JPH08322032A - Video transmitter and video transmission system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To transmit plural camera videos with small line capacity. CONSTITUTION: A computer 20 makes a camera video input device 12 select an arbitrary one of video cameras 10-1 to 10-N by issuing a command. The computer 20 sends out a selected camera video from an interface 32 to a network. When the cameras 10-1 to 10-N are switched in circulation at a fixed time (for example, ten seconds) interval and video transmission is started up corresponding such switching, all camera videos are transmitted as still pictures being updated at every ten seconds. When the video transmission is started up at a period shorter than the switching of the camera video, each camera video is transmitted at a shorter update rate until switching to the next camera video is performed. When the video transmission is started up corresponding to the switching of the camera video and also, the video transmission of a specific camera video is started up at the shorter period, only the specific camera video is transmitted at the shorter update rate.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video transmission device and a video transmission system for transmitting output images from a plurality of image input means to a plurality of points.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a video conference system or a video conference system using a general-purpose computer, a video camera capable of externally controlling pan, tilt, zoom and the like is used as an image input means. In this case, one video camera is usually connected to one computer,
The camera is installed so that it takes a picture of the operator of the computer.

Further, in recent years, research and development of a system called an awareness system has been advanced as a tool for grasping the situation of a plurality of remote places. This system
Normally, a video camera that can be controlled by a computer at multiple points and a computer for controlling the video camera and transmitting the input image are arranged, and the images from the multiple points can be displayed at the center in a remote place. It is designed to be viewed at the same time, and is similar to a so-called remote monitoring system. Even in the proposed awareness system, it is often the case that one video camera is connected to one computer.

[0004]

Even with a video camera capable of panning, tilting and zooming, there is a limit to the movable range of the video camera. Only the image in the narrow area around can be captured.

Further, since one computer is required to control one video camera, it is difficult to add another video camera in terms of cost.

It is an object of the present invention to present a video transmission device that can input a video in a wider range at a lower cost.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a video transmission device in which a plurality of input video images can be handled by a single computer.

Further, it is not difficult to control a plurality of video cameras with a single computer, but in order to transmit output images of a plurality of video cameras,
Simply thinking, the line capacity for the number of video cameras is required, and the communication cost burden increases in proportion to the number of video cameras.

Therefore, it is another object of the present invention to provide a video transmission device capable of transmitting more video with a smaller transmission capacity.

When a video camera is connected to a computer for video communication, one video camera is connected to one computer, so that the cost for adding a video camera is high. In order to solve this, a configuration in which camera images are switched by a switcher and transmitted, or a configuration in which a device for inputting the image output of a plurality of video cameras into a computer is installed so that a plurality of images can be transmitted can be considered. In the former, a plurality of videos are switched while being transmitted, and thus the transmitted videos tend to be unnatural.
Further, in the latter case, there is a problem that a video transmission path must be secured for each camera, a large communication capacity is required, and further, a CPU load for video transmission becomes large.

An object of the present invention is to provide a video transmission system that solves such problems.

[0012]

A video transmitting apparatus according to the present invention includes a plurality of externally controllable video input means, and video input switching for selecting each output video of the plurality of video input means in a predetermined order and timing. And a means for outputting the video information selected by the video input switching means to the transmission line.

The video input switching means selects an output video of a predetermined one of the plurality of video input means so that the output video has a frame rate higher than a predetermined rate.

The video input switching means also outputs an output video from a predetermined one of the plurality of video input means.
The frame rate is selected to be a predetermined frame rate or higher, and the output video from the other video input means is selected at a frame rate slower than the predetermined frame rate.

The video transmission system according to the present invention is
Externally controllable video input means, video input switching means for selecting each output video of the video input means in a predetermined order and timing, and video information selected by the video input switching means on a transmission path. The video transmission means having an output means for outputting, and selectively outputting the input video from the plurality of video input means to the transmission path is controllable from one or more arbitrary remote control means, and output from the video transmission means. A video transmission system in which the video to be displayed can be freely displayed on one or more arbitrary video display means by video transmission from the video transmission means to the one or more video display means and by the one or more remote control means. A management means for managing the remote operation is provided, and the video transmission means refers to the management information managed by the management means to refer to the switching order and timing of the video input switching means. And determining a grayed.

The video transmission system according to the present invention also includes
Operating one or more video transmission means connected to the above video input means and one or more video input means arbitrarily selected from one or more video input means connected to the one or more video transmission means, What is claimed is: 1. A video transmission system comprising one or more operation display means for displaying an image, which is connected via a network, wherein video transmission from the one or more video transmission means to the one or more operation display means, and It is characterized in that management means for managing the remote operation of the video input means by one or more operation display means is provided.

The video transmission system according to the present invention further includes
Under control of the above video input means, one or more video transmission means for selectively outputting the input video of the one or more video input means to the transmission path, and one or more for receiving and displaying the video from the transmission path Video display means, remote control means for remotely operating the video input means of the one or more video transmission means, video transmission from the one or more video transmission means to the one or more video display means, and It is characterized by comprising management means for managing remote operation of the video input means by one or more remote operation means.

[0018]

With the above means, one unit can control a plurality of video input means. Since a plurality of image input means are provided, it is possible to capture a wider range of images. With these, the cost at one point can be significantly reduced.

Furthermore, by preferentially selecting one output video from among the plurality of video input means, it is possible to select moving image transmission or still image transmission. That is, the video input means for picking up the portion to be focused on is selected so as to have a high frame rate, and the other video input means is selected at a shorter frame rate. As a result, the video is transmitted at a frame rate according to the importance, and it becomes possible to transmit a large amount of video with a small line capacity while achieving the initial purpose.

Since the managing means manages the use status of the video and the remote operation status, the video transmitting means can effectively determine the video to be transmitted and its priority by referring to the management information. Like

[0021]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. 10-1, 10-2, ..., 10-N
Is a video camera whose pan, tilt, zoom, focus and the like can be externally controlled, and 12 is a video camera according to a control signal from the computer 20.
2, ..., 10-N, select one output video signal,
It is a camera image input selection device supplied to the computer 20. The camera image input selection device 12 also receives the video camera 1 according to the camera control signal from the computer 20.
Controls panning of a video camera arbitrarily designated among 0-1, 10-2, ..., 10-N. The control signal line connecting the camera image input / selection device 12 and the computer 20 is RS-232C in this embodiment, but it is obvious that the present invention is not limited to this.

In the computer 20, 22 is a CPU for controlling the whole, 24 is a main memory, 26 is a control signal port for outputting a control signal for controlling the camera image input selection device 12, and 28 is a camera image input selection device. A video capture device for A / D-converting a video signal from 12; a bitmap display 30; a network interface 32 for connecting the computer 20 to a computer network or a communication network;
An internal bus 4 connects the CPU 22 to the interface 32 to each other. The network interface 32 sends a camera control signal from a remote place to the computer 20 via the network, and the camera 10-1,
It is possible to control pans 10-2, ..., 10-N.

