JP2000165846A - Video monitoring system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the detailed video from the spot of picking up the selected video by an operator by instructing the generation of video of an information quantity more than that of the selected video from a center station to a monitoring part for generating a compressed video signal corresponding to the selected video. SOLUTION: A monitoring part 110 has a video input means 11 such as a camera, a video compressing means 12 for compressing the video signal outputted from the input means 11, a bidirectional communication means 13 for transmitting/receiving the signal, and a compression control means 14 for setting a compressing processing system. A center station 120 displays plural videos based on the plural compressed video signals generated by the plural monitoring parts 110. Further, the center station 120 selects one of plural videos and instructs the generation of video of an information quantity more than that of the selected video to the monitoring part 110 for generating the compressed video signal corresponding to the selected video.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video surveillance system using a communication system capable of two-way communication, and does not require a plurality of display devices even when monitoring multiple points.
The present invention relates to a video monitoring system capable of monitoring with a simple configuration and simultaneously displaying and recording a detailed video of a corresponding point in an emergency or the like while simultaneously monitoring images at multiple points on the same screen.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 8-130681 discloses a video transmission system for transmitting a plurality of video signals.

[0003]

In a conventional system, a plurality of monitoring images are synthesized by a video synthesizing device at a monitoring point, and the synthesized image data is transmitted to a center station via a transmission line. As a result, a video synthesizing device is required at each monitoring point. Further, since a plurality of videos are synthesized and transmitted, it is difficult to record only a specific video in an emergency or the like.

[0004] In view of the above problems, the present invention can obtain a detailed image corresponding to one of a plurality of images displayed on a display, and can accumulate detailed images. It is intended to provide a video surveillance system.

[0005]

A video surveillance system according to the present invention comprises a plurality of monitoring units capable of generating at least two compressed video signals having different amounts of information, and a plurality of monitoring units generated by the plurality of monitoring units. A video surveillance system including a center station capable of receiving a compressed video signal via a transmission path, wherein the center station includes a plurality of video images based on a plurality of compressed video signals generated by the plurality of monitoring units. Is displayed, and the center station selects one of the plurality of videos, and sends a compressed video signal corresponding to the selected video to a monitoring unit that generates a compressed video signal based on the information amount of the selected video. Instruct to generate a video with a large amount of information, thereby achieving the above object.

[0006] At least two compressed video signals having different amounts of information may be generated by changing a compression method.

[0007] At least two compressed video signals having different amounts of information may be generated by changing a compression ratio.

One of the plurality of monitoring units includes a video input unit for capturing an image of an area to be monitored, a video compression unit for compressing a video signal captured by the video input unit, and the video compression unit based on a control signal. And a two-way communication means for communicating the compressed video signal compressed by the video compression means to the transmission path.

[0009] The center station receives the plurality of compressed video signals generated by the plurality of monitoring units, bi-directional communication means, video synthesizing means for synthesizing the plurality of received compressed video signals, and A signal expansion unit that expands the synthesized signal synthesized by the synthesis unit; a video display unit that displays the plurality of videos based on the video signal expanded by the signal expansion unit; and a plurality of video images displayed on the video display unit. Video selection means for selecting one of the videos, and compression control signal generation means for generating the control signal for switching the compression processing method to a monitoring unit corresponding to the selected video. May have.

[0010] The center station may have an operation control means for controlling an operation of the video input means of one of the plurality of monitoring units.

[0011] The center station may have video storage means for storing a plurality of compressed video signals generated by the plurality of monitoring units.

[0012] The center station may have video storage means for storing a composite signal synthesized by the video synthesis means.

When the center station detects a change in the movement of the monitored object, the center station includes a video change detection unit that outputs a detection signal, and a storage unit that stores a video compression signal in accordance with the detection signal. The compression control signal generation unit generates the control signal for switching the compression processing method to a monitoring unit of a video input unit that captures a change in the movement of the monitoring target in accordance with the detection signal. You may.

[0014] The video synthesizing means may digitally synthesize the received plurality of video compression signals as a video compression signal of one image.

[0015] The video synthesizing means may synthesize a synthesized signal in which the plurality of received video compression signals are displayed on the video display means as a multi video screen.

An optical communication system in which the transmission path is an optical fiber and the bidirectional communication means of the plurality of monitoring units multiplexes the compressed video signal in a predetermined time slot in a time-division manner and performs bidirectional communication. May be used.

Hereinafter, the operation will be described.

