JP2003101944A - Recorder, output device, and digital monitoring camera system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To inexpensively provide a digital monitoring camera system capable of making video recording for a long time compatible with video recording when an amount of information is overridden at an abnormal time. SOLUTION: An encoded compressed video signal read from a buffer and an encoded compressed video signal extracted by an extraction controlling part on the basis of a detection output of a data analyzing part are recorded on storage media.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a digital surveillance camera system and a recording device and output device used in this system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A surveillance camera system for controlling information of a camera connected to a network and storing video / audio at the time of shooting by the camera in a storage medium connected to a storage server unit is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-1999. It is disclosed in JP-A-212748 and JP-A-2000-83241. Generally, in a surveillance camera system, it is necessary to record video / audio data on a storage medium for a long time in order to simplify maintenance. Therefore, a time-lapse VTR (Video Tape Rec) in which recording is performed at a certain fixed time
often used.

[0003] During operation of the surveillance camera system, a system is generally used which allows a supervisor to monitor the image and sound being photographed through a display and a speaker. The observer checks the monitoring area for abnormalities while monitoring the monitoring information. There is also a method of automatically identifying an abnormality by a sensor incorporated in a camera unit or the like and notifying the system.

[0004]

In a surveillance camera system, it is necessary to record long-time data from one or a plurality of cameras in a storage server and process a large amount of data. For this reason, there has been a problem that the required network speed increases, the system configuration becomes complicated, and the capacity increases, resulting in an increase in system cost. Further, when an abnormal situation is detected, the monitor confirms and verifies the content by appropriately reproducing the audiovisual information recorded in the storage medium. Therefore, it is desirable to stop the time-lapse processing of the recorded video and audio and record the recorded image in the storage medium by a normal recording method when an abnormal state occurs, which is advantageous for the later verification. In the surveillance camera system, it is required to perform the system having the above-mentioned functions with high reliability and high quality recording. On the other hand, as described above, the surveillance camera system is required to record for a long time. Therefore, it is necessary to adaptively control two contradictory operations, that is, long-time recording is realized at the time of recording, and the recorded image information amount is emphasized at the time of emergency, which is a factor of increasing the system cost. An object of the present invention is to solve these problems and provide a surveillance camera system, a recording device, and an output device that achieve both cost performance and high quality of recorded / playback video / audio.

[0005]

To achieve the above object, a recording apparatus according to the present invention comprises an encoded compressed video signal,
An apparatus for recording a data packet having a data identification information indicating a type of coding compression and a header section including packet length information indicating a length of the coded compressed video signal in a storage medium, the data identification information And a data analysis unit that detects a unique parameter included in the encoded compressed video signal, and a recording unit that extracts predetermined data from the encoded compressed video signal and records the extracted data in the storage medium. To do.

Further, the recording apparatus according to the present invention includes an encoded compressed audio signal, an encoded compressed video signal, data identification information indicating the type of encoded compression, the encoded compressed video signal and the encoded compressed audio. An apparatus for recording a data packet having a header section including packet length information indicating a signal length on a storage medium, and having the following configuration. That is, a data analysis unit that detects the data identification information, a unique parameter included in the encoded compressed video signal, and a packet length of the encoded compressed audio signal, the encoded compressed audio signal, and the code. Recording means for extracting predetermined data from the compressed and compressed video signal and recording it on the storage medium is provided. Alternatively, it comprises a data analysis means for detecting the data identification information, and a recording means for automatically allocating the area of the storage medium for each of the data identification information and recording the data packet.

Further, the output device according to the present invention includes an encoded compressed audio signal, an encoded compressed video signal, data identification information indicating a type of encoded compression, the encoded compressed video signal and the encoded compressed audio. A device for outputting a data packet having a header portion including packet length information indicating a signal length to a display or a speaker, and detecting the unique parameter included in the data identification information and the encoded compressed video signal. And data output means for extracting and outputting predetermined data from the encoded compressed video signal.

