JP2002133558A - Communication method of monitoring signal, and communication device of monitoring signal - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain an acoustic signal generated from an object to be monitored in a living space by an electric acoustic converter to detect an abnormality on the basis of the signal, and transfer the image of the object and the acoustic signal to a monitor device in the detection of the abnormality. SOLUTION: The sound wave generated from a preliminarily selected object 15 to be monitored is obtained as acoustic signal, the acoustic signal is analyzed by the acoustic analyzing means 24a of a voice confirmation part 24, and the analysis of the result is performed in signal analyzing means 24b, whereby the analysis information for the object is obtained. When the obtained analysis information exceeds a prescribed level, the image signal for the taken image of the living space and the acoustic signal are supplied to Internet 30 and transmitted to a monitoring device 40 set in a remote place to display and sound them.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a transmission terminal for a monitoring device connected to a network, and more particularly to a bedridden elderly person, the behavior of a pet, an illegal intruder, and the like, which are effectively detected and detected in order to avoid the danger. The present invention relates to a monitoring signal communication method for transmitting an extracted signal to a monitoring device installed in a remote place, and a monitoring signal communication device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a system for watching an elderly person living alone, for example, a sensor is attached to a toilet door to detect that the user is not going to the toilet for a long time even though he or she is at home. There is a system that automatically makes an emergency call through a telephone line when it is long.

[0003] Also, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-216
The issue “Action monitoring device and action monitoring / support system” discloses a system that compares the image subjected to temporal difference processing with registered attribute data to determine the state of a person.

In recent years, a communication network such as the Internet has been developed, and image information, sound information, and accompanying information obtained from sensors installed in a monitoring room are distributed by the communication network. Or a network configuration in which such information is stored in a server and transmitted to a terminal device accessing the server.

[0005]

However, none of these systems described above is a system capable of accurately managing the behavior of a target person. In addition, an infrared sensor is provided in a living space, and the infrared sensor is detected by the infrared sensor. In a system that manages the occupancy of a room based on motion detection output signals, when there are multiple people, it is not possible to identify a specific individual to be monitored, and these motions can be applied to pets such as cats and dogs. There is a problem that the subject is erroneously recognized as being in a room even though the target person is out.

[0006] In addition, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-216 discloses a system in which a temporal difference process is compared with attribute data registered for a processed image to determine the state of a person. The system monitors the person by the image and protects the privacy of the person to be monitored by abstracting the person image, while accurately monitoring the action and supporting the action, and Behavior monitoring and support systems are disclosed.

However, the system for determining the state of the person is a complicated hardware means for advanced signal processing,
Such a monitoring system has a problem that it becomes an expensive device due to the necessity of a huge amount of software processing.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and obtains an acoustic signal in a region to be monitored, analyzes the obtained signal, and analyzes the obtained signal, thereby operating with low power consumption and saving energy. It is an object of the present invention to provide a monitoring signal communication method and a monitoring signal communication device with a low-cost configuration for a space monitoring system in a range of personal use corresponding to the trend.

[0009]

The present invention comprises the following means 1) to 5) to solve the above-mentioned problems. That is,

1) An image signal is obtained by photographing an object to be monitored which is selected in advance, and an acoustic signal is obtained by electro-acoustically converting a sound wave emitted from the object, and the obtained acoustic signal is A first step (24a) of obtaining a sound analysis signal by analyzing the obtained sound signal, wherein the first step is a step of: A second step (24b) of analyzing the analysis result of the acoustic analysis signal obtained by the above to obtain the extracted information, and converting the image signal and the acoustic signal based on the extracted information obtained in the second step. Third information to be supplied to the communication network as information on the object;
(28), and a method for communicating a monitoring signal.

2) An image signal is obtained by photographing an object to be monitored, which is selected in advance, and an acoustic signal is obtained by performing electroacoustic conversion of a sound wave emitted from the object, and the obtained acoustic signal is converted to an acoustic signal. A signal analyzing means (24a) for analyzing the obtained sound signal to obtain an analysis signal in a monitoring terminal device adapted to supply the image signal and the sound signal to a communication network based on the signal signal; A signal analyzing means (24b) for analyzing the analytic signal obtained from the signal analyzing means to obtain extracted information; and an image signal when the signal level of the extracted information obtained from the signal analyzing means exceeds a predetermined level; A communication network connection unit (28) for supplying an audio signal to the communication network as information on the target object.

3) When the signal level of the extracted information obtained by the signal analysis means exceeds a first predetermined level, the image signal and the audio signal are recorded on a recording medium, and the signal level of the extracted information is set to the second level. A communication network connection unit configured to supply the image signal and the audio signal to the communication network as information on the object when the second predetermined level higher than the first predetermined level is exceeded. 2. The monitoring signal communication device according to the item 2).

