How to extract an image of a subject (CROPKEY)

Abstract

To provide a method for deleting unnecessary images when acquiring images to make them into required image information.SOLUTION: The method includes deleting unnecessary images and communicating image information of a subject by sorting image signals of image elements on which the subject is imaged for each image element of an image element unit of a television camera 14 that acquires images, by measurement distances from subjects 8 to 11 that appear on the image element, and by extracting only an image of the entire subject.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] This method of extracting an image at a measured distance replaces the chromakey compositing method of extracting an image from a screen captured by a television camera. [Background technology]

[0002] A method using image recognition from a television camera and distance measurement using a TOF television camera, etc. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] Patent No. 5508308 Patent No. 5547605 Patent No. 5547670 Patent No. 6719494 Patent No. 7133520

[0004] Patent Publication No. 2018-119942 Patent application 2018-174323 [Non-patent literature]

[0005] Patent application 2022-071338 Patent application 2022-133131 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0006] An image of a subject is extracted from the screen photographed by a television camera and a digital camera. Summary of the Invention

[0007] The image of the subject is extracted by sorting image signals at the positions of several image elements where the real image of the subject is captured, based on the time difference between measurements of reflected light by several measurement elements or several measurement LED light-emitting elements, which are installed at the positions of several image elements where the real image of the subject is captured, of an image element unit photographed by a television camera or a digital camera. [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0008] In a society where smartphones and remote work are widely used and image information is circulated, a method is provided for removing unnecessary information attached to image information in order to prevent information from being lost from images. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] Preventing information leakage from images, reducing image data [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] An explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the position of the surface of the image sensor unit 3 on which the image of a subject photographed by a television camera or digital camera is captured through an optical lens 2 and the distance 52 from the subject. [Figure 2] An explanatory diagram showing five images of one subject and the background at different distances from the screen on the surface of three image sensor units. [Figure 3] An explanatory diagram showing how reflected light from a subject (1) passes through an optical lens (2) and a spectrometer (7), and infrared light for measurement is projected onto a TOF image sensor unit (6) to measure distance. [Figure 4] An explanatory diagram showing how the 12 television camera shooting range is photographed by a 14 color pixel / TOF pixel television camera using the reflected light emitted by a 13 infrared light emitter for measurement, and then the 19 television camera monitor screen, which shows subjects A, B, C, and D in 8, 9, 10, and 11, is sorted by measurement distance, and images of 9 subjects are extracted and displayed on the television camera monitor screen in 20. [Figure 5] The image signal positions of 8, 9, 10, 11 subjects A, B, C, D photographed by 14 color pixel and TOF pixel television cameras are shown on the time axis measured by the 6 TOF image sensor unit, and the reflection times of 21, 22, 23, 24 reflected light are shown. This is an explanatory diagram showing the extraction of the image of 22 subject B between 25 time T-1 and 26 time T-2. [Figure 6]29 An explanatory diagram showing how the image signals of subjects A, B, C, and D (8, 9, 10, 11) projected onto the TOF image sensor unit are sorted into time signals in the time ranges T-3, T-4, T-5, and T-6 (34, 35, 36, 37), respectively, and the images of the subjects are extracted. [Figure 7] This is an explanatory diagram showing how, in a 38-pixel measurement unit capturing an image of one subject, the image signal of the image element capturing the subject is sorted based on the measurement time of the measurement element at the same position as the image element capturing the subject. [Figure 8] This is an explanatory diagram showing how, in a 51-pixel light-emitting unit that captures an image of one subject, the image signal of the image element is sorted based on the time it takes to measure the reflected light from the subject, emitted by a light-emitting element located in the same position as the image element capturing the subject. [Figure 9] An explanatory diagram showing that 8, 9, 10, and 11 subjects A, B, C, and D within the 12 television camera shooting range are photographed by a 39 pixel-emitting television camera, and images of 9 subjects are selected from the 19 television camera monitor screen, sorted by the time at which the 45 infrared receiver measures the reflected light from the subject, and displayed on the television camera monitor screen. [Figure 10] An explanatory diagram showing that 8, 9, 10, and 11 subjects A, B, C, and D within the 12 television camera shooting range are photographed by a 40-pixel measurement television camera, and from the 19 television camera monitor screen, the reflected light from the 13 infrared emitter is sorted by the measurement time at the shooting position, and 9 images of the subjects are selected and displayed on the television camera monitor screen. [Figure 11] An explanatory diagram showing how subjects A, B, C, and D (8, 9, 10, and 11) within the shooting range of the television camera (12) photographed by the television camera (41) are photographed by the tracking television camera (43), and the image signals of the subjects are sorted by the time of the distance to the subject measured by the laser distance measuring device (42), and an image of the subject (9) is selected and displayed on the television camera monitor screen (20). [Figure 12]8, 9, 10, 11 Subjects A, B, C, D in the 12 television camera shooting range are photographed by the 41 television camera, and from the 19 television camera monitor screen, 8, 9, 10, 11 Subjects A, B, C, D measured by the 44 scanner laser distance measuring device are extracted from the 19 television camera monitor screen, and 30, 31, 32, 33 Images of Subjects A, B, C, D are extracted from the 20 screen of the 31 television camera monitor screen. [Example]

