JP2009147595A - Monitoring system and monitoring method using image photographing means - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a monitoring system and a monitoring method using an image photographing means capable of transmitting an image which has image quality improved when abnormality occurrence is specified to a partner device even when there is a physical or financial restriction in the data transmission amount per line unit time. <P>SOLUTION: A monitor facility 102 and a monitoring device 105 are connected through a PHS wireless line 103 of a narrow band, for instance. The monitoring device 105 raises resolution when specifying abnormality occurrence, stops real time communication only at that time, temporarily accumulates image data of high picture quality in a memory, and this is communicated to the monitor facility 102 side while prolonging the time. When the specified period is long, the communication can be performed by interrupting with temporal images. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a monitoring system and a monitoring method using image photographing means in various monitoring locations such as photographing inside an elevator elevator or photographing water level of a river, and particularly uses image photographing means that takes image quality into consideration. The present invention relates to a monitoring system and a monitoring method.

  Various monitoring systems using a photographing device are widely used for various types of monitoring such as monitoring in stores and elevators. Image data obtained from a photographing device used in such a monitoring system is transmitted as it is through a dedicated communication cable and input to a predetermined recording device for recording, or is transmitted through a line such as a wireless line and remotely. It reaches the local monitoring device and displays the video for monitoring or recording.

  In this way, when recording is performed on the recording apparatus or when image data is transferred to a predetermined point, the amount of image data per unit time output from the photographing apparatus becomes a problem. For example, when security measures are taken by installing a plurality of photographing devices in a store, if the image data output from the plurality of photographing devices is input to a single recording device as it is to record with high image quality, The storage capacity of the storage device etc. will soon fill up. For this reason, for example, in a normal monitoring system that performs recording endlessly while cyclically overwriting the hard disk, the overwriting cycle is shortened. As a result, even if it is noticed several days after the incident occurs and an attempt is made to confirm the image at that time, a new image is overwritten, and the important image data has been erased. In addition, when image data is transferred using a communication unit, there is a problem of limitation due to the data transfer amount of the communication unit.

  Therefore, in a normal monitoring system, the resolution of the image data obtained from the imaging device is set to a practical minimum level, so that the number of pixels constituting one screen is suppressed and necessary for recording and communication per unit time. The amount of data is reduced. There is also a device for reducing the number of frames per unit time.

  The above situation is the same when the imaging device distributes an image to a remote monitor device or records an image on a remote recording device via a wireless narrow band transmission path. This is because the amount of data transfer per unit time is limited in order to transmit the image data of one or a plurality of imaging devices through a narrow-band transmission path.

  As a result, in the past, when a crime occurred in a store monitored by a photographing device, the image of the criminal's face and figure was often rough and unclear as a result of reducing the resolution of the image. . In addition, when the number of frames per unit time is reduced, as a result of the frame-by-frame advance of each image being rough, a decisive scene is not shot or it is difficult to identify a crime. There was a problem. There were similar problems in monitoring and analysis in the event of an accident.

  Therefore, as a first related technique of the present invention, when a subject moving to a preset region of interest is detected, the movement of the moving object is continuously photographed by switching to a frame rate higher than the normal frame rate. It has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In the first related technique, one screen is divided into a plurality of areas. Then, on the condition that the moving subject is detected in the attention area, the image is transferred by changing only the frame rate without changing the transfer amount of the image data per unit time. For this purpose, one of the following two modes is selected.

In the first mode, the captured image of the entire area is transferred without detecting a moving subject. When a moving subject is detected, the image data is acquired and transferred at a high frame rate without changing the image resolution, only for the image of the region of interest.
In the second mode, the captured image of the entire area is transferred with the same resolution without detecting a moving subject. When a moving subject is detected, only the image of the attention area is maintained at a high image resolution, and the other imaging areas are set at a low resolution. The overall frame rate is high.