Further, the digital surveillance camera system according to the present invention includes one or more surveillance camera groups which encode and compress and transfer a digital video / audio signal, and the encoded compressed video output from the surveillance camera group. A network for communicating an audio signal, a control unit for controlling the surveillance camera group via the network, the encoded compressed video / audio signal transmitted from the network, and the received encoded compressed video / audio signal A data analysis unit for analyzing data for each, a buffer for buffering the encoded compressed video / audio signal, a storage medium for storing the encoded compressed video / audio signal, and a transfer of the encoded compressed video / audio signal A data transfer unit that performs control, and decodes the encoded compressed video / audio signal transmitted from the data transfer unit, and outputs the video and audio. Comprising a decoder for decompressing, a monitor for outputting a video signal from the decoder unit, and a speaker for outputting an audio signal from the decoder unit.
Then, based on the detection output of the data analysis unit, the encoded compressed video and audio signal read from the buffer,
The encoded compressed video signal extracted by the extraction control unit,
It is recorded on the storage medium or displayed on the monitor. Alternatively, based on the detection output of the data analysis unit,
The write address to the buffer is automatically assigned.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a digital surveillance camera system according to the present invention. Images and sounds taken by the surveillance camera group are stored in a storage medium, and images and sounds are output to a display or a speaker. In FIG. 1, 1-3
Is a surveillance camera, 4 is a LAN (Local Area N)
1) a LAN interface unit, 6 a control unit, 7 a reception processing unit, 8 a decoder unit, 9 a display, and 10 a speaker. In the following drawings, blocks having the same function are given the same numbers.

Surveillance cameras 1 to 3 connected to LAN 4
Respectively digitally encodes the captured video and audio and transmits them to the LAN 4. The LAN 4 transmits information to the reception processing unit 7 via the LAN interface unit 5. The control unit 6 receives the digitally encoded signal transmitted from the LAN 4, controls the operation of each of the cameras 1 to 3, controls the decoder unit 8 and controls the transfer data of the reception processing unit 7.

FIG. 2 shows a detailed block diagram of the camera section 1. Reference numeral 11 is a lens unit, 14 is a microphone, 12 and 15 are analog / digital converters (ADC), 13 is a video compression unit, and 16 is an audio compression unit. Reference numeral 17 is a system encoder, 18 is a LAN interface unit, and 19 is a control unit.

The video signal input from the lens unit 11 is AD
It is converted into a digital signal in C12, and the video compression unit 1
Input to 3. In the video compression unit 13, for example, MPEG
An elementary stream having a 2Video-compliant Syntax is generated. When the input video is NTSC compliant, a frame having a resolution of 704 (horizontal) × 480 (vertical) effective pixels is encoded at a frame rate of 29.97 Hz.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of MPEG2Video. The frame coding method is I frame (Intra Coded) or P frame (Pred
active Coded), B frame (Bidir)
sectionally predictive Cod
ed). I, B, and P in the figure indicate respective frames. According to the MPEG Video standard, when an I frame is encoded, it is encoded based on only the in-frame information without using the information of other frames. In the case of P frame, I before the corresponding frame
Alternatively, the latest information in the P frame is used as reference data to encode the frame information. In the case of a B frame, a frame subsequent to the corresponding frame in the video input order is used as a reference image, and thus the encoder holds the data of the B frame positioned between the reference image and the previous reference frame until the encoding of the reference image is completed. Must-have.

The audio signal input from the microphone 14 is A
The DC / DC 15 performs analog / digital conversion at a predetermined sampling rate. The audio signal converted into digital is input to the audio compression unit 16. The audio compression unit 16 performs subband coding for every 384 samples or 1152 samples. The encoded encoded audio signal is transferred to the system encoder unit 17.

The encoded video signal and the encoded audio signal transferred to the system encoder unit 17 are MPEG System.
According to ms, for example, PS (Program Stream)
m) is packetized and further multiplexed. The digital encoded signal of the multiplexed video and audio is LANI /
It is sent to the LAN via F5. Each device in the camera unit 1 is controlled by the control unit 6 via the control bus 20. The above processing is similarly processed for the camera units 2 and 3. It is also possible to process only the video signal. As described above, the camera units 1 to 3 can reduce the amount of data transmitted in the LAN and the traffic in the LAN by performing the digital encoding compression.

