JP4175622B2 - Image display system - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention belongs to the technical field of an image display system that selects a desired image from a plurality of images and displays it on a display screen, and further stores image data transmitted from a surveillance camera in a storage means sequentially, The present invention belongs to a technical field of a monitoring system having a configuration in which a storage unit is searched to select a desired image and the selected image is displayed on a display screen.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, an image display system that accumulates a large amount of image data and selects and displays a predetermined image has been widely used. In such an image display system, the user quickly searches for an image to be displayed from many images and displays a desired image on the display screen. Therefore, an appropriate arrangement of the display screen and good operability are required. It is done. In a conventional image display system, a method of displaying a thumbnail as a reduced image of an image in addition to displaying a selected image in an enlarged manner is known. This makes it easy to search for an image to be displayed by referring to a plurality of thumbnails on the display screen.
[0003]
In addition, when the attribute information such as the time information about the image is displayed together with the thumbnail displayed on the display screen as described above, the image search can be performed efficiently. In this case, a method of improving the image selectivity by displaying the attribute information of the image in a graph has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
[0004]
[Patent Document 1]
JP 2001-134578 A
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the above-described conventional image display system, even if the user refers to a display screen on which a plurality of thumbnails are arranged, it is not always easy for the user to select a desired image. Especially when there are many images along the time series, and when searching for characteristic images from them, it is difficult to check all of them with thumbnails, and it is difficult to find the desired image There was also. For example, assuming that an image display system is applied to a monitoring system, a search is performed when determining a specific image from a security point of view among a large number of images taken at a predetermined time interval by a monitoring camera. It was not easy.
[0006]
Further, even when a display in which attribute information is graphed is used as in the method disclosed in Patent Document 1, it is difficult to grasp each attribute information of a large number of images. It was not good.
[0007]
Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of such a problem. When a desired image selected from a large number of images is displayed, the user can display a display object with good operability while referring to the display screen. An object of the present invention is to provide an image display system capable of easily selecting an image to be taken.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the image display system according to claim 1 is an image display system that displays an image selected from a plurality of images, and each image is divided into a plurality of regions. A storage unit that stores the result of determining whether or not there is a temporal change and a shooting time together with the image, a region designating unit for arbitrarily designating a region that the operator wants to focus on from the plurality of regions, and a main image are displayed. A region is designated from the region designating unit, a main image display unit for displaying, a time axis displaying unit for displaying a time axis indicating the entire photographing time of the image in the storage unit on the same screen, and the region designating unit. Then, in the designated area from the image of the storage unitWhen the difference from the reference image exceeds a predetermined thresholdWhile displaying the time zone in which the image determined to have changed is identifiable on the time axis of the time axis display unit,Corresponds to the time zone in which there is an image for which the operator is determined to have changedA display control unit configured to display a designated image on the main image display unit by designating a part of the time axis.
[0009]
According to the present invention, when a desired image is displayed in the image display system, a display screen on which the time axis display unit, the sub-image display unit, and the main image display unit are arranged is configured. The user can identify a time series corresponding to a plurality of images by the time axis display unit, and can identify a predetermined representative image by reduced display (thumbnail) by the sub-image display unit. Then, when a predetermined operation is performed on the time axis display unit or the sub-image display unit, the image selected by the main image display unit can be referred to. Therefore, even when there are a large number of images as display objects, it is possible to easily select a desired image by identifying the desired image by looking at the display screen and performing the operability in the image display system. Visibility can be improved.
[0010]
The image display system according to claim 2 is the image display system according to claim 1,The display unit further includes a sub-image display unit that displays a representative screen in which an image is reduced, and the display control unit performs the designation from the image in the storage unit when the region designation is performed by the region designation unit. An image determined to have changed in the selected area is selected, and the image is reduced and displayed as a representative image on the sub display unit.It is characterized by that.
[0011]
According to the present invention, in the image display system, the presence or absence of a change when each image is compared with the reference image is determined, and when the search instruction is received, the determination result of the presence or absence of the change is reflected on the display screen. The display target is changed. Therefore, the selectivity of a desired image can be enhanced by changing the display object while paying attention to the presence or absence of the change, and the visibility can be further improved.
