Information processing apparatus, range determination method, computer program product

Abstract

The present invention provides an information processing apparatus, a range determination method, and a recording medium. The information processing apparatus for determining the range of a monitoring object in a specified area is characterized by including: an acquisition unit that acquires information on a line drawn by a user on image data obtained by photographing the specified area; and a determination unit that determines, as the range of the monitoring object, the range indicated by the area where the line is thickened.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, a range determination method, and a recording medium. Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, fixed cameras such as surveillance cameras installed in offices and factories have been used to monitor (sense, inspect) the movement of people and objects. In such monitoring, by limiting the range in which people and objects may move to the monitoring target, the effort and time required for sensing can be reduced. However, for example, due to layout changes and equipment changes in a factory, the range in which people and objects move may change frequently. Therefore, it is troublesome and not preferable to finely specify the monitoring range through user input.

[0003] In response to this, Patent Document 1 describes the following technique: when a user selects one pixel on image data, pixels having a color similar to that of the one pixel are detected in the image data, and the range indicated by the detected pixels is set as the target range.

[0004] Prior Art Documents

[0005] Patent Documents

[0006] Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-14480 Summary of the Invention

[0007] Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0008] However, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, for example, when the color of a passage portion through which a person passes is similar to the color of corrugated paper or a table separated from the passage, the range including the corrugated paper or the table is also designated as the monitoring target range. Therefore, there is a possibility that even an unnecessary area becomes the monitoring target range.

[0009] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a technique capable of achieving both reduction of user trouble and determination of an appropriate monitoring target range.

[0010] Means for Solving the Problems

[0011] To achieve the above object, the present invention adopts the following configuration.

[0012] An information processing apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention is an information processing apparatus that determines a range of a monitoring target in a specified place, and is characterized by including: an acquisition unit that acquires information indicating a line drawn by a user on image data obtained by photographing the specified place; and a determination unit that determines the range indicated by the region where the line is thickened as the range of the monitoring target. In addition, the specified place may be any place such as a factory or an office. In addition, the range of the monitoring target is a range assumed to be passed through by people and objects, etc.

[0013] According to such a structure, since the user only needs to trace the image data, the range of the monitoring object can be easily determined. In addition, since the range shown by the area where the line is thickened is determined as the range of the monitoring object, the range shown by the area far from the line can be excluded from the monitoring object and an appropriate range can be determined as the monitoring object. Therefore, when monitoring a specified place, the possibility of false detection of the movement of people and objects can be reduced within the range where there is no possibility of people or objects moving.

[0014] The determining unit may also determine the range of the monitoring object as the range shown by the area where the line is thickened by a predetermined specified length. According to such a structure, the length of the line thickening can be unified. Therefore, for example, when the user inputs the width of a passage or the like as the monitoring object in advance, an appropriate range can be used as the monitoring object. In addition, since the amount of line thickening is unified, the processing burden on the information processing device for determining the range of the monitoring object can be reduced.

[0015] The determining unit may also determine the range of the monitoring object as the range shown by the area where the line is thickened at each point position of the line until it reaches the boundary position of the image data. Here, the boundary position refers to the boundary of multiple regions, objects, etc. According to such a structure, people or objects as the monitoring object may move to this boundary position. Therefore, even when the amount of line thickening is unknown, the range of the monitoring object can be appropriately determined.

[0016] The determining unit may also calculate the thickness of each point position of the line when the line is thickened at each point position of the line until it reaches the boundary position of the image data. The determining unit determines the range of the monitoring object as the range shown by the area where the line is thickened by a length equivalent to the representative value of the thickness calculated for multiple point positions on the line. Here, the representative value is the average value, minimum value, maximum value, median value, mode value, etc. According to such a structure, based on the result when the line is thickened until it reaches the boundary position, the amount of line thickening can be determined. Therefore, the range of the monitoring object can be determined with higher accuracy. In addition, when noise is included in the image data, etc., the influence of noise can also be suppressed by unifying the amount of thickening according to the representative value. Therefore, the range of the monitoring object can be appropriately determined.

[0017] The multiple points are points corresponding to pixels having pixel values among the respective points of the line, and the pixel value may be a pixel value whose difference from the set pixel value is less than a specified threshold. The set pixel value may be the pixel value of the pixel having the largest number among the pixels corresponding to the respective points of the line. With such a structure, for example, when an installation object is arranged above the position of the area to be monitored, as a result, the pixels representing the installation object are used as the multiple points for thickening the line, and the possibility of inappropriately determining the amount of thickening of the line can be reduced. That is, the range of the monitoring object can be determined more appropriately.