Next, the structure of a packet transmitted from the camera will be described with reference to FIG. Transmission packet 40
Is composed of a header section 41, an encoded compressed audio signal 42 and an encoded compressed video signal 43. A detailed configuration example of the encoded compressed video signal 43 is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 5A, video signals coded and compressed by MPEG-2, for example, are arranged in the order of I, B, B, and P frames. This MP
When packetizing the EG-2 stream, the size of each frame differs depending on the type of captured image, so a packet formed by the encoded compressed video signal 52 of a mixture of I and B frames or a mixture of different B frames is encoded. There are packets and the like composed of the compressed video signal 54 (FIG. 5B).

FIG. 6 shows a detailed structural example of the header section 41. Here, the header length of 8 words is taken as an example, but other data sizes may be used. Data identification information 411 indicating packet identification information is stored in the first word at the beginning. With this data identification information 411, for example, I, B, P
The MPEG-2 stream in which frames are mixed is set to 5, the I frame is set to 4, the encoded compressed audio signal data is set to 1, and so on. Packet length information 412 indicating the size of the packet is stored in the second word. The packet length information 412 is composed of, for example, data in which 1 bit is shown in 512 byte units. In the 3rd word, camera identification number information 41 that identifies from which camera the packet was sent
3, for example, 1 is sent when sent from camera 1, and 2 is sent when sent from camera 2. In addition to the header information, date information 46, time information 47, packet frame number 48, packet number 49, and the like are assigned as time information at the time of shooting.

When the data analysis unit 71 receives the packet of this configuration from the LAN-I / F 5, the packet length of the I frame is detected. FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a circuit for detecting the I frame length. Reference numeral 501 is a header detection unit, and 502 is a PSC (Picture Star).
t Code) detector 503 is a PCT (Pictu).
This is a detection unit for re Coding Type). 504 is a counter and 505 is an AND circuit.

From the time of reception, the counter 504 starts counting the packet length. Header detection unit 501
Then, from the header of the received packet, the data identification information 41
1 is detected and it is determined whether the received packet is a packet including an I frame. A 32-bit unique code PSC is inserted at the beginning of each frame of the packet received by the data analysis unit 71. Its value is 0
It is 0000100 (32h). Next, the PCT is stored. The values are 001 (b) for the I frame, 010 (b) for the P frame, and 011 (b) for the B frame.

For example, in a mixed packet of I frame and B frame, the header detecting section 501 detects the presence or absence of an I frame, and the PSC detecting section 502 detects PSC.
To detect. I if the PSC is not an I frame
In order to indicate that the frame has been switched to the next B frame, the increment of the counter 505 is stopped and the value of the counter is set to the I frame length to store the data in the control unit 7. If the PSC is not detected, it is treated as a packet of only I frame, and the packet length is set from the beginning to the end.

As described above, even in the case of mixed packets,
The I frame portion can be detected. In the normal state, the packet in which the I frame is extracted in this way (see FIG.
(C)) is recorded in the storage medium 74. When the I-frame is extracted as a packet, the packet header section 41
By rewriting the data identification information 411 and the packet length information 412, the subsequent decoding process can be simplified. Further, a packet change bit indicating that the packet information has been changed may be added to the reserved 1 bit 415 portion of the packet header portion 41.

On the other hand, in an emergency, for example, when an abnormality is detected by an external sensor or the like, switching is performed so that all frames including B and P frames are recorded. This allows
The recording time can be extended and a detailed image can be confirmed when an abnormal situation occurs.

