JP2008160617A - Monitoring camera apparatus and monitoring camera system using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a monitoring camera apparatus capable of detecting by itself an abnormality with injustice tricks by an intruder and to take appropriate countermeasures. <P>SOLUTION: The monitoring camera apparatus 10 is constituted by providing a light emission part 105 which outputs prescribed irradiation light from the vicinity of an imaging part 101 toward the outside of the apparatus; an abnormality detection part 104 which judges whether or not the irradiation light of the light emission part 105 is received by the imaging part 101 by analyzing an imaging signal and detects that visibility of the imaging part 101 is interrupted on the basis of its judgment result and an injustice trick countervailing means for exercising prescribed countermeasures (such as output of an alarm tone) against the injustice tricks when visibility interference of the imaging part 101 is detected. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a monitoring camera device and a monitoring camera system using the same.

  In recent years, surveillance camera systems have been widely introduced as means for monitoring criminal activities such as theft in stores, office buildings, condominiums, factories, and the like.

  In the above-described surveillance camera system, in general, one or a plurality of surveillance camera devices are installed in each surveillance target area, the state of the area is photographed, and the obtained imaging signal is transmitted to a surveillance room (a guard room or a management room). It is configured to be centrally managed (displayed and recorded) in a human room.

As an example of the related art related to the above, Patent Document 1 describes a monitoring camera that monitors a monitoring target area and the brightness in the monitoring target area based on a video signal output from the monitoring camera. A first detection unit that generates and outputs a first detection signal to be output, and a position away from the lens portion of the monitoring camera, and detects the brightness of the monitoring target area and obtains it A second detection unit that generates and outputs a second detection signal corresponding to brightness, the first detection signal, and the second detection signal are input, and the monitoring is performed based on each detection signal. There has been disclosed and proposed a surveillance camera system including a determination unit that determines whether there is an abnormality in a camera.
JP 2000-299850 A

  Certainly, the introduction of the above conventional surveillance camera system allows the supervisor to check the state of the monitored area while staying in the monitoring room, thus reducing the time and labor required to visit the monitored area directly. It becomes possible to do.

  However, in recent years, an increasing number of intruders in surveillance areas covered crimes such as theft after the surveillance camera device was covered with cloth to block the field of view and disabled remote monitoring of the area. ing.

  At this time, in the monitoring room, the monitor video of the monitoring target area is interrupted, but the monitoring person is not always gazing at this, and it may be delayed to notice the abnormality of the monitoring camera device. There was often.

  Also, even if the observer notices an abnormality in the surveillance camera device without delay, whether the cause of this video blockage is due to an intruder's destructive work (interfering work), the monitoring area being turned off, or the surveillance camera Since it is impossible to immediately recognize whether the device is faulty, there was a risk that the express to the monitoring target area would be delayed by neglecting the situation.

  In addition, there will be a time lag until the security guard arrives at the monitoring area after the monitoring person notices an abnormality in the monitoring camera device, but in the meantime, in the monitoring area, any intruder may be restrained. The intruder had already finished the crime and escaped when the guard arrived at the surveillance area because he could not permit it and allowed the crime freely.

  Note that the prior art of Patent Document 1 only detects an abnormality in the monitoring camera device on the monitoring room side and issues an alarm to the monitoring room based on this, and the monitoring camera device itself has no new configuration. Was not disclosed. Moreover, in the prior art of patent document 1, since it was necessary to install a light quantity sensor separately in the position away from the monitoring camera, it resulted in raising the introduction cost of the monitoring camera system.

  In view of the above-described problems, the present invention provides a monitoring camera device capable of detecting an abnormality caused by an intruder's unauthorized work and taking appropriate countermeasures, and a monitoring camera system using the same. For the purpose.

  In order to achieve the above object, a monitoring camera device according to the present invention is a monitoring camera device that captures an image of a monitoring target area with an imaging unit and sends the obtained imaging signal to the outside of the device. A light emitting unit that outputs predetermined irradiation light from the vicinity of the apparatus to the outside of the apparatus, and whether the irradiation light of the light emitting unit is received by the imaging unit by analyzing the imaging signal, and the determination An anomaly detection unit that detects that the field of view of the imaging unit is blocked based on a result, and an unauthorized operation countermeasure unit that activates a predetermined unauthorized operation countermeasure when a visual field disturbance of the imaging unit is detected. It is set as the structure (1st structure) to have.

  In the monitoring camera device having the first configuration, the unauthorized operation countermeasure means includes an alarm output unit including a speaker, a buzzer, or a flash, and the monitoring target area is used as the unauthorized operation countermeasure. It may be configured to output a warning sound or flash light (second configuration).

