JP2000201292A - Camera server - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a camera server where the change of control sequence setting for the operation of other devices such as a camera corresponding to the specific operation state of an external device is easy. SOLUTION: This camera server 1 which is provided with an image pickup device and also transmits photographed image data to one or plural clients 20 located at remote places is provided with a signal inputting part 3 which receives a signal from an external device, a signal outputting part 4 which sends a signal to an external device 50, a logical operating part 14 which gives an output signal obtained as a result of logically operating an input signal from the signal inputting part to the signal outputting part and a logical setting part 15 which changes and sets a logical expression of the logic operating part on the basis of a command from the client.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a camera server having an image pickup device and transmitting photographed image data to one or a plurality of remote clients.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional camera server is disclosed in, for example,
It is known from, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 0-161213, and a video camera and the movement (pan, tilt, zoom) of the camera are provided on a WWW (world wide web) server on the Internet.
It is possible to connect a control device for controlling the camera, deliver a real-time image captured by a camera to a remote client that has accessed the camera, and remotely control the pan / tilt angle and zoom magnification of the camera.

[0003]

When such a camera server is employed in a surveillance camera system for unmanned monitoring of factories, commercial buildings, and the like, the camera can be freely controlled from a remote location. On the other hand, there is an advantage that a desired area can be surely monitored. Furthermore, in recent years,
With the diversification and complexity of surveillance, various types of safety equipment and security equipment installed in the factory or building being monitored are not simply photographed in a desired area in response to a client command. Coordination with is required. For example, in a human entry / exit management system, a human detection sensor, a door open / close sensor, an electric lock that is unlocked / locked by an electric signal, etc. are provided at the entrance and exit of the room to be managed, and people enter the monitoring area. In such a case, it has been proposed to operate the camera in cooperation with various external devices, such as taking an image of the monitored area with a camera and transmitting the image data to a remote monitoring center. However, as described above, even if a control sequence for controlling the operation of other devices such as a camera according to a specific operation state of the external device is set in advance, for example, a time zone such as daytime or nighttime, a seasonal zone, Furthermore, it cannot be expected to operate according to the situation such as the weather. Changing the control sequence by going to the site where the camera server or the external device is located every time such a situation changes places a heavy burden on service personnel.

In view of the above situation, it is an object of the present invention to provide a camera server which can easily change and set a control sequence for operation of another device such as a camera in accordance with a specific operation state of an external device. It is.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, a camera server according to the present invention, which includes an imaging device and transmits photographed image data to one or a plurality of remote clients, comprises an external device. A signal input unit for receiving a signal, a signal output unit for sending a signal to an external device,
A logical operation unit that provides an output signal as a result of performing a logical operation on the input signal from the signal input unit to the signal output unit,
A logic setting unit configured to change and set a logical expression of the logical operation unit based on a command from the client.

[0006] In this configuration, the logical expression of the logical operation unit that generates an output signal by performing a logical operation on an input signal from an external device connected to the camera server can be changed by a command from a remote client. The control sequence for the operation of another device such as a camera according to the specific operation state of the external device can be easily optimized from a remote location in accordance with the change in the control sequence.

For example, when a camera server is installed in an entry management system that operates both day and night, a control routine for photographing an entering / leaving person is set in conjunction with opening and closing of the door during daytime monitoring, and is linked with opening and closing of the door during nighttime monitoring. It is also possible to easily change the logical expression according to the time zone, such as setting the control routine for lighting the illumination of the shooting area and activating the alarm while shooting the entering and exiting person, from a remote client.

As a preferred embodiment of the present invention, if a WWW server unit for sending a setting screen for changing and setting the logical expression of the logical operation unit to a client is provided, a WWW browser and a client terminal equipped with the WWW browser are provided. Under the environment of the graphic user interface, the logical expression of the logical operation unit can be changed and set by an easy operation. Further PH
If a mobile client terminal connected to mobile communication such as S or a mobile phone is used, the camera server can be accessed from virtually anywhere and the logical expression of the logical operation unit can be changed and set.

Further, as one of preferred embodiments according to the present invention, there is an embodiment provided with an external device control unit for transmitting a control signal to an external device through the signal output unit directly based on a command from the client. In this configuration,
Since an external device connected to the camera server can be directly controlled from a remote client, appropriate measures can be taken under the judgment of a skilled person while watching the screen displayed on the remote client in an emergency.

For example, when this camera server is introduced into an equipment monitoring system of an unmanned facility such as a substation, the camera server sends out a photographed image of the equipment based on the input of a failure signal of the equipment and displays the image on the client side. It is possible to determine the state of the equipment from the equipment image and control the specific external equipment from the client side through the signal output unit to use the equipment in a manner of restoring the equipment. Other features and advantages according to the present invention will become apparent from the following description of embodiments with reference to the drawings.