The above is the embodiment about recording the packet from which the I frame is extracted in the storage medium 74. Similarly, the packet from which the I frame is extracted is transmitted from the data transfer section 72 to the decoder section 8. As a result, it is also possible to perform the decoding processing of only the I-frame by the system decoder 81, decompress the video, and then perform the digital-analog conversion by the DAC 84 and output the digital-analog to the display 9. With this configuration, it is possible to maintain a relatively high-quality image, reduce the processing of the system decoder 81 and the video expanding section 82 by the control unit 6, and simplify the normal processing.

Next, with reference to FIG. 9, an embodiment will be described in which only the packets subjected to I frame extraction control are decoded and displayed on a plurality of screens. In the present embodiment, the case where the number of cameras connected to the LAN 4 in FIG. 1 is 4 will be described as an example.

Packets 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180, 19 in which a coded audio signal and a header are added to a coded compressed video signal group 100 of an image taken by a camera
0,200 is transmitted to the reception processing unit 7 via the LAN interface unit 5. Of these packets, the packets from the first camera 1 are 110, 120, 190 and 200,
The packets from the second camera 2 are 130,140 and 3
The packets from the third camera 3 are 150 and 160, and the packets from the fourth camera 3 are 170 and 180.

Headers 111, 121, 131, 141 of each packet,
The camera identification number information 413 in FIG. 6 included in 151, 161, 171, 181, 191, 201 identifies which camera captured these packets. Also, the header 11
The data identification information 411 included in 1 etc. is detected, and it is determined whether the packet includes an I frame. Further, the PSC detection unit 502 detects PSC and the PCT detection unit 503 detects PCT to determine whether the PCT is other than the I frame, and when the AND circuit 505 satisfies all the conditions, the counter 50
Stop counting 4 The control unit 6 has a counter 504.
Stores the value of. The I frame size detected by the counter 504 is the header 11 when the packet 110 is taken as an example.
1, the encoded compressed audio signal 112 and the encoded compressed video signal 113 up to the PSC 114. At this time, the header detection unit 501 detects the camera identification number information 413 in the header and stores the value in the control unit 6.

The data analysis section 71 also detects the I frame size of the received packet 110. At the same time, the data transfer processing unit 72 causes the packet 73 to be stored in the buffer 73 in the received packet size including the PSC 114 and the subsequent packets.
Buffer 10 Next, the I-frame extraction controller 75 replaces the previously buffered packet 110 from the buffer 73 with the previously-detected I-frame length to form the packet 115. Further, the decoding area is designated from the camera identification number information 413 stored previously, and the packet is transferred from the data transfer section 72 to the decoding section 8. When transferring from the data transfer unit 72, the packet 1 extracted from the I frame for each camera is also used for other packets.
It becomes 35,155,175,195.

The output decoded by the decoder unit 8 has a structure in which the area to be output to the display 9 is already set based on the camera identification number information 413. For example, the screen is divided into four, and the images of the camera 1 in the area 1, the camera 2 in the area 2, the camera 3 in the area 3, and the camera 4 in the area 4 are output. With this configuration, the decoding process by the system decoder 81 is I
The system of the decoder unit 8 can be simplified because the configuration is such that only the frame and the divided areas are already designated.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a third embodiment, in which an encoded compressed video signal is converted from a received data packet.
In this example, the I-frame is extracted and only the encoded compressed audio signal is extracted and recorded from the data packet that does not include the I-frame. Unlike the encoded compressed video signal, the encoded compressed audio signal cannot be extracted frame by frame.
Therefore, it is necessary to extract the encoded compressed audio signal from all data packets including the encoded compressed audio signal. For that reason,
The packet header 60 is followed by a fixed-length coded compressed audio signal of, for example, 512 bytes, which is packetized. For a data packet having no I frame, the fixed length is always extracted from the beginning and recorded. As a result, it is possible to record only the I-frame encoded compressed video signal and further record only the encoded compressed audio signal.

