Image surveillance apparatus, image surveillance method, and image surveillance processing program

• US 7,260,241 B2
• Filed: 06/11/2002
• Issued: 08/21/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Fukuhara, Yoshio, Kumata, Kiyoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Mancuso; Joseph
• Assistant Examiner(s): Akhavannik; Hadi
• Application Number:
  US10/167,258
• Publication Number:
  US 20020196962A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,897 Days
• Field of Search: 348/36, 348/143, 382/103
• US Class Current: 382/103
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19602 Image analysis to detect motion of the intruder, e.g. by frame subtraction
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19604 involving reference image or background adaptation with time to compensate for changing conditions, e.g. reference image update on detection of light level change
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19628 of wide angled cameras and camera groups, e.g. omni-directional cameras, fish eye, single units having multiple cameras achieving a wide angle view
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1963 Arrangements allowing camera rotation to change view, e.g. pivoting camera, pan-tilt and zoom [PTZ]
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19673 Addition of time stamp, i.e. time metadata, to video stream

Abstract

An image surveillance apparatus includes: an imaging section including a convex mirror having a shape of a body of rotation, the imaging section obtaining an image of an omniazimuthal region and generating image data of the omniazimuthal region; a surveillance region setting section for setting a surveillance region in the image data of the omniazimuthal region which is obtained from the imaging section; an image processing section for performing image processing according to determination information obtained from a comparison/determination between background image data obtained by the imaging section in advance, which is used as a reference that represents a normal state of the surveillance region, and current image data obtained by the imaging section at a predetermined time interval; and a surveillance information output section for outputting surveillance information according to the determination information.

Claims

1. An image surveillance apparatus, comprising:

an imaging section including a convex mirror having a shape of a body of rotation, the imaging section obtaining an image of an omniazimuthal region and generating image data of the omniazimuthal region;

a surveillance region setting section for setting a surveillance region in the image data of the omniazimuthal region which is obtained from the imaging section, wherein at least one coordinate is designated for defining the surveillance region as a predetermined area of the image less than the entire image

an image processing section for performing image processing according to determination information obtained from a comparison/determination between background image data obtained by the imaging section in advance, which is used as a reference that represents a normal state of the surveillance region, and current image data obtained by the imaging section at a predetermined time interval; and

a surveillance information output section for outputting surveillance information according to the determination information.

2. An image surveillance apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the surveillance information output section is an image output section.

3. An image surveillance apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image processing section includes:

an image comparison section for comparing the background image data and the current image data;

a determination section for determining the presence/absence of an object to be examined based on a comparison result of the image comparison section; and

an image conversion section for performing certain image conversion processing based on the determination result of the determination section.

4. An image surveillance apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the surveillance region setting section sets a plurality of surveillance regions.

5. An image surveillance apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image processing section converts the image data of the omniazimuthal region, which is obtained by the imaging section, into panoramic image data or perspective converted image data.

6. An image surveillance apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an alarm information output section for outputting alarm information when the image processing section determines that the current image data is different from the background image data.

7. An image surveillance apparatus according to claim 3, wherein:

the image comparison section generates comparison result image data based on a difference between the background image data and the current image data; and

the determination section performs projection processing based on a comparison result for each surveillance region.

8. An image surveillance apparatus according to claim 1, wherein time information, which indicates the time when the background image data was obtained, is attached to the background image data.

9. An image surveillance apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the image data obtained by the imaging section is circular image data; and

the surveillance region is set based on a polar coordinate system where a center of the circular image data is an origin of the system.

10. An image surveillance apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the image data obtained by the imaging section is circular image data; and

a ring-shaped region is set as the surveillance region by designating two distances from a center of the circular image data.

11. An image surveillance apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the image data obtained by the imaging section is circular image data; and

a pair of symmetric regions are set as the surveillance regions by designating two distances from a center of the circular image data and two central angles.

12. An image surveillance method using an imaging section which includes a convex mirror having a shape of a body of rotation, the imaging section obtaining an image of an omniazimuthal region, comprising:

a surveillance region setting step of setting a desired surveillance region in omniazimuthal image data obtained by the imaging section, the surveillance region setting step including designating at least one coordinate for defining the surveillance region as a predetermined area of the image less than the entire image;

a background image setting step of setting a plurality of image data obtained by the imaging section as background image data which are used as a reference that represent a normal state of the surveillance region; and

a surveillance step of surveilling the presence/absence of an abnormal event in the surveillance region based on a comparison result between the plurality of background image data and current image data obtained by the imaging section at a predetermined time interval.

13. An image surveillance method according to claim 12, further comprising a background image update step of updating the background image data when a predetermined time has elapsed after the setting of the background image data based on the predetermined elapsed time.

14. An image surveillance method according to claim 13, wherein the surveillance step includes:

a difference-binarized image generation step of acquiring the current image data obtained at a predetermined time interval, and generating difference-binarized image data based on a comparison performed for each surveillance region between the current image data and the background image data;

a projection step of performing projection processing on the difference-binarized image data for each surveillance region;

a maximum value calculation step of summing up data obtained by the projection processing and calculating a maximum value of the summed-up result;

a determination step of determining whether or not the calculated maximum value is greater than a predetermined threshold value; and

an alarming step of outputting at least an alarm or converted image data produced from current image data in a certain region when it is determined that the calculated maximum value is greater than the predetermined threshold value.

15. An image surveillance method according to claim 13, further comprising a storage step of storing the current image data as a background image candidate in a storage section when it is determined in the determination step that the calculated maximum value is not greater than the predetermined threshold value.

16. An image surveillance processing program embodied in a computer-readable medium for executing the image surveillance method recited in claim 12.