  The first related technique also proposes a third mode in which only the region of interest has a high image resolution and the other imaging region has a low resolution without changing the frame rate. In the third mode, since the frame rate is not increased, the overall data transfer amount can be reduced and the communication cost can be reduced as compared with the second mode.

  In the first related technique, it is difficult to detect a moving object and track it within the area unless the ratio of the attention area is increased to some extent. However, if the ratio of the attention area is increased, the area occupied by other imaging areas is relatively reduced. As a result, there is a problem that the frame rate and the image resolution cannot be significantly improved when a moving subject is detected. In the third mode of the first related technology, the communication cost is reduced, so that further improvement in image quality cannot be expected.

Therefore, it is proposed as a second related technique of the present invention that the resolution of an image is increased in the event of an abnormality, and the image is stored once in a memory and then transmitted to a monitoring monitor device (for example, Patent Document 2). reference). In the second related technology, when the sensor detects an abnormality, the TV camera is connected to a remote monitoring center device via a communication line, and is encoded by an image encoding unit with a resolution higher than a normal resolution. It is multiplexed with the real-time image output from the TV camera and transmitted to the monitoring center device. There is a limit to the amount of high-resolution images that can be stored in memory. Therefore, in the second related technique, the duration is determined by the memory capacity.
JP 2006-203395 A (paragraphs 0045 to 0047, FIG. 3) Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-075176 (paragraphs 0021 and 0028, FIG. 5)

  As described above, in the second related technology of the present invention, two types of the real-time image and the high-resolution image read from the memory are multiplexed and transmitted to the monitoring center device. For this reason, when an abnormality occurs, a large amount of data is concentrated and transmitted on the line connecting the TV camera or memory and the monitoring center device, and a considerably high-speed line is required. There is also a problem that the line cannot be used efficiently because the amount of data transferred per hour on the line differs greatly between an abnormal time and a normal time. To solve this problem, in the second related technology, the line is connected for the first time after an abnormal situation occurs. However, if the line is difficult to connect, it takes time to transmit the image at the time of abnormality. In the worst case where the line cannot be connected, there is a problem that the image itself at the time of abnormality cannot be transmitted.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an image photographing means capable of transmitting an image with improved image quality to a partner apparatus at a specific time such as when an abnormality occurs even when the amount of data transmission per unit time of a line is physically or economically limited. It is an object to provide a monitoring system and a monitoring method using a computer.

  In the present invention, (a) an image photographing means for photographing an image, (b) a change detecting means for detecting a predetermined change in the photographing range of the image photographing means or its periphery, and (c) the change detecting means. Image quality improving means for improving the image quality of shooting by the image shooting means in a predetermined time zone in which the predetermined change is detected, and (d) the image shooting described above. Image storage means for storing a portion of the time zone in which the image quality has been improved by the image quality improvement means among the image data output by the means, and (e) the image data stored in the image storage means by the image quality improvement means described above. A specific amount of image data per unit time which is smaller than the amount of image data per unit time output from the above-described image photographing means when the image quality is improved is monitored via a predetermined transmission line. And an image data communication means for transmitting by prolonging the transmission time to the device side for performing is provided in the monitoring system using the image capturing means.

  In the present invention, (a) a change detecting step for detecting a predetermined change when an image is taken by the image photographing means, and (b) the predetermined change is detected in the change detecting step. A change detection step for detecting this, and (c) the image quality for performing the shooting by the image shooting means in the predetermined time zone during which the above-described predetermined change is detected in this change detection step. An image enhancement step for improving the image quality compared to the time zone; and (d) an image accumulation step for accumulating a portion of the time zone in which the image quality is improved in the image quality enhancement step among the image data output from the image photographing means, (E) Image data per unit time output from the above-mentioned image photographing means when the image data accumulated in this image accumulation step is improved in the image quality improvement step. And image data communication step for transmitting the image data while extending the transmission time to a device on the monitoring side via a predetermined transmission line with a specific amount of image data per unit time smaller than the above, using image capturing means Provide in the method.

