Patent ID: 8721197

Claim:
An image device including an imaging element which image device is mountable to a rotative table and for masking a partial area of a picture to be displayed on a camera screen so as not to be seen which picture has been captured by the imaging element, comprising: a control position information obtaining section configured to obtain PAN and TILT rotation angles of said rotative table and a zoom position; a mask generating section configured to calculate coordinates of corners of a first mask area disposed on an image plane defined by said imaging element, the coordinates being in a 3-dimensional coordinate system having an origin through which a central axis of a rotation for the PAN rotation angle and another central axis of a rotation for the TILT rotation angle pass; a mask display position calculating section configured to calculate coordinates of corners of a second mask area on said camera screen in a 2-dimensional coordinate system from said coordinates of the corners of said first mask area calculated by said mask generating section by using a relation that distances between a plurality of corners of said camera screen and each corner of said second mask area are proportional to distances between a plurality of corners of said image plane and each corner of said first mask area with a constant ratio, respectively; and a mask signal output section configured to be able to add a masking signal to a signal of the picture to be displayed on said camera screen so that the picture in said second mask area is not able to be seen.