The camera image input selection device 12 is a
Of the cameras 10-1, 10-2, ..., 10-N,
One output image designated by the control signal from the control signal port 26 of the computer 20 is selected and supplied to the video capture device 28. The video capture device 28 performs analog-to-digital conversion of the video signal from the camera video input selection device 12, converts it into a predetermined internal format, and transfers it to the main memory 24 via the bus 34. The video data captured in the main memory 24 is output to the network via the network interface 32 and also supplied to the display 30 to be displayed as an image.

In this embodiment, each of the cameras 10-1, 10-
Transmission channels on the network for transmitting output images 2, ..., 10-N are logically referred to as channel 1, channel 2 ,. Video data is actually compression-encoded and transmitted to each channel, but since it is not an essential element of the present invention, the description of the compression-encoding process is omitted. Further, in this embodiment,
Of the N cameras, the output video of one camera is transmitted at a high frame rate, and the output video of the other camera is transmitted at a relatively low frame rate, so that the transmission capacity of each channel is all 30 frames. There is no need to meet / sec. It suffices to dynamically allocate a sufficiently large transmission capacity to a channel that transmits video at a high frame rate.

In this embodiment, the video is transmitted using the broadcast address. A channel number is assigned to the N port numbers reserved for broadcasting. By specifying a channel when broadcasting, it becomes possible to broadcast multiple videos at substantially the same time. The network protocol is T
There are various types such as CP / IP, and the address to be transmitted includes a multicast address and a unicast address in addition to the broadcast address. In this embodiment, the cameras 10-1, 10-2, ..., 10-N are used.
The protocols and addresses are not limited to the above examples as long as the communication paths can be secured by the number of the above.

By securing such N communication paths,
For example, the output video of the camera 10-1 is transmitted to the channel 1, the output video of the camera 10-2 is transmitted to the channel 2,
The output image of the camera 10-m (m is 1 or more and N or less) is transmitted to the channel m.

The following commands are provided as commands for instructing the start of video transmission. That is, send (m) m: channel number (1 ≦ m ≦ N) In response to this command, the video capture device 28 sends 1 from the camera image input selection device 12 as shown in FIG.
A / D conversion of video signals for frames and capture (S
1) The captured image is displayed on the display 30 (S2) and output to the channel m of the network through the network interface 32 (S).
3).

Further, the following command is provided as a camera video selection switching command to the camera video input selection device 12. That is, change (n) n: camera number (1 ≦ n ≦ N) This command instructs the camera image input selection device 12 to select the camera image of camera number n and output it to the computer 20. The control signal corresponding to this is supplied from the control signal port 26 to the camera image input selection device 12. In the example actually tested,
It took about 1 second to execute the e command. Of course, it may be faster or slower depending on the processing speed of each unit.

In this embodiment, each of the N camera images can be operated so as to be transmitted as a still image updated at regular time intervals. As a result, the capacity of the transmission line can be smaller than the number of videos to be transmitted. In the following description, a continuously displayed image whose frame is updated in 1 second or more is called a “still image”, while a continuous image whose frame is updated at a shorter rate. Is called a "moving image". That is, in this embodiment,
A frame rate of less than 1 frame / second is called a still image, and a frame rate of 1 frame / second or more is called a moving image.

FIG. 3 shows a first operation flowchart of this embodiment. First, on the network, the camera 10-1,
The same number of N communication channels as the number of 10-N are secured (S11). 1 is set to the camera number variable n that specifies the camera for transmitting one frame (S12). Here, the initial value of the variable n is 1, but 0 or 2 to N-1
Obviously any number up to can be set.

In order to cyclically switch the cameras for transmitting images, the change command and the send command may be issued at fixed time intervals. In FIG. 3, this is realized by the timeout procedure. That is, change
The issue cycle of the send command for switching the video by the e command and capturing and transmitting one frame of video is Ts (seconds), and this is registered as the timeout time (S1).
3). Here, Ts = 10 seconds.

When the occurrence of a time-out, that is, the elapse of Ts is waited (S14) and the occurrence of a time-out is detected (S1)
5). In order to take into account the time consumed in the subsequent processing, Ts is again time-out registered (S16).

The camera number variable n is incremented (S
17), if larger than N (S18), 1 is set to the variable n (S19). Using this camera number variable n as a parameter, the camera image input is switched by the change command (S20), and one frame of the camera image is transmitted by the send command to the channel with the channel number n (S21). Since the same variable n is used as a parameter in the change command and the send command, the camera image of the camera number n is transmitted to the communication channel of the channel number n.

After issuing the send instruction, the process returns to S14 and waits for the next timeout.

In this way, the cameras 10-1, 10-
2, ..., 10-N output images are cyclically selected at time intervals of Ts (here, 10 seconds) and transmitted to the corresponding channels. Seen from the receiving side, the image of each camera is a still image updated every Ts × N.

The time required for the processing of S17 to S21 is Tp.
Then, it is clear that the timeout time Ts may be Ts> Tp. That is, Ts does not have to be 10 seconds as long as the above equation is satisfied. In the present embodiment, the processing time of the change instruction is set to about 1 second, so Tp does not become smaller than 1 second. Therefore,
Ts cannot be smaller than 1 second.

By operating in this way, each camera image is transmitted at a low frame rate, and a low-speed computer can sufficiently cope with it. Although the receiving side can receive a large number of camera images at a low frame rate, it can roughly understand a wide range.

In this embodiment, one of the N camera images can be transmitted as a moving image for a predetermined period, and the camera images to be transmitted as a moving image can be sequentially switched at a constant cycle. The image of the camera that does not send the image is
It becomes a still image on the receiving side. As a result, as compared with the case of FIG. 3, it is possible for the receiving side to more finely grasp the temporal change in the shooting range of each camera, although it is cyclical and intermittent. A flow chart for realizing such an operation is shown in FIG. In FIG. 4, in addition to the time variable Ts for switching camera images, a time variable ts that defines the frame period of moving image transmission is introduced.

First, the camera 10-1, on the network,
The same number of N communication channels as the number of 10-N are secured (S31). 1 is set to the camera number variable n which specifies the camera for transmitting one frame (S32). Variable n
May be any of 1 to N. The time variables Ts and ts are time-out registered (S33, 34), and an event (time-out here) is awaited (S35).
Here, ts = 0.1 seconds.

When the occurrence of timeout is detected (S3
6), it is determined whether it is due to Ts or ts (S37). In the case of a timeout due to ts, ts is registered again for timeout (S3
8) Then, by the send command using the camera number variable n as a parameter, one frame of the output image of the camera with the camera number n is transmitted to the channel n (S39), and the process returns to S35. T
Until the time corresponding to s (that is, 10 seconds) elapses, t
The image of the camera 10-n is output to the channel n with a cycle of s (0.1 seconds). That is, the image of the camera 10-n is displayed at a frame rate of 10 frames / sec for 10 seconds,
Output to channel n.