  As described above, according to the present invention, since the amount of data communication per unit time is limited, the image quality of the observation part is temporarily improved at the time or time zone in which observation of crimes and accidents is particularly required. Even when a relatively narrow bandwidth line is used, a more detailed analysis of the image becomes possible. Moreover, when there are many observation parts, the economical monitoring system which balanced the whole observation part can be constructed | assembled.

<Embodiment>

  Next, the present invention will be described together with embodiments.

  FIG. 1 shows a remote monitoring system for an elevator using a photographing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The elevator remote monitoring system 100 connects, for example, an elevator facility 101 of a condominium or a building and a monitor facility 102 of a security company or a management company, and a PHS (Personal Handyphone) with a fixed bandwidth between them. System) wireless line 103 exists.

  In the elevator equipment 101 according to the present embodiment, a monitoring device 105 is arranged in a box-shaped gondola 104 that moves up and down. The monitoring apparatus 105 is provided with a PHS communication antenna 106 for performing communication via the PHS wireless line 103.

  On the other hand, the monitor facility 102 also includes a PHS communication antenna 108 for performing communication via the PHS wireless line 103, and is connected to a communication device 109 for performing transmission and reception. The communication device 109 is connected to a monitor device 111 that displays an image in the elevator gondola and a storage device 112 such as a hard disk that stores the image.

  FIG. 2 shows an outline of the configuration of the elevator-side monitoring device. In the monitoring device 105, a monitoring camera 121 is disposed at a relatively upper portion inside the gondola 104 shown in FIG. In addition, a microphone 122 for inputting sound is disposed in the control panel in the vicinity of the push button on each floor (not shown) inside the gondola 104. Image data 123 output from the camera 121 is input to an image control unit 124, where resolution control and image analysis such as the presence of a person are performed. The output data 125 of the image control unit 124 is input to a data control unit 126 that performs overall data control in the monitoring apparatus 105.

  On the other hand, an analog audio signal 128 output from the microphone 122 is input to the audio control unit 127. The voice control unit 127 analyzes the combination of frequencies and sound pressure of the input analog voice signal 128 to detect abnormal sounds. Then, the abnormal sound detection signal 129 is sent to the image control unit 124 and the data control unit 126 in the section where the abnormal sound is detected. When it is detected that a person is present in the gondola 104 with the abnormal sound detection signal 129 being input, the image control unit 124 uses the image data 123 output from the camera 121 as the abnormality occurrence mode. The high quality image is output as it is. In other cases, the image control unit 124 converts the image quality of the image data 123 and outputs a low-quality image in the normal mode.

  The data control unit 126 is connected to the memory unit 133 in addition to the PHS wireless interface unit 131. The PHS wireless interface unit 131 transmits a predetermined PHS signal via the PHS communication antenna 106 shown in FIG. The signal transmitted as the PHS signal is a low-quality moving image in the normal mode or a high-quality image in the abnormality occurrence mode. The memory unit 133 is a buffer area for temporarily storing high-quality images in the abnormality occurrence mode.

  It is assumed that the person 135 enters the gondola 104 shown in FIG. 1 in the elevator remote monitoring system 100 configured as described above. The image control unit 124 that inputs the image data 123 from the camera 121 illustrated in FIG. 2 detects the presence and movement of this somewhat large “object” as a change in the image frame. Then, it is detected that the person 135 is in the gondola 104 until “object” is not detected in conjunction with opening / closing of the door at a predetermined time.

  In the remote monitoring system 100 of the present embodiment, the image control unit 124 determines that the abnormality occurrence mode is set when the abnormal sound detection signal 129 is output when the person 135 is in the gondola 104. This is notified to the data control unit 126. Further, when the person 135 is in the gondola 104, otherwise it is determined that the person 135 is in the normal mode, and this is notified to the data control unit 126. Further, when the person 135 is not in the gondola 104, it is determined that the person 135 is in the standby mode, and this is notified to the data control unit 126.

