JP2004096626A - Image monitoring device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To surely prevent cameras from stopping functioning, since there is a state where it is indistinct occasionally whether the cameras 11-14 are normally operated even by watching displays 41-44. <P>SOLUTION: An IP camera having a function for communications with a network is used as the monitoring cameras 11-14. The cameras 11-14 each perform communication over the Internet by using IP addresses. A communication means 17 performs communications using an inquiry signal or a response signal based on SNMP. An inquiry means 33 transmits an inquiry signal of whether or not the cameras 11-14 are normally functioned in a predetermined timing. The result is displayed on displays 41-44 together with image data 37. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an image monitor device suitable for use such as, for example, a traffic monitoring or a building monitoring system, in which monitoring cameras are arranged at a plurality of locations and images taken by the cameras are centrally monitored on a monitor.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In a traffic monitoring system or a building monitoring system, monitoring cameras are arranged at various places where monitoring is required. The image captured by the camera is transmitted to a monitor device in a monitoring room by cable or wirelessly. The monitor device has as many displays as the number of monitoring cameras. The screen displayed on this display is monitored by a watchman in turn. A technique for remotely controlling such a surveillance camera from a surveillance room is also introduced (see Patent Document 1).
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-157154
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, the conventional techniques as described above have the following problems to be solved.
In general, when shooting a road in real time using a TV camera, the monitor display shows the running vehicle or pedestrian, so whether the camera is operating normally Can be intuitively judged. However, the photographing function of the camera may be stopped while photographing a road where traffic is completely interrupted. In the case of a camera that transfers a captured image as it is to a monitor display, nothing appears on the display, so that the function stop can be noticed. On the other hand, if the camera has a buffer memory and the camera rewrites the buffer memory when taking a new image, the image recorded in the buffer memory is repeatedly transferred even if the buffer memory is not rewritten at all. When it comes, the road taken before the failure is displayed on the monitor display as it is. Therefore, there is a problem that normal monitoring cannot be performed without noticing that the camera has stopped functioning.
The present invention has been made by focusing on the above points.
[0004]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention solves the above problem by the following configuration.
<Configuration 1>
An interface for receiving image data captured by the camera, a storage device for temporarily storing the image data, a display for displaying the image data together with management information, and an inquiry signal transmitted to the camera, An image monitor device comprising: means for displaying status information indicating whether or not the device is operating normally in the management information.
[0005]
The camera is located at a location distant from the location where the display is arranged, and shoots an arbitrary target. The format of the image data is arbitrary. The interface may be designed so as to be compatible with the image data communication method and the like. The storage device may have a function of temporarily storing image data for display on a display or the like. The image data is displayed on the display together with the management information. The management information may be displayed side by side with the image data, or may be displayed when the display screen on the display is switched. The inquiry signal is transmitted to all the cameras, and the status information of all the cameras is displayed in the management information. The management information may have the same content as the status information, or may include other information. For example, even if a failure occurs in the imaging function of the camera, if the data transmission function of the camera is normal, the image data stored in the buffer memory of the camera is repeatedly transmitted. When the object to be photographed is a still life such as a doorway of a building, even if it is photographed with a moving image, it does not notice the occurrence of a camera failure. Then, an inquiry signal is transmitted to the camera in order to confirm whether or not the image data captured by the camera has been normally continuously captured. The content of the inquiry signal is arbitrary. The status information indicates the contents of the latest response to the inquiry signal.
[0006]
<Configuration 2>
In the image monitor device according to Configuration 1, a plurality of the cameras are provided at an arbitrary place, connected to the interface via a network, and the display displays image data captured by each camera, An image monitor device wherein corresponding management information is displayed for each image data.
[0007]
By displaying whether or not all the cameras are operating normally in a plurality of monitoring operations, the burden on the administrator can be reduced and monitoring errors can be prevented.
[0008]
<Configuration 3>
2. The image monitoring device according to configuration 1, wherein the camera is directly connected to a network, has an address on the network, and includes a unit that performs communication through the network.
