JP2005080172A - Moving image storage management method and storage management apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make semi-automatic moving image storage that seems necessary for following situation analysis, to remarkably reduce a video management load in an apparatus that stores a great quantity of camera video images. <P>SOLUTION: In moving image data stored in storage means 22, 26, moving image data to be preserved are marked and in the moving image data stored in the storage means 22, 26, the other moving image data having second photographic condition information highly correlated with first photographic condition information accompanying the marked moving image data are selected. The selected moving image data and the marked moving image data are stored and maintained in the storage means 22, 26 as moving image data to be preserved. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a moving image storage management method and a storage management device, for example, a storage management method and a storage management device suitable for use in storage management of moving images taken by a surveillance camera for crime prevention or disaster prevention. About.

  Conventionally, there is a network monitoring system that monitors a remote location using a plurality of network cameras. In this system, for example, moving images shot with a network camera are encoded with a predetermined compression encoding method such as ISO / IEC (International Organization for Standardization / International Electrotechnical Commission) MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) -1/2/4. The data is compressed and encoded and distributed to a server (storage server) through a network using a communication protocol such as TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol) or UDP / IP (User Datagram Protocol / Internet Protocol).

The storage server receives this moving image and stores it in a storage medium such as a hard disk. The user views the distributed moving image in real time and checks whether there is any abnormality at the monitoring point. In addition, the user sometimes plays back / views the moving image stored in the storage medium for the purpose of analyzing the situation later.
In such a monitoring application, it is required to continuously capture a moving image for 24 hours and 365 days. Also, since the amount of information of moving images is much larger than text data and audio information, a very large capacity is required when moving images are stored in storage media as they are. Therefore, the storage server compresses and stores the received moving image data as appropriate, or deletes the moving image data stored in the storage medium as appropriate (for example, from the oldest in time), It is necessary to prevent overflow of the storage media.

  For example, there is a technique (hereinafter referred to as known technique 1) proposed by Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-44609 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 1). In this technology, the quality (frame rate) of moving images to be accumulated is determined based on the remaining amount that can be accumulated and the presence or absence of alarm signals generated by sensors that detect the opening and closing of doors and windows and the presence of movement. Control is performed every time, and if the determined quality is less than the threshold value, the moving image in that time zone is not stored.

It is also conceivable that all moving images are stored for a certain period, not at the time of accumulation, and the user determines a moving image to be stored / deleted later (hereinafter, referred to as well-known technique 2). With this well-known technique 2, it is possible to efficiently store only moving images that the user thinks worth leaving without being deleted.
In addition, for example, there is a technique (hereinafter referred to as known technique 3) proposed by Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-320700 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 2). This known technique 3 temporarily stores moving image data from the camera in a memory, and records the moving image data in the moving image recording area of the recording device each time a certain amount of moving image data is stored. The still image data extracted corresponding to the above is separately recorded in the still image recording area of the recording apparatus.

Thus, in the known technique 3, when searching for moving image data in the recording device, the moving image data can be quickly searched using the still image data recorded in the still image recording area, and if necessary, the moving image data can be searched. Can be accurately searched, including unnecessary data, and unnecessary data can be deleted and contents can be confirmed quickly and easily with good operability.
JP 2002-44609 A JP 2001-320700 A

However, the above known techniques 1 to 3 have the following problems.
That is, in the known technique 1, since the moving image to be stored at the time of accumulation is determined by the time zone ignoring the relationship with other moving images, the moving image is compared with the time-series sensor values later. Even if an attempt is made to analyze the situation, a situation occurs where a necessary moving image portion (segment) has already been deleted. For this reason, it is required to save all moving images for a certain period.

  In the known technique 2, the amount of work for selecting a moving image to be stored is not a problem when the amount of moving images to be stored is small, but becomes a heavy burden when the number of cameras and the accumulation time increase. In the known technique 3, a still image is stored together with a moving image, so that a necessary or unnecessary moving image can be searched quickly, but the capacity required for the storage increases. Also in this known technique 3, since the necessary / unnecessary moving image confirmation / sorting operation must be performed manually, the burden on the user is large as in the known technique 2.

  The present invention was devised in view of such problems, and semi-automatically selects and accumulates moving images according to the user's intention (to leave only moving images that may be useful for later analysis as much as possible). An object of the present invention is to reduce the burden of moving image management in an apparatus that accumulates a large amount of moving images.

  In order to achieve the above object, a moving image storage management method according to the present invention (Claim 1) provides a camera device for capturing a moving image and information relating to the shooting time and shooting environment of the camera device. The moving image data transmitted from one or more camera systems including a shooting condition information generating device that generates shooting condition information associated with the obtained moving image data is associated with the shooting condition information and stored in the storage means. In the moving image storage management device, the moving image data to be saved is marked out of the moving image data stored in the storage means, and the marking-attached moving image data is stored in the moving image data of the storage means. Other moving image data having the second shooting condition information highly correlated with the first shooting condition information attached to the moving image data is selected, and the selected moving image data and the marking are selected. And Kino moving image data is characterized by the accumulation maintained as moving image data to be stored in said storage means.

