JP5883577B2 - Secure remote monitoring device and method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a remote monitoring system and method for monitoring a person to be photographed using a monitoring camera, and in particular, authenticates a user of the remote monitoring system, identifies a person to be photographed determined corresponding to the user, The present invention relates to a remote monitoring system and method for monitoring only a subject to be photographed.

  Regardless of indoor or outdoor, a monitoring system for monitoring the surroundings using a preinstalled monitoring camera has been put into practical use. As such a system, for example, there is a system for monitoring a person entering and leaving a building at an entrance of an apartment. Further, a remote monitoring system is known in which a surveillance camera installed at home or the like is operated from the outside using the Internet or the like to monitor and photograph the state of pets and children left at home or the like. Patent Document 1). In such a monitoring system, it is assumed that only a supervisor who is a predetermined user of the monitoring system, such as an apartment manager, sees an image taken by the surveillance camera.

  However, when a security camera is installed in a public place as a security measure, not only a predetermined one but also a plurality of people can see images taken by the surveillance camera. I came. As a result, the privacy of the monitored person has become a problem. For example, when security cameras are installed in public places such as residential areas, shopping centers, shopping streets, streets, condominiums, parks, kindergartens, schools, etc., not only one predefined observer In some cases, a plurality of observers see images taken by a surveillance camera. In this case, in consideration of the privacy of the people who are seen, it is desirable that the user of the remote monitoring system should monitor only a specific subject to be photographed through user authentication.

  For example, as a technology for publishing surveillance camera images to multiple users of a surveillance system while ensuring privacy, a user of the surveillance system is authenticated and a specific person determined according to the user is identified. There is a technique for photographing only the surroundings (Patent Document 1). More specifically, this technique associates the identification information of the person to be monitored, that is, the person to be photographed with the identification information of the supervisor to be photographed, and the person to be photographed determined by the identification information of the monitor This is a system in which only the surroundings are photographed with a surveillance camera and presented to a supervisor.

  In addition, it is a system that installs surveillance cameras in places where there are many privacy restrictions such as residential areas, and in order to exclude a specific person from the person to be photographed, the person is given a mobile transmission device. A technique is known in which the position of the person is specified and masking processing is performed around the portable transmission device from an image taken by a surveillance camera (Patent Document 2).

JP 2007-318333 A JP 2005-269489 A

NTT Communications, Rusban Monitor Introduction Site “What is Rusban Monitor” URL: http://rusumoni.jp/service.html

  However, for the purpose of ensuring the privacy of the person or object on the shooting side, the area around a specific person determined according to the user of the monitoring system or the mobile In a monitoring system that performs processing that leaves or does not leave only a specified area using a device that can specify the position, such as a transmitting device, there is a possibility that a person who should be excluded from the subject in the area is left in the image There was a problem that there was.

  Furthermore, if the area of the image that is left unprocessed is reduced to enhance privacy protection, the area of the area to be processed in the captured image increases, and the processing takes time. there were. On the other hand, if the size of the area of the image to be left unprocessed is increased, there is a problem that a person who is not originally taken as a subject is left in the image.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to ensure that privacy is ensured and each of a plurality of users of the monitoring system efficiently performs a predetermined subject. It is to provide a remote monitoring system and method that can be well monitored.

The monitoring system according to the present invention includes a user authentication unit that authenticates a user, a monitoring target person defining unit that corresponds to the authenticated user and defines a monitoring target person to be monitored by the user, and the monitoring target Determining whether or not the person to be monitored is reflected in an image obtained by one of the plurality of imaging means, and imaging means including a plurality of imaging means for photographing a person and outputting an image; When not captured, the imaging means is controlled, and another one of the imaging means is controlled based on the position of the monitoring subject measured by the position measuring means for measuring the position of the monitoring subject. An imaging control means for selecting and photographing the monitoring subject, and performing mosaic processing or mask processing on an area other than the image portion of the monitoring subject in the image obtained by the imaging means. Characterized in that it comprises a photographic information processing means for force, the.

  Privacy is ensured by performing image processing to ensure privacy for people and things other than the subject and group members of the subject corresponding to the surveillance system user in the images acquired by the photographing means. However, each of a plurality of users of the monitoring system can efficiently monitor a predetermined subject.

1 is a schematic diagram of a remote monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the remote monitoring apparatus of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of the remote monitoring device of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is an example of the data accommodated in the authentication information storage part of the remote monitoring apparatus of FIG. 1 according to embodiment of this invention. It is an example of the data accommodated in the imaging | photography object storage part of the remote monitoring apparatus of FIG. 1 according to embodiment of this invention. It is an example of the data accommodated in the face information-ized storage part of the remote monitoring apparatus of FIG. 1 according to embodiment of this invention. It is an example of the data accommodated in the positional information storage part of the remote monitoring apparatus of FIG. 1 according to embodiment of this invention. It is an example of the data accommodated in the group information storage part of the remote monitoring apparatus of FIG. 1 according to embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the monitoring process of the remote monitoring method according to embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the example of the positional information management process of the remote monitoring method according to embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the example of the user authentication process of the remote monitoring method according to embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of the example of imaging | photography and security mask processing of the remote monitoring method according to embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of the example of imaging | photography and security mask processing of the remote monitoring method according to embodiment of this invention. It is an example of the data accommodated in the authentication information storage part of the remote monitoring apparatus according to the modification of embodiment of this invention. It is an example of the data accommodated in the imaging | photography object storage part of the remote monitoring apparatus according to the modification of embodiment of this invention. It is an example of the data accommodated in the face information-ized storage part of the remote monitoring apparatus according to the modification of embodiment of this invention. It is an example of the data accommodated in the positional information storage part of the remote monitoring apparatus according to the modification of embodiment of this invention. It is an example of the data accommodated in the group information storage part of the remote monitoring apparatus according to the modification of embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the positional information management process of the remote monitoring method according to the modification of embodiment of this invention.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In addition, about the part which performs a similar part or a similar function in a figure, the same or similar reference code | symbol is provided and the overlapping description is abbreviate | omitted.

<System configuration>
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a remote monitoring system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The system 100 is a system in which a plurality of people who are in a room and own tags 60, 62, 64, and 66 are monitored by a plurality of people who use the terminals 10 and 12 while considering privacy. . Examples of rooms include a classroom such as a kindergarten, a nursery school, a school, an office room, an apartment entrance, and the like. More specifically, the remote monitoring system 100 can perform the following processing. That is, first, for each user (also called a user) who is permitted to use the terminal, a shooting target person who can take a picture and a person related to the shooting target person (also called a group member) are determined in advance. Yes. The position of the person to be photographed is measured by the tag, but even if the camera is pointed at the person to be photographed, a person who is not permitted to photograph (a person other than the person to be photographed or a group member) is photographed by the camera. May be included. Even in such a case, in order to protect the privacy of people or objects that are not permitted to be photographed in the image, for example, to the whole or part of the image of the person or thing that is not permitted to be photographed Mosaic processing is performed and the processed image is shown to the user of the terminal. By performing such processing, each of a plurality of users of the monitoring system efficiently designates a predetermined subject to be photographed while ensuring the privacy of a person or object that is not permitted to be photographed for each user. It is possible to monitor. In other words, the present invention automatically identifies the user of the remote monitoring system 100 and the person to be imaged, and in some cases the object to be imaged and its group members, so that the person to be imaged, and in some cases the object to be imaged and The privacy and / or security of people or objects other than the group members can be secured, so even in an environment where an unspecified number of people (or objects) exist, the privacy of information on persons or objects that are not permitted to shoot and Security protection is possible. Further, based on the information related to the user authentication information of the system 100, the subject to be photographed and the group determined by the user by processing the video information photographed by the camera or the like for ensuring privacy and / or security. Persons and objects other than members can be made unidentifiable. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the risk of security leakage, which has become a problem in terms of personal information protection in recent years.

