JP2003304526A - Image distribution system, camera system, and server and client apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image distribution system wherein a user can select an image in a desirably viewed area and display the selected image. <P>SOLUTION: In an image distribution system, image information produced by photographing an object with a camera 11 having a CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) image sensor is compressed transmitted to an image storage server 20 via a communication channel 40 being an optical fiber, the image storage server 20 stores the compressed image information, and a client apparatus 30 selects a desirably displayed area within a range of a displayable display area, receives image information corresponding to the selected area from the image storage server 20 and displays the image information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image distribution system for providing an image to a client device, and more particularly to an image distribution system for providing a compressed image to a client device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In streaming distribution of TV broadcasts and moving images, a user receives image information distributed from a content holder such as a broadcast station by a television broadcast receiver or a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as PC) connected to a network.
, And output to a display device such as a display to enjoy the image.

On the other hand, in recent years, there has been a demand for a system in which the user can enjoy the image by changing the range and angle of viewing the image in real time, on his own will.

[0004]

However, in order to construct such a system, first, it is necessary to increase the number of pixels in the input. Even if a large optical lens is simply used in the image pickup camera, the input device There is a problem that the number of pixels of the input image sensor cannot be increased because the processing speed of (especially the image sensor) is slow.

For example, in order to increase the number of pixels of a CCD (Charge-Coupled Device) sensor mounted on a video-compatible camcorder, one pixel has the same size and the angle of view is increased. A method of reducing the pixel, a method of reducing the frame rate by increasing the number of pixels by any one of the above two or a combination thereof, a combination of the above three methods, and the like can be considered. However, the method of increasing the angle of view has a problem that it takes time to transfer the charges photoelectrically converted by the CCD sensor along the vertical register and the horizontal register. There is a problem that the amount of light entering a pixel is reduced and the dynamic range is reduced. Further, the method of reducing the third frame rate has a problem that the image becomes awkward when outputting a moving image.

In other words, in a moving image compatible camera system using a CCD sensor as an input image sensor, it is very difficult to increase the number of pixels due to a trade-off with characteristics.

In addition, there is a problem that the communication speed (communication capacity) is small in order to distribute the image information which is several times larger. Further, there is a problem that the processing speed of the output device for outputting the image information that is several times larger is low.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an image distribution system capable of selecting and displaying an image of a desired area desired by a user.

[0009]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention relates to an image distribution system for distributing an image, a camera system for photographing an object and compressing and outputting image information generated, and the camera system. An image storage server that receives, stores, and transmits the compressed image information that has been compressed via a first communication path, and the stored compressed image from the image storage server via a second communication path. Within a range of information, a client device that selects and receives the compressed image information corresponding to a displayable display area and displays the compressed image information is provided.

According to the above configuration, within the range of the compressed image information stored in the image storage server, the client device is
The display area is selected within the range of the display area that can be displayed by itself, and the compressed image information is received and displayed.

Further, in a camera system for photographing an object, a photographing means for photographing the object by a CMOS image sensor, a compressing means for compressing an image generated by the photographing, and a transmitting means for transmitting the compressed compressed image information. There is provided a camera system having:

According to the above arrangement, the image information that is input with a large field angle and a large number of pixels is processed at high speed, the image information is compressed, and the amount of information to be transmitted is reduced. Further, in an image storage server that receives and stores compressed image information compressed by a camera system that captures an object and provides it to a client device, a receiving unit that receives the compressed image information and a storage unit that stores the compressed image information. And an image transmitting server for selecting the compressed image information corresponding to the display area designated by the client device and transmitting the compressed image information to the client device.

According to the above configuration, of the stored compressed image information, only the compressed image information corresponding to the display area designated by the client device is transmitted. Also, in a client device that receives the compressed image information from an image storage server that stores and provides compressed compressed image information, a display area selection unit that selects a display area, and the selected display area in the image storage server. And a display unit that receives the compressed image information corresponding to the selected display area, decodes the compressed image information, and displays the compressed image information.
There is provided a client device comprising:

According to the above arrangement, the display area is selected,
The compressed image information is received from the image storage server and displayed.

[0015]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a principle configuration diagram of an image distribution system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Image distribution system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention
Is a camera system 10 that compresses and outputs image information generated by shooting an object, an image storage server 20 that receives, stores, and transmits compressed image information, and an image storage server 2
Client device 3 for receiving and displaying image information from 0
It consists of 0 and.

The camera system 10 includes a camera 11 for picking up a moving image and a still image, a compression means 12 for compressing the image information generated and generated, and a communication path 40 for the compressed image information.
And a transmitting unit 13 for transmitting the image to the image storage server 20 via the.

