SURVEILLANCE CAMERA SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20110141279A1
• Filed: 04/19/2010
• Published: 06/16/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Inventors: Cheng, Chen-Chin
• Application Number:
  US12/763,194
• Publication Number:
  US 20110141279A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/143
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/58 Means for changing the camera field of view without moving the camera body, e.g. nutating or panning of optics or image sensors
• 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

Abstract

A surveillance camera system including an optical imaging apparatus, a first reflective device and a second reflective device is provided. The optical imaging apparatus is capable of switching between a first magnification level and a second magnification level. The first reflection device is disposed at a position relative to the optical imaging apparatus for guiding a first field of view into the optical imaging apparatus, wherein the first reflective device has an opening region. The second reflective device is disposed within the opening region of the first reflection device for guiding a second field of view into the optical imaging apparatus. The second reflection device can have a relative motion relative to the first reflection device.

Claims

1. A surveillance camera system, comprising:

an optical imaging apparatus, capable of switching between a first magnification level and a second magnification level;

a first reflective device, disposed at a position relative to the optical imaging apparatus, for guiding a first field of view into the optical imaging apparatus, wherein the first reflective device has an opening region; and

a second reflective device, disposed within the opening region of the first reflection device, for guiding a second field of view into the optical imaging apparatus, wherein the second reflective device is capable of performing a relative motion relative to the first reflective device.

2. The surveillance camera system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second reflective device comprises a pan-tilt device capable of performing two-axis rotations relative to the first reflective device.

3. The surveillance camera system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the relative motion of the second reflective device relative to the first reflective device comprises a translation motion.

4. The surveillance camera system as claimed in claim 1, wherein a first angle is formed between a reflective plane of the first reflective device and an incident optical axis of the optical imaging apparatus.

5. The surveillance camera system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the first angle is in a range of 30-60 degrees.

6. The surveillance camera system as claimed in claim 4, wherein a reflection plane of the second reflective device is capable of performing two-axis rotations relative to an incident optical axis of the optical imaging apparatus.

7. The surveillance camera system as claimed in claim 1, wherein imaging is implemented through the first reflective device based on the first magnification level of the optical imaging apparatus.

8. The surveillance camera system as claimed in claim 1, wherein imaging is implemented through the second reflective device based on the second magnification level of the optical imaging apparatus.

9. The surveillance camera system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second reflective device is rotated to set both reflection planes of the first reflective device and the second reflective device in parallel, and the second reflective device with the first reflective device forms a common reflection plane for simultaneously reflecting the first field of view and the second field of view to the optical imaging apparatus.

10. The surveillance camera system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the second reflective device is capable of performing a translation motion to compensate a phenomenon that a part of light beam from a monitored region is blocked by the first reflection device after the second reflection device is rotated.

11. The surveillance camera system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first magnification level is a wide-angle focal length, and the second magnification level is a telephoto focal length.

12. The surveillance camera system as claimed in claim 1, wherein a shape of the second reflection device is similar to a shape of the opening region of the first reflection device, and the second reflection device is capable of rotating within the opening region.

13. The surveillance camera system as claimed in claim 1, wherein a size of the second reflective device corresponds to a viewing angle range of the second magnification level of the optical imaging apparatus.

14. The surveillance camera system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the optical imaging apparatus is switched between the first magnification level and the second magnification level in a fixed frequency, and the second reflective device is also rotated for two angles according to the fixed frequency, to obtain two sets of video surveillance images.

15. The surveillance camera system as claimed in claim 14, wherein the reflection plane of the second reflection device is rotated at one of the two angles to be conformal to the reflection plane of the first reflective device.

16. A surveillance camera method, comprising:

providing an optical imaging apparatus capable of switching between a first magnification level and a second magnification level;

disposing a first reflective device at a position relative to the optical imaging apparatus for guiding a first field of view into the optical imaging apparatus, wherein the first reflective device has an opening region;

disposing a second reflective device within the opening region of the first reflection device for guiding a second field of view into the optical imaging apparatus, wherein the second reflective device is capable of performing a relative motion relative to the first reflective device;

rotating the second reflective device to change an angle between the second reflective device and the optical imaging apparatus during the relative motion; and

switching the optical imaging apparatus to one of the first magnification level and the second magnification level to perform imaging.

17. The surveillance camera method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the motion of rotating the second reflection device comprises performing two-axis rotations relative to an optical axis of the optical imaging apparatus.

18. The surveillance camera method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the relative motion of the second reflective device comprises translating the second reflection device to compensate a phenomenon that a part of light beam from a surveillance region is blocked by the first reflective device after the second reflective device is rotated.

19. The surveillance camera method as claimed in claim 17, wherein a first angle is formed between a reflection plane of the first reflective device and an incident optical axis of the optical imaging apparatus.

20. The surveillance camera method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the first angle is fixed to about 45 degrees.

21. The surveillance camera method as claimed in claim 20, wherein the motion of rotating the second reflection device comprises rotating the second reflection device to change a second angle between a reflection plane of the second reflective device and the incident optical axis of the optical imaging device.

22. The surveillance camera method as claimed in claim 20, wherein when the first field of view is captured through the first reflective device, the optical imaging device is switched to the first magnification level.

23. The surveillance camera method as claimed in claim 20, wherein when the second field of view is captured through the second reflective device, the optical imaging device is switched to the second magnification level.

24. The surveillance camera method as claimed in claim 20, wherein the motion of rotating the second reflection device comprises rotating the second reflective device to be set in parallel with the first reflective device, so that the second reflection device and the first reflection device form a common reflection plane for simultaneously reflecting the first field of view and the second field of view to the optical imaging apparatus.

25. The surveillance camera method as claimed in claim 20, further comprising translating the second reflective device to compensate a phenomenon that a part of light beam from a monitored region is blocked by the first reflective device after the second reflective device is rotated.

26. The surveillance camera method as claimed in claim 20, wherein the optical imaging apparatus is switched between the first magnification level and the second magnification level in a fixed frequency, and the second reflective device is also rotated between two angles according to the fixed frequency, to obtain two sets of dynamic surveillance images.