4) An image signal is obtained by photographing a target object to be monitored which is selected in advance, and the obtained image signal is analyzed to obtain image analysis information. Obtain an acoustic signal by performing sound conversion, and in a monitoring terminal device that supplies information on the object to a communication network based on the obtained acoustic signal, analyze the obtained acoustic signal to obtain the acoustic analysis signal. Sound signal analyzing means (24a) for obtaining the image signal; image signal analyzing means (23, 26) for obtaining the image analyzing signal by analyzing the image signal; sound analyzing signal obtained from the signal analyzing means; Signal determination means (2) for analyzing the signal to obtain the extracted information
4b, 26) and a communication network connection for supplying the image signal and the acoustic signal to the communication network as information on the object when the signal level of the extraction information obtained by the signal determination means exceeds a predetermined level. Means (28);
A signal communication device for monitoring, comprising:

5) An image signal is obtained by photographing an object to be monitored which is selected in advance, and an acoustic signal is obtained by performing electroacoustic conversion of a sound wave emitted from the object, and the obtained acoustic signal is converted to an acoustic signal. A monitoring terminal device configured to supply the image signal and the sound signal to a communication network based on the signal signal; a signal analysis unit (24a) for analyzing the obtained sound signal to obtain an analysis signal; Signal analysis means (2) for analyzing the analytic signal obtained from the analysis means to obtain extracted information
4b) and communication network connection means (28) for supplying the image signal and the audio signal to the communication network as information on the object when the signal level of the extracted information obtained by the signal analysis means exceeds a predetermined level. ), And low power means (29) for setting low power to reduce power consumption when the signal level of the extracted information obtained by the signal analysis means is equal to or lower than a predetermined level. A monitoring signal communication device, comprising:

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the monitoring signal communication method and the monitoring signal communication apparatus of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a monitoring signal communication system according to the embodiment, and its operation will be described.

The monitoring signal communication system 1 includes a living space 10 to be monitored, an information processing device 20, the Internet 30, a monitor device 40, and a support center 50. The internal configuration will be described.

First, a video camera 11 for photographing an object 15 to be monitored and a microphone 1 are provided in a living space 10.
2 are installed. The information processing device 20 includes an image conversion unit 21, an information compression unit 22, an information storage unit 23, a voice recognition unit 24, an area setting unit 25, an image extraction unit 26, and a communication unit 28.

The monitor device 40 includes a communication unit 41, an operation unit 42, an information decompression unit 43, a display unit 44, an amplifier 45,
And a speaker 46. Next, the operation of the monitoring signal communication system 1 configured as described above will be described.

The monitoring signal communication system 1 shown in FIG.
The video signal captured by the video camera 11 installed in the living space 10 and the audio signal collected by the microphone 12 are supplied to the information processing device 20, and the information processing device 20 outputs the supplied video signal, The monitoring information of the living space 10 is obtained by analyzing the acoustic signal.

A part of the acoustic signal collected in the living space 10 is supplied to an information compression unit 22 for compression encoding, and another part is supplied to a speech recognition unit 24.
It is determined whether or not the compression-encoded audio signal is supplied from the communication unit 28 to the Internet 30.

The video camera 11 in the living space 10
The video signal including the monitoring target 15 photographed in the step (a) is supplied to the image conversion unit 21, and the supplied video signal is subjected to contour correction for facilitating difference extraction, and brightness correction for a portion where illuminance is not sufficient. Signal processing is performed, and the analog video signal on which such signal processing has been performed is converted into a digital video signal by an A / D converter (not shown), and the converted signal is supplied to the information compression unit 22.

The information compression section 22 encodes the video signal supplied in this manner and also performs compression encoding processing of the audio signal supplied from the microphone 12. In the processing, the supplied analog audio signal is converted into a digital signal and, for example, MPEG (mo
A digital audio signal that has been compression-encoded according to an encoding method defined by a ving picture experts group is generated.

In this manner, the video signal and the audio signal are encoded. At this time, the encoding of the video signal is performed according to the area division information of the image signal supplied from the area setting unit 25. The image signal is divided into a plurality of areas, and the image signal for each of the divided areas is converted into an image signal encoded by the information compression unit 22, and the encoded signal is supplied.

An image signal encoded by the MPEG system is encoded in units of a macroblock of 16 pixels × 16 lines. However, when a divided area is designated every 16 pixels or every 16 lines, Since the screen division does not require the boundary line processing of the divided areas, the image can be easily divided.

Therefore, the image signal is divided in such a unit of 16 pixels, and a part of the coded signal is supplied to the information storage unit 23 and stored as a moving image signal, and the storage capacity is not large. At this time, a predetermined image signal of the supplied image signals is accumulated as a plurality of image data, and the other part of the encoded image data is supplied to the communication unit 28.

The coded audio signal and the information signal such as the video signal supplied to the communication unit 28 are transmitted to the communication unit 28 by the speech recognition unit 24 or the information storage unit 23 and the image extraction unit 26 described later. The information signal is supplied to the Internet 30 only when it is determined that the information signal should be supplied to the communication network 30.

Next, the operation of the monitor device 40 for obtaining, displaying, and generating the image and the sound signal will be described. First, in the monitor device 40, a signal transmitted from the communication unit 28 of the information processing device 20 to the Internet 30 is received by the communication unit 41.

The signal obtained by the communication unit 41 is supplied to an information decompression unit 43, where the signal is decoded by a method complementary to the encoding method performed by the information compression unit 22, and an image obtained by decoding is obtained. The signal is supplied to the display unit 44 and displayed.