  In the present embodiment, the inside of the room is assumed in order to specify the position of the monitoring subject who is the subject of monitoring by the camera using the sensor, but the installation location of the present system is not limited to the inside of the room. The surveillance camera of this system may be installed outdoors, such as on streets, shopping streets, and residential areas. Regardless of whether the camera is installed indoors or outdoors, it is only necessary that the position of the person to be monitored who owns the tag can be confirmed by the sensor and the camera can shoot the position.

  Further, in this embodiment, a camera is used as a means for photographing the person to be photographed. However, the camera is not limited to a camera that obtains an image using visible light, but an infrared camera, an ultrasonic camera, or the like. Any camera can be used as long as it can obtain an image.

  The system 100 includes terminals 10 and 12 such as personal computers (PCs) or portable devices, a network 20 such as the Internet connected to the terminals 10 and 12, and a remote monitoring device 30 connected to the network 20. Further, the remote monitoring device 30 includes cameras 40, 42, and 44 that monitor a plurality of people who are present in the room and own the tags 60, 62, 64, and 66, respectively, and the positions of the people that own the tags. Sensors 50, 52, 54, 56, and 58 for specifying are connected. Here, each tag is given an identifier (ID) and can be identified. Further, the person who owns the tag is also identified by the tag ID.

  The terminals 10 and 12 are used by a user who uses the present system 100 to view images taken by the cameras 40, 42 and 44. In the present embodiment, the terminals 10 and 12 are connected to the remote monitoring device 30 via the network 20, but the terminals 10 and 12 may be directly connected to the remote monitoring device 30. Further, the terminals 10 and 12 and the remote monitoring device 30 are electrically connected by wire or wireless. The network 20 may be a wired network, a wireless network, or a combination of both.

  The cameras 40, 42, 44 are controlled by the remote monitoring device 30 and shoot a plurality of people who own the tags 60, 62, 64, 66 and a person who does not own them. In the present embodiment, only a person who owns the tags 60, 62, 64, 66 can be a candidate for monitoring by the system 100, that is, a candidate for photographing. Therefore, the group member determined in relation to the person to be photographed can also be a person to be photographed for another user. Since the purpose of photographing the person to be photographed with the camera is to monitor, it is necessary that the person to be photographed can be discriminated from the image obtained by the camera. For example, when only the rear view of the subject who owns the tag is captured, an image is acquired again by another camera. Whether or not the person to be photographed can be determined is determined by determining whether or not the face of the person to be photographed is included in the image from the information on the face of the person to be photographed previously stored in the remote monitoring device 30. You may do it. An image of a person other than the person to be photographed and the group member who appears on the cameras 40, 42, 44 is protected from being infringed by the remote monitoring device 30 before being transferred to the terminals 10, 12. Processed.

  The sensors 50, 52, 54, 56, 58 identify the positions of the tags 60, 62, 64, 66 and send the information to the remote monitoring device 30. In this embodiment, the person to be photographed owns the tags 60, 62, 64, and 66, and the position is specified by the sensors 50, 52, 54, 56, and 58, but the method for specifying the position of the person to be photographed is The method is not limited to the above. For example, each person in the room who is a candidate for the subject of photography has a transmitter that transmits identifiable radio waves, and multiple antennas are installed in the room. May be specified.

  Although the overall configuration of the system 100 is as described above, the individual components of the system 100 such as the terminals 10 and 12 and the remote monitoring device 30 can be connected to at least the network 20 at a normal computer function. It is necessary to have. Under such hardware conditions, the processing of the individual components of the system 100 is executed by installing a software program in a general-purpose computer, or executed by dedicated hardware.

  In FIG. 1, the cameras 40, 42, 44 and the sensors 50, 52, 54, 56, 58 are directly connected to the remote monitoring device 30, but are connected to the remote monitoring device 30 via the network 20. It may be connected.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the remote monitoring device 30 of FIG. 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of the remote monitoring device 30.
Referring to FIG. 2, the remote monitoring device 30 includes an external interface unit 300, a data transmission / reception unit 310, a device control unit 320, a database unit 330, and a photographing information processing unit 340. The apparatus control unit 320 further includes an authentication unit 3200, a position measurement unit 3202, and a camera control unit 3204.

  Referring to FIG. 3, the remote monitoring device 30 is configured as a computer, and includes a central processing unit 402, a memory 404, external interface units 406 a to 406 d, and a timer 410, which are connected via a bus 408. . The external interface unit 406 a of the remote monitoring device 30 is connected to the external network 20. The external interface unit 406b is connected to an external sensor, for example, the sensor 50. The external interface unit 406c is connected to an external camera, for example, the camera 40. The external interface unit 406d is connected to an external storage device such as an external hard disk drive.

  In this embodiment, each part of the remote monitoring device 30 is realized by a computer program stored in the memory 404, but all or part of the parts constituting the remote monitoring device 30 are realized by a dedicated electric circuit. Also good.

  The external interface unit 300, the remote monitoring device 30, the external network 20, the cameras 40, 42, 44, the sensors 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, the tags 60, 62, 64, 66, and appropriately prepared not shown. Provided to transmit / receive data to / from an external storage device. The external interface unit 300 includes external interface units 406a to 406d shown in FIG. The external interface unit 300 is electrically connected to the data transmission / reception unit 310.

  The data transmission / reception unit 310 receives information from the terminals 10 and 12 in the form of electrical signals via the external network 20, and the cameras 40, 42, 44, sensors 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, and tags Information is received from 60, 62, 64, 66, etc. in the form of electrical signals. Further, the data transmission / reception unit 310 transmits an electrical signal to control the operations of the cameras 40, 42, 44, and directs the image captured by the camera and processed by the imaging information processing unit 340 toward the terminals 10, 12. Or send.

  Furthermore, the data transmission / reception unit 310 confirms whether the remote monitoring device 30 and an external device, for example, the cameras 40, 42, and 44 are communicating, and if the no-communication time exceeds a predetermined period, the data transmission / reception unit 310 A communication monitoring timer mechanism is provided. The processing of the data transmission / reception unit 310 is performed by the CPU 402 using a computer program for data transmission / reception stored in the memory 404 of FIG. Further, the timer 410 of FIG. 3 is also used to realize the no-communication monitoring timer mechanism. In the present embodiment, the data transmission / reception unit 310 is electrically connected to the device control unit 320 and the imaging information processing unit 340.

  The device controller 320 receives information from the external network 20, cameras 40, 42, 44, sensors 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, and tags 60, 62, 64, 66, etc. received by the data transmitter / receiver 310. Are used to authenticate the user of the terminal and calculate the position of the tag. Also, based on information about the authenticated user and the position of the measured tag, etc., an appropriate camera is selected and the orientation of the camera is controlled. A process of acquiring an image of a predetermined location is performed. The predetermined portion of the person to be photographed and the group member is a portion where a person is specified. For example, it can be the entire face. In order to perform these processes, the device control unit 320 selects an authentication unit 3200 for authenticating the user of the terminal, a position measurement unit 3202 for calculating the tag position, and an appropriate camera 40, 42, 44. , A camera control unit (or simply control unit) 3204 for controlling the orientation of the camera is included. The processes of the authentication unit 3200, the position measurement unit 3202, and the camera control unit 3204 are each performed by the CPU 402 using a program stored in the memory 404 of FIG. In the present embodiment, the device control unit 320 is electrically connected to the data transmission / reception unit 310, the database unit 330, and the imaging information processing unit 340.

