JP4718860B2 - Remote monitoring system and remote monitoring method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a remote monitoring system and a remote monitoring method, and more particularly to a remote monitoring system and a remote monitoring method capable of efficiently obtaining necessary and detailed local information.

  In recent years, remote monitoring systems that can monitor local monitoring targets via a network at a remote monitoring center have been put into practical use. In such a remote monitoring system, a narrow band such as a general line is used as a network due to restrictions on infrastructure and transportation costs. For this reason, it is difficult to transmit information acquired locally (local information) to the monitoring center in real time with the same amount of information (the network is not necessarily broadband). However, the remote monitoring system is required to be able to monitor the monitoring target in real time and to check the detailed local situation at a predetermined time such as when an abnormality occurs or at the time of subsequent verification.

  In this regard, the technology described in Patent Document 1 is known as a conventional remote monitoring system. In a conventional remote monitoring system, local information is reduced to an amount of information that can be transmitted in real time according to the communication capacity of the network. In normal times, the reduced local information (low density information) is transmitted in real time to a remote monitoring center (distant monitoring unit) via a network. On the other hand, local information is recorded locally while maintaining the amount of information. Then, at a predetermined time, this detailed local information (high-density information) is transmitted to a remote monitoring center.

  With this configuration, the conventional remote monitoring system uses two types of local information with different amounts of information, and provides accurate monitoring according to the purpose (acquisition of local information in real time in normal times and detailed local information at a given time) Acquisition) has been realized.

JP 2003-018552 A

  An object of this invention is to provide the remote monitoring system and remote monitoring method which can acquire required and detailed local information efficiently.

In order to achieve the above object, a remote monitoring system according to the present invention includes a local monitoring unit that is arranged in a site where the monitoring target is located and acquires information related to the monitoring target (hereinafter referred to as local information), and a remote location in the local area. And a remote monitoring system including a remote monitoring unit connected to the local monitoring unit via a network, wherein the local monitoring unit includes high-density local information (hereinafter referred to as high-density information). .) And low-density local information (hereinafter referred to as low-density information), record the high-density information in association with the low-density information, and transmit the low-density information to the remote monitoring unit via the network in substantially real time. and which, together with the local monitoring unit has an alarm sensor has the low density information of multi-frame image, and the far The monitoring unit displays a list in which the alarm occurrence time by the alarm sensor is associated with the frame numbers applied to the plurality of frame images. When an arbitrary frame number is designated from the list, the remote monitoring unit displays the frame A plurality of the frame images associated with a number are displayed, and when an arbitrary frame image is designated among the plurality of frame images, high-density information associated with the frame image is displayed from the local monitoring unit to the remote monitoring unit It is transmitted to.

  In this remote monitoring system, when the low-density information includes a plurality of frame images and any frame image is designated among these frame images, the high-density information associated with this frame image is transferred from the local monitoring unit to the remote monitoring unit. Sent to. Thereby, there is an advantage that necessary and detailed local information can be acquired quickly and accurately.

  In the remote monitoring system according to the present invention, a frame image with a higher resolution is associated as high-density information with the frame image with low-density information.

  This remote monitoring system has an advantage that necessary and detailed local information can be efficiently acquired because a frame image of higher resolution is associated with the frame image of low density information as high density information.

  In the remote monitoring system according to the present invention, a plurality of frame images are associated as high-density information with respect to one frame image included in low-density information.

  In this remote monitoring system, one frame image is associated as high-density information with respect to one frame image included in the low-density information. Therefore, there is an advantage that necessary and detailed local information can be efficiently acquired. is there.

  In the remote monitoring system according to the present invention, voice information, an alarm signal, and other additional field information are included in the associated high-density information.

  In this remote monitoring system, since the associated high-density information includes voice information, alarm signals, and other additional local information, there is an advantage that more detailed local information can be efficiently acquired.

  In the remote monitoring system according to the present invention, high-density information is compressed and recorded, and the lossless compression method is adopted as the compression method.

  In this remote monitoring system, high-density information is compressed and recorded, and a lossless compression method is adopted as the compression method. Therefore, more high-density information can be recorded and image information loss due to compression processing can be reduced. There is an advantage that can be reduced.

  In the remote monitoring system according to the present invention, a digital watermark is inserted into the high-density information.

  In this remote monitoring system, since a digital watermark is inserted into the high-density information, tampering of the high-density information is prevented, and there is an advantage that the reliability of the high-density information as property evidence is enhanced in the subsequent verification.

  In the remote monitoring system according to the present invention, predetermined high-density information is protected when an abnormality occurs.