[0018] The determination unit may also determine the representative value of each of the multiple second lines obtained by dividing the line, and for each of the multiple second lines, determine the range indicated by the area where the second line is thickened by a length corresponding to the representative value as the range of the monitoring object. With such a structure, even when the width of the range to be monitored varies depending on the location, the amount of thickening of the line can be determined for each location, so that the range of the monitoring object can be determined more appropriately.

[0019] The boundary position may also be the position of the edge pixels in the image data. The boundary position is the position of the pixels whose difference in pixel value from the pixels at the positions of the respective points of the line in the image data is significantly different from a first threshold. The image data includes height information of each position of the specified position, and the boundary position is the position where the difference in height from the positions of the respective points of the line in the image data is significantly different from a second threshold. In addition, the boundary position is not limited to the above positions, and may be any position as long as it can be determined as the boundary of multiple regions or objects.

[0020] The information processing device may also include: a display unit that displays an image based on the image data; and an acceptance unit that accepts a user input for drawing the line on the image data. Further, the information processing device may also include a photographing unit that obtains the image data by performing photographing.

[0021] The range determination method according to the second aspect of the present invention is a range determination method for determining the range of a monitoring object in a specified place, and is characterized by including: an acquisition step of acquiring information that a user has drawn a line on image data obtained by photographing the specified place; and a determination step of determining the range indicated by the area where the line is thickened as the range of the monitoring object.

[0022] The present invention can be a control device having at least a part of the above units, or can be a monitoring control device or a monitoring control system. In addition, the present invention can also be a monitoring control method or a control method of an information processing device including at least a part of the above processing. Furthermore, the present invention can also be a program for implementing the above method and a recording medium that non-temporarily records the program. In addition, the above means and processes can be combined with each other as much as possible to constitute the present invention.

[0023] Advantages of the Invention

[0024] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a technology that realizes both reducing the user's effort and determining an appropriate monitoring object range. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] Figure 1 It is a structural diagram of the information processing system of Embodiment 1.

[0026] Figure 2 (A) of Figure 2 (B) of is a diagram for explaining a specified place in Embodiment 1.

[0027] Figure 3 (A) of is a diagram showing a line specified by the user in Embodiment 1, Figure 3 (B) of is a diagram showing a region corresponding to the range of the monitoring object in Embodiment 1.

[0028] Figure 4 It is a flowchart showing the determination process of the monitoring range in Embodiment 1.

[0029] Figure 5 (A) of represents a diagram of a line specified by the user in Embodiment 1, Figure 5 (B) of represents a diagram of a region corresponding to the range of the monitoring object in Embodiment 2.

[0030] Figure 6 It is a diagram for explaining the process of thickening the line in Embodiment 1.

[0031] Figure 7 (A) of is a diagram showing a line specified by the user in Embodiment 1, Figure 7 (B) of is a diagram showing a region corresponding to the range of the monitoring object in Embodiment 1.

[0032] Figure 8 (A) of is a diagram showing a line specified by the user in Modification 1, Figure 8 of (B) is to represent Figure 8 When the line shown in (A) of is thickened by the method of Embodiment 2, it is a diagram of a region corresponding to the range of the monitoring object, Figure 8 of (C) is to represent Figure 8FIG. 1 is a diagram of an area corresponding to the range of the monitoring target when the line shown in (A) is thickened using the method of Modification Example 1. FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0033] The following describes the embodiments for implementing the present invention using the accompanying drawings, but the interpretation of the description of the protection scope of the present invention is not limited only by the matters described in the embodiments. The interpretation of the description of the protection scope of the present invention also includes the description scope that can be recognized by those skilled in the art and can solve the technical problems of the invention in consideration of the technical common sense at the time of application.

[0034] <Implementation Method 1>

[0035] [Structure of information processing system]

[0036] Hereinafter, the information processing system 1 for determining the range of a monitoring target according to the first embodiment will be described. Figure 1 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of an information processing system 1. The information processing system 1 includes an information processing device 10 and an imaging device 20.

[0037] The information processing device 10 is an information processing terminal such as a PC or a server that determines the range of a monitoring target based on the image data captured by the imaging device 20 .