In the fourth embodiment, the data analysis unit 7
The reception processing unit 7 that processes the data transfer unit 72 so as to detect the data identification information 411 in the packet header 41 at 1 and automatically allocate the writing area to the buffer 73. With the above configuration, the data identification information 411
Packets other than video signals can be allocated to the. For example, there is error information such as when a communication error occurs between the LAN 4 and the cameras 1 to 3. When this is recorded as a history in the storage medium 74, the video area and the error history area are divided and saved, so that the processing at the time of reproduction or search from the storage medium 74 can be simplified, and a search with a good response, It becomes possible to reproduce.

As described above, in the digital surveillance camera system according to the present invention, the reception processing unit performs the extraction process at the time of reading from the buffer, so that the recording information on the storage medium is recorded for a long time. The circuit of the decoding unit does not become complicated for the live information to be displayed, and a relatively high quality image can be obtained. Furthermore, the audio information to the speaker can be continuously extracted, and the system can easily record, reproduce, or live the audio information by the extraction processing. Further, when the abnormality is detected, by stopping the extraction control, it is possible to save sufficient image information for verification confirmation. As described above, according to the present invention, a high-quality digital monitoring system can be realized at low cost.

[0032]

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a digital surveillance camera system in which both long-time recording and information-priority recording during abnormal conditions are compatible.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a block configuration of a surveillance camera system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an internal block configuration of a surveillance camera unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an encoding frame order and a display frame order according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a packet configuration according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a packet configuration according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a packet header structure in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a data analysis unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a packet configuration according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a packet extraction method according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1-3 ... camera, 4 ... LAN, 6, 19 ... control unit, 5,
18 ... LAN interface processing unit, 7 ... Reception processing unit,
8 ... Decoder section, 13 ... Video compression section, 16 ... Audio compression section, 17 ... System encoder, 20 ... Control bus, 30
... MPEG-2 stream, 41 ... packet header, 4
2, 51 ... Encoded compressed audio signal, 43, 52, 54 ... Encoded compressed video signal, 53 ... PSC, 56 ... I frame extracting packet, 57 ... Audio signal extracting packet, 4
11 ... Data identification information, 412 ... Packet length information, 41
3 ... Camera identification number information, 414, 415 ... Reserved bits, 416 ... Date information, 417 ... Time information, 418 ... Frame number, 411 ... Packet number, 501 ... Header detection section, 502 ... PSC detection section, 503 ... PCT detection Department,
504 ... Counter

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Manabu Sasamoto             292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa             Ceremony Hitachi Digital Media Development Book             Department (72) Inventor Naoki Yamamoto             292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa             Ceremony Hitachi Digital Media Development Book             Department (72) Inventor Kenji Ishida             6-11-23 Shimorenjaku, Mitaka-shi, Tokyo Seco             Mu Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 5C053 FA11 FA23 FA27 GA11 GB06                       GB21 GB30 GB38 HA29 JA03                       JA21 KA01 KA24 KA25 LA01                       LA11 LA15                 5C054 AA01 CA04 CD03 CH01 DA08                       EA01 EA03 EA05 EA07 ED07                       EG01 EG06 EG07 FC13 FF03                       GA04 GB11 GD09 HA19                 5C087 AA02 AA03 AA44 BB74 DD03                       EE20 FF01 FF04 GG66 GG70                       GG84

