JP2005079868A - Image distribution device, image forming device, image storing device, image distribution program, image generation program, image storing program, and image acquisition program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reliably meet the request of a need of the user of a terminal device for minutely observing an image at an optional time in an moving image. <P>SOLUTION: Based on a video signal from an imaging device 1, moving image frame data constituting each frame of a moving image and still image data which correspond to the moving image frame data and whose resolutions are higher than those of the moving image frame data are prepared, and characteristic information is added to each moving image frame data and each still image data. The still image data added with the characteristic information are stored in an image storing means 16. While transmitting the moving image frame data to a terminal device 3 through a communication network 4, according to the receiving of the request for obtaining the still image corresponding to a specific moving image frame data from the terminal device, the still image data corresponding to the characteristic information added to the specific moving image frame data are transmitted to the terminal device from in the stored still image data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image distribution system that distributes a moving image and a still image created based on a video signal from an imaging device through a communication network.

In recent years, many attempts have been made to distribute a moving image obtained by an imaging apparatus such as a video camera from a server to a client via a communication network such as the Internet. The client can receive and view the moving image data sent from the server. Furthermore, for example, by operating the still image acquisition button of the application software, one frame image in the moving image being viewed is high definition (high resolution). It can also be acquired as a still image. In this case, when the still image acquisition button is operated on the client side, the video camera takes a new image, and a still image is created based on the obtained video signal and transmitted to the client (Patent Document 1). reference).
JP 2000-341668 A

  However, in the conventional still image acquisition system, since a new video is shot when the client operates the still image acquisition button, a video after the time when the still image acquisition button is operated is transmitted to the client as a still image. Is done. Further, since the video camera and the client are connected via the network, there is a problem due to network delay, and the client cannot acquire a still image at the same time as the operation of the still image acquisition button.

  In addition, it is possible to acquire a still image at the time of operation of the still image acquisition button by saving the frame image displayed at the time of operation of the still image acquisition button from the continuously distributed video data. It is. However, the still image acquired in this case, that is, the frame image is an image whose resolution is set low in order to smoothly transmit the moving image. Therefore, it cannot respond to a request for acquiring a high-definition still image.

  In other words, in the conventional still image acquisition system, for example, when there is a change in the monitoring area in the monitoring system, if you want to know the details at the time of occurrence of the change from a high-definition still image, or the movement of a car running on the road, etc. When a certain subject is photographed as a live video and it is desired to obtain a high-definition still image of the subject at a time when a predetermined point is passed, these cannot be dealt with.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an image distribution system capable of transmitting a high-definition still image at the time when a client requests acquisition to the client, and an apparatus and a program constituting the image distribution system.

  In order to achieve the above object, the image distribution device of the present invention is based on the video signal from the imaging device, and the moving image frame data constituting each frame of the moving image and the moving image frame data corresponding to the moving image frame data Image data creating means for sequentially creating still image data having a higher resolution than each other, information adding means for adding unique information to each moving image frame data and each still image data, and still images to which unique information is added Image storage means for storing data, and transmitting moving image frame data to the terminal device via the communication network, and receiving a still image acquisition request corresponding to the specific moving image frame data from the terminal device via the communication network Depending on the image data, the fixed image attached to the specific moving image frame data from the still image data stored in the image storage means. Searching for the still image data-specific information is added corresponding to the information, and a control means for transmitting to the terminal device still image data said retrieved via the communication network.

  In addition, the image generation apparatus of the present invention, based on the video signal from the imaging device, the moving image frame data constituting each frame of the moving image and the still image having a higher resolution than the moving image frame data corresponding to the moving image frame data Image data creating means for sequentially creating data, information adding means for adding unique information to each moving picture frame data and each still picture data, and sending the moving picture frame data to the terminal device via the communication network, And (first) control means for transmitting the still image data to which the unique information is added to the image storage device that stores the still image data via the communication network.