  Here, the camera system includes a sensor that detects changes in the surrounding environment of the camera device in time series, and the imaging condition information generated by the imaging condition information generation apparatus includes time series detection information by the sensor. In the other time zone having the second time-series detection information highly correlated with the first time-series detection information associated with the moving-image data with the marking. You may make it select moving image data as moving image data which should be preserve | saved (Claim 2).

  In addition, when the shooting condition information generated by the shooting condition information generating device includes geographical information regarding the installation location of the camera device, the moving image data with the marking in the moving image data of the storage unit The moving image data by another camera device in the same time period having the second geographical information highly correlated with the first geographical information associated with the first geographical information may be selected as moving image data to be stored ( Claim 3).

For example, the first time series detection information is compared with the second time series detection information, and as a result of the comparison, the second time series detection that matches or substantially matches the first time series detection information It is possible to select moving image data of another time zone having information as moving image data to be stored.
Also, the first geographic information and the second geographic information are compared, and as a result of the comparison, the same time having the second geographic information that matches or is related to the first geographic information Other moving image data of the band can be selected as moving image data to be stored.

Furthermore, the storage quality of the moving image data to be stored in the storage means may be controlled according to the comparison result of the geographical information. At that time, the accumulated quality of the moving image data to be stored can be controlled to be higher as the comparison result of the geographical information indicates that the geographical adjacency is higher.
The moving image storage management apparatus according to the present invention (claim 4) is characterized by comprising the following means.

(1) A camera device that captures a moving image, and a shooting condition information generation device that generates information about the shooting time and shooting environment of the camera device as shooting condition information associated with moving image data obtained by the camera device. Storage means for storing the moving image data transmitted from one or more camera systems and the shooting condition information in association with each other
(2) Marking means for marking moving image data to be stored among the moving image data stored in the storage means
(3) Among the moving image data stored in the storage means, the moving image data with the marking and the second shooting condition information highly correlated with the first shooting condition information associated with the moving image data Accumulation control means for accumulating and maintaining other moving image data as moving image data to be stored in the accumulation means. Here, the accumulation control means is the marking among the moving image data accumulated in the accumulation means. High correlation data search means for searching for other moving picture data having second shooting condition information highly correlated with the first shooting condition information attached to the attached moving image data, and the high correlation data search means You may comprise the accumulation | storage maintenance control means which accumulate | stores and maintains moving image data and this moving image data with a marking by this accumulation | storage means (Claim 5).

  In addition, the camera system includes a sensor that detects changes in the surrounding environment of the camera device in time series, and the imaging condition information generation device includes information including time series detection information by the sensor as the imaging condition information. In the case of being configured to generate, the high correlation data search means includes first time-series detection information attached to the moving image data with the marking among the moving image data stored in the storage means. There may be provided time series detection information search means for searching for moving image data in another time zone having second time series detection information having a high correlation with and selecting as moving image data to be stored.

  Further, in the case where the imaging condition information generation device is configured to generate information including geographical information regarding the installation location of the camera device as the imaging condition information, the highly correlated data search means includes the storage Among the moving image data stored in the means, moving images by other camera devices in the same time period having the second geographical information highly correlated with the first geographical information associated with the moving image data with the marking Geographic information retrieval means for retrieving image data and selecting it as moving image data to be stored may be provided.

  Further, the time series detection information search means includes a time series detection information comparison means for comparing the first time series detection information and the second time series detection information, and a comparison of the time series detection information comparison means. As a result, excluded data selection means for selecting moving image data in another time zone having the second time-series detection information that matches or substantially matches the first time-series detection information as moving image data to be stored; May be provided.

Further, the geographic information search means includes a geographic information comparison means for comparing the first geographic information and the second geographic information, and a result of the comparison by the geographic information comparison means, as a result of the comparison. There may be provided exclusion data selection means for selecting, as moving image data to be stored, other moving image data in the same time period having the second geographical information related to the other geographical information.
Further, the accumulation control means may comprise accumulation quality control means for controlling the accumulation quality of the moving image data to be stored in the accumulation means in accordance with the comparison result by the geographical information comparison means. The storage quality control unit controls the storage quality of the moving image data to be stored in the storage unit to be higher as the comparison result by the geographical information comparison unit indicates that the geographical adjacency is higher. You may comprise.