[0012]
The image display system according to claim 3,3. The image display system according to claim 1, wherein the display control unit causes the region designation unit to display the presence / absence of the region designation in the region designation unit so that it can be visually determined.It is characterized by that.
[0013]
According to this invention, an image group is set based on the determination result of the image processing means, and an image having the largest change in the image group is set as the representative image in the sub-image display unit. Therefore, a desired image can be selected while referring to a sub-image with a particularly large degree of image change, so that the selectivity when focusing on the image change can be enhanced.
[0014]
Of this inventionIn the image display system, the image processing means divides the image into a plurality of areas, determines the presence / absence of the change for each area, and displays an area for determining the presence / absence of the change on the display screen. An area designating part for designating according to the operation is arranged.
[0015]
According to the present invention, the presence / absence of a change by the image processing unit is determined for each area of the image divided into a plurality of areas, and the user determines the image to be determined by the area designating unit on the display screen. Can be specified. Therefore, it is possible to select a desired image by paying attention to a partial area of the image, and it is possible to finely identify changes that have occurred in the image.
[0016]
Of this inventionIn the image display system, the time axis display unit includes a main time axis indicating a predetermined time range corresponding to time information set for each image, and a part of the time range of the main time axis. A sub time axis shown in an enlarged manner is displayed.
[0017]
According to the present invention, the main time axis and the sub time axis are displayed on the time axis display unit on the display screen, and the predetermined time range is indicated by the main time axis, while a part of the time range is the sub time axis. Indicated by Therefore, when a large number of images exist over a wide time range, the user can use the main time axis and the sub time axis properly, and the relationship between the images and the time series can be grasped with good visibility.
[0018]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Below, the case where the image display system which concerns on this invention is applied to the monitoring system which image | photographs the image of monitoring object with a surveillance camera and can transmit the image | photographed image via the internet is demonstrated.
[0019]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the monitoring system of the present embodiment. The monitoring system shown in FIG. 1 includes a management center 1 that manages the monitoring system and a plurality of monitoring cameras 2 installed in a facility to be monitored. Image data is received from each monitoring camera 2 via the Internet 3. It has a system configuration that is transmitted to the management center 1. The management center 1 is provided with an image recording server 11 and an image display terminal 12, each connected to a router 13 via a LAN, and configured to be able to transmit and receive information via the Internet 3. ing. An image display terminal 14 having the same function as the image display terminal 12 can be used by directly connecting to the Internet 3 outside the management center 1.
[0020]
The plurality of monitoring cameras 2 are respectively installed at locations where a predetermined shooting range can be shot in various facilities such as a store, and each shooting range is shot at a predetermined timing and corresponding image data is output. These surveillance cameras 2 are so-called Web cameras, and have a function of accessing the Internet 3 and transmitting image data to the management center 1. The image data transmitted by the monitoring camera 2 includes image-related information such as the monitoring camera 2 that has taken the image itself, identification information for identifying each image data, and date / time information indicating the date and time when the image was taken. Header information including information is added, and header information can be referred to as appropriate on the management center 1 side.
[0021]
In the management center 1, image data received from the monitoring camera 2 via the Internet 3 is transmitted to the image recording server 11 via the router 13 and the LAN. The image recording server 11 sequentially records the transmitted image data together with predetermined image related information. The image display terminal 12 searches the image data recorded in the image recording server 11 via the LAN by a predetermined operation, and displays a desired image.
[0022]
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the image recording server 11. As shown in FIG. 2, the image recording server 11 includes a control unit 101, an interface 102, a storage unit 103, an image processing unit 104, and a change table generation unit 105.
[0023]
In the above configuration, the control unit 101 includes a CPU and the like, and controls the operation of the entire image recording server 11. The interface 102 inputs the image data transmitted from the monitoring camera 2 to the control unit 101. Then, the control unit 101 performs control so that the image data input through the interface 102 is stored in the storage unit 103 in association with image-related information such as the number of the monitoring camera 2 and the shooting date and time.
[0024]
The image processing unit 104 performs image processing on the image data input via the interface 102 or the image data read from the storage unit 103 under the instruction of the control unit 101, and outputs a plurality of images. Dividing into regions, the presence or absence of a change is determined for each region. The image processing unit 104 functions as an image processing unit of the present invention in combination with other components.