  Furthermore, the image storage device of the present invention connectable to the image generation device via a communication network includes an image memory for storing still image data received from the image generation device via the communication network, and a terminal via the communication network. In response to receiving a still image acquisition request corresponding to specific moving image frame data from the device, unique information corresponding to specific information added to the specific moving image frame data from the still image data stored in the image memory And second control means for retrieving still image data to which information is added and transmitting the retrieved still image data to a terminal device via a communication network.

  Furthermore, the image distribution program of the present invention sequentially creates moving image frame data constituting each frame of a moving image and still image data having a higher resolution than the moving image frame data based on a video signal from the imaging device, and A step of adding unique information to each moving image frame data and each still image data, a step of storing still image data to which the unique information is added, and the moving image frame data to the terminal device via a communication network Transmitting to the specific video frame data from the stored still image data in response to receiving a still image acquisition request corresponding to the specific video frame data from the terminal device via the communication network. Searching for still image data to which unique information corresponding to the added unique information is added And a step of transmitting to the terminal device via the communication network the retrieved still image data.

  The image generation program of the present invention has higher resolution than the moving image frame data corresponding to the moving image frame data corresponding to the moving image frame data and the moving image frame data based on the images sequentially acquired by the imaging device. A step of sequentially creating still image data, a step of adding unique information to each moving image frame data and each still image data, a step of transmitting the moving image frame data to a terminal device via a communication network; Transmitting the still image data to which the unique information is added to the image storage device that stores the still image data via the communication network.

  The image storage program of the present invention operating on a computer connectable to a computer having the image generation program via a communication network includes a step of storing still image data received via the communication network, and a communication network In response to receiving a still image acquisition request corresponding to the specific moving image frame data from the terminal device via the terminal device, it corresponds to the specific information added to the specific moving image frame data from the stored still image data The method includes a step of searching for still image data to which unique information is added, and a step of transmitting the searched still image data to a terminal device via a communication network.

  Further, the image acquisition program of the present invention used on the terminal device side is image data constituting each frame of a moving image created based on the video signal from the imaging device, and each has its own information added thereto. The received video frame data sequentially via the communication network and displaying them as a video, and still image data having a higher resolution than the video frame data corresponding to the specific video frame data among the sequentially received video frame data A request for acquiring the image, a step of transmitting the specific information added to the specific moving image frame data via the communication network when the acquisition request for the still image data is input, and Receiving and displaying.

  According to the present invention, when a user of a terminal device (client) monitoring a moving image wants to acquire a high-resolution still image corresponding to a frame image (moving image frame data) in the moving image, the still image acquisition request It is possible to distribute still image data at the point of time to the terminal device. Therefore, it is possible to reliably meet the request of the terminal device user who wants to observe an image at an arbitrary point in the moving image in more detail.

  Examples of the present invention will be described below.

  FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of an image distribution system that is Embodiment 1 of the present invention. Reference numeral 1 denotes a video camera (imaging device) that captures a subject such as a person or a landscape, and outputs a video signal.

  An image generation apparatus 2 is a first server computer that performs predetermined processing on the video signal from the video camera 1 and creates image data to be distributed on the communication network 4. The communication network 4 includes the Internet, Ethernet (registered trademark), and the like.

  A communication line 5 is connected to the network 4 and transmits image data to the client (terminal device) 3, and a telephone line or the like is used.

  Reference numeral 6 denotes a LAN (Local Area Network) which is connected to the network 4 and transmits image data to the client 3 which is a computer.

  Reference numeral 7 denotes an image storage device (image storage device) which is a second server computer for storing and storing image data received from the image generation device 2. In this embodiment, the image storage device 7 is connected to the network 4 separately from the image generation device 2. It is connected.

  Next, the operation of the image acquisition system of this embodiment will be described. Here, a live video (moving image) distribution operation and a still image creation operation in the image generation apparatus 2 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. FIG. 2 shows an internal configuration of the image generation apparatus 2. In FIG. 2, the flow of the video signal and the image data is indicated by a solid line, and the flow of the system control of the image generation apparatus 2 is indicated by a broken line. Further, the communication line 5 and the LAN 6 shown in FIG. 1 are omitted, and only the network 4 is shown.