[0038] The camera device 20 captures a predetermined location in a factory or office and obtains image data (two-dimensional image data). Figure 2 As shown in (A), the camera device 20 obtains image data by photographing an office having a passage 201, a shelf 202, and a floor 203. Here, the passage 201 is considered to be equivalent to the range of movement of a person or an object, so it is preferred to Figure 2 As shown in (B), the range shown by the area 204 that coincides with the channel 201 is determined as the range of the monitored object. In addition, the camera device 20 is, for example, a fixed-point camera that is fixed to the ceiling of an office, etc., and can always perform video recording of a fixed range from a fixed location. Therefore, the camera device 20 can also monitor the range of the monitored object determined by the information processing device 10 from a fixed location. In addition, the image data captured by the camera device 20 can be either monochrome or color. In addition, a fisheye camera can be used in the camera device 20. By using a fisheye camera in the camera device 20, image data with a wide field of view can be obtained at an ultra-wide angle, thereby enabling monitoring of a wider range. The camera device 20 sends the captured image data to the information processing device 10.

[0039] (Structure of Information Processing Device)

[0040] Next, use Figure 1Describe the internal structure of the information processing apparatus 10. The information processing apparatus 10 includes an image acquisition unit 101, an image display unit 102, a user input reception unit 103, a region determination unit 104, a storage unit 105, and an output unit 106.

[0041] The image acquisition unit 101 acquires image data of a specified place such as an office or the inside of a factory from the imaging device 20 for determining the range of the monitoring target. In addition, the communication between the image acquisition unit 101 and the imaging device 20 can be performed by wire or wirelessly using any communication method.

[0042] The image display unit 102 acquires image data from the image acquisition unit 101 and displays an image based on the image data. Therefore, an image such as shown in (A) of Figure 2 which represents the inside of an office is displayed on the image display unit 102. The image display unit 102 displays an image on a display such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or an organic EL.

[0043] The user input reception unit 103 (acquisition unit) receives (acquires) a user input that designates (draws) a line for determining the range of the monitoring target on an image (image data) representing a specified place displayed on the image display unit 102. In addition, as will be described in detail later, the range indicated by the area where the line designated by the user is thickened is determined as the range of the monitoring target, so the user designates the line considering the above situation. For example, in the case of displaying an image of an office as shown in (A) of Figure 2 in order to set the area where people move, i.e., the passage 201, as the monitoring target, a user input for designating the line 301 along the passage 201 can be made as shown in (A) of Figure 3 Here, the user input reception unit 103 includes pointing devices such as a touch panel and a mouse used for the user to designate a line.

[0044] The region determination unit 104 acquires information on the line designated (drawn) by the user from the user input reception unit 103 and acquires image data from the image acquisition unit 101. Then, the region determination unit 104 determines the range of the monitoring target in the specified place based on the line information and the image data. Therefore, it can be said that the region determination unit 104 is composed of an information acquisition unit that acquires the line information and the image data, and a determination unit that determines the range of the monitoring target.

[0045] The storage unit 105 stores information used by the area determination unit 104 to determine the scope of the monitoring target. The storage unit 105 can store information on lines specified by the user, image data, and can also store the scope of the monitoring target for a specified location. In addition, the storage unit 105 can also store programs for the operation of each functional unit. Moreover, the storage unit 105 can include multiple storage components such as a ROM (Read - only Memory) that stores important programs, a RAM (Random Access Memory) that enables high - speed access, and an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) that stores a large amount of data as a system.

[0046] The output unit 106 outputs information indicating the scope of the monitoring target determined by the area determination unit 104. The output unit 106 can output this information to the imaging device 20 when the imaging device 20 is performing monitoring, and can also output this information to an external display device. In addition, the output unit 106 can also output information indicating the scope of the monitoring target to a printer, for example, so that the user can confirm it on paper.

[0047] In addition, the information processing device 10 and the imaging device 20 can be composed of a computer equipped with a CPU (processor), a memory, a storage device, etc. In this case, the structure shown as Figure 1 is realized by loading the program stored in the storage device into the memory and the CPU executing this program. Such a computer can be a general - purpose computer such as a personal computer, a server computer, a tablet terminal, a smart phone, or an embedded computer such as an onboard computer. Or, it can also be composed of all or part of the structure shown by Figure 1 ASIC or FPG, etc. Or, all or part of the structure shown by Figure 1 can also be realized through cloud computing or distributed computing.

