Camera control system, camera server, camera client, control method, and storage medium

• US 6,529,234 B2
• Filed: 10/14/1997
• Issued: 03/04/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Suzuki, Kazuko, Kawai, Tomoaki, Urisaka, Shinya, Yano, Koichi
• Primary Examiner(s): HO, TUAN V
• Application Number:
  US08/950,036
• Publication Number:
  US 20010024233A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,967 Days
• Field of Search: H04/N.5225, 348/207, 348/211, 348/212, 348/213, 348/220, 348/231, 348/239, 348/552, 348/143, 348/159, 348/169, 702/188, 358/442, 358/403, 358/408, 358/909.1, 358/527
• US Class Current: 348/211.99
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/631 Graphical user interfaces [GUI] specially adapted for controlling image capture or setting capture parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/633 for displaying additional information relating to control or operation of the camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/661 Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet
• 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 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

In a system in which a plurality of cameras and microphones, the image pickup directions and audio input directions of which can be remote-controlled, are arranged on a network, when an image pickup inhibited region is set, and when a network client remote-controls a certain camera to pickup a range including the image pickup inhibited region, a portion corresponding to the image pickup inhibited region is not displayed, and sound corresponding to the region is not output.

Claims

1. A camera control system, which has a camera, an angle of which can be controlled, is connected to a predetermined network, and transfers a pickup image by the camera to clients on the network to display the image on display screens of the client devices, comprising:

storage means for storing information indicating levels in units of clients on the network, and information indicating image display inhibited regions for substantially inhibiting displaying image pickup by the camera in units of levels;

detection means for detecting a level of the connected client by referring to said storage means;

determination means for determining if an image pickup range includes the image display inhibited region corresponding to the level of the client; and

inhibition means for, when said determination means determines that the image pickup range includes the image display inhibited region, inhibiting displaying an image corresponding to the image display inhibited region by processing the image picked up by the camera.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein said inhibition means includes modification means for modifying an image in a region corresponding to the image display inhibited region in the pickup image to image quality corresponding to a level of the connected client.

3. The system according to claim 2, wherein said modification means comprises mask means for masking an image.

4. The system according to claim 2, wherein said modification means comprises mosaic means for applying a mosaic pattern to an image, and a pixel block size of the mosaic pattern becomes larger for a client with lower level.

5. A camera control system, which has a camera, an angle of which can be controlled, is connected to a predetermined network, and transfers an image pickup by the camera to clients on the network to display the image on display screens of the client devices, comprising:

storage means for storing information indicating levels in units of clients on the network, and information indicating image display inhibited regions for substantially inhibiting displaying image picked up by the camera in units of levels;

detection means for detecting a level of the connected client by referring to said storage means;

determination means for determining if an image pickup range includes the image display inhibited region corresponding to the level of the client; and

inhibition means for, when said determination means determines that the image pickup range includes the image display inhibited region, inhibiting displaying an image corresponding to the image display inhibited region by processing the image picked up by the camers in units of users of the level.

6. The system according to claim 5, wherein said inhibition means includes modification means for modifying an image in a region corresponding to the image display inhibited region in the pickup image to image quality corresponding to a level of the connected client.

7. The system according to claim 6, wherein said modification means comprises mask means for masking an image.

8. The system according to claim 6, wherein said modification means comprises mosaic means for applying a mosaic pattern to an image, and a pixel block size of the mosaic pattern becomes larger for a client with lower level.

9. The system according to claim 6, further comprising audio detection means for detecting sound, and

wherein when said determination means determines the image pickup range includes the image display inhibited region, said inhibition means also inhibits audio information detected by said audio detection means from being transferred.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein said audio detection means includes a microphone, a directivity, detection direction, and input sensitivity of which can be controlled, at least the detection direction being changed in correspondence with an image pickup direction of the camera.

11. A camera control system, which has a camera, an angle of which can be controlled, is connected to a predetermined network, and transfers an image pickup by the camera to clients on the network to display the image on display screens of the client devices, comprising:

storing means for storing information indicating levels in units of clients on the network, and information indicating image display inhibited regions for substantially inhibiting displaying image picked up by the camera in units of levels;

detection means for detecting a lowest level amoung connected clients by referring to said storage means;

determination means for determining if an image pickup range includes the image display inhibited region corresponding to the level detected by said detection means; and

inhibition means for, when said determination means determines that the image pickup range includes the image display inhibited region, inhibiting displaying an image corresponding to the image display inhibited region by processing the image picked up by the camera in units of users of the level.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein said inhibition means includes modification means for modifying an image in a region corresponding to the image display region in the picked up image to image quality corresponding to the detected lowest level.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein said modification means comprises mosaic means for applying a mosaic pattern to an image, and a pixel block size of the mosaic pattern becomes larger for a client with lower level. ******further comprising status information transmission means for transmitting information indicating the audio detection characteristics of said microphone and angle information of the camera to the connected clients, and

wherein each of the clients displays camera and microphone icons on a predetermined map on the basis of the received angle information of the camera and the audio detection characteristic information of said microphone.