  This remote monitoring system has an advantage that important local information is prevented from being lost because predetermined high-density information is protected when an abnormality occurs.

Further, the remote monitoring method according to the present invention is such that information related to a monitoring target (hereinafter referred to as local information) is acquired locally by the local monitoring unit, and the acquired local information is transmitted via the network to the local monitoring unit. Is a remote monitoring method transmitted from a remote to a remote monitoring unit, which generates high-density local information (hereinafter referred to as high-density information) and low-density local information (hereinafter referred to as low-density information). The step of recording the high-density information in association with the low-density information, the step of transmitting the low-density information from the local monitoring unit to the remote monitoring unit via the network in substantially real time, with low density information has a plurality of frame images, generation time and a double alarm by the remote monitor unit said alarm sensor A list in which frame numbers related to the frame images are associated with each other, and when an arbitrary frame number is designated from the list, the remote monitoring unit displays a plurality of the frame images associated with the frame numbers. And, when an arbitrary frame image is designated from among the plurality of frame images, high-density information associated with the frame image is transmitted from the on-site monitoring unit to the remote monitoring unit. To do.

  In the remote monitoring system according to the present invention, the low-density information includes a plurality of frame images, and when any frame image is designated among these frame images, the high-density information associated with the frame image is transmitted from the local monitoring unit. Since it is transmitted to the remote monitoring unit, there is an advantage that necessary and detailed local information can be acquired quickly and accurately.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments. The constituent elements of this embodiment include those that can be easily replaced by those skilled in the art or those that are substantially the same. In addition, a plurality of modifications described in this embodiment can be arbitrarily combined within a range obvious to those skilled in the art.

  FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a remote monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 to 5 are a block diagram (FIG. 2), a flowchart (FIG. 3) and an explanatory diagram (FIGS. 4 to 6) showing functions of the remote monitoring system described in FIG. 1. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a modification of the remote monitoring system shown in FIG.

[Remote monitoring system]
The remote monitoring system 1 includes an on-site monitoring unit 10 and a remote monitoring unit 20 (see FIG. 1). The local monitoring unit 10 is installed at a site where a monitoring target (such as a crime prevention facility or a disaster prevention facility) is located, and acquires information related to the monitoring target (hereinafter referred to as local information). The remote monitoring unit 20 is installed in a place (for example, a monitoring center) away from the site, and is connected to the site monitoring unit 10 via the network 30. This remote monitoring system 1 uses two types of local information (low-density information and high-density information) with different amounts of information, so that accurate monitoring according to the purpose (acquisition of local information in real time in normal times and predetermined information) Acquisition of detailed local information at the time).

  The local monitoring unit 10 includes a monitoring camera 11, a sound collecting microphone 12, an alarm sensor 13, a local control device 14, and a local recording device 15. A plurality of these elements 11 to 15 may be installed (see FIG. 1). The monitoring camera 11 is composed of, for example, a progressive camera, and is installed with its imaging direction directed to a local monitoring target. In addition, the monitoring camera 11 constantly captures an image of the monitoring target in the monitoring state, and transmits the image information to the local control device 14. The sound collection microphone 12 is installed in the vicinity of the monitoring target, constantly collects the sound in the vicinity in the monitoring state, and transmits the sound information to the local control device 14. The alarm sensor 13 is installed in the vicinity of the monitoring target, and transmits a warning signal to the local control device 14 when a predetermined abnormality occurs in the monitoring target (a predetermined abnormality is detected). The local control device 14 is based on the information related to the acquired monitoring target (image information from the monitoring camera 11, audio information from the sound collecting microphone 12, alarm signal from the alarm sensor 13, etc., hereinafter referred to as local information). Perform predetermined processing. The function of the local control device 14 will be described later. The local recording device 15 records the local information (high density information) processed by the local control device 14. At this time, the local recording device 15 may record the local information as compressed data, or may record it as uncompressed data.

  The remote monitoring unit 20 includes a remote control device 21, a remote recording device 22, a display monitor 23, and an operation panel 24. The remote control device 21 performs predetermined processing based on the local information from the local monitoring unit 10. The remote recording device 22 records the local information from the local monitoring unit 10. The display monitor 23 displays image information included in the local information. The operation panel 24 is used for inputting a command by a monitor.

  The network 30 is an information communication network including the Internet, a LAN (Local Area Network), and the like. The network 30 is not necessarily broadband, and includes a narrow band such as a general line.

[Functions of local control equipment]
The local control device 14 included in the local monitoring unit 10 includes a high-density information generation unit 141 and a low-density information generation unit 142 (see FIG. 2).

