JP2002027451A - Image transmitter and image display system using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image transmitter capable of dealing with many control terminals by simply connecting and increasing the terminals without deteriorating an image signal with an RGB image signal of an output from a personal computer, a work station or the like as a signal source and an image display system using the transmitter. SOLUTION: The image display system transmits analog or digital RGB image signals to be transmitted from control terminals 1, 1a and 1b of the personal computer, a work station or the like as a signal source to other image display units 2, 2a and 2b by image transmitters 3, 3a and 3b, converts the source into compressed data such as JPEG or the like, transmits the data via general purpose communication cables 4, 4a and 4b, and concentrates the data by a line concentrator 5. The concentrated image data is processed based on a display image selecting, display position and size designating data to be input to a data processor 73 by an image display controller 7, and image signals suitable for image display units 14, 15, 16 and 17 are output by a display image generator 75.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image display system used for a monitoring control device for centrally monitoring and controlling a large number of devices in a large-scale facility such as a plant or an information network, and an image transmission device used therefor. About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIG. 2, a conventional image display system is provided with separate image display devices 2, 2a, 2b from control terminals 1, 1a, 1b for monitoring and controlling respective devices such as personal computers. Are supplied to distributors 10, 10a, 10b and distributed to separate image display devices 2, 2a, 2b and matrix switcher 12. When the distance between the control terminals 1, 1a, 1b and the matrix switcher 12 is large,
The cable compensators 11, 11a and 11b are interposed to compensate for the deterioration of the image signal. Matrix switcher 1
2 is controlled by the display image selection device 9 and the image signal selected by the display image selection device 9 is supplied to the magnifier 13 and output through or output after image processing.

In the image display system, a plurality of image display devices 14, 15, 16, 17 are arranged vertically and horizontally as shown in FIG. Image display devices 14, 15,
The important information of one image signal can be enlarged and displayed on the entire screen by using the magnifier 13.

In such an image display system, pixel conversion and frequency conversion are performed by an image display device or a magnifier in accordance with display pixels and frequencies of an input image signal. Displaying the display at any position and size requires advanced image processing and is not practical in terms of cost.

Therefore, as one solution, a plurality of image display devices 1 shown in FIG. 2 are conventionally used by using a screen synthesizer 18 instead of the magnifier 13 shown in FIG. 2 as shown in FIG.
One image display device 8 instead of 4, 15, 16, 17
An image display system for outputting to a computer has been put to practical use.

Recently, a method of digitally transmitting an image signal for a personal computer has been adopted, or a method of incorporating an extension board in a control terminal and transmitting a control drawing command of the control terminal via a LAN cable has been adopted. Further, regarding transmission of a fixed image format (for example, NTSC system image format) signal such as a composite image signal or a surveillance camera image, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H7-226845.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H10-163, a method is considered in which an image signal is digitized, compressed and transmitted, and expanded and displayed on a receiving side.

[0007]

In the above-described system using the screen synthesizer, the screen synthesizer is composed of one image display device 8.
Since it is not possible to display more than the display resolution of an image signal, to display multiple image signals, the image signals must be reduced or thinned out and displayed. There is a big problem that the image display system using the display device is inferior to the image display system of FIG.

On the other hand, in the digital transmission method of image signals for personal computers, the control terminal and the image display device are connected one-to-one with a dedicated cable, so that the transmission distance is short and enlargement / combination processing cannot be performed. The system was not practical.

Further, the method of incorporating an expansion board into a control terminal and transmitting a control drawing command of the control terminal via a LAN cable has a problem that application to existing terminals is difficult.

Further, in the system described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-226845, no consideration has been given to the transmission of RGB image signals output from a personal computer, a workstation or the like.

An object of the present invention is to use an RGB image signal output from a personal computer, a work station, or the like as a signal source, and to easily connect and add to a large number of control terminals without deteriorating the image signal. Another object of the present invention is to provide an image transmission apparatus and an image display system using the same.

[0012]

According to the present invention, an analog or digital RGB image signal transmitted from a control terminal such as a personal computer or a work station to a separate image display device is used as a signal source. An image transmission device comprising an image conversion means for converting the signal into a signal format that can be transmitted by a communication cable.

