JP2000020864A - Image center device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically switch between a single image display and quadripartite display by using a quadripartite switcher. SOLUTION: At the time of receiving image data only by one line control part according to reception information from a security data processing part 46, a control part 45 instructs the selection of image data which are being received by the line controlling part to a quadripartite switcher 47. Also, at the time of receiving the image data by plural line control parts according to the reception information from the security data processing part 46, the control part 45 instructs the selection of synthetic image data to the quadripartite switcher 47.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image center apparatus for receiving security data and image data transmitted via a telephone line from an image transmission apparatus installed at a terminal.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a security system, a security system in which an image transmission device installed at a security destination and an image center device installed at a center side are connected by a public telephone line is known. The schematic configuration and operation will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a security system, in which 1 is an image transmission device, 2 is a control device, 4 is a line control unit, 10 is an image center device, 11 is a line control unit, 1
2 denotes a control device, 13 denotes a storage device, 15 denotes a monitor, 16 denotes an input unit, and L denotes a public line such as a telephone line.

[0004] An image transmission apparatus 1 is installed at a predetermined location of a security destination. The image transmission apparatus 1 performs bidirectional communication with a control apparatus 2 including various circuits such as a processing unit and a circuit for processing image data, and an image center apparatus 10 via a public line L, and exchanges data. And a line control unit 4 for performing the operation. The line controller 4 is composed of a modem or the like.

The control device 2 includes a security sensor (hereinafter simply referred to as a sensor) for detecting an abnormality, a monitoring camera,
Also, an operation device for setting the alert mode and the release mode is connected. In general, a plurality of sensors, monitoring cameras, and operating devices are provided, but in FIG. 3, sensors, monitoring cameras, and operating devices are simply connected to the control device 2 to avoid complicating the drawing. Is shown. As a sensor, a hot-wire sensor for detecting a moving object,
Various sensors such as a magnet switch for detecting that a window or a door is opened are used. An address is set for each sensor, each monitoring camera, and each operating device. Further, the sensor and the monitoring camera are appropriately associated with each other. Further, an address as an image transmission device is set in the control device 2.

[0006] The image transmission device 1 transmits security data and image data to the image center device 10. In some cases, only security data is transmitted, and in some cases, both security data and image data are transmitted. For example, when the alert mode is changed to the release mode by the operating device, the control device 2
Transmits the address of the operated device and information indicating that the release mode has been set by the line control unit 4 as security data. The same applies when the mode is changed from the release mode to the alert mode by the operating device.

Next, as a case where both security data and image data are transmitted, there is a case where an abnormality is detected. That is, when a signal indicating that an abnormality has been detected is output from the sensor while the alert mode is set by the operation device, the control device 2 transmits the address of its own,
Creates security data including the address of the sensor that detected the abnormality, information indicating the occurrence of the abnormality, information indicating that image transmission is involved, information such as the number of images to be transmitted, and line control of the data of the image captured by the surveillance camera. Transmitted by unit 4.
Note that image data is generally transmitted after being compressed by an appropriate data compression method such as the JPEG method.

On the other hand, an image center device 10 is arranged on the center side. The image center device 10 includes a line control unit 11, a control device 12, a storage device 13, a monitor 15 including a color CRT, and an input unit 16 including a keyboard and a mouse.

The line control unit 11 is connected to the image center device 10.
For transmitting and receiving data to and from the image transmission apparatus which is the management target of the modem, and when the security data and the image data are received, the security data and the image data are separated and transmitted to the control device 12. Has means to hand over. The control device 12 displays image data received from the image transmission device,
The control unit 12, the monitor 15, and the input unit 16 are usually constituted by a personal computer. The storage device 13 is constituted by a large-capacity storage means, and is usually constituted by a hard disk device.
The storage device 13 has an area for storing security data (hereinafter referred to as security data storage unit) and an area for storing image data (hereinafter referred to as image data storage unit).

In the above configuration, the image center device 10
When receiving the security data and the image data from the line control unit 11, the control device 12 stores the security data and the image data in the security data storage unit and the image data storage unit of the storage device 13, respectively, and further expands the image data. , D / A converted and displayed on the monitor 15. Therefore, the image center device 10
By observing the image displayed on the monitor 15, the operator can grasp the situation at the site.