The center station of the video monitoring system of the present invention receives a plurality of compressed video signals generated by a plurality of monitoring units via a transmission line. The center station displays images captured by the plurality of monitoring units based on the plurality of compressed video signals. Here, since the plurality of images captured by the plurality of monitoring units are displayed on one display, the resolution of each of the plurality of images does not need to be high. In other words, the information amount of the compressed video signal sent from one monitoring unit may be lower than a predetermined value. Therefore, the load on the transmission path is reduced.

However, when the operator selects one of the plurality of images captured by the plurality of monitoring units, for example, one of the plurality of images captured by the plurality of monitoring units is displayed on the above-described display. Is done. In such a case, the operator may desire that the resolution of the selected video is higher than the resolution of the single video when a plurality of videos are displayed on one display.

The center station of the video surveillance system of the present invention instructs the monitoring unit that generates a compressed video signal corresponding to the selected video to generate a video having an information amount larger than the information amount of the selected video. , It is possible to respond to such an operator's request.

[0021]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1) Hereinafter, a video monitoring system 100 according to a first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2A and 2B.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a video monitoring system 100 according to the first embodiment.

The video monitoring system 100 includes a plurality of monitoring units 110 and a center station 120 capable of receiving images from the plurality of monitoring units 110.

The plurality of monitoring units 110 are arranged at a plurality of points, for example, points A to F, and the plurality of monitoring units 1
Reference numeral 10 is connected to the center station 120 via the transmission line 1a. Each of the plurality of monitoring units 110 can generate at least two compressed video signals having different amounts of information. The at least two compressed video signals having different amounts of information may be obtained by compressing the video signals by different compression methods, or may be obtained by compressing the video signals at different compression ratios.

To this end, the monitoring unit 110 includes a video input unit 11 such as a camera, a video compression unit 12 for compressing a video signal output from the video input unit 11, a bidirectional communication unit 13 for transmitting and receiving signals, and a compression process. It has a compression control means 14 for setting the method.

The center station 120 includes a plurality of monitoring units 110
And displaying a plurality of videos based on the plurality of compressed video signals generated by. Further, the center station 120 selects one of the plurality of videos, and instructs the monitoring unit that generates a compressed video signal corresponding to the selected video to the monitoring unit that has an information amount larger than the information amount of the selected video. Instruct to generate a video.

For this purpose, the center station 120 includes a bidirectional communication means 13 for transmitting and receiving signals, a video synthesizing means 15 for synthesizing a plurality of received compressed video signals into one connected compressed video signal, and one connected Video expansion means 16 for expanding the compressed video signal and outputting the video signal as a video signal, video display means 19 for displaying the video signal output from the video expansion processing means 16, and a plurality of video images displayed on the video display means 19. And a compression control signal generation unit 17 for generating a compression control signal for the video selected by the video selection unit 18.

The video synthesizing means 15 synthesizes the plurality of received compressed video signals as one connected compressed video signal. For example, the video synthesizing unit 15 may digitally synthesize a plurality of received video compression signals as a video compression signal of one image. Also, the image synthesizing means 15
Means that a plurality of received video compression signals are
May be combined with a combined signal displayed as a multi-image screen. Here, the multi-image screen means a state in which a plurality of images are simultaneously displayed on one screen. In the present embodiment, a plurality of monitoring images at multiple points are simultaneously displayed on one screen.

The image display means 19 can simultaneously display a plurality of images, and as a result, the operator can monitor multiple points simultaneously.

Hereinafter, the image monitoring system 100 in the case where one of a plurality of images displayed on the image display means 19 is selected while the operator is monitoring the points A to F.
Will be described.

The operator selects one image from the images corresponding to the points A to F by using the image selecting means 19.
The image selection unit 19 outputs information on the selected point to the control signal generation unit 17. Here, it is assumed that the image corresponding to the point A has been selected for the sake of simplicity. FIG. 2A is a diagram showing a plurality of images corresponding to points A to F displayed on the image selection means 19, and FIG. 2B is a diagram showing one image from the plurality of images corresponding to points A to F. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a selected video when the video is selected.

The control signal generating means 17 includes the video selecting means 1
A compression control signal is generated according to the signal output from the control signal. The compression control signal includes information for changing the compression method and / or the compression ratio and information on the selected point.

