JP2005229289A - Image monitoring apparatus and method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image monitoring apparatus which can instantly detect and inform the effect of change to a user at the time of occurrence of change in image data obtained by photographing an object to be monitored, and an image monitoring method. <P>SOLUTION: The image monitoring apparatus 30 has an image data fetching means 32, an image data change deciding means 34, and detection information output means 36. The image data fetching means 32 sequentially fetches the image data D inputted sequentially with the passage of time from a CCD camera 10 as still picture data. The image data change deciding means 34 compares first still picture data and second still picture data fetched in this order temporally by the image data fetching means 32 with each other to decide the presence of the change of the second still picture data to the first still picture data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image monitoring apparatus and an image monitoring method.

A monitoring camera is connected to the mobile phone, and image data captured by the monitoring camera is transmitted to the service control station via the mobile phone of the monitoring camera, and image data is sent from the service control station to a preset user (transfer destination). A surveillance camera system for transfer has been proposed (for example, Patent Document 1).
In such a monitoring camera system, in order to transmit image data captured by the monitoring camera to the service control station, the mobile phone of the monitoring camera is called from the service control station side to connect the line, and then the image data is transmitted to the mobile phone. Via the monitoring camera to the service control station.
JP-A-9-172504

In the above-described monitoring camera system, when transmitting image data captured by the monitoring camera, it is necessary to call the monitoring camera from the service control station to the mobile phone of the monitoring camera. Is getting.
Therefore, when a change occurs in the monitoring target image captured by the monitoring camera regardless of the predetermined period, it is difficult to immediately detect that the change has occurred, and it cannot be said that it is easy to use. .

That is, for example, the monitoring target is a water thermometer used in various devices, and it is necessary to maintain this water thermometer at a predetermined value. Therefore, the water thermometer is always monitored, and when the water temperature fluctuates, an immediate action is taken. The above-described surveillance camera system cannot cope with cases that must be taken.
Therefore, conventionally, there has been a problem that an operator must always wait in front of the monitoring target or before the monitor on which the monitoring target is displayed, and cannot leave the monitoring target.
The present invention has been devised in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to immediately detect that a change has occurred in the image data obtained by photographing the monitoring target, and to detect the change. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image monitoring apparatus and an image monitoring method that can be informed.

In order to achieve the above object, an image monitoring apparatus according to the present invention captures image data that is sequentially input over time from an imaging apparatus that captures an image of a monitoring target and generates image data as still image data. And the second still image data for the first still image data by comparing the first still image data and the second still image data captured in this order in time by the image data capturing unit Image data change determining means for determining the presence or absence of a change, and detection information output means for outputting detection information when the image data change determining means determines that the change is present.
The image monitoring method of the present invention includes an image monitoring device, an image control device connected to the image monitoring device, a server connected to the image control device via a network, the server, and the server. An image monitoring method in an image monitoring system including a terminal device communicably connected via a network, wherein an imaging device that shoots a monitoring target and generates image data causes the image monitoring device to pass over time. The image data capturing step for sequentially capturing the image data sequentially input as still image data, and the first still image data and the second still image data captured in this order in time by the image data capturing step. Is compared with the first still image data to determine whether there is a change in the second still image data. And a detection information output step of supplying detection information from the image monitoring device to the image control device when it is determined that there is the change in the image data change determination step, and the image control device detects the detection A detection information transmission step of transmitting the detection information supplied in the information output step to a server via the network; and, when the server receives the detection information, generates notification information indicating that the detection information has been received, A broadcast information transmitting step for transmitting to the terminal device via a network, and a broadcast information output step for outputting the broadcast information received by the terminal device via the network are characterized.

According to the apparatus and method of the present invention, it is possible to immediately detect a change in an image to be monitored captured by an imaging apparatus and notify the user via, for example, a mobile phone or a notebook personal computer carried by the user. .
Therefore, the user can leave the monitoring target, for example. In other words, even when the user is away from the monitoring target, the user is notified when a change occurs in the image to be monitored, so the user can return to the monitoring target or call another worker. It is possible to take immediate countermeasures by instructing with, for example.