When the time-out occurs due to Ts (S37), Ts is first time-out registered again (S40). The camera number variable n is incremented (S41), and when it is larger than N (S42), 1 is set to the variable n (S43). Using the camera number variable n as a parameter, the camera video input is switched by the change command (S44), and the process returns to S35 to wait for the occurrence of the next event.

In this way, when the image of the camera 10-1 is transmitted for 10 seconds at 10 frames / second, the camera 1
Images 0-2 are similarly transmitted at 10 frames / sec for 10 seconds. The cameras 10-3, ... 10-N are switched, and after the camera 10-N, the camera 10-3 is switched again.
The image of -1 is transmitted as a moving image for 10 seconds. When viewed from the receiving side, each camera image is displayed as a moving image for 10 seconds and then becomes a still image for 10 × (N−1) seconds. In this operation example, the transmission capacity of the transmission line may be 10 frames / second.

The time required to execute the processing of S41 to S44 must be shorter than Ts. Of course, T
Must be s> ts.

In the present embodiment, one of N camera images is transmitted with emphasis, that is, as a moving image, and the remaining N images are transmitted.
It is also possible to send one camera image as a still image that is updated at regular intervals. FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of the operation.

FIG. 5 will be described. First, N communication paths, which are the same as the number of cameras, are secured on the network (S51).
Camera number variable n that specifies the camera to send one frame
Is set to 1 (S52). The camera number of the camera transmitting the moving image is set in the variable k (S53). The variable k is
Although it may be any of 1 to N, it is set to 1 here. The change command switches the camera that captures the image to the camera with camera number k (S54).

Time variable T for switching camera images
s and a time variable ts that defines the frame period of moving image transmission
Each value of is registered as a timeout (S55, S56), and the occurrence of an event is waited for (S57). Here, Ts = 10
Seconds, ts = 0.1 seconds.

When the occurrence of the time-out of Ts or ts is detected (S58), S60 and subsequent steps are executed in the time-out of ts, and S62 and subsequent steps are executed in the time-out of Ts (S59). Normally, first, a ts timeout occurs.

When ts has timed out (S59), t
s is re-registered as a timeout again (S60), and one frame of the camera image of camera number k is transmitted to channel k (S60).
61), and returns to S57. Since Ts = 10 seconds and ts = 0.1 seconds, the camera image of camera number k is transmitted at 10 frames / second for 10 seconds.

When a time-out of Ts occurs (S5
9), Ts is re-registered for timeout again (S62),
The camera number n is incremented (S63). When the new camera number n matches k (S64), n is further incremented (S65). This is because the camera image of camera number k is the target of the moving image transmission. n is N
If n is exceeded, 1 is set to n (S66, S6
7).

The camera to be transmitted is switched to the camera with the camera number n by the change command (S68), and sen
One frame of camera image of camera number n is transmitted to channel n by the d command (S69), and the camera to be transmitted is ch
The camera is switched to the camera with the camera number k by the change instruction (S70). It returns to S57 again and waits for the occurrence of an event.

Ts must be set to a time longer than the time required to perform the processing of S63 to S70. Of course, ts must be shorter than Ts.

In this way, the image of the camera 10-1 can be transmitted as a moving image and the image of the other cameras can be transmitted as a still image while switching at intervals of 10 seconds. Which video is from which camera can be identified by the transmission channel through which each video is transmitted. Seen from the receiving side, the image of the camera 10-1 is the time required for the process of transmitting one frame of another camera image every 10 seconds, that is, S63 to S7.
The moving image is interrupted for the time required for processing 0, and the other camera images are still images that are updated every 10 × (N−1) seconds.

Such a function or operation is suitable for a TV conference system, a video conference system, or the like when it is desired to display an image of the operator of the partner terminal while still displaying the surrounding situation.

In the operation example shown in FIG. 3, if each camera image can be switched at high speed, each camera image can be transmitted as a moving image. For example, when the Tp described above can be set to 0.05 seconds or less and N is about 10, the frame rate of each camera image is 2 {= 1 / (T × N)} frames / second, According to the definition above, it can be regarded as a movie. Of course,
Obviously, this requires that the change instruction can be executed at high speed.

By doing so, it is possible to transmit the video of the situation at a plurality of points with a small line capacity.

Next, a description will be given of an embodiment in which an access management means for integrally managing the video transmission / reception between the video communication terminals and the camera control is provided. FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram of the embodiment. 100-1, 100-2, ... 100-K
Is a video communication device for inputting, transmitting, receiving and displaying video, and is generally a workstation to which a video camera is connected. Video communication device 100-
1, 100-2, ... 100-K is a network 1
02 can be connected to each other to exchange images.

FIG. 7 shows the video communication devices 100-1 and 100.
FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing a hardware configuration of −2, ..., 100-K. 110-1, 110-2, ...
110-N is a video camera whose pan, tilt, zoom, focus and the like can be externally controlled, and 112 is a video camera 11 according to a control signal from a computer 120.
0-1, 110-2, ..., 110-N select one output video signal (either NTSC signal, S video signal or RGB signal), and select the camera video input to be supplied to the computer 120. It is a device. The camera image input selection device 112 also receives the video cameras 110-1, 110 according to the camera control signal from the computer 120.
Control panning of a video camera arbitrarily designated of -2, ..., 110-N. The control signal line connecting the camera image input / selection device 112 and the computer 120 is
Although the present embodiment is based on RS-232C, it is clear that the present invention is not limited to this.

In the computer 120, 122 is a CPU for controlling the whole, 124 is a main memory, 126 is a control signal port for outputting a control signal for controlling the camera image input selection device 112, and 128 is a camera image input selection device 112. A video capture device for A / D converting the video signal from the device, 130 is a bitmap display, 132 is a network interface for connecting the computer 120 to a computer network (including a public communication network) 102, 134 is a mouse as a pointing device, 136 is a CPU1
22 to the mouse 134, which is an internal bus interconnecting each other. The network interface 132 sends a camera control signal from a remote place to the computer 120 via the network, and the cameras 110-1, 110-2,
..., 110-N pans and the like can be controlled.

The camera image input selection device 112 includes the video cameras 110-1, 110-2, ..., 110-N.
Among them, one output image designated by the control signal from the control signal port 126 of the computer 120 is selected and supplied to the video capture device 128. video·
The capture device 128 is the camera image input selection device 11
The video signal from 2 is converted into a predetermined internal format while being analog-digital converted, and transferred to the main memory 124 via the bus 136. The video data captured in the main memory 124 is output to the network 102 via the network interface 132 and also supplied to the display 130 to be displayed as an image.