According to the present invention, the signal source is an analog RGB signal source.
An image transmission apparatus, comprising: an A / D converter that converts an analog RGB image signal into a digital image signal, and supplies the converted digital RGB image signal to the image conversion unit. .

According to the present invention, there is provided an image transmission apparatus comprising a distribution unit for transmitting the image data to the separate image display apparatus and for using the signal source.

According to the present invention, the signal converted by the image conversion means is a signal included in the control terminal and excluding a control signal transmitted from the control terminal to a separate image display device. An image transmission device which does not require a control signal from a terminal.

According to the present invention, there is provided an image transmitting apparatus wherein the signal converted into a signal format that can be transmitted by the general-purpose communication cable is a signal that can be displayed on a personal computer or the like.

According to the present invention, a plurality of the image transmission devices are used to transmit RGB image signals from a plurality of control terminals using a general-purpose communication cable, respectively, and are integrated into a display image control device. An image display system, wherein the device selects at least one RGB image signal of the plurality of control terminals and displays the selected RGB image signal at an arbitrary position and size on the image display device.

The present invention is characterized in that the display image control device outputs an image signal format having an optimum number of display pixels and a refresh rate for the image display device regardless of the image format of the control terminal. An image display system.

According to the present invention, the image display device comprises a plurality of image display devices, and the display image control device converts the plurality of image display devices into a plurality of image signal formats in which the number of display pixels, the refresh rate, and the like are unified. An image display system comprising image processing means for outputting, and supplying the plurality of outputs to each of the plurality of corresponding image display devices.

The present invention is an image display system, wherein the plurality of image display devices display one RGB image signal as a whole.

According to the present invention, the display image control device includes a storage unit for storing the aggregated RGB image signals, and reproduces the stored RGB image signals when necessary, so that the image display device or another personal computer or the like is provided. This is an image display system characterized in that the image is displayed by the following.

According to the present invention, the display image control device includes a spare display image control device, and when the display image control device fails, the spare display image control device displays an RGB image signal on the image display device. An image display system characterized in that:

[0023]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of an image display apparatus and an image display system using the same according to the present invention.

As an image transmission device 3 for one control terminal 1 such as a personal computer or a workstation and an image display device 2 separate from the control terminal 1, an image transmission device 3 is an analog RGB image signal from the control terminal 1. The input RGB image signal includes a separate image display device 2, a distributor 31 for distributing to the A / D converter 32, and an A / D converter 32 connected to the distributor 31.

The A / D converter 32 is a converter for sequentially converting the input analog RGB image signals into digital values. Here, a wideband PLL circuit is included, and even when the format of the image signal input from the control terminal 1 is different, frequency detection is performed and A / D conversion is possible, and information such as the detected frequency is transmitted to the controller 36.

The controller 36 performs setting and control of each process according to a format such as the number of pixels of an input image signal based on estimation from the frequency obtained from the A / D converter 32 and setting data input from the outside. Do.

The input analog RGB image signal is
The signal is converted into an 8-bit digital color image signal by the A / D converter 32, for example.

The output of the A / D converter 32 is connected to a digital signal processor 33, which outputs a digital RGB image signal.
The processing such as γ correction is performed and output to the data compressor 34.

The data compressor 34 is a compressor for compressing and encoding digital RGB image signals processed by the digital signal processor 33.

The data compressor 34 converts the compression-encoded image data into a transmission interface 35 connected to the output.
To supply.

In this image display system, a display image from the control terminal 1 has almost no moving image display except for a composite image signal such as a surveillance camera. Therefore, the compression method of the data compressor 34 is a color still image compression standard. JPEG (Joint Photographic Coding Experts Grou
p) The method is advantageously applied.

When the temporal change of the display image from the control terminal 1 is large, a motion JPEG (Motion Joint P
A compression method of a hotographic coding expert group is advantageously applied.

The transmission interface 35 is an interface for converting and assembling image data compressed and encoded by the data compressor 34 into a packet format suitable for a transmission cable and a destination connected thereto, and transmitting the converted data.

The image data converted by the image transmission device 3 is transmitted by a communication cable 4 such as a general-purpose LAN cable.

The configuration of the image transmission device 3a for the control terminal 1a and the image display device 2a separate from the control terminal 1a is the same as that of the image transmission device 3, and is transmitted by a communication cable 4a such as a general-purpose LAN cable.

