METHOD FOR PRODUCING A PHOTO- OR VIDEO-IMAGE OF AT LEAST ONE OBJECT TO BE RECORDED

Abstract

The invention relates to the field of digital photo- and video-recording, and may be used for recording and monitoring distant objects, such as expanses of forest. The technical result is directed at enhancing the focus quality of the images produced. A method for producing a photo- or video-image of at least one object to be recorded, consisting in: producing an image of an object to be recorded by means of an electronic optical device; wherein, a focusing object, corresponding to at least one object to be recorded and satisfying the following conditions, is first selected for the object to be recorded: the focusing object has higher contrast than the object to be recorded, and the object to be recorded is located within the bounds of the depth of field. Then, an image is produced of the at least one object to be recorded, in which the electronic optical device is focused on the focusing object corresponding to the object to be recorded, the focusing parameters are set, and said focusing parameters are used for producing an image of the object to be recorded.

Claims

1. A method for producing a photo or video image of at least one object, comprising: imaging the object with the use of an optical electronic device, wherein for at least one object an object is selected to focus on, which corresponds to this object and meets the following conditions: image of the object to focus on is more contrasting against the object; object is within the boundaries of the depth of the sharply imaged space; an image of at least one object is produced, wherein the optical electronic device is adjusted to focus on the object to focus on, which corresponds to the object, the focusing parameters are stored and used to produce the image of the object.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein a digital video camera is used as the optical electronic device.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the remotely controlled camera is used as an optical electronic device.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein a camera with a variable viewing direction is used as an optical electronic device.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein a camera with autofocus device is used as an optical electronic device.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the optical electronic device is placed on top of a high-altitude object.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the object is selected to focus on under good visibility conditions of the object.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the object is selected to focus on in such a way that it is in one frame with the object.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein an object most contrasted with respect to the object is selected as the object to focus on, which is in the field of view of the optical electronic device.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the object to focus on is selected in such a way that the object for focusing and the object are in different viewing directions of the optical electronic device.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the focusing of the optical electronic device on the object, which is selected to focus on, is performed by an auto focus method.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein a part of a forestland or parts of it is selected as the object for shooting.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the forest parts lying in different viewing directions of the optical electronic device are selected as the object for shooting.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein an extended object is selected as the object for shooting, and the image of the object is produced by changing the viewing direction of the optical electronic device.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the optical electronic device is provided with a zoom lens, and focusing on the object selected to focus on and producing the image of the object is made with a fixed value of the focal length.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein the viewing direction parameters for at least one object to focus on and at least one object are stored in a video camera control application and used to focus and produce an image of at least one object in automatic mode.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0045] FIG. 1 shows a video frame of a distant object with low image sharpness (Example 1).

[0046] FIG. 2 shows the frame of the video at the moment of focusing on an object to focus on (Example 1).

[0047] FIG. 3 shows a video frame with close to the maximum possible sharpness of the image for the existing shooting conditions (Example 1).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0048] In the claimed method of producing photo or video images of at least one object, for example, video images, images of the objects are produced using an optical electronic device, for example a digital video camera, which is, for example, part of the video monitoring system of the forestland described in RF patent No. 2458407. A remotely controlled video camera equipped with an autofocusing device, with the ability to change the viewing direction, and installed on top of a high-altitude facility, for example on a mast. A distant part of a forestland may be selected as an object for shooting.

[0049] In the implementation of the method, an object to focus on is first selected, for example, a separate standing house, which meets the following conditions: [0050] image of the house should be more contrast, for example the most contrasting, with respect to the forest area; [0051] forest part is located within the boundaries of the depth of the sharply imaged space.

[0052] At the same time, the house chosen as the object to focus on can be located both in the same frame with the forest area, and in a direction, which is different to the direction of the camera's view.

[0053] The object to focus on can be selected by the operator or user of the system in manual mode or automatically. When working in manual mode, the area is observed with the help of the camera, preferably, the parts less distant than the object, to find a contrast object. This can be done by the system operator visually by solving the visual task. Having detected the most contrast object, the operator selects it as the object to focus on. Automatic selection of an object to focus on is carried out using computer vision algorithms (see, for example, [2]).

[0054] Simultaneously with the choice of the object for focusing, it should be established, experimentally or by mathematical calculations, whether the object is within the boundaries of the depth of the sharply imaged space when focusing on the house.

[0055] The experiment is conducted in good weather, when both the object for focusing and the house are clearly visible, and it is possible to visually determine whether the object is within the focal depth. To do this, the camera should be pointed at the house and the camera is focused in automatic mode. After that, the autofocus mode is disabled on the camera, the focus settings are stored and remain unchanged, that is these parameters are used when receiving the image of the object.

[0056] If the sharpness of the image of the object is high and satisfies the user, then at the given parameters of the camera and the lens, the object is within the focal depth, if not, then another object should be selected to focus on, for example, further distanced from the camera, that is closer to the object.

[0057] Mathematical methods to determine whether the house is within the boundaries of the depth of the sharply imaged space can be applied in any weather. Additionally, apart from the distance to the object for focusing, the operator must be aware of the camera lens characteristics specified in the formulas for FD boundary definition given in the Definitions section of this description.