  In addition, the device control unit 320 transmits a signal for starting or stopping the operation of the cameras 40, 42, 44 to the cameras 40, 42, 44 in response to an instruction from the terminals 10, 12 via the network 20, for example. .

The database unit 330 includes an authentication information storage unit 3300, a shooting target storage unit 3302, a face information storage unit 3304, a position information storage unit 3306, and a group information storage unit 3308.
The authentication information storage unit 3300 stores, for example, data necessary for authenticating the users of the terminals 10 and 12. The imaging target storage unit 3302 stores, for example, IDs of the tags 60, 62, 64, and 66 and correspondence tables of people who own the tags. The face information storage unit 3304 stores, for example, information related to the face of the person to be photographed that can be displayed for each user. The position information storage unit 3306 stores, for example, the correspondence between the positions of the tags 60, 62, 64, 66 and the cameras 40, 42, 44 suitable for photographing the person who owns the tags 60, 62, 64, 66. To do. The group information storage unit 3308 includes, for example, a table including correspondences (also referred to as group information) between individual users of the terminals 10 and 12 and group members of the subject to be photographed. These tables are read out and used during processing by the device control unit 320. That is, the database unit 330 is electrically connected to the device control unit 320. The database unit 330 is configured by the memory 404 of FIG.

  FIG. 4 is an example of data stored in the authentication information storage unit 3300. In this embodiment, the data stored in the authentication information storage unit 3300 includes a management ID such as a login name used when logging in from the terminals 10 and 12, a user name, a password required for login, and a user having a management ID. In addition to the ID of the tag owned by the subject that can be photographed for monitoring, information about whether or not authentication is possible, whether or not the authentication is successful, session information that indicates whether the session with the terminal is valid, and the communication time with the terminal The information about the no-communication monitoring indicating the above is included.

  Data stored in the authentication information storage unit 3300 is stored by the authentication unit 3200 of the device control unit 320. For example, first, it is confirmed whether the management ID input by the user of the terminals 10 and 12 and sent from the terminals 10 and 12 matches the password. When the users of the terminals 10 and 12 are not registered and authentication is not possible, an unusable message is transmitted to the terminals 10 and 12 via the external interface unit 300 and the data transmission / reception unit 310. At the same time, the session between the terminals 10 and 12 and the remote monitoring device 30 is disconnected. At this time, “No” is entered in the authentication permission / inhibition column, and “×” is entered in the session information when the session is disconnected. If the management ID and the password match and the authentication is successful, “OK” is entered in the “authentication allowed” column, and “◯” is entered in the session information. The session information indicating whether or not the session between the terminals 10 and 12 and the remote monitoring device 30 is connected is acquired as needed by the authentication unit 3200 of the device control unit 320 based on the information from the network 20. When the user name is determined, the ID of the tag owned by the person to be photographed that can be photographed by the user is entered. In the example of FIG. 4, the person who has the tag specified by the tag ID “1000a” is the subject to be photographed with respect to the person named “Sato” specified by the management ID “A001”. In this process, data stored in the photographing target storage unit 3302 is referred to.

  FIG. 5 is an example of data stored in the shooting target storage unit 3302. For the management ID, the ID of the tag owned by the photographing subject who can photograph the user specified by the ID and the name of the photographing subject who owns the tag are entered.

  FIG. 6 is an example of data stored in the face information storage unit 3304. The file name including the face information of the person to be photographed who owns the tag is written in the tag ID. This data is used in the photographing information processing unit 340 when processing an image photographed by the camera so that only a photographing subject who is permitted to photograph by a predetermined user can be identified.

  FIG. 7 is an example of data stored in the position information storage unit 3306. The remote monitoring device 30 uses the tags 60, 62, 64, and 66, uses information from a plurality of sensors 50, 52, 54, 56, and 58 for position measurement, and the position measurement unit 320 uses each of the imaging targets. The position information of the person is measured and stored in the position information storage unit 3306 as needed. At the same time, information on cameras capable of photographing the position of each sensor is also stored. As the position information, for example, when the sensors 50, 52, and 54 are called s-001, s-002, and s-003, respectively, depending on the distance from each of s-001, s-002, and s-003 The position of the tag (person to be photographed) is specified and entered in the position information column. In this embodiment, since the position of a certain tag is specified by the distance from three sensors, it is preferable that the sensors 50, 52, 54, 56, and 58 are provided at the same height in the room. . Furthermore, when the cameras 40, 42, and 44 are called c-001, c-002, and c-003, the names of cameras that can shoot the place where the tag exists are entered as shooting camera information.

  FIG. 8 is an example of data stored in the group information storage unit 3308. The group information is information related to a person related to a subject to be photographed with respect to a certain subject. Such a person is called a group member or group photographer of the subject. For example, when a certain photographing subject is a child, the parent may be a group member related to the child.

  In the processing of the authentication unit 3200 of the apparatus control unit 320, the user is authenticated by determining whether or not the user ID and password stored in the authentication information storage unit 3300 of the database unit 330 correspond to each other. However, the user may be authenticated using other means such as biometric authentication.

  In the processing of the camera control unit 3204 of the device control unit 320, first, the imaging target at the position of the tags 60, 62, 64, 66 determined by the position measurement unit 3202 using the sensors 50, 52, 54, 56, 58. Whether or not a person's face is photographed is determined with reference to data stored in the face information storage unit 3304 of the database unit 330. Then, a camera capable of photographing the face of the subject is photographed, and photographing of the face of the subject is continued.

  The imaging information processing unit 340 performs predetermined image processing, such as performing security mask processing such as mask processing and mosaic processing on a part of the images captured by the cameras 40, 42, and 44 to ensure privacy. For such processing, the imaging information processing unit 340 is electrically connected to the data transmission / reception unit 310, the device control unit 320, and the database unit 330. The imaging information processing unit 340 specifies the face information of the person to be imaged based on the information passed from the apparatus control unit 320, and performs security mask processing on people and objects other than the person to be imaged and group members. Then, the processed photographing information is transferred to the data transmission / reception unit 310. The security mask process may be performed on the entire area other than the subject and the group member in the image. Alternatively, the security mask process may be performed on a part of the person or object other than the person to be photographed and the group member to the extent that the person or object other than the person to be photographed and the group member cannot be specified. For example, in the case of a person, security mask processing may be applied to the entire face or a part of the face such as the eyes. In the case of an object, security mask processing may be applied to a part related to a registered design or trademark, or a part where a proper noun is written or engraved, thereby making it difficult to identify the object itself or the owner. The data transmission / reception unit 310 that has received the data subjected to the security mask processing converts the processed photographing information into a data format that can be transferred to the network 20 such as the Internet, and transmits the data to the terminals 10 and 12 via the external interface unit 300. . Since it is possible to perform security mask processing on a person or an object other than the object to be imaged that is not permitted, personal information can be protected for the other person or object while monitoring the desired object to be imaged.

  In addition, the components of the system 100 constitute a means having a function of performing a specific process, alone or in combination.

  The terminals 10 and 12, the network 20, the remote monitoring device 30, in particular, the external interface unit 300, the data transmission / reception unit 310, the device control unit 320, and the database unit 330 constitute a user authentication unit. In particular, the user authentication unit has a function of authenticating the users of the terminals 10 and 12 by the authentication unit 3200 of the device control unit 320 while referring to data stored in the authentication information storage unit 3300 of the database unit 330.

  The monitoring target person defining means is configured by the device control unit 320 and the database unit 330 of the remote monitoring device 30. The monitoring subject defining means demarcates the photographing subject corresponding to the user of the terminals 10 and 12 by the authentication unit 3200 of the device control unit 320 while referring to the data stored in the photographing target storage unit 3302 of the database unit 330. To do. Further, the monitoring target person defining means refers to the database unit 330 of the remote monitoring device 30, in particular, the group information storage unit 3308, and group member definition for defining the group members related to the photographing subject of the user of the terminals 10 and 12. Means may be provided.