With the above configuration, each video communication device 100
-1, 100-2, ... 100-K can send and receive video information to and from each other via the network 102, and other video communication devices 100-1, 100-2 ,.
You can control the camera connected to.

In this embodiment, all the cameras connected to the network 102 are specified by the host name of the computer to which they are connected and the camera number in that computer. Specifically, enter the computer's host name and camera number in '. Use the camera name linked with '. For example, camera number 1 connected to the computer with host name hostA
The camera name "hostA.1" is attached to the camera. One video transmission channel (or channel number) is assigned to each camera connected to the network 102 by an access management process described later.

In this embodiment, broadcast communication is also used for video transmission, and video transmission to a plurality of points is possible. The channel number is the port number of the broadcast address, and by specifying the channel number, data can be transmitted to the specific port of the broadcast address. Regarding video reception, the video data on the network 102 is the network interface 132.
Captured by the bitmap display 130.
Is displayed on the screen. By specifying the channel number, the target camera video can be received from the broadcast video.

Video data is actually compression-encoded and transmitted to each channel, but since it is not an essential element of the present invention, the description of the compression-encoding process is omitted.

FIG. 8 shows a video communication apparatus 100-1, 100-2, ... Or 100 having a host name hostA.
It is a screen example of a monitor display of -K. It is assumed that four video cameras are connected to this video communication device.

Reference numeral 140 is an input video window for displaying an input video from a camera directly connected to this video communication device. The input video window 140 is composed of video display areas 140-1, ... 140-4 for displaying the video of each of the video cameras directly connected to the video communication device. Underneath 140-4, the camera name of the image displayed in each image display area 140-1, ... 140-4 is described. Normally, the video that has been input and transmitted to another video communication device is displayed in the input video window 140, but all of the input video is displayed in the input video window 140, among which other With respect to the video transmitted to the video communication device, a symbol indicating that the video is being transmitted may be separately displayed.

Reference numeral 142 is a received video window for displaying a video transmitted from another video communication device. In the present embodiment, the received video window 142 has six video display areas 142-1 ... 142-6 and can display six received videos simultaneously. Each image display area 142-1 ...
The camera name of the transmission source is simultaneously displayed under 142 142-6. Camera name list 142-7
Displays a list of camera names of available cameras connected to other video communication devices. This list can be obtained by accessing the database of the access management process described later.

From the list displayed in the camera name list 142-7, six image display areas 142-1, ... 142 are displayed.
Select the camera name that displays the video in the designated display area of -6. For example, one of the camera names displayed in the camera name list 142-7 is clicked to select it, and any of the six image display areas 142-1, ..., 142-6 is clicked to be selected. Alternatively, the camera name list 142-7
In the state where any one of the camera names displayed in is clicked and selected, six image display areas 142-1, ..., 142 are displayed.
Drag over any of -6.

After clicking the delete button 146, by clicking the video display area in which the video is displayed, the video display in the video display area can be ended. This operation is notified to the access management process described later as a change in the reception state.

Reference numeral 144 denotes a camera operation window for remotely operating the camera, and the pan, tilt and zoom of any designated camera can be remotely operated by a button or a scroll bar on the screen. This camera operation window 144 is one of the image display areas 140-1, ... 140-4, 142-1, ...
By clicking inside 142-6, it pops up. Thereby, the camera for inputting the image displayed in the clicked image display area can be remotely operated. In the case of a camera connected to another video communication device, a camera control signal is sent via the network. To cancel the camera operation, the release button 144-1 may be clicked or the camera operation window 144 itself may be closed. Then, the camera operation window 144 is closed and the camera operation ends. The access management process is also notified of the start and end of the camera operation.

FIG. 9 is a process block diagram of this embodiment. In this embodiment, basically, the video transmission process 15
0, video display process 152, camera control server 15
There are five types of processes: 4, the camera control client 156, and the access management process 158.

The video transmission process 150 is responsible for video switching, video capturing, and video transmission of the camera video input selection device 112. The input video is displayed in the input video window 140. The video display process 152
Responsible for receiving and displaying images from multiple other points. Images from arbitrary 6 points are displayed in the received image window 142 from the images delivered from other points.

The camera control server 154 receives the camera control signal via the network and outputs a camera control signal suitable for the camera to be controlled to the camera image input selection device 112 via the control signal port 126. The camera control client 156 sends a camera control signal to a designated camera in response to an operation on the camera operation window 144.

The access management process 158 is for all the video communication devices 100 connected to the network 102.
-1, 100-2, ..., 100-K video transmission / reception and camera operation are managed.

Processes 150, 152, 154, 156
Are the video communication devices 100-1, 100-2, ...
Although running on 100-K, the access management process 158 is running only on any one video communication device connected to the network 102.

FIG. 10 shows an example of the structure of the management database managed by the access management process 158. This management database includes a video transmission device list and a video reception device list.

The video transmission device list includes fields of a transmission camera name, a channel number, a camera operation host name, and a reception host list. The camera names of all cameras on the network 102 are registered in the transmission camera name. This registration is performed by each video communication device 100-1, 100-
2, ..., Video transmission process 15 at 100-K
This is done when 0 is activated. The channel number field stores the channel number of the channel assigned to transmit the video of the camera registered in the transmission camera name field. There is a one-to-one correspondence between camera names and channel numbers. The access management process 158 sequentially assigns an unused port number to each camera, thereby assigning a non-overlapping channel to each camera.

In the camera operation host field, if there is a host remotely controlling the camera specified by the transmission camera name, that host name is stored. This entry is empty if there are no remote hosts. By popping up the camera operation window 144, the corresponding host name is registered in the camera operation host field, and when the camera operation window 144 is closed, the registration is deleted and becomes empty again.

The field of the reception host list stores a pointer linked to the video reception device list.
The video receiving device list stores a list of host names of one or more video receiving devices receiving the input video of the camera specified by the transmission camera name of the record linked in the reception host name list.

Since the transmitting camera name, the channel number, the camera operation host, and the video receiving device list linked by the receiving host name list are management information for one camera, a collection of these data will be described below. Call.

The operation of the video transmission process 150 will be described by taking a video transmission process operating in one video communication device as an example. Each video camera connected to the same video communication device has a different camera number. Looking at the entire network, as described above, the camera names are “hostA.1” and “hostA.2”, but in the following, they are simply referred to as camera 1, camera 2, ... Camera N. To do. Then, the access management process 15
Channel numbers corresponding to the respective cameras, which are secured by the RPC call to 8, are channel 1, channel 2, ... Channel N. In the description below, the number of connected cameras is four, but the number of cameras is N for generalization.
It will be described as.

The following commands are provided as commands for instructing the start of video transmission. That is, send (m) m: channel number (1 ≦ m ≦ N) In response to this instruction, the video capture device 128, as shown in FIG. The signal is A / D converted and captured (S101), and the captured image is displayed on the display 130.
Is displayed (S102) and is output to the channel m of the network via the network interface 132 (S103).

