Panasonic Corporation

Yasuyuki Michimoto

Satoru Oyabu

Shinji Takenaka

Satoru Ooyabu

An automatic tracking apparatus is provided, which is capable of solving a failure occurred in an automatic tracking operation in connection with a zooming operation, and capable of tracking an object in a stable manner, while a zooming-up operation, or a zooming-down operation is carried out in a high speed. The automatic tracking apparatus is equipped with: a first object detecting unitfor detecting an object from an image photographed by a camera and inputted; a first zooming control unitfor changing zooming magnification of the camera in such a case that a dimension of the detected object is smaller than a predetermined dimension on the image; a second object detecting unitfor detecting the object from an image again photographed by the camera after the zooming magnification has been changed; a template matching unitfor comparing the object detected by the second object detecting unit with the image photographed by the camera so as to specify a position of the object and to track the object on the image; and a second zooming control unitfor controlling the zooming magnification of the camera in such a manner that a dimension of the object to be tracked becomes a predetermined dimension on an image which is photographed by the camera.

Automatic tracking apparatus and automatic tracking method

The present invention provides a monitoring camera apparatus which can measure camera installation height easily with a simple configuration. The monitoring camera apparatus includes a distance detecting unit and direction detecting unit. The distance detecting unit detects subject distance D to a subject using an autofocus function. The direction detecting unit detects a shooting direction &#x3b8; of the imaging unit rotated by a rotating mechanism. A height calculating unit calculates camera installation height H by converting the detected subject distance D into vertical length using the shooting direction &#x3b8; in which the subject distance D is detected.

Monitoring camera device

Disclosed is a moving object automatic tracking apparatus that includes a movement detector for detecting movement of a moving object from an image obtained in time series from an image input portion. A tracker tracks the moving object by controlling a platform of the image input portion in a direction of movement of the moving object based on a movement detection result of the movement detector. An area manager manages a registered preset position and new registration of a preset position indicating an area for executing tracking by the tracker and movement detection by the movement detector. A patrol monitor conducts monitoring while patrolling plural preset positions set and managed by the area manager, and when a position in which the moving object is tracked and lost differs from the initialized preset position, the lost position is newly added and registered as an adaptive preset position.

Growing community of inventors

Ishikawa, Japan

Yasuyuki Michimoto