JP2007281891A - Monitored image display device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a monitored image display device which is capable of easily selecting the desired frame image from the monitored images that have been recorded as moving video images. <P>SOLUTION: A monitored picture display device 23, which receives via a network and displays video images recorded in a recording device 21 that records the compressed video images sent from monitoring cameras 20a and 20b via a network, is provided with a control unit 34. The control unit 34 is configured so as to display the still image of an optional frame recorded in the recording device 21, and is provided so that the frame of the still image is a N-th frame from a recording start frame, the control unit 34 also displays the reduced still images of the frames of N±km (m=1, 2, 3, ..., k is an integer of one or larger). That is, when the still image of an optional frame in the recorded moving images is displayed, the still images of frames located in front of and behind the frame of the still image are displayed, at the same time. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a monitoring image display device used in a monitoring system, and more particularly to improvement of a monitoring image display device having a function of recording a moving image as a monitoring image.

  As one form of the video monitoring system, there is one configured by a plurality of monitoring cameras and sensors, a monitoring image recording device, and a display device. In these systems, an abnormal state is detected by an output signal of a sensor or the like, and a monitoring video of a camera corresponding to the sensor is recorded in a recording device. After that, it is necessary for a human to check the abnormal state. As a technique for improving workability at this time, there is a monitoring image display device described in Patent Document 1 below.

When checking the video stored in the recording device, the monitoring video display device reduces the first frame of each monitoring video file to improve the listability. Furthermore, it is possible to switch to a still image at the time of occurrence of an abnormality by selecting the first frame image of the monitoring video displayed in a reduced size on the display device.
JP 2002-320218 A (paragraphs 0005, 0009, and 0010)

  In the conventional monitoring image display device described in Patent Literature 1 described above, a frame is selected and presented as a still image at the time of occurrence of abnormality by a difference process between frames or the like. However, in an actual monitoring environment, the selection of an abnormal frame by automatic processing such as inter-frame difference may not necessarily result in a frame that can be used to investigate an abnormal state.

In addition, when a criminal act or the like is assumed as an abnormal state, it is important to accurately select a frame indicating a criminal appearance or criminal act. Here, the selected frame is printed by the printer and used for the subsequent countermeasures.
When the still image displayed as described above does not indicate a desired video, it is necessary to perform moving image playback and select a frame in which the desired video is captured. However, it is not easy to select a desired video from a moving image being continuously played. For example, when selecting an optimal frame from a captured moving image such as a quick movement of a criminal, a movement of a vehicle, or an object throwing, it is necessary to repeat reproduction, stop, reverse reproduction, and the like. As described above, the operation of selecting a desired frame from the monitoring video is complicated and takes time.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a monitoring image display device that can easily select a desired frame image from among monitoring images recorded as moving images.

  As means for achieving the above object, the monitoring image display device of the present invention displays a still image of a plurality of frames before and after a still image of an arbitrary frame of a recorded moving image at the same time. did. This facilitates selection of important frame images.

That is, according to the present invention, there is provided a monitoring image display device that records compressed images sent from a plurality of monitoring cameras via a network on a recording device, and receives and displays the recorded images via the network. ,
A network interface unit for receiving compressed image data recorded in the recording device;
An image processing unit that performs decompression of the received compressed image data and reduction of the decompressed image data;
A video interface unit for converting the image data processed by the image processing unit into an image format suitable for a monitor;
The network interface unit, the image processing unit, and the video interface unit are controlled, and a still image of an arbitrary frame recorded in the recording device is displayed, and the frame of the still image is an Nth frame from a recording start frame. Then, a control unit that controls to display a reduced still image of N ± km (m = 1, 2, 3,..., K is an integer of 1 or more) frame,
A monitoring image display apparatus is provided.
In addition, it is a preferable aspect of the monitoring image display device of the present invention that the control unit is configured to receive an instruction from the outside and arbitrarily set the value of k.