  According to the present invention described above, the moving image designated (marked) by the user is excluded from the automatic deletion candidates and the accumulation is maintained, and another moving image portion having a high correlation with the shooting condition information about the designated moving image Is automatically saved, so the moving image saving operation necessary for future situation analysis is semi-automated, and the video management load on the device that accumulates a large amount of camera video can be greatly reduced.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[A] Description of Embodiment FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a monitoring system as an embodiment of the present invention. The monitoring system shown in FIG. 1 includes a network camera (camera system) 10 and a storage server (storage). The network camera 10 is connected to the storage server 20 via a required communication line such as the Internet or a LAN (Local Area Network), and is connected to TCP / IP, UDP / IP, etc. Communication with the storage server 20 is possible using the required communication protocol. The communication line may be wired / wireless. In FIG. 1, only one network camera 10 is illustrated, but actually, a plurality of network cameras 10 may be connected to the storage server 20.

As shown in FIG. 1, the network camera 10 includes, for example, a camera (camera device) 11, a sensor 12, a metadata generation unit 13, a network interface (I / F) 14, and the like. .
Here, the camera 11 captures a moving image. Here, the camera 11 also has a function of compressing and encoding the captured moving image using a required compression encoding format such as MPEG (Moving Picture Expert Group). doing.

The sensor 12 can detect changes in the surrounding environment of the camera 11 in time series, and is, for example, an audio microphone, a vibration sensor, a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, or the like, and periodically acquires a sample value (sensor value). The sample value [sensor time-series value (time-series detection information)] is transmitted to the metadata generation unit 13.
The metadata generation unit (photographing condition information generation device) 13 is based on the sample value obtained by the sensor 12 and the geographical information (fixed: hereinafter also referred to as point information) regarding the installation location of the camera 11. The network interface 14 adds the above-mentioned “metadata” to the encoded moving image (moving image data) from the camera 11 and performs communication such as TCP / IP or UDP / IP. It has a function of transmitting to a storage server (hereinafter also simply referred to as “server”) 20 through a communication line using a protocol.

Here, “metadata” added to a moving image is data describing information about data in order to realize speeding up and facilitating data search. For example, ISO / IEC 15938 (MPEG-7) XML (Extensible Markup Language) based description data. In the present embodiment, for example, the following information is described in the “metadata”.
・ Point name (ID), geographical information [GPS (Global Positioning System) value, address, etc.]
・ Location information (URL) of video
・ Time structure information of video (segment information)
Start / end time for each segment, sensor time series value, user annotation information These information are information (shooting condition information) about the shooting time and shooting environment of the camera 11 attached to the moving image data obtained by the camera 11. Except for user annotation information (details will be described later), generated by the metadata generation unit 13, transmitted to the storage server 20, and stored in a searchable format in the storage server 20. The detailed structure of “metadata” will be described later with reference to FIG.

Next, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the server 20 includes, for example, a network interface (I / F) 21, a moving image storage device 22, a deletion processing control unit 23, a moving image quality changing unit 24, an overall control unit 25, a meta A data storage device 26, a metadata editing unit 27, a user display unit 28, and a user input device 29 are provided.
Here, the network interface 21 receives moving image data and “metadata” transmitted from the network camera 10. The moving image data is stored in the moving image storage device 22, and the “metadata” is stored in the metadata. Each device is distributed to each device 26.

  The moving image storage device 22 is a hard disk or the like that stores moving image data (hereinafter simply abbreviated as “moving image”) received through the network interface 21, and the deletion processing control unit 23 is an overall control unit. Based on the control information transmitted from 25 and the “metadata” of the metadata storage device 26, the time zone of the deletion candidate moving image (or the moving image stored by changing the quality) is determined, and the moving image This has a function of notifying the image storage device 22.

  The overall control unit 25 comprehensively controls the overall operation of the server 20. Here, the overall control unit 25 holds information such as the current time and the date and time of a moving image to be deleted, and controls deletion processing based on the information. The unit 23 has a function of notifying a moving image portion (segment) to be deleted or quality changed. In general, the overall control unit 25 gives an instruction to the deletion processing control unit 23 to delete oldest moving images stored in the moving image storage device 22. Yes.

  In other words, the overall control unit 25, together with the deletion processing control unit 23, realizes a function as an automatic deletion control unit that automatically deletes the moving images stored in the moving image storage device 22 according to the shooting time. However, the deletion processing control unit 23 includes a moving image portion to be stored designated (marked) by the user in the moving images that are candidates for automatic deletion, and “metadata” associated with the moving image. Other moving image parts having (second) shooting condition information highly correlated with (first) shooting condition information (sensor time series value and geographical information) (for example, sensor time series values are the same or similar) The moving image portion and the geographically related moving image portion) are excluded from the automatic deletion candidates, and the storage in the storage devices 22 and 26 is maintained.