[0048] [Determination Process of Monitoring Range]

[0049] Hereinafter, the process of determining the scope of the monitoring target (scope determination method), which is the process executed by the information processing device 10, will be described using the Figure 4 flowchart shown. In addition, assume that in the state before the start of the process of this flowchart, the imaging device 20 is capturing image data of an office as shown in Figure 2 (A) for determining the scope of the monitoring target. In addition, based on the program stored in the storage unit 105, each functional unit of the information processing device 10 executes each process of this flowchart.

[0050] In step S1001, the image acquisition unit 101 acquires the captured image data from the imaging device 20. The image acquisition unit 101 outputs the acquired image data to the image display unit 102 and the area determination unit 104. In addition, the image acquisition unit 101 may store the acquired image data in the storage unit 105. In addition, at this time, the image data acquired by the image acquisition unit 101 may be the image data of a still image or the image data of a moving image. In addition, when the image acquisition unit 101 acquires the image data of a moving image, one frame of the image data of the moving image is output to the image display unit 102 and the area determination unit 104 to facilitate the user's line specification in step S1003.

[0051] In step S1002, the image display unit 102 displays an image based on the image data. Therefore, an image of an office as shown in (A) of Figure 2 is displayed. By displaying the image in this way, the user can grasp the range in which people move in the office based on the image.

[0052] In step S1003, the user input reception unit 103 receives (acquires) a user input for specifying a line for determining the monitoring object range for the displayed image. Therefore, the user input reception unit 103 receives the specification of the line 301 via a mouse or a touch panel as shown in (A) of Figure 3 The user input reception unit 103 outputs the received line information to the area determination unit 104. In addition, the user input reception unit 103 may store the line information in the storage unit 105.

[0053] In addition, the line specified by the user does not need to be a free curve as shown in (A) of Figure 3 As shown in (A) of Figure 5 , it may also be a line formed by the user specifying a plurality of points and connecting adjacent points among the plurality of points by a straight line.

[0054] In step S1004, the area determination unit 104 acquires the image data and the line information, and determines the monitoring object range based on the image data and the line information. In the present embodiment, as shown in Figure 3As shown in (B), the area determination unit 104 determines the range shown by the area 302 where a line specified by the user is thickened by a specified length as the range to be monitored. In addition, in the present embodiment, the area determination unit 104 determines the range shown by the area 302 where a specified length is thickened in the normal direction (orthogonal direction) at each point of the line specified by the user as the range to be monitored. Here, the specified length can be input from the user via the user input receiving unit 103 or can be stored in advance in the storage unit 105. In addition, in the specified length representing the length in the image data, 1 pixel can be used as a unit. The area determination unit 104 outputs the information on the determined range to be monitored to the output unit 106. In addition, the area determination unit 104 may store the information on the range to be monitored in the storage unit 105.

[0055] Here, an example of a method for thickening the line specified by the user will be described. First, the area determination unit 104 extracts a plurality of points at a specified interval in the line based on the line information. Next, the area determination unit 104 generates a line 301 as shown in Figure 5 (A) by linearly connecting adjacent points among the plurality of points. Here, the specified interval can be any length, but the shorter the specified interval, the higher the accuracy, and the line specified by the user can be thickened. In addition, if the line specified by the user itself is a line formed by linearly connecting adjacent points among a plurality of points, such processing is not required. Then, the area determination unit 104 thickens a specified length in the direction perpendicular to each straight line in the line 301. Thereby, the area determination unit 104 can determine the area obtained by thickening the line specified by the user.

[0056] For example, as shown in Figure 6 , a case where a straight line connecting two adjacent points A1(x1, y1) = (2, 2) and A2(x2, y2) = (8, 10) among a plurality of points is widened by a specified length L1 = 10 will be described. Here, the point (0, 0) is the center position of the image represented by the image data. At this time, the area determination unit 104 thickens the straight line by a length equal to 1 / 2 times the specified length L1 = 5 in two directions perpendicular to the straight line. Then, the area determination unit 104 determines the area including the thickened line as a part of the area representing the range to be monitored. That is, the range shown by the rectangle represented by the dotted line formed by the four points B1(-2, 5), B2(6, -1), B3(4, 13), and B4(12, 7) is determined as a part of the range to be monitored. The area determination unit 104 can determine the range to be monitored by performing this series of processes on the number of straight lines formed by adjacent points.