The camera 11 is a CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconducer) as an image sensor.
tor Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor) image sensor. CMOS image sensor is CC
Since the image sensor can read at higher speed than the D image sensor, it is possible to increase the angle of view and increase the number of pixels with the size of one pixel being the same. Therefore, the camera 11 has a high-speed electronic shutter and a large optical lens, and it is possible to take a wide range of images by increasing the angle of view and increasing the number of pixels.

The communication path 40 is an optical fiber and has a high communication speed of, for example, 100 Mbps. As a result, it becomes possible to deliver the image information, which is increased as the angle of view is increased and the number of pixels is increased, at high speed.

The image storage server 20 is a camera system 10.
Receiving means 21 for receiving the compressed image information transmitted from, and storage means 22 for accumulating the received image information,
It has a transmission means 23 for transmitting the accumulated image information to the client device 30 via the communication path 50.

The client device 30 receives the image information from the image storage server 20, the receiving means 31, the display means 32 for decoding and displaying the received compressed image information, and the image storage server 20. Within the range of the image information, it has a display area selection means 33 for selecting a display area that can be displayed by the display means 32, and a notification means 34 for notifying the image storage server 20 of the selected display area.

Here, the information capacity that can be stored in the image storage server 20 is determined by the response of the image storage server 20 when the display area is selected by the client device 30 until the start of transmission of the corresponding image information. It is equal to or larger than the amount of image information transmitted from the camera system 10 in time.

Further, the amount of information that can be stored in a buffer (not shown) existing in the client device 30 is until the image storage server 20 responds when the display area is selected and transmission of the corresponding image information is started. It is equal to or more than the amount of image information transmitted from the image storage server 20 in time.

The operation of the image distribution system 1 will be described below. First, the object is photographed by the camera 11 of the camera system 10. At this time, the amount of information that is larger than the amount of information that can be processed by the client device 30 is input. For example, the number of pixels that can be displayed by the display unit 32 or more is taken.
Further, the shooting angle may be changed variously to shoot. The image information thus obtained is compressed by the compression means 12 and transmitted to the image storage server 20 by the transmission means 13. In the image storage server 20, the receiving unit 21 receives the image information and stores it in the storing unit 22.

On the other hand, when the client device 30 issues an instruction to request image information, the image storage server 20
Within the range of the image information stored in the client device 3
The image information corresponding to the display area that can be displayed by the display unit 32 of 0 is extracted from the storage unit 22 and transmitted by the transmission unit 23 via the communication path 50.

The client device 30 receives the image information requested by the receiving means 31, and the display means 32 decodes and displays the compressed image information. Here, when the user wants to display an image in a region different from the image displayed by the display unit 32 (for example, when he wants to see a region higher than the image displayed on the display or when he wants to see a lower region). , Or if you want to see it from another angle),
When the area to be displayed is selected by the display area selection means 33,
The effect is notified to the image storage server 20 via the notification means 34.

The image storage server 20 receives the notification from the client device 30 side by the receiving means 21 and displays the image information corresponding to the display area designated by the client device 30.
The image information stored in the storage unit 22 is extracted and transmitted to the client device 30 by the transmission unit 23.

The client device 30 receives the image corresponding to the display area selected by the display area selecting means 33 by the receiving means 31.
Is received via the communication path 50 and is decoded and displayed by the display means 32.

As described above, the camera 11 of the camera system 10 captures image information having a larger amount of information than can be processed by the display means 32 of the client device 30,
It is compressed and stored in the storage means 22 of the image storage server 20, and the user selects only the display area that can be displayed by the display means 32 of the client device 30 from the stored image information, and receives and displays it. The user who has changed the setting can enjoy by changing the viewing range and angle of the image information.

The amount of information that can be stored in the image storage server 20 depends on the time required for the image storage server 20 to respond and start transmitting the corresponding image information when the display area is selected by the client device 30. , Camera system 10
The amount of information that is greater than or equal to the amount of image information transmitted from the client device 30 and that can be stored in a buffer (not shown) in the client device 30 is determined by the image storage server 20 responding when the display area is selected. Since the amount of image information transmitted from the image storage server 20 is equal to or more than the time until the transmission is started, the above operation can be performed in real time when watching a moving image or TV broadcast.

The configuration of the embodiment of the present invention will be described below. The image distribution system will be described below by taking digital broadcasting as an example. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the image distribution system.