[0025]
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3A, the entire image is divided into 16 rectangular areas, and the reference image and the image to be processed in a state where there is no moving object in the shooting range of the monitoring camera 2 are displayed. The presence or absence of a change can be determined by comparing each region. As a method for determining whether or not there is a change, for example, in each region, the number of different pixels is obtained when compared with a reference image, and when a predetermined threshold is exceeded, it is determined that there is a change, and is below a predetermined threshold. In this case, it may be determined that there is no change. In the example of FIG. 3A, it is determined that there is a change in the regions 9, 10, 13, 14, and 15 where the moving objects that do not exist in the reference image overlap.
[0026]
In the present embodiment, the case where the entire image is divided into 16 areas will be described. However, in practice, the entire image can be further divided into a large number of areas, and the same determination method can be applied.
[0027]
Based on the determination result by the image processing unit 104, the change table generation unit 105 generates a change table that integrally indicates the presence / absence of the change determined for each region for all the images to be processed. FIG. 3B is a diagram illustrating an example of a change table generated by the change table generation unit 105. The change table shown in FIG. 3B includes an image number for identifying image data, a determination result of presence / absence of change for each area constituting the image indicated by the image number, and at least one area or more. About the presence or absence of the change, the number of areas determined to have changed in the image, and the date and time when the image was taken.
[0028]
The image number shown in FIG. 3B is made up of a camera number for identifying a plurality of surveillance cameras 2 and a number given to the images taken by a specific surveillance camera 2 in the order of photography. For example, the image number 1-2 represents the second image taken by the first monitoring camera 2. Also, each area of the image is distinguished by assigning area numbers 1 to 16 as shown in FIG. In FIG. 3B, the determination result of whether or not there is a change is indicated as “present” or “absent” together with the area number of each area. In the example of FIG. 3B, the change table corresponding to the image of FIG. 3A is shown. Therefore, it is determined that each of the area numbers 9, 10, 13, 14, and 15 has changed, It is determined that there is no change in other areas.
[0029]
In the upper right part of FIG. 3B, whether or not there is a change in one or more areas, that is, whether or not there is a change in any of the entire areas of the image is shown as “change presence / absence”. In the lower part, the number of areas determined to be changed in the image is shown as “number of changed areas”. In the example of FIG. 3B, as described above, since five areas are determined to have changed, “change presence / absence” is “present” and “change area number” is five. Further, the date and time when the image with the image number 1-2 was photographed is shown as “photographing date and time”.
[0030]
The change table generated in this way is sequentially stored in the storage unit 103 via the control unit 101 and managed in association with the image data. In the image search described later, a desired change table is read from the storage unit 103 and referred to as necessary.
[0031]
Next, FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the image display terminal 12. The image display terminal 14 directly connected to the Internet 3 in FIG. 1 has the same configuration. As shown in FIG. 4, the image display terminal 12 includes a control unit 201, an interface 202, an operation unit 203, a search instruction unit 204, a table management unit 205, a search execution unit 206, and an image group determination unit 207. A thumbnail generation unit 208, a display control unit 209, and a display unit 210.
[0032]
In the above configuration, the control unit 201 includes a CPU or the like, controls the operation of the entire image display terminal 12, and targets image data and change tables held in the image recording server 11 based on a predetermined program. Image search processing and image display processing are executed. The search instruction unit 204, the table management unit 205, the search execution unit 206, the image group determination unit 207, and the thumbnail generation unit 208 are all functional elements that are controlled by the control unit 201 based on the predetermined program. Corresponding to
[0033]
The interface 202 inputs image data and a change table transmitted from the monitoring camera 2 to the control unit 201 at a predetermined timing such as when the image search terminal 12 is activated or at a predetermined input operation.
[0034]
The operation unit 203 is a means for inputting various information and setting conditions when the user of the image display terminal 12 attempts to perform a predetermined operation, and includes a mouse and a keyboard.