The compression control signal may be sent from the center station 120 to all the monitoring units 110. Information on the selected point of the compression control signal, for example, the ID of the monitoring unit 110 corresponding to the selected point is the ID of the monitoring unit 110
When the IDs match, the monitoring unit 110 with the matching ID receives the compression control signal (information for changing the compression method and / or the compression ratio). For example, the compression control signal including the ID of the monitoring unit 110 corresponding to the point A is received by the monitoring unit 110 corresponding to the point A.

The bidirectional communication means 13 of the center station 120 may select a transmission path according to the compression control signal. For example, when point A is selected, transmission line 1
a is selected.

The bidirectional communication means 13 of the monitoring unit 110 at the point A receives the compression control signal output from the center station 110. The compression control unit 14 at the point where the compression control signal is received controls the video compression unit 12 so as to perform a compression process using a compression method according to the compression control signal.

For example, the video compression means 12 is previously provided with a compression method MPEG (Moving Picture Expe
rtsGroup) 1 is set, and the compression control means 14
Receives the above-mentioned compression control signal, the compression control means 14 sets the compression method MPEG2 to the video compression means 12. The operator uses the center station 120 to select at least one image from the plurality of images, so that a more detailed image than the selected image of the plurality of images is displayed on the image display device 19 of the center station 120. Can be done. For this reason, it is possible to better monitor the point corresponding to the selected video.

In the video surveillance system 100 described above, MPEG1 and MPEG2 are used as compression schemes. However, when the present invention is implemented, the above-mentioned compression schemes are compression schemes other than MPEG1 and MPEG2, for example, Weblet, DCT (Discrete C
It is needless to say that it may be an O.s.Transform.

In the present embodiment, during normal operation (the video display device 19 displays a plurality of videos), the resolution of the plurality of videos displayed on the video display device 19 can be lower than a predetermined value. Since a compression method with a relatively small transmission amount is selected, in the present embodiment, the transmission amount of the transmission path can be reduced.

Hereinafter, a specific configuration example of the present embodiment will be described.

A digital video camera is used as the image input means 11, a personal computer display is used as the image display device 19, the compression method MPEG1 is set in advance in the image compression means 12, and the compression control means 14 receives a compression control signal. In this case, the compression control means 14 sets the compression method MPEG2 to the video compression means 12.

It is assumed that images at 32 locations are simultaneously displayed on the display, and that each of the 32 images has a size of about 64 × 48 pixels.

In order to monitor each point, the frame rate of each image is set to about 10 frames / second. In such a case, the amount of information per video is 120 kbit
/ Sec, and the information amount is about 5 Mbit / sec for the whole (32 images).

One image is selected from 32 images,
If the selected video is compressed by MPEG2,
The information amount is about 3 Mbit / sec. 3Mbit /
The amount of information per second is substantially equal to the image of the terrestrial broadcast video.

Incidentally, the transmission amount of the optical communication system, which has been rapidly expanding in recent years, is several tens Mbps or more, and is 5 Mbit / s.
Information of about seconds can be easily transmitted. That is,
It is also possible to use an optical communication system as the transmission path of the present embodiment. In this case, for example, a plurality of monitoring units 11
The two-way communication means 13 of 0 may use an optical communication system in which a compressed video signal is multiplexed in a predetermined time slot in a time-division manner to perform two-way communication. Further, an optical communication system in which the bidirectional communication means 13 of the center station 120 multiplexes the compression control signal and the like in a predetermined time slot in a time-division manner and performs bidirectional communication may be used.

Further, a high-speed communication system other than the optical communication system may be used as the transmission line system of the present embodiment.

(Embodiment 2) Hereinafter, a video monitoring system 200 according to a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the configuration of the video monitoring system 200, the same components as those of the video monitoring system 100 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be basically omitted.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a video monitoring system 200 according to the second embodiment.

The video monitoring system 200 includes a plurality of monitoring units 210 and a center station 220 capable of receiving images from the plurality of monitoring units 210.

The configuration of the monitoring unit 210 is substantially the same as the configuration of the monitoring unit 110, but the monitoring unit 210 includes a video control unit 34 instead of the compression control unit 14 of the monitoring unit 110. The video control unit 34 controls zoom-in and zoom-out of the video input unit 31 and / or changes of a shooting range.

The structure of the center station 220 is the center station 12
0, but the center station 220 includes an operation control unit 37 instead of the compression control signal generation unit 17 and the video selection unit 18 of the center station 120. The operation control unit 37 generates a control signal for performing zoom-in and zoom-out of the video input unit 31 and / or changing a shooting range based on an instruction of the operator. The control signal generated by the operation control means 37 is sent to the video control means 34 via a transmission path.