  When any change occurs in the image data obtained by photographing the monitoring target, the image data sequentially input from the imaging device over time is used for the purpose of immediately detecting the change and informing the user. Changes in the second still image data with respect to the first still image data by sequentially capturing as still image data and comparing the first still image data and the second still image data captured in this order in time. This is realized by determining the presence or absence of the output and outputting detection information when it is determined that there is a change. In addition, the notification information corresponding to the detection information is transmitted to the terminal device and output to the terminal device.

Next, Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
The image monitoring method of the present invention will be described below together with the image monitoring apparatus of the present invention.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an image monitoring system for realizing the image monitoring method of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an image monitoring device, and FIG. 3 is an operation flowchart of the image monitoring system.

As shown in FIG. 1, the image monitoring system includes a CCD camera 10, an image control device 20, an image monitoring device 30, a server 40, a mobile phone 50 as a terminal device, a personal computer 60, and the like.
In this embodiment, it is assumed that the monitoring target of the image monitoring system is a water temperature meter 200 used for various devices, and it is necessary to take immediate action when the water temperature fluctuates.

The CCD camera 10 is installed so that the water temperature meter 200 can be photographed, and is configured to generate and output image data, and constitutes an imaging device as claimed.
The image control device 20 has a function of transmitting the image data D supplied from the CCD camera 10 to the server 40 via the network 70 including the Internet.
Specifically, the image control device 20 includes a communication control unit 22 and an image data storage unit 24.
The communication control unit 22 is configured to connect to the network 70 via the router 102 and the modem 104 and to perform bidirectional communication with the server 40 via the network 70. That is, the communication control unit 22 accesses the server 40 and transfers the abnormality detection signal S based on the function of performing communication in response to the access from the server 40 and the abnormality detection signal S input from the image monitoring apparatus 30 described later. And a function of performing communication such as The communication control unit 22 and the router 102 are connected by, for example, a LAN.
The image data storage unit 24 has functions of sequentially capturing the image data D supplied from the CCD camera 12 as still image data and storing the captured still image data in a memory (not shown).
Further, the communication control unit 22 transmits the image data D stored in the image data storage unit 24 to the server 30 and the image data D supplied from the CCD camera 10 without using the image data storage unit 24. In other words, it has a function of transmitting to the server 40 in real time. Further, device identification information for identifying the image control device 20 is assigned to the image control device 20, and the communication control unit 22 is configured to transmit the device identification information when communicating with the server 40. Has been.

The image monitoring device 30 has a function of detecting a change (a change in water temperature) generated in the image of the water temperature gauge 200 based on the image data D supplied from the CCD camera 12.
Functionally, the image monitoring apparatus 30 includes an image data capturing unit 32, an image data change determination unit 34, and a detection information output unit 36.
The image data capturing unit 32 is configured to sequentially capture image data D sequentially input from the CCD camera 10 as time passes, as still image data.
The image data change determination unit 34 compares the first still image data and the second still image data captured in this order in time by the image data capturing unit 32, thereby comparing the first still image data with the first still image data. 2 is configured to determine whether or not there is a change in the still image data.
More specifically, the image data change judging means 34, when the image data D taken by the CCD camera 10 is taken in by the image data taking means 32 every predetermined period, for example, every T seconds, the image data taking means 32 is set to T seconds. The still image data D1, D2, D3, D4,... Taken in this order every time are sequentially compared. That is, the still image data D1 and the still image data D2 are compared to determine whether there is a change in the still image data D2 with respect to the still image data D1, and the still image data D2 and the still image data D3 are compared to determine the still image data D2. The operation of determining whether there is a change in the still image data D3 and comparing the still image data D3 and the still image data D4 to determine whether there is a change in the still image data D4 with respect to the still image data D3 is performed.
When the image data change determination unit 34 determines that the change is present, the detection information output unit 36 generates the above-described abnormality detection signal (corresponding to detection information in the scope of claims) and communicates with the image control device 20. It is configured to be supplied to the control unit 22.
The change in the image data is a movement of the needle if the water temperature meter 200 is an analog display using a needle and a scale, and a change of numbers if the water temperature meter 200 is a digital display.