For this reason, the deletion processing control unit 23 of the present embodiment includes a deletion candidate search unit 231, a highly correlated data search unit 232, and an accumulation maintenance control unit 233 as shown in FIG.
Here, the deletion candidate search unit 231 searches for “metadata” stored in the metadata storage device 26, thereby becoming an automatic deletion candidate in the moving images stored in the moving image storage device 22. The high correlation data search unit 232 searches for a moving image, and the high correlation data search unit 232 accompanies the moving image portion with the user annotation (marking) in the moving image of the automatic deletion candidate searched by the automatic deletion candidate search unit 231. Another moving image portion having photographing condition information highly correlated with the photographing condition information to be searched is retrieved.

For this reason, the highly correlated data search unit 232 further
(1) Other moving image data having a (second) sensor time series value highly correlated with the (first) sensor time series value associated with the moving image portion with user annotation in the moving image data of the automatic deletion candidate A sensor time series value search unit 232A that searches for a moving image portion in a time zone and selects it as moving image data to be excluded from automatic deletion candidates;
(2) Among the moving image data of the automatic deletion candidate, the same time zone having the (second) geographical information highly correlated with the (first) geographical information accompanying the moving image portion with the user annotation A geographic information search unit 232B that searches for a moving image portion by another camera 11 and selects it as moving image data to be excluded from automatic deletion candidates is provided.

  Then, the sensor time series value search unit 232A adds the user annotation as a result of the comparison by the sensor time series value comparison unit 232A-1 that compares the sensor time series values and the sensor time series value comparison unit 232A-1. A moving image selection unit that selects a moving image portion in another time zone having a sensor time series value that matches or substantially matches the sensor time series value for the moving image portion as moving image data to be excluded from automatic deletion candidates ( (Excluded data selection unit) 232A-2.

  On the other hand, the geographic information search unit 232B compares the geographic information comparison unit 232B-1 that compares each of the above-described geographic information with the result of comparison by the geographic information comparison unit 232B-1, resulting in a moving image part with user annotations. A stored moving image selection unit (exclusion data selection unit) 232B-2 that selects other moving image portions having the same geographical information as that of the same time zone as moving image data to be excluded from automatic deletion candidates; Is further provided.

The storage maintenance control unit 233 excludes the moving image portion searched and selected by the highly correlated data search unit 232 configured as described above and the moving image portion designated by the user from the automatic deletion candidates, and the storage devices 22 and 26. It is intended to maintain (automatically save) the accumulation at.
Next, in FIG. 1, the moving image quality changing unit (accumulation quality control unit) 24 follows the control from the deletion processing control unit 23 and the quality (compression rate) of the corresponding portion of the moving image stored in the moving image storage device 22. In this embodiment, as will be described later, the storage quality of the moving image data to be excluded from the automatic deletion candidates in the moving image storage device 22 is determined according to the comparison result by the geographic information comparison unit 232B. For example, according to the comparison result of the GPS values (latitude and longitude), the moving image storage unit 22 of the moving image portion to be excluded from the automatic deletion candidates as the geographical adjacency is higher (distance is closer) The storage quality (bit rate) is controlled to be high.

Next, the metadata storage device 26 stores “metadata” (see FIG. 3) received through the network interface 21. One “metadata” is assigned to one camera 11. Here, in the “metadata” shown in FIG. 3, the portions indicated by reference numerals 31 to 33 indicate that the following information is described respectively.
(1) Portion indicated by reference numeral 31: information about the camera 11 (camera information)
<Instrument><Tool><Name>: Camera name
<Instrument><Setting>: Camera 11 ID number
<GeographicPosition><Point>: GPS value (code) of the camera installation point
<LocationName>: Location name
(2) Portion indicated by reference numeral 32: Information on encoding parameters in the camera 11
<Bitrate>: Video bit rate
<VisualCoding><Format><Name>: Coding format
<MediaUri>: Camera 11 video distribution URL
(3) Part indicated by reference numeral 33: sensor time series value obtained by the sensor 12
<AudioVisualSegment>: (fixed length) information that represents one video segment
<MediaTime><MediaTimePoint>: Start time of video segment
<MediaTime><MediaDuration>: Time length of moving image segment (10 minutes in the example of FIG. 3)
<TextAnnotation>: User annotation (added by the user on the server 20 side)
<Semantics><AttributeValuePair><Attribute><Name>: Sensor name
<Semantics><AttributeValuePair><IntegerMatrixValue>: Sensor time series value (In the example of FIG. 3, it represents sampling every minute)
In the “Metadata”, the above <AudioVisualSegment> (information representing one moving image segment), <MediaTime><MediaTimePoint> (moving image segment start time), <MediaTime><MediaDuration> (moving image segment By describing (time length), the “metadata” stored in the metadata storage device 26 and the moving image stored in the moving image storage device 22 are associated with each other.