The display unit is constituted by a CRT display or the like to display a monitor screen, and when a frame advance request or the like of the display screen is made by operating the operation unit 42 including a keyboard, the contents are transmitted to the communication unit. , And via the Internet, the information processing device 20 transmits an image signal or the like according to the request, and a display according to the contents of the operation performed interactively is displayed on the monitor screen. Done.

The contents of the operation are displayed even when, for example, the setting area of the area setting section 25 of the information processing apparatus 20 is changed by the operation section 42, the area setting information is transmitted via the Internet 30. Part 2
8 is transmitted.

As described above, the monitoring information on the person, which is the object 15 in the living space to be monitored, is bi-directionally connected between the monitor device 40 and the information processing device 20.
An image signal captured in response to the operation of the monitor device 40 is supplied to the monitor device 40 via the communication unit 28 and the Internet 30 and displayed on the display unit 44.

Next, the operation of the sound system built in the monitor device 40 will be described. First, an acoustic signal collected by the microphone 12 in the living space is converted into an audio signal encoded by the information compression unit 22 of the information processing device 20, and the signal is transmitted to the communication unit 28 and the Internet 3.
0 and the information decompressing unit 43 via the communication unit 41 of the monitor device 40.

In the information decompression unit 43, the supplied compression-encoded audio signal is decoded into a digital audio signal, and the digital audio signal is converted into a D / A converter (not shown) built in the information decompression unit 43. , And is supplied to the amplifier 45.

The analog audio signal supplied to the audio amplifier 45 is amplified, and the amplified signal is supplied to a speaker 46 incorporated in the monitor device 40 to generate sound.

As described above, the image signal and the sound signal supplied from the information processing device 20 are displayed and sounded on the monitor device 40, but the sound signal is added to the image signal, so that The monitoring accuracy can be improved.

Next, an operation method from the monitor screen displayed on the monitor device 40 will be described. FIG. 2 shows an example of a screen displayed on the monitor device 40. In FIG. 2, the upper part of the screen is a task screen, and the lower left part is divided by the region setting unit 25 transmitted from the information processing device 20. The image signal that has been set and compression-encoded by the information compression unit 22 is divided into an A region 441, a B region 442, and a C region 4
43 is displayed.

A menu screen is arranged on the right side of the image screen. The menu screen includes an area selection display area 444, a time display area 445, and a frame advance display area 4.
46, a voice recognition setting area 447, and an alarm display area 448, and the operation in those display areas will be described sequentially.

First, in the area selection display area 444, a dotted line in the figure is clicked by a mouse or the like (not shown) in the operation unit 42, and the dotted line is moved while clicking a triangle shown in the figure. Click the OK button at the preferred location.

The area information set in this way is supplied to the area setting section 25 via the communication section 41, the Internet 30, and the communication section 28, and the information compression section 22 supplies the area information in accordance with the newly set area. The image signal is encoded and transmitted to the monitor device 40.

As described above, for the area division screen transmitted to the monitor device 40, the setting of the area where the image extracting unit 26 performs the image extraction is performed by setting a necessary area from the area A to the area C to a mouse or the like. And setting can be designated by clicking on the setting in the figure.

Next, in a time display area 445, a time relating to an image photographed and transmitted in the living space 10 is displayed. The information processing device 20 includes the image extraction unit 2
6, the image signal is transmitted from the communication unit 28 only when it is determined that transmission is necessary. Therefore, this time display is necessary to indicate the time of the transmitted and received image. .

The frame advance display area 446 specifies an image to be stored in the information storage unit 23 when displaying an image past or future from the displayed time.
This is an operation area for reading and displaying, and the buttons shown here are used to obtain a desired image by requesting the information processing apparatus 20 by operating the mouse, for example.

A voice recognition setting area 447 is an area for setting operation parameters for voice recognition processing in the voice recognition unit 24. For example, a frequency interval of a Fourier transform frequency for performing voice recognition and a Fourier transform are performed. The pattern data for the extracted frequency and its level obtained is stored.

The warning display area 448 is lit or flashed in red when the image is analyzed by the image extracting unit 26 of the information processing device 20 and it is determined that there is "abnormal". An alert message is displayed on the screen.

As described above, the image signal supplied from the information processing device 20 is displayed on the monitor device 40, the space in the living space 10 is monitored based on the acoustic signal, and the monitor object 15 is monitored. For example, the monitoring of the moving state of a person is performed by dividing the image signal into the A region to the C region and displaying the divided image signal, and the space is monitored based on the extraction of the moving state based on the region signals.

As a result of the surveillance, when the situation in the living space 10 is ordinary and it is not particularly necessary to perform surveillance, communication for using the Internet 30 in terms of protecting the privacy of the person 15 to be monitored. In consideration of the cost and the power consumption of the information processing apparatus, it is preferable to transmit the image and the audio signal to the Internet only when necessary.

Next, the case where the connection control to the Internet performed in this manner is performed by using an audio signal obtained from the microphone 12 will be described in further detail. In FIG.
The configuration of the information processing device 20 is shown, and its operation will be described.

In the figure, the voice recognition section 24 is composed of voice analysis means 24a and signal analysis means 24b, and the information storage section 23 is composed of memory A 23a, memory B 23b, averaging means 23c, and recorder 23d. Is composed of a difference extracting unit 26a and a difference analyzing unit 26b.