  FIG. 3 shows that the image control unit functionally includes a human body operation / mode detection unit. The human body operation / mode detection unit 137 is configured such that a CPU (Central Processing Unit) (not shown) in the monitoring device 105 shown in FIG. 2 stores a control program stored in a storage medium such as a ROM (Read-Only Memory) (not shown). A component that is functionally realized by execution. At least a part of other components in the monitoring apparatus 105 may be realized by software as well.

  FIG. 4 shows the overall image data processing in this remote monitoring system. It demonstrates with FIGS. 1-3. FIG. 4A shows the state of the image data 123 output from the camera 121. From the camera 121, for example, high-resolution image data 123 of 5 megapixels is output for each frame. In the figure, “H” indicates that the frame has high image quality, and “L” indicates that the image quality is low. The number of frames is about 30 per second, for example, to output a moving image, but may be smaller than this. In FIG. 4, in order to simplify the illustration, a section that should be a plurality of frames is roughly shown as one frame.

  FIG. 4B shows an image transmitted to the monitor facility 102 side through the PHS wireless line 103 in the normal mode. It is assumed that the PHS wireless line 103 has a line speed with a relatively narrow communication band such as 32 kbps (kilobits / second). Although the PHS wireless line 103 has a feature that the communication fee is constant and low regardless of the amount of data, the line itself is not high-speed. Therefore, the image data 123 output from the camera 121 shown in FIG. 4A cannot be directly communicated from the monitoring device 105 to the monitor equipment 102, and the image control unit 124 shown in FIG. The frames are compressed so that each frame is transmitted without delay. Therefore, in the normal mode, the image in the gondola 104 is displayed on the monitor device 111 of the monitor facility 102 as a moving image in a rough and slightly unclear state.

  FIG. 4C shows a human detection result by the human body movement / mode detection unit 137 of the image control unit. As shown in this figure, when the person detection result is a signal “1”, the person is detected in the gondola 104. When the detection result of the person is a signal “0”, no person is detected.

FIG. 4D shows an abnormal sound detection result. In this figure, the abnormal sound detection signal 129 is a signal “1” in a section from time t ₁ to time t ₂ , and an abnormal sound is detected. In other sections, the signal is “0”, and no abnormal sound is detected. The voice control unit 127 registers the frequency of voice generated by an abnormal situation such as a scream such as “Care” or a male anger, and an abnormal sound is generated when any of these is output. The abnormal sound detection signal 129 is changed from the signal “0” to the signal “1”. This abnormal sound detection signal 129 is input to the image control unit 124.

  FIG. 4E shows the output data 125 of the image control unit 124. The image control unit 124 enters the abnormality occurrence mode when the detection result of the person is the signal “1” and the abnormal sound detection signal 129 is the signal “1”. In the abnormality occurrence mode, the image data 123 of the camera 121 shown in FIG. 4A is supplied to the data control unit 126 as the output data 125 in the high resolution “H” state without reducing the resolution in each frame. In other sections, the image data 123 of the camera 121 is reduced in resolution as shown in FIG. 4B and supplied to the data control unit 126 as output data 125 in a state of low image quality “L”.

The data control unit 126 supplies the low-quality “L” image data as the output data 125 during the period up to the time t ₁ , and supplies this as it is to the PHS wireless interface unit 131 as the transmission image data 139. The transmission image data 139 with the low image quality “L” is assembled into a packet signal for the PHS wireless line 103 by the PHS wireless interface unit 131, and is sequentially transmitted to the monitor equipment 102 for each frame without delay.

On the other hand, at time t ₁ , the abnormal sound detection signal 129 in the state of signal “1” is started to be supplied to the data control unit 126, and the mode is switched from the normal mode to the abnormality occurrence mode. The output data 125 of high resolution “H” input from the image control unit 124 to the data control unit 126 in this abnormality occurrence mode is the output data 125 in a state where the data amount per unit time after compression is low in image quality “L”. Compared with the increase. In the case of the present embodiment, the data amount per unit time is three times that of the low image quality “L” state. Therefore, the high-resolution “H” output data 125 cannot be sent from the PHS wireless interface unit 131 to the PHS wireless line 103 in real time.