  According to the monitoring image display device of the present invention, it is possible to obtain an effect of facilitating an operation of selecting an important frame image indicating an abnormal state or a criminal act from continuous frames constituting a recorded moving image.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a network type monitoring system using an embodiment of a monitoring image display device of the present invention. In FIG. 1, it is assumed that the monitoring cameras 20a and 20b are installed at the monitoring target positions. Each of the monitoring cameras 20a and 20b is a network camera, and compresses the captured video and transmits it over the network. The compressed image data sent from each of the monitoring cameras 20a and 20b is recorded by the recording device 21 via the hub 25 which is a network relay device. Here, although the internal structure of the recording device 21 is not illustrated, the compressed image data received from the network interface is sequentially recorded on the built-in hard disk.

  When the monitoring image recorded on the recording device 21 is reproduced, the monitoring image display device 23 connected via the hub 25 is used.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the monitoring image display device 23 in FIG. The monitoring image display device 23 includes a network interface unit 31, an image processing unit 32, a video interface unit 33, and a control unit 34. The network interface unit 31 communicates with the monitoring cameras 20a and 20b and the recording device 21 illustrated in FIG. When displaying the monitoring image, the compressed image received through the network is decompressed by the image processing unit 32, and the obtained digital image data can be displayed on the monitor 22 shown in FIG. And output to the monitor 22.

  The control unit 34 controls the operation of the monitoring image recording device 23 in accordance with an instruction input from the mouse 24 operated by the user. This controls the video interface unit 33 according to the user's instruction input to change the display, and also controls the processing operations of the network interface unit 31 and the image processing unit 32 according to the operation content of the monitoring image recording device 23. To do.

  Next, an operation for reproducing the video recorded in the recording device 21 will be described. When the user uses the mouse 24 to instruct the reproduction of the recorded video, the control unit 34 controls the network interface unit 31 and requests the recording device 21 to transmit the recorded video. The recording device 21 sends the compressed image data to the network according to the request. The compressed image data transmitted and transmitted to the network is received by the network interface unit 31 and transferred to the image processing unit 32 under the control of the control unit 34. In the image processing unit 32, the compressed image data is expanded under the control of the control unit 34. The finally decompressed image data is transferred to the video interface unit 33 under the control of the control unit 34. The video interface unit 33 converts the image data into a format suitable for display on the monitor 22 and outputs a video signal to the monitor 22.

  Next, an operation when selecting an important frame image in the monitoring image display device of the present invention will be described. FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing an image displayed on the monitor 22 when an important frame image is selected. The main video display area 10 occupying a large area in the center of the displayed video shown in FIG. 3 is an area where a moving image or a still image reproduced from the recorded video of the recording device 21 is displayed. A portion 11 indicated by a broken line in FIG. 3 is an area where icons of buttons for controlling the playback video are displayed and arranged. A portion 12 indicated by a broken line in FIG. 3 is a reduced still image display area.

  An operation of selecting an important frame on the screen on which these displays are performed will be described. Here, on the screen (not shown), the user operates the mouse 24 to select the recorded video that seems to be abnormal, and the recording device 21 is requested to send the selected recorded video. Shall. As a result, the moving image recorded in the recording device 21 is reproduced in the video display area 10 of the screen shown in FIG.

  The user watches the video reproduced in the video display area 10 of FIG. When a video that seems to be important for the moving image being reproduced is found, the “stop” button in the area 11 is selected by operating the mouse 24. As a result, the control unit 34 sends a request to stop sending compressed images from the network interface unit 31 to the recording device 21. The control unit 34 also controls the image processing unit 32 and the video interface unit 33 to display the video of the frame N displayed when the “stop” button is selected as a still image in the video display area 10. . Further, the control unit 34 requests the recording device 21 to transmit frame images before and after the frame image displayed in the image display area 10. In the example of FIG. 3, a transmission request is made for frame images of three frames before and after. The frame video transmitted in accordance with this request is displayed in the area 12 by the control unit 34 controlling the network interface unit 31, the image processing unit 32, and the video interface unit 33. The display order at this time is such that the N-1 to N-3 frame images are displayed on the left side of the region 12, centering on the still image of the frame N when the “Stop” button is selected (display of the image display area 10). N + 1 to N + 3 frame images are displayed on the right side.

  The user observes still images in the video display area 10 and the region 12 displayed as described above, and confirms whether or not the frame image is important. If it is not an important frame video, the “play” button in the area 11 is selected again with the mouse 24 to resume the playback of the moving image. Further, operation of buttons such as “fast forward” and “rewind” in the area 11 is also possible.