The communication control of the communication unit 28 in the information processing apparatus 20 configured as described above is performed as follows. First, a case of communication control performed using an acoustic signal will be described.

That is, the sound signal collected by the microphone 12 is supplied to the sound analysis means 24a, where the sound signal is analyzed. The sound signal supplied to the analysis processing means 24a is a sound in which an incoming signal is emitted from a radio or a television set in the living space 10, a surrounding sound such as opening and closing of a door, and a person to be monitored. , And an acoustic signal generated by the visitor.

The analysis processing means 24a performs frequency analysis on the supplied acoustic signal, and the analysis processing is performed using a Fourier analysis method (FFT) or a generalized harmonic analysis (GHA). . The setting of the parameters of the Fourier analysis means at that time differs depending on the type of the assumed sound signal, but the supplied sound signal is obtained with the highest possible fidelity to obtain the frequency component and the obtained amplitude value for each frequency. .

The extracted frequency and the data of the component values of the frequency obtained in this manner are stored in the signal analysis means 2.
4b, where the data obtained is analyzed.

When the sound signal is generated by a device such as a radio or a television, the sound output level is almost constant, the output signal levels in the low and high ranges are low, and the sound signal is built in the device. The peak value of the frequency characteristic and the component value of the frequency characteristic generated based on the relationship between the resonance and the antiresonance between the speaker and the acoustic space inside the device and the acoustic space inside the device are obtained.

In the case of a sound originating in the living space 10, such as the opening and closing of a door, a similar acoustic signal is generated many times. Therefore, the signal analyzing means 24b determines the acoustic frequency for the sound generated a plurality of times and its frequency. A pattern for each level is stored in a table or the like, and a sound similar to the pattern is treated as a sound that occurs daily.

Further, with respect to the sound emitted by the person 15 to be monitored, the signal analyzing means 24b compares the relationship between the frequency and level of the sound analyzed sound with the previously measured characteristics of the formant of the person, Whether they are the same person,
The recognition of the voice of another person is determined.

FIG. 4 shows the structure of the voice analyzing means 24a and the signal analyzing means 24b, and the operation will be described. In the figure, a voice analyzer 24a is provided with a frequency analyzer 24a.
1 and a formant extractor 24a2, and the signal analyzing means 24b comprises a formant analyzer 24b1, a signal determiner 24b2, and a determination table 24b3.

In the speech recognition unit 24 configured as described above,
The signal obtained by the microphone 12 is supplied to the frequency analyzer 24a1, where the signal is FFT (Fast Fourier T).
ransform) operation or general harmonic analysis (GHA; Ge)
The frequency component and the signal level of the acoustic signal supplied after neralized Harmonic Analysis are analyzed, and the analysis data obtained by the analysis is supplied to the formant extractor 24a2.

The formant extractor 24a2 extracts a frequency component having a higher signal level than the supplied analysis data as an expected first and second formant signal of the voice, and extracts the extracted first and second formants. The frequency of the second formant signal and data on the signal level at those frequencies are supplied to the formant analyzer 24b1.

The formant analyzer 24b1 obtains a frequency ratio and a level ratio from the data of the supplied first and second formant signals, and outputs the obtained information on the frequency ratio and the level ratio to a signal determiner. 24b2.

The signal determiner 24b2 stores the supplied frequency ratio and level ratio information in advance in the determination table 24.
The formant information supplied while collating with the frequency ratio and level ratio information previously obtained and stored in b3 is stored in the voice of the elderly 15 or the person registered in advance. It is determined whether there is a voice or a third party voice not stored in the determination table 24b3, and the result of the determination is supplied as a determination signal.

The judgment signal obtained in this way is the elderly 1
When it is determined that the voices are normal voices of the fifth party, the information processing apparatus 20 does not perform any action, but determines that the voices of the third party are not stored in the determination table 24b3. And the determination signal is transmitted to the communication unit 2
The communication unit 28 supplies the encoded image and the audio signal supplied from the information compression unit 22 to the Internet 3.
0 to the monitor device 40.

In particular, it is assumed that the sound when the third party is an illegal intruder is often emitted at a sound level different from that of everyday life and with an unusual sound.
b2 is a frequency supplied with a difference between a living sound and an abnormal sound,
The signal level for each frequency is analyzed, and if there is a sign that it is judged that it is not ordinary, the obtained video signal and sound signal are stored in the information storage unit 23, When an analysis result determined to be inappropriate is obtained, the video signal and the audio signal are supplied from the communication unit 28 to the Internet 30.

Then, the Internet 3
0 and the audio signal supplied to the monitor device 40,
And the monitor device 40 installed in the support center 50 acquires image and audio data stored in real time or in an information provider (not shown) via the Internet, and decodes the acquired signal.
The image signal obtained by decoding is displayed on the display unit 44, and the sound signal is emitted from the attached speaker 46.

The operation performed in this manner is performed stepwise by the signal voltage of the analysis result obtained from the signal analysis means 24b. That is, the first and second predetermined voltage values are set as levels for judging the analysis result, and when the signal voltage of the analysis result is smaller than the first predetermined level, it is determined that the signal voltage is everyday and the image processing is performed. Operate the device at low power.

