Remote control camera system and image transmission method

Abstract

A live camera whose image pickup direction is remote-controlled is utilized, and a plurality of frames picked up in different pickup directions are composed so as to generate a composite image, and this is stored in a memory. Upon request from the user for altering the pickup direction, in the composite image within the memory, an extraction area is shifted in the horizontal direction and vertical direction in response to the request for alteration in a manner so as to correspond to a pickup image in the live camera, and the image within the extracted area is transmitted to the user. This arrangement eliminates the necessity of altering the pickup direction of the live camera mechanically, and independent of the mechanical alteration, only the electrical image processing of the composite image is carried out, with the result that the user is allowed to feel as if he or she were actually operating the live camera. In other words, even if a plurality of users request to alter the pickup direction, one live camera can deal with these requests; therefore, it is possible to effectively utilize the live camera, and consequently to construct a remote control camera system at low costs.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.