  The photographing means is mainly composed of cameras 40, 42, and 44. The imaging unit may include the external interface unit 300, the data transmission / reception unit 310, and the device control unit 320 of the remote monitoring device 30. In addition, each component of the photographing unit, that is, each of the cameras 40, 42, and 44 may be referred to as an imaging unit.

  The imaging information processing means is mainly configured by the imaging information processing unit 340 of the remote monitoring device 30. The imaging information processing means may include a data transmission / reception unit 310 and an external interface unit 300 of the remote monitoring device 30 in addition to the imaging information processing unit 340.

  The position measurement means includes sensors 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, tags 60, 62, 64, 66, external interface unit 300 of remote monitoring device 30, data transmission / reception unit 310, device control unit 320, and database unit 330. The positions of the tags 60, 62, 64 and 66 are measured, and the measurement results are recorded in the position information storage unit 3306 of the database unit 330.

<Overall processing>
A method for monitoring in consideration of privacy using the remote monitoring system 100 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS.

  A user (also referred to as a user) of this system accesses the remote monitoring device 30 from the terminals 10 and 12 connected to the external interface unit 300 of the remote monitoring device 30. An electrical signal including an authentication request for access reaches the authentication unit 3200 of the device control unit 320 via the external interface 300 and the data transmission / reception unit 310. The authentication unit 3200 determines whether the user can be authenticated based on the information stored in the authentication information storage unit 3300 in the database unit 330. If the authentication is not successful, the authentication request is discarded and the communication is disconnected. If authentication is possible, a response is returned to the user terminal, and data in the shooting target storage unit 3302 and data in the group information storage unit 3308 that store information on the tag owned by the shooting target person associated with the user authentication information. From this, information on the subject to be photographed and, if present, group members related to the subject to be photographed are extracted. Based on the extracted information, the face information of the person to be photographed and the group member is extracted from the face information storage unit 3304, and the face information is passed to the photographing information processing unit 340. At the same time, the apparatus control unit 320 controls the cameras 40, 42, and 44 for the monitoring cameras 40, 42, and 44 that are installed at the optimum positions for photographing the subject person and the group member based on the data in the position information storage unit 3306. From the unit 3204, the adjustment is automatically performed so that the person to be photographed becomes the center of the video. Thereafter, the captured images of the person to be photographed and the group members are transferred to the photographing information processing unit 340. Based on the face information passed from the face information processing unit 3304, the photographing information processing unit 340 displays face information that can be displayed to the users of the terminals 10 and 12 among the faces included in the photographed image, that is, the photographing target. Recognize face information of a person and their group members. At the same time, image processing such as security mask processing is performed for persons and objects that are not permitted to shoot. Then, the processed video is converted into IP data by the data transmission / reception unit 310 and the external interface unit 300 and transmitted to the user terminal. This makes it possible to perform security mask processing on video information related to a person who is not associated with the user authentication information, thereby protecting the privacy of persons and objects who are not subject to photographing.

  In the present embodiment, the data in the position information storage unit 3306 is referred to in order to control the surveillance cameras 40, 42, and 44 to image the person to be imaged. As will be described later, it may be updated as needed or periodically.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the monitoring process of the remote monitoring method according to the embodiment of the present invention.
In the present embodiment, the position information management process shown in FIG. 10 is performed in parallel with the process of FIG. In this position information management process, the positions of the shooting target person of the user of the terminal 10 or 12 and the group members of the shooting target person are determined by the sensors 50, 52, 54, 56 and 58. Determined by measuring. The subject person of the terminal 10 and 12 and the group member of the subject person are authenticated by the authentication unit 3200 of the device control unit 320 by the user input from the terminal 10 and 12. When the positions of the person to be photographed and the group members of the person to be photographed are determined, the camera for photographing them is determined. The positions of the photographing subject and the group members of the photographing subject are determined by the cameras 40, 42, 44, sensors 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, tags 60, 62, 64, 66, and the external interface of the remote monitoring device 30. Unit 300, data transmission / reception unit 310, and apparatus control unit 320. The measured positions of the shooting target person and the group members of the shooting target person are stored in the position information storage unit 3306 of the remote monitoring device 30. In particular, the apparatus control unit 320 uses the position measurement unit 3202 to process the position information management process.

  Referring to FIG. 9, in the monitoring process, first, a user authentication process is performed in S100. Although details will be described below, this processing is mainly processed by the authentication unit 3200 of the remote monitoring device 30. That is, the user of the terminals 10 and 12 is authenticated, and the data in the authentication information storage unit 3300 of the database unit 330 is updated. If the user authentication fails in S100, the monitoring process is terminated.

  If the user is successfully authenticated in S100, the photographing / security mask process in S200 is performed. Although details will be described below, a camera suitable for photographing a predetermined portion of the person to be photographed determined corresponding to the users of the terminals 10 and 12 is selected and photographed. The predetermined part of the person to be photographed is, for example, the front surface of the face. Whether or not the face of the person to be photographed is photographed can be determined by referring to a file including face information stored in the face information storage unit 3304 of the remote monitoring device 30. In addition, when communication between the selected camera and the remote monitoring device 30 is not performed for a predetermined time or longer using the no-communication monitoring timer mechanism implemented in the remote monitoring device 30, the session is disconnected, The monitoring process ends. The imaging / security mask processing is processed using the cameras 40, 42, and 44, the external interface unit 300, the data transmission / reception unit 310, and the device control unit 320 of the remote monitoring device 30. The obtained image including a predetermined portion of the person to be photographed is sent to the photographing information processing unit 340 of the remote monitoring device 30.

Further, in the photographing / security mask processing of S200, privacy protection processing, for example, part of the face is applied to a person other than the photographing subject and the group member of the photographing subject who is reflected in the acquired image. Perform mosaic processing of the part. This processing is mainly performed using the imaging information processing unit 340 of the remote monitoring device 30. Further, in S200, the remote monitoring device 30 causes the terminals 10 and 12 to display images processed for privacy protection. Transmission of the processed image to the terminals 10 and 12 is performed by the data transmission / reception unit 310 of the remote monitoring device 30 via the external interface unit 300.
When the process of S200 ends, the monitoring process according to the present invention also ends.

<Location information management processing>
Details of the location information management process will be described with reference to FIG.
First, in S4000, it is determined whether or not the user is logging in to the terminals 10 and 12. As shown in FIG. 4, this can be determined by referring to data stored in the authentication information storage unit 3300 of the remote monitoring device 30, particularly the authentication availability column and session information. If the user is not logged in, the determination result in S4000 is “NO”, and the process in S4000 is repeated until the user logs in. If the user is logged in, the determination result in S4000 is “YES”. If the determination result in S4000 is “YES”, the flow proceeds to S4002.

  In step S4002, the tag ID of the person to be imaged is determined by referring to data stored in the object to be imaged storage unit 3302, as shown in FIG. Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the tag ID owned by the group member of the photographing subject is obtained from the data stored in the group information storage unit 3308 of the remote monitoring device 30 from the tag ID of the photographing subject. . Therefore, the ID of the tag owned by the photographing subject and the group member of the photographing subject is determined from the users of the terminals 10 and 12. In the present embodiment, the tag ID specifies the owner of the tag. Therefore, when the user is determined, the person to be photographed and the group member are specified.

  Next, in S4004, using the sensors 50, 52, 54, 56, and 58, the positions of the tags 60, 62, 64, and 66 owned by the subject person and the group members of the subject person are measured. The positions of the tags 60, 62, 64, and 66 can be determined, for example, if the distances from two or more sensors installed at predetermined positions are known.