Further, the following command is provided as a camera video selection switching command to the camera video input selection device 112. That is, change (n) n: camera number (1 ≦ n ≦ N) This command selects the camera image of camera number n to the camera image input / selection device 112 to select the computer 120.
Output to the camera image input selection device 112 from the control signal port 126. In the actually tested example, c
It took about 1 second to execute the change instruction. Of course,
Depending on the processing speed of each part, it may be faster or slower than this.

In the present embodiment, each of N camera images is transmitted as a still image updated at regular time intervals. As a result, the capacity of the transmission line can be smaller than the number of videos to be transmitted. In the following description, a continuously displayed image whose frame is updated in 1 second or more is called a “still image”, while a continuous image whose frame is updated at a shorter rate. Is called a "moving image". That is, in the present embodiment, a frame rate of less than 1 frame / second is called a still image, and a frame rate of 1 frame / second or more is called a moving image.

FIG. 12 shows a first operation flowchart of this embodiment. First, the same N communication channels as the number N of cameras are secured on the network 102 (S11).
1). 1 is set to the camera number variable n that specifies the camera that transmits one frame (S112). Although the initial value of the variable n is set to 1 here, it is obvious that any value from 0 or 2 to N-1 may be set.

In order to cyclically switch the cameras for transmitting images, the change command and the send command may be issued at fixed time intervals. In FIG. 12, this is realized by the timeout procedure. That is, chan
The issue cycle of the send command for video switching by the ge command and capturing and transmitting one frame of video is set to Ts (seconds), and this is registered as the timeout time (S11).
3). Here, Ts = 10 seconds.

When the occurrence of timeout, that is, the elapse of Ts is waited (S114), the occurrence of timeout is detected (S114).
115). In order to take into account the time consumed in the subsequent processing, first, Ts is again time-out registered (S11).
6).

The camera number variable n is incremented (S
117), if larger than N (S118), 1 is set to the variable n (S119). Using the camera number variable n as a parameter, the camera video input is switched by the change command (S120), and one frame of the camera video is transmitted by the send command to the channel with the channel number n (S121). Since the same variable n is used as a parameter in the change command and the send command, the camera image of the camera number n is transmitted to the communication channel of the channel number n.

After issuing the send instruction, the process returns to S114,
Wait for the next timeout.

In this way, camera 1, camera 2, ...
... and the output image of the camera N is cyclically selected at time intervals of Ts (here 10 seconds) and transmitted on the corresponding channel. From the receiving side, the image of each camera is
The still image is updated every Ts × N (seconds).

Clearly, assuming that the time required for the processing of S117 to S121 is Tp, the timeout time Ts may be Ts> Tp. That is, Ts does not have to be 10 seconds as long as the above equation is satisfied. In the present embodiment, the processing time of the change instruction is set to about 1 second, so Tp does not become smaller than 1 second. Therefore,
Ts cannot be smaller than 1 second.

By operating in this way, each camera image is transmitted at a low frame rate, and a low-speed computer can sufficiently cope with it. Although the receiving side can receive a large number of camera images at a low frame rate, it can roughly understand a wide range.

In this embodiment, one of N camera images can be transmitted as a moving image for a predetermined period, and the camera images to be transmitted as a moving image can be sequentially switched at a constant cycle. The image of the camera that does not send the image is
It becomes a still image on the receiving side. As a result, as compared with the case of FIG. 12, the receiving side can more finely grasp the temporal change of the shooting range of each camera, although it is cyclic and intermittent. A flowchart for realizing such an operation is shown in FIG. In FIG. 13, in addition to the time variable Ts for switching camera images, a time variable ts that defines the frame period of moving image transmission is introduced.

First, the same N communication channels as the number N of cameras on the network are secured (S131). 1 in the camera number variable n that specifies the camera to send one frame
Is set (S132). The variable n may be any of 1 to N. The time variables Ts and ts are registered as a timeout (S133, 134), and the occurrence of an event (here, a timeout) is waited for (S135). Where t
s = 0.1 seconds.

When the occurrence of timeout is detected (S13
6), it is determined whether it is due to Ts or ts (S137). In the case of a timeout due to ts, ts is registered again for timeout (S13
8) Then, by the send command using the camera number variable n as a parameter, one frame of the output image of the camera with the camera number n is transmitted to the channel n (S139), and the process returns to S135. Until the time corresponding to Ts (that is, 10 seconds) elapses, the image of the camera n is output to the channel n with a cycle of ts (0.1 seconds). That is, the image of camera n is 1
It is output on channel n for 10 seconds at a frame rate of 0 frames / second.

When the time-out occurs due to Ts (S137), Ts is first time-out registered again (S140). The camera number variable n is incremented (S141), and if it is larger than N (S142),
The variable n is set to 1 (S143). Using the camera number variable n as a parameter, the camera image input is switched by the change command (S144), and the process returns to S135 to wait for the occurrence of the next event.

In this way, when the image of camera 1 is transmitted at 10 frames / second for 10 seconds, the image of camera 2 is similarly transmitted at 10 frames / second for 10 seconds.
The cameras 3 and so on are switched to the camera N, and after the camera N, the video of the camera 1 is transmitted as a moving image for 10 seconds again. When viewed from the receiving side, each camera image is displayed as a moving image for 10 seconds and then becomes a still image for 10 × (N−1) seconds. In this operation example, the transmission capacity of the transmission line may be 10 frames / second.

The time required to execute the processing of S141 to S144 must be shorter than Ts. Of course, Ts> ts must be satisfied.

With such an operation, the transmitting side does not transmit two or more moving images at the same time, so that the load can be reduced. Also, on the receiving side, the situation in a wide range can be recognized in more detail by the transmitted image.

In this embodiment, one of the N camera images is sent as a moving image, that is, as a moving image, and the remaining N images are transmitted.
It is also possible to send one camera image as a still image that is updated at regular intervals. FIG. 14 shows a flowchart of the operation.

FIG. 14 will be described. First, the same N communication paths as the number N of cameras are secured on the network (S15).
1). 1 is set to the camera number variable n that specifies the camera that transmits one frame (S152). The camera number of the camera transmitting the moving image is set in the variable k (S153).
The variable k may be any of 1 to N, but is set to 1 here. The change command switches the camera that captures the image to the camera with camera number k (S154).

Time variable T for switching camera images
s and a time variable ts that defines the frame period of moving image transmission
Each value of is registered as a timeout (S155, S156),
Wait for the event to occur (S157). Here, Ts =
10 seconds and ts = 0.1 seconds.

When the occurrence of Ts or ts time-out is detected (S158), S160 is detected at ts time-out.
The subsequent steps are executed, and at the time-out of Ts, the steps after S162 are executed (S159). Normally, first, a ts timeout occurs.