  Further, in the surveillance camera device having the first or second configuration, the illegal manipulation countermeasure means includes an alarm generation unit that generates alarm information indicating that the field of view of the imaging unit is blocked, As the counter measure against illegal manipulation, a configuration (third configuration) may be employed in which the alarm information is superimposed on a transmission path of the imaging signal.

  Further, in the surveillance camera device having any one of the first to third configurations, the abnormality detecting unit keeps the light emitting unit off during normal operation, while the luminance distribution of the imaging signal becomes uniform. Alternatively, when the frequency component of the imaging signal is uniformly changed (for example, when a cover (such as a gauze) that is transparent enough not to identify a person is applied as well as a cover that is completely shielded from light). It is preferable to determine that there is a possibility that the field of view of the imaging unit is obstructed and to turn on the light emitting unit (fourth configuration).

  Alternatively, in the surveillance camera device having any one of the first to third configurations, the light emitting unit intermittently outputs the irradiation light, and the abnormality detection unit is in a period during which the irradiation light is output. Only the configuration (fifth configuration) for analyzing the imaging signal may be used.

  In the surveillance camera device having any one of the first to fifth configurations, the light emitting unit may be configured to output infrared light as the irradiation light (sixth configuration).

  In the surveillance camera device having any one of the first to sixth configurations, the imaging unit and the light emitting unit may be configured as a single module (seventh configuration).

  The surveillance camera system according to the present invention includes a surveillance camera device having any one of the first to seventh configurations for photographing the state of the surveillance target area, and display and recording of an imaging signal obtained by the surveillance camera device. (Seventh configuration) including a management device that manages the video signal, a monitor device that displays the imaging signal as a monitor video, and a recording device that records the imaging signal.

  With the monitoring camera device according to the present invention, it is possible to detect an abnormality caused by an intruder's unauthorized work and take appropriate countermeasures, so that the security performance of the entire monitoring camera system using this can be improved. It becomes possible.

  First, the overall configuration of the surveillance camera system according to the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a surveillance camera system according to the present invention.

  As shown in this figure, a surveillance camera system according to the present invention includes a surveillance camera device 10 that photographs the state of a surveillance target area, and a centralized management device that manages display and recording of imaging signals obtained by the surveillance camera device 10. 20, a monitor device 30 that displays an imaging signal as a monitor video, and a recording device 40 that records the imaging signal.

  In the above-described surveillance camera system, one or a plurality of surveillance camera devices 10 are installed in each surveillance target area, the state of the area is photographed, and the obtained imaging signal is transmitted to a surveillance room (a guard room or a manager). Room), etc. in a centralized manner (display and recording).

  By introducing such a monitoring camera system, the supervisor can check the state of the monitoring target area while staying in the monitoring room, so that the time and labor for directly visiting the monitoring target area can be reduced. It becomes possible.

  Next, the internal configuration of the monitoring camera device 10 will be described in detail.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the monitoring camera device 10.

  As shown in the figure, the monitoring camera device 10 of the present embodiment includes an imaging unit 101, an image processing unit 102, an information transmission unit 103, an abnormality detection unit 104, a light emitting unit 105, a control unit 106, an alarm, and the like. An output unit 107 and an alarm generation unit 108 are provided.

  The imaging unit 101 includes a lens group and a photoelectric conversion element (an image sensor such as a CCD [Charge Coupled Devices] or a CMOS [Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor]) and outputs an optical image of a subject as an electrical imaging signal. It is.

  The image processing unit 102 is a unit that performs various signal processing such as automatic gain control, correlated double sampling, and analog / digital conversion on the imaging signal obtained by the imaging unit 101.

  The information sending unit 103 is a unit that sends out the imaging signal that has been subjected to predetermined signal processing by the image processing unit 102 to the outside of the apparatus (in the monitoring camera system of the present embodiment, the centralized management apparatus 20).

  The abnormality detection unit 104 determines whether or not the light emitted from the light emitting unit 105 is received by the imaging unit 101 by analyzing the imaging signal, and the field of view of the imaging unit 101 is blocked based on the determination result. It is a means to detect. The abnormality detection operation will be described in detail later.

  The light emitting unit 105 is a unit that is provided in the vicinity of the imaging unit 101 and outputs predetermined irradiation light (for example, infrared light) toward the outside of the apparatus. Note that the imaging unit 101 and the light emitting unit 105 may be integrally formed as a single module. With this configuration, when the field of view of the monitoring camera device 10 is obstructed, both the imaging unit 101 and the light emitting unit 105 are always covered with a cloth or the like. Can be realized. In addition, since the relative positional relationship between the imaging unit 101 and the light emitting unit 105 can be fixed, the accuracy of an abnormality detection operation described later can be increased.

