JP2002230654A - Remote monitoring system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a remote monitoring system capable of surely monitoring within a monitoring area from a remote place. SOLUTION: This remote monitoring system K is provided with a monitoring camera 2 photographing inside an office 1 and outputting a video signal, and a monitor computer 3 determining whether or not a suspicious character 10 is photographed in a picture formed by imaging the video signal and, when determining that the suspicious character 10 is photographed, transmitting an electronic mail describing the intrusion of the suspicious character 10 to a portable telephone 6 via Internet circuit 4.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a remote monitoring system capable of monitoring a warehouse, a store, a house, an office or the like from a remote place.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a monitoring area (a warehouse, a store, a house, an office, etc.) becomes unmanned, a security company is hired or various sensors are arranged and monitored by a security company. .

[0003]

The above prior art has the following problems. Hiring a security guard requires a large contract fee. If a method of monitoring by a security company is used, when a sensor malfunctions due to a pet, wind, or the like, a security guard rushes and a dispatch fee is charged. Further, even when the sensor operates normally, it takes time for the security guard to rush to the site, and may be evacuated by a thief.

[0004] It is an object of the present invention to provide a remote monitoring system capable of reliably monitoring a monitoring area from a remote place.

[0005]

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the present invention employs the following constitution. (1) The remote monitoring system monitors the inside of the monitoring area and outputs a monitor signal, an abnormality determination unit that determines whether or not the monitor signal has an abnormality, and an abnormality determination unit that determines whether the monitor signal has an abnormality. When the abnormality determination unit determines, the electronic device includes a notification unit that transmits a message indicating that an abnormality has occurred, or the message and the monitor signal to a preset terminal device via a bidirectional communication line.

[0006] (2) The remote monitoring system captures an image of the inside of the monitoring area and outputs a video signal, and a suspicious person discriminator for discriminating whether or not a suspicious person appears in an image obtained by imaging the video signal. Means, and a notifying means for transmitting a message to the effect that the suspicious individual has entered to a predetermined terminal device via a two-way communication line when the suspicious individual determining means determines that the suspicious individual is reflected.

[0007] (3) The remote monitoring system captures an image of the inside of the monitoring area and outputs a video signal, and an image that converts the video signal into an image and stores the image at predetermined time intervals or continuously. Storage means, an imaged image,
Alternatively, by analyzing the image stored in the image storage means,
A suspicious person determining means for determining whether or not the suspicious person is present in the image; and a suspicious person determining means determining that the suspicious person is present. Reporting means for transmitting to a predetermined terminal device via a line, command receiving means for receiving various commands from the predetermined terminal device via the bidirectional communication line, and when the command receiving means receives an image browsing command Image transmission means for transmitting a predetermined image to the predetermined terminal device via the bidirectional communication line.

(4) The remote monitoring system has the configuration of (2) or (3) above, wherein a plurality of images at different times when the video signal is imaged are compared, and an object having a different position is confirmed. The suspicious individual discriminating means determines that the suspicious individual is displayed when the suspicious individual is not reflected in any of a group of objects registered in advance.

[0009]

According to the present invention, the monitoring means outputs a monitor signal by observing the inside of the monitoring area. The monitor means is, for example, a microphone that captures a sound, a camera that captures an image, a heat source sensor that detects a heat source, and the like. The abnormality determining means determines whether there is an abnormality in the monitor signal.
The monitor signal is, for example, a microphone output, a video signal, and a heat source sensor output.

When the abnormality determining means determines that there is an abnormality in the monitor signal, the notification means sends a message indicating that the abnormality has occurred,
Alternatively, the message and the monitor signal are transmitted to a preset terminal device via a bidirectional communication line. The electronic message is, for example, a standard electronic mail, a standard pictogram, and a predetermined sound. The two-way communication line is, for example, an Internet line. The terminal device is, for example, a mobile phone, a pager (registered trademark), another mobile terminal, or a personal computer.

[Claims 2 and 4] The camera captures an image of the inside of the monitored area and outputs a video signal. The suspicious individual determination means determines whether or not a suspicious individual is present in an image obtained by imaging the video signal, for example, as follows.