When the signal voltage value is between the first predetermined level and the second predetermined level, it is determined that the signal voltage is between the normal and the abnormal, and the video signal and the audio signal of the living space 10 are recorded. The data is recorded in the monitor 23d and can be read out from the monitor device 40 as necessary.

Further, when it is determined that the abnormality is greater than the second predetermined level, the video signal and the audio signal are transmitted from the communication unit 28 to the monitor device 40 via the Internet 30 to determine that the abnormality is abnormal for the observer. To let you know.

As described above, the video signal and the audio signal are supplied to the Internet 30 via the communication unit 28. Since the signal is transmitted to the Internet using a public line, the information processing apparatus 20 is used. It is necessary to be operated by anyone other than the parties concerned, or it is necessary to prevent the information of this device from being obtained improperly, and the compressed and coded image and audio signal data are subjected to scramble processing based on predetermined key information, Further, it is configured to have a security function protected by setting of an ID (identification code) and a password.

The configuration of the example in which the operation of the communication unit 28 is controlled based on the supplied sound signal and the operation example have been described above. Next, a method for performing the same control of the communication unit 28 based on the supplied video signal will be described based on the display example shown in FIG. 2 described above.

The image of the living space 10 in FIG.
The three regions of C are divided by two dotted lines.
In the area 441, the movement of the door is detected based on the difference between the door positions, and in the case where a person or the like enters the space from the outside, the occurrence of difference data of the image is detected.

In the area B 442, for example, when an old man is bedridden on a bed (not shown) in this space, the motion of the image in this area is detected.
The transmission of the image data from the communication unit due to the detection is not performed. For example, the movement of the elderly person is detected in both the B region 442 and the A region 441 so that the movement is detected as the movement of the elderly person. To

At this time, the motion of the elderly person is such that the foot of a person or the like moving in the B area 442 is detected as a motion synchronized with the B area 442 also in the C area 443. When the movement is detected, the movement of the target person or the like is detected based on the movement detection results of the plurality of regions, for example, by making a condition determination using the movement detection result as a valid movement.

The detection of the movement in the C area 443 is as follows.
When the movement is performed by a movement of a pet such as a cat different from the person, the detection based on the movement is not determined to be abnormal, and the communication unit 28 is operated based on the result to transmit the image data to the Internet. Do not transmit.

Then, the motion is detected from the C area 443 to A
When moving to the region 441 and the B region 442, the extraction condition of the image extracting unit 26 is set so that the image obtained from the living space 10 is transferred from the communication unit 28, and the setting of the extraction condition is as follows. By operating the operation unit 42 of the monitor device 40, setting, non-setting, and change of an active area for detecting a difference in the image extraction unit 26 are enabled.

Next, the configuration and operation of the information processing apparatus 20 for setting a detection area and extracting an image will be further described with reference to FIG. In the figure, an image of the living space 10 captured by the video camera 11 is compression-encoded by an information compression unit 22 via an image conversion unit 21, and the encoded signal is supplied to a memory A 23 a of an information storage unit 23. And accumulate there.

A part of the image signal stored in the memory A 23a is supplied to the averaging circuit 23c after a predetermined time has elapsed, and the image signal obtained by the averaging process is supplied to the memory B 23b and stored therein. The other part of the signal is supplied to the recorder 23d, and the signal is supplied to the recorder 23d.
The data is recorded on a recording medium (not shown), such as a hard disk, which is built in the PC.

The other part of the signal stored in the memory A 23a and the averaged signal stored in the memory B 23b are supplied to a difference detector 26a.
There, the difference signal of the encoded image signal is extracted,
The extracted difference signal is supplied to the difference analyzer 26b.

In the difference analyzer 26b, the area setting unit 2
An analysis signal obtained by analyzing a difference signal with respect to the encoded image signal is obtained for each area set in step 5, and the state of the monitoring target 15 in the living space 10 is determined based on the obtained analysis signal for each area. And the communication control for the communication unit 28 based on the grasped situation, and the power saving circuit 2
9 for the low power operation mode.

Next, the operations from the compression encoding of the image to the difference analysis performed in such a manner will be further described.
The compression encoding used in this example is MPEG (moving pic
ture experts group) -2 and its MP
The types of image data handled by the EG-2 system will be described.

FIG. 5 shows the types of image frames when encoded by MPEG-2. That is, a video signal composed of an image of 30 frames per second has a GOP (Group
of Picture) and its GOP is I (Intra-
coded) picture, P (Predictive-c)
odd) picture and B (Bidirection)
all predictive-coded) pictures.

In the figure, an I picture is a so-called intra-frame coded picture obtained by coding the picture itself.
The P picture is a picture to be coded including motion prediction information from an already coded I picture or P picture, and the prediction direction for the motion prediction is indicated by a one-way arrow.

The B picture is the past and future I
The encoding is performed by predicting from a picture or a P-picture, and in the figure, the prediction direction is indicated by arrows from both the past and future directions.

As described above, in the coding method using three types of pictures, for example, one I-picture which performs intra-frame compression coding without performing motion prediction for every 15 pictures, and 14 other pictures It is composed of p and B pictures for coding moving picture information at a high coding rate by prediction.