[0035]
The search instruction unit 204 generates a search condition table for instructing image search conditions based on the input operation of the operation unit 203. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a search condition table generated by the search instruction unit 204. In the search condition table shown in FIG. 5, whether or not to designate as a search target area is set for each area number given in FIG. When performing an image search based on the search condition table, for an area for which the search area specification is set to [Yes], the determination result of whether or not there is a change is referred to at the time of search, whereas the search area specification is “none”. For the region set to, the determination result of whether or not there is a change is not referred to at the time of search.
[0036]
The table management unit 205 manages and stores various tables necessary for image search. The table management unit 205 sequentially receives all change tables corresponding to the search target image from the image recording server 11 and generates a search table described later based on the change table. The change table is received when the image display terminal 12 is activated and whenever the operation camera 203 switches the selection of the monitoring camera 2 or the shooting date and time. In addition, the above-described search condition table necessary for matching with the search table is acquired and managed by the table management unit 205.
[0037]
The search execution unit 206 executes a search using the search condition table and the search table managed by the table management unit 205. That is, the search execution unit 206 determines a search condition based on the search condition table, and determines whether each image has a change that matches the search condition with reference to the search table. Then, the search results for all the search target images are recorded in the search table, and the search table of the table management unit 205 is updated.
[0038]
Here, FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a search table managed by the table management unit 205. The search table shown in FIG. 6 is configured by aggregating the change tables shown in FIG. 3B, and a search result by the search execution unit 206 is added. In the example of FIG. 6, image number 1 is assigned to the head of the search table, and image numbers are assigned in order along the time series. In the search condition table of FIG. 5, since the area 9 and the area 12 are designated, the area 9 and the area 12 in the search table shown in FIG.
[0039]
In this case, the search condition for a plurality of regions may be either an AND condition or an OR condition, and can be switched by switching means (not shown). FIG. 6 shows an example of the OR condition. That is, “with change” is written as a search result for an image in which at least one of the areas 9 and 12 in the search table is “present”, and “no change” is written as a search result for the other images.
[0040]
Further, at the time of generating the above-described search table, the search execution unit 206 executes a search for all areas under the OR condition. That is, an image having a change in at least one area is searched and the search result is written in the search table. At this time, by referring to the change table sequentially received by the table management unit 205, it is possible to obtain “change presence / absence” and “number of change areas” from the change table, and to quickly perform the search process.
[0041]
The image group discriminating unit 207 discriminates temporally continuous images in which the search result is “changed” during the search by the search execution unit 206, and sets each as an image group. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image group table generated based on the determination result by the image group determination unit 207. In the image group table shown in FIG. 7A, the above-described image group that has changed in the search table of FIG. 6 is defined as “scene”. Then, a display number is assigned to each scene, and a start image number and an end image number are recorded based on the search table. Also, if you record the number of images included in each scene as the scene lengthWhenIn addition, the image number of the representative image determined for each scene is recorded as will be described later.
[0042]
For example, in FIG. 7A, two images having image numbers 2 and 3 constitute a scene having a scene length of 2. Similarly, one image with image number 6 constitutes a scene with scene length 1, and an image group with image numbers 8 to 10 constitutes a scene with scene length 3. Each of these scenes can be displayed as a moving image on the display screen by a predetermined operation, which will be described later in detail.
[0043]
On the other hand, FIG. 7B is an image group table in a state where the scene length of 1 is excluded from the image group table shown in FIG. In the present embodiment, in order to remove an image that is less necessary to be noise when playing a scene, a scene length is set to a predetermined length when a “instant change exclusion setting unit” on the display screen described later is set and operated. The following scenes are excluded. In the example of FIG. 7B, a scene having a scene length of 1 is excluded, but in reality, a scene having a predetermined scene length or less may be excluded.
[0044]
The thumbnail generation unit 208 generates a thumbnail that is a reduced image of the image to be displayed. In the present embodiment, a thumbnail set as a representative image is associated with the scene set by the image group determination unit 207 and used during a search. That is, when a plurality of images are included in one scene, a thumbnail for an image representing the scene is generated and displayed on the display screen as a representative image of the scene, thereby improving the convenience of search processing. Is.
[0045]
Here, as a method for determining a representative image for each scene, for example, an image having the largest number of change areas may be selected in a specific scene in the search table of FIG. At this time, when a plurality of images having the same number of change areas of each image are selected, an image with the preceding shooting time may be selected. In addition, in the case where the instantaneous change is not excluded, for a scene having a scene length of 1 consisting of a single image, the image is automatically determined as a representative image.