  The flowchart shown in FIG. 3 shows application software (image generation program) that is installed in the image generation apparatus 2 that is a computer and operates on basic software (OS). A system management block ((first) control means) 14 in the image generation apparatus 2 controls each block described later according to this application software.

  In step (abbreviated as “S” in FIG. 3) 1 in FIG. 3, the video camera 1 is started to take a video. Then, the NTSC (or PAL) analog video signal output from the video camera 1 is taken into the image generating device 2.

  Next, in step 2, the captured video signal is converted from the NTSC format to the YUV format by the image conversion / processing block 10 and then sequentially processed into digital image data having a predetermined image size independent for each frame. Is done. At this time, the digital image data is processed into high-definition still image data to be stored in the image storage device 7 and moving image frame data distributed to the client 3 as image data constituting each frame of the moving image.

  Here, the moving image frame data is processed into data having a smaller resolution (smaller file size) than the high-definition still image data in order to smoothly display the moving image. As a specific resolution, high-definition still image data has a resolution of 1280 × 1024 pixels, for example, and moving image frame data has a resolution of 320 × 240 pixels, for example. However, these image data may have other resolutions.

  The moving image frame data and high-definition still image data processed in this way are compressed by the image compression block 11. Specific compression formats include MPEG and JPEG methods.

  Next, in step 3, unique information addition block 12 generates unique information to be added to each moving image frame data and high-definition still image data. Examples of the unique information (unique information) include information indicating photographing time and information indicating a serial number (serial number). However, the unique information may be any information as long as it can identify individual moving image frame data and individual high-definition still image data.

  The generated unique information is added to the high-definition still image data and moving image frame data, respectively. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the same unique information is added to one moving image frame data and high-definition still image data corresponding thereto. However, different unique information having a predetermined correspondence relationship may be added to one moving image frame data and high-definition still image data corresponding thereto.

  Hereinafter, high-definition still image data to which unique information is added is referred to as unique still image data, and moving image frame data to which unique information is added is referred to as unique moving image frame data.

  Next, in step 4, the unique still image data and the unique moving image frame data are divided into packets and transmitted to the network 4 through the network interface block 13. Specifically, the unique moving image frame data is transmitted to the client 3 that has transmitted a download request for a captured video (moving image) by the video camera 1, and the unique still image data is transmitted to the image storage device 7.

  Next, the operation of the image storage device 7 will be described using the flowcharts shown in FIGS. In FIG. 2, the flow of image data is indicated by a solid line, and the flow of system control of the image storage device 2 is indicated by a broken line.

  The flowchart shown in FIG. 4 is application software (image storage program) that is installed in the image storage device 7 that is a computer and operates on basic software (OS). The system management block (second control means) 15 in the image storage device 2 controls the storage of unique still image data in the image memory 16 described later according to this application software, and also controls the transmission of unique still image data. Do.

  In step 11 of FIG. 4, the system management block 15 checks whether a still image acquisition request from the client 3 has been received through the network interface block 17 at regular intervals. The still image acquisition request is transmitted from the client 3 when the user of the client 3 watching the moving image desires to acquire high-definition still image data corresponding to specific moving image frame data in the moving image.

  If there is no still image acquisition request, when the unique still image data transmitted from the image generating device 2 via the network 4 is received through the network interface block 17 in step 12, the unique still image data is stored in the image memory. (Image memory) 16 sequentially stores and accumulates. While the still image acquisition request is not received, the unique still image data transmitted from the image generation device 2 is continuously received and stored.

  Here, when a plurality (or many) of unique still image data is accumulated in the image memory 16 and the storage capacity of the image memory 16 is lowered to a predetermined level close to saturation (when the amount of stored data reaches a predetermined amount). The system management block 15 deletes the unique still image data having the longest storage time (that is, the oldest) from among the already stored unique still image data, so that the new unique received next Store still image data. That is, the oldest unique still image data is overwritten with new unique still image data.