When the image signal thus encoded is transmitted to the Internet 30 as moving image information from the communication unit 28, all three types of pictures I, P, and B are transmitted, and the image signal without motion is transmitted. When transmitting only information,
Normally, transmission is performed using only I pictures transmitted as intra images every 15 pictures.

Here, the memory A23 of the image storage unit 23
a and the image stored in the memory B 23b are I-pictures. The difference extractor 26a receives the I-picture signal supplied from the memory A 23a and the I-picture signal supplied from the memory B 23b, A difference signal is extracted.

Next, the extraction of the difference signal using the I picture will be described in detail. FIG. 6 shows the structure of encoding in MPEG-2. In FIG.
Is a frame image, the effective number of pixels is 720 pixels in the horizontal direction,
It consists of 480 scanning lines in the vertical direction.

[0086] The image is represented by one based on the number of scanning lines every 16 lines.
Divided into slice images composed of an integral multiple of 6 pixels,
The slice is shown by (2). The slice is multiple,
It is composed of a macro block of 16 × 16 pixels by a scanning line of 16 pixels × 16 lines.

As shown in (3), the macro block has four 8 × 8 pixel luminance signals and one 8 × 8 color difference signal for each of the red and blue luminance signals.
It is divided into blocks of pixels.

Then, each block of these 8 × 8 pixels shown in (4) is subjected to DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform) operation, and the result of operation as a harmonic signal component with respect to the average signal level of the block and the base cosine function is obtained. can get.

The image of the I picture is transmitted as a signal obtained by treating the image signal as a still image.
A picture and a B picture are encoded and transmitted together with a motion prediction signal.

FIG. 7 shows how to obtain a motion vector for the motion prediction. In (1) shown in the figure, a moving amount with the highest degree of coincidence of pixel data is searched for while moving in the vertical, horizontal, and horizontal directions on a screen on which, for example, data of 32 × 32 pixels in the screen is to be predicted.

(2) in the figure shows the motion vector amount of the motion prediction screen with respect to the screen (a) obtained and encoded in this manner. P pictures and B pictures are coded with high efficiency.

The operation for obtaining the motion vector is a preferable method for performing the encoding with a large amount of operation and high efficiency. In order to obtain a signal for grasping the state of the above, a simple motion estimation method with a small amount of calculation may be used.

Hereinafter, the extraction of the difference signal which requires a small amount of calculation will be described. FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining detection of movement of a monitoring target performed by temporal difference processing of images.

In the figure, (a) is an average image at time t supplied for a long time and stored in the memory B 23b, and (b) is an image at time t1. here,
When the image of (a) is subtracted from the image of (b), (c) is obtained as a background difference result.

The method for obtaining the background difference result signal for the encoded signal will be further described. In the encoding by the MPEG method, a DCT operation is performed on a frame image, and as a result of the operation, an average luminance signal level signal of the block is obtained for each block signal.

The average luminance signal level signal obtained for each block is a signal having a low resolution, but is sufficient for detecting the presence of a monitoring target having a predetermined size or a general motion. In addition, since a small amount of data is required for the difference extraction operation and the like, the circuit can be configured as a low operation speed and low power consumption circuit.

As described above, when the movement of the object to be monitored is small, or when the movement in only the predetermined range is detected, the difference analyzer 26b outputs the signal for reducing the power to the low power circuit 29. And the power reduction circuit 29 operates the information processing device 20 in the low power mode.

The low power mode is for the video camera 11,
Although the image conversion unit 21 operates in the normal operation mode,
Information compression unit 22, information storage unit 23, and image extraction unit 26
Is operating in low power mode with low pixels,
Reference numeral 8 denotes a power save state in which the supplied power is cut off.

Here, when a motion different from the normal motion is detected in a plurality of areas by the difference analyzer 26b, the state is extracted by the differential detection unit, the power save state is released, and the information compression unit 22 The information storage unit 23 and the image extraction unit 26 are operated in a standard mode in which normal pixel calculation is performed. Power is supplied to the recording unit 23d to start recording, and the information is encoded by the information compression unit as necessary. The signal is supplied to the Internet 30 via the communication unit.

The operation of extracting and analyzing the differential signal in the low power mode has been described above.
The analysis operation may be performed by using a motion vector detector (not shown) included in the information compression unit 22, grasping the state of the living space 10 based on the output voltage of the motion vector detector, and performing these operations. .

The method of using the motion vector detector included in the information compression unit 22 is a feature as a method of extracting a background difference result for a small screen when the monitoring target 15 is small or when it is necessary to detect fine motion. There is.

However, the extraction of the difference signal in such a case requires a large amount of calculation for motion estimation, so that the power saving effect of the extraction circuit unit is reduced, but the control of the communication unit is effective. Cost reductions are made as described above.

The detection of the difference signal and the extraction of the monitoring object performed for each of the plurality of divided areas as shown in FIG. 2 have been described above. Monitor device 40 via the Internet 30 using the I picture of the signal encoded by
, The monitor device 40 displays an image as shown in FIG.

In the control of the power saving circuit, the same operation can be performed by the determination signal detected by the above-described speech recognition unit 24. Further, both the sound signal and the image signal are controlled. When the living space is monitored based on the determination results, the determination results obtained from each are interpolated, and the power of the monitoring operation and the determination with high accuracy are made. And an action can be taken for an accurate determination result.