Therefore, when the abnormality occurrence mode is entered at time t ₁ , the data control unit 126 once accumulates the high resolution “H” output data 125 supplied in this mode in the memory unit 133. Then, the data is sent from the memory unit 133 to the monitor equipment 102 in order from the previously inputted transmission image data 139 with the maximum amount of data that can be sent per unit time of the PHS wireless line 103.

FIG. 4F shows the contents of image data sent to the monitor equipment 102 side through the PHS wireless line 103. In the normal mode up to time t _1, the output data 125 in the low image quality “L” state is transferred as it is, as shown in FIG. After the time t ₁ , the output data 125 of the high resolution “H” in the abnormality occurrence mode is sequentially sent to the monitor equipment 102 side in a state of being extended in time without reducing the resolution. After the time t ₃ when all the output data 125 of the high resolution “H” is transmitted, the output data 125 of the low image quality “L” state input to the data control unit 126 at each time is directly used as the PHS wireless interface. Are supplied to the unit 131 and sent to the monitor equipment 102 in order.

  As a result of the above processing, when the monitor equipment 102 enters the abnormality occurrence mode, the video of the camera 121 is received with high resolution while being delayed in units of frames, displayed on the monitor device 111, and the storage device 112. Is remembered. Therefore, although reception time is required, an image of the person 135 or the like in the gondola 104 is reproduced with high quality image quality.

  FIG. 5 shows the mode switching process in the remote monitoring system described above. It demonstrates with FIGS. 1-3. The human body operation / mode detection unit 137 of the image control unit determines whether or not the person 135 exists in the gondola 104 (step S201), and if it does not exist (N), sets the standby mode (step S202).

  If there is a person (step S201: Y), the normal mode is set (step S203). In this normal mode, no abnormal sound is detected (step S204: N) and continues while a person is present (step S205: Y). When no person is present in the normal mode (step S205: N), the mode is changed to the standby mode (step S202).

  On the other hand, when the voice control unit 127 detects an abnormal sound in the normal mode (step S204: Y), the abnormality occurrence mode is set (step S206). In the abnormality occurrence mode, detection of abnormal sound continues (step S207: Y) and continues while a person is present (step S208: Y). If no person is present on the way (step S208: N), the mode is changed to the standby mode (step S202). If no abnormal sound is detected on the way (step S207: N), the mode is switched to the normal mode (step S203). However, the abnormal state may continue even if the abnormal sound is interrupted. Therefore, even if the detection of abnormal sound is interrupted, for example, an abnormal sound detection period extending process may be performed in which abnormal sound is generated for 5 seconds.

  FIG. 6 shows the flow of processing for storing high-resolution “H” image data in the memory unit. The memory unit 133 illustrated in FIG. 2 is a first-in first-out memory having a relatively large capacity. If the abnormality occurrence mode is set (step S221: Y), the high-resolution “H” output data 125 after compression is stored in the memory unit 133. Is stored in units of frames (step S222).

  FIG. 7 shows the image data transmission process from the monitoring device. This will be described with reference to FIGS. The monitoring device 105 checks whether the memory unit 133 is empty (step S241). If it is not empty (N), the image data of high resolution “H” is read from the memory unit 133 in units of frames in the oldest order, and sent from the PHS wireless interface unit 131 to the monitor equipment 102 side at the upper limit of the line speed ( Step S242).

  This sending process continues even if the abnormality occurrence mode is changed to the normal mode or the standby mode is changed. Therefore, for example, even when the abnormality occurrence mode continues for a relatively long time and a large amount of image data is accumulated in the memory unit 133, the time is given to the monitor facility 102 as high resolution “H” image data. Multiply it and send it. The PHS wireless line 103 has a relatively narrow communication band but low communication costs. Therefore, it can transmit high-quality image data at low cost by taking time.