[0057] In addition, as a method of thickening the line specified by the user, there is also the following method: thicken the line connecting the starting point and the ending point (two points at the ends of the line) of the line specified by the user in the direction perpendicular to the line. Specifically, in the case where the line 401 is specified by the user as shown in (A) of Figure 7 , the region determination unit 104 determines the line B1B2 connecting the two points B1 and B2 at the ends of the line 401. Then, the region determination unit 104 thickens the line B1B2 by a specified length in the direction perpendicular to the line B1B2. Thus, as shown in (B) of Figure 7 , the region determination unit 104 can determine the region 402 obtained by thickening the line specified by the user. By using such a method, when the user specifies a line approximately straight, the range of the monitoring object can be determined with fewer steps.

[0058] In addition, the region determination unit 104 can approximate the line specified by the user to an nth-degree (n is a natural number) equation f(x) using a known method such as the least squares method, and thicken each point of the line specified by the user by using this equation. Specifically, the case of thickening the line at the point (x1, f(x1)) on the line represented by the nth-degree equation f(x) will be described. Here, if f'(x) obtained by differentiating f(x) with respect to x is used, the slope of the normal line at the point (x1, f(x1)) can be expressed as -1 / f'(x1). Therefore, at the point (x1, f(x1)), the region determination unit 104 only needs to thicken a specified length in the direction represented by this slope (the direction in which the normal line extends). If such processing is performed at each point of the line specified by the user, the line can be thickened.

[0059] In step S1005, the output unit 106 outputs the information on the range of the monitoring object to an external device. Here, the output unit 106 can output the information on the range of the monitoring object to any external device such as the imaging device 20, a printer, or an external server. In addition, when the information processing device 10 performs the monitoring process, it is not necessary to output the information on the range of the monitoring object to an external device through the output unit 106.

[0060] In addition, in the present embodiment, an example in which there are an information processing device 10 and an imaging device 20 separately has been described, but the information processing device 10 may have an imaging unit equivalent to the imaging device 20. In addition, the imaging device 20 may also have each functional unit of the information processing device 10.

[0061] [Effect]

[0062] In this way, as in the present embodiment, since the user can determine the range of the monitoring object by only specifying a line, it is possible to easily determine the range of the monitoring object. In addition, since the range shown in the area where the line is thickened is determined as the range of the monitoring object, it is possible to determine an appropriate range as the monitoring object without using the range shown in the area far from the line as the monitoring object. Therefore, when monitoring a specified place, the possibility of false detection of the movement of a person or an object can be reduced within the range where there is no possibility of a person or an object moving.

[0063] <Embodiment 2>

[0064] In Embodiment 1, the range of the monitoring object is determined by thickening the line specified by the user by a specified length. However, in the present embodiment, the line is thickened until it reaches the boundary position in the image data. As a result, compared with Embodiment 1, it is possible to more appropriately determine the range of the monitoring object.

[0065] Since the structure of the information processing system 1 according to the present embodiment is the same as the structure according to Embodiment 1, a detailed description thereof is omitted. In addition, as Figure 4 shown, only step S1004 of the determination process of the monitoring range in the flowchart is different. Therefore, hereinafter, only step S1004 will be described in detail.

[0066] In step S1004, the area determination unit 104 determines the range of the monitoring object based on the image data and the information of the line. In the present embodiment, the area determination unit 104 thickens the line until each position in the line specified by the user reaches the boundary position in the image data. Here, the boundary position refers to the boundary between multiple regions, the boundary between multiple objects, etc. For example, in an office as shown in Figure 3 (A) of, when a line 301 is specified for the passage 201, the area determination unit 104 thickens the line 301 in the normal direction of each point of the line 301 to the boundary between the passage 201 and the shelf 202. That is, as shown in Figure 5 (B) of, the area determination unit 104 determines the range shown in the area 501 where the line 301 is thickened as the range of the monitoring object. Therefore, different from Embodiment 1, in Embodiment 2, the thickness in the normal direction may be different at each point of the line specified by the user.