When ts is timed out (S159),
ts is re-registered again for timeout (S160), one frame of the camera image of camera number k is transmitted to channel k (S161), and the process returns to S157. Ts = 10 seconds, ts =
Since it was 0.1 seconds, the camera image of camera number k is 1
It is transmitted at 10 frames / second for 0 seconds.

When a time-out of Ts occurs (S15
9), Ts is re-registered for timeout again (S16).
2), the camera number n is incremented (S16)
3). If the new camera number n matches k, (S
164) and n are further incremented (S165).
This is because the camera image of camera number k is the target of the moving image transmission. If n exceeds N, 1 is set to n (S166, S167).

The camera to be transmitted is switched to the camera with the camera number n by the change command (S168), and se
The camera image of camera number n is sent to channel n by the nd command.
1 frame is transmitted (S169), and the camera to be transmitted is switched to the camera with the camera number k by the change command (S170). It returns to S157 again and waits for the occurrence of an event.

Ts must be set to a time longer than the time required to perform the processing of S163 to S170. Of course, ts must be shorter than Ts.

In this way, the image of the camera 1 can be transmitted as a moving image, and the image of the other cameras can be transmitted as a still image while switching at intervals of 10 seconds. Which video is from which camera can be identified by the transmission channel through which each video is transmitted. From the reception side, the image of the camera 1 is a moving image that is interrupted every 10 seconds for the time required to transmit one frame of another camera image, that is, the time required for the processes of S163 to S170. Each of the camera images is a still image updated every 10 × (N−1) seconds.

Such a function or operation is suitable for a TV conference system or a video conference system when it is desired to display an image of the operator of the partner terminal while still displaying the surrounding situation.

In the operation example or embodiment shown in FIG. 12, T
When p is sufficiently small, the image from each camera can be regarded as a moving image. For example, when Tp is 0.05 seconds or less, Ts can be set to 0.05 (second) and N is 10
If so, the frame rate of the video from each camera is 1
/ (Ts × N) = 2 (frames / second), and according to the above definition, it can be considered as a moving image. Of course,
Obviously, this requires that the change instruction can be executed at high speed.

In this embodiment, the video transmission process 150
Switches the selection method of the camera video input selection device 112 that selects outputs of a plurality of cameras based on the information managed by the access management process 158.

First, the information management operation of the access management process 158 will be described in detail. In this embodiment, RPC (Remote Pro) is used for exchanging information between each process 150 to 156 and the access management process 158.
Cedure Call) Call or broadcast communication is used. The RPC call is used in the following cases. That is, 1) Transmission process start 2) Transmission process end 3) Video reception start 4) Video reception end 5) Camera operation start 6) Camera operation end 7) Transmission camera name list acquisition request Transmission process start and transmission process end This is an RPC call for notifying the access management process 158 when the transmission process 150 is activated and terminated. These arguments or parameters are transmission camera names. The return value of the transmission process start is the channel number of the communication path for transmission, and there is no return value at the end of the transmission process.

The video reception start and the video reception end are respectively indicated in the video display process 152 when a camera is selected from the camera name list 142-7 in the received video window 142 and when the video reception is ended. Is an RPC call for notifying the access management process 158. These arguments are the sending camera name and the receiving host name. The return value at the start of video reception is the channel number corresponding to the name of the transmitting camera, and there is no return value at the end of video reception.

Camera operation start and camera operation end are RPC calls that inform the access management process 158 when the camera control client 156 starts and ends camera operation. These arguments are the sending camera name and the camera operation host name. The return value of the camera operation start is 1 or 0 indicating permission or rejection of the camera operation, and there is no return value at the end of the camera operation.

The transmission camera name list acquisition request is an RPC call for requesting a list of transmission camera names to the access management process 158 in order for the video display process 152 to know the currently receivable images. Received video display window 14
2 is called by clicking the update button 142-9. There are no arguments. The return value is "host.
1, hostA. 2, hostA. 3 ..., ”is a list of all cameras registered in the camera name of the video transmission device list shown in FIG.

Broadcast is used when any change is made to the video transmission device list and the video reception device list. At this time, as shown in FIG. 15, the changed management information set has all the video communication devices 100-1, 100-2, ..., 10 on the network 102.
Broadcast 0-K. Note that, in this broadcast, a port number indicating a communication path different from the communication path used for video transmission / reception is designated. Since the amount of data is very small compared to video data,
It does not increase traffic.

FIG. 16 is an operation flowchart relating to the status change of the management database of the access management process 158.

The access management process 158 firstly makes all the video communication devices 100-1, 100-2 ,.
0-K secures the port number of the broadcast address that can be used on the network 102, and stores it in the channel number field of the video transmission device list of the management database shown in FIG. 10 (S201). In FIG. 10, 1
0201, 10202 and 10203 are stored as an example. Next, it waits for an RPC call (S202).

When the video transmission process 150 is activated by any of the video communication devices, an RPC call to activate the transmission process is sent to the access management process 158 (S20).
3). In response to this transmission process activation, the access management process 158 searches for a management information set in which the camera name field of the video transmission device list is empty, as shown in FIG. If found
The "transmission camera name" which is the argument of the RPC is stored in that area (S213), and the contents of the field of the channel number corresponding to it are set as the return value (S214). If no empty area is found (S212), -1 is returned (S21).
5). After receiving the return value which is not -1, the video transmission process 150 sends the camera video specified by the transmission camera name to the communication path of the channel number indicated by the return value.
If the return value is -1, there is no free channel, so the video transmission process 150 does not transmit the camera video.

When the video transmission process 150 ends on any of the video communication devices, the access management process 158
The RPC call for ending the transmission process is input to (S2
04). In response, the access management process 158
18, the camera name matching the transmission camera name indicated by the argument of the RPC call is searched from the transmission camera name field of the video transmission device list (FIG. 10) (S216). The fields of the transmission camera name, the camera operation host, and the reception device host name list corresponding to the name are empty (S217).

When the video display is started by any of the video communication devices, the reception start RPC call is transmitted to the access management process 158 (S205). The access management process 158 accordingly responds, as shown in FIG.
A camera name that matches the transmission camera name indicated by the argument is searched from the transmission camera name field of the video transmission device list (FIG. 10) (S132), and the last of the entries in the video reception device list corresponding to that camera is searched. The reception host name that is an argument is registered in (S219). Then, the channel number is returned (S220). Video display process 152
Specifies the channel number indicated by the return value and receives the video. As a result, the target video can be received and displayed.

Video display process 152 When the video display is finished, the reception end RPC call is transmitted to the access management process 158 (S206). In response to this, the access management process 158 retrieves a camera name that matches the transmission camera name indicated by the argument from the transmission camera name field of the video transmission device list (FIG. 10) as shown in FIG. (S221) Further, the receiving host name indicated by the argument is searched from the image receiving device list (FIG. 10) corresponding to the camera (S222), and the receiving host name is deleted from the image receiving device list, and it is vacant. The entries are rearranged so as to be packed (S223).