That is, in this embodiment, the moving image storage device 22 and the metadata storage device 26 constitute storage means for storing the moving image transmitted from the network camera 10 and the shooting condition information in association with each other. .
Next, the metadata editing unit 27 updates “metadata” based on the annotation information (marking information) input by the user through the user input device 29, and the result is stored in the metadata storage device 26 (<TextAnnotation described above). The user display unit 28 displays a moving image and “metadata” corresponding to the moving image in synchronization with each other. The user input device 29 has a function of capturing user input on a display screen (for example, a display screen 40 shown in FIG. 4) displayed on the user display unit 28.

That is, the metadata editing unit 27, the user display unit 28, and the user input device 29 present a moving image and “metadata” to the user, and correspond to a moving image portion that the user thinks needs to be saved. The function to add and save user annotations in “Metadata” is realized.
Hereinafter, the operation of the system of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described in detail.
(1) Sensor Value Acquisition in Network Camera 10 First, FIG. 5 shows a process flow in which the network camera 10 periodically acquires sensor values as “metadata” and transmits them to the server 20. As shown in FIG. 5, the network camera 10 periodically samples the value of the sensor 12 to acquire the sensor value (step S1), and the metadata generation unit 13 converts the obtained sensor value into the metadata format. To generate metadata (step S2).

  The generated “metadata” is transmitted to the server 20 through the network interface 13 (step S3). Thereafter, the network camera 10 determines whether or not the current time is the time (sensor value acquisition time) at which the sensor value is sampled and the metadata is to be transmitted (step S4). As a result, when the sensor value acquisition time is not reached (No in step S4), the state is "standby" (step S5), and after waiting for a fixed time, the sensor value acquisition time is reached (Yes in step S4). In this case, the processing after step S1 is executed again.

In this way, the network camera 10 transmits to the server 20 “metadata” including the sensor values periodically acquired together with the captured moving images as the sensor time series values.
(2) Selection of Saved Moving Image by User Next, processing for selecting a moving image portion that the user wishes to save in the server 20 will be described.

  First, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, the user causes past accumulated moving images to be displayed on a display screen (annotation screen) 40 of the user display unit 28 together with metadata (geographic information and sensor time-series values). . In this screen 40, 41 is a past accumulated moving image being reproduced, 42 is a moving image reproduction control interface (slide bar 421, reproduction start button 422, reproduction end button 423, pause button 424, etc.), and 43 is to be displayed. A moving image selection interface (in this example, a moving image can be selected based on a point name such as “Tama River No. 2”) is shown.

Also, 44 is a display portion of the type of the sensor 12 that displays the sensor time series value, 45 is a graph display screen of sensor time series values at the same time as the currently displayed moving image, and 46 is a moving image being displayed by the user. Each represents a selection button to be pressed when it is desired to save (for example, when it is desired to leave it for later investigation).
Then, as shown in FIG. 6, the <TextAnnotation> tag described above with reference to FIG. 3 is generated by the metadata editing unit 27 by pressing the selection button 46, and the “metadata” stored in the metadata storage device 26 is stored. The <TextAnnotation> tag is inserted into the corresponding <AudioVisualSegment> in the “data”, and marking (annotation) is performed on the moving image at that time (saved moving image selection: step S11).

  Thereafter, the deletion processing control unit 23 refers to the “metadata” of the moving image portion designated (selected) by the user as described above, and obtains the sensor time series value and / or the geographical information of the camera 11. Then, the deletion processing control unit 23 refers to and searches the metadata storage device 26 using the information as a key (metadata search: step S12), and the moving image is an automatic deletion candidate in accordance with an instruction from the overall control unit 25. Among them, it has the same or similar (highly correlated) feature of sensor time series value (time change of sensor value) as the feature of sensor time series value (time change of sensor value) of the moving image part specified by the user The other moving image portion and / or another moving image portion that is geographically related at the same time are specified by comparison of sensor time series values and comparison of geographic information such as GPS values.

  Furthermore, the deletion processing control unit 23 sets the same or similar tag as the <TextAnnotation> tag specified by the user for the “metadata” corresponding to the other moving image part specified as described above, as shown in FIG. > And marking is performed (metadata update: step S13). As a result, other moving image portions having “metadata” having a high correlation with “metadata” (time series sensor value, geographical information) of the moving image specified by the user as a storage target (non-deletion target) are automatically detected. Therefore, it is excluded from the automatic deletion candidates and the accumulation is maintained.

  As described above, the deletion processing control unit 23 is included in the “metadata” (first shooting condition information) attached to the moving image portion with the annotation by the user among the moving images that are candidates for automatic deletion. Other moving images having “metadata” (second shooting condition information) including sensor time series values (second time series detection information) highly correlated with sensor time series values (first time series detection information) The image portion can be searched and automatically excluded from the automatic deletion candidates.