[0011] Explanation of the information provided Regarding this application, the patent of this application is an invention derived from Patent No. 5547670, Patent No. 5547605, Patent No. 5508308, Patent No. 6719494, Patent No. 7133520, which have already been obtained by the applicant, and Patent Application No. 2018-174323 and Patent Application No. 2022-71338 which have been filed by the applicant himself. The invention is a method for measuring the distance to a subject that appears on an image element recognized on a television camera monitor screen, using a measuring element or a measuring light-emitting element provided at the position of the image element. Therefore, this invention sorts all image signals of the image of the subject by measuring the distances to the positions of all image elements of the image in which the subject appears, as recognized on the TV camera monitor screen.

[0012] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an image of an object photographed by a television camera, the image of the object being projected onto the image sensor unit of the television camera through the optical lens mechanism of the television camera. An image of the subject is projected as a real image on the surface of the image element unit, and light from the image at each position on the subject is converted into an image signal by each image element that constitutes the image element unit. The image signal at each position is always associated with 52 distances.

[0013] Example Figure 2 shows how the distance to the subject of an image captured at all image element positions on the surface of a three-image element unit is measured, and the image signals of the image elements capturing the subject are sorted using the measured distance values ​​at the image element positions where the subject is captured, allowing the image capturing the subject to be extracted.

[0014] Example Figure 3 shows an example in which a subject is photographed by a television camera and passes through the television camera's 7 optical lens mechanism and 7 spectrometer to separate natural light for the television camera and infrared light for distance measurement, and the natural light is then projected onto 3 image element units and the infrared light onto 6 TOF image element units to capture an image of the subject. By sorting the image signal of the image element at the position of the image of one subject in the three image element units, which has passed through the seven optical lens mechanism, with the time signal of the distance measured by the TOF image element at the same position of the image of one subject in the six TOF image element units, which has passed through the same seven optical lens mechanism, it is possible to sort only the image signal of the image element at the position of the image of one subject in the three image element units, and extract the image of one subject.

[0015] Example Figure 4 shows that subjects 8, 9, 10, and 11 in the shooting range of a television camera 12 are photographed by a television camera 14 with color pixel / TOF pixel. From each subject appearing on the television camera monitor screen 19, the reflected light for measurement from an infrared light emitter 13 is sampled from the subject at the positions of subjects 8, 9, 10, and 11 on the television camera 14 with color pixel / TOF pixel, and the subjects appearing on the television camera monitor screen can be sorted based on the time values ​​measured.

[0016] Example Figure 5 shows the image signals of the image elements photographed by a 14-color pixel / TOF pixel TV camera of subjects 8, 9, 10, and 11 in the shooting range of a 12-camera, displayed on the time axis of the reflected light used for measurement, which measures the distance to the subject reflected in the image element, and indicates the time position of the image signal of the image element of the subject. The image signal of 22 subject B can be separated into 25 T-1 time and 26 T-2 time, and only the image signal of 22 subject B can be extracted.

[0017] In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, images A, B, C, and D 30, 31, 32, and 33, which are projected onto the surface of the TOF image sensor unit 29, can be extracted from the screen captured by a television camera, with the images of each subject being captured within the preset time ranges 34, 35, 36, and 37 T-3, T-4, T-5, and T-6.