  When the position of the tag owned by the subject person and the group member of the subject person is measured in S4004, a camera for photographing the subject person and the group member of the subject person in that position are selected in S4006. .

When the processing of S4006 ends, the process proceeds to S4008. In S4008, the information on the tag position measured in S4004 is written in the position information in the data stored in the position information storage unit 3306 shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 7, the position information of a predetermined tag is given by the distance from three sensors, for example. In step S4008, the result of step S4006 is written in the position information in the data stored in the position information storage unit 3306 shown in FIG.
When the processing of S4008 ends, the process returns to S4000.

  This position information management process may be performed appropriately or periodically as needed while the remote monitoring device 30 receives data from the sensors 50, 52, 54, 56, and 58. As a result, the data in the position information storage unit 3306 can be updated appropriately or periodically as needed, as will be described later. When the position information management process is performed at any time, the loop of S4000 to S4008 in FIG. 10 is always processed, and the data stored in the position information storage unit is updated almost in real time on the time scale in this monitoring process. obtain. The time scale in this monitoring process may be, for example, the order of seconds, minutes, hours, or days. When the location information management process is periodically performed, the process of S4000 is started at a predetermined time interval. Examples of the predetermined time interval include 0.5 seconds, 1.0 second, 2.0 seconds, and 5.0 seconds. However, the predetermined time interval is not limited to these examples. Alternatively, the position information management process may be appropriately performed when confirming the position of the person to be imaged, as in S2000 and S2030 in FIG. In this position information management process, the position of the person who owns the tag (person to be photographed, group member) is grasped without delay as much as possible without affecting the speed of other processes such as the monitoring process described later. Is preferred.

  Further, although different from FIG. 10, the position information management process is continuously processed, while the data in the position information storage unit 3306 is updated appropriately or periodically, the device control unit of the remote monitoring device 30. 320 may be configured. For example, as in S2000 and S2030 of FIG. 12, the data of the position information storage unit 3306 may be updated when confirming the position of the subject. As described above, the positions of the tags 60, 62, 64, and 66 are measured at any time, while the update of the file including the position information is performed at a timing different from each measurement, thereby delaying the processing due to the file writing. Can be reduced.

  The location information management process is started by a signal input from the terminals 10 and 12 to the remote monitoring device 30, and is repeated until a predetermined time elapses after no signal is input from the terminals 10 and 12 to the remote monitoring device 30. May be.

  In the present embodiment, the positions of the tags 60, 62, 64, and 66 are measured using the sensors 50, 52, 54, 56, and 58. However, the positions of the tags may be determined by other methods. For example, the person to be photographed can own a transmitter instead of a tag, and determine the position of the transmitter using a global positioning system (GPS).

<Monitoring process>
Details of the monitoring process will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 9, the monitoring process includes a user authentication process (S100) and a photographing / security mask process (S200).

(User authentication processing)
Details of the user authentication process in S100 of FIG. 9 are shown in FIG.
When a user (also referred to as a user) of this system accesses the remote monitoring device 30 from the terminals 10 and 12 connected to the external interface unit 300 of the remote monitoring device 30, first, S1000 is processed. In S1000, it is determined whether the person who operates the terminals 10 and 12 is a new user. As a determination method, the user may be asked directly whether or not the user is a new user. If it is determined in S1000 that the user is a new user, that is, if the determination is “YES”, the process proceeds to S1002. If not, that is, if the determination is “NO”, the flow proceeds to S1012.

In S1002, a management ID is issued to a new user. Thereafter, the process proceeds to S1004.
In S1004, a user name and password for the management ID issued to the new user in S1002 are issued, and the process proceeds to S1006.

  In S1006, the ID of the tag owned by the photographing subject related to the new user and, if present, the ID of the tag owned by the group member related to the photographing subject are designated. The tag ID may be input directly from the terminal 10 or 12 by the user, or read from a tag owned by the photographing subject or group member related to the new user by an external device connected to the remote monitoring device 30. May be. When the process of S1006 ends, the process proceeds to S1008.

  In step S1008, information related to the face of the person to be imaged is input. The face information of the person to be photographed may be transferred to the remote monitoring device 30 as captured by the terminals 10 and 12, or may be input to the remote monitoring device 30 by connecting an external device such as a scanner. . Or you may select from the image image | photographed with the cameras 40, 42, and 44. FIG.

  In step S1010 following step S1008, the management ID issued in step S1002, the user name and password corresponding to the management ID issued in step S1004, the ID of a tag owned by the subject and group member specified in step S1006, and input in step S1008. Data stored in each unit of the database unit 330 is created using information regarding the faces of the photographed person and group members. More specifically, data stored in the authentication information storage unit 3300, the photographing target storage unit 3302, the face information storage unit 3304, the position information storage unit 3306, and the group information storage unit 3308 is created. Examples of each data are shown in FIGS. When data stored in each unit of the database unit 330 is created, the process proceeds to S1016.

  On the other hand, if “NO” in the determination in S1000, that is, if the user is not a new user, the user name and password are accepted in S1012 following S1000. The user name and password are input from the terminals 10 and 12 by the user.

  In S1014 after S1012, it is determined whether the current user is recognized from the user name and password input in S1010. In this determination, data stored in the authentication information storage unit 3300 of the database unit 330 is referred to. If “NO” in the determination in S1014, that is, if the user is not recognized, the monitoring process ends. If “YES” in the determination in S1014, the process proceeds to S1016.

  In steps S1016 to S1026, it is determined whether to update the data stored in the shooting target storage unit 3302, the face information storage unit 3304, and the group information storage unit 3308 of the database unit 330, and if the data is to be updated. The data stored in the photographing target storage unit 3302, the face information storage unit 3304, and the group information storage unit 3308 are updated.

  In S1016, it is determined whether or not to change the subject name of the subject related to the currently authenticated user. If “YES” in this determination, that is, if the subject to be photographed related to the currently authenticated user is to be changed, the process proceeds to S1018, and the data stored in the subject to be photographed storage 3302 of the database unit 330 is stored. rewrite. The rewriting of data includes, for example, changing the subject name “Sato hajime” for the management ID “A001” in the example of FIG. 5 to “Kodayamachiro”. Then, the process proceeds to S1020. If “NO” in the determination in S1016, the process directly proceeds to S1020.

  In S1020, it is determined whether or not to update the face information stored in the face information storage unit 3304 of the database unit 330. If “YES” in this determination, that is, if the face information is to be changed, the process proceeds to S1022. In S1022, the face information stored in the face information storage unit 3304 is updated. Updating the face information includes, for example, replacing the file containing the face information with the data shown in FIG. In the example of FIG. 6, the update of the face information is performed by replacing the file “File-1000a” including the face information of the person to be photographed “Sato hajime” who owns the person to be photographed with the tag ID “1000a” with another file, for example, “Kodaima chiro Including a file “File-1000aa” including a face photograph of “. New face information may be input via the network 20 or may be input via an external device connected to the remote monitoring device 30. After the process of S1022, the process proceeds to S1024. If “NO” in the determination in S1020, the process directly proceeds to S1024.

  In step S1024, it is determined whether to update the group information regarding the current user. If “YES” in this determination, that is, if group information is updated, the process proceeds to S1026. In S1026, the data stored in the group information storage unit 3308 of the database unit 330 is updated. In the example of FIG. 8, the group members include “1000b” and “1000c” for the photographing subject who owns the photographing subject tag ID “1000a”. For example, newly adding “1000d” to a group member is an update of group information. When the process of S1026 ends, the user management process ends. If “NO” in the determination in S1020, the user management process is terminated.