  Based on the abnormality detection signal output from the abnormality detection unit 104, the control unit 106 determines whether each field of the imaging unit 101 is obstructed, and activates each unit (alarm output unit) 107 and alarm generation unit 108).

  The alarm output unit 107 includes a speaker and a buzzer, and is a unit that outputs an alarm sound to the monitoring target area as the above-described counter measure against illegal manipulation based on an instruction from the control unit 106.

  Based on an instruction from the control unit 106, the alarm generation unit 108 provides alarm information indicating that the field of view of the imaging unit 101 has been obstructed as the countermeasure against the illegal manipulation (for example, a monitoring camera installed in the “XX area”). A warning image such as “the field of view of the apparatus may be obstructed by an intruder” is superimposed on the image signal transmission path (information transmission unit 103) and transmitted to the centralized management apparatus 20. is there.

  Next, the abnormality detection operation of the monitoring camera apparatus 10 having the above configuration will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for explaining an example of the abnormality detection operation.

  As shown in this figure (a), when the field of view of the imaging unit 101 is blocked by the shielding object X (cloth, hand, etc.), the irradiation light output from the light emitting unit 105 is reflected by the shielding object X, Light is received by the imaging unit 101. At this time, in the imaging unit 101, as shown in the right frame of FIG. 4A, the luminance of the portion of the field of view that can be photographed by the monitoring camera device 10 that is irradiated with the irradiation light is locally An imaging signal indicating a state of rising is obtained.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5B, when the field of view of the imaging unit 101 is not shielded, the irradiation light output from the light emitting unit 105 is diffused toward the monitoring target area, and thus is received by the imaging unit 101. In the imaging signal obtained by the imaging unit 101, there is no local increase in luminance due to the output of the irradiation light (see the comparison in the right frame of FIGS. (A) and (b)). ).

  Therefore, the abnormality detection unit 104 of the present embodiment determines whether or not the irradiation light of the light emitting unit 105 is received by the imaging unit 101 by analyzing the imaging signal, and based on the determination result, the imaging unit 101 It is configured to detect that the view is blocked. With such a configuration, it is possible to detect with high accuracy whether or not the field of view of the imaging unit 101 is blocked without erroneously detecting that the monitoring target area is turned off or the like as a field of view disturbance.

  If the field of view of the imaging unit 101 is blocked by a cloth or hand in a state where the irradiation light is not output, the brightness distribution of the imaging signal becomes uniform, and the cloth is thin enough that the human face cannot be identified. When blocked by (such as gauze), the frequency component of the imaging signal is shifted to the low frequency side. In view of such characteristics, the abnormality detection unit 104 of the present embodiment keeps the light emitting unit 105 off during normal operation, while the luminance distribution of the imaging signal becomes uniform, or the frequency components of the imaging signal are uniform. Therefore, it is determined that there is a possibility that the field of view of the imaging unit 101 may be blocked, and the light emitting unit 105 is turned on. By setting it as such a structure, it becomes possible to suppress the power consumption in the normal time of the surveillance camera apparatus 10. FIG.

  In the surveillance camera device 10 of the present embodiment, the light emitting unit 105 is configured to output infrared light as the irradiation light. With such a configuration, the abnormality detection unit 104 only needs to determine whether or not the luminance in the infrared region has increased locally, so that it is less affected by ambient light and increases its detection accuracy. It becomes possible. However, the irradiation light is not necessarily limited to infrared light, and irradiation light of any wavelength component may be output as long as the influence of ambient light can be avoided.

  Next, a detailed description will be given of countermeasures against illegal manipulation when an abnormality is detected.

  When the field of view of the imaging unit 101 is obstructed by an intruder into the monitoring target area, the abnormality detection unit 104 changes a predetermined abnormality detection signal from a normal logic level (for example, a high level) to a logical level (for example, when an abnormality is detected). (Low level). Based on such a logical transition of the abnormality detection signal, the control unit 106 can recognize that the field of view of the imaging unit 101 is blocked.

  Note that the control unit 106 sends an instruction to the alarm output unit 107 so as to output an alarm sound to the monitoring target area as a countermeasure against fraudulent work when the visual field disturbance of the imaging unit 101 is detected. Such an alarm output operation can cause intruders to be shaken at a glance and make the crimes jeopardized, so it takes time for the guards to arrive at the monitored area and Can be prevented. In addition, the alarm output operation described above can notify the guards near the monitored area of the abnormality.

  Further, when the visual field disturbance of the imaging unit 101 is detected, the control unit 108 sends an instruction to the alarm generation unit 108 so as to superimpose the above-described alarm information on the transmission path of the imaging signal as a countermeasure against unauthorized manipulation. By sending out alarm information like this, the monitoring room can immediately recognize that the cause of the video blockage is due to the intruder's destructive work (jamming work). This makes it possible to prevent the intruder from committing crimes.