Similarly, the configuration of the image transmission device 3b for the control terminal 1b and the image display device 2b separate from the control terminal 1b is the same as that of the image transmission device 3, and is connected by a communication cable 4b such as a general-purpose LAN cable. Transmitted.

As described above, the image transmission devices 3, 3
a, 3b, the analog R of the control terminals 1, 1a, 1b
The GB image signal is converted to image data,
The data is transmitted by communication cables 4, 4a, 4b such as an AN cable.

The image data transmitted by the communication cables 4, 4a, 4b, such as a general-purpose LAN cable, is collected in the concentrator 05.

The collected image data is input to the image display control device 7 through a communication cable 6 such as a general-purpose LAN cable.

In the image display control device 7, the aggregated and transmitted image data is received by the transmission interface 72, and is stored in the data storage 74 via the data processor 73. Image data is processed based on the display image selection / display position / size instruction data input from the display image selector 72, and the display image generator 7
5, the image signals are output to the image display devices 14, 15, 16, 17 as image signals of the same image format in which the number of display pixels and the refresh rate optimized for the image display devices 14, 15, 16, 17 are unified. Here, the image display devices 14, 15, 16, and 17 are arranged vertically and horizontally, and the display image generator 75 includes four image display devices 14, 15, and 16.
Four display image generators 75 respectively corresponding to the display image generators 15, 16, 17 are built in, and the display images processed in the display image selector 72 are displayed on the four image display devices 14, 15, 16, 1
7 are output to the four display image generators 75 corresponding to the divided images.

The image display control device 7 is, specifically,
This can be realized by mounting a LAN board 72 and a plurality of video boards 75 in the personal computer 7 and introducing an operation system corresponding to a multi-screen and software for other processing to the data processor 73.

The display images divided and output from the four display image generators 75 are supplied to the four image display devices 14, 15, 16, and 17, respectively.
4, 15, 16 and 17 convert the image signals of the same image format input from the image display control device 7 into the image display devices 14, 15, 16 and 17 as a whole with four times the definition of one image display device. Display images in degrees.

The image transmission apparatus of the present invention is a modification of an existing control terminal for processing an analog or digital RGB image signal transmitted from a control terminal such as a personal computer, a workstation or a board personal computer to a separate image display device.・ The image display system can be implemented without modification, without impairing the processing capability of the control terminal, and without any security problems because it can be completely independent of the network on the control terminal side. Can be built.

The image transmission apparatus of the present invention uses an analog or digital RGB image signal transmitted from a control terminal such as a personal computer or a work station to a separate image display apparatus as a signal source, and uses the signal source as a general-purpose signal source. Image data is converted to a signal format that can be transmitted with a communication cable of
A general-purpose communication cable such as a cable can be used, and an image display system with superior expandability in terms of cable wiring and addition / change of control terminals compared to a dedicated cable for image signal transmission Can be.

In this embodiment, an analog RGB image signal transmitted from a control terminal such as a personal computer or a work station to a separate image display device is used as a signal source. However, a digital RGB image signal is used as a signal source. In this case, the A / D converter 32 is unnecessary,
If it is not necessary to display the image on a separate image display device, it goes without saying that the distributor 31 is not required.

Further, analog or digital RGB image signals transmitted from a control terminal such as a personal computer or a work station to a separate image display device are signals from which control signals included in the control terminal are removed. Thus, the risk of virus generation due to the control signal can be eliminated. Furthermore, since the signal converted into a signal format that can be transmitted by a general-purpose communication cable is a signal that can be displayed on an image display device such as a personal computer, an image signal output from the image transmission device is converted by a personal computer or the like. You can easily check.

In an image transmission system using an image transmission device, a display image control device for an image display device handles a signal from the image transmission device as a general image file. The display screen of the control terminal can be reproduced using a general-purpose personal computer or the like without having to select or change the display position or size performed in the pixel conversion / frequency conversion processing device.

In the display image control device, even if there are a plurality of image display devices, the operation system can process a state in which these are arranged as one screen, so that the display system can be freely displayed on a large screen extending over a plurality of screens. It can be displayed by position and size. At this time, if the image signal output of the display image control device is kept constant in accordance with the image display device, the adjustment work conventionally performed for each control terminal can be performed only once.