14. The system according to claim 11, further comprising audio detection means for detecting sound, and

wherein said determination means determines that the image pickup range includes the image display inhibited region, said inhibition means also inhibits audio information detected by said audio detection means from being transferred. ********an angle of which can be controlled, is connected to a predetermined network, and transfers an image pickup by the camera to clients on the network to display the image on display screens of the client devices, comprising:

storage means for storing information indicating levels in units of clients on the network, and information indicating image pickup inhibited regions for substantially inhibiting pickup image in units of levels;

detection means for detecting a lowest level among the connected clients by referring to said storage means;

determination means for determining if an image pickup range includes the image pickup inhibited region corresponding to the level detected by said detection means; and

inhibition means for, when said determination means determines that the image pickup range includes the image pickup inhibited region, inhibiting image data corresponding to the image pickup inhibited region in the image to be picked up from being transferred in units of users of the level.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein said audio detection means includes a microphone, audio detection characteristics including a directivity, detection direction, and input sensitivity of which can be controlled, at least the detection direction being changed in correspondence with an image pickup direction of the camera.

16. The system according to claim 15, further comprising status information transmission means for transmitting information indicating the audio detection characteristics of said microphone and angle information of the camera to the connected clients, and

wherein each of the clients displays camera and microphone icons on a predetermined map on the basis of the received angle information of the camera and the audio detection characteristic information of said microphone.

17. A storage medium readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program means for controlling a remote camera server, with a camera, on a network and transferring an image from said camera for receiving and displaying by a connected client on the network comprising:

storage means for storing group level information for each client on the network and group level control limitation information associated with each group level;

detection means for detecting a group level to which a connected client belongs by referring to said group level information stored by said storage means;

determination means for determining the group level control information stored by said storage means and associated with said group level detected by said detection means; and

,

control means for allowing said connected client detected by said detection means to receive and display images transferred by said camera of said remote camera server in accordance with the group level control limitation information determined by said determination means.

18. A method for controlling a camera system, which has a camera, an angle of which can be controlled, is connected to a predetermined network, and transfers an image pickup by the camera to clients on the network to display the image on display screens of the client device, comprising:

a storage step for storing information indicating levels in units of clients on the network, and information indicating image display inhibited regions for substantially inhibiting displaying image picked up by the camera in units of levels;

a detection step for detecting a lowest level among the connected clients by referring to the information stored in the storage step;

a determination step for determining if an image pickup range includes the image display inhibited region corresponding to the level detected in the detection step; and

an inhibition step for, when said determination step determines that the image pickup range includes the image display inhibited region, inhibiting displaying an image corresponding to the image display inhibited region by processing the image picked up by the camera in units of users of the level.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein said inhibition step includes a modification step for modifying an image in a region corresponding to the image pickup inhibited region in the picked up image to image quality corresponding to the detected lowest level.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein said modification step comprises a mosaic step for applying a mosaic pattern to an image, and a pixel block size of the mosaic pattern becomes larger for a client with lower level.

21. The method according to claim 18, further comprising an audio detection step for detecting sound;

and

wherein when said determination step determines that the image pickup range includes the image pickup inhibited region, said inhibition step also inhibits audio information detected by said audio detection step from being transferred.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein said audio detection step includes a microphone, audio detection characteristics including a directivity, detection direction, and input sensitivity of which can be controlled, at least the detection direction being changed in correspondence with an image pickup direction of the camera.

23. The method according to claim 22, further comprising a status information transmission step for transmitting information indicating the audio detection characteristic of said microphone and angle information of the camera to the connected clients;

and

wherein each of the clients displays camera and microphone icons on a predetermined map on the basis of the received angle information of the camera and the audio detection characteristic information of said microphone.

24. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a method for controlling a camera system, which has a camera, an angle of which can be controlled, is connected to a predetermined network, and transfers an image pickup by the camera to clients on the network to display the image on display screens of the client device, comprising:

a storage step for storing information indicating levels in units of clients on the network, and information indicating image display inhibited regions for substantially inhibiting displaying image picked up by the camera in units of levels;

a detection step for detecting a lowest level among the connected clients by referring to the information stored in the storage step;

a determination step for determining if an image pickup range includes the image display inhibited region corresponding to the level detected in the detection step; and

an inhibition step for, when said determination step determines that the image pickup range includes the image display inhibited region, inhibiting displaying an image corresponding to the image display inhibited region by processing the image picked up by the camera in units of users of the level.

25. The device according to claim 24, wherein said inhibition step includes a modification step for modifying an image in a region corresponding to the image pickup inhibited region in the picked up image to image quality corresponding to the detected lowest level.

26. The device according to claim 25, wherein said modification step comprises a mosaic step for applying a mosaic pattern to an image, and a pixel block size of the mosaic pattern becomes larger for a client with lower level.

27. The device according to claim 24, further comprising an audio detection step for detecting sound;

and

wherein when said determination step determines that the image pickup range includes the image pickup inhibited region, said inhibition step also inhibits audio information detected by said audio detection step from being transferred.