The operation of the video monitoring system 200 will be described below.

The operator looks at the image display means 19,
The operation control unit 37 instructs to zoom in, zoom out, and / or change the shooting range of a specific point.

A control signal for zooming in, zooming out, and / or changing the photographing range of the video input means 31 at a specific point is output from the operation control means 37.
The control signal is transmitted to the bidirectional communication unit 1 of the center station 220.
3. Via the two-way communication means 13 of the monitoring unit 110 of the transmission path and the specific point, the video control unit 3 of the monitoring unit 110
4

For example, assume that a control signal has been sent to the monitoring unit 110 at the point A. Image control means 34 at point A
Receives the control signal, and controls the video input means 11 at the point A according to the control signal.

When the operator uses the video monitoring system 200 to monitor facilities or the like in remote locations (for example, points A to F), the operator zooms in, zooms out, and / or changes the shooting range. Can do
The degree of freedom of the monitoring system increases.

(Embodiment 3) Hereinafter, a video monitoring system 300 according to a third embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the configuration of the video monitoring system 300, the same components as those of the video monitoring system 100 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is basically omitted.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a video monitoring system 300 according to the third embodiment. The video monitoring system 300 can automatically save the monitored video or switch the monitored video to the detailed video transmission.

The video monitoring system 300 includes a plurality of monitoring units 110 and a center station 320 capable of receiving images from the plurality of monitoring units 110. The configuration of the center station 320 is almost the same as the configuration of the center station 120. However, the center station 320 is different from the center station 120 in that the compression control signal generation means 17 and the video selection means 18 are replaced by the storage means 46 and the video change detection means. 48.

When a change larger than a predetermined amount of change of the image occurs in the plurality of images from the image expansion means 16, a detailed image of the point of the image where the change has occurred is sent to the center station 320. As shown in FIG.
8 may generate a compression control signal. The generated compression control signal is sent via the two-way communication means 13 to the point of the video where the change has occurred. The compression control unit of the monitoring unit 110 at the point of the image where the change has occurred sets the compression method corresponding to the compression control signal to the image compression unit 12 as in the first embodiment.

When a change greater than a preset amount of change in the plurality of images from the image expansion means 16 occurs, the image at the point of the image where the change occurs is stored so as to be stored. The change detecting means 48 may generate a compression control signal. The generated compression control signal is sent to the storage unit 46. The storage unit 46 receives the changed video from the video decompression unit 16 and stores the changed video.

In the example described above, the storage means 46 can store all or a part of the compressed video signal before the compressed video signal is synthesized. For this reason, it is also possible to record only the video at the point of the video where the change has occurred. Further, all or a part of the stored compressed video signal is sent to the video decompression means 16 according to an instruction of the operator or the like, and the video is decompressed.

Note that the storage means 46 may store an image at an arbitrary point at an arbitrary time.

The storage means 46 may store the synthesized signal after the compressed video signal is synthesized.

As described above, the compression control signal includes at least one of the information for setting the compression method and the information for instructing to store the video.

The image in which the above-mentioned change has occurred means that an intruder or the like has entered the monitored point and the monitored image has changed. It is conceivable, for example, that the current video has changed. That is, the image change detecting means 48 can detect an intruder or the like and an abnormality.

The storage means 46 may be a hard disk. For example, 1 compressed by MPEG1
When a video signal of about 0 frames / sec is stored in a recording medium for one hour, a capacity of about 58 Mbit is required. Since the capacity of a hard disk in recent years reaches several Gbytes, it is possible to use a hard disk as the storage means 46. Note that another storage medium may be used as the storage unit 46.

The present invention may be implemented by combining the first and second embodiments. In this case, for example, the center station 120 according to the first embodiment includes the operation control unit 37 according to the second embodiment, and the monitoring unit 110 according to the first embodiment uses the image control unit 37 according to the second embodiment. 34.

The present invention may be implemented by combining the second and third embodiments. In this case, for example, the center station 320 according to the third embodiment includes the operation control unit 37 according to the second embodiment, and the monitoring unit 110 according to the third embodiment uses the image control unit 37 according to the second embodiment. 34.

[0070]

The center station of the video monitoring system of the present invention receives a plurality of compressed video signals generated by a plurality of monitoring units via a transmission line. The center station displays images captured by the plurality of monitoring units based on the plurality of compressed video signals. Since the plurality of videos captured by the plurality of monitoring units are displayed on one display, the resolution of each of the plurality of videos need not be high.