[0009]
The camera has, for example, a function capable of communicating on the Internet using an IP address. The inquiry signal and the response signal are based on SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol). In the TCP / IP protocol, each network device manages its own status information by using a management information database (MIB). By inquiring about the contents via the network, it is determined whether or not a large number of cameras normally continue the photographing operation. Generally, in a complex system including a network, a unique diagnostic function is employed to determine whether the entire system is functioning properly. However, when this diagnostic function is operated, the operation of the entire system must be temporarily stopped or the information communication function must be significantly reduced. On the other hand, in a surveillance system using a camera, the image taken by the camera is the most important, and it is desirable to check the function at the shortest possible intervals. Therefore, the status of each camera is directly checked by an inquiry process that minimizes the communication load, and is displayed together with the image captured by the camera.
[0010]
<Configuration 4>
2. The image monitoring device according to configuration 1, further comprising: means for transmitting an inquiry signal to the camera at a predetermined constant cycle.
[0011]
If the inquiry signal is transmitted at a predetermined period, the soundness of each camera can be checked at least at this period. This cycle can be made sufficiently shorter than the cycle for checking the soundness of other systems to increase the reliability of the system.
[0012]
<Configuration 5>
2. The image monitoring device according to configuration 1, further comprising: a unit that, when receiving image data from the camera, acquires an address of the camera on a network and transmits a return inquiry signal.
[0013]
The inquiry signal must be transmitted to all cameras at a predetermined cycle. At this time, it is necessary to manage transmission addresses. When image data is received from a camera, if the address of the camera on the network is acquired and a return inquiry signal is transmitted, management of the transmission address becomes unnecessary. Further, even if a failure has occurred in the imaging function of the camera, it is possible to prevent image data from being received from the camera and continuing to display the image data as a normal image.
[0014]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described using specific examples.
[0015]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a specific example of the device of the present invention.
This device monitors a road with, for example, four cameras 11 to 14 arranged at regular intervals on the road. In this figure, the internal block diagram of only one camera 11 is shown. The camera 11 includes an imaging unit 15, a buffer memory 16, a communication unit 17, and status information 18. The imaging unit 15 includes a CCD element and a processing circuit for image data. The buffer memory 16 is a storage device that temporarily stores image data captured by the imaging unit 15 for a certain period of time. The communication unit 17 has a function of transmitting and receiving information to and from a network via the interface 20. The state information 18 is data for displaying a result of a function test of each part of the camera 11.
[0016]
In this apparatus, an IP camera having a communication function with a network is used as a monitoring camera. Each of the cameras 11 to 14 communicates on the Internet using an IP address. The communication unit 17 performs communication using an inquiry signal or a response signal based on SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol). The state information 18 corresponds to an MIB (management information database) based on the TCP / IP protocol.
[0017]
The interface 20 connects the communication means 17 and the communication means 31. This interface includes a network 21 and includes a network connection device 22 and a network connection device 23. This interface may be any interface having a function of transmitting image data captured by a large number of cameras to the monitoring side via the network 21. In addition, in such a system, various signals are transmitted to the monitoring side, such as an image captured by a camera, a sound collected from a capturing location, and an alarm signal. However, since these equipments may use existing equipment, illustration and description are omitted.
[0018]
On the monitoring side, a computer terminal device for monitoring including a communication unit 31, an inquiry unit 33, a monitor control unit 34, a storage device 32, monitor images 51 to 54, and the like is provided. The communication unit 31, the inquiry unit 33, and the monitor control unit 34 are computer programs that operate on this computer. The storage device 32 stores image data 37 and management information 38. In this example, since four cameras are used for monitoring, four monitors are used. The communication unit 31 has the same function as the communication unit 17 of the camera 11. The inquiry means 33 has a function of generating an inquiry signal as to whether the cameras 11 to 14 are functioning normally, at a predetermined timing, and transmitting the signals in order. It is desirable that the transmission timing of the inquiry signal be as high as possible as long as the capability of the interface 20 is not reduced.
[0019]
The image data 37 stored in the storage device 32 is data transmitted from each of the cameras 11 to 14 and periodically rewritten. As shown in the figure, the camera 11 temporarily stores the image data captured and acquired by the imaging unit 15 in the buffer memory 16, and the communication unit 17 transmits the image data to the communication unit 31 at a predetermined timing. . Therefore, for example, if the image capturing unit 15 rewrites the contents of the buffer memory 16 every few seconds, the image data 37 stored in the storage device 32 is always captured by the camera 11 several seconds or more ago. The monitor control means 34 reads out the image data 37 in order, transfers the image data 37 to the displays 41 to 44, and displays them on the monitor images 51 to 54.
[0020]
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship among status information, management information, and display information on a display.