In the above, the line control unit 1
Although the description is for the case where only one device is provided, the image center device may be provided with a plurality of line controllers,
As described above, in an image center apparatus including a plurality of line control units, image data received by each line control unit is combined to display a plurality of images on a monitor in a divided manner. FIG. 4 shows a configuration example of the image center device in that case.

[0012] Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an image center device comprising four line control unit, in the figure, 20 ₁ to 20 ₄
Is a line control unit, 21 _{1 to} 21 ₄ are line interfaces (hereinafter referred to as line I / F), 22 _{1 to} 22 ₄ are data separation units, 23 ₁ to 23 ₄ are decompression units, 30 is a control unit, 31
Denotes an input unit, 32 denotes a security data processing unit, 33 denotes an image data processing unit, 34 denotes a security data storage unit, 35 denotes an image data storage unit, 36 denotes a 4-split switcher, and 38 denotes a monitor.

[0013] a channel control unit 20 ₁ to 20 ₄ are all the same, Line I / F21, data separation section 22, expansion section 2
3 is provided. The line I / Fs 21 _{1 to} 21 ₄ are used to receive security data and image data transmitted from the image transmission device managed by the image center device. And demodulation of image data. And these line I / F2
1 ₁ to 21 ₄ are connected to different public line.

The data separating section 22 separates the received security data and image data and outputs them. The separated security data is passed to the security data processing unit 32, subjected to predetermined processing, and stored in the security data storage unit 34. The separated image data is passed to the image data processing unit 33 and the decompression unit 23. The decompression unit 23 decompresses the compressed image data, and inputs the decompressed image data to the four-division switcher 36.

The control unit 30 manages the operation of the image center apparatus in a centralized manner. The input unit 31 includes a keyboard, a mouse, and the like. The security data processing unit 32
When the data separating unit 22 ₁ to 22 ₄ receives the security data, performs predetermined processing such as addition of a file name, and stores the security data storage unit 34. The image data processing unit 33
When receiving the image data from the data separation section 22 _{1-22 4} performs predetermined processing such as addition of a file name, and stores the image data storage unit 35. Note that the image data of the preceding stage is stretched in the image data processing unit 33 in FIG. 4, that is, image data in a compressed state is adapted to be passed, is decompressed by the decompression unit 23 ₁ to 23 ₄ Naturally, the image data may be passed.

The image data decompressed by the decompression unit 23 ₁ to 23 ₄ are inputted to the 4-division switcher 36. The four-division switcher 36 has four channels (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as CH) as external image inputs.
Here, the image data from the decompression unit 23 ₁ to 23 _4,
It is assumed that the signals are input to CH1 to CH4 of the four-division switcher 36, respectively.

The four-division switcher 36 includes, for example, a four-screen synthesizing unit 40, a selector 41, and a display image selection switch 42 as shown in FIG. The four-screen combining unit 40
The image data input to CH1 to CH4 is combined as image data for one screen. Since the configuration of the four-screen synthesizing unit 40 is well known, a detailed description is omitted. The selector 41 receives the external inputs of CH1 to CH4 as they are and outputs the output of the four-screen combining unit 40 to CH5.
Enter as Then, the selector 41 converts the image data of the channel selected by the display image selection switch 42 into D
/ A conversion and output to the monitor 38. The display screen selection switch 42 is, for example, as shown in FIG.
5 buttons. Therefore, the selector 41
When a certain button of the display image selection switch 42 is pressed, the image data of the channel corresponding to the button is selected, and the selected state is held until another button is pressed next. And a means for D / A converting the image data selected by the switch means. The display image selection switch 42
When CH5 is selected, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, the image of the image data input to CH1 is displayed on the upper left of the image display area of the monitor 38, and the image of the image data input to CH2 is The image of the image data input to CH3 is displayed at the upper right of the image display area of the monitor 38, and the image of the image data input to CH3 is displayed at the lower left of the image display area of the monitor 38.
Is displayed at the lower right of the image display area of the monitor 38. When any one of the channels CH1 to CH4 is selected by the display image selection switch 42, the image of the image data input to the selected channel is displayed one size larger in the image display area of the monitor 38. Is done.