  When the memory unit 133 is empty (step S241: Y) and in the normal mode (step S243: Y), the low-quality “L” image data output from the image control unit 124 is used as it is. Is sent to the PHS wireless line 103 in real time and supplied to the monitor facility 102 (step S244). There is no transmission of image data in the standby mode. Further, as described above, when the memory unit 133 is not empty even in the normal mode, the image data in the memory unit 133 is preferentially supplied to the monitor facility 102.

  According to the present embodiment, an abnormal situation such as a crime being carried out in the elevator gondola 104 or a person being trapped is detected, and the image at this time is taken as an example with a high resolution of 5 megapixels. The image data 123 is transmitted to the monitor equipment 102 side. Therefore, it is possible to eliminate the unclearness of the criminal and the situation due to the unclearness of the image, which has been a problem in the past. Moreover, since the image is transmitted in real time to the monitor equipment 102 in a state where no image data exists in the memory unit 133, it is possible to grasp the state immediately before the abnormal situation.

  Furthermore, according to the present embodiment, since the data amount of the frame unit of the image transmitted to the monitor equipment 102 side differs between the normal time and the time of occurrence of an abnormality, this is detected on the receiving side and an alarm is sounded when the abnormality occurs. By storing only the image data at the time of occurrence of an abnormality, or only the image data at the time of occurrence of an abnormality and its surroundings in the storage device 112, only necessary data can be saved.

  <First Variation of Invention>

  In the previous embodiment, the logical product of the presence of a person in the elevator gondola 104 and the occurrence of an abnormal sound is taken and the image data in that case is transmitted with high quality. In FIG. 8, the logical product of the presence of a person in the gondola 104 and the unnatural movement of the person is taken, and the image data in that case is transmitted with high image quality.

  FIG. 8 corresponds to FIG. 5 and shows the mode switching process in the first modification. In FIG. 8, the same parts as those in FIG. 5 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted as appropriate.

  In the first modification, it is determined in step S304 and step S307 whether or not an unnatural movement of a person is detected. As a result, when there is a violent action in the gondola 104 shown in FIG. 1 or when there is an abnormality such as fainting of the person, an abnormality occurrence mode is entered, and the image indicating the situation is high quality and the monitor equipment 102 (FIG. 1).

  <Second Variation of Invention>

  In the previous embodiment, as shown in step S242 of FIG. 7, the high resolution “H” image data is read from the memory unit 133 in units of frames in the oldest order and is sent to the monitor equipment 102 side. For this reason, if the abnormality occurrence mode continues for a long time, in extreme cases, image data at a time much earlier than the current time, such as 30 minutes before, will arrive at the monitor equipment 102 side, and the current situation will be grasped. There is a problem that you can not. The second modification of the present invention solves this problem.

  FIG. 9 corresponds to FIG. 7 and shows the state of the image data transmission process in the second modification. 9, the same parts as those in FIG. 7 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted as appropriate.

  In the second modification, if it is determined in step S241 that the memory unit 133 (FIG. 2) is not empty (N), whether f frames, which are predetermined multiple frames, have been read from the memory unit 133 as continuous data. Is determined (step S321). Then, when f frames that are temporally continuous are read from the memory unit 133 (Y), the latest frame of the high-resolution “H” image data is read from the memory unit 133, and the PHS wireless interface unit 131 is read. To the monitor equipment 102 at the upper limit of the line speed (step S322). In other cases (step S321: N), the image data of high resolution “H” is read from the memory unit 133 in chronological order, and sent from the PHS wireless interface unit 131 to the monitor equipment 102 side (step S242). ). As a result, the latest image is sent to the monitor facility 102 every f frames, so that it is possible to communicate image data at the time of abnormality while grasping the current state.

