KR102137433B1 - Apparatus and method for managing image - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an image management apparatus and method, and relates to an image management apparatus and method that allows a processor that receives image data to process the display of the received image data.
An image management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a first processor that processes transmission and reception of image data over a network and a display of received image data, and a second processor that processes storage of the received image data.

Description

Image management device and method{Apparatus and method for managing image}

The present invention relates to an image management apparatus and method, and more particularly, to an image management apparatus and method that allows a processor that receives image data to process the display of the received image data.

Closed circuit television (Closed Circuit Television) is a television method that transmits an image to a specific receiver. It is called a closed circuit television because the transmission and reception of images is connected by wire or wirelessly and cannot be arbitrarily received except for the destination.

Closed-circuit television is sometimes referred to as ITV, which stands for Industrial Television, and is used for various purposes such as industrial, educational, medical, disaster prevention, and in-house video information transmission other than broadcast television. The video information transmission by has the advantage of being able to transmit even the atmosphere of the field or the emotions of a person because the amount of information handled is overwhelmingly compared to other data transmission or audio information transmission.

Cameras used in closed circuit television systems are generally referred to as closed circuit cameras, which, as described above, convert an image input to the lens into an electrical signal by using an imaging device such as a charge-coupled element or a CMOS, It serves to transfer the converted electrical signal to the display device 400 such as a monitor using a cable.

As described above, the closed-circuit television system cannot be arbitrarily received except for the connected object, for example, a user at a remote site cannot see the closed-circuit screen.

To this end, a network camera has appeared, and the network camera has a built-in means for processing images as well as a camera and a network card, and thus can provide a captured image to a user at a remote location through the Internet.

In addition, the captured image of the network camera may be stored in a network video recorder (NVR), for which a network setting between the network camera and the NVR may be performed.

Meanwhile, due to the development of network and display technologies, the resolution of video content provided to users has increased. For example, a Full HD (Full High Definition) image of 1920x1080 resolution is provided, and an Ultra HD (Ultra High Definition) image of 3840x2160 resolution is recently provided. In addition, a 7680x4320 resolution video is under development and will be released soon.

In order to process such a high resolution image, the performance of the processor must also be improved. In the case of a conventional NVR, a separate operation occurs due to image data transfer between a processor that receives image data and a processor that displays image data.

The overall image processing performance deteriorates due to the operation for performing the image data transfer.

Accordingly, there is a demand for the invention to reduce the operation required to transfer image data in processing a high resolution image.

Korean Patent Publication No. 10-1999-0061544 (July 26, 1999)

An object of the present invention is to have a processor that receives image data process a display of the received image data.

The objects of the present invention are not limited to the objects mentioned above, and other objects not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

In order to achieve the above object, the image management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is a first processor that processes transmission and reception of image data over a network and display of received image data, and processing of storage of the received image data And a second processor.

In the image management method according to an embodiment of the present invention, the first processor of the one chip processes the transmission and reception of the image data through the network and the display of the received image data, and the second processor processes the storage of the received image data. It includes the steps.

Specific details of other embodiments are included in the detailed description and drawings.

According to the image management apparatus and method of the present invention as described above, by allowing a processor that receives image data to process the display of the received image data, it is possible to reduce an operation required to transfer image data in processing a high resolution image. There are advantages.

1 is a view showing an image management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a block diagram showing an image management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of a first processor according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a diagram showing a detailed configuration of a second processor according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a process of outputting image data according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a process in which image data is stored according to an embodiment of the present invention.
7 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a process in which image data is analyzed and processed according to an embodiment of the present invention.
8 is a diagram illustrating a comparison relationship between computational capabilities by each processor constituting an image management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Advantages and features of the present invention, and methods for achieving them will be clarified with reference to embodiments described below in detail together with the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below, but may be embodied in various different forms, and only the embodiments allow the publication of the present invention to be complete, and general knowledge in the technical field to which the present invention pertains. It is provided to fully inform the holder of the scope of the invention, and the invention is only defined by the scope of the claims. The same reference numerals refer to the same components throughout the specification.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used in the present specification may be used as meanings commonly understood by those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains. In addition, terms defined in the commonly used dictionary are not ideally or excessively interpreted unless specifically defined.