  The high-density information generation unit 141 has a function of generating high-density information based on local information. This high-density information is high-density (detailed) local information and has an abundant amount of information that can confirm necessary information (possibly as property evidence) for subsequent verification and the like. For example, the high-density information includes a plurality of detailed frame images H1 to H4 with high resolution (see FIG. 4). Note that these frame images H1 to H4 may be compressed images or non-compressed images.

  The low density information generation unit 142 has a function of generating low density information based on local information. This low density information is local information that is lower in density (reduced) than high density information, and has a capacity that can be transmitted from the local monitoring unit 10 to the remote monitoring unit 20 in substantially real time. For example, the low density information includes a plurality of frame images L1 to L4 having a lower resolution (rougher) than the frame images H1 to H4 of the high density information. However, these frame images L <b> 1 to L <b> 4 need to have a resolution that can be used to specify local information that the monitor wants to acquire when displayed on the display monitor 23.

  The synchronization data creation unit 143 creates synchronization data that correlates (synchronizes) the created high density information and low density information with each other. For example, a plurality of frame images H1 to H4 included in the high-density information and a plurality of frame images L1 to L4 included in the low-density information are associated for each frame to create synchronization data (see FIG. 4). These associations are performed based on, for example, the frame number of the source image information (image information acquired by the monitoring camera 11), the imaging time, and the like. As a result, when an arbitrary frame image L3 is designated (selected) from the low-density information frame images L1 to L4, the high-density information related thereto (such as the frame image H3 and its audio information) is quickly identified. . The created synchronization data is stored in the local recording device 15 (or the memory of the local control device 14) as a database.

[Action]
In this remote monitoring system 1, the local information regarding the monitoring target is always acquired by the local monitoring unit 10 at normal times, and a part of the local information (low density information) is networked to the remote monitoring unit 20 remote from the local. 30 in real time (see FIG. 1). That is, the local information transmitted in normal time is limited to a part of information (low density information) that can be transmitted in real time. Then, at a predetermined time such as when an abnormality occurs or at the time of subsequent verification, detailed local information (high-density information) is transmitted from the local monitoring unit 10 to the remote monitoring unit 20 according to designation from the remote monitoring unit 20 side. Is transmitted through.

  More specifically, first, the local information regarding the monitoring target is always acquired by the monitoring camera 11, the sound collecting microphone 12, the alarm sensor 13 and the like of the local monitoring unit 10 at normal times (ST11) (see FIG. 3). Next, using the local information as a source, high-density information and low-density information are generated by the local control device 14 (ST12). The low-density information includes a plurality of low-resolution frame images L1 to L4, and the high-density information includes high-resolution frame images H1 to H4 corresponding to the low-density information frame images L1 to L4. (See FIG. 4). At this time, the local control device 14 creates synchronization data that correlates the low density information (frame images L1 to L4) and the high density information (frame images H1 to H4) (ST13). Then, the high density information is recorded by the local recording device 15 (ST14), and the low density information is transmitted from the local control device 14 to the remote control device 21 in real time via the network 30 (ST15).

  Next, when the remote control device 21 receives the low density information, the low density information is recorded in the remote recording device 22 and displayed on the display monitor 23 (ST21, ST22). At this time, for example, a list in which the alarm occurrence time by the alarm sensor 13 and the video (image) related to the time before and after this time (for example, 60 seconds before and after) is associated is displayed on the display monitor 23 (see FIG. 5). When an arbitrary frame number is designated from the display list, the corresponding low density information is displayed on the display monitor 23 (see FIG. 6). As a result, it is possible to search for high-density information (detailed image) based on the frame number and time information (such as alarm occurrence time and recording time).

  At this time, the low-density information is sequentially arranged and displayed by the thumbnail method for each time when the plurality of frame images L1 to L4 are acquired (see FIG. 6A). Next, when an arbitrary frame image L3 is designated from the displayed frame images L1 to L4 at a predetermined time, a designation command is transmitted from the remote control device 21 to the local control device 14 (ST23). Specifically, a necessary person (one that requires detailed local information) is selected and designated from the frame images L1 to L4 displayed by the monitor. The designation input is performed on the screen of the display monitor 23 via the operation panel 24.

  Next, when the local controller 14 receives a designation command (designation of an arbitrary frame image L3), high-density information (such as the frame image H3 and its audio information) related to the designated frame image L3 is based on the synchronization data. Then, it is read from the local recording device 15 to the local control device 14 (ST16). Then, the read high-density information is transmitted from the local controller 14 to the remote controller 21 (ST17).