[0067] Here, any method can be applied to the method of determining the boundary position. For example, the area determination unit 104 can determine the boundary position based on the edge in the image data, the difference in the color (pixel value) in the image data, the height information included in the image data, etc. Here, the height information refers to the information indicating the position in the direction perpendicular to the direction in which the region expands in the image data, and is usually the vertical position information.

[0068] In the case of using the edges in the image data for the determination of the boundary positions, the region determination unit 104 first extracts the information of the edges from the image data. Then, the region determination unit 104 regards the boundary positions as edge pixels, thickens the line until each position of the line specified by the user reaches the edge pixels, and determines the range shown by the region where the line is thickened as the range of the object to be monitored.

[0069] In the case of using the colors in the image data for the determination of the boundary positions, the region determination unit 104 first obtains the pixel values which are the color information of the respective pixels of the image data. Then, the region determination unit 104 thickens the line until the difference between the pixel values of the pixels (the pixels in the image data indicated by the respective points) at the respective points (respective positions) of the line specified by the user reaches a position where the difference is significantly different from the first threshold value. For example, if the first threshold value is set to 20 and the pixel value of a certain point of the line is set to 100, the region determination unit 104 thickens the line at this point until pixels with pixel values greater than 120 or less than 80 appear in the normal direction of this point. The region determination unit 104 performs this process for each point of the line specified by the user, and determines the range shown by the region where the line is thickened as the range of the object to be monitored.

[0070] In the case of using the height information included in the image data for the determination of the boundary positions, the region determination unit 104 first obtains the height information of the respective pixels in the image data from the image data. In addition, the sensor included in the imaging device 20 may obtain the height information simultaneously with the image data, attach the height information to the image data, and send it to the information processing device 10. At this time, technologies such as TOF (Time Of Flight) and LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) can be applied to the sensor. Then, the region determination unit 104 thickens the line until the difference between the heights at the respective positions of the points of the line specified by the user (the heights at the positions in the image data indicated by the respective points) reaches a position where the difference is significantly different from the second threshold value. For example, if the second threshold value is set to 30 and the height at a certain point of the line is set to 200, the region determination unit 104 thickens the line at this point until positions with heights greater than 230 or less than 170 appear in the normal direction of this point. The region determination unit 104 performs this process for each point of the line specified by the user, and determines the range shown by the region where the line is thickened as the range of the object to be monitored.

[0071] [Effect]

[0072] As in the present embodiment, by setting the range shown by the area of the line at the boundary position where the boundary between two areas is thickened, etc. as the range to be monitored, it is possible to more clearly determine a certain range in which a person or an object may move. Therefore, in addition to being able to easily determine the range to be monitored, it is also possible to determine an appropriate object to be monitored as compared with Embodiment 1.

[0073] <Variant Example 1>

[0074] Hereinafter, based on Embodiment 2, an example in which a range desired by a user can be determined as the range to be monitored will be described as Variant Example 1. Here, as shown in (A) of Figure 8 , it is assumed that fixtures 602 such as a signboard and lighting are provided above the passage 201 (at a position higher than the passage 201), and the line 601 is specified so as to straddle the fixture 602. In this case, in Embodiment 2, as shown in (B) of Figure 8 , the range shown by the area 603 is determined as the range to be monitored. However, considering that the range shown by the area 604 included in the area 603 has a fixture 602 provided above the shelf 202, it should not originally be an object of monitoring. Also, similarly, since the range shown by the area 605 not included in the area 603 is a range included in the passage 201, it should originally be an object of monitoring. That is, in Embodiment 2, an inappropriate range may be determined as the range to be monitored. In contrast, in this variant example, as in Embodiment 2, based on the result when the line is thickened until it reaches the boundary position, the information processing system makes the amount of thickening of the entire line uniform, so that the range to be monitored can be determined more appropriately.

[0075] The structure of the information processing system 1 according to this variant example is the same as the structure according to Embodiment 1, so a detailed description thereof will be omitted. In addition, as Figure 4 shown, only step S1004 of the determination process of the monitoring range in the flowchart is different. Therefore, hereinafter, only step S1004 will be described in detail.

