera at different times; and

a presentation unit emphasizing a region of the captured image, the region showing the monitoring target.