  More specifically, for example, from among all “metadata”, a segment to which a user annotation is added is searched from moving image segments that are currently candidates for automatic deletion. Extract the maximum value (or minimum value) of the series values, and save (accumulate and maintain) moving image segments that have the same maximum or minimum value as this maximum value (or minimum value) and that have no user annotations added. And As a result, other moving image segments having the same or similar pattern (time change) as the sensor time-series values for the moving image segments designated to be stored by the user are automatically accumulated and maintained as storage targets.

In addition, another camera 11 having the same (second) geographical information as that of the (first) geographical information included in the “metadata” accompanying the moving image portion annotated by the user has the same time period. It is also possible to automatically exclude the moving image part by the automatic deletion candidate.
More specifically, from among all the metadata, a segment to which a user annotation is added is searched from among moving image segments that are currently candidates for automatic deletion, and the point name and GPS code of the segment are searched. Time to acquire and select all “metadata” having the same or similar point name (for example, “Tama River”) among all “metadata”, and the user annotation is added to the selected point Band segments can be saved. As a result, the moving image segments in the same time zone by other cameras 11 at locations geographically related to the installation location of the camera 11 that has captured the moving image segment designated by the user are automatically accumulated and maintained as a storage target. .

(3) Moving Image Deletion Process at Server 20 Next, the moving image deletion process at the server 20 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
In the server 20, the overall control unit 25 first determines a time zone that is a candidate for automatic deletion based on the current time and a preset storage period (for example, two days) (deletion time zone determination: step). S21). The determined time zone information is notified to the deletion processing control unit 23, and the deletion processing control unit 23 belongs to the notified time zone (deletion time zone) and has a user annotation (<TextAnnotation> tag) added thereto. A moving image portion of no automatic deletion candidate is searched (delete candidate search: step S22).

  Then, the deletion processing control unit 23 deletes the searched moving image portion and the corresponding “metadata” from the storage devices 22 and 26 (moving image portion deletion: step S23). After that, the deletion processing control unit 23 determines whether or not the current time is the next time to delete the moving image part (step S24). If it is not the deletion time (No in step S24), the deletion processing control unit 23 waits for a certain time ( If it is the deletion time (Yes in step S24), the processing after the deletion time zone determination (step S21) is executed again.

  Considering the river monitoring system, for example, if there is an upstream event (turbidity), there is a very high possibility that an event will occur downstream. It is possible to automatically save moving image segments that have the same or similar changes in water volume over time. In other words, the moving image annotated by the user is, for example, a moving image immediately before a disaster occurs, and it is considered that some sign appears in the sensor time series value. Therefore, such a moving image is analyzed later. For this reason, by automatically storing moving image segments that have the same or similar sensor time-series values, it is possible to take measures such as resetting a threshold value for detecting a new abnormality with the sensor 12.

  It is also possible to automatically save moving image segments taken in the same time zone with all other (geographically related) cameras 11 installed in the river. If the water level, the amount of water, or the like is used in the same manner as described above, it is possible to automatically save a moving image segment at a point where the same or similar water level or water amount has changed. As for the storage quality, the distance between the GPS code at the point where the user annotation is added and the GPS code at the selected point by the moving image quality changing unit 24 (comparison in the geographical information comparison unit 232B-1). Quality (bit rate) inversely proportional to (result).

  For example, if the original video is MPEG-4 1.5 Mbps, the distance between two points indicated by the GPS code is 1 Mbps if it is within 10 km, 500 kbps if it is within 20 km, and if the distance is more than that, it will not be saved. The stored quality can be changed by a quality change rule such as The moving image storage quality changing process may be performed by applying a known technique such as changing the quantization coefficient. In this way, it is possible to leave the necessary moving images while reducing the storage capacity required for the storage devices 22 and 26.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the moving image of the camera / time zone specified by the user is excluded from the automatic deletion candidates and the accumulation is maintained, and the sensor time series value is selected from the accumulated moving images. Automatically saves moving images of the same / similar or geographically related camera / time period, so the moving image saving operation necessary for future situation analysis is semi-automated, and a large number of camera images can be saved. The video management load on the storing device can be greatly reduced.

Needless to say, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, as information elements for selecting a moving image portion to be automatically saved by being excluded from automatic deletion candidates, geographical information (location name, GPS value) regarding the sensor time series value and the installation location of the camera 11 is used. However, of course, it is also possible to select a moving image portion to be automatically saved by using the correlation of information other than these.

In the above-described embodiment, it is assumed that the accumulated moving images are automatically deleted according to the shooting time (from the oldest in time), but the present invention is not limited to this, and such Of course, the present invention can also be applied to an apparatus that does not assume automatic deletion, in the same manner as described above, and the same effects as those described above can be obtained.
[B] Supplementary Note (Supplementary Note 1) Shooting condition information for generating, as shooting condition information associated with moving image data obtained by the camera device, camera apparatus for shooting a moving image, and information relating to the shooting time and shooting environment of the camera device In a moving image storage management device for storing and managing the moving image data transmitted from one or more camera systems having a generation device and the shooting condition information in association with each other in a storage unit,
Marking the moving image data to be stored among the moving image data stored in the storage means;
In the moving image data of the storage means, select other moving image data having second shooting condition information highly correlated with the first shooting condition information accompanying the moving image data with marking,
A method of storing and managing moving images, wherein the selected moving image data and moving image data with marking are stored and maintained as moving image data to be stored in the storage means.