[0018]

In the configuration shown in FIG. 4, when security data and image data are received by a plurality of line controllers, all of the received images are observed. Therefore, CH5 is selected by the display image selection switch 40 of the four-division switcher 36. As a result, all the received images are divided and displayed on the image display area of the monitor 38, so that the operator of the image center apparatus can observe all the received images.

However, in some cases, security data and image data are not received by a plurality of line control units, but only one line control unit may receive security data and image data. When only one line control unit receives security data and image data in this way, the display image selection switch 42 of the four-division switcher 36 controls the switching of CH5.
If the split display is selected, only the image is displayed in the image display area of the monitor 38 at a size of 1/4, which is very difficult to see.

Therefore, in such a case, the operator usually operates the display image selection switch 42 to select a channel to which image data of the image is input. By doing so, the received image is displayed on the entire image display area of the monitor 38, so that it is possible to observe well.

However, as described above, in a state where the security data and the image data are received by only one line control unit, the display image selection switch 42 of the four-division switcher 36 is operated to operate the line control unit. When a channel to which image data from the expansion unit is input is selected and the image is displayed on the entire image display area of the monitor 38, the other line control units receive new security data and image data. Sometimes. In this case, the operator operates the C of the display image selection switch 42 of the four-divided switcher 36.
Until the H5 button is pressed to select the four-divided image, the newly received image cannot be observed, and an important image may be overlooked.

As described above, in the conventional image center apparatus using the four-division switcher, the operator manually switches the display image by operating the display image selection switch 42 of the four-division switcher 36 as necessary. Therefore, when the operator's burden is large and the four-split display is performed, only one image is observed in the four-split display state, or one image is displayed on the entire image display area of the monitor 38. When image data is newly received during observation, there is a problem that an important image may be overlooked if switching of the display image is delayed.

Although the above description has been made of the case where a four-divided switcher is used, a nine-divided switcher, a sixteen-divided switcher, and the like are known in addition to the four-divided switcher as those capable of displaying a plurality of images on one screen. The same applies to the case where such a nine-divided switcher or a sixteen-divided switcher is used. The 9-split switcher is 9
One image can be divided into nine on one screen and displayed.
When this nine-division switcher is used, a maximum of nine line controllers can be provided. The 16-split switcher can display 16 images by dividing it into 16 on one screen. When this 16-split switcher is used, a maximum of 16 line control units can be provided.

[0024] On the other hand, the decompression unit 23 ₁ to 23 shown in FIG. 4
Image data from the ₄ each considered to be entered in a separate monitor, the decompression unit 23 ₁ to 23 ₄ According to this
Since the monitors are arranged one-to-one with respect to the output, all images can be displayed in a large size, and when image data is received by a certain line control unit, the images are immediately displayed on the corresponding monitor. Therefore, an important image is not overlooked. However, since the same number of monitors as the number of line control units are required, the cost becomes very high when the number of line control units is large.

Therefore, according to the present invention, when security data and image data are received by only one line control unit, the image can be automatically displayed in a large size on the entire image display area of the monitor. When security data and image data are received by the control unit, these multiple images are automatically
It is an object of the present invention to provide an image center device capable of dividing and displaying one image.

[0026]

In order to achieve the above object, an image center apparatus according to the present invention comprises a plurality of line control units for receiving image data from an image transmission device, and each of the line control units receiving image data. Image data is input, and the input image data is synthesized on one screen to generate synthesized image data for divided display. One of the image data input from each line control unit and the synthesized image data is generated. A switcher capable of selectively outputting two image data, and in the case where image data is received by only one line control unit, instructs the switcher to select image data being received by the line control unit, and A control unit that instructs the switcher to select synthesized image data when the line control unit is receiving image data.

[0027]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Hereinafter, an image center apparatus having four line control units will be described. FIG. 1 shows an image center apparatus according to the present invention, wherein
It is a diagram showing an embodiment of an image center device provided with a table,
In the figure, reference numeral 45 denotes a control unit, 46 denotes a security data processing unit, and 47 denotes a 4-split switcher. The same components as those shown in FIG. 4 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted.