1 is a view showing an image management system according to an embodiment of the present invention, the image management system 10 includes a camera 100, an image management device 200, a monitoring device 300, a display device 400 and a network 500.

The camera 100 uses a charge coupled device (CCD) or a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) device or the like to receive light reflected by the subject and convert it into an electric signal (not shown) ), image processing means (not shown) that removes noise from the captured image, extracts only necessary characteristics, or encodes the original image to generate a compressed image with a reduced data size.

Further, the camera 100 may be configured to include communication means for transmitting an image processed by the image processing means and receiving a control signal or the like. Here, the communication means may mean, for example, a network interface card (NIC), and the camera 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a network camera to which its own IP address is assigned. Can.

The video management device 200 is a device capable of storing data received through the network 500, such as an NVR (Network Video Recorder), and may include storage means and communication means for this purpose. Here, the communication means provided in the video management device 200 may mean a network interface card as in the camera 100, and accordingly, the video management device 200 is also a device to which its own IP address is assigned. Can be understood.

In addition, the image management apparatus 200 of the present invention may include output means for outputting the received image.

The monitoring device 300 connects to the camera 100 through the network 500 and serves to receive and output the image generated by the camera 100.

As described above, an IP address may be assigned to the camera 100 of the present invention, and the monitoring device 300 may access the specific camera 100 using the IP address, and is generated by the camera 100 You can receive the output video and output it.

The network 500 connects the camera 100, the image management device 200, the monitoring device 300, and the display device 400 to each other to relay data transmission and reception between devices.

The communication method used in the network 500 of the present invention is preferably a wired or wireless Internet, but is not limited thereto, and a communication method by a separate wired or wireless network such as a telephone network or a mobile communication network may be used in the network 500. Can. In addition, the network 500 of the present invention may perform its role by configuring a plurality of communication methods in a complex manner.

The display device 400 serves to display an image output from the image management device 200.

As described above, the image management device 200 may output or store the image received from the camera 100 through the network 500, when the image management device 200 outputs the received image or the stored image The display device 400 is to display it.

On the other hand, the camera 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention may be to generate and transmit an image in Full HD (Full High Definition) resolution or Ultra HD (Ultra High Definition) resolution, receiving such a high resolution image In order to process it, it is preferable that the performance of the processor provided in the image management apparatus 200 is accompanied.

However, when a high-performance processor is mounted, it may be a factor of an increase in unit price. Accordingly, the image management apparatus 200 of the present invention may include a plurality of processors for distributing images.

In particular, when a plurality of processors are provided, operations for data transmission/reception between processors may occur, and the image management apparatus 200 of the present invention minimizes data transmission/reception between processors or allows data transmission/reception to occur with a reduced computation amount Overall performance improvement can be achieved.

2 is a block diagram showing an image management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The image management apparatus 200 includes a first processor 211, a second processor 212, a third processor 213, and a storage unit ( 220), a communication unit 230 and an output unit 240.

The first processor 211 serves to transmit and receive image data through the network 500 and display the received image data.

The first processor 211 may include separate means for processing transmission and reception of image data and display, and FIG. 3 illustrates this.

3 is a view showing a detailed configuration of a first processor according to an embodiment of the present invention, the first processor 211 is configured to include a communication processor 310 and the display processor 320.

The communication processing unit 310 serves to allocate network resources to the communication unit 230 and to process calculations necessary for session establishment by the communication unit 230. In addition, the communication processing unit 310 serves to process operations required to transfer the received image data to the second processor 212 or the third processor 213.

In addition, the communication processor 310 may temporarily store image data that is transmitted and received to facilitate a smoother data flow.