  The configuration of the present invention can be variously modified in addition to the above-described embodiment without departing from the gist of the invention.

  For example, in the above embodiment, the alarm output unit 107 has been described by taking a configuration using a speaker or a buzzer that emits an alarm sound as an example. However, the configuration of the present invention is not limited to this, and is powerful. A flash that outputs a proper flash light may be used. By adopting such a configuration, the intruder may have the illusion that his / her appearance has been photographed by the surveillance camera device 10 and escape without committing any crime. It becomes possible to prevent.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, the description has been given by taking the configuration in which the light emitting unit 105 is turned on only when it is determined that there is a risk of visual disturbance (configuration in which two-step detection is performed) as an example. The configuration is not limited to this. For example, the light emitting unit 105 intermittently outputs the irradiation light, and the abnormality detection unit 104 analyzes the imaging signal only during the period in which the irradiation light is output. It is good also as a structure to perform. By adopting such a configuration, it is possible to reduce the power consumption of the monitoring camera device 10 as in the above-described embodiment. In the case of adopting this configuration, it is conceivable that visible light such as red light is blinked as irradiation light of the light emitting unit 105. With such a configuration, an intruder can be informed that the monitoring camera device 10 is functioning, and therefore, it is possible to expect a crime prevention effect.

  Further, in the multiplication embodiment, a configuration in which it is determined whether or not irradiation light from the light emitting unit 105 is received by the imaging unit 101 by detecting a local increase in a specific wavelength component in the imaging signal is taken as an example. Although described, the configuration of the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the irradiation light of the light emitting unit 105 blinks at a predetermined interval, and a luminance change synchronized with the imaging signal was observed. It is possible to adopt various methods such as a configuration for detecting the.

  The present invention is a useful technique for enhancing the security performance of surveillance camera systems widely introduced in stores, office buildings, condominiums, factories, and the like.

These are block diagrams which show an example of the surveillance camera system which concerns on this invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a monitoring camera device 10. These are the schematic diagrams for demonstrating an example of abnormality detection operation | movement.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Surveillance camera apparatus 20 Centralized management apparatus 30 Monitor apparatus 40 Recording apparatus 101 Imaging part 102 Image processing part 103 Information transmission part 104 Abnormality detection part (image analysis part)
105 Light Emitting Unit 106 Control Unit 107 Alarm Output Unit 108 Alarm Generation Unit X Shield (cloth, hand, etc.)

Claims (8)

  A monitoring camera device that captures an image of a monitoring target area with an imaging unit and transmits the obtained imaging signal to the outside of the device, and a light emitting unit that outputs predetermined irradiation light from the vicinity of the imaging unit to the outside of the device And determining whether or not the light emitted from the light emitting unit is received by the imaging unit by analyzing the imaging signal and detecting that the field of view of the imaging unit is blocked based on the determination result A surveillance camera device comprising: an abnormality detection unit; and an illegal manipulation countermeasure unit that activates a predetermined illegal manipulation countermeasure when a visual field disturbance of the imaging unit is detected.   The illegal manipulation countermeasure means includes an alarm output unit including a speaker, a buzzer, or a flash, and outputs an alarm sound or flash light to the monitoring target area as the illegal manipulation countermeasure. The surveillance camera device according to claim 1.   The illegal manipulation countermeasure means includes an alarm generation unit that generates alarm information indicating that the field of view of the imaging unit is blocked, and as the illegal manipulation countermeasure, the alarm information is provided on a transmission path of the imaging signal. The surveillance camera device according to claim 1, wherein the monitoring camera device is superimposed.   The abnormality detection unit keeps the light-emitting unit off during normal operation, while the luminance distribution of the imaging signal becomes uniform or when the frequency component of the imaging signal changes uniformly. The surveillance camera device according to claim 1, wherein the light-emitting unit is turned on by determining that there is a possibility that the field of view is blocked.   The said light emission part outputs the said irradiation light intermittently, and the said abnormality detection part analyzes the said imaging signal only in the period when the said irradiation light is output. Item 4. The surveillance camera device according to any one of items 3 to 4.   The surveillance camera device according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting unit outputs infrared light as the irradiation light.   The monitoring camera device according to claim 1, wherein the imaging unit and the light emitting unit are integrally formed as a single module.   The monitoring camera device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, which captures a state of a monitoring target area, a management device that manages display and recording of an imaging signal obtained by the monitoring camera device, and the imaging signal A monitoring camera system comprising: a monitor device that displays a monitor image; and a recording device that records the imaging signal.

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