Monitoring method and camera

• US 9,270,893 B2
• Filed: 12/18/2013
• Issued: 02/23/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Axis AB (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Axis AB (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Nystrom, Johan
• Primary Examiner(s): Senfi, Behrooz
• Assistant Examiner(s): VAZQUEZ COLON, MARIA E
• Application Number:
  US14/133,105
• Publication Number:
  US 20140168432A1
• Time in Patent Office: 797 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/673 based on contrast or high frequency components of image signals, e.g. hill climbing method
• 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 23/70 Circuitry for compensating brightness variation in the scene
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 for receiving images from a single remote source
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/188 Capturing isolated or intermittent images triggered by the occurrence of a predetermined event, e.g. an object reaching a predetermined position signal generation from motion picture films H04N5/253

Abstract

A monitoring camera arranged to monitor a scene and a method of controlling camera settings for a monitoring camera arranged to monitor a scene wherein images are captured of different parts of the scene by altering a field of view of the camera, wherein data defining a camera settings control area within the scene is accessed, and it is determined if there is an overlapping region between a current field of view of the camera and the camera settings control area, and if there is an overlapping region, camera settings are controlled based on the overlapping region.

Claims

1. A method of controlling camera settings for a camera arranged to capture images of a scene, the method comprising:

detecting a current field of view of the camera within the scene;

accessing data that indicates a first image control area and a second image control area of the camera within the scene;

determining, by circuitry of the camera, whether the current field of view overlaps with both the first image control area and the second image control area; and

adjusting, when the current field of view overlaps with both the first image control area and the second image control area, image capture settings of the camera by selecting one of a first overlapping region and a second overlapping region based on region properties for the first and second overlapping regions, and adjusting the image capture settings based on the selected overlapping region, wherein

the first overlapping region is a portion of the current field of view that overlaps with the first image control area,

the second overlapping region is a portion of the current field of view that overlaps with the second image control area, and

the region properties include at least one of;

size of region, amount of detected motion in region, a priority setting for the image control area corresponding to the respective region.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the image capture settings include at least one of:

focus settings, exposure settings, white balance settings, IR cut filter mode and iris control settings.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the adjusting of the image capture settings comprises automatically adjusting the image capture settings according to image data captured by the camera in the selected overlapping region.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the adjusting of the image capture settings comprises:

accessing data relating to predefined camera settings values related to the first and second image control areas, and

adjusting the image capture settings according to the predefined camera settings values.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting image capture settings for the one of the first and second image capture control areas, wherein

the adjusting of the image capture settings comprises controlling the selected image capture settings.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein

the data indicates both the first image control area and the second image control area according to a coordinate system for the scene, and

the adjusting the image capture settings comprises comparing, in the coordinate system for the scene, coordinates of both the first image control area and the second image control area to coordinate of the current field of view.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein

the camera includes a light source, and

the image capture settings include lighting settings for the light source.

7. A camera arranged to monitor a scene, the camera comprising;

circuitry that

detects a current field of view of the camera within the scene;

receive data that indicates a first image control area and a second image control area of the camera within the scene;

determine whether the current field of view overlaps with both the first image control area and the second image control area; and

adjust, when the current field of view overlaps with both the first image control area and the second image control area, image capture settings of the camera by selecting one of a first overlapping region and a second overlapping region based on region properties for the first and second overlapping regions, and adjusting the image capture settings based on the selected overlapping region, wherein

the first overlapping region is a portion of the current field of view that overlaps with the image control area,

the second overlapping region is a portion of the current field of view that overlaps with the second image control area, and

the region properties include at least one of;

size of region, amount of detected motion in region, a priority setting for the image control area corresponding to the respective region.

8. The camera of claim 7, further comprising a motor, wherein

the circuitry controls the motor to adjust the field of view of the camera in at least one of a pan, tilt or zoom direction.

9. The camera of claim 7, wherein the circuitry automatically adjusts the image capture settings according to image data captured by the camera in the selected overlapping region.

10. The monitoring camera of claim 7, wherein

the circuitry receives data relating to predefined camera settings values related to the first and second image control areas, and

the circuitry adjusts the image capture settings according to the predefined values.

11. The camera of claim 7, wherein the data that indicates the first and second image control areas is based on user input.

12. The camera of claim 7, wherein

the data indicates both the first image control area and the second image control area according to a coordinate system for the scene, and

the circuitry compares coordinate of both the first image control area and the second image control area to coordinate of the current field of view in the coordinate system for the scene.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing executable instructions that, when executed by circuitry of a camera arranged to capture images of a scene, cause the circuitry to:

detect a current field of view of the camera within the scene;

access data that indicates a first image control area and a second image control area of the camera within the scene;

determine whether the current field of view overlaps with both the first image control area and the second image control area; and

adjust, when the current field of view overlaps with both the first image control area and the second image control area, image capture settings of the camera by selecting one of a first overlapping region and a second overlapping region based on region properties for the first and second overlapping regions, and adjusting the image capture settings based on the selected overlapping region, wherein

the first overlapping region is a portion of the current field of view that overlaps with the first image control area,

the second overlapping region is a portion of the current field of view that overlaps with the second image control area, and

the region properties include at least one of;

size of region, amount of detected motion in region, a priority setting for the image control area corresponding to the respective region.