[0046]
Next, the display control unit 209 performs control for displaying the display screen generated by the control unit 201, and causes the display unit 210 to transmit predetermined display data at a predetermined timing to display the display screen. And display part210On the display screen displayed on the screen, as will be described later, images to be viewed by the user and various display objects for the user to perform predetermined operations and settings are arranged in a predetermined layout. Display section210For example, a CRT display, a liquid crystal display, or the like can be used.
[0047]
Hereinafter, the display unit will be described with reference to FIGS.210A display screen displayed on the screen and operations when a user who refers to the display screen performs an image search will be described in detail. Figure 8 shows the display21 0It is a figure explaining the whole display screen displayed. As shown in FIG. 8, the display screen in this embodiment includes a main image display unit 301, a time axis display unit 302, a thumbnail display unit 303, a camera selection unit 304, a calendar display unit 305, and an area designation unit. 306, an instantaneous change exclusion setting unit 307, a time display unit 308, and a reproduction operation unit 309 are arranged.
[0048]
9 to 11 are enlarged views for explaining in detail a predetermined portion of the display screen shown in FIG. 9 shows a time axis display unit 302, FIG. 10 shows a thumbnail display unit 303, and FIG. 11 shows an area designation unit 306.
[0049]
As shown in FIG. 8, a main image display unit 301 arranged near the center on the display screen displays a specific image (main image) selected as a display target according to an input operation described later. That is, since an image of a predetermined shooting range captured at a predetermined time by the monitoring camera 2 selected from the plurality of monitoring cameras 2 is displayed, the user visually recognizes the image and determines the subsequent operation. be able to.
[0050]
The time axis display unit 302 is arranged at the lower part of the main image display unit 301 and displays two types of time axes representing the relationship between the image to be displayed and the shooting date and time, as shown in FIG. The main time axis 302a shows a time range from 0:00 to 24:00 on a predetermined date in association with the state of the image. The sub time axis 302b shows an enlarged arbitrary time range in the 24-hour range of the main time axis 302a. The setting of the time range for the sub time axis 302b can be switched in a range of 10 minutes to 2 hours by a predetermined operation. In the example of FIG. 9, the case where the time range of the sub time axis 302b is set to 1 hour is shown.
[0051]
Normally, the sub time axis 302b is set to a time range centered on the shooting time of the image displayed on the main image display unit 301 in the time range of the main time axis 302a. On the other hand, the temporal positional relationship of the sub time axis 302b with respect to the main time axis 302a can be adjusted by moving the slider 302c above the main time axis 302a left and right.
[0052]
In the main time axis 302a and the sub time axis 302b, in order to identify the state of the image obtained as a result of the search process, a specific time zone can be displayed in a different color corresponding to the state of the image. In the example of FIG. 9, the time zones A, B, and C of the main time axis 302a and the sub time axis 302b are set as scenes in the image groups determined to have changed, that is, the image group table of FIG. Corresponds to the part. Thereby, the user can easily identify the time zone in which the scene is set.
[0053]
In addition, the surveillance camera 2 does not always continuously shoot, and image data is not recorded in the image recording server 11 depending on the time zone. Therefore, the time zone in which the target image does not exist on the main time axis 302a and the sub time axis 302b may be displayed in a different color.
[0054]
Then, when a time zone in which a scene on the main time axis 302a or the sub time axis 302b is set is selected with the mouse, an image corresponding to the selected scene is enlarged and displayed on the main image display unit 301.
[0055]
Each time range of the main time axis 302a and the sub time axis 302b is not limited to the above example, and may be set appropriately. For example, a time range longer than 24 hours may be set for the main time axis 302a, for example, a time range including all shooting times of displayable images. In addition, a predetermined time range centered on the shooting time of the image displayed on the main image display unit 301 may be set on the main time axis 302a.