  If a frame number indicating the frame order is attached to the high-resolution “H” image data transmitted from the monitoring apparatus 105 shown in FIG. 1 to the monitor facility 102, the image data is stored on the monitor facility 102 side. You can arrange the order. Further, as a result of obtaining the latest image, when an image after the previous image is required, an instruction to that effect can be given to the monitoring device 105 side. For example, by instructing to delete image data older than the corresponding image stored in the memory unit 133 in a batch, the image data transmitted from the monitoring device 105 is limited to the one after the latest image. be able to.

  <Third Modification of the Invention>

  In the second modification, the latest image is periodically sent to the monitoring device 105. However, the first modification is applied to send the latest image when an abnormal operation occurs. This is the third variation.

  FIG. 10 corresponds to FIG. 9 and shows a state of the image data transmission processing in the third modified embodiment. 10, the same parts as those in FIG. 9 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted as appropriate.

  In the third modification, if it is determined in step S241 that the memory unit 133 (FIG. 2) is not empty (N), it is determined whether an abnormal operation is detected in the gondola 104 shown in FIG. 1 (step S331). ). If an abnormal operation is detected (Y), the latest frame of the high-resolution “H” image data is read from the memory unit 133 and sent from the PHS wireless interface unit 131 to the monitor equipment 102 side (step). S322). In other cases (step S321: N), high resolution “H” image data is read from the memory unit 133 in units of frames from the oldest to the monitor equipment 102 side at the upper limit of the line speed from the PHS wireless interface unit 131. It is sent out (step S242). Thereby, when an abnormal operation is detected in a situation where an abnormal sound has been generated for a long time, the latest image at that time is sent to the monitor equipment 102. Therefore, it is possible to communicate image data at the time of abnormality while grasping whether further abnormality has occurred.

  As the control similar to the third modification, it is also effective to read out the latest frame of the high-resolution “H” image data from the memory unit 133 each time an abnormal sound having a different frequency or sound pattern is generated.

In the above-described embodiment and its modifications, the description is limited to the elevator gondola, but the present invention can be similarly applied to other monitoring systems. Further, although the case where image data is transmitted using the PHS wireless line 103 has been described in the embodiment and its modifications, it is a matter of course that the present invention can also be applied to other wireless lines or wired lines. .

  In the above-described embodiment and its modifications, the camera and the microphone are used as sensors, but other sensors can also be used. For example, by using an infrared sensor or a temperature sensor, it is possible to monitor the occurrence of a fire or the smoking in an elevator.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment and its modifications, the image quality is improved by increasing the resolution of the image. However, the same effect may be obtained by shortening the frame period while maintaining the resolution. . For example, in a car collision monitoring camera or a railroad crossing monitoring camera at an intersection, detailed image analysis is possible by shortening the frame period of shooting by detecting sound or vibration at the time of a collision or accident.

  For example, when the present invention is used for monitoring a river by photographing the water level of the river, for example, a water level sensor detects that the water level has exceeded a certain height, and a clear image at the station from that point is detected. By obtaining the data, it is possible to make the data of the necessary monitoring points more effective from the many observation stations arranged in various places throughout the country.

  In addition, when used for monitoring unmanned mechanical devices, for example, a plurality of places where there is a possibility of failure are taken with an image photographing means, and unusual movements and abnormal sounds are detected. Sometimes, these may be sent to the monitoring side with high image quality. As a result, it is possible to efficiently monitor a plurality or a large number of monitoring parts with communication with a relatively small amount of data.

  Needless to say in detail, the monitoring uses are widespread in various places such as monitoring of natural phenomena such as volcanoes, observation of school of fish at various locations in the water, and observation of school of animals at various locations on land.

  As described above, the present invention is also effective in a configuration in which centralized monitoring is performed by providing a plurality of monitoring parts each having an image capturing unit and connecting these observation parts to a device on the monitoring side through a transmission line. is there. Thereby, an economical and efficient monitoring system can be constructed.