As shown in FIG. 3A, the state information 18 includes information indicating whether or not each function of each part of the camera 11, such as an imaging function, a power supply function, an automatic exposure function, a focus function, and a zoom function, is normal. This content varies from camera to camera. In the apparatus of the present invention, the display of the imaging function is used. As shown in (b) of the figure, the management information 38 is obtained, for example, by adding a camera number to the status information 18. The status information of other equipment and the like may be included in the management information 38.
[0021]
As shown in (c) of the figure, the display information shows the details of the information displayed below the monitor images 51 to 54 on the displays 41 to 44. The image 60 actually displayed is shown in FIG. A camera number 61, an icon 62, and a display character 63 are displayed. The icon 62 is “blue” when the imaging function is “good” and “red” when the imaging function is “bad”. At the same time, the display character 63 is not displayed when the imaging function is “good”, and is “failed” when the imaging function is “bad”. Thus, by looking at the displays 41 to 44, it is always possible to reliably recognize whether each camera is operating normally, and it is possible to take measures such as repair.
[0022]
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the apparatus of the present invention, centering on the inquiry means 33.
The inquiry unit 33 first selects one of the four cameras 11 to 14 in step S1. Then, in step S2, an inquiry signal addressed to the camera is generated and transmitted. In step S3, a response signal is waited for. When it is determined in step S3 that there is no response signal, in step S4, for example, the display in the "good" state on the screen of the display 43 is changed to the display in the "bad" state. The display contents are as shown in FIG. The default is “good”.
[0023]
On the other hand, even if there is a response signal, the imaging function may be defective. Therefore, if the imaging function is determined to be abnormal in step S5, the "good" state display is changed to the "bad" state display in step S6. In step S7, it is determined whether there is a next camera, and an inquiry to another camera is executed. By repeating such processing periodically, monitoring work can be performed while constantly checking the soundness of all cameras.
[0024]
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing another operation example of the apparatus of the present invention, centering on the inquiry means 33.
Here, the state information is acquired after the reception of the image data from the camera. First, in step S11, image data is received from the IP camera. This image data is temporarily stored in the storage device 32 in step S12. In step S13, the monitor control means 34 reads the image data 37 from the storage device 32 and displays the image data on the corresponding monitor display. In step S14, a "good" state is displayed on the display as an initial state. That is, the icon 62 is blue and the display character 63 is not displayed.
[0025]
Further, the IP address of the camera is acquired at the timing when the image data is received from the camera, and an inquiry signal is transmitted to the IP camera with the IP address as a destination (step S15). The subsequent steps S16 to S19 are the same as the processing of steps S3 to S6. As described above, the monitoring operation can be performed while always checking the soundness of all the cameras as in the embodiment of FIG. If a failure has occurred in the image data transmission function, the failure may be detected by a determination process other than this process, for example, a timer process that image data cannot be received for a certain period of time.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a specific example of the device of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship among status information, management information, and display information on a display.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the apparatus of the present invention, centering on an inquiry means 33;
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing another operation example of the apparatus of the present invention, centering on the inquiry means 33;
[Explanation of symbols]
11 to 14 camera 15 imaging unit 16 buffer memory 17 communication means 18 status information 20 interface 21 networks 22 to 23 network connection device 31 communication means 32 storage device 33 inquiry means 34 monitor control means 37 image data 38 management information 41 to 44 display 51 ~ 54 Monitor image 60 Display information 61 Camera number 62 Icon 63 Display character

Claims (5)

An interface for receiving image data taken by the camera,
A storage device for temporarily storing the image data,
A display for displaying the image data together with management information;
An image monitor apparatus, comprising: means for transmitting an inquiry signal to the camera, and displaying status information indicating whether the camera is operating normally in the management information. The image monitoring device according to claim 1,
A plurality of the cameras are provided at an arbitrary place, connected to the interface via a network, and the display displays image data taken by each camera, and for each image data, Is displayed on the image monitor. The image monitoring device according to claim 1,
The camera is
An image monitor device directly connected to a network, having an address on the network, and having means for communicating through the network. The image monitoring device according to claim 1,
An image monitor device comprising means for transmitting an inquiry signal to the camera at a predetermined constant cycle. The image monitoring device according to claim 1,
When receiving image data from the camera, the image monitor device includes means for acquiring an address of the camera on the network and transmitting a return inquiry signal.

Images