Specifically, the image monitoring apparatus 30 is configured as shown in FIG.
The image monitoring apparatus 30 includes a CPU 3002, a ROM 3004, a RAM 3006, an I / O board 3008, and a capture board 3010.
The RAM 3004 provides a working area for the CPU 3002.
The ROM 3006 stores a control program for the image monitoring apparatus 30 and an image data change determination program.
The CPU 3002 controls the ROM 3004, RAM 3006, I / O board 3008, and capture board 3010 by executing the control program.
The capture board 3010 implements the image data capturing means 32 by capturing the image data D supplied from the CCD camera 12 as still image data at a predetermined cycle based on the control of the CPU 3002.
The CPU 3002 implements the image data change determination unit 34 by executing the image data change determination program.
The I / O board 3008 is an interface for inputting / outputting digital data, and generates and outputs digital data (digital signal) as the abnormality detection signal S based on the control of the CPU 3002 to output the detection information output means. 36 is realized.

The server 40 is configured to be communicable with the image control apparatus 20 via the network 70 and to be communicable with the mobile phone 50 and the personal computer 60 via the network 70, and the image data D supplied from the image control apparatus 20. Is stored in the database 42.
The database 42 stores the image data D in association with the device identification information of the image control device 20 that transmitted the image data D, and also stores it in association with the user identification information assigned to the user of the image control device 20. doing. Therefore, by specifying the device identification information or the user identification information, the image data D corresponding to the device identification information or the user identification information can be specified.
Further, the database 42 stores the mail address of the user in association with the device identification information. Therefore, by specifying the device identification information, a mail address corresponding to the specified device identification information can be specified.
Then, the server 40 sends notification information indicating that a change has occurred in the image data captured by the CCD camera 10 based on the specified mail address, that is, an e-mail describing that the change has occurred through the network 70. Via the mobile phone 50 and the personal computer 60.

The mobile phone 50 and the personal computer 60 have a function of accessing the network 70 and receiving at least an e-mail, or a function of accessing the server 40 and browsing image data.
In this embodiment, the case where the CCD camera 10, the image control device 20, and the image monitoring device 30 are each configured as one unit is illustrated. Of course, it can be applied to a system including more than one unit.

Next, the operation of the image monitoring system configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
First, in the image monitoring apparatus 30, the presence or absence of a change in image data is monitored by the image data change determination means 34 (step S10: image data fetching step, image data change determination means). If it is determined in step S10 that the change has occurred, an abnormality detection signal S is generated and supplied to the communication control unit 22 of the image control device 20 (step S12: detection information output step).
When the abnormality detection signal S is input, the image control apparatus 20 accesses the server 40 and transfers (transmits) the abnormality detection signal S to the server 40 (step S20: detection information transmission step).
Upon receipt of the abnormality detection signal S, the server 40 generates an e-mail including notification information indicating that the abnormality detection signal S has been received, and transmits it to the mobile phone 50 or the personal computer 60 via the network 70 (step S30). : Broadcast information transmission step).

An e-mail is received by the mobile phone 50 or the personal computer 60 and displayed on the display (step S40: notification information output step). The user recognizes that there has been a change in image data (a change in water temperature) in the water temperature gauge 200 by visually recognizing this e-mail.
Next, the user accesses the server 40 by the mobile phone 50 or the personal computer 60, inputs the user identification information, and requests the image data D associated with the identification information (step S42: image data acquisition step).
The server 40 accesses the image control device 20 corresponding to the identification information input in step S40 and requests the image data D (step S32: image data acquisition step).
The image control apparatus 20 accessed by the server 40 transmits the image data D to the server 40 in response to the request (step S22: image data acquisition step).
The transmission of the image data D to the server 40 by the image control device 20 will be described in detail.
The image control apparatus 20 transmits either or both of the image data D stored in the memory of the image data storage unit 24 and the image data D supplied in real time from the CCD camera 10 to the server 40.
The memory of the image data storage unit 24 stores the image data after the change and the image data before the change, and at least the image data after the change is transmitted to the server 40 to be described later. As a result, the user can visually recognize the changed image data.
Further, by transmitting the image data D supplied from the CCD camera 10 in real time, the user can visually recognize the changed image data in real time as will be described later.