The display processing unit 320 serves to configure a screen to be displayed. The image management apparatus 200 of the present invention may receive images from a plurality of cameras 100, and the display processing unit 320 may configure a plurality of received images into a single screen.

For example, if the screen has an ultra HD resolution and images are received from the four cameras 100, the display processor 320 converts the received images up or down to full HD resolution, and converts the four images into full HD resolution. Full HD images can be combined to create one ultra HD resolution image.

Also, the display processor 320 may place an image received from the specific camera 100 in a specific area of the screen, or perform image processing such as image quality improvement processing or special effect processing on the received image.

Referring to FIG. 2 again, the communication unit 230 may participate in the network 500 through a wired or wireless communication method. The communication method used by the communication unit 230 includes Ethernet, Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), mobile communication network, wireless LAN, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity), There may be Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), Wireless Broadband (WiBro), etc. Among them, it is most preferable to use an Ethernet wired communication method.

The output unit 240 serves to output an image processed by the first processor 211. The output unit 240 of the present invention can output an image in the BT 1120 method, but is not limited thereto.

The image output by the output unit 240 may be delivered to the display device 400 and displayed by the display device 400.

The first processor 211 of the present invention may be a one-chip processor, and image data transmission and reception and image data display processing may be performed by one processor.

As such, as the transmission and reception of the image data and the display processing of the image data are performed by one processor, it is possible to prevent data transmission and reception between processors in the display processing of the received image.

For example, when a processor for transmitting and receiving image data and a processor for displaying and processing image data are separately provided, data transmission and reception between processors occurs during display processing of the received image data, according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Since the processor 211 performs transmission/reception and display processing of image data in the form of a one-chip processor, data transmission/reception between processors does not occur.

The second processor 212 serves to process storage and reading of the received image data. As described above, the image management apparatus 200 of the present invention may be an NVR, and the second processor 212 stores the image data received through the network 500 in the storage unit 220 or the storage unit 220 ) To read the image data stored in.

To this end, the second processor 212 according to an embodiment of the present invention may include separate means for processing recording and reading of image data, and FIG. 4 illustrates this.

4 is a view showing a detailed configuration of a second processor according to an embodiment of the present invention, the second processor 212 includes a data recording processing unit 410 and a data reading processing unit 420, the data recording processing unit ( 410) records image data in the storage unit 220, and the data reading processing unit 420 reads image data stored in the storage unit 220.

For example, the second processor 212 may perform storage processing or read processing in a RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disk) method, wherein the data recording processing unit 410 divides the data and stores the storage 220 In addition, the data reading processing unit 420 may read the divided and stored data in parallel. As data is recorded and read in accordance with the RAID method, it is possible to quickly store and read image data.

Referring again to FIG. 2, the storage unit 220 serves to store image data processed by the second processor 212. Storage unit 220 is a hard disk, flash memory, CF card (Compact Flash Card), SD card (Secure Digital Card), SM card (Smart Media Card), MMC (Multimedia Card) or memory stick (Memory Stick) information As a module capable of input and output, it may be provided inside the image management device 200 or may be provided in a separate device.

In the present invention, the computing power of the first processor 211 is preferably greater than the computing power of the second processor 212. As described above, the first processor 211 receives image data through the network 500, performs display processing of the received image data, and transfers the received image data to the second processor 212. This is because the amount of computation required to perform such a task is greater than that of the second processor 212 that records or reads image data.

As described above, it is possible to reduce costs required to manufacture the entire image management apparatus 200 by installing processors having different computing powers.

The third processor 213 analyzes an image received from the first processor 211. For example, the third processor 213 is to perform analysis such as motion detection or face recognition.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the image management apparatus 200 in the form in which the third processor 213 is included or in which the third processor 213 is removed may be implemented.

5 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a process of outputting image data according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The image photographed by the camera 100 is transmitted to the first processor 211 of the image management apparatus 200 through the network 500. When a display command for the received image data occurs, the first processor 211 The received image may be output as it is, and the display device 400 may be displayed.