(Supplementary Note 2) The camera system includes a sensor that detects changes in the surrounding environment of the camera device in time series, and the time-series detection information by the sensor is included in the shooting condition information generated by the shooting condition information generation apparatus. If included,
Among the moving image data of the storage means, moving image data in another time zone having second time series detection information highly correlated with the first time series detection information associated with the moving image data with marking. The moving image storage management method according to appendix 1, wherein the moving image data to be stored is selected.

(Supplementary Note 3) In the case where the shooting condition information generated by the shooting condition information generation device includes geographical information regarding the installation location of the camera device,
Among the moving image data of the storage means, a moving image by another camera device in the same time zone having the second geographical information highly correlated with the first geographical information associated with the moving image data with the marking The moving image storage management method according to appendix 1, wherein the data is selected as moving image data to be stored.

(Supplementary Note 4) Compare the first time series detection information and the second time series detection information,
As a result of the comparison, selecting moving image data in another time zone having the second time-series detection information that matches or substantially matches the first time-series detection information as moving image data to be stored. The method for storing and managing moving images according to appendix 2, which is a feature.
(Supplementary Note 5) The first geographical information is compared with the second geographical information,
As a result of the comparison, another moving image data having the second geographical information matching or related to the first geographical information is selected as moving image data to be stored. The method for storing and managing moving images according to appendix 3.

(Supplementary note 6) The moving image accumulation management method according to supplementary note 5, wherein the accumulation quality of the moving image data to be stored in the accumulation unit is controlled according to the comparison result of the geographical information.
(Supplementary note 7) The storage quality of the moving image data to be stored is controlled to be higher as the comparison result of the geographical information indicates that the geographical adjacency is higher. Moving image storage management method.

(Supplementary Note 8) A camera device that captures a moving image, and a shooting condition information generation device that generates information regarding the shooting time and shooting environment of the camera device as shooting condition information associated with moving image data obtained by the camera device. Storage means for storing the moving image data transmitted from the one or more camera systems and the shooting condition information in association with each other;
Marking means for marking moving image data to be stored among the moving image data stored in the storage means;
Among the moving image data stored in the storage means, the moving image data with the marking and the other shooting condition information having high correlation with the first shooting condition information associated with the moving image data. A moving image accumulation management device comprising accumulation control means for accumulating and maintaining moving image data as moving image data to be stored in the accumulation means.

(Supplementary Note 9) The accumulation control means
Searching the moving image data stored in the storage means for other moving image data having second shooting condition information having a high correlation with the first shooting condition information associated with the marked moving image data. Highly correlated data search means;
9. The supplementary note 8, characterized in that it comprises a storage maintaining control means for storing and maintaining the moving image data searched by the high correlation data searching means and the moving image data with markings by the storage means. Moving image storage management device.

(Supplementary Note 10) The camera system includes a sensor that detects changes in the surrounding environment of the camera device in time series, and the imaging condition information generation device includes time series detection information by the sensor as the imaging condition information. If configured to generate information,
The highly correlated data search means
Among the moving image data stored in the storage means, moving images in other time zones having second time series detection information highly correlated with the first time series detection information associated with the moving image data with the marking The moving image storage management apparatus according to appendix 9, further comprising time series detection information search means for searching for image data and selecting it as moving image data to be stored.

(Supplementary Note 11) In the case where the imaging condition information generation device is configured to generate information including geographical information regarding the installation location of the camera device as the imaging condition information,
The highly correlated data search means
Other camera devices in the same time zone having second geographical information highly correlated with the first geographical information associated with the moving image data with marking among the moving image data stored in the storage means 10. The moving image storage management apparatus according to appendix 9, further comprising geographic information search means for searching for moving image data according to the above and selecting it as moving image data to be stored.

(Supplementary note 12) The time-series detection information search means
Time series detection information comparing means for comparing the first time series detection information and the second time series detection information;
As a result of comparison by the time-series detection information comparison means, moving image data to be stored in another time zone having the second time-series detection information that matches or substantially matches the first time-series detection information The moving image storage management apparatus according to appendix 10, further comprising exclusion data selection means for selecting image data.

(Supplementary note 13) The geographical information search means
Geographic information comparison means for comparing the first geographic information with the second geographic information;
As a result of the comparison by the geographical information comparing means, another moving image data having the second geographical information related to the first geographical information and the same time zone having the second geographical information is selected as moving image data to be stored. The moving image storage management device according to appendix 11, further comprising exclusion data selection means.

