Directivity control apparatus, directivity control method, storage medium and directivity control system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9763001-B2
Application number	US-201715439990-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 23, 2017
Priority date	May 8, 2014
Publication date	Sep 12, 2017
Grant date	Sep 12, 2017

Abstract

A directivity control apparatus controls a directivity of a sound collected by a first sound collecting unit including a plurality of microphones. The directivity control apparatus includes a directivity forming unit, configured to form a directivity of the sound in a direction toward a monitoring target corresponding to a first designated position in an image displayed on a display unit, and an information obtaining unit, configured to obtain information on a second designated position in the image displayed on the display unit, designated in accordance with a movement of the monitoring target. The directivity forming unit is configured to change the directivity of the sound toward the monitoring target corresponding to the second designated position by referring to the information on the second designated position obtained by the information obtaining unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A directivity control apparatus for controlling a directivity of a sound collected by a first sound collector including a plurality of microphones, the directivity control apparatus comprising:
a directivity former, configured to form a directivity of the sound in a direction toward a monitoring target corresponding to a first designated position in an image displayed on a display; and
an information obtainer, configured to obtain information on a second designated position in the image displayed on the display, designated in accordance with a movement of the monitoring target, wherein
the directivity former is configured to change the directivity of the sound toward the monitoring target corresponding to the second designated position by referring to the information on the second designated position obtained by the information obtainer.

2. The directivity control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the information obtainer is configured to obtain the information on the second designated position in accordance with a designating operation to the monitoring target which moves in the image displayed on the display.

3. The directivity control apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a sound source detector, configured to detect a position of a sound source corresponding to the monitoring target from the image displayed on the display; and
an image processor, configured to detect the monitoring target from the image displayed on the display unit, wherein
the information obtainer is configured to obtain, as the information on the second designated position, information on the position of the sound source detected by the sound source detector or information on a position of the monitoring target detected by the image processor.

4. The directivity control apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein
the sound source detector is configured to start detection processing of the position of the sound source corresponding to the monitoring target while placing an initial position designated in the image displayed on the display at a center of the detection processing, and
the image processor is configured to start detection processing of the monitoring target while placing the initial position at a center of the detection processing.

5. The directivity control apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein
the information obtainer is configured to obtain, as the information on the second designated position, information on a position designated by a changing operation in the image displayed on the display in accordance with the changing operation, wherein the changing operation indicates an operation for changing the information on the position of the sound source detected by the sound source detector or the information on the position of the monitoring target detected by the image processor.

6. The directivity control apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein
the information obtainer is configured to obtain, as the information on the second designated position, information on a position designated by a changing operation in the image displayed on the display in accordance with the changing operation, when a distance between the position of the sound source detected by the sound source detector and the position of the monitoring target detected by the image processor is equal to or larger than a predetermined distance value, wherein the changing operation indicates an operation for changing the information on the position of the sound source or the information on the position of the monitoring target.

7. The directivity control apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an image storage that stores images captured for a given period of time; and
an image reproducer, configured to reproduce the images stored in the image storage on the display, wherein
the image reproducer is configured to reproduce the images at a speed value which is smaller than an initial value of a reproduction speed in accordance with a predetermined input operation.

8. The directivity control apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a display controller, configured to display a captured image on the display, wherein
the display controller is configured to enlarge and display the image on a same screen at a predetermined magnification in accordance with a designation of a designated position in the image displayed on the display while placing the designated position at a center of enlargement.

9. The directivity control apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a display controller, configured to display a captured image on the display, wherein
the display controller is configured to enlarge and display the image on a different screen at a predetermined magnification in accordance with a designation of a designated position in the image displayed on the display while placing the designated position at a center of enlargement.

10. The directivity control apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a display controller, configured to display a captured image on the display, wherein
the display controller is configured to enlarge and display the image at a predetermined magnification with respect to a center of the display.

11. The directivity control apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein
the display controller is configured to scroll by a predetermined amount an enlarged screen in which the image is enlarged and displayed in a direction out of a scroll determination line, when the designated position is out of the scroll determination line in the enlarged screen in accordance with a movement of the monitoring target.

12. The directivity control apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein
the display controller is configured to scroll an enlarged screen in which the image is enlarged and displayed while centering the second designated position, when the designated position is out of a scroll determination line in the enlarged screen in accordance with a movement of the monitoring target.

13. The directivity control apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein
the display controller is configured to scroll an enlarged screen in which the image is enlarged and displayed while placing the designated position at a center of the enlarged screen.

14. The directivity control apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein
the image processor is configured to perform a masking process of partly masking on the monitoring target in the image displayed on the display.

15. The directivity control apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a sound output controller, configured to cause a sound output device to output the sound collected by the first sound collector, wherein
the sound output controller is configured to cause the sound output device to perform a voice change process on the sound collected by the first sound collector and cause the sound output device to output the processed sound.

16. The directivity control apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a sound storage that stores a sound collected by the first sound collector for a given period of time; and
a sound output controller, configured to cause a sound output device to output the sound stored in the sound storage, wherein
the sound output controller is configured to cause the sound output device to perform a voice change process on the sound stored in the sound storage and cause the sound output device to output the processed sound.

17. The directivity control apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a display controller, con

Assignees

• Panasonic Ip Man Co Ltd

Inventors

• Shigenaga Shinichi
• Izumi Akitoshi
• Hayashi Kazunori
• Tokuda Toshimichi
• Sawa Hirotaka

Classifications

• H04N23/635

  Region indicators; Field of view indicators · CPC title

• H04N23/61

  based on recognised objects · CPC title

• H04N23/661

  Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet · CPC title

• H04N23/631

  Graphical user interfaces [GUI] specially adapted for controlling image capture or setting capture parameters · CPC title

• G11B27/005

  Reproducing at a different information rate from the information rate of recording (for television signals H04N5/783) · CPC title