Controller for photographing apparatus and photographing system

• US 7,720,359 B2
• Filed: 11/12/2008
• Issued: 05/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Koyanagi, Masakazu, Tamayama, Ken, Hosonuma, Naoyasu, Iijima, Toshiyuki, Tomitaka, Tadafusa
• Primary Examiner(s): Chevalier; Robert
• Application Number:
  US12/269,095
• Publication Number:
  US 20090115841A1
• Time in Patent Office: 552 Days
• Field of Search: 386/107, 386/117, 386/46, 386/124, 386/38, 348/36
• US Class Current: 386/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/635 Region indicators; Field of view indicators
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/661 Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/69 Control of means for changing angle of the field of view, e.g. optical zoom objectives or electronic zooming
• 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 23/698 for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 for receiving images from a single remote source

Abstract

A picture photographed by a camera portion is sent to a video capturing portion of a computer. The picture is displayed in an operation area of a monitor. A panorama picture of which pictures in part or all moving range of a pan tiler are combined is displayed in a panorama operation area. A pan tilter portion sends positional information of pan and tilt to the computer through a mode controller. With a mouse, the operation area and the panorama operation area are operated so as to select an object. The computer obtains data for driving the pan tilter. Thus, the selected object is displayed at the center of the operation area.

Claims

1. A controller, comprising:

a display control unit providing control to display a panorama image display area and an enlarged image display area on one screen, the panorama image display area displaying a panorama image captured by a camera, the enlarged image display area displaying an enlarged image by enlarging a selected area in the panorama image; and

a camera control unit controlling the camera to capture the selected area in the panorama image,

wherein the display control unit displays an image captured by the camera in the enlarged image display area under the control of the camera control unit, and

wherein, when a designated point is selected on the image displayed in the enlarged image display area, the camera control unit controls a capturing direction of the camera so that the designated point is at the center of the enlarged image display area.

2. The controller according to claim 1, wherein the panorama image is generated from images captured a plurality of times by the camera.

3. The controller according to claim 1, wherein the display control unit provides control to display a moving range of the camera on the panorama image.

4. The controller according to claim 2, wherein the display control unit provides control to display a moving range of the camera on the panorama image

5. A controlling method, comprising:

a display control step for providing control to display a panorama image display area and an enlarged image display area on one screen, the panorama image display area displaying a panorama image captured by a camera, the enlarged image display area displaying an enlarged image by enlarging a selected area in the panorama image; and

a camera control step for controlling the camera to capture the selected area in the panorama image,

wherein, in the display control step, an image captured by the camera is displayed in the enlarged image display area under the control of the camera control step, and

wherein, in the camera control step, when a designated point is selected on the image displayed in the enlarged image display area, a capturing direction of the camera is controlled so that the designated point is at the center of the enlarged image display area.

6. The controlling method according to claim 5, wherein the panorama image is generated from images captured a plurality of times by the camera.

7. The controlling method according to claim 5,

wherein, in the display control step, control is provided to display a moving range of the camera on the panorama image.

8. The controlling method according to claim 6,

wherein, in the display control step, control is provided to display a moving range of the camera on the panorama image.

9. A monitoring system, comprising:

a camera;

a display; and

a controller including a display control unit providing control to display a panorama image display area and an enlarged image display area, the panorama image display area displaying a panorama image captured by a camera, the enlarged image display area displaying an enlarged image by enlarging a selected area in the panorama image, and a camera control unit controlling the camera to capture the selected area in the panorama image, wherein the display control unit displays an image captured by the camera in the enlarged image display area under the control of the camera control unit, and wherein, when a designated point is selected on the image displayed in the enlarged image display area, the camera control unit controls a capturing direction of the camera so that the designated point is at the center of the enlarged image display area.