JP2001008137A - Image trend management system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently reproduce and retrieve a supervised image desired to observe by converting an analog image signal obtained from a camera into a digital signal, giving a time stamp sequentially to the digital image signals and storing the resulting signals. SOLUTION: A digital conversion means 22 of a camera server 2 converts an analog image signal sent from a camera 5 into a digital image signal and transmits the converted image signal to a network 1. A time stamp addition means 32 of an image trend server 3 places a time stamp to digital signals sent sequentially from the network 1. A storage means 33 stores the images with the time stamp placed on them in time series. An image collection means 34 collects an image, at a point of time before a prescribed time from a point of time of entrance of an external signal SIG on the basis of the time stamp given to the image, from a storage means 45 when receiving the external signal SIG. A retrieval means 42 of a client computer 4 retrieves an image from a storage means 35 by using time for a keyword.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image trend management system for managing images taken by a camera installed at a monitoring position in a time-series trend and managing them.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In plant equipment, a camera is installed at a monitoring position in order to secure safe plant operation.
Some plants constantly monitor the plant for abnormalities. Conventionally, in order to view past images taken by a camera installed at a plant site, a method of recording a camera image on a video tape and checking a reproduced image later has been adopted.

[0003] However, in such a method, a large amount of time is required to view past images because a VCR is loaded with a tape and rewound to search for the desired image. However, there is a problem that the efficiency is low.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and is to digitize an analog image signal obtained from a camera and attach a time stamp to the digital image signal in order. And store it,
It is an object of the present invention to realize an image trend management system capable of efficiently reproducing and searching for a desired monitoring image by searching for an image based on a time stamp attached to the image.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is an image trend management system having the following configuration.

(1) In an image trend management system for managing images taken by a camera installed at a monitoring position in a time-series trend, a network is laid,
A camera server, an image trend server, and a client computer are connected to the network. The camera server converts an analog image signal sent from a camera into a digital image signal, and places the converted digital image signal on a network. The image trend server has a time stamp adding means for pressing a time stamp on a digital image signal sequentially transmitted by a network, and a storage means for storing a time stamped image in chronological order, The image trend management system according to claim 1, wherein the client computer includes a search unit for searching the storage unit for the image based on a time stamp attached to the image, and a display unit for displaying the image obtained by the search.

(2) The camera server has camera control means for controlling the operation of the camera, and the client computer instructs to start the operation of the camera, stop the operation of the camera, adjust the position of the camera, or adjust the angle of the camera. The image trend management system according to (1), further comprising an instruction signal output unit that supplies a signal to the camera control unit.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. A network 1 is laid in the image trend management system shown in FIG. 1, and a camera server 2, an image trend server 3, and a client computer 4 are connected to the network 1. Communication means 21 and 31 for communicating with the camera server 2, the image trend server 3 and the client computer 4 via the network 1.
And 41 are provided. The camera 5 is installed at a monitoring position of the plant equipment.

In the camera server 2, the digitizing means 22
Converts the analog image signal sent from the camera 5 into a digital image signal, and places the converted digital image signal on the network 1. When converting an analog image signal into a digital image signal, for example, Motion JPEG, which is a standard image compression method, is used. Camera control means 2
Reference numeral 3 controls the operation of the camera.

[0010] In the image trend server 3, the time stamp adding means 32 presses a time stamp on the digital image signals sequentially transmitted by the network 1. Storage means 3
Reference numeral 3 stores the images on which the time stamps are stamped in chronological order. Since the storage of images is continuously performed, when the storage area of the storage unit 33 is full, the images are discarded in the oldest order and updated to newer images. The storage unit 33 is realized by, for example, a main storage device of the image trend server 3.

When the external signal SIG is input, the image collecting means 34 stores the image from a point in time a predetermined time before the point in time when the external signal SIG is input, based on the time stamp attached to the image. To collect from. External signal SIG
Is supplied, for example, from the sequencer SQ that has received the contact signal. The external signal SIG may be provided from a distributed control system that has received the contact signal. The contact signal is, for example, a signal generated in conjunction with an alarm.

The storage means 35 stores the images collected by the image collecting means 34. The collected image is an image file 351
And store it. The image file 351 is, for example, JPE
It is in G file format. As a result, only the necessary portion of the time-series images stored in the storage unit 33 is cut out and dropped into the storage unit 35. The storage means 35 stores an image file 351 and an image display program H in the client computer.
TML file 352, image search execution program 353
Etc. are stored. As the image search execution program 353, for example, CGI (Common Gateway)
Interface) program, ASP (Ati)
ve Server Page) program.