The center station of the video surveillance system of the present invention instructs the monitoring unit that generates a compressed video signal corresponding to the selected video to generate a video having an information amount larger than the information amount of the selected video. To instruct. Therefore, the operator can obtain a more detailed image from the point where the selected image is being captured.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a video monitoring system 10 according to a first embodiment.
It is a figure which shows the block of 0.

FIG. 2A is a diagram showing a plurality of videos corresponding to points A to F displayed on a video selection unit 19;

FIG. 2B is a diagram showing one of a plurality of images corresponding to points A to F;
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing one image selected and one image selected.

FIG. 3 is a video monitoring system 20 according to a second embodiment.
It is a figure which shows the block of 0.

FIG. 4 is a video monitoring system 30 according to a third embodiment.
It is a figure which shows the block of 0.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Video input means 12 Video compression means 13 Two-way communication means 14 Compression control means 15 Video synthesis means 16 Video expansion means 17 Compression control signal generation means 18 Video selection means 19 Video display means 34 Video control means 37 Operation control means 46 Video signals Storage means 48 Image change detection means

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Satoshi Nishino 1006 Kadoma Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Terms (reference) 5C054 AA02 CH08 DA05 DA10 EG04 EG06 FC13 FE02 FE18 FF02 GB01 HA18

Claims (12)

[Claims] A plurality of monitoring units capable of generating at least two compressed video signals having different amounts of information, and a plurality of compressed video signals generated by the plurality of monitoring units are received via a transmission path. A video surveillance system including a possible center station, wherein the center station displays a plurality of videos based on a plurality of compressed video signals generated by the plurality of monitoring units; Select one of the videos,
A video monitoring system for instructing a monitoring unit that generates a compressed video signal corresponding to the selected video to generate a video having an information amount larger than the information amount of the selected video. 2. The video monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the at least two compressed video signals having different amounts of information are generated by changing a compression method. 3. The video monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the at least two compressed video signals having different amounts of information are generated by changing a compression ratio. 4. One of the plurality of monitoring units includes: a video input unit configured to capture an image of an area to be monitored; a video compression unit configured to compress a video signal captured by the video input unit; 2. The video monitoring system according to claim 1, further comprising: compression control means for setting a compression processing method in the compression means; and bidirectional communication means for communicating the compressed video signal compressed by the video compression means to the transmission path. 5. A bi-directional communication means for receiving the plurality of compressed video signals generated by the plurality of monitoring units, a video synthesizing means for synthesizing the plurality of received compressed video signals, A signal expansion unit that expands the synthesized signal synthesized by the image synthesis unit; an image display unit that displays the plurality of images based on the image signal expanded by the signal expansion unit; Video selection means for selecting one of a plurality of videos, and compression control signal generation means for generating the control signal for switching the compression processing method to a monitoring unit corresponding to the selected video. The video surveillance system according to claim 4, comprising: 6. The video surveillance system according to claim 4, wherein the center station has an operation control unit for controlling an operation of the video input unit of one of the plurality of monitoring units. 7. The video surveillance system according to claim 4, wherein said center station has video storage means for storing a plurality of compressed video signals generated by said plurality of monitoring units. 8. The video surveillance system according to claim 5, wherein said center station has video storage means for storing the synthesized signal synthesized by said video synthesis means. 9. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the center station detects a change in the movement of the monitored object, and includes a video change detection unit that outputs a detection signal, and a storage unit that stores a video compression signal in accordance with the detection signal. The compression control signal generating means transmits the control signal for switching the compression processing method to a monitoring unit of the video input means which has captured a change in the movement of the monitoring target in accordance with the detection signal. The video surveillance system according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the video surveillance occurs. 10. The video monitoring system according to claim 4, wherein the video synthesizing unit digitally synthesizes the plurality of received video compression signals as a video compression signal of one image. 11. The video surveillance system according to claim 4, wherein the video synthesizing unit synthesizes a synthesized signal in which the plurality of received video compression signals are displayed on the video display unit as a multi video screen. 12. An optical communication system wherein said transmission path is an optical fiber, and said bidirectional communication means of said plurality of monitoring units multiplex said compressed video signal in a predetermined time slot in a time-division manner to perform bidirectional communication. The video surveillance system according to claim 5, wherein the video surveillance system uses a system.