[0105] The image transmission apparatus 2 performs the above operation.
According to the Internet device 30, the Internet 30, and the monitor device 40, the video of the video camera installed in the living space 10 can be monitored by the monitor device 40 together with the acoustic signal as needed, so In addition to being able to monitor the intrusion of persons, etc., it is also possible to monitor elderly people living alone and pets, etc. You can get information on space.

The obtained information is image information of about one still image at first, but if necessary, the recording device 2
When the video and audio signals recorded in 3d are read, the situation of the living space is more accurately determined based on the information, and when it is determined that assistance from a security company, police, hospital, etc. is necessary, By contacting these support centers via the Internet or by other communication means, it is possible to request accurate assistance from a third party or the like.

As described above, the acoustic signal from the electroacoustic transducer installed in the living space is obtained, and the obtained acoustic signal is analyzed, whereby the invasion of the third person into the living space, or the elderly person living alone, etc. A method for obtaining an analysis result on the situation of behavior and a method for obtaining monitoring information based on image signals divided for each region to supplement the analysis result have been described.

Since the monitoring information is transmitted to the monitor device via the Internet as an image signal and an audio signal, the monitor can take necessary measures according to the information obtained from the monitor device.

In the above-mentioned case, a method of installing one microphone and one video camera in a living space to monitor an object to be monitored and a device therefor are described. There is a method of arranging two video cameras and a monitoring apparatus and performing monitoring in different fields of view of the cameras to further prevent omission of detection of a monitoring target.

Even when monitoring is performed using such a plurality of monitoring devices, in addition to detection using acoustic signals, by detecting synchronized movement of a plurality of divided regions obtained from each monitoring device, More accurate extraction of the object can be performed.

In the image extraction unit, in particular, there is a method of facilitating monitoring of a monitoring target by using the above-described image extraction unit or an MPEG motion vector detection unit that is expected to be reduced in price due to mass production in the future. For example, such a monitoring device can be provided at a low cost.

[0112]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a sound signal from an electroacoustic transducer installed in a living space is obtained, and the obtained sound signal is analyzed so that the third sound to the living space is obtained. An analysis result on the intrusion of a person or the behavior of an elderly person living alone is obtained, and based on the obtained analysis result, an image signal and a sound signal under monitoring are transmitted to a monitor device via the Internet. Therefore, there is an effect that it is possible to provide a method of communicating a monitoring signal in which a necessary measure is performed according to a result obtained from the monitor device.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, an acoustic signal is obtained from an electroacoustic transducer installed in a living space,
By analyzing the obtained acoustic signal, the analysis result on the invasion of a third party into the living space or the behavioral status of the elderly living alone, etc. is obtained, and based on the obtained analysis result, the living space is entered. In order to transmit an image signal under monitoring to a monitor device via the Internet based on the analysis result regarding the intrusion of a third party or the behavior of an elderly person living alone, etc., based on the obtained analysis result. Therefore, there is an effect that it is possible to provide a configuration of a monitoring signal communication device capable of performing necessary measures according to the result obtained from the monitoring device.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the second aspect, in particular, the situation of the intrusion of a third party into the living space extracted by the voice recognition unit or the behavior of an elderly person living alone. When the signal level of the extracted information exceeds a first predetermined level which is a medium level, the image signal and the audio signal are recorded on a recording medium, and the signal level of the extracted information is set to the first predetermined level. When the second predetermined level higher than the second predetermined level is exceeded, the image signal;
And an audio signal is supplied to a communication network, so that an effect of being able to provide a configuration of a monitoring signal communication device that can adaptively act on an analysis result obtained by analysis is provided. is there.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, an image signal is obtained by photographing an object to be monitored selected in advance, and the obtained image signal is analyzed to obtain image analysis information. The sound signal emitted from the object is subjected to electroacoustic conversion to obtain an acoustic signal, the obtained acoustic signal is analyzed to obtain acoustic analysis information, and the obtained image analysis information and acoustic analysis information are obtained. A monitoring terminal device that obtains extraction information about the object based on the extracted information and supplies information about the object to a communication network based on the obtained extraction information is obtained by the acoustic signal analysis unit and the image signal analysis unit. Since each sound and image analysis signal is analyzed to obtain the extracted information using the signal determination means, it is possible to more reliably obtain the status regarding the invasion of a third party or the behavior of an elderly person living alone. Since it is, there is an effect capable of providing a structure of high detection power monitoring signal communication device.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, an acoustic signal from an electroacoustic transducer installed in a living space is obtained,
By analyzing the obtained acoustic signal, the analysis result on the invasion of a third party into the living space or the behavioral status of the elderly living alone, etc. is obtained, and based on the obtained analysis result, the living space is entered. An analysis result on the invasion of a third party or the behavior of an elderly person living alone is obtained, and based on the obtained analysis result, the monitored image signal is transmitted to the monitor device via the Internet. At the same time, when the signal level of the obtained analysis result is low, the configuration of an economical monitoring signal communication device that reduces power consumption and communication cost by simplifying arithmetic processing is provided. There is an effect that can be.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a monitoring signal communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a monitor screen displayed on the monitor device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram further illustrating a configuration of a main part of the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a voice recognition unit that is a main part of the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing three types of pictures and their motion prediction directions when encoded by MPEG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a relationship between image data and pixels when encoded by MPEG-2.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a method of obtaining a motion vector for motion prediction when encoding is performed by MPEG-2.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining extraction of an object by temporal difference processing of images according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 monitoring signal communication system 10 living space 11 video camera 12 microphone 15 monitoring target 20 information processing device 21 image conversion unit 22 information compression unit 23 information storage unit 23a memory A 23b memory B 23c average processor 23d recorder 24 voice recognition unit 24a sound analysis means 24a1 frequency analyzer 24a2 formant extractor 24b signal analysis means 24b1 formant analyzer 24b2 signal decision unit 24b3 decision table 25 area setting unit 25a user setting terminal 26 image extraction unit 26a difference extraction unit 26b difference analysis unit 28 communication unit 29 low power circuit 30 internet 40 monitor device 41 communication unit 42 operation unit 43 information decompression unit 44 display unit 45 amplifier 46 speaker 50 support center 441 A area 442 B area 443 C area 4 4 area selection display area 445 hours display area 446 frame advance display area 447 speech recognition setting area 448 Alarm Display Area

