Multiple view and multiple object processing in wide-angle video camera
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A video camera system, comprising:
- a wide-angle camera system configured to generate a digital video image using a lens providing an approximate hemispherical field of view and an image sensor, the digital video image distorted by the lens;
an image processing circuit that receives said distorted digital image, and corrects optical distortion in portions of said distorted digital image correlating to at least one automatically generated virtual camera simultaneously detecting and tracking objects within said digital video image, while continuing to track previously detected objects,a control circuit that transmits commands to the image processing circuit, the image processing circuit executing said commands by correcting optical distortion to emulate pan, tilt, or zoom commands in corresponding ones of at least one specified virtual camera without interrupting said detecting and tracking;
a command received at the camera in a data packet used on a network;
a digital image transmitted from the camera in a data packet used on the network; and
the data packets are addressed using a network address,wherein said automatically generated virtual camera and said specified virtual camera correspond to portions within and smaller than said digital video image, andwherein said image processing circuit and/or said control circuit sends at least one of said automatically generated virtual cameras and at least one of said specified virtual cameras to an output.
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Abstract
Methods and systems of transmitting a plurality of views from a video camera are disclosed. A multi object processing camera captures a wide-angle field of view in high resolution and a processing circuit executes a plurality of software tasks on a plurality of regions extracted from the wide-angle view. Multiple objects can be processed by the camera to detect various events, and the results of the processing transmitted to a base station. The camera removes the need for mechanical pan, tilt, and zoom apparatus by correcting distortions in the electronic image introduced by the wide-angle optical system and image sensor to electronically emulate the pan, tilt, and zoom movement.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A video camera system, comprising:
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a wide-angle camera system configured to generate a digital video image using a lens providing an approximate hemispherical field of view and an image sensor, the digital video image distorted by the lens; an image processing circuit that receives said distorted digital image, and corrects optical distortion in portions of said distorted digital image correlating to at least one automatically generated virtual camera simultaneously detecting and tracking objects within said digital video image, while continuing to track previously detected objects, a control circuit that transmits commands to the image processing circuit, the image processing circuit executing said commands by correcting optical distortion to emulate pan, tilt, or zoom commands in corresponding ones of at least one specified virtual camera without interrupting said detecting and tracking; a command received at the camera in a data packet used on a network; a digital image transmitted from the camera in a data packet used on the network; and the data packets are addressed using a network address, wherein said automatically generated virtual camera and said specified virtual camera correspond to portions within and smaller than said digital video image, and wherein said image processing circuit and/or said control circuit sends at least one of said automatically generated virtual cameras and at least one of said specified virtual cameras to an output. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A video camera system comprising:
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a wide-angle optical unit connected to an image sensor and a capture circuit configured to capture a wide-angle field of view video image; a processing circuit which; detects one or more events, maintaining said detection within said field of view; generates at least one automatically generated virtual camera monitoring regions of interest within the digital video image, ones of said regions of interest corresponding to said events; receives movement and zoom commands and generates at least one specified virtual camera corresponding to said commands without interrupting said detection, said automatically generated virtual camera and said specified virtual camera corresponding to portions within and smaller than said video image; dewarps at least one of said automatically generated virtual cameras and said specified virtual cameras; sends at least one of said automatically generated virtual cameras and at least one of said specified virtual cameras, at least one of which are dewarped, to an output; a command received at the optical unit in a data packet used on a network; a digital image transmitted from the optical unit in a data packet used on the network; and the data packets are addressed using a network address. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A video camera system, comprising:
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a wide-angle camera system configured to generate a digital video image using a lens providing an approximate hemispherical field of view and an image sensor, the digital video image distorted by the lens; an image processing circuit that receives said distorted digital image, and corrects optical distortion in portions of said distorted digital image correlating to at least one automatically generated virtual camera simultaneously detecting and tracking objects within said digital video image, while continuing to track previously detected objects; a control circuit that transmits commands to the image processing circuit, the image processing circuit executing said commands by correcting optical distortion to emulate pan, tilt, or zoom commands in corresponding ones of at least one specified virtual camera without interrupting said detecting and tracking, wherein said tracking includes tracking object movement, wherein the object'"'"'s spatial coordinates and/or trajectory can be transmitted to one or more base stations or other cameras, wherein said automatically generated virtual camera and said specified virtual camera correspond to portions within and smaller than said digital video image, and wherein said image processing circuit and/or said control circuit sends at least one of said automatically generated virtual cameras and at least one of said specified virtual cameras to an output. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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20. A video camera system comprising:
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a wide-angle optical unit connected to an image sensor and a capture circuit configured to capture a wide-angle field of view video image; and a processing circuit which; detects one or more events, maintaining said detection within said field of view; generates at least one automatically generated virtual camera monitoring regions of interest within the digital video image, ones of said regions of interest corresponding to said events; receives movement and zoom commands and generates at least one specified virtual camera corresponding to said commands without interrupting said detection, said automatically generated virtual camera and said specified virtual camera corresponding to portions within and smaller than said video image; dewarps at least one of said automatically generated virtual cameras and said specified virtual cameras; and sends at least one of said automatically generated virtual cameras and at least one of said specified virtual cameras, at least one of which are dewarped, to an output, wherein said monitoring includes tracking object movement, and wherein the object'"'"'s spatial coordinates and/or trajectory can be transmitted to one or more base stations or other cameras.
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Specification