Image pickup apparatus and image distributing method

• US 20060193534A1
• Filed: 01/17/2006
• Published: 08/31/2006
• 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
• Granted Patent: US 8,160,129 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/291
• 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 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; and

transmission control means for controlling distribution of the video data to the network based on a detection result generated by the moving-object detecting means and the unmoving-object detecting means.

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 or during a predetermined period before/after the detection timing.

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 or during the predetermined period before/after the detection timing.

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 the time when 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 distributing method for distributing a picked up image through a network, the image distributing method comprising the steps of:

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

controlling distribution of the video data to the network based on a detection result of the moving object and the unmoving object.

9. 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 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.