[0012] By comparing a plurality of images at different times when the video signal was imaged, an object having a different position is confirmed, and when the object does not match any of a group of objects registered in advance, it is determined that a suspicious person is shown. I do.

[0013] When the suspicious individual discriminating unit determines that the suspicious individual is displayed, the notifying unit transmits a message to the effect that the suspicious individual has entered to a predetermined terminal device via a two-way communication line. The electronic message is, for example, a standard electronic mail, a standard pictogram, and a predetermined sound. The two-way communication line is, for example, an Internet line. The terminal device is, for example, a mobile phone,
Pagers, other mobile devices, personal computers.

[Claims 3 and 4] The camera captures an image of the inside of the surveillance area and outputs a video signal. The image storage unit converts the video signal into an image and stores the image at predetermined time intervals or continuously. Suspicious person determination means,
Analyzing the imaged image, or the image stored in the image storage means, to determine whether or not a suspicious person is reflected in the image,
For example, it is determined as follows.

[0015] By comparing a plurality of images at different times when the video signal was imaged, an object at a different position is confirmed, and when none of the objects registered in advance matches any of a group of objects registered in advance, it is determined that a suspicious person is shown. I do.

When the suspicious person discriminating means determines that the suspicious person is present, the notification means transmits a message to the effect that the suspicious person has entered to a predetermined terminal device via a two-way communication line. The electronic message is, for example, a standard electronic mail, a standard pictogram, and a predetermined sound. The two-way communication line is, for example, an Internet line. The terminal device is, for example, a mobile phone, another mobile terminal, or a personal computer capable of browsing images.

The command receiving means receives various commands from a predetermined terminal device via a bidirectional communication line. The image transmitting means transmits a predetermined image to a predetermined terminal device via a two-way communication line when the command receiving means receives an image browsing command.

[0018]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention (Claims 1 to 4)
Will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 1, the remote monitoring system K includes a monitoring camera 2 for photographing the inside of an office 1, a monitoring computer 3, a connection device 5 for connecting the monitoring computer 3 to an Internet line 4, It comprises a terminal device such as a telephone 6 and a personal computer 7.

The surveillance camera 2 is disposed at a corner of the ceiling of the office 1 or the like, and photographs the inside of the office 1 to generate a video signal (color).
Is output. The actuator 21 can perform operations such as up, down, left, right, and zoom. The monitoring computer 3 is installed under a desk of the office 1 or the like. It is important that the surveillance camera 2 and the surveillance computer 3 are installed so as not to be found by the suspicious person 10 who has entered the office 1.

The monitoring computer 3 has a CPU 3
1, memory 32, image input board 33, camera control board 34, hard disk 35, data storage device 36, C
It is provided with an RT37, etc., is given a global address, and operates as a server. And the monitoring computer 3
, A remote monitoring homepage that can be browsed from a mobile phone 6 or a personal computer 7 after entering a password is established.

The CPU 31 and the memory 32 are mounted at predetermined locations on a motherboard (not shown). The image input board 33 and the camera control board 34 are mounted on a PCI slot (not shown) of the motherboard.

The image input board 33 is an I / O for taking the video signal output from the monitoring camera 2 into the monitoring computer 3. The fetched video signal is converted into an image (JPEG; several hundred kB) by the image input board 33 and an image processing program to be described later, and each time a predetermined time elapses, one screen image is stored in the storage medium of the data storage device 36. 361.

The personal computer 7 and the monitoring computer 3
In addition to an image group to be browsed by itself (JPEG; several hundred kB), in order to make it easy to browse with the mobile phone 6, the image is emphasized, reduced, and compressed to obtain a small-capacity image group (JPEG;
(About 6 kB) and stored in the storage medium 361 of the data storage device 36.

The predetermined time is preferably several tens of seconds to several tens of minutes, but two types of images having different imaging times are compared, and if an object at a different position is confirmed, the predetermined time is shortened. Is preferred. Also, during the camera operation, there is a possibility that the object is erroneously determined to be an object having a different position in the image processing.

The camera control board 34 is for driving the actuator 21 and has a P
It is mounted in a CI slot (not shown).