  By repeating such an operation, a frame image in the vicinity where an important event such as a criminal act or an accident occurs is found out. In this case, when the “Stop” button is selected, since a plurality of frame images are displayed in the image display area 10 and the region 12, it is easy to select important frames. At this time, if there is no important frame image in the frame images displayed in the image display area 10 and the area 12, the “−frame advance” and “+ frame advance” buttons in the area 11 can be used to set the frame before and after in several frames. It is possible to move. The frame advance number of each frame advance button does not have to be in units of one frame, and in the embodiment shown in FIG. There is no problem even in the frame advance unit. When a frame video that seems to be finally important is in the area 12, the corresponding frame video is selected as the frame N (N is the recording start frame by selecting the corresponding frame video in the area 12 by operating the mouse 24. Is displayed in the video display area 10 as a positive integer of 1 or more, and a plurality of frames before and after the frame N, that is, N ± m (m = 1, 2, 3...) Are reduced. A still image is displayed in area 12. As a result, it is possible to confirm in detail an image displayed at a regular size, not a reduced image, for an important frame image.

  In the above embodiment, when selecting important frames, reduced images of three consecutive frames before and after are displayed, but the present invention is not limited to this mode. That is, the following changes can be taken. If the real time of three consecutive frames is calculated now, for example, if the video is recorded at 30 frames per second, the three frames correspond to 0.1 second. That is, in the example of FIG. 3, it is possible to confirm the situation for 0.2 seconds, which is the total time of 0.1 seconds before and after the still image displayed in the video display area 10. This time of 0.2 seconds is effective when criminal activities with relatively quick movements are monitored, but monitoring criminal activities with relatively slow movements and transitions from normal to abnormal states. For such purposes, the fine time resolution as described above is not necessary. As can be seen from this example, the frame displayed in the region 12 is N ± km (m = 1, 2, 3,..., K is an integer equal to or greater than 1) so that various speed movements can be accurately monitored. It is preferable that the constant “k” can be appropriately set so that the time interval of each display frame can be arbitrarily changed according to the monitoring target to be searched and the speed of the movement. With this configuration, the convenience of the monitoring image display device of the present invention is further improved. In order to be able to set the constant “k” as appropriate, the control unit 34 in FIG. 2 can be configured as follows. That is, when the user inputs the value of the constant “k” by an external operation means such as the mouse 24, the skip interval between adjacent frames of consecutive frame images displayed in the area 12 is set as the “skip number”. can do. For example, if “3” is set as the skip number, N ± 3 m (m = 1, 2, 3...), So that each of the frames N-9, N-6, N-3, N + 3, N + 6, and N + 9 It can be displayed in region 12 and can display image changes over a fairly long time.

It is a block diagram which shows an example of the network type monitoring system using embodiment of the monitoring image display apparatus of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the internal structure of embodiment of the monitoring image display apparatus of this invention. It is the figure which showed typically the monitor screen in embodiment of the monitoring image display apparatus of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

10 Video display area (video / still image display area)
11 Control button display area 12 Reduced still image display area 20a, 20b Monitoring camera 21 Recording device 22 Monitor 23 Monitoring image display device 24 Mouse 25 Network relay device (hub)
31 Network Interface Unit 32 Image Processing Unit 33 Video Interface Unit 34 Control Unit

Claims (2)

A monitoring image display device that records a compressed image sent from a plurality of monitoring cameras via a network on a recording device, and receives and displays the recorded image via the network,
A network interface unit for receiving compressed image data recorded in the recording device;
An image processing unit that performs decompression of the received compressed image data and reduction of the decompressed image data;
A video interface unit for converting the image data processed by the image processing unit into an image format suitable for a monitor;
The network interface unit, the image processing unit, and the video interface unit are controlled, and a still image of an arbitrary frame recorded in the recording device is displayed, and the frame of the still image is an Nth frame from a recording start frame. Then, a control unit that controls to display a reduced still image of a frame of N ± km (m = 1, 2, 3,..., K is an integer of 1 or more),
A monitoring image display device. The monitoring image display device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to be able to arbitrarily set the value of k in response to an instruction from the outside.

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