  As a result, still image data corresponding to the moving image frame data transmitted to the client 3 within a substantially constant time is always stored in the image memory 16.

  Note that the image memory 16 has a storage capacity such that at least a requested high-definition still image data is still accumulated when a still image acquisition request is issued.

  Next, when a still image acquisition request is received in step 11, in step 13, the system management block 15 selects a unique image included in the still image acquisition request from the unique still image data stored in the image memory 16. Search for unique still image data with unique information that matches the information.

  When the unique still image data having the matching unique number is found, the system management block 15 transmits the unique still image data through the network interface block 17 to the client 3 that transmitted the still image acquisition request in step 14.

  When the transmission to the client 3 ends and no new still image acquisition request is received, the system management block 15 resumes the reception of the unique still image data transmitted from the image generation device 2 and receives it. Unique still image data is stored and stored in the image memory 16.

  Next, the operation from the client 3 until it transmits a still image acquisition request to the image storage device 7 and receives high-definition still image data will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  Here, an example will be described in which a high-definition still image is acquired when the client 3 is watching a live video shot by the video camera 1 through the Internet. The flowchart of FIG. 5 is application software (image acquisition program) that is installed in the client 3 that is a computer and operates on basic software (OS).

  In step 21, the client 3 is connected to the network 4 according to the operation of the user of the client 3, and in step 22, the client 3 is connected to the moving image distribution site provided by the image generation device 2. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 6, the client screen 30 is displayed on the monitor 3 a of the client 3.

  The client screen 30 includes a moving image display unit 31 that displays video, a still image acquisition (capture) button 32 that is operated when acquiring a still image, and a disconnection for disconnecting the connection to the moving image distribution site. A button 33 is provided. The operation of the still image acquisition button 32 and the disconnect button 33 can be performed by, for example, moving the pointer 34 on each button by clicking the mouse and clicking.

  In step 23, the unique moving image data sequentially received from the image generating device 2 is displayed as a live image on the moving image display unit 31 of the client screen 30.

  In step 24, it is determined whether or not the disconnect button 33 has been operated. When the disconnect button 33 has been operated, the connection to the video distribution site is disconnected. Thereby, the display of the client screen 30 ends. When the disconnect button 33 is not operated, the process proceeds to step 25.

  In step 25, it is determined whether or not the still image acquisition button 32 has been operated. The still image acquisition button 32 is used when a user watching a live video on the client screen 30 wants to view a high-definition still image corresponding to a specific image (moving image frame data) of the video. Operated with the image displayed. When the still image acquisition button 32 is not operated, the process returns to step 23 to continue receiving and displaying the live video. On the other hand, when the still image acquisition button 32 is operated, the process proceeds to step 26.

  In step 26, a still image acquisition request is transmitted to the image storage device 7. This still image acquisition request includes the unique information attached to the specific moving image frame data displayed on the client screen 30 when the still image acquisition button 32 is operated, and the address of the client 3.

  When the image storage device 7 receives the still image acquisition request, the unique still image data to which the same unique information as the unique information included in the still image acquisition request is added is transmitted to the client 3 as described above. The

  In step 27, the client 3 receives the unique still image data transmitted from the image storage device 7, creates a new still image display screen different from the client screen 30, and uses the unique still image data. A fine still image is displayed.

  In the present embodiment, when the still image acquisition button 32 is operated on the client 3, the unique information of the moving image frame data displayed at that time is automatically transmitted to the image storage device 7. As explained above, the unique information attached to the video frame image for which still image data is desired is displayed on the client screen by displaying the unique information attached to the video frame image on the client screen. May be transmitted to the image storage device 7.

  FIG. 7 shows a schematic configuration of an image distribution apparatus that is Embodiment 2 of the present invention. In the first embodiment described above, the case where the image generation device 2 and the image storage device 7 are separately provided and connected to the network 4 has been described. However, in the present embodiment, these are integrated as one image distribution device 8. doing.