When there is an operation for starting the camera operation, the camera control client 156 causes the camera control start RPC to start.
Propagate the call to the access management process 158 (S2
07). In response to this, the access management process 158 determines, as shown in FIG. 21, the camera name that matches the transmission camera name indicated by the argument to the video transmission device list (see FIG. 1).
(0) Sender camera name field is searched (S22
4) It is checked whether or not the field of the camera operation host in the management information set corresponding to the matched transmission camera name is empty (S225). This is to prevent multiple hosts from operating the same camera at the same time. If the camera operation host field is empty (S225), RPC
The host name indicated by the call argument is stored in the camera operation host field (S226), and 1 is returned (S22).
7). If the field of the camera operation host is not empty (S225), 0 is returned (S228). The camera control client 156 can issue a control command for operating the camera if the return value is 1, and cannot issue it if the return value is 0.

When there is an operation to end the camera operation, the camera control client 156 causes the camera control end RPC to end.
Propagate the call to the access management process 158 (S2
08). In response to this, the access management process 158 sets the transmission camera name matching the transmission camera name indicated by the argument of the RPC call to the transmission camera name field of the video transmission device list (FIG. 10) as shown in FIG. (S229), and NULL is stored in the field of the camera operation host of the management information set corresponding to the matched transmission camera name (S230).

When the contents of the management database are changed in response to these RPC calls, the changed management information set is transferred to all video communication devices 100-1 and 100-2 in a data format as shown in FIG.・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ 10
It is broadcast to 0-K (S211).

Also, the RP of the transmission camera name list acquisition request
For the C call (S209), the access management process 158 returns all camera names registered in the transmission camera name field of the video transmission device list (FIG. 10) to the request source in a predetermined list format (S210). ). The video display process 152 receives this list and displays the list of transmission camera names in the camera name list 142-7 of the reception video window 142.

In this way, the access management process 1
Reference numeral 58 denotes all video communication devices 1 on the network 102.
00-1, 100-2, ..., 100-K manages video transmission / reception information, and changes management information.
All video communication devices 100-1, 100-2, ...
Notify 100-K.

In this embodiment, the video transmission process 150
Acquires transmission / reception information from the access management process 158, and switches the operation mode according to the following three guidelines. That is, 1) For a video camera that has no receiving host, the output image is not transmitted.

2) When all video display processes are receiving, the camera video is subject to time-division video transmission.

3) The output image of the video camera operated by the camera is transmitted as a moving image, and at this time, the output image of the other video camera received is transmitted as a still image.

The pointer 2), so to speak, transmits an image by the input selection switching procedure shown in the operation example shown in FIG. 13, and the pointer 3).
Is for transmitting video in the input selection switching procedure shown in the operation example shown in FIG.

In order to operate according to the above three guidelines,
The video transmission process 150 includes a transmission camera list and a reception host list as shown in FIG. This data is a collection of only management information about the cameras connected to the own device from the video transmitting device list and the video receiving device list (FIG. 10) managed by the access management process 158. In FIG. 23, ho
It shows a database of the video transmission process specified by stA. Four cameras are connected to hostA and h
ostA. 1, ..., hostA. It is named 4. Camera hostA. The output image of 1 is host
B and hostC have received and the camera hos
tA. The output video of No. 3 is received by hostC and hostD. Camera hostA. 3 is hostC
It is operated by. Camera hostA. 2 and the camera hostA. The image of No. 4 has not been received.

In the data example shown in FIG. 23, the camera hostA. 1 and the camera hostA. 3 is transmitted, but the camera hostA. The image of 3 is transmitted as a moving image, and the camera hostA. The image of No. 1 is transmitted as a still image. The video transmission process 150 is shown in FIG.
The cameras for video input are switched according to the transmission camera list shown in FIG. The transmission camera list and the reception host list shown in FIG.
Updated according to the information broadcast from.

In the following description, the camera hostA. 1,
..., hostA. 4 is camera 1, ..., camera 4
, And the channel numbers corresponding to the camera are expressed as channel 1, ..., Channel 4.

The operation of the video transmission process 150 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 24 to 27. First, the number of cameras is checked (S301), and a unique name is given so that each camera can be identified (S302). In this embodiment, hostA. 1, hostA. 2, hostA. 3 and hostA. 4. Enter the computer host name and camera number as'.4 '. It will be connected with '.

An RPC call is made to the access management process 158 by using the camera name as an argument, a channel number is acquired as a return value, and a channel for transmitting the video of each camera is secured (S303). The correspondence between the camera name and the channel number is stored in the transmission camera list shown in FIG. In this embodiment, a variable m that can take three types of values
Use ode. mode = 1 indicates a mode in which video from any camera is not transmitted, and mode = 2 indicates a mode in which moving image video transmission for a certain period of time is sequentially performed, as in the operation example shown in FIG. mode = 3, like the operation shown in FIG. 14, transmits the output image of the specific camera as a moving image,
The mode in which the images of the remaining cameras are transmitted as still images is shown.

At this stage, at this stage, mode is set to 1 (S304) so that transmission is not performed until the receiving host is registered in the access management process 158. Then, it waits for either one of two events, that is, a time-out event for controlling the timing of transmitting a video for each frame and reception of a broadcast message transmitted from the access management process 158 (S305).

When the broadcast message is received from the access management process 158 (S308), the transmission camera list is updated as follows. That is, since the broadcast message has the format shown in FIG. 15, the transmission camera name in this message is matched with the transmission camera name field in the transmission camera list (S309). .
If it does not match any of the transmitting camera names (S309),
Since the message is not related to the transmission / reception of the camera of the own device, the process directly returns to the event wait. If they match (S309), the operation host name and the reception host list in the message are first copied to the transmission camera list (S310).

In the transmission camera list updated in this way, it is checked whether the pointers to the reception host list for all the transmission camera names are NULL (S31).
1). If all of the pointers to the received host list are NULL (S311), 1 is set in the variable mode.
Set so that none of the cameras will transmit (S312).

If all the pointers to the receiving host list are not NULL (S311), the variable mod is set.
e is set to 2 (S313), and it is checked whether or not the camera whose pointer to the receiving host list is not NULL is remotely operated (S314). If the camera operation host entry is NULL (S314), Since the camera is not operated, mode = 2
Then, the camera number for transmitting the moving image is first set (S315), the timeout times Ts and ts are set (S318), and the process returns to the event waiting (S305).
If the camera is operated (S314), the variable mo
de is set to 3 (S316), the camera operation host sets the camera number corresponding to the transmission camera name that is not NULL as the moving image camera number k, and also sets the camera number n of the camera to be transmitted as a still image first. (S
317), the timeout times Ts and ts are set (S
318), and returns to the event wait (S305).

