Surveillance video camera with a plurality of sensitivity enhancing units

1. A surveillance video camera to be operative in combination with a surveillance system for watching an object, comprising:

image information producing means for producing image information indicative of said object;

video signal producing means for producing a video signal on the basis of said image information produced by said image information producing means; and

controlling means for controlling each of said image information producing means and said video signal producing means to ensure that said object is watched by said surveillance system through said video signal produced by said video signal producing means, wherein

said image information producing means includes:

an optical section having passed therethrough light to be provided as an image indicative of said object;

a converting section having a sensitivity to said light, said converting section being constituted by a plurality of pixel units classified into a plurality of pixel groups, each of which is constituted by at least two pixels adjacent to each other, said pixel units are exposed to said light provided through said optical section over an exposure period to sense said image; and

a plurality of sensitivity enhancing units for enhancing said sensitivity of said converting section,

said sensitivity enhancing units includes:

a first sensitivity enhancing unit for allowing each of said pixel groups to function as one pixel;

a second sensitivity enhancing unit for extending said exposure period to have said converting section sense said image under the condition that said pixel units are exposed to light passed through said optical section over an extended exposure period; and

a third sensitivity enhancing unit for removing an infrared light elimination filter located on an optical path between said optical section and said converting section,

said controlling means includes:

a surveillance mode selecting section for selectively setting at least two surveillance modes including a motion priority mode and a resolution priority mode, and

an executing section for allowing said first to third sensitivity enhancing units to start and stop in predetermined sequences,

in said motion priority mode, said third enhancing unit starts before said first enhancing unit starts, and said first enhancing unit starts before said second enhancing unit starts, when the illumination intensity of said object decreases,

in said resolution priority mode, said second enhancing unit starts before said third enhancing unit starts, and said third enhancing unit starts before said first enhancing unit starts, when the illumination intensity of said object decreases.

2. A surveillance video camera as set forth in claim 1 , in which said executing section is adapted to allow each of said first and second sensitivity enhancing units to start in order of said first and second sensitivity enhancing unit to enhance said sensitivity of said converting section, and to allow each of said first and second sensitivity enhancing units to stop in order of said second and first sensitivity enhancing unit enhancing said sensitivity of said converting section in response to said illumination intensity in said motion priority mode.

3. A surveillance video camera as set forth in claim 1 , in which said executing section is adapted to allow said first and second sensitivity enhancing units to start in order of said second and first sensitivity enhancing unit to enhance said sensitivity of said converting section, and to allow said first and second sensitivity enhancing units to stop in order of said first and second sensitivity enhancing unit enhancing said sensitivity of said converting section in response to said illumination intensity in said resolution priority mode.

4. A surveillance video camera as set forth in claim 1 , in which

said optical section includes a lens unit to be located in spaced relationship with said converting section, a first optical filter operable to have only visible light passed therethrough, a second optical filter operable to have both visible light and infrared lightpassed therethrough, and a switching mechanism for driving said first and second optical filters to assume two different operation states including a first operation state to allow said first optical filter to be provided between said lens unit and said converting section to ensure that said converting section is exposed to said visible light, and a second operation state to prevent said second optical filter from being provided between said lens unit and said converting section to ensure that said converting section is exposed to both said visible light and said infrared light, and in which

said sensitivity enhancing units includes a third sensitivity enhancing unit for enhancing said sensitivity of said converting section by controlling said switching mechanism in response to said illumination intensity.

5. A surveillance video camera as set forth in claim 4 , in which said executing section is adapted to allow each of said first to third sensitivity enhancing units to start in order of said third, first, and second sensitivity enhancing units to enhance said sensitivity of said converting section, and to allow each of said first to third sensitivity enhancing units to stop in order of said second, first, and third sensitivity enhancing units enhancing said sensitivity of said converting section in response to said illumination intensity in said motion priority mode.

6. A surveillance video camera as set forth in claim 4 , in which said executing section is adapted to allow each of said first to third sensitivity enhancing units to start in order of said second, third, and first sensitivity enhancing units to enhance said sensitivity of said converting section, and to allow each of said first to third sensitivity enhancing units to stop in order of said first, third, and second sensitivity enhancing units enhancing said sensitivity of said converting section in response to said illumination intensity in said motion priority mode.

7. A surveillance video camera as set forth in claim 1 , in which said controlling means further includes a luminance level monitoring section for judging whether or not luminance level of said video signal produced by said video signal producing means is within a predetermined range, and in which

said executing section is adapted to allow each of said sensitivity enhancing units to start, in sequence corresponding to said surveillance mode selected by said surveillance mode selecting section, to enhance said sensitivity of said converting section, and to stop in said inverse order of said sequence enhancing said sensitivity of said converting section on the basis of the judgment of said illumination level monitoring section.

8. A surveillance video camera as set forth in claim 1 , in which said image information producing means further includes an adjusting section for adjusting an optical black level and a gain of an electric signal produced by said converting section, and in which

said controlling means further includes a compensation section for compensate said optical black level and said gain to be adjusted by said adjusting section when each of said sensitivity enhancing units is operated to start to enhance, and to stop enhancing said sensitivity of said converting section.

9. A surveillance video camera as set forth in claim 1 , in which said controlling means further includes motion judging section for judging whether or not said object is slow in action in comparison with a predetermined threshold level on the basis of said image information produced by said image information producing means, and

said executing section is adapted to adjust said luminance level by allowing said sensitivity enhancing units to start, in sequence corresponding to said surveillance mode selected by said surveillance mode selecting section, to enhance said sensitivity of said converting section in response to said illumination intensity on the basis of the judgment made by said motion judging section, and to stop enhancing said sensitivity of said converting section.