[0011]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a monitoring system employing a camera server 1 according to the present invention. This monitoring system realizes security such as elimination of a suspicious person in the monitored facility and remote monitoring of the monitored facility by a camera. Therefore, the camera server 1 is connected to the client terminal 20 via the network 2. Network 2 here
1 includes a LAN such as an Ethernet, a WAN using the Internet or a dedicated line. In the example of FIG. 1, the other camera server 1 and the client terminal 20 are connected to the same Ethernet LAN, and the router 2a and the ISD
It is also connected to a client terminal 20 of a remote monitoring center via an N line.

Further, the camera server 1 includes a detection sensor group 3 as an external device installed in the facility to be monitored.
A signal input unit 3 connected to the control unit 0 via a signal line 5; and a signal output unit 4 connected to the device control unit group 40 via the signal line 5. The detection sensor group 30 includes:
Door opening / closing detection sensor 31 that outputs a detection signal when door opening and closing is detected, human detection sensor 32 that outputs a detection signal when detecting the presence of a person in a set monitoring area, and various operations such as overheating, electric leakage, and gas leakage It comprises a device state monitoring sensor 33 that outputs a trouble occurrence signal when recognizing a malfunction of the device. A device control unit group 40 for controlling the external device 50 includes a lighting control unit 41 for controlling lighting and extinguishing of a light, a door control unit 42 for controlling a key of an entrance door and opening / closing of a fire door, and a supply line in the case of electric leakage or gas leakage. , A warning control unit 44 for issuing an abnormality warning, and the like.

The camera server 1 is obtained by assembling an image pickup device as an image input means in a network computer having a CPU 10 as a core. Functions related to the present invention are realized by software or hardware or both. Here, it is shown as a functional block. As an imaging device, a CCD camera 11 arranged at a predetermined location in the monitored facility is connected. For a camera 11 whose zoom magnification and camera attitude can be changed, a camera control unit 12 controls the zoom of the camera 11, And camera 11
It outputs a drive control signal for horizontal and vertical movement of the camera platform on which the camera is mounted, that is, pan / tilt. The video captured by the camera 11 is sent to the image processing unit 13, where the captured NTSC signal is A / D
The data is converted and compressed by a compression method such as JPEG or MPEG, and becomes compressed image data of a moving image or a still image.

The camera server 1 is provided with multi-channel input contacts and output contacts that can be used for general purposes.
Since the contact output can be controlled under input conditions set according to desired needs, a logical operation unit 14 that performs a logical operation based on the contact input input from the signal input unit 3 is further provided with a logical operation unit 14. A logic setting unit 15 for changing and setting a logical expression used in the logic operation unit 14 is provided, and a result obtained by the logic operation unit 14 is output as a contact output through the signal output unit 4 to an external device control unit group 40 or the like. Output to the device.

The setting of the logical expression of each channel by the logical setting unit 15 can be easily performed by a WWW browser mounted on a remote client terminal 20 under a graphic interface, as will be described in detail later. In addition, the camera server 1 also has a WWW server unit 16 configured to send an input / output logic setting screen in response to a request from the client terminal 20, receive a logical expression set through the screen, and pass it to the logical setting unit 15. . Of course, the WWW server unit 16 also performs an intermediary function when transmitting image data captured through the camera 11 to the client terminal 20 and transmitting a camera operation signal from the client terminal 20 to the camera control unit 12. Such a network communication function is realized by the network I / F 17, which is a network card connected to a bus line of the computer or an O / F of the computer.
It is constructed with software such as a network protocol incorporated in S.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a logical expression of the logical operation unit 14. This example shows the relationship between the contact inputs of channel 1 to channel 8 and the contact output of channel 1. The contact output of channel 1 (hereinafter, the channel is simply referred to as ch) is output to the client terminal 2
0 Direct command from WWW browser and contact input c
It is determined by the OR logic of the value of the selected channel among h1 to ch8 and the AND values of the two selected channels among the contact inputs ch1 to ch8. “ON”, “OF” as set values (state conditions) of each channel
“F”, “True”, and “False” are prepared, and “ON” of ch8 is determined by a combination of these conditions.
Is set. For example, (contact input ch3 is "ON")
Or (contact input ch1 is "ON" and contact input c
When h2 is "OFF", the contact output ch1 can be set to "ON". Here, contact input c
h1 is a contact input c to one door open / close detection sensor 31;
h2 is linked to another door open / close detection sensor 31, the contact input ch3 is linked to the human detection sensor 32 in the monitored area, and the contact input ch1 is connected to the camera 11 for the monitored area.
Is linked to the shooting operation, the shooting by the specific camera 11 is performed under the above-described specific conditions.

