Image pickup apparatus and image distributing method

• US 8,160,129 B2
• Filed: 01/17/2006
• Issued: 04/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Hirose, Toshihiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Liu, Shuwang
• Assistant Examiner(s): HUANG, DAVID S
• Application Number:
  US11/332,208
• Publication Number:
  US 20060193534A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,282 Days
• Field of Search: 375/240.01, 382/232, 382/236, 382/291
• US Class Current: 375/240.01
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19602 Image analysis to detect motion of the intruder, e.g. by frame subtraction
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19606 Discriminating between target movement or movement in an area of interest and other non-signicative movements, e.g. target movements induced by camera shake or movements of pets, falling leaves, rotating fan
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19656 Network used to communicate with a camera, e.g. WAN, LAN, Internet
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19667 Details realated to data compression, encryption or encoding, e.g. resolution modes for reducing data volume to lower transmission bandwidth or memory requirements
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19671 Addition of non-video data, i.e. metadata, to video stream

Abstract

An image pickup apparatus capable of distributing a picked up image through a network is provided. The image pickup apparatus includes an image pickup unit configured to pick up an image of a predetermined monitoring area and output an image signal thereof; a plurality of encoding units configured to simultaneously convert the image signal into video data of different encoding methods; a moving-object detecting unit configured to detect a moving object entered the monitoring area based on the image signal; an unmoving-object detecting unit configured to detect an unmoving object in the monitoring area based on the image signal; and a transmission control unit configured to control distribution of the video data to the network based on a detection result generated by the moving-object detecting unit and the unmoving-object detecting unit.

Claims

1. An image pickup apparatus capable of distributing a picked up image through a network, the image pickup apparatus comprising:

image pickup means for picking up an image of a predetermined monitoring area and outputting an image signal thereof;

a plurality of encoding means for simultaneously converting the image signal into video data of different encoding methods;

moving-object detecting means for detecting a moving object that entered the monitoring area based on the image signal;

unmoving-object detecting means for detecting an unmoving object in the monitoring area based on the image signal, the unmoving object detecting means storing a frame count and a stay period for each unmoving object detected; and

transmission control means for controlling distribution of video data of the unmoving object to the network based on the frame count and the stay period generated by the unmoving-object detecting means, the transmission control means distributing the video data of the unmoving object which includes all video data including the unmoving object and no video data not including the unmoving object based on the frame count and the stay period of the unmoving object.

2. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmission control means distributes the video data encoded by the encoding means only during a period when a moving object is detected by the moving-object detecting means, and when an unmoving object is detected by the unmoving-object detecting means.

3. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the transmission control means distributes data that is encoded at a high compression rate among the video data during the period when a moving object is detected by the moving-object detecting means, and distributes data that is encoded at a low compression rate when an unmoving object is detected by the unmoving-object detecting means.

4. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the moving-object detecting means and the unmoving-object detecting means have a function of generating detection information including at least one of coordinates, size, speed, detection time, and detection condition of a detected moving object or unmoving object in an image, and

wherein the transmission control means distributes the detection information corresponding to a time at which a moving object or unmoving object is detected through the network.

5. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

switching means for switching the encoding methods applied to the video data that is to be output to the network by the transmission control means in accordance with a selection signal from a user terminal connected through the network.

6. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmission control means has a function of controlling synchronization between the video data converted by the encoding means and each detection result generated by the moving-object detecting means and the unmoving-object detecting means based on a frame number assigned to each frame of the image signal.

7. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

recording means for recording the video data.

8. An image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmission control means distributes the video data encoded by the encoding means during a predetermined period before and after the detection of the unmoving object by the unmoving-object detection means.

9. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the transmission control means distributes data that is encoded at a low compression rate during the predetermined period before and after detection of the unmoving object by the unmoving-object detecting means.

10. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmission control means distributes only the video data of the moving object encoded by the encoding means during a period immediately before an unmoving object is detected by the unmoving-object detecting means.

11. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmission control means deletes the video data of the moving object encoded by the encoding means during a period more than a predetermined amount of time before an unmoving object is detected by the unmoving-object detecting means.

12. The image apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmission control means deletes the video data of the moving object encoded by the encoding means during a period ending immediately before the unmoving object is detected by the unmoving-object detecting means.

13. The image apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the moving object detecting means stores a frame count and a stay period for each moving object detected.

14. An image distributing method for distributing a picked up image through a network, the image distributing method comprising:

simultaneously converting an image signal that is obtained by picking up an image of a predetermined monitoring area into video data of different encoding methods;

detecting a moving object entered the monitoring area based on the image signal;

detecting an unmoving object in the monitoring area based on the image signal and storing a frame count and a stay period for each unmoving object detected; and

controlling distribution of video data of the unmoving object to the network based on the frame count and the stay period, the controlling distribution including distributing the video data of the unmoving object which includes all video data including the unmoving object and no video data not including the unmoving object based on the frame count and the stay period of the unmoving object.

15. An image pickup apparatus capable of distributing a picked up image through a network, the image pickup apparatus comprising:

an image pickup unit configured to pick up an image of a predetermined monitoring area and output an image signal;

a plurality of encoding units configured to simultaneously convert the image signal into video data of different encoding methods;

a moving-object detecting unit configured to detect a moving object entered the monitoring area based on the image signal;

an unmoving-object detecting unit configured to detect an unmoving object in the monitoring area based on the image signal, the unmoving object detecting unit configured to store a frame count and a stay period for each unmoving object detected; and

a transmission control unit configured to control distribution of video data of the unmoving object to the network based on the frame count and the stay period generated by the unmoving-object detecting unit, the transmission control unit configured to distribute the video data of the unmoving object which includes all video data including the unmoving object and no video data not including the unmoving object based on the frame count and the stay period of the unmoving object.