The security data processing unit 46 includes the data separation unit 2
Include the 2 _{1-22 4} receives the security data, performs predetermined processing such as addition of a file name, and stores the security data storage unit 34, received security data is information indicating that with image data In the case where the security data with the image data is received from which line control unit, the control unit receives the security information with the image data from the line control unit. Notify 45.

When receiving the received information from the security data processing unit 46, the control unit 45 outputs a switching control signal to the four-division switcher 47 based on the received information. When outputting this switching control signal, the control unit 45 determines how many line control units are currently receiving image data based on the information received from the security data processing unit 46, and If only the line controller receives image data, a switching control signal instructing the selection of the image data received by the line controller is sent to the four-division switcher 47, and the image data is now transmitted by the plurality of line controllers. Is received, the switching control signal for instructing selection of the image data of the 4-split display is notified to the 4-split switcher 47. Note that the control unit 45 has registered in advance which channel of the quadrant switcher 47 receives the output of the decompression unit of which line control unit. Here, the image data from the decompression unit 23 ₁ to 23 ₄ is an external input of each of the four divided switcher 36 CHl to CH
4 has been input.

As shown in FIG. 2, the four-division switcher 47 includes a four-screen synthesizing unit 40 and a selector 48.
The four-screen combining unit 40 is the same as described above. Then, the image data from the decompression unit 23 ₁ to 23 ₄ are inputted to CH1~CH4 selector 48, respectively, 4 screen combining section 4
The output of 0 is input to CH5 of the selector. The selector 48 selects image data to be output to the monitor 38 according to a switching control signal from the control unit 45. Therefore, as the selector 48, CH1 to CH1
Switch means for selecting any one input of CH5, control means for interpreting a switching control signal from the control unit 45, controlling the switching means, and switching to a channel determined by the switching control signal; Means for D / A converting the image data selected by the switch means.

An operator can select image data to be input to a desired channel of the selector 48 by operating the input unit 31. That is, for example, when CH1 is selected by the input unit 31, the control unit 45 generates a switching control signal for instructing the selection of CH1 and outputs it to the selector 48. This allows the selector 4
8 selects CH1. Thus, the image of the image data input to the CH1 to the entire image display area of the monitor 38, this case is that the image of the image data from the decompression unit 23 ₁ of the channel control unit 20 ₁ is displayed.

Now, suppose that none of the line control units has received security data or image data. At this time, the selectors 48 of the four-divided switcher 47 use CH1 to C
Although any input of H5 is selected, no image is displayed on the monitor 38 since image data is not received.

[0033] In this state, when the line control unit 20 ₁ receives the security data and image data, the security data is notified from the data separating unit 22 ₁ to a security data processing unit 46, further guard data processing unit 46 Line control unit 20
_The control unit 45 is notified of reception information indicating that security data accompanied with image transmission has been received from ₁ . A control unit 45 receives the reception information, since at this time recognizes that only the line controller 20 ₁ is receiving security data and image data, the selector 48 quartered switcher 47, the selection of CH1 Is output. This the selector 48 CH1 is selected by and displayed further because it is output after being converted D / A, the image of the image data being received by the channel control unit 20 ₁ is larger in the whole image display area of the monitor 38 Therefore, the operator can observe the image in detail.

Next, as described above, the line control unit 20₁ Received at
The image of the image data being transmitted is
In the state where it is displayed large over the whole area, the line control
Part 20_Two Received security data and image data
At this time, the security data is transmitted to the data separation unit 22._Two From
The security data processing unit 46 is notified and further processes security data.
The unit 46 is the line control unit 20_Two Security Day with image transmission from
Notification to the control unit 45 indicating that the data has been received.
You. Upon receiving this reception information, the control unit 45
Is the line control unit 20₁ And line control unit 20_Two Two line system
Confirm that security data and image data are
To the selector 48 of the four-divided switcher 47,
A switching control signal for instructing selection of CH5 is output.
As a result, the selector 48 selects CH5,
Further, the data is output after being D / A-converted.
₁ Of the image data received by the network and the line control unit 2
0 _Two The image of the image data received by the
The image is divided into four areas in the image display area.
Images can be observed. In addition,
As is apparent from FIG.₁ 
The image of the image data received by the
Displayed in the upper left of the display area,_TwoReceived by
The image of the current image data is displayed in the upper right of the image display area.
No image is displayed in the lower half of the image display area.