(Shooting / Security mask processing)
The imaging / security mask process S200 of FIG. 9 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.
First, in S2000, the position of the subject to be photographed with respect to the current user is confirmed. The person to be photographed owns the tags 60, 62, 64, and 66, and the position of the tag uses the sensors 50, 52, 54, 56, and 58 as needed, and the position information management process shown in FIG. The measurement information is entered in the data stored in the position information storage unit 3306 of the database unit 330. In S2000, from the data stored in the position information storage unit 3306, the position of the tag owned by the current photographing target person is read. When this process ends, the process proceeds to S2002.

  In S2002, cameras 40, 42, and 44 suitable for photographing the position of the tag owned by the photographing subject who is the target are selected. The camera closest to the tag position may be selected. When a camera that captures the target person in S2002 is selected, shooting starts in the next S2004. Simultaneously with the start of shooting in S2004, the timer 410 serving as the no-communication monitoring timer function is reset in S2006.

  In S2008 following S2006, the data in the authentication information storage unit 3300 is updated. Specifically, the session information of the data shown in FIG. 4 is updated to the current state, and the no-communication monitoring column is set to “0:00: 00”. As described above, the session information indicating whether or not the session between the terminals 10 and 12 and the remote monitoring device 30 is connected is acquired from time to time by the authentication unit 3200 of the device control unit 320 based on the information from the network 20. ing.

  In S2010 next to S2008, the captured image information is sent from the device control unit 330 of the remote monitoring device 30 to the imaging information processing unit 340. The photographed image includes a predetermined portion of the person to be photographed, for example, the front surface of the face. In addition, there is a possibility that a photographed image also includes a part other than a predetermined part of the photographing subject. For example, the face of a person who is directly behind the subject and is not registered as a group member of the subject when viewed from the camera may inevitably be captured when attempting to shoot the subject's face. There is. The image information in this step may include a photograph of a person's face or object that is not permitted to be photographed. A signal related to information including an image captured by the cameras 40, 42, and 44 in step S2010 and reaching the device control unit 320 via the external interface unit 300 and the data transmission / reception unit 310 of the remote monitoring device 30 is a shooting information processing unit. 340.

  In step S2012, the data stored in the face information storage unit 3304 and the group information storage unit 3308 of the database unit 330 in order to process the image sent from the device control unit 320 of the remote monitoring device 30 to the imaging information processing unit 340. Refer to

  In step S2014 subsequent to step S2012, it is determined whether or not the face of the subject to be photographed can be confirmed in the image sent to the photographing information processing unit 340 in step S2010 with reference to a file including the information of the subject of the subject to be photographed. . If the result of this determination is “YES”, that is, if the face of the subject to be photographed is shown in the image, the process proceeds to S2016. On the other hand, when the result of this determination is “NO”, that is, when the face of the person to be photographed is not shown in the image, the process proceeds to S2030.

  In step S2016, it is determined whether or not there is a group member of the subject in the image. If the result of this determination is “YES”, that is, if the image shows the group member of the subject, the process proceeds to S2020. On the other hand, if the result of this determination is “NO”, that is, if the group member of the subject is not shown in the image, the process proceeds to S2018.

  In step S2020, security mask processing is performed to mask all persons other than the subject in the image. This process makes it impossible to specify all persons and objects in the image other than the person to be photographed, and privacy is protected. When the process of S2020 ends, the process proceeds to S2022.

  In step S2018, security mask processing is performed to mask all persons and objects other than the subject person and group members of the subject person in the image. This process makes it impossible to specify all persons and objects in the image other than the subject person and the group members, and privacy is protected. Security mask processing is processing that prevents the person or the person who owns the object from being identified for the purpose of privacy protection for people and objects that are not in the subject and their group members. Including mask processing, mosaic processing, and the like. Examples of processing for privacy protection include name tags worn by students or teachers in a monitoring system for monitoring students in kindergartens, nurseries, schools, and the like. Moreover, in the monitoring system for the purpose of monitoring the street for the security of the city, a house nameplate and the like can be cited. When the processing of S2018 ends, the process proceeds to S2022.

  In the security mask process in S2020, all areas other than the subject person and the group member in the image may be masked or mosaic processed, or the entire face of the person other than the subject person and the group member Alternatively, as described above, a part of the face may be masked or mosaic processed.

In S2022, a process of converting the shooting information into a data transfer format suitable for transmission to the terminals 10 and 12 is performed. This processing is performed by the data transmission / reception unit 310.
In step S <b> 2024 subsequent to step S <b> 2022, information related to the masked image is transmitted to the terminals 10 and 12 via the network 20.

  If the determination in S2014 is “NO”, in S2030 and S2032, confirmation of the position of the person to be photographed and selection of a camera for photographing of the person to be photographed are performed. These processes are the same as S2000 and S2002. By the processing of S2030 and S2032, the camera to be photographed can be changed according to the movement of the photographing subject who is the target, and the desired portion of the photographing subject, for example, the front of the face can be reliably photographed. it can. When the processes of S2030 and S2032 are finished, the process returns to S2010.

  In S2026 following S2024, it is determined whether the no-communication monitoring timer has expired. If the determination result in S2026 is “YES”, that is, if the non-communication time exceeds a predetermined value, the process proceeds to S2034. In S2034, the session is disconnected. In S2036 subsequent to S2034, the data stored in the authentication information storage unit 3300 is updated. More specifically, “x” indicating that the session is disconnected is written in the session information column in the data as shown in FIG. Then, the monitoring process ends. If “NO” in the determination in S2026, that is, if the non-communication time does not exceed the predetermined value and it is determined that the target person to be photographed is continuously monitored, the process proceeds to S2028.

  Examples of the value of the non-communication time serving as a reference for session disconnection include 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 30 seconds, and 60 seconds. However, it is not limited to these numerical values, and may be manually set every time the user logs in.

  In S2028, it is determined whether or not to end shooting. For example, when a signal indicating an instruction to end shooting is input from the terminal, the determination in S2028 is “YES”. In this case, the photographing / security mask process is terminated. If the determination in S2028 is “NO”, that is, if no signal indicating the end of imaging is input to the remote monitoring device 30, the process proceeds to S2030. The process of S2028 is performed by the device control unit 320 of the remote monitoring device 30.

  Whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed since the processing of S2004 is adopted as the determination criterion of S2028, and the imaging may be terminated when the predetermined time has elapsed, otherwise the imaging may be continued. Examples of the predetermined time include 1 minute, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 1 hour, 4 hours, and 8 hours, but are not limited to these values.

Returning to FIG. 9, when the photographing / security mask process of S200 is completed, the monitoring process is terminated.
By performing the processing as described above, each of a plurality of users of the monitoring system can efficiently monitor a predetermined photographing target person while ensuring privacy.

<Modification>
A modification of the above embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.
In the above-described embodiment, the positions of the tags 60, 62, 64, and 66 owned by the imaging subject are measured by the sensors 50, 52, 54, 56, and 58 in order to determine the location of the imaging subject. However, for the purpose of the present invention, it is not always necessary to specify the position of the subject. That is, it is only necessary that the camera 40, 42, 44 can capture the face of the person to be imaged without using the tags 60, 62, 64, 66 and the sensors 50, 52, 54, 56, 58.

  In this modification, for example, face information is stored in the database for recognizing the subject to be photographed in the photographing information processing unit 340, and the subject identification control unit is provided in the position measuring unit 3202, so that a tag is not used. The person to be photographed can be recognized. Therefore, in this modification, without using the tags 60, 62, 64, and 66 and the sensors 50, 52, 54, 56, and 58, a plurality of users of the monitoring system can obtain desired shooting targets while ensuring privacy. A system and method capable of efficiently monitoring a person are provided.