When the generated event is a timeout (S306), the value of the variable mode is first checked (S3).
07). If the mode is 2, the process proceeds to S320 and mo
If de = 3, the process proceeds to S330. After S320,
Although it is almost the same as the operation example shown in FIG. 13, it is different in that the condition determination in S327 is included in order to prevent the image from being transmitted to the camera having no receiving host.

The operation after S330 is almost the same as the operation example shown in FIG. 14, but the switching method is slightly different.
If the time-out is due to Ts (S330), the time-out due to Ts is newly set (S333), and the camera number n for still image transmission is incremented (S334). Next, it is checked whether or not there is a camera for transmitting other than the camera for transmitting the moving image (S335), and if there is no camera, the process returns to the event waiting (S305). If there is a camera to be transmitted (S335), it is checked whether n is equal to the moving image video camera number k (S336), and if they are equal, the camera number n is further incremented (S337). It is checked whether or not the camera number n exceeds the number N of cameras (S338), and if so, the camera number n is returned to 1 (S339). In this way, the camera number n of the camera transmitting the still image is determined, but if there is no receiving host for this camera (S340), the process returns to S334 and the camera number n is incremented. This loop searches for a camera with a receiving host.

If the receiving host finds a camera (S
340), in order to send a still image from the camera,
Camera image input is switched (S341), transmission is performed (S342), video input is switched to a camera that transmits moving image (S343), and event wait (S305).
Return to

By operating in this manner, the video of the camera that has not been received is not transmitted, only the video of the camera that has been received is transmitted as a moving image in order for a fixed time, and
It is possible to realize a video transmission system that transmits a video of a remotely operated camera as a moving image.

[0145]

As can be easily understood from the above description, according to the present invention, a plurality of camera images can be freely selected and transmitted with a small line capacity.

Since a plurality of image input means are provided, a wider range of images can be taken in, and the cost at one point can be greatly reduced.

Furthermore, since a plurality of videos are switched and transmitted, the line capacity can be reduced. Ultimately, one line is enough. Since the weight of the transmission frame rate of each video can be made different, each video can be transmitted at the frame rate according to the degree of importance.

Further, the transmission / reception information can be acquired from the video transmission / reception information management means as needed, and the selection order and timing of a plurality of video inputs can be dynamically changed based on the information, whereby the video transmission side Can significantly reduce CPU load and network traffic.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a video transmission process of this embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a first operation flowchart of this embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a second operation flowchart of this embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a third operation flowchart of the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a network configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention relating to a video transmission system.

FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram of a communication terminal device according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a display screen example of the second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a process configuration diagram of a second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a structural example of a transmission / reception information management database managed by an access management process 158.

FIG. 11 is a basic flowchart of video transmission processing in the second embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a first operation flowchart of the second embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a second operation flowchart of the embodiment of the second embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a third operation flowchart of the second embodiment.

FIG. 15 is an example of the structure and content of information broadcast by the access management process 158.

FIG. 16 is an operation flowchart of the access management process 158.

FIG. 17 is a detailed flowchart of S203 of FIG.

FIG. 18 is a detailed flowchart of S204 of FIG.

FIG. 19 is a detailed flowchart of S205 of FIG.

FIG. 20 is a detailed flowchart of S206 of FIG.

FIG. 21 is a detailed flowchart of S207 of FIG.

22 is a detailed flowchart of S208 of FIG.

FIG. 23 is an example of the structure and contents of a transmission camera list held by the video transmission process 150.

FIG. 24 is a part of an operational flowchart of the video transmission process 150.

FIG. 25 is a part of an operational flowchart of the video transmission process 150.

FIG. 26 is a part of an operational flowchart of the video transmission process 150.

FIG. 27 is a part of an operational flowchart of the video transmission process 150.

[Explanation of symbols]

10-1, 10-2, ..., 10-N: Video camera 12: Camera image input selection device 20: Computer 22: CPU 24: Main memory 26: Control signal port 28: Video capture device 30: Bit Map display 32: Network interface 34: Internal bus 100-1, 100-2, ..., 100-K: Video communication device 102: Network 110-1, 110-2, ..., 110-N: Video camera 112: Camera image input selection device 120: Computer 122: CPU 124: Main memory 126: Control signal port 128: Video capture device 130: Bitmap display 132: Network interface 134: Mouse 136: Internal bus 150 : Video transmission process 152: Image display process 154: Camera control server 156: the camera control client 158: Access management process

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of externally controllable image input means,
A video input switching means for selecting each output video of the plurality of video input means in a predetermined order and timing, and an output means for outputting the video information selected by the video input switching means to a transmission line. Video transmitter. 2. The video input switching means selects the output video of a predetermined one video input means of the plurality of video input means so as to have a frame rate higher than a predetermined rate. Video transmitter. 3. The video input switching means selects an output video of a predetermined one video input means of the plurality of video input means so as to have a frame rate higher than a predetermined rate, and inputs another video. The video transmission device according to claim 1, wherein the output video of the means is selected at a frame rate slower than the predetermined frame rate. 4. A plurality of externally controllable image input means,
And a video input switching means for selecting each output video of the plurality of video input means in a predetermined order and timing, and an output means for outputting the video information selected by the video input switching means to a transmission path. The video transmission means for selectively outputting the video input by the video input means to the transmission path is controllable from one or more arbitrary remote operation means, and the video output from the video transmission means is displayed in one or more arbitrary video display. A video transmission system that can be freely displayed by means, and a management means for managing video transmission from the video transmission means to the one or more video display means and remote control by the one or more remote control means is provided. The video transmission means determines the switching order and timing of the video input switching means with reference to the management information managed by the management means. System. 5. One selected arbitrarily from one or more video transmission means connected to one or more video input means and one or more video input means connected to the one or more video transmission means.
A video transmission system in which the above video input means is operated and one or more operation display means for displaying a video are connected via a network, and the one or more video transmission means operates the one or more operations. A video transmission system comprising: a management means for managing video transmission to a display means and remote operation of the video input means by the one or more operation display means. 6. One or more video input means under control,
One or more video transmitting means for selectively outputting the input video of the one or more video input means to the transmission path, one or more video display means for receiving and displaying the video from the transmission path, and the one or more video Remote operation means for remotely operating the video input means of the transmission means, video transmission from the one or more video transmission means to the one or more video display means, and the video input means by the one or more remote operation means. A video transmission system comprising: a management unit that manages remote control of the. 7. The video transmission system according to claim 6, wherein the video transmission means refers to the management information of the management means and outputs only the video of the video input means of the video displayed on the transmission path. 8. The video transmission means refers to the management information of the management means, and preferentially outputs the video of the video input means which is remotely operated by any one of the remote operation means to the transmission path. The video transmission system according to 6 or 7.