  Next, when the remote control device 21 receives the high-density information, the high-density information is recorded in the remote recording device 22 and displayed on the display monitor 23 (ST24, ST25). For example, the high-density information frame image H3 corresponding to the designated low-density information frame image L3 is enlarged and displayed on the display monitor 23 (see FIG. 6B). Further, the frame image H3 can be further partially enlarged (see FIG. 6C). Thereby, detailed local information is quickly acquired within a necessary and sufficient range.

[effect]
Here, in the conventional remote monitoring unit, when an abnormality occurs or at the time of subsequent verification, the time zone required for the local information is designated by manual operation of the monitor or in conjunction with the alarm sensor, and based on this designation command The local information for a predetermined time (such as high-resolution video) is transmitted to the remote monitoring unit. In such a configuration, since it is necessary to search for necessary information (for example, a detailed image showing the criminal's face and clothes) from the transmitted local information, it takes time to acquire the truly necessary information. There is such a problem.

  In this regard, in this remote monitoring system 1, when the low-density information includes a plurality of frame images L1 to L4 and any frame image L3 is designated among these frame images L1 to L4, the remote image is associated with the frame image L3. The obtained high-density information (frame image H3, audio information, etc.) is transmitted from the local monitoring unit 10 to the remote monitoring unit 20. Therefore, there is an advantage that necessary and detailed local information can be quickly and accurately acquired as compared with a configuration in which high-density information to be transmitted is specified by a time zone. Further, there is an advantage that the cost for using the network 30 is reduced. Further, even when the network 30 is a narrow band such as a general line, there is an advantage that necessary and detailed local information can be efficiently acquired.

[Modification 1]
In this remote monitoring system 1, higher-resolution frame images H1 to H4 are associated as high-density information with low-density information frame images L1 to L4 (see FIG. 4). In other words, low-density information (frame images L1 to L4) is reduced to an information amount (capacity) that can be transmitted in real time by reducing the resolution.

  In such a configuration, when an arbitrary frame image L3 is designated from among the plurality of frame images L1 to L4 included in the low density information, the high-resolution frame image H3 associated therewith is remotely monitored from the field monitoring unit 10. Sent to the unit 20. This has the advantage that necessary and detailed local information can be efficiently acquired.

[Modification 2]
Further, in this remote monitoring system 1, one frame image H1 to H4 is associated (one to one) as high density information with respect to one frame image L1 to L4 included in the low density information (FIG. 4). reference). However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and a plurality of frame images H1 to H4 may be associated as high density information with respect to one frame image L1 to L4 included in the low density information (see FIG. 7). That is, low-density information is reduced to an information amount that can be transmitted in real time by reducing the frame rate.

  In such a configuration, when an arbitrary frame image L3 is designated from among a plurality of frame images L1 to L4 included in the low density information, a plurality of frame images H2 and H3 (or H2 to H4, etc.) associated therewith are designated. Is transmitted from the local monitoring unit 10 to the remote monitoring unit 20. This has the advantage that necessary and detailed local information can be efficiently acquired.

  In this configuration, the low-density information frame images L1 to L4 and the high-density information frame images H1 to H4 may have the same resolution (see FIG. 7) or different resolutions. (Not shown). That is, low-density information may be reduced to an amount of information that can be transmitted in real time by both the frame rate and the resolution. Accordingly, there is an advantage that the information amount of the low density information can be easily adjusted.

[Modification 3]
In the remote monitoring system 1, the high-density information associated with the remote monitoring system 1 may include voice information, an alarm signal, and other additional local information. That is, the high-density information associated is not limited to the frame images H1 to H4. Thereby, there exists an advantage by which more detailed local information is acquired efficiently.

  Note that the audio information is generally data (audio file) having a large capacity that is continuous in time. Therefore, in a configuration in which audio information is included in high-density information, it is preferable that audio data for a predetermined time before and after frame images L1 to L4 of arbitrary designated low-density information can be reproduced. . This has the advantage that necessary and sufficient audio information can be acquired without imposing a burden on the network.

[Modification 4]
In the remote monitoring system 1, high-density information is compressed and recorded by the local monitoring unit 10 (local recording device 15), and a lossless compression method (lossless compression method) is adopted as the compression method. Is preferred. Thus, there is an advantage that more high-density information can be recorded in the local recording device 15 and loss of image information due to compression processing can be reduced.

  Such a compression method includes, for example, JPEG2000 (Joint Photographic Experts Group). Note that the configuration employing JPEG 2000 as the compression method has the advantage of improving the quality of the compressed image and the advantage of reducing block noise compared to the configuration employing JPEG. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a compression method using irreversible compression may be employed according to product specifications (required resolution of high-density information, etc.).