[0056]
The thumbnail display unit 303 is disposed below the time axis display unit 302 and plays a role as a sub-image display unit of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 10, the thumbnail display section 303 has a predetermined number (six in the case of FIG. 10) of thumbnails (sub-images) centered on the image at the center of the sub-time axis 302b. Displayed in order of series. As described above, these thumbnails are associated as representative images of the respective scenes, and are the images having the largest changes among the images included in each scene. Accordingly, the user can easily select a thumbnail corresponding to a predetermined scene, paying attention to the change of the image. When the user selects and operates a predetermined thumbnail in the thumbnail display unit 303 with the mouse, the main image display unit 301 displays an enlarged image corresponding to the selected thumbnail.
[0057]
The camera selection unit 304 displays the installation location of the currently selected monitoring camera 2 and can appropriately select and input a specific monitoring camera 2 as a display target from the pull-down menu on the right side. When the user wants to switch the currently selected monitoring camera 2, when the mouse is operated and the pull-down menu is pressed, the installation locations of all displayable monitoring cameras 2 are displayed. 2 may be selected.
[0058]
The calendar display unit 305 displays a calendar for one month for designating the image shooting date. When the user selects and operates a predetermined day from the calendar display unit 305, an image captured on the selected predetermined day among the images of the monitoring camera 2 displayed on the camera selection unit 304 is set as a display target. Is done. Further, by pressing the “previous month” or “next month” at the top of the calendar display unit 305, it is possible to shift to a desired year and month.
[0059]
As shown in FIG. 11, the area designating unit 306 is a display for designating an area to be searched for an image divided into 16 areas in the same shape as in FIG. 3A. In the area designation unit 306, a thumbnail corresponding to an image (or an image of a past predetermined date / time) displayed on the main image display unit 301 is displayed on the background, and the user selects and operates a predetermined region with the mouse. The area can be designated as a search target. It is desirable to designate a region by the region designation unit 306 when, for example, it is desired to search for an image focusing on a part of the photographing range of the selected monitoring camera 2 where an entrance or the like exists.
[0060]
It should be noted that the user can visually determine whether or not each area is designated by displaying the areas designated by the area designation unit 306 in different colors. The area once designated by the area designating unit 306 can be canceled by selecting again in that state.
[0061]
When an area is specified by the area specifying unit 306 in this way, the result is reflected in the search condition table by the search instruction unit 204. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, in order to specify the region numbers 9 and 12 as search targets, the region specifying unit 306 may select and operate two corresponding regions sequentially. Furthermore, the result of the designation in the region designation unit 306 is reflected in the search table by the search execution unit 205, so that the display target of the main image display unit 301, the time axis display unit 302, and the thumbnail display unit 303 on the display screen is displayed. Will be changed.
[0062]
The instantaneous change exclusion setting unit 307 is a display for input setting when the scene having the scene length 1 is excluded from the scenes included in the image group table as described above. When the user checks the check box on the left side of the instantaneous change exclusion setting unit 307 with the mouse, a scene corresponding to the image group table as shown in FIG. 7B is set.
[0063]
The time display unit 308 displays the date and time when the image displayed on the main image display unit 301 was captured. In the time display unit 308, setting values can be selected and input from the pull-down menu for each input item for the displayed date and time.
[0064]
The reproduction operation unit 309 is a display for allowing a user to perform a desired operation when the scenes set as described above are sequentially displayed on the main image display unit 301 and reproduced as a moving image. On the upper part of the reproduction operation unit 309, a button for shifting to the preceding scene and a button for shifting to the succeeding scene are arranged based on the scene at that time. In the center of the playback operation unit 309, a stop button, a playback button, and a double speed playback button are arranged for realizing a playback function similar to that of a video player when playing back each scene. In addition, a dial operation unit for realizing a similar reproduction function using a dial operation instead of a button operation is disposed below the reproduction operation unit 309.
[0065]
In the present embodiment, the surveillance camera 2 performs shooting at a relatively slow speed, for example, about one frame per second. In this case, when the playback button is pressed, the display image of the main image display unit 301 is similarly switched at the display timing of one frame per second. On the other hand, when the double-speed playback button is pressed, the display image of the main image display unit 301 is switched at a display timing of two frames per second.