  The present modification is greatly different from the above embodiment in the processing in the position information management process shown in FIG. In other words, in this modification, a camera that captures an image including the subject is selected from all or some of the cameras 40, 42, and 44, and the subject is photographed. Along with this change, the step of confirming the position of the person to be imaged during the camera control process shown in FIG. 12, for example, S2000, S2020, etc. may be skipped. Also, the step of confirming the position of the person to be imaged during the image taking / security mask process shown in FIG. 12, for example, S2030 may be skipped.

Further, the configuration of the remote monitoring device 30 is also changed so as to perform the above processing.
For example, since the apparatus control unit 320 does not measure the position by the sensor, the position measurement unit 3202 can be omitted. Instead, the camera control unit 3204 has a function of selecting a camera capable of shooting a target shooting target person and a group member thereof while referring to data stored in the database unit 330.

  Further, since the tags 60, 62, 64, and 66 are not used, the authentication information storage unit 3300, the photographing target storage unit 3302, the face information storage unit 3304, the position information storage unit 3306, and the group of the database unit 330 of the remote monitoring device 30 are used. The format of data stored in the information storage unit 3308 is simplified from that shown in FIGS.

  FIG. 13 is an example of data stored in the authentication information storage unit 3300 of the remote monitoring device according to the modification of the embodiment of the present invention. Compared with the data example shown in FIG. 4, the field of the subject tag ID is omitted.

  FIG. 14 is an example of data stored in the imaging target storage unit 3302 of the remote monitoring apparatus according to the modification of the embodiment of the present invention. Compared with the data example shown in FIG. 5, the field of the photographing subject tag ID is omitted, and only the photographing subject name for the management ID is entered.

  FIG. 15 is an example of data stored in the face information storage unit 3304 of the remote monitoring device according to the modification of the embodiment of the present invention. In the example of FIG. 6, the file name including the information of the face of the person to be photographed who owns the tag is written in correspondence with the person to be photographed tag ID. A file name including information on the face of the person to be photographed that can be photographed by the user having the management ID is entered.

  FIG. 16 is an example of data stored in the position information storage unit 3306 of the remote monitoring device according to the modification of the embodiment of the present invention. In this example, information related to a camera capable of photographing a subject who can photograph a user having the management ID is entered in the management ID.

  FIG. 17 is an example of data stored in the group information storage unit 3308 of the remote monitoring device according to the modification of the embodiment of the present invention. Compared to the data example of FIG. 8, in the data of FIG. 17, the management ID of the group member associated with the subject to be photographed that can be photographed by the user having the management ID is entered in the management ID.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing position information management processing of the remote monitoring method according to the present modification.
First, it is determined whether or not the user is logging in to the terminals 10 and 12 in S5000. This step is the same as S4000. If the user is logged in, the result of the determination in S5000 is “YES”. If the determination result in S5000 is “YES”, the flow proceeds to S5002. If the user is not logged in, the result of the determination in S5000 is “NO”, and the process in S5000 is repeated until the user logs in.

  In next step S5002, the person to be photographed and the group member who can photograph the user are specified from the logged-in user. At this time, the data stored in the photographing target storage unit 3302 shown in FIG. 14 and the data stored in the group information storage unit 3308 shown in FIG. 17 are referred to.

  In S5004 following S5002, one of the cameras 40, 42, and 44 is selected as the camera to be photographed. At this time, a predetermined camera may be used to acquire an image. Alternatively, the camera may be entered in the data stored in the position information storage unit 3306 at this time.

In S5006 following S5004, an image captured by the camera selected in S5004 is acquired.
In S5008 following S5006, it is determined whether or not the face of the subject to be photographed is included in the image acquired in S5006 with reference to the data stored in the face information storage unit 3304 shown in FIG. . If the result of this determination is “YES”, that is, if the image taken by the camera includes a person to be photographed related to the user, the process proceeds to S5010. If the result of this determination is “NO”, that is, if the image taken by the camera does not include the person to be photographed determined by the user, the camera to be photographed is selected again in S5004, and the process returns to S5006.

In S5010, the information of the camera selected in S5006 is entered in the field of camera information for photographing in the data shown in FIG.
When the processing of S5010 ends, the process returns to S5000.

By the position information management process as described above, the device control unit 320 of the remote monitoring device 30 acquires an image from a camera that is photographing the face of the photographing subject corresponding to the user.
This location information management process is started by signal input from the terminals 10 and 12 to the remote monitoring device 30 and is repeated until a predetermined time elapses after no signal is input from the terminals 10 and 12 to the remote monitoring device 30. May be.

  As described above, a camera that can shoot a subject and its group members is selected from one or a plurality of cameras, and security mask processing is performed for all subjects other than the subject and its group members in an image photographed by the camera. Or, by making the person other than the person to be photographed and their group members unidentifiable, each of a plurality of users of the surveillance system is allowed to take a predetermined photographing object while ensuring the privacy while the structure of the surveillance system is simple. Can be monitored efficiently.