The hard disk 35 has a capacity of several tens of GB and is connected to an IDE slot (not shown) of the motherboard via a connection cable. An OS, various drivers, server software, remote monitoring software, and the like are installed on the hard disk 35.

This remote monitoring software comprises a password verification program, a command processing program, an image processing program, an image recording program, a camera operation program, a mail report program, a suspicious person discriminating program, and an image transmission program. The operation of the monitoring computer 3 will be described later.

The data storage device 36 is a drive for storing images and the like taken by the surveillance camera 2 in a storage medium 361 (MO, CDRW, etc.), and is connected to the IDE slot of the motherboard via a connection cable. .

The CRT 37 is used for checking the operation of the monitoring computer 3 and the like, and is connected to a video card mounted on an AGP slot of the motherboard by a connection cable (neither is shown).

The connection device 5 is a modem, and always connects the monitoring computer 3 to the Internet line 4 at high speed (for example, DSL of 1.5 Mbps for both upstream and downstream).

The mobile phone 6 has a digitally modulated 800
It is a terminal device that can connect to the Internet line 4 using radio waves in the MHz band and can transmit and receive e-mails and browse images.

When the power is on within the service area, the mobile phone 6 is connected to the Internet line 4 when an electronic mail is transmitted from the monitoring computer 3 and automatically receives the electronic mail. Notify user. The mobile phone 6 can operate the monitoring camera 2 and select an image to be viewed. The higher the communication speed of the mobile phone 6 (for example, 64 kbps), the better.

The personal computer 7 includes a CPU, a memory, a hard disk, a keyboard, a mouse, a CRT, and connected devices.

The hard disk of the personal computer 7 has O
S, various drivers, Internet browsing software, and the like are installed. Note that the personal computer 7 is installed at the home of the administrator who operates the office 1 or at a security company that guards the office 1. This personal computer 7 is capable of browsing images and operating the surveillance camera 2 according to the mobile phone 6.

The connection device is a modem or a router, and connects the personal computer 7 to the ISP of the Internet line 4 via a telephone line (dedicated line, ISDN, DSL), an optical cable, an infrared ray, a coaxial cable, or a radio wave. . If it is desired to always monitor the camera image in the office 1, it is necessary to always connect. The higher the communication speed (for example, 1.5 Mbps), the better.

Next, the operation of the remote monitoring system K (mainly the operation of the monitoring computer 3) will be described with reference to each flowchart.

The remote monitoring software installed on the monitoring computer 3 operates as follows. The captured image is stored in the area A (the flowchart of FIG. 3; steps s1 to s4). The stored image stored in the area A is read, and it is determined whether or not the suspicious person 10 is shown (FIG. 4).
Steps S1 to S9). The notification of the mail and the image of the suspicious individual 10 are stored in the areas B and C (the flowchart of FIG. 5; steps S10 to S13).

When the user is notified that an e-mail indicating that the suspicious person 10 has arrived has arrived, the user selects the URL registered in My Link and connects the mobile phone 6 to the Internet line 4. , Connect to the homepage for remote monitoring.

When a correct password is input on the password input screen, a menu page 60 is displayed on the liquid crystal screen 61 as shown in FIG.

When viewing the image of the suspicious individual 10, "view image" is selected from the operation menu. The image of the suspicious individual 10 stored in the area C is transmitted based on the flowchart (steps st1 to st3) in FIG.

Transmitted via the Internet line 4,
The image of the suspicious person 10 reaches the mobile phone 6. Then, the image 62 of the first capture time captured in the storage medium 361 and the submenu 611 are displayed on the liquid crystal screen 61.
When "(Next)" is selected, the image 63 and the submenu 611 which are taken in next are displayed on the liquid crystal screen 61.
When "(menu)" is selected, the display returns to the menu page 60.

When operating the surveillance camera 2, "camera operation" is selected from the operation menu on the menu page 60.
The flowchart of the camera operation shown in FIG.
1 to St7), camera operation, image capture,
And the read image is transmitted, and the substantially current image 64 is transmitted.
And a submenu 611 are displayed on the liquid crystal screen 61.

For example, if you select "no", which means telephoto,
The surveillance camera 2 zooms, and an enlarged image 65 reaches the mobile phone 6 via the Internet line 4.