[0066]
As described above, the user can perform various operations while referring to the display screen of the image display terminal 12 by performing the image search process and the display process in the monitoring system of the present embodiment. In particular, since the main image display unit 301, the time axis display unit 302, and the thumbnail display unit 303 are integrally displayed on the display screen, even when there are a large number of images, time-series correspondences are displayed. It is possible to accurately search for a desired image. In addition, since the region designating unit 306 can limit the region where the presence / absence of change is to be determined, the image selectivity can be further improved.
[0067]
The configuration of the monitoring system can be changed as appropriate according to the application target. For example, in the configuration of the monitoring system shown in FIG. 1, the case where the image recording server 11 and the image display terminal 12 are configured separately is shown, but these may be configured integrally. In this case, a monitoring system may be configured by installing in the management center 1 a device having both the functions of the image recording server 11 and the image display terminal 12 (a device including the components shown in FIGS. 2 and 4).
[0068]
In the above embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to the monitoring system has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention can be widely applied to image display systems having various uses. In this case, although the configuration in which the image data is transmitted from the plurality of monitoring cameras 2 is shown in the present embodiment, the configuration may be such that the image data is output from various devices other than the monitoring camera 2, such as a VTR.
[0069]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, when a desired image selected from a large number of images is displayed, the display screen on which the time axis display unit, the sub-image display unit, and the main image display unit are arranged is displayed on the user. Therefore, it is possible to improve image selectivity and visibility in the image display system by a simple operation.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a monitoring system according to an embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image recording server.
FIG. 3A is an example of dividing the entire image into 16 rectangular regions in relation to the concept of image division and determination of the presence / absence of change for each region in the present embodiment. 3 (b) is an example of a change table that includes a determination result of whether or not there is a change for each region of the image.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image display terminal.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a search condition table generated by a search instruction unit of an image display terminal.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a search table managed by a table management unit of the image display terminal.
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image group table generated based on a determination result by an image group determination unit of the image display terminal.
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an entire display screen displayed on the display unit of the image display terminal.
9 is an enlarged view of a time axis display unit in the display screen shown in FIG.
10 is an enlarged view of a thumbnail display section in the display screen shown in FIG.
11 is an enlarged view of an area designating part in the display screen shown in FIG.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 ... Management Center
2 ... surveillance camera
3 ... Internet
11: Image recording server
12. Image display terminal
13 ... Router
14. Image display terminal
101 ... Control unit
102 ... Interface
103. Storage unit
104. Image processing unit
105 ... change table generation unit
201 ... control unit
202 ... Interface
203 ... operation unit
204 ... Search instruction section
205 ... Table management section
206 ... Search execution unit
207 ... Image group discrimination unit
208 ... Thumbnail generator
209: Display control unit
210 ... display section
301 ... main image display section
302: Time axis display section
303 ... Thumbnail display section
304 ... Camera selection unit
305 ... Calendar display section
306 ... Area designation part
307 ... Instantaneous change exclusion setting section
308: Time display section
309 ... Playback operation unit

Claims (3)

An image display system for displaying an image selected from a plurality of images,
A storage unit that stores a result of determining whether or not there is a temporal change and a shooting time together with the image for each region obtained by dividing the image into a plurality of regions,
An area designating unit for arbitrarily designating an area that an operator wants to focus on from the plurality of areas, a main image display unit for displaying a main image,
A display unit for displaying a time axis display unit for displaying a time axis indicating the entire photographing time of the image of the storage unit on at least the same screen;
When an area is designated from the area designation unit, a time during which there is an image determined to have changed when a difference from a reference image exceeds a predetermined threshold in the designated area from the image of the storage unit The main image is displayed by displaying a band in an identifiable manner on the time axis of the time axis display unit, and by designating a part of the time axis corresponding to a time zone in which an image in which an operator is determined to have changed exists. A display control unit for displaying a specified image on the display unit;
An image display system comprising: The display unit further includes a sub-image display unit that displays a representative screen in which an image is reduced,
When an area is specified by the area specifying unit, the display control unit selects an image determined to have changed in the specified area from the image of the storage unit, reduces the image, and reduces the image. The image display system according to claim 1, wherein the image is displayed as a representative image on the sub display unit. The image display system according to claim 1, wherein the display control unit causes the region designation unit to display whether or not a region is designated in the region designation unit.

Images