[Modification 5]
In this remote monitoring system 1, it is preferable that a digital watermark is inserted into the high-density information (not shown). For example, the local control apparatus 14 includes a digital watermark insertion unit 144, and the digital watermark insertion unit 144 inserts a digital watermark into frame images H1 to H4 of high-density information. As a result, falsification of the high-density information is prevented, and there is an advantage that the reliability as the property evidence of the high-density information is enhanced in the subsequent verification. The insertion of the digital watermark is realized by adopting JPEG2000, for example.

[Modification 6]
In this remote monitoring system 1, it is preferable that predetermined high-density information is protected when an abnormality occurs in the monitoring target (when an abnormality occurs). For example, the local control device 14 has a high-density information protection unit 145, and the high-density information protection unit 145 has predetermined high-density information when an abnormality occurs (for example, high-density information for a predetermined time before and after the abnormality occurs). Protect. Specifically, important high-density information is protected by overwriting prohibition or backup for a certain period. This has the advantage of preventing the loss of important local information. In normal times, when the storage capacity of the local recording device 15 is full, high-density images are sequentially overwritten and recorded.

  As described above, the remote monitoring system and the remote monitoring method according to the present invention are useful in that necessary and detailed local information can be efficiently acquired.

It is a block diagram which shows the remote monitoring system concerning the Example of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function of the remote monitoring system described in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the function of the remote monitoring system described in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the function of the remote monitoring system described in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the function of the remote monitoring system described in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the function of the remote monitoring system described in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the modification of the remote monitoring system described in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Remote monitoring system 10 Local monitoring unit 10 Local monitoring apparatus 11 Monitoring camera 12 Sound collecting microphone 13 Alarm sensor 14 Local control apparatus 15 Local recording apparatus 20 Remote monitoring unit 21 Remote control apparatus 22 Remote recording apparatus 23 Display monitor 24 Operation panel 30 Network 141 High Density Information Generation Unit 142 Low Density Information Generation Unit 143 Synchronization Data Creation Unit 144 Digital Watermark Insertion Unit 145 High Density Information Protection Unit

Claims (8)

A local monitoring unit that is arranged at a site where the monitoring target is located and obtains information related to the monitoring target (hereinafter referred to as local information), and a remote monitoring unit that is located far from the site and that is connected to the local monitoring unit via a network A remote monitoring system including a connected remote monitoring unit,
The local monitoring unit generates high-density local information (hereinafter referred to as high-density information) and low-density local information (hereinafter referred to as low-density information), and records the high-density information in association with the low-density information. In addition, low-density information is sent to the remote monitoring unit via the network in near real time.
The local monitoring unit has an alarm sensor, and the low-density information has a plurality of frame images ; and
The remote monitoring unit displays a list in which the alarm occurrence time by the alarm sensor is associated with the frame numbers applied to the plurality of frame images. When an arbitrary frame number is designated from the list, the remote monitoring unit A plurality of the frame images associated with the frame number are displayed, and when an arbitrary frame image is designated among the plurality of frame images, the high-density information associated with the frame image is distant from the field monitoring unit. A remote monitoring system, wherein the remote monitoring system is transmitted to a monitoring unit.   The distant monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein a higher-resolution frame image is associated as high-density information with respect to the frame image of low-density information.   The remote monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of frame images are associated as high-density information with respect to one frame image included in low-density information.   The remote monitoring system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the associated high-density information includes voice information, an alarm signal, and other additional local information.   The remote monitoring system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein high-density information is compressed and recorded, and a reversible compression method is adopted as the compression method.   The remote monitoring system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a digital watermark is inserted into the high-density information.   The remote monitoring system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein predetermined high-density information is protected when an abnormality occurs. Distant information in which information related to the monitoring target (hereinafter referred to as local information) is acquired locally by the local monitoring unit, and the acquired local information is transmitted from the local monitoring unit to the remote remote monitoring unit via the network A monitoring method,
Generating high-density local information (hereinafter referred to as high-density information) and low-density local information (hereinafter referred to as low-density information);
Recording the high density information in association with the low density information;
Transmitting the low-density information from the local monitoring unit to the remote monitoring unit via the network in substantially real time;
The low-density information includes a plurality of frame images, and the remote monitoring unit displays a list in which the alarm generation time by the alarm sensor is associated with the frame numbers applied to the plurality of frame images. When a frame number is specified, the remote monitoring unit displays the plurality of frame images associated with the frame number, and when any frame image is specified among the plurality of frame images, the remote monitoring unit associates with the frame image. Transmitted high density information from the field monitoring unit to the remote monitoring unit;
The remote monitoring method characterized by including.

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