1 is a system configuration diagram illustrating an elevator remote monitoring system using an imaging device according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram showing the outline | summary of the structure of the monitoring apparatus by the side of an elevator in this Embodiment. It is a block diagram showing the human body operation | movement / mode detection part of the image control part in this Embodiment. It is a timing chart showing the whole picture of processing of image data in the remote monitoring system of this embodiment. It is a flowchart showing the mode switching process in the remote monitoring system of this Embodiment. 6 is a flowchart showing a process of storing high-resolution “H” image data in the memory unit of the present embodiment. It is a flowchart showing the mode of the image data transmission process from a monitoring apparatus in this Embodiment. It is a flowchart showing the mode switching process in the 1st modification of this invention. It is a flowchart showing the mode of the image data transmission process in the 2nd modification of this invention. It is a flowchart showing the mode of the image data transmission process in the 3rd modification of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Remote monitoring system 102 Monitor equipment 103 PHS wireless line 105 Monitoring apparatus 111 Monitor apparatus 112 Storage apparatus 121 Camera 122 Microphone 124 Image control part 126 Data control part 133 Memory part 135 Person 137 Human body movement / mode detection part

Claims (9)

Image photographing means for photographing an image;
A change detecting means for detecting a predetermined change in the photographing range of the image photographing means or its periphery;
An image quality improving means for improving the image quality of photographing by the image photographing means in a predetermined time zone in which the change detecting means is detecting the predetermined change;
Image storage means for storing a portion of the time zone in which the image quality is improved by the image quality improvement means among the image data output by the image photographing means;
The specific amount of image data per unit time is smaller than the amount of image data per unit time output from the image photographing unit when the image quality is improved by the image quality improving unit. A monitoring system using image photographing means, comprising: image data communication means for transmitting by extending a transmission time to an apparatus on the monitoring side via a predetermined transmission path.   2. The monitoring system using an image photographing means according to claim 1, wherein the image quality of photographing by the image photographing means is improved by either or both of resolution and frame period.   The change detecting means for detecting the predetermined change includes a person detecting means for detecting the presence of a person in a specific range region, and a sound frequency indicating that an abnormality has occurred in the person detected by the person detecting means. 2. The monitoring system using image photographing means according to claim 1, further comprising sound detecting means for detecting a component or sound pattern.   The change detecting means for detecting the predetermined change includes a person detecting means for detecting the presence of a person in a specific area, and a human body motion indicating that an abnormality has occurred in the person detected by the person detecting means. The monitoring system using the image photographing means according to claim 1, further comprising a movement detecting means for detecting the movement.   2. The monitoring system using image photographing means according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined transmission path is a PHS (Personal Handyphone System) wireless line.   2. The monitoring system using image photographing means according to claim 1, wherein the image data communication means sends the image data accumulated in the image accumulation means in order from the oldest in time.   7. The monitoring system using an image photographing unit according to claim 6, wherein the image data communication unit interrupts and transmits the latest image data stored in the image storage unit at a predetermined timing.   8. A configuration in which a plurality of monitoring parts each having the image photographing unit are connected to a device on the monitoring side through the predetermined transmission path so as to be centrally monitored. A monitoring system using any one of the image photographing means. A change detection step for detecting a predetermined change when an image is captured by the image capturing means;
A change detecting step for detecting when the predetermined change is detected in the change detecting step;
An image quality improving step for improving the image quality of photographing by the image photographing means in a predetermined time zone in which the predetermined change is detected in the change detecting step as compared with other time zones;
An image accumulating step for accumulating a portion of the time zone in which the image quality is improved in the image quality improving step among the image data output by the image photographing means;
The specific amount of image data per unit time is smaller than the amount of image data per unit time output from the image photographing means when the image quality is improved in the image quality improvement step. A monitoring method using an image photographing means, comprising: an image data communication step for transmitting the apparatus while extending a transmission time to a device on the monitoring side via a predetermined transmission path.

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