[0013] In the client computer 4, the search means 42 instructs the image search execution program 353 using the time as a keyword, and searches the storage means 35 for an image.
The display means 43 displays an image obtained by the search.
The display unit 43 also displays the collected instantaneous images in the storage unit 33. The display means 43 displays an image using a standard WWW browser. HTML file 35
2 is downloaded from the image trend server 3 to the client computer 4 when displaying an image. The downloaded HTML file 352 is executed by a WWW browser in the search means 42, and an image is displayed. That is, the client computer 4 need not always have the HTML file 352 for display.
In other words, the specific client computer 4 has H
It is not necessary to have the TML file 352. The instruction signal output unit 44 outputs a signal instructing start of camera operation, stop of camera operation, camera position adjustment or camera angle adjustment to the sequencer SQ or the camera control unit 23.
Give to.

The operation of the image trend management system shown in FIG. 1 will be described. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a procedure for storing an image. The time stamp adding unit 32 sequentially presses time stamps on the images G1, G2, G3,... Sequentially transmitted by the network 1, and stores the images in the storage unit 33. The time of the time stamp refers to the clock 321.
Thereby, the images G1 ′, G2 ′, G3 ′,. In the example shown in the figure, a time stamp is impressed on the image sent every second from “8:30:00” and stored.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a procedure for storing a necessary image in the storage means 35. In FIG. 3, images sequentially sent by the network 1 are stored in the storage area M of the storage means 33 in the order of addresses. In the example of the figure, “10
The image is stored every second from “hour 00 minute 00 second”.
When the data is stored until the storage area M is full, the images are discarded in the oldest order and updated to newer images.

Here, it is assumed that an external signal is input at "10:32:00". It is assumed that the user wants to view the image up to one minute before the external signal is input. At this time, the image collection unit 34 sets “1: 3: 0” which is one minute before “10:32:00”.
The image starting from “0:31:00” (the image in the hatched portion in the figure) is cut out from the storage area M and dropped into the storage means 35. Thereafter, the image from the camera server 2 is kept stored in the storage unit 35 until a stop signal from the outside is input. On the client computer 4 side, the display unit 43 displays the image dropped in the storage unit 35. by this,
A situation image before the occurrence of a contact alarm or the like can be viewed, and a multi-faceted failure analysis can be performed. The above-mentioned predetermined time (one minute in this example) is set in the image collecting means 34.

Since digital images are transferred over a network, images captured by a plurality of cameras connected to the network via a camera server can be displayed on a single client computer. Each client computer can display images from a plurality of cameras. Thereby, the image of the camera can be viewed in the relation of (client computer) :( camera) = N: N.

The contact signal may be directly received by the image trend server 3 and provided to the image collecting means 34.

[0019]

According to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

According to the first aspect of the invention, the following effects can be obtained. An analog image signal obtained from a camera is digitized, a time stamp is attached to the digital image signal in order and stored, and an image is searched based on the time stamp attached to the image. As a result, it is possible to efficiently reproduce and search a desired monitoring image. Since an analog image signal obtained from a camera is digitized and transferred to a client computer via a network, an image can be simultaneously sent from one server to a plurality of client computers.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to control the camera to take an optimal situation image in the plant equipment.

As described above, according to the present invention, an image trend management system capable of efficiently reproducing and retrieving a desired monitoring image is realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an operation explanatory diagram of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Network 2 Camera server 3 Image trend server 4 Client computer 5 Camera 22 Digitization means 23 Camera control means 32 Time stamp addition means 33 Storage means 34 Image collection means 42 Search means 43 Display means 44 Instruction signal output means

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (reference) H04N 7/18 H04N 7/18 DE H04L 11/00 310Z

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image trend management system for managing images taken by a camera installed at a monitoring position as a time-series trend, wherein a network is laid, and the network includes a camera server, an image trend server, and a client computer. The camera server has a digitizing means for converting an analog image signal sent from a camera into a digital image signal, and loading the converted digital image signal on a network, wherein the image trend server is connected to a network. A time stamp adding unit that presses a time stamp on a digital image signal sequentially transmitted by the computer, and a storage unit that stores the time stamped image in time series, wherein the client computer also stores a time stamp attached to the image. And from the storage means Image trend management system characterized by comprising display means for displaying the image obtained by the search to find means and retrieval. 2. The camera server has camera control means for controlling the operation of a camera, and the client computer has a signal for instructing a start of the operation of the camera, a stop of the operation of the camera, a position adjustment of the camera or an angle adjustment of the camera. 2. An image trend management system according to claim 1, further comprising an instruction signal output unit that supplies the image signal to the camera control unit.