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G10L 15/28 H04N 7/18 D H04M 11/00 301 K H04N 7/18 G10L 3/00 551S F term ( Reference) 5C054 AA01 CA04 CA08 CC02 CE16 CH01 DA08 EA01 EA03 EA05 EA07 FC01 FC03 FC12 FC13 FE25 FE26 FE28 FF03 GA00 GB02 HA19 5C087 AA02 AA03 AA19 AA44 BB03 BB12 BB74 DD03 DD05 GG19 FF19 GG19 FF19 GG02 FF19 GG02 FF19 GG01 FF19 GG02 FF19 GG02 FF19 GG02 FF19 GG19 FF02 AA03 BB01 DD02 HH04 KK02 LL05 5K101 KK13 MM07 NN06 NN07 NN21

Claims (5)

[Claims] An image signal is obtained by photographing an object to be monitored which is selected in advance, and an acoustic signal is obtained by performing electroacoustic conversion of a sound wave emitted from the object, and the obtained acoustic signal is converted to an acoustic signal. A communication method of a monitoring signal for supplying information about the object to a communication network based on the first step of analyzing the obtained acoustic signal to obtain an acoustic analysis signal; A second step of analyzing the analysis result of the obtained acoustic analysis signal to obtain the extracted information; and the image signal and the acoustic signal based on the extracted information obtained in the second step as information regarding the object. And a third step of supplying the communication signal to a communication network. 2. An image signal is obtained by photographing a target object to be monitored which is selected in advance, and a sound signal generated by the target object is subjected to electroacoustic conversion to obtain a sound signal. A monitoring terminal device configured to supply the image signal and the audio signal to a communication network based on the signal analysis unit; a signal analysis unit that analyzes the obtained audio signal to obtain an analysis signal; Signal analysis means for analyzing the obtained analysis signal to obtain extraction information; and when the signal level of the extraction information obtained by the signal analysis means exceeds a predetermined level, the image signal and the sound signal are converted to the object. And a communication network connecting means for supplying the communication network with the information as to the communication network. 3. When the signal level of the extracted information obtained by the signal analyzing means exceeds a first predetermined level, the image signal and the audio signal are recorded on a recording medium, and the signal level of the extracted information is set to the second level. A communication network connection unit configured to supply the image signal and the audio signal to the communication network as information on the object when the second predetermined level higher than the first predetermined level is exceeded. 3. The monitoring signal communication device according to claim 2, wherein: 4. An image signal is obtained by photographing an object to be monitored that is selected in advance, and the obtained image signal is analyzed to obtain image analysis information. A monitoring terminal device that obtains a sound signal by performing sound conversion and supplies information regarding the object to a communication network based on the obtained sound signal, wherein the obtained sound signal is analyzed to obtain the sound analysis signal. Sound signal analysis means for obtaining, image signal analysis means for analyzing the image signal to obtain the image analysis signal, sound analysis signal obtained from those signal analysis means, and analyzing the image analysis signal to extract the extracted information Signal extraction means for obtaining the image signal and the sound signal when the signal level of the extracted information obtained by the signal determination means exceeds a predetermined level. A monitoring signal communication device, comprising: communication network connection means for supplying a communication network. 5. An image signal is obtained by photographing an object to be monitored which is selected in advance, and a sound signal generated by subjecting the sound wave to electroacoustic conversion is obtained. A monitoring terminal device configured to supply the image signal and the audio signal to a communication network based on the signal analysis unit; and a signal analysis unit that analyzes the obtained audio signal to obtain an analysis signal. Signal analysis means for analyzing the obtained analysis signal to obtain extraction information; and when the signal level of the extraction information obtained by the signal analysis means exceeds a predetermined level, the image signal and the sound signal are related to the object. Communication network connecting means for supplying information to the communication network as information; power reduction for reducing power consumption when the signal level of the extracted information obtained by the signal analysis means is equal to or lower than a predetermined level; A monitoring signal communication device, comprising: a power reduction unit configured to perform setting.