  In this embodiment, the same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals as those in the first embodiment, and the description is omitted.

  FIG. 8 shows the internal configuration of the image distribution apparatus 8. Also in this figure, the same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals as those in the first embodiment, and the description is omitted.

  The system management block 19 in this embodiment has both functions of the system management block 14 of the image generation apparatus 2 and the system management block 15 of the image storage apparatus 7 described in the first embodiment.

  Therefore, the system management block 19 controls the video camera 1 and the other blocks 10 to 13 and 18 according to the application software obtained by integrating the application software shown in FIG. 3 and the application software shown in FIG. The moving image frame data and still image data are created, unique information is added, and still image data corresponding to the moving image frame data and the still image acquisition request is transmitted to the client 3.

  The operation of the client 3 in the present embodiment is the same as that in the first embodiment.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the video captured by the video camera 1 is distributed as a moving image to the client 3 in almost real time has been described. However, the present invention distributes the recorded video as a moving image to the client 3 and distributes the video. The present invention can also be applied to a case where still image data is transmitted in response to a still image acquisition request from the client 3 in the middle.

  In each of the above embodiments, the live video distribution system using the Internet has been described. However, the present invention can also be applied to various monitoring systems using a camera such as a surveillance camera system.

It is a figure which shows schematic structure of the image delivery system which is Example 1 of this invention. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration and processing of an image generation device and an image storage device in Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement program of an image generation apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement program of an image storage device. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement program of a client. It is a figure which shows a client screen. It is a figure which shows schematic structure of the image delivery apparatus which is Example 2 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure and process of an image delivery apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

1 Video Camera 2 Image Generation Device 3 Client 4 Communication Network 5 Communication Line 6 LAN
7 Image storage device 8 Image distribution device 10 Image conversion / processing block 11 Image compression block 12 Unique information addition block 13, 17 Network interface block 14, 15 System management block 16 Image memory

Claims (20)