[0035] In this state, if the operator wishes to observe the image being received by the circuit control unit 20 ₂ in more detail, it is sufficient to instruct CH2 by the input unit 31.
Thereby, the control unit 45 recognizes that the enlarged display of the image of the CH2 has been instructed, and instructs the selector 48 to output the CH2 image.
And outputs a switching control signal instructing the selection. As a result, the selector 48 selects CH2 and further selects D2.
Since output / A converted, the image of the image data received by the circuit control unit 20 ₂ is largely displayed on the entire image display area of the monitor 38.

Furthermore, in this state, when the newly receives the security data and the image data in the line control unit 20 _3, the security data at this time is notified from the data separation section 22 ₃ to a security data processing unit 46, further security data processing unit 46 notifies the received information indicating the reception of the security data with the image transmitted from the line control unit 20 ₃ to the control unit 45. A control unit 45 receives the reception information, that it is receiving a security data and the image data of three line control unit of the line control unit 20 ₁ and the line controller 20 _2, and the line control unit 20 ₃ in this case Recognition is performed, and a switching control signal for instructing selection of CH5 is output to the selector 48 of the four-division switcher 47. This allows the selector 48
In CH5 is selected, since the output is further converted D / A, the image of the image data being received by the channel control unit 20 _1, the image data received by the circuit control unit 20 ₂ images, and the line since the image of the image data received by the controller 20 ₃ is divided into four displayed on the image display area of the monitor 38, the operator can observe the three images. At this time, the image of the image data received by the circuit control unit 20 ₃ will be displayed in the lower left corner of the image display area of the monitor 38.

As described above, according to this image center apparatus, when image data is received by only one line control unit, the image is automatically displayed large in the entire image display area of the monitor 38. Therefore, the operator can observe the image in detail, and when the image data is received by the plurality of line control units, the four-divided image is automatically displayed, so that the operator can view all the images being received. It allows you to observe and never overlook important images. Further, since this operation is automatically performed, the burden on the operator can be reduced as compared with the related art. Further, the operator operates the input unit 31 to
When desired, an image of a desired channel can be displayed in a large size on the entire image display area of the monitor 38 for detailed observation.

As described above, one embodiment of the present invention has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications are possible. For example, in the above description, a 4-split switcher is used, but the same applies to the case of using a 9-split switcher or a 16-split switcher. In FIG. 1, the security data storage unit 34 and the image data storage unit 35 are illustrated as being separate from each other, but the storage area of one storage device is divided so that one is a security data storage unit and the other is an image data storage unit. It may be a storage unit. Further, in the above description, the security data processing unit 4
6 notifies the control unit 45 of the received information.
The received information may be notified from the image data processing unit 33 to the control unit 45.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an image center device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a four-divided switcher 47 shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a configuration example of a conventional image center apparatus and a security system using the same.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a conventional image center apparatus including four line control units.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a four-divided switcher 36 in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a diagram for describing display of a four-divided image.

[Explanation of symbols]

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 image transmission device 2 control device 4 line control unit 1
0: Image center device, 11: Line control unit, 12: Control device, 13: Storage device, 15: Monitor, 16: Input unit, 2
0 _{1 to} 20 ₄ ... line control unit, 21 _{1 to} 21 ₄ ... line interface (line I / F), 22 _{1 to} 22 ₄ ... data separation unit, 23 ₁ to 23 ₄ ... expansion unit, 30 ... control unit, 31
... Input unit, 32 ... Security data processing unit, 33 ... Image data processing unit, 34 ... Security data storage unit, 35 ... Image data storage unit, 36 ... Four-division switcher, 38 ... Monitor, 45 ...
Control unit, 46 security data processing unit, 47 quadrant switcher, 48 selector, L public line.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of line control units for receiving image data from an image transmission device, image data received by each line control unit are input, and the input image data is combined into one screen and divided. A switcher that generates composite image data for display and selectively outputs any one of the image data input from each line control unit and the composite image data. When receiving, instructs the switcher to select the image data being received by the line controller, and when receiving image data by a plurality of line controllers, selects the composite image data to the switcher. And a control unit for instructing the image center.