28. The device according to claim 27, wherein said audio detection step includes a microphone, audio detection characteristics including a directivity, detection direction, and input sensitivity of which can be controlled, at least the detection direction being changed in correspondence with an image pickup direction of the camera.

29. The device according to claim 28, further comprising a status information transmission step for transmitting information indicating the audio detection characteristic of said microphone and angle information of the camera to the connected clients;

and

wherein each of the clients displays camera and microphone icons on a predetermined map on the basis of the received angle information of the camera and the audio detection characteristic information of said microphone.

30. A camera control system, which has a camera, an angle of which can be controlled, is connected to a predetermined network, and transfers a pickup image by the camera to clients on the network to display the image on display screens on client devices, comprising:

a storage unit which stores information indicating levels in units of clients on the network, and information indicating image display inhibited regions for substantially inhibiting displaying the image pickup by the camera in units of levels; and

a control unit arranged to detect a level of the connected client by referring to said storage unit to determine if an image pickup range includes the image display inhibited region corresponding to the level of the client, when said control unit determines that the image pickup range includes the image display inhibited region, said control unit inhibits displaying an image corresponding to the image display inhibited region by processing the image picked up by the camera.

31. The system according to claim 30, wherein said control unit modifies an image in region corresponding to the image display inhibited region in the pickup image to image quality corresponding to a level of the connected client.

32. A method for controlling a camera system, which has a camera, an angle of which can be controlled, is connected to a predetermined network, and transfers an image pickup by the camera to clients on the network to display the image on display screens of the client devices, comprising:

a storage step of storing information indicating levels in units of clients on the network, and information indicating image display inhibited regions for substantially inhibiting displaying image by the camera in units of levels;

a detection step of detecting a level of the connected client by referring to the information stored in said storage step;

a determination step of determining if an image pickup range includes the image display inhibited region corresponding to the level detected in the detection step; and

an inhibition step of, when said determination step determines that the image pickup range includes the image display inhibited region, inhibiting displaying an image data corresponding to the image display inhibited region by processing the image picked up by the camera.

33. A control apparatus, which is connected to a camera, transfers a pickup image by the camera to clients on a network to display the image on a display screen on the clients, comprising:

a storage device which stores information about clients and image-modified regions which are modified in an image picked up by the camera corresponding to each client; and

a control unit arranged to modify the image corresponding to an image-modified region in accordance with detecting an image modified region corresponding to a connected client referring to said storage device.

34. The apparatus according to claim 33, wherein a field of view of the camera is operated by each client.

35. The apparatus according to claim 34, wherein said control unit modifies the image corresponding to operating the field of view of the camera.

36. The apparatus according to claim 33, wherein said control unit modifies the image by masking an image in the image-modifed region.

37. The apparatus according to claim 33, wherein said control unit modifies the image by applying a mosaic pattern to an image in the image-modified region.

38. The apparatus according to claim 33, wherein said control unit modifies the image corresponding to a level of the connected client.

39. The apparatus according to claim 33, wherein said control unit modifies resolution of the image in the image-modified region corresponding to the connected client.

40. The method according to claim 33, wherein the image is modified by applying a mosaic pattern to an image in the image-modified region.

41. The method accoridng to claim 33, wherein the image is modified corresponding to a level of the connected client.

42. The method according to claim 33, wherein the resolution of the image in the image-modified region is modified corresponding to the connected client.

43. A method for controlling a transfer of a pickup image by a connected camera to clients on a network to display the image on a display screen on the clients, comprising:

detecting an image-modified region corresponding to a connected client referring to a storage unit which stores information about clients and image-modified regions which are modified in an image picked up by the camera corresponding to each client;

modifying the image corresponding to an image-modified region in accordance with detecting an image-modified region corresponding to a connected client referring to said storage unit.

44. The method according to claim 43, wherein a field of view of the camera is operated by each client.

45. The method according to claim 43, wherein the image is modified corresponding to operating the field of view of the camera.

46. The method according to claim 43, wherein the image is modified by masking an image in the image-modified region.

47. A storage medium that stores a program to make a control apparatus transfer of an image picked up by a camera to clients, storing program for,

detecting an image-modified region corresponding to a connected client referring to a storage unit which stores information about clients and image-modified regions which are modified in an image picked up by the camera corresponding to each client;

modifying the image corresponding to an image-modified region in accordance with detecting an image-modified region corresponding to a connected client referring to said storage unit.

48. The storage medium according to claim 47, wherein a field view of the camera is operated by each client.

49. The storage medium according to claim 47, wherein the image is modified corresponding to operating the field of view of the camera.

50. The storage medium according to claim 47, wherein the iamge is modified by masking an image in the image-modified region.

51. The storage medium according to claim 47, wherein the image is modified by applying a mosaic pattern to an image in the image-modified region.

52. The storage medium according to claim 47, wherein the iamge is modified corresponding to a level of the connected client.

53. The storage medium according to claim 47, wherein resolution of the image in the image-modified region is modified corresponding to the connected client.