[0076] In step S1004, similar to Embodiment 2, the region determination unit 104 calculates the thickness in the normal direction at each point of the line specified by the user when the line is thickened up to the boundary position at each point. Then, the region determination unit 104 calculates the average value of the thicknesses in the normal direction at the calculated points, and determines the range shown by the region obtained by thickening each point by an amount equivalent to the average value as the range to be monitored. That is, in this modified example, the specified length for thickening the line according to Embodiment 1 is determined by this average value. Further, not limited to the average value, for example, it may be a representative value such as a minimum value, a maximum value, a median value, or a mode value. For example, by using the maximum value, since a wider range is determined as the range to be monitored, it is effective in cases where high-precision monitoring (monitoring for precision inspection of components, etc.) should be performed, and the actions of people and objects can be monitored and the possibility of damage can be reduced. In addition, by using the minimum value, a narrower range is determined as the range to be monitored, so it is effective in cases where minimum monitoring (such as whether a person passes by for lighting the lamp) should be performed, and the usage amounts of the CPU and memory can be suppressed during monitoring.

[0077] In addition, it is not necessary to use the average value of the calculated thicknesses of all points of the line specified by the user. For example, multiple points may be randomly determined, and the average value of the calculated thicknesses of these multiple points may be used. Further, points may be extracted at regular intervals in the line specified by the user, and the average value of the calculated thicknesses of the extracted multiple points may be used. Alternatively, in the line specified by the user, the average value of the calculated thicknesses at multiple points corresponding to pixels (pixels in image data) whose difference in pixel value from the set pixel value is smaller than a specified threshold may be used. In addition, the so-called set pixel value may be a value arbitrarily set (determined) by the user, or may be the pixel value that exists the most in the pixels (pixels in image data) corresponding to each point of the line specified by the user.

[0078] In addition, the region determination unit 104 does not need to determine one representative value for the line specified by the user. That is, the region determination unit 104 may also determine a representative value for each of the multiple second lines obtained by dividing the line specified by the user by the above method, and thicken each of the multiple second lines by a length equivalent to the representative value. Then, the region determination unit 104 may also determine the range shown by the region thickening the multiple second lines as the range to be monitored. Thus, for example, as shown in (A) of Figure 3 when the user specifies line 301, in the case where the width of the passage 201 varies depending on the location, the line can be set to a thickness corresponding to the location, so that the range to be monitored can be determined with higher precision.

[0079] [Effect]

[0080] According to this modification example, based on the result of thickening the line specified by the user until it reaches the boundary position, the thickness of the entire line is unified. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the possibility of the line becoming locally thicker or thinner unnecessarily. That is, it is possible to further determine the range of the object to be monitored as the range desired by the user. For example, when the line 601 is specified in a manner that straddles the installation 602 as shown in (A) of Figure 8 as shown in (C) of Figure 8 , it is also possible to appropriately determine the area 606 indicating the range where the passage 201 can be assumed, and to determine the range of the object to be monitored with higher accuracy.

[0081] In addition, according to this modification example, it can also be said that the specified length for thickening the line according to Embodiment 1 is determined based on the boundary positions such as the boundaries of the two regions and objects related to Embodiment 2. Therefore, the specified length can be determined regardless of the user input. Additionally, for example, when re-determining the range of the object to be monitored in the case where the configuration of the office has changed, the previously determined specified length can be used. Therefore, according to this modification example, the number of processes for re-determining the range of the object to be monitored can be made smaller than that of Embodiment 2.

[0082] Furthermore, the above-described embodiments and modification examples can be implemented by arbitrarily combining them. Additionally, the image data acquired by the information processing device 10 is not limited to being acquired from the imaging device 20, and can also be acquired from an external server. Therefore, the imaging device 20 is not an essential component in the information processing system 1. Also, in the above, the direction of thickening the line specified by the user is the normal direction, but the line can also be thickened in a direction within a range considered to be approximately the same as the normal direction (for example, a direction deviated by 5 degrees from the normal direction).

[0083] (Supplementary Note 1)

[0084] An information processing device (10) that determines the range of an object to be monitored in a specified location, characterized by comprising:

[0085] An acquisition unit (user input reception unit 103) that acquires information about a line drawn on image data obtained by photographing the specified location; and

[0086] A determination unit (area determination unit 104) that determines the range indicated by the area where the line is thickened as the range of the object to be monitored.

[0087] (Supplementary Note 2)

[0088] A range determination method that determines the range of an object to be monitored in a specified location, characterized by comprising:

[0089] Acquisition step (S1003), acquiring information about a line depicted in image data obtained by photographing the specified place; and

[0090] Determination step (S1004), determining the range indicated by the area where the line is thickened as the range of the object to be monitored.