Image data generating means for sequentially generating moving image frame data constituting each frame of the moving image and still image data having a higher resolution than the moving image frame data corresponding to the moving image frame data based on a video signal from the imaging device When,
Information adding means for adding unique information to each moving image frame data and each still image data;
Image storage means for storing still image data to which the unique information is added;
In response to transmitting the moving image frame data to a terminal device via a communication network and receiving a still image acquisition request corresponding to specific moving image frame data from the terminal device via the communication network, The still image data stored in the storage unit is searched for still image data to which specific information corresponding to the specific information added to the specific moving image frame data is added, and the searched still image data is transmitted to the communication unit. An image distribution apparatus comprising: control means for transmitting to the terminal device via a network.   2. The image distribution apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information adding unit adds the same unique information to the moving image frame data and still image data corresponding to the moving image frame data.   The image distribution apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the unique information is at least one of time information and number information.   The image storage means, when the amount of stored data reaches a predetermined amount, deletes still image data having the longest storage time from the stored still image data and stores new still image data. The image delivery apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3. Image data generating means for sequentially generating moving image frame data constituting each frame of the moving image and still image data having a higher resolution than the moving image frame data corresponding to the moving image frame data based on a video signal from the imaging device When,
Information adding means for adding unique information to each moving image frame data and each still image data;
Control means for transmitting the moving image frame data to a terminal device via a communication network and transmitting the still image data to which the unique information is added to the image storage device for storing the still image data via the communication network An image generation apparatus comprising:   The image generation apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the information adding unit adds the same unique information to the moving image frame data and still image data corresponding to the moving image frame data.   The image generation apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the unique information is at least one of time information and number information. Image data generating means for sequentially generating moving image frame data constituting each frame of the moving image and still image data having a higher resolution than the moving image frame data corresponding to the moving image frame data based on a video signal from the imaging device Information adding means for adding unique information to each moving picture frame data and each still picture data, transmitting the moving picture frame data to a terminal device via a communication network, and adding the unique information An image storage device connectable to the image generation device having first control means for outputting still image data via the communication network,
An image memory for storing still image data received from the image generation device via the communication network;
In response to receiving a still image acquisition request corresponding to specific moving image frame data from the terminal device via the communication network, the specific moving image frame data is converted into the specific moving image frame data from the still image data stored in the image memory. A second control unit that searches for still image data to which unique information corresponding to the added unique information is added, and transmits the searched still image data to the terminal device via the communication network. A featured image storage device.   When the storage data amount of the image memory reaches a predetermined amount, the second control means deletes the still image data having the longest storage time from the stored still image data and replaces the still image data with the new still image data. The image storage device according to claim 8, wherein the image storage device stores the image in an image memory.   An image distribution system comprising: the image generation device according to any one of claims 5 to 7; and the image storage device according to claim 8 or 9. Based on video signals from the imaging apparatus, sequentially creating moving image frame data constituting each frame of the moving image and still image data corresponding to the moving image frame data and having a higher resolution than the moving image frame data;
Adding unique information to each moving image frame data and each still image data;
Storing still image data to which the unique information is added;
Transmitting the video frame data to a terminal device via a communication network;
In response to receiving a still image acquisition request corresponding to specific moving image frame data from the terminal device via the communication network, it is added to the specific moving image frame data from the stored still image data. Searching for still image data to which unique information corresponding to the unique information is added;
And a step of transmitting the searched still image data to the terminal device via the communication network. In the step of adding unique information to each moving image frame data and each still image data,
12. The image distribution program according to claim 11, wherein the same unique information is added to the moving image frame data and still image data corresponding to the moving image frame data.   The image distribution program according to claim 11 or 12, wherein the unique information is at least one of time information and number information. In the step of storing the still image data,
14. The stored still image data having the longest storage time is deleted and new still image data is stored when the stored data amount reaches a predetermined amount. The image delivery program as described in any one of them. Sequentially creating moving image frame data constituting each frame of the moving image and still image data having a higher resolution than the moving image frame data corresponding to the moving image frame data based on images sequentially acquired by the imaging device; ,
Adding unique information to each moving image frame data and each still image data;
Transmitting the video frame data to a terminal device via a communication network;
An image generation program operating on a computer, comprising: transmitting, via the communication network, still image data to which the unique information is added to an image storage device that stores still image data. In the step of adding unique information to each moving image frame data and each still image data,
16. The image generation program according to claim 15, wherein the same unique information is added to the moving image frame data and still image data corresponding to the moving image frame data.   The image generation program according to claim 15 or 16, wherein the unique information is at least one of time information and number information. Sequentially creating moving image frame data constituting each frame of the moving image and still image data having a higher resolution than the moving image frame data corresponding to the moving image frame data based on the video signal from the imaging device; A step of adding unique information to each moving image frame data and each still image data, a step of transmitting the moving image frame data to a terminal device via a communication network, and a step of adding still image data to which the unique information is added. An image storage program operating on a computer connectable via a communication network to a computer comprising an image generation program having an output step,
Storing still image data received via the communication network;
In response to receiving a still image acquisition request corresponding to the specific moving image frame data from the terminal device via the communication network, the unique added to the specific moving image frame data from the stored still image data Searching for still image data to which specific information corresponding to the information is added;
And a step of transmitting the searched still image data to the terminal device via the communication network. In the step of storing the still image data,
The stored still image data having the longest storage time is deleted and new still image data is stored in the image memory when the stored data amount reaches a predetermined amount. 18. An image storage program according to 18. Image data composing each frame of a moving image created based on a video signal from an imaging device, each of which is added with unique information, is sequentially received via a communication network and displayed as a moving image. Steps,
Inputting an acquisition request for still image data having a higher resolution than the moving image frame data corresponding to specific moving image frame data among the sequentially received moving image frame data;
Transmitting the specific information added to the specific moving image frame data via the communication network when the acquisition request for the still image data is input;
And a step of receiving and displaying the still image data. An image acquisition program operating on a computer.

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