As the received image is output as it is without passing between processors, an operation for transferring data between processors does not occur.

6 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a process in which image data is stored according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The image photographed by the camera 100 is transmitted to the first processor 211 of the image management apparatus 200 through the network 500. When a command for storing the received image data occurs, the first processor 211 The received image may be transmitted to the second processor 212 and stored in the storage unit 220.

Meanwhile, although not shown in FIG. 6, the first processor 211 may output the same image data while transferring the image data to the second processor 212. Accordingly, it is possible to simultaneously store and display image data.

7 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a process in which image data is analyzed and processed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The image photographed by the camera 100 is transmitted to the first processor 211 of the image management apparatus 200 through the network 500. When an analysis command of the received image data occurs, the first processor 211 The received image may be transmitted to the third processor 213 for analysis.

Meanwhile, although not illustrated in FIG. 6, the first processor 211 may output the same image data while transferring the image data to the third processor 213. Accordingly, analysis and display of image data may be simultaneously performed.

Also, the first processor 211 may output the same image data while transferring the image data to the second processor 212 and the third processor 213. Accordingly, storage, analysis, and display of image data may be simultaneously performed.

8 is a diagram illustrating a comparison relationship between computational capabilities by each processor constituting an image management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

A large amount of computation occurs in receiving image data and performing processing for display. In the present invention, this operation is performed by the first processor 211.

Therefore, it is preferable that the first processor 211 has a relatively high computational power, and when the second processor 212 and the third processor 213 having the same computational power are provided, unnecessary costs may occur. .

That is, the amount of computation to be performed by the second processor 212 and the third processor 213 is not large compared to the first processor 211, but the second processor has the same computational power as that of the first processor 211. When the 212 and the third processor 213 are mounted on the image management apparatus 200, the cost of the image management apparatus 200 increases unnecessarily.

Accordingly, a plurality of processors provided in the image management apparatus 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention may have different computing capabilities, the order of which is as shown in FIG. 8, the first processor 211 and the third processor It may be in the order of the processor 213 and the second processor 212.

That is, the computing power of the first processor 211 is the largest, then the computing power of the third processor 213 is large, and the computing power of the third processor 213 may be the smallest.

In this way, the cost required to implement the image management apparatus can be reduced by making the computing powers of the multiple processors different from each other.

On the other hand, Figure 8 shows that the computing power is distributed in the order of the first processor 211, the third processor 213, and the second processor 212, but by differently distributing the functions performed by each processor. The distribution of computing power between processors may be formed differently.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described with reference to the above and the accompanying drawings, those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains can implement the present invention in other specific forms without changing its technical spirit or essential features. You will understand that there is. Therefore, it should be understood that the embodiments described above are illustrative in all respects and not restrictive.

211: first processor 212: second processor
213: third processor 220: storage unit
230: communication unit 240: output unit

Claims (6)

A first processor that processes transmission and reception of image data through a network and display of the received image data; And
Is provided separately from the first processor, and includes a second processor for processing the storage of the received image data,
An image management apparatus capable of simultaneously processing the display of the received image data by the first processor and simultaneously processing the storage of the received image data by the second processor. According to claim 1,
The first processor is an image management apparatus including a one-chip (one-chip) processor. According to claim 1,
The image management device of the first processor is greater than the computing power of the second processor. According to claim 1,
When a command to store the received image data occurs, the first processor transmits the received image data to the second processor. According to claim 1,
The image data is an image management apparatus including a Full HD (Full High Definition) image or an Ultra HD (Ultra High Definition) image. A first processor of a one-chip processing transmission/reception of image data through a network and display of the received image data; And
A second processor provided separately from the first processor includes processing the storage of the received image data,
The first processor is capable of processing the display of the received image data, and the second processor is capable of processing the storage of the received image data.

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