Since the contact output ch1 uses the direct command from the WWW browser of the client terminal 20 as an OR condition, as a result, the operation of the camera 11 can be arbitrarily controlled by an operator at a remote place. . That is, the external device control unit that sends a control signal to an external device associated with the camera server based on a command from the client terminal 20 is a WWW server unit 16 in this embodiment.
And the logical operation unit 14. Since each contact output channel has substantially the same logical expression, by appropriately associating the device control unit group 40 with each contact output channel, various sensors installed in the monitoring target facility can be obtained. Irrespective of the state of the vehicle, it is possible to forcibly control the door from a remote location, perform recovery control in the event of a trouble, or issue an alarm.

Such a logical expression of the logical operation unit 14 can be easily performed by a WWW browser mounted on the client terminal 20. When the client terminal 20 accesses the camera server 1 and requests a logical expression change setting, the WWW server unit 16 loads the input / output logical setting screen shown in FIG. 3 on the WWW browser screen of the client terminal 20. On that screen, contact output ch1
The condition for "ON" of the channel ch8 is displayed in the form of the logical expression shown in FIG. The condition input of the contact input channel is performed using a drop-down list. That is, FIG.
As is apparent from the figure, a button of the drop-down list is arranged at the right end of the input condition setting frame. When this button is clicked with the mouse cursor, each of ON and OFF contact inputs (DI is displayed on the screen). ) Ch1-ch
A list of 8, 8, and 18 of True and False is displayed, so that the user can easily set the input by bringing the mouse cursor over the condition to be set and clicking it. When all the conditions are entered and the setting button is clicked, the setting information set on this input / output logical setting screen is taken into the WWW server unit 16 of the camera server 1 and the CGI (Co
The data is sent to the logic setting unit 15 by the processing of the mmon Gateway Interface) program, and finally the logic expression of the logical operation unit 14 is changed and set. In the setting example of FIG. 3, the contact output (displayed as DO on the screen) ch2 is the contact input c.
ON when h8 or contact input ch2 turns ON
Becomes

FIG. 4 shows a main screen displayed when the client terminal 20 accesses the camera server 1. In the center of the screen 90, a display frame 92 for displaying an image taken by the selected camera 11 by clicking the update button 91 is arranged. The camera 11 to be activated may be selected by selecting a desired camera from a drop-down list 93 in which an image source is described. Camera zoom, camera posture, pan and tilde
Drop-down list 94a and increase / decrease button 94 respectively
b, 94c. An image quality setting frame 95 for selecting the compression rate of the sent image data, an update interval setting frame 96 for setting the image update interval, and an image display size frame 97 for selecting the display size of the displayed image are easily formed by drop-down lists. Can be set to

Further, on the main screen of the camera server 1, there is a contact output control setting column 98 for directly controlling the contact output from the client terminal 20, and the numbers of ch1 to ch8 displayed here are indicated by a mouse cursor. The contact output channel selected by double-clicking is taken into the WWW server section 16 of the camera server 1 and
The data is sent to the logical operation unit 14 by the processing according to the I program, and as a result, the corresponding device is operated via the signal output unit 4. In addition, the contact output state and the contact input state of each channel are also inverted in the input state display column 99a and the output state display column 99b so that the contact control based on the logical expression of the logical operation unit 14 can be confirmed. It is displayed by a color identification display or the like.

As a result, the camera server 1 can not only provide the captured image of the facility to be monitored to the client terminal 20 but also automatically control the contacts associated with the camera server 1. The setting can be arbitrarily changed from the client terminal 20, and the external device can be controlled by directly turning on an optional setting output when necessary. Therefore, it is possible for an operator at a remote place to monitor the status screen in real time while directly controlling the external device via the client terminal 20. This makes it possible to perform not only monitoring but also flexibility in emergency recovery work. Was to give.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a surveillance system employing a camera server of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a logical expression of a logical operation unit provided in the camera server.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an input / output logic setting screen in a client terminal.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a main page of a camera server in a client terminal.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 camera server 2 network 3 signal input unit 4 signal output unit 11 camera 12 camera control unit 13 image processing unit 14 logical operation unit 15 logic setting unit 16 WWW server unit 20 client terminal 30 detection sensor group 40 device control unit group 50 external device

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A camera server comprising an imaging device and transmitting photographed image data to one or more remote clients, a signal input unit for receiving a signal from an external device, and a signal for transmitting a signal to the external device. An output unit, a logical operation unit that provides an output signal as a result of performing a logical operation on the input signal from the signal input unit to the signal output unit, and a logical expression of the logical operation unit is changed based on a command from the client. A camera server, comprising: a logic setting unit for setting. 2. The camera server according to claim 1, further comprising a WWW server unit that sends a setting screen for changing and setting a logical expression of the logical operation unit to a client. 3. The camera server according to claim 1, further comprising an external device control unit that sends a control signal to an external device through the signal output unit directly based on a command from the client.