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A storage medium for storing a data packet having an encoded compressed video signal, data identification information indicating a type of encoded compression, and a header section including packet length information indicating a length of the encoded compressed video signal. A recording device for recording the data identification information, data analysis means for detecting a unique parameter contained in the encoded compressed video signal, extracting predetermined data from the encoded compressed video signal, and storing the storage medium. A recording device, comprising: 2. The coding compression method of the coded compressed video signal is a method of performing intraframe compression coding and interframe correlation compression coding in a predetermined cycle of a predetermined number of frames, wherein the unique parameter is used. 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein is a code indicating a start position of a frame and a code indicating a type of a frame encoding method, and the predetermined data is an intra-frame compression encoded frame. . 3. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording means changes the data identification information and the packet length information when the predetermined data is extracted. 4. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording means records a change bit indicating that the data packet has been changed, in the header section. 5. A coded compressed audio signal, a coded compressed video signal, data identification information indicating a type of coded compression, and a packet length indicating a length of the coded compressed video signal and the coded compressed audio signal. A recording device for recording a data packet having a header portion containing information on a storage medium, wherein the data identification information, a unique parameter included in the encoded compressed video signal, and the encoded compressed audio signal. A data analysis unit that detects a packet length; and a recording unit that extracts predetermined data from the encoded compressed audio signal and the encoded compressed video signal and records the extracted data in the storage medium. Recording device. 6. An encoded compressed audio signal, an encoded compressed video signal, data identification information indicating the type of encoded compression, and a packet length indicating the length of the encoded compressed video signal and the encoded compressed audio signal. A recording device for recording a data packet having a header portion containing information on a storage medium, the data analysis means detecting the data identification information, and automatically allocating the area of the storage medium for each data identification information. A recording device for recording the data packet, and a recording device. 7. A coded compressed audio signal, a coded compressed video signal, data identification information indicating a type of coded compression, and a packet length indicating a length of the coded compressed video signal and the coded compressed audio signal. An output device for outputting a data packet having a header portion containing information to a display or a speaker, and data analysis means for detecting the data identification information and a unique parameter included in the encoded compressed video signal. An output device for extracting predetermined data from the encoded compressed video signal and outputting the extracted data. 8. A group of one or more surveillance cameras for encoding and transferring digital video and audio signals, a network for communicating the encoded and compressed video and audio signals output from the surveillance cameras, and the monitoring. A control unit that controls a camera group via the network; a data analysis unit that receives the encoded compressed video / audio signal transmitted from the network and analyzes data for each received encoded compressed video / audio signal. A buffer for buffering the encoded compressed video / audio signal, a storage medium for storing the encoded compressed video / audio signal, a data transfer unit for controlling transfer of the encoded compressed video / audio signal, the data A decoder unit that decodes the encoded compressed video / audio signal transmitted from the transfer unit and expands video and audio; A monitor for outputting a video signal, and a speaker for outputting an audio signal from the decoder unit, and the encoded compressed video / audio signal read from the buffer is extracted based on the detection output of the data analysis unit. A digital surveillance camera system, wherein the encoded compressed video signal extracted by the output control unit is recorded in the storage medium. 9. A group of one or more surveillance cameras for encoding and transmitting digital video and audio signals, a network for communicating the encoded and compressed video and audio signals output from the surveillance camera group, and the surveillance. A control unit for controlling the camera group via the network; a data analysis unit for receiving the encoded compressed video / audio signal transmitted from the network and analyzing data for each received encoded compressed video / audio signal. A buffer for buffering the encoded compressed video / audio signal, a storage medium for storing the encoded compressed video / audio signal, a data transfer unit for controlling transfer of the encoded compressed video / audio signal, the data A decoder unit for decoding the encoded compressed video / audio signal transmitted from the transfer unit and expanding the video and audio; A monitor for outputting a video signal, and a speaker for outputting an audio signal from the decoder unit, and the encoded compressed video / audio signal read from the buffer is extracted based on the detection output of the data analysis unit. A digital surveillance camera system, wherein the encoded compressed video signal extracted by the output control unit is displayed on the monitor. 10. A group of one or more monitoring cameras for encoding and transferring digital video and audio signals, a network for communicating the encoded and compressed video and audio signals output from the group of monitoring cameras, and the monitoring. A control unit that controls a camera group via the network; a data analysis unit that receives the encoded compressed video / audio signal transmitted from the network and analyzes data for each received encoded compressed video / audio signal. A buffer for buffering the encoded compressed video / audio signal, a storage medium for storing the encoded compressed video / audio signal, a data transfer unit for controlling transfer of the encoded compressed video / audio signal, the data A decoder unit that decodes the encoded compressed video / audio signal transmitted from the transfer unit and expands video and audio, and the video signal described above. A monitor for outputting said a speaker for outputting an audio signal, wherein the basis of the detection output of the data analyzer, a digital surveillance camera system characterized by allocating a write address to the buffer automatically.