The image distribution system 100 includes an image pickup camera 110 for picking up moving images and still images, and a camera system 1 for compressing image information generated by the image pickup camera 110.
20 and the compressed image information from the camera system 120 are received and accumulated, and the broadcast satellite 16 is received by the antenna 130a.
An image storage server 130 that transmits image information to the digital television 140 via 0, a digital television 140 that receives and displays image information from the image storage server 130 by an antenna 140a, and a remote controller (hereinafter, remote control) attached to the digital television 140. 140b. The image capturing camera 110 and the camera system 120 are shown in FIG.
Image storage server 130 corresponding to the camera system 10 of
Is the image storage server 20, the digital television 140 and the remote controller 140b associated therewith are the client device 30.
, Respectively.

The image pickup camera 110 has a high-speed electronic shutter and a large optical lens. Also, video (optical signal)
Although it has an image sensor for converting to an electric signal, a CMOS image sensor is used in the embodiment of the present invention.

As described above, by using the CMOS image sensor, high-speed reading is possible, and it becomes possible to increase the angle of view and increase the number of pixels. Imaging camera 110
Transmits the image data obtained by converting into an electric signal to the camera system 120 via the communication path 170. At this time, like the digital video camera, the imaging camera 110
When transmitting data converted into digital data in the inside, a communication cable compliant with IEEE 1394, for example, is used as the communication path 170 for transmitting / receiving data to / from the camera system 120. If the image pickup camera 110 is an analog video, for example, connect the AV cable to the communication path 1
Used as 70, NTSC (National TV Standards Co
mmittee) signal and PAL (Phase Alternating Line)
Send composite signals such as signals.

The camera system 120 includes the image pickup camera 11
Image information input from 0 is converted into MPEG (Motion Picture
Experts Group) has the function of compressing data.
Further, it has a function of transmitting the compressed image information to the image storage server 130.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the camera system. The camera system 120 includes a CPU (Central Processing U).
nit) 121, ROM (Read Only Memory) 122, R
AM (Random Access Memory) 123, HDD (Hard D
isk Drive) 124, compression processing unit 125, I / F (Inter
face) 126, 127.

The CPU 121 controls each part of the apparatus according to a control program such as an OS (Operating System) stored in the HDD 124, and also activates an application program in response to a user's request to perform the requested processing. .

The ROM 122 stores basic programs and data executed by the CPU 121. RAM1
The CPU 23 temporarily stores a program being executed by the CPU 121 and data being processed.

The HDD 124 stores a control program executed by the CPU 121, an application program activated in response to a user request, and the like. Compression processing unit 1
Reference numeral 25 has a function of compressing image data input from the image pickup camera 110 into MPEG format data. For example,
An analog signal such as an NTSC signal is compressed into MPEG2 format data.

The I / F 126 is an interface for transmitting / receiving data to / from the imaging camera 110. For example, from the imaging camera 110, the communication path 170 is IEEE
When digital data is transmitted using a communication cable conforming to 1394, terminals conforming to IEEE 1394 are used.

The I / F 127 is an interface for transmitting and receiving data to and from the image storage server 130. Here, when an optical fiber is used for the communication path 171,
It has the function of converting data from electrical signals to optical signals and transmitting them.

The operation of the camera system 120 will be described below. Image information is transmitted from the image pickup camera 110 to the communication channel 17
When it is received by the I / F 126 via 0, the image information is input to the compression processing unit 125 under the control of the CPU 121,
It is compressed to MPEG format data such as MPEG2.

Further, when the image pickup camera 110 converts it into compressed digital data such as DV format and transmits it like a digital video camera, the IEEE 139 is used.
The digital data is received by the I / F 126 conforming to No. 4, and the compression processing unit 125 converts the DV format to the MPEG format, for example.

It should be noted that, for example, if the data is stored in the HDD 124,
CPU for application program for MPEG compression
It is executed under the control of 121, and is software-based MPEG.
You may make it compress or convert into the data of a format.

The image data converted into the MPEG format is
It is transmitted to the image storage server 130 via the communication path 171 by the I / F 127. Here, the I / F 127 converts the image information of the electric signal into an optical signal, and transmits the optical signal to the image storage server 130 via the optical fiber used as the communication path 171.

As described above, when a high-speed optical fiber is used as the communication path 171, a large optical lens of the image pickup camera 110 and a large amount of image information picked up by the CMOS image sensor are sent to the image storage server 130 at high speed. It becomes possible to send.