The following supplementary notes are further disclosed with respect to the above embodiments and modifications.
(Appendix 1)
User authentication means for authenticating the user;
A monitoring target person defining means for corresponding to the authenticated user and defining a monitoring target person to be monitored by the user;
Photographing means for photographing the monitoring subject and outputting an image;
Photographing information processing means for outputting the image without processing only the image portion of the monitoring subject in the image obtained by the photographing means;
Including monitoring system.
(Appendix 2)
The monitoring subject defining means further includes group member defining means for defining a group member related to the monitoring subject and allowed to be monitored by the user,
The system according to claim 1, wherein the photographing information processing means outputs the image without processing a portion of the image where only the image portion of the monitoring subject and the group member is photographed.
(Appendix 3)
Furthermore, it includes a position measuring means for measuring the position of the monitoring subject,
The system according to appendix 1, wherein the photographing unit photographs the position of the monitoring subject measured by the position measuring unit.
(Appendix 4)
The imaging means includes a plurality of imaging means,
Further, the plurality of imaging means for determining whether or not the monitoring target person is included in the image obtained by any of the plurality of imaging means, and acquiring the image including the monitoring target person The system according to appendix 1 or 2, including position measurement means configured to photograph the monitoring subject by any of the above.
(Appendix 5)
The imaging means includes a plurality of imaging means,
Furthermore, it is determined whether the monitoring target person and the group member are included in the image obtained by any of the plurality of imaging units, and the monitoring target person and the group member are included. The system according to claim 2, further comprising a position measuring unit configured to photograph the monitoring subject by any of the plurality of imaging units that acquire the image.
(Appendix 6)
Furthermore, it includes a position measuring means for measuring the positions of the monitoring subject and the group member,
The system according to appendix 2 or 5, wherein the photographing unit photographs the positions of the monitoring subject and the group member measured by the position measuring unit.
(Appendix 7)
Further, the position measuring means includes a tag owned by the monitoring subject and a sensor for identifying the tag, and measures the position of the monitoring subject by measuring the position of the tag by the sensor. The system of Appendix 3 or 4.
(Appendix 8)
Further, the position measuring means includes a tag owned by the monitoring subject and the group member and a sensor for identifying the tag, and by measuring the position of the tag by the sensor, the monitoring subject and The system according to appendix 5, wherein the position of the group member is measured.
(Appendix 9)
The system according to any one of appendices 1 to 8, wherein the imaging information processing unit performs mosaic processing or mask processing on a region other than the monitoring target person in the image obtained by the imaging unit.
(Appendix 10)
The imaging information processing unit performs mosaic processing or mask processing on an area other than the monitoring target person and the group member in the image obtained by the imaging unit, and any one of appendices 2, 5, 6 and 8 Systems.
(Appendix 11)
The imaging information processing means performs mosaic processing or mask processing on at least a part of an image portion of a person other than the monitoring target person and the group member in the image obtained by the imaging means, The system of any one of 6 and 8.
(Appendix 12)
The system according to claim 11, wherein the image portion of at least a part of the person is the entire face or a part of the face.
(Appendix 13)
Authenticating the user,
Defining a monitored person corresponding to the authenticated user and being monitored by the user;
Photographing the person to be monitored and outputting an image;
Outputting the image without processing only the image portion of the monitoring subject in the image;
Including monitoring methods.
(Appendix 14)
Defining the monitored person further includes defining a group member associated with the monitored person and allowed to be monitored by the user;
The method according to appendix 13, wherein outputting only the monitoring target person in the image without processing outputs only the monitoring target person and the group member without processing.
(Appendix 15)
Further comprising measuring the position of the person being monitored,
The method according to supplementary note 13, wherein photographing the monitoring subject and outputting an image photographs the position of the monitoring subject measured by the position measuring unit.
(Appendix 16)
Shooting the monitoring subject and outputting an image is performed by a plurality of imaging means,
Further, the plurality of imaging means for determining whether or not the monitoring target person is included in the image obtained by any of the plurality of imaging means, and acquiring the image including the monitoring target person Photographing the person to be monitored by any of the following:
The method of appendix 13 or 14, comprising
(Appendix 17)
Shooting the monitoring subject and the group member and outputting an image is performed by a plurality of imaging means,
Further, it is determined whether the monitoring target person and the group member are included in the image obtained by any of the plurality of imaging means, and the image including the monitoring target person is acquired. 15. The method according to appendix 14, including photographing at least the subject to be photographed by any of a plurality of imaging means.
(Appendix 18)
And measuring the positions of the monitoring subject and the group members (FIG. 10, S4004-S4008),
The method according to appendix 14 or 17, wherein photographing the monitoring subject and outputting an image photograph the positions of the monitoring subject and the group member measured by the position measuring unit.
(Appendix 19)
Further, measuring the position of the monitored person measures the position of the monitored person by measuring the position of the tag owned by the monitored person by a sensor for identifying the tag. 15 or 16 methods.
(Appendix 20)
Further, measuring the position of the monitored person may determine the position of the monitored person by measuring a position of a tag owned by the monitored person and the group member by a sensor for identifying the tag. The method of appendix 16, wherein measurement is performed.
(Appendix 21)
Any one of appendices 13 to 20 wherein outputting only the monitoring target person in the image without processing performs mosaic processing or mask processing on an area other than the monitoring target person in the image. Method.
(Appendix 22)
Outputting only the monitoring target person in the image without processing is to mosaic or mask the area other than the monitoring target person and the group member in the image. The method of any one of 19 and 21.
(Appendix 23)
Outputting only the person to be monitored in the image without processing means that mosaic processing or mask processing is performed on at least part of the image part of the person other than the person to be monitored and the group member in the image. The method of any one of appendices 14, 18, 19 and 21.
(Appendix 24)
The method according to appendix 23, wherein at least a part of the image portion of the person is the entire face or a part of the face.
(Appendix 25)
A remote monitoring device connected to the input / output device and the photographing means,
An authentication unit that receives information about the user from the input / output device and authenticates the user;
A control unit that controls the photographing unit so that a user who is authenticated by the authentication unit captures a subject to be monitored, and acquires an image of the subject.
Photographing that applies security mask processing to at least a part of the area other than the area in which the person to be monitored is captured in the image obtained by the photographing means so that the person or object being photographed cannot be identified. An information processing unit;
An apparatus including a data transmitting / receiving unit that outputs an image processed by the photographing information processing unit to the input / output device.
(Appendix 26)
Furthermore, a position measuring unit that measures the position of the subject to be photographed is included,
The apparatus according to appendix 25, wherein the control unit controls the photographing unit to photograph the position of the subject.
(Appendix 27)
Further, the authentication unit determines a group member that is allowed to be photographed together with a photographing subject determined by the user,
The apparatus according to appendix 25, wherein the imaging information processing unit performs security mask processing on at least a part of an area other than the area in which the monitoring target person and the group member are captured in the image obtained by the imaging means. .
(Appendix 28)
In addition, a position measuring unit that selects a photographing means photographing the subject person,
The apparatus according to appendix 25 or 27, wherein the control unit controls the photographing unit selected by the position measuring unit to photograph the subject.
(Appendix 29)
Any one of appendices 25 to 29, wherein the imaging information processing unit performs the security mask process on at least a part of a face of the person other than the monitoring target person and the group member in the image obtained by the imaging unit. Or one device.

10, 12 terminal 20 network 30 remote monitoring device 300 external interface unit 310 data transmission / reception unit 320 device control unit 3200 authentication unit 3202 position measurement unit 3204 camera control unit 330 database unit 3300 authentication information storage unit 3302 photographing object storage unit 3304 face information storage Unit 3306 position information storage unit 3308 group information storage unit 340 imaging information processing unit 40, 42, 44 camera 50, 52, 54, 56, 58 sensor 60, 62, 64, 66 tag

Claims (10)

User authentication means for authenticating the user;
A monitoring target person defining means for corresponding to the authenticated user and defining a monitoring target person to be monitored by the user;
An imaging means including a plurality of imaging means for imaging the monitoring subject and outputting an image;
It is determined whether or not the person to be monitored is reflected in an image obtained by one of the plurality of imaging means. If not, the imaging means is controlled to Another one is a photographing control means for performing photographing of the monitoring subject by selecting based on the position of the monitoring subject measured by the position measuring means for measuring the position of the monitoring subject,
Imaging information processing means for outputting a region other than the image portion of the monitoring subject in the image obtained by the imaging means by performing mosaic processing or mask processing, and
Including monitoring system. The monitoring subject defining means further includes group member defining means for defining a group member related to the monitoring subject and allowed to be monitored by the user,
The imaging information processing means outputs a region other than the image portion of the monitoring target person in the image and a region other than the image portion of the group member after performing mosaic processing or mask processing. system. And further comprising the position measuring means,
The system according to claim 1, wherein the photographing unit photographs the position of the monitoring subject measured by the position measuring unit.   Further, the plurality of imaging means for determining whether or not the monitoring target person is included in the image obtained by any of the plurality of imaging means, and acquiring the image including the monitoring target person The system according to claim 1, further comprising position measuring means configured to take an image of the person being monitored by any of the above.   Furthermore, it is determined whether the monitoring target person and the group member are included in the image obtained by any of the plurality of imaging units, and the monitoring target person and the group member are included. The system according to claim 2, further comprising a position measuring unit configured to photograph the monitoring subject by any of the plurality of imaging units that acquire the image. And further comprising the position measuring means,
The position measuring means further measures the position of the group member;
The system according to claim 2, wherein the photographing unit photographs the positions of the monitoring subject and the group member measured by the position measuring unit.   Further, the position measuring means includes a tag owned by the monitoring subject and a sensor for identifying the tag, and measures the position of the monitoring subject by measuring the position of the tag by the sensor. The system of claim 3 or 4.   Further, the position measuring means includes a tag owned by the monitoring subject and the group member and a sensor for identifying the tag, and by measuring the position of the tag by the sensor, the monitoring subject and The system of claim 5, wherein the position of the group member is measured.   The image processing information processing unit performs mosaic processing or mask processing on at least a part of an image portion of a person other than the monitoring target person and the group member in the image obtained by the image capturing unit. The system according to any one of 5, 6, and 8.   The system of claim 9, wherein the image portion of at least a portion of the person is an entire face or a part of a face.