Further, the record of the transmitted image data can be stored in the data storage device, and the stored image data can be reproduced when necessary. Although not shown,
The display image control device further includes another spare display image control device, and when the display image control device fails, if the spare display image control device is operated, the image signal of the control terminal is continuously transmitted to the image display device. It can be displayed on a display device.

[0050]

According to the present invention, an RGB image signal output from a personal computer, a work station or the like is used as a signal source, and it is easily connected to a large number of control terminals without deterioration of the image signal, and is expanded. It is possible to provide a compatible image transmission device and an image display system using the same.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of an image display device and an image display system using the same according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of a conventional image display system.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the conventional image display system.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 1a, 1b: control terminal, 2, 2a, 2b: separate image display device, 3, 3a, 3b: image transmission device, 4, 4
a, 4b: Communication cable, 5: Concentrator, 6: Communication cable, 7: Image display controller, 14, 15, 16, 17
... image display device, 31 ... distributor, 32 ... A / D converter,
33: Digital signal processor, 34: Data compressor, 35
... Transmission interface, 36 ... Controller, 71 ... Display image selector, 72 ... Transmission interface, 73 ... Data processor, 74 ... Data storage, 75 ... Display image generator

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Hiroshi Mitomi 292, Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside Digital Media System Division, Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Inventor Hiroyuki Urata Yoshida, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa 292 Hitachi, Ltd. Digital Media System Division, Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Inventor Takayuki Yamaguchi 292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture F-term, Digital Media System Division, Hitachi, Ltd. 5C054 AA01 DA08 EA05 FB03 FE02 FE12 FE17 FE18 FF03 GB02 GB12 GB13 GB16 HA02 HA03 5C082 AA01 AA12 AA34 BA14 BA16 BA27 BA34 BB01 BB44 CA33 CA56 CA63 CA81 CB06 MM05 MM06

Claims (11)

[Claims] An analog or digital RGB image signal transmitted from a control terminal such as a personal computer or a work station to a separate image display device is used as a signal source, and the signal source can be transmitted using a general-purpose communication cable. An image transmission device comprising image conversion means for converting a format. 2. The digital RGB image signal according to claim 1, wherein said signal source is an analog RGB image signal, and an A / D converter for converting said analog RGB image signal to digital is provided. Is supplied to the image conversion means. 3. The image transmission apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a distribution unit for transmitting the signal to the separate image display apparatus and for using the signal as a signal source. 4. A signal according to claim 1, wherein the signal converted by said image conversion means is a signal included in said control terminal and excluding a control signal transmitted from said control terminal to a separate image display device. An image transmission apparatus, which does not require a control signal from the control terminal. 5. The image transmission device according to claim 1, wherein the signal converted into a signal format that can be transmitted by the general-purpose communication cable is a signal that can be displayed on a personal computer or the like. 6. A plurality of image transmission devices according to claim 1, wherein RGB image signals from a plurality of control terminals are transmitted using general-purpose communication cables, respectively, and are aggregated in a display image control device. An image display system, wherein an image control device selects at least one RGB image signal of the plurality of control terminals and displays the selected RGB image signal at an arbitrary position and size on the image display device. 7. The image display device according to claim 6, wherein said display image control device outputs an image signal format having an optimum number of display pixels and a refresh rate for said image display device regardless of an image format of said control terminal. An image display system characterized by the following. 8. The image display device according to claim 6, wherein said image display device comprises a plurality of image display devices, and said display image control device controls said plurality of image display devices to unify the number of display pixels, refresh rate, and the like. An image display system comprising image processing means for outputting a plurality of images in a format, and supplying the plurality of outputs to each of the plurality of image display devices. 9. The image display system according to claim 8, wherein said plurality of image display devices display one RGB image signal as a whole. 10. The display image control device according to claim 6, further comprising storage means for storing the aggregated RGB image signals, wherein the stored RGB image signals are reproduced when necessary, and the image display device or another image display device is provided. An image display system for displaying on a personal computer or the like. 11. The display image control device according to claim 6, wherein the display image control device includes a spare display image control device, and when the display image control device fails, the spare display image control device applies RGB to the image display device. An image display system for displaying an image signal.