[Storing captured image in area A; see FIG. 3] In step s1, a video signal output from surveillance camera 2 is fetched from image input board 33.

In step s2, the captured video signal is converted (imaged) into a JPEG file having a size of several hundred kB.

In step s3, the converted JPEG file is loaded in the import time (current time of the monitoring computer 3).
At the same time, the storage medium 361 (MO
Etc.) in area A.

At step s4, the process waits for a predetermined time, and then returns to step s1. In the normal state, it is preferable that the predetermined time is set to several tens of seconds to several tens of minutes. However, when the suspicious person 10 is determined, the predetermined time is set to be short (for example, 1 to 10).
Seconds).

[Determining Whether Suspicious Person 10 is Appearing in Stored Image; See FIG. 4] In step S1, the stored image stored in area A of storage medium 361 (MO or the like) of data storage device 36 is read. Read (Latest stored image & previous stored image).

In step S2, the two images are compared. In step S3, it is determined whether there is an object at a different position,
If there is an object at a different position (YES), step S
The process proceeds to step S4, and if there is no object at a different position (NO), the process returns to step S1. When returning to step S1,
If the latest image is not stored, the immediately preceding stored image is compared with the immediately preceding stored image.

In step S4, a registered object registered in the database in advance is read. Note that the registered object is a pet, a staff member who may enter or leave the office 1 on holidays or outside hours.

In step S5, it is determined whether or not all objects at different positions have been collated with all registered objects. If all collations have been made (YES), the flow advances to step S9, and if collation has not been completed ( (NO), the process proceeds to step S6.

In step S6, the object at a different position is compared with the registered object. In step S7, it is determined whether or not the object at a different position matches the registered object. If they match (YES), the process proceeds to step S8. If they do not match (NO), step S4 is performed. Return to

In step S8, it is determined that the suspicious individual 10 is not shown in the image stored in the area A, and
Return to 1. When returning to step S1, if the latest image is not stored, the immediately preceding stored image is compared with the immediately preceding stored image.

In step S9, it is determined that the suspicious individual 10 is shown in the image stored in the area A, and in step S10
Proceed to.

[Storing the image of the suspicious individual 10; see FIG. 5] In step S10, the monitoring computer 3
Send a standard e-mail to. The fixed form is, for example,
"A suspicious person has invaded."

In step S11, the image determined to be the suspicious individual 10 is stored in the area B of the storage medium 361 (JPEG; several hundred kB) together with the time for capturing the image.

In step S12, the image is emphasized, compressed (JPEG; about 6 kB), and the image size is reduced in order to make it easy to browse on the mobile phone 6.

In step S13, the image is stored in the storage medium 3.
61 (JPEG; several hundred kB).

[Camera operation; see FIG. 7] Step St1
Then, the camera is operated in response to the camera operation command from the mobile phone 6. In step St2, a video signal output from the monitoring camera 2 is fetched from the image input board 33.

In step St3, the captured video signal is converted (imaged) into a JPEG file having a size of several hundred kB.

At step St4, the image is emphasized and compressed (J
PEG; about 6 kB) and the image size is reduced.

In step St5, the image is stored in the storage area (one screen for two screens) of the hard disk 35 together with the fetch time.

At step St6, an image already stored in the storage area (one screen for two screens) of the hard disk 35 is read.

At step St7, the monitoring computer 3
Transmits the read image to the mobile phone 6, and executes step S
Return to t1.

[Transmission of stored image; see FIG. 8] Step s
At t1, an image read command from the mobile phone 6 is received, and the process proceeds to step st2.

At step st2, the image stored in the area C of the storage medium 361 is read. When transmitting the stored image, the stored image is read from the first stored image. Step st
In step 3, the image is transmitted to the mobile phone 6, and a step st1 is executed.
Return to

The remote monitoring system K of this embodiment has the following advantages. [A] When the intrusion of the suspicious individual 10 is determined by image processing or the like, the monitoring computer 3 immediately sends a standard e-mail to the mobile phone 6 to notify the intrusion of the suspicious individual 10.
Then, the user can use the mobile phone 6 to view the current captured image in the office 1 or the captured image at the time of intrusion from the current location. For this reason, it can be confirmed that the suspicious person 10 has invaded, and it is possible to make an express (when close) or report to the police without leaving time, and to catch the suspicious person 10 before it escapes. Is possible.