Next, the image storage server 130 will be described. The image storage server 130 is installed in, for example, a broadcasting station.
The image storage server 130 has a large-capacity storage device (not shown), and the camera system 12 transmitted in MPEG format.
The image information from 0 is received and accumulated via the communication path 171. Further, the image information desired by the user of the digital television 140 is retrieved from a storage device (not shown), and the MPE
The G format image information is packetized to generate a transport stream, and the antenna 130a is used to transmit the broadcast satellite 1
It has a function of transmitting to the digital television 140 via 60.

Further, it has a function of receiving a notification from the user of the digital television 140 requesting transmission of predetermined image information via the communication path 172. Here, communication path 1
A telephone line 72 is connected to the Internet (not shown) via a provider, for example.

Next, the digital television 140 will be described. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a digital television. The digital television 140 is connected to an antenna 140a to perform a channel selection / demodulation circuit 141, and separates an encoded video signal and audio signal from a received transport stream of a multiplexed digital broadcast signal. MPEG
-TS (transport stream) separation circuit 142
A video decoding circuit 143 for decoding the coded video signal into an NTSC signal, an audio decoding circuit 144 for decoding the coded audio signal, and an OSD (adding a display signal of a data broadcast screen to the video signal. On Screen Display) additional circuit 145, display 146, speaker 14
7, a light receiving unit 148 that receives a command from the user from the remote controller 140b, a memory 149, a modem 150 for connecting to the communication path 172, and a CPU that controls these.
And 151.

The operation of the digital television 140 will be described below. When the broadcasting station in which the image storage server 130 exists is selected by the user operating the remote controller 140b, the light receiving unit 148 receives the tuning signal from the remote controller 140b. Further, in the channel selection / demodulation circuit 141, the image information transmitted from the image storage server 130 via the broadcasting satellite 160 and transmitted in the transport stream format is received by the antenna 140a and demodulated.

Next, under the control of the CPU 151, the multiplexing of the transport stream is solved by the MPEG-TS separation circuit 142. Since the video signal and the audio signal separated here are coded, the video signal is the video decoding circuit 14
At 3, the audio signal is decoded by the audio decoding circuit 144. When receiving the data broadcast, the data broadcast signal separated by the MPEG-TS separation circuit 142 is transmitted to the OSD addition circuit 145 as a data broadcast screen display signal via the CPU 151, and is decoded by the video decoding circuit 143. Is output to the display 146. The decoded audio signal is output from the speaker 147.

With the above processing, the display 146
In the image displayed on the screen, the user selects the remote controller 140b.
Now, a case of selecting an area that is not currently displayed will be described. For example, if the user wants to look above the currently displayed image, he / she presses up with the cross key of the remote controller 140b.

The command input by the user's operation of the remote controller 140b is input by the light receiving unit 148, and the CPU 15
1 to the modem 150. Furthermore, it is transmitted to the image storage server 130 via the communication path 172. The image storage server 130 extracts image information corresponding to the display area designated by the user from the stored image information and transmits it. It is received again via the antenna 140a,
It is displayed on the display 146.

FIG. 5 shows an example of image information stored in the image storage server. Here, the screens A1 to A9 show display areas that can be displayed on the display 146 of the digital television 140, respectively. That is, the image storage server 130
5 has a larger amount of information (here, 9 times) than the amount of information that can be displayed on the display 146 of the digital television 140, as shown in FIG.

Here, if the screen A8 is displayed on the display 146, for example, when the user wants to look above the displayed screen A8, the remote controller 140b.
Enter that by pressing. The signal is received by the light receiving unit 148 and sent to the modem 150 via the CPU 151,
Further, it is transmitted to the image storage server 130 via the communication path 172.

The image storage server 130 transmits a part of the corresponding image content designated by the user from the stored image content to the digital television 140 via the antenna 130a.

In the digital television 140, the antenna 14
The image information in the transport stream format is received via 0a and demodulated. Furthermore, the MPEG-TS separation circuit 14
In step 2, the transport stream is demultiplexed, and the video signal of the image information is decoded by the video decoding circuit 143 and displayed on the display 146. As a result, for example, FIG.
The image of the screen A5 which is the upper part of the screen A8 in is displayed.

If the response time until the user selects the display area and the corresponding image information is transmitted is t seconds, the digital television 140 is operated by the image storage server 130.
Of the image information amount Xt [bi
It has a buffer (not shown) having an information capacity of t] or more.

Further, the information capacity of the image storage server 130 is more than the image information amount Yt [bit] when the transmission speed of the camera system 120 is Y [bps]. As a result, the user can enjoy the image captured by the imaging camera 110 by changing the display area in real time.

In the above description, digital broadcasting is taken as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to cable television, moving image distribution via the Internet, and the like.