[0058] After selecting the object to focus on that meets the specified conditions, and focusing the camera on it, the image of the object is produced. If it is necessary to produce images of several objects, especially when images of these objects are received at a fixed frequency, it is possible to determine in advance for each of them the object to focus on and to shoot without the stage of determining an object to focus on, which would meet the given conditions, but only in the mode of focusing on the object to focus onrecording the parameters of focusinggetting the image of the object. The same scheme works when shooting the same object with different values of the focal length. At the same time, it is advisable to save the parameters of its orientation to the object or objects of focusing in the camera's operation control application after having determined them and afterwards to carry out the focusing procedure in an automatic mode. Also in such cases, it is advisable to save the camera orientation parameters in respect of the object(s).

[0059] If more than one part of the forest is within the boundaries of the depth of the sharply imaged space, images of all of them can be produced without additional focusing procedures. For example, you can perform a circular or sectoral shooting of remote forest areas without additional focusing, when the camera's shooting route passes through an equally remoted area.

[0060] If during shooting, the distance to the objects changes, and they are beyond the boundaries of the sharply imaged space, it is necessary to focus on the object again, or change the object for focusing. The same thing should be done if the focal length is changed, i.e. the object is zoomed closer or farther.

Example 1

[0061] For video images of the forest, a video monitoring system was used, which is described in RF patent No. 2458407, with the AXIS Q6032E camera manufactured by the Swedish company AXIS, which represents the family of IP PTZ controlled cameras (pan, tilt, zoom). Such cameras, in addition to the standard elements (the optical device and the electronic matrix), include a device that allows the camera to change its direction of view and zoom. In addition, such cameras can be connected to the Internet and feature an interaction interface, through which digital commands can be applied to control the camera. As a protocol providing management, the ONVIF protocol was used:

http://www.onvif.org/Documents/Specifications.aspx.

[0062] The camera was fixed at a height of 70 in on top of the communication operator's tower, located at a distance of 5 kin from the object to be monitored (shot): a forestland with dimensions: 10 km along the horizon3 km. The camera was brought into working order. Weather conditionstemperature+25, dry, slight smoke caused by peat fires without open burning and a clear fireplace.

[0063] The remote operator, who is in a specialized control and monitoring center, displayed the image from the camera on the monitor screen. Through a special software interface, he had the ability to remotely control the camera, including: the direction of the view, the multiplicity of the zoom.

[0064] The operator pointed the camera at the target forest area in the manual mode. Due to some fogging of the surrounding space and the object, as well as a large distance to the forest, the camera failed to focus automatically on the object (see photo 1).

[0065] The operator applied the method of this invention. To do this, he manually selected an object, which was visually the most contrast: a forest belt at a distance of about 300 in from the location of the camera. The negative effect of smoke in this case is not high.

[0066] By preliminary mathematical calculations, the operator has determined the boundaries of the FD for the current situation and the available camera parameters.

[00002]$R_1=\frac{{\mathrm{Rf}}^2}{f^2+K\left(R-f\right).Math.z}=\frac{300*{0.12}^2}{{0.12}^2+5*\left(300-0.12\right)*0.00003}=72.8$

[0067] A value of R.sub.1 is equal to 72.8 in, which means that the near boundary of the sharply imaged space is located closer to the object of the shooting.

[00003]$R_2=\frac{{\mathrm{Rf}}^2}{f^2-K\left(R-f\right).Math.z}=\frac{300*{0.12}^2}{{0.12}^2-5*\left(300-0.12\right)*0.00003}=-0.03$

[0068] The value of R.sub.2 is negative. This means that the far edge of the sharply imaged space is infinitely distanced, that is, the object is in the FD zone.

[0069] The camera focused on the forest belt (see photo 2) in the automatic mode, and the operator switched off the autofocus mode. The focus settings were stored.

[0070] As the entire forest area was within the boundaries of the depth of the sharply imaged space, then the operator conducted the shooting (monitoring) by changing the direction of the camera's view horizontally, still without changing the focusing parameters. The image was produced with quality parameters of sharpness, which are close to the highest, for the existing shooting conditions (see photo 3).

[0071] Automatic selection of the focus object can be implemented by software methods. A panoramic shooting is produced of a terrain located preferably closer to the location of the camera than the object or objects, including potential objects to focus on. The shooting is carried out at a small zoom, for example 1.5 (in this case there are no problems with focusing) using the camera control application. Next, the acutance and contrast of individual parts (objects) of the final view panorama are analyzed with software means and assess is made which of these objects are the most contrast and acute. Based on the data on the angle of inclination of the camera and the height of its placement, the distance to this object is determined. Based on the obtained data, with known parameters of the camera lens, the FD is determined. Based on the criteria set forth herein for the object for focusing, at least one object is selected to focus on.

[0072] Thus, the proposed method for producing photo or video images makes it possible to produce images of objects with improved quality by improving the quality of image focusing. [0073] [1] Sharonov, V.V. Measurement and calculation of the visibility of distant objects/V.V. Sharonov.M.-L.: OGIZ Gostehizdat.1947.-284 p. [0074] [2]) Forsythe D., Pons G. Computer vision. The modern approach (2004.-928 p.)