[0018] Example Figure 7 shows a configuration in which a measuring element for measuring reflected light for measurement is provided at the position of an image element of a television camera's image element unit, and the distance to the subject reflected in the image element is measured. The image signal of the image element can be sorted using the measurement signal of a measuring element at the same position to sort the image of the subject.

[0019] Example Figure 8 shows a system in which an infrared light-emitting element for measurement is provided at the position of the image element of a television camera's image element unit, and the distance to the subject reflected in the image element is measured.The image signal of the image element can be sorted using the measurement signal of a light-emitting element in the same position.

[0020] Example 9 shows that a light-emitting element that emits infrared light for measurement is provided at the position of the image element of the image element unit of the television camera, and the reflected light of the emitted infrared light from the subject is sorted by the time measured by an infrared light receiver 45, thereby making it possible to extract 20 television camera monitor screens from 19 television camera monitor screens.

[0021] Example Figure 10 shows that the reflected light from the subject of infrared light emitted by 13 infrared emitter is passed through the optical lens of a 40-pixel measurement television camera, and the time measured by the measurement element of a 38 image measurement element unit installed in the 40-pixel measurement television camera is used to sort the image signals of the image elements in the same position of the measurement element of the 38 image measurement element unit, thereby making it possible to extract 20 television camera monitor screens from 19 television camera monitor screens.

[0022] Example FIG. 11 shows an example in which subjects A, B, C, and D (8, 9, 10, 11) are image-recognized on a screen captured by a television camera 41 within the range of the television camera 12, and are then tracked and photographed by a tracking television camera 42. The subjects A, B, C, and D are then photographed, and the image signals are used to recognize the images. The distances of the subjects A, B, C, and D (8, 9, 10, 11) are tracked and measured by a laser distance measuring device 42, and the measured distance values ​​are used to sort the image signals, allowing a sample television camera monitor screen 20 to be extracted from the television camera monitor screen 19.

[0023] Example FIG. 12 shows how the distance to the shooting range of the television camera 12 is measured using a scanner laser distance measuring device 44, and the measured positions of subjects A, B, C, and D 8, 9, 10, and 11 are aligned with the positions of subjects A, B, C, and D 8, 9, 10, and 11 photographed by the television camera 41. Using the distances to subjects A, B, C, and D 8, 9, 10, and 11 measured by the scanner laser distance measuring device 44, the subjects on the television camera monitor screen 19 photographed by the television camera 41 can be sorted, and a sample television camera monitor screen 20 can be extracted from the television camera monitor screen 19.

[0024] [Industrial Applicability]

[0025] TV cameras for smartphones, TV cameras for telework, image processing, real images for the metaverse, security images [Explanation of symbols]

[0026] 1 subject 2 optical lenses 3 image sensor units 4 reflected light 5 Image Subject 6 TOF imaging element unit 7 spectrometer 8Subject A 9Subject B 10 Subject C 11 Subject D 12 TV camera shooting range 13 Infrared light generator 14 color pixel / TOF pixel TV camera 15 Controllers 16 console 17 Computer 18 Image Controller 19 TV camera monitor screen 20 TV camera monitor screens 21 Image signal of subject A 22 Image signal of subject B 23 Image signal of subject C 24 Image signal of subject D 25 T-1 hours 26 T-2 hours 27 time axes 28 reflected light 29TOF imaging element unit 30 Images Subject A 31 Image subject B 32 Image Subject C 33 Image subject D 34 T-3 Time Range 35 T-4 time range 36 T-5 Time Range 37 T-6 Time Range 38 image measurement element unit 39-image luminescent television camera 40 image measurement television cameras 41 TV camera 42 Laser distance measuring device 43 tracking television cameras 44 Scanner Laser Distance Meter 45 infrared light receiver 46 Distance Signal 47 drive signal 48 position signal 49 image signals 50 distance range signal 51 Image light emitting element unit 52 distance

[0027]

Claims

[Claim 1] A television camera having an image element unit formed from a plurality of image elements, each of which has a light-emitting element that outputs light to the subject or a measuring element that receives reflected light from the subject, and each of which measures the distance to the subject based on the time it receives reflected light from the subject, and which is equipped with a function to sort images of a plurality of subjects reflected in the image element unit based on the distance to the subject measured by the light-emitting element or measuring element that each of the image elements has, and to extract an image of a specific subject from the reflected images.

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