(Supplementary Note 14) The accumulation control means
14. The moving image according to appendix 13, further comprising storage quality control means for controlling the storage quality of the moving image data to be stored in the storage means in accordance with a comparison result by the geographical information comparison means. Storage management device.
(Supplementary Note 15) The storage quality control means
The comparison result by the geographical information comparison unit is configured to control the storage quality of the moving image data to be stored in the storage unit higher as the geographical adjacency indicates higher. The moving image storage management apparatus according to appendix 14.

  According to the present invention, the moving image specified by the user is excluded from the automatic deletion candidates and the accumulation is maintained, and another moving image portion having a high correlation with the shooting condition information about the specified moving image is automatically saved. The moving image saving operation necessary for future situation analysis is semi-automated, and the video management load on the device that accumulates a large amount of camera video can be greatly reduced. Therefore, it is considered extremely useful in the field of video management in various monitoring systems.

It is a block diagram which shows the monitoring system as one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the deletion process control part in the storage server shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the metadata used by this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a display screen by the user display part in the storage server shown in FIG. It is a flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement (sensor value acquisition in a network camera) of the monitoring system shown in FIG. It is a flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement (saved moving image selection by a user) of the monitoring system shown in FIG. It is a flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement (moving image deletion process in a storage server) of the monitoring system shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

10 Network camera (camera system)
11 Camera (Camera Device)
12 Sensor 13 Metadata generation unit 14 Network interface (I / F)
20 Storage server (storage management device)
21 Network interface (I / F)
22 moving image storage device 23 deletion processing control unit 231 deletion candidate search unit 232 highly correlated data search unit 232A sensor time series value search unit 232A-1 sensor time series value comparison unit 232A-2 storage video selection unit 232B geographical information search Unit 232B-1 Geographic information comparison unit 232B-2 Saved video selection unit 233 Storage maintenance control unit 24 Video quality change unit 25 Overall control unit 26 Metadata storage device 27 Metadata editing unit 28 User display unit 29 User input device 40 Display screen (annotation screen)
41 Past accumulated moving images being played back 42 Moving image playback control interface 421 Slide bar 422 Playback start button 423 Playback end button 424 Pause button 43 Selection interface for moving image to be displayed 44 Sensor type display portion 45 Graph display screen 46 Selection button

Claims (5)

One or more comprising a camera device that captures a moving image, and a shooting condition information generation device that generates information relating to the shooting time and shooting environment of the camera device as shooting condition information associated with moving image data obtained by the camera device. In a moving image storage management apparatus that stores and manages the moving image data transmitted from the camera system and the shooting condition information in association with each other in a storage unit,
Marking the moving image data to be stored among the moving image data stored in the storage means;
In the moving image data of the storage means, select other moving image data having second shooting condition information highly correlated with the first shooting condition information accompanying the moving image data with marking,
A method of storing and managing moving images, wherein the selected moving image data and moving image data with marking are stored and maintained as moving image data to be stored in the storage means. In the case where the camera system includes a sensor that detects a change in the surrounding environment of the camera device in time series, and the shooting condition information generated by the shooting condition information generation device includes time series detection information by the sensor ,
Among the moving image data of the storage means, moving image data in another time zone having second time series detection information highly correlated with the first time series detection information associated with the moving image data with marking. 2. The moving image storage management method according to claim 1, wherein the moving image data is selected as moving image data to be stored. In the case where geographical information regarding the installation location of the camera device is included in the shooting condition information generated by the shooting condition information generation device,
Among the moving image data of the storage means, a moving image by another camera device in the same time zone having the second geographical information highly correlated with the first geographical information associated with the moving image data with the marking 2. The moving image storage management method according to claim 1, wherein the data is selected as moving image data to be stored. One or more comprising a camera device that captures a moving image, and a shooting condition information generation device that generates information relating to the shooting time and shooting environment of the camera device as shooting condition information associated with moving image data obtained by the camera device. Storage means for storing the moving image data transmitted from the camera system and the shooting condition information in association with each other;
Marking means for marking moving image data to be stored among the moving image data stored in the storage means;
Among the moving image data stored in the storage means, the moving image data with the marking and the other shooting condition information having high correlation with the first shooting condition information associated with the moving image data. A moving image accumulation management device comprising accumulation control means for accumulating and maintaining moving image data as moving image data to be stored in the accumulation means. The accumulation control means
Searching the moving image data stored in the storage means for other moving image data having second shooting condition information having a high correlation with the first shooting condition information associated with the marked moving image data. Highly correlated data search means;
5. The storage maintaining control means for storing and maintaining the moving image data searched by the highly correlated data searching means and the moving image data with markings by the storing means. Video storage management device.

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