Monitoring apparatus

An imaging method comprising:

• photographing an area, while sequentially setting a photographing direction to unit images that constitute a panorama image of the entire area;
• generating a panorama image by spatially combining a plurality of unit images obtained in the photographing such that the panorama image is larger than any of the unit images;
• storing and managing the panorama image generated in the generating a panorama image;
• controlling a infrared imaging unit for photographing an object that emanates infrared rays as an infrared image, while sequentially shifting the photographing direction of the infrared imaging unit within the area being photographed;
• generating a panorama infrared image of the entire area by spatially combining a plurality of infrared images provided by the infrared imaging unit such that the panorama infrared image is larger than any of the infrared images;
• synthesizing the panorama image generated in the generating a panorama image with the panorama infrared image generated in the generating a panorama infrared image to create a single synthesized image including both image and infrared data;
• and
• displaying the synthesized image generated in the synthesizing.

A computer readable medium including computer executable instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

• photographing an area, while sequentially setting a photographing direction to unit images that constitute a panorama image of the entire area;
• generating a panorama image by spatially combining a plurality of unit images obtained in the photographing such that the panorama image is larger than any of the unit images;
• storing and managing the panorama image generated in the generating a panorama image;
• controlling an infrared camera in an infrared imaging unit that photographs an object having a temperature falling within a preset temperature range as a infrared image, while sequentially shifting the photographing direction of the infrared imaging unit within the area being photographed;
• generating a panorama infrared image of the entire area by spatially combining a plurality of infrared images provided by the infrared imaging unit such that the panorama inured image is larger than any of the infrared images;
• synthesizing the panorama image generated in the generating a panorama image with the panorama infrared image generated in the generating a panorama infrared image to create a single synthesized image including both image and infrared data;
• and
• displaying the synthesized image generated in the synthesizing.

An imaging system comprising:

• imaging means;
• infrared imaging means for photographing an object that emanates infrared rays as an infrared image;
• a control apparatus including:
• panorama-image generating means for generating a panorama image of the entire area by combining a plurality of unit images obtained by the imaging means, the panorama-image generating means generating the panorama image by spatially combining the plurality of unit images such that the panorama image is larger than any of the unit images;
• panorama-image storage/management means for storing and managing the panorama image generated by the panorama-image generating means;
• direction control means for sequentially shifting the photographing direction of the infrared imaging means within the area being photographed;
• infrared-image generating means for combining a plurality of infrared images provided by the infrared imaging means, thereby to generate a panorama infrared image of the entire area, the infrared-image generating means generating the panorama infrared image by spatially combining the plurality of infrared images such that the panorama infrared image is larger than any of the infrared images;
• and
• image-synthesizing means for synthesizing the panorama image generated by the panorama-image generating means, with the panorama infrared image generated by the infrared-image generating means;
• and
• at least one terminal device that is configured to access the control apparatus through a network, to acquire the synthesized image generated by the image-synthesizing means, by accessing the control apparatus, and to display the synthesized image acquired.

An imaging apparatus comprising:

• a camera unit;
• a panorama-image generating section configured to generate a panorama image of the entire area by combining a plurality of unit images obtained by the camera unit, the panorama-image generating section configured to generate the panorama image by spatially combining the plurality of unit images such that the panorama image is larger than any of the unit images;
• a panorama-image storage/management section configured to store and manage the panorama image generated by the panorama-image generating section;
• an infrared camera configured to photograph an object that has a temperature falling within a preset temperature range as a infrared image;
• an direction controller configured to sequentially shift the photographing direction of the infrared camera within the area being photographed;
• an infrared-image generating section configured to combine a plurality of infrared images provided by the infrared camera, thereby to generate a panorama infrared image of the entire area, the infrared-image generating section configured to generate the panorama infrared image by spatially combining the plurality of infrared images such that the panorama infrared image is larger than any of the infrared images;
• an image-synthesizing section configured to synthesize the panorama image generated by the panorama-image generating section, with the panorama infrared image generated by the infrared-image generating section;
• a display configured to display the synthesized image generated by the image-synthesizing section.

An imaging system comprising:

• a camera unit;
• an infrared camera configured to photograph an object that has a temperature falling within a preset temperature range as an infrared image;
• a control apparatus including:
• a panorama-image generating section configured to generate a panorama image of the entire area by combining a plurality of unit images obtained by the camera unit, the panorama-image generating section configured to generate the panorama image by spatially combining the plurality of unit images such that the panorama image is larger than any of the unit images;
• a panorama-image storage/management section configured to store and manage the panorama image generated by the panorama-image generating section;
• a direction controller configured to sequentially shift the photographing direction of the infrared camera within the area being photographed;
• an infrared-image generating section configured to combine a plurality of infrared images provided by the infrared camera, thereby to generate a panorama infrared image of the entire area, the infrared-image generating section configured to generate the panorama infrared image by spatially combining the plurality of infrared images such that the panorama infrared image is larger than any of the infrared images;
• and
• an image-synthesizing section configured to synthesize the panorama image generated by the panorama-image generating section, with the panorama infrared image generated by the infrared-image generating section;
• and
• at least one terminal device that is configured to access the control apparatus through a network, to acquire the synthesized image generated by the image-synthesizing section, by accessing the control apparatus, and to display the synthesized image acquired.