Further, in the above, the remote controller is used as the controller for designating the display area, but it may be connected to the output device by a wire such as a cable to transmit the electric signal.

In the above description, the displayable display range is taken up as an example of receiving and displaying only the processable information of the output device using the digital television 140 as the output device, but the present invention is not limited to this. It will not be done. For example, the image storage server 130 stores image information in which the viewing angle is changed in various ways and image information in which the magnification is changed, and the user stores images from the image storage server 130 within a range of the amount of information that can be processed by the output device. The information may be selected, received, and displayed.

[0063]

As described above, according to the present invention, the image information generated by photographing the object with the camera system is stored in the image storage server, and the client device selects only the display area that the client device can display. Since the image is received from the image storage server and displayed, the client device can freely select and view an image other than the image currently displayed.

Also, the information capacity that can be stored in the image storage server is determined by the camera system when the image storage server responds when the display area is selected by the client device and the transmission of the corresponding image information is started. The amount of information that is more than the amount of information transmitted from the client device, and the amount of information that can be stored by the client device is the time until the image storage server responds when the display area is selected and transmission of the corresponding image information starts.
Since it is more than the amount of information transmitted from the image storage server,
It is possible to change the viewing range and viewing angle in real time in the image taken by the camera system.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a principle configuration diagram of an image distribution system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an image distribution system.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a camera system.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a digital television.

FIG. 5 is an example of image information stored in an image storage server.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Image distribution system, 10 ... Camera system, 1
1 ... camera, 12 ... compression means, 13 ... transmission means,
20 ... Image storage server, 21 ... Receiving means, 22 ...
Storage means, 23 ... transmission means, 30 ... client device, 31 ... reception means, 32 ... display means, 33 ... display area selection means, 34 ... notification means, 40, 50 ... communication path

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F-term (reference) 5C054 AA02 AA05 CA04 CC02 DA05                       DA09 EA01 HA16 HA17                 5C059 KK40 MA00 RB10 RE16 SS02                       SS14 TA73 TC45 UA02 UA05                       UA31                 5C064 BA01 BA07 BB10 BC18 BC23                       BD02 BD08

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. An image distribution system for distributing an image, comprising: a camera system that captures an image of a target and compresses and outputs the generated image information; and the compressed image compressed by the camera system via a first communication path. An image storage server that receives, stores, and transmits information, and a display area that can be displayed within the range of the stored compressed image information from the image storage server via a second communication path. An image distribution system comprising: a client device that selects, receives, and displays compressed image information. 2. The image distribution system according to claim 1, wherein the compression is an MPEG format compression. 3. The image distribution system according to claim 1, wherein the first communication path is an optical fiber. 4. The information capacity that can be stored in the image storage server is received from the camera system by the time when the compressed image information corresponding to the display area is transmitted during the selection by the client device. The image delivery system according to claim 1, wherein the image delivery system has an information amount or more. 5. The client device temporarily stores the compressed image information, and the information capacity of the client device is the time until the image storage server transmits the compressed image information corresponding to the display area at the time of the selection. 2. The amount of information received from the image storage server is greater than or equal to 1.
The described image distribution system. 6. A camera system for photographing an object, a photographing means for photographing the object by a CMOS image sensor, a compressing means for compressing an image generated by the photographing, and a transmitting means for transmitting the compressed compressed image information. And a camera system. 7. The camera system according to claim 6, wherein the photographing means has a high-speed electronic shutter function. 8. The camera system according to claim 6, wherein the compression means performs MPEG format compression. 9. An image storage server, which receives compressed image information from a camera system for capturing an object, stores the compressed image information, and provides the compressed image information to a client device, the receiving unit receiving the compressed image information, and storing the compressed image information. An image storage server, comprising: a storage unit for storing the compressed image information corresponding to a display area designated by the client device and transmitting the compressed image information to the client device. 10. The information capacity that can be stored by the storage means is equal to or more than the amount of information received from the camera system during the time until the compressed image information corresponding to the designated display area is transmitted. The image storage server according to claim 9, which is characterized in that. 11. A client device that receives the compressed image information from an image storage server that stores and provides compressed compressed image information, a display area selecting unit that selects a display area, and the selection in the image storage server. And a display unit configured to receive the compressed image information corresponding to the selected display region, decode the compressed image information, and display the compressed image information. 12. When the selection is made, a temporary storage means is provided for temporarily storing at least the amount of information received from the image storage server during the time until the image storage server transmits the compressed image information. The client device according to claim 11, wherein the client device is a client device.