[0091] Explanation of reference numerals

[0092] 1: Information processing system; 10: Information processing device; 20: Imaging device; 101: Image acquisition unit; 102: Image display unit, 103: User input reception unit, 104: Area determination unit; 105: Storage unit; 106: Output unit.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus that determines a range of a monitoring object in a specified place, characterized in that, it has: an acquisition unit that acquires information on a line drawn by a user on image data obtained by photographing the specified place; and a determination unit that determines, as the range of the monitoring object, the range indicated by the area where the line is thickened, wherein the determination unit determines, as the range of the monitoring object, the range indicated by the area where the line is thickened up to the boundary position of the image data at each point position of the line.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, the boundary position is the position of an edge pixel in the image data.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, the boundary position is the position of a pixel whose absolute value of the difference in pixel values between the pixel at each point position of the line and the pixels in the image data is greater than a first threshold value.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, the image data includes height information of each position of the specified place, and the boundary position is a position where the absolute value of the difference in height between the position of each point of the line and the position in the image data is greater than a second threshold value.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, it has: a display unit that displays an image based on the image data; and a reception unit that receives a user input of drawing the line on the image data.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, the information processing apparatus further has a photographing unit that obtains the image data by performing photographing.

7. An information processing apparatus that determines a range of a monitoring object in a specified place, characterized in that, it has: an acquisition unit that acquires information on a line drawn by a user on image data obtained by photographing the specified place; and a determination unit that determines, as the range of the monitoring object, the range indicated by the area where the line is thickened, wherein the determination unit calculates the thickness of each point position when the line is thickened up to the boundary position of the image data at each point position of the line, and the determination unit determines, as the range of the monitoring object, the range indicated by the area where the line is thickened by a length equivalent to a representative value of the thickness calculated for the positions of a plurality of points on the line.

8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7, characterized in that, the representative value is an average value.

9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that, the plurality of points are points corresponding to pixels having pixel values among the points of the line, and the pixel values are pixel values whose difference from a set pixel value is less than a specified threshold value.

10. The information processing apparatus according to claim 9, characterized in that, the set pixel value is the pixel value possessed by the most pixels among the pixels corresponding to the points of the line.

11. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that, The determining unit determines that, for each of the plurality of second lines obtained by dividing the line, the range indicated by the region obtained by thickening the second line by a length equivalent to the representative value of each of the plurality of second lines is the range of the object to be monitored.

12. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7 or 8, wherein: the boundary position is the position of an edge pixel in the image data.

13. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7 or 8, wherein: the boundary position is the position of a pixel whose absolute value of the difference in pixel values between the pixels at the positions of the respective points of the line in the image data is greater than a first threshold value.

14. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7 or 8, wherein: the image data includes height information of each position of the specified location, and the boundary position is a position where the absolute value of the difference in height between the positions of the respective points of the line in the image data is greater than a second threshold value.

15. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7 or 8, wherein: it has: a display unit that displays an image based on the image data; and an accepting unit that accepts a user input for drawing the line on the image data.

16. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7 or 8, wherein: the information processing apparatus further has a photographing unit that obtains the image data by performing photographing.

17. A range determination method for determining the range of an object to be monitored in a specified location, wherein: it has: an obtaining step of obtaining information that a user has drawn a line on image data obtained by photographing the specified location; and a determining step of determining the range indicated by the region where the line is thickened as the range of the object to be monitored, and in the determining step, the range indicated by the region where the line is thickened up to the boundary position of the image data at the positions of the respective points of the line is determined as the range of the object to be monitored.

18. A computer program product including a computer program for causing a computer to execute the respective steps of the range determination method according to claim 17.

19. A range determination method for determining the range of an object to be monitored in a specified location, wherein: it has: an obtaining step of obtaining information that a user has drawn a line on image data obtained by photographing the specified location; and a determining step of determining the range indicated by the region where the line is thickened as the range of the object to be monitored, in the determining step, calculating the thickness of each point position when the line is thickened up to the boundary position of the image data at the positions of the respective points of the line, and in the determining step, determining the range indicated by the region where the line is thickened by a length equivalent to the representative value of the thickness calculated for the positions of a plurality of points on the line as the range of the object to be monitored.

20. A computer program product including a computer program for causing a computer to execute the respective steps of the range determination method according to claim 19.

Images