[B] The user can use the mobile phone 6 or the personal computer 7
The user can always see the situation in the office 1 by using.

[C] Since the monitoring computer 3 stores the image taken at the time of the intrusion, it can be taken out later, and even if the captured intruder turns white, it is presented as evidence of intrusion. can do.

The present invention includes the following embodiments in addition to the above embodiment. a. A microphone may be installed in the office 1 and the monitoring computer 3 may have a function of transmitting the sound of the intruder captured by the microphone to the mobile phone 6 or the personal computer 7.

B. The suspicious individual determination may be performed by combining the image processing with another sensor, or the suspicious individual determination may be performed using only the other sensor without using the image processing. Other sensors are, for example, a microphone, a heat source sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, and the like.

C. For monitoring at night, a light source is prepared, and a high-sensitivity camera, a night-vision camera, an infrared camera, or the like is adopted as the monitoring camera 2.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a remote monitoring system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the remote monitoring system.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation (storage of a captured image) of the remote monitoring system.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation (suspicious person determination) of the remote monitoring system.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the remote monitoring system (storage of an image of a suspicious individual).

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating use of the remote monitoring system.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation (camera operation) of the remote monitoring system.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation (transmission of a stored image) of the remote monitoring system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 K Remote monitoring system 1 Office (monitoring area) 2 Surveillance camera (camera) 4 Internet line (two-way communication line) 6 Mobile phone (terminal device) 10 Suspicious person 361 Storage medium

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (reference) H04Q 9/00 301 H04Q 9/00 301C 311 311K F term (reference) 5C084 AA02 AA07 BB04 BB31 CC19 DD11 EE10 FF04 FF27 GG17 GG54 GG65 5C087 AA02 AA03 AA09 AA25 BB11 BB46 BB65 BB74 DD05 DD20 DD42 EE05 EE06 EE08 FF19 GG02 GG10 GG19 GG22 GG36 5K048 AA15 BA51 CA08 DA02 DC07 EA11 EB02 EB13 EB15 FB08 FC01 HA01 HA13 HA05 HA13 HA05 HA05 TT06 UU16 UU19

Claims (4)

[Claims] A monitoring means for monitoring the inside of a monitoring area and outputting a monitor signal; an abnormality determining means for determining whether or not the monitor signal is abnormal; and determining the abnormality when the monitor signal is abnormal. A remote monitoring system comprising: a notifying means for transmitting a message indicating that an abnormality has occurred, or the message and the monitor signal to a preset terminal device via a two-way communication line when the means determines. 2. A camera for photographing the inside of a surveillance area and outputting a video signal; a suspicious individual discriminating means for judging whether or not a suspicious individual is reflected in an image obtained by imaging the video signal; And a notifying means for transmitting a message to the effect that the suspicious person has entered to a predetermined terminal device via a two-way communication line when the suspicious person determining means determines that the suspicious person has entered. 3. A camera for photographing an inside of a surveillance area and outputting a video signal;
Alternatively, a suspicious person that continuously analyzes and stores an image storage unit and an image that has been imaged or an image that is stored in the image storage unit to determine whether a suspicious person appears in the image. Determining means, and when the suspicious individual determining means determines that the suspicious individual is reflected, a notifying means for transmitting a message to the effect that the suspicious individual has entered to a predetermined terminal device via a bidirectional communication line, Command receiving means for receiving various commands from the predetermined terminal device via a bidirectional communication line; and when the command receiving means receives an image browsing command, a predetermined image is transmitted to the predetermined terminal device via the bidirectional communication line. A remote monitoring system comprising: an image transmitting unit that transmits an image to a remote monitor. 4. The suspicious individual discriminating means compares a plurality of images at different times when the video signal was imaged, and confirms an object having a different position, and does not match any of a group of objects registered in advance. The remote monitoring system according to claim 2, wherein it is determined that the suspicious person is reflected in the case.