The server 40 stores the image data D transmitted from the image control device 20 in the database 42, and transmits the transmitted image data D to the mobile phone 50 or the personal computer 60 (step S34: image data acquisition step). .
The cellular phone 50 or the personal computer 60 displays the received image data D on the display (step S44: image data output step). Thereby, the user can take necessary measures after visually recognizing the image of the water temperature meter 200 at least after the change has occurred.
The series of operations is thus completed.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the image data sequentially input from the CCD camera 10 as time elapses is sequentially captured as still image data, and the first still image data captured in this order in terms of time. And the second still image data are compared to determine whether there is a change in the second still image data with respect to the first still image data. If it is determined that there is a change, an abnormality detection signal S is output. Thus, it is possible to immediately detect that a change has occurred in the image of the water thermometer 200 and notify the user via the mobile phone 50 or the personal computer 60.
Therefore, the user can leave the water temperature meter 200. That is, even when the user is away from the thermometer 200, when a change occurs in the image of the thermometer 200, the user returns to the thermometer 200, or the user instructs other workers by telephone. By doing so, it becomes possible to take immediate action.
Further, by accessing the server 40 from the mobile phone 50 or the personal computer 60 in accordance with an electronic mail transmitted to the mobile phone 50 or the personal computer 60, the image data D of the water temperature gauge 200 is transferred to the mobile phone 50 or the personal computer 60. Since the display is made, the user can visually recognize the image of the water temperature meter 200.

In this embodiment, the cellular phone 50 or the personal computer 60 is exemplified as the terminal device. However, a personal digital assistant (PDA) having a communication function, a notebook personal computer, or various electronic devices having a communication function are used as the terminal device. Of course, it can be used.
Further, the image monitoring apparatus 30 may be configured as an apparatus in which a CPU 3002 or the like is incorporated as shown in FIG. 2, or an I / O board 3008 and a capture board 3010 are incorporated in a personal computer, and the image data change determination is performed. It may be configured by installing a program.
In addition, in some or all of the image control device 20, the image monitoring device 30, and the server 40, it is optional to compress and handle the image data D in order to reduce the capacity of the image data D. It goes without saying that the compression is advantageous in reducing the cost of storage means (memory) for storing the image data D, shortening the processing time of the image data D, and shortening the communication time of the image data D. .
In this embodiment, the abnormality detection signal S generated by the image monitoring device 30 is transmitted to the server 40 via the image control device 20, but the abnormality detection signal S may be an analog signal, for example. The abnormality detection signal S may be converted from an analog signal to a digital signal and transmitted to the server 40. Further, when the abnormality detection signal S is a digital signal, it is arbitrary to convert the format of the digital signal to another format and transmit it.
In this embodiment, e-mail is used as notification information indicating that a change has occurred in the image data, and this e-mail is transmitted to the mobile phone 50 and the personal computer 60. However, the notification information changes in the image data. The form is not limited as long as it can be shown. For example, the notification information may be transmitted as image data or sound data.
In this embodiment, the CCD camera 10 is used as the image pickup device. However, any image pickup device may be used as long as it can generate and output image data, and various conventionally known image pickup devices can be used. Absent.
In the present embodiment, the water temperature gauge 200 is exemplified as the monitoring target. However, the monitoring target is not limited to such a measuring instrument, and the monitoring target has a large meaning and significance in the change of the image. Needless to say, the present invention is naturally applicable to various uses.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the image monitoring system for implement | achieving the image monitoring method of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of an image monitoring apparatus. It is an operation | movement flowchart of an image monitoring system.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... CCD camera, 20 ... Image control apparatus, 30 ... Image monitoring apparatus, 40 ... Server, 50 ... Mobile phone, 60 ... Personal computer, D ... Image data, S ... Abnormality detection signal.

Claims (7)

Image data capturing means for sequentially capturing, as still image data, the image data sequentially input as time elapses from an imaging device that captures a monitoring target and generates image data;
By comparing the first still image data and the second still image data captured in this order in time by the image data capturing means, the change of the second still image data with respect to the first still image data is changed. Image data change determining means for determining presence or absence;
Detection information output means for outputting detection information when it is determined by the image data change determination means that there is the change;
An image monitoring apparatus comprising:   The image monitoring device is configured to be communicable with a terminal device via a network, and is configured to transmit notification information corresponding to the detection information to the terminal device via the network. The image monitoring apparatus according to claim 1.   The image monitoring device is configured to be communicable with a terminal device via a network, and is configured to transmit image data generated by the imaging device to the terminal device via the network. The image monitoring apparatus according to claim 1.   4. The image monitoring apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the terminal device is a mobile phone or a personal computer. An image monitoring device; an image control device connected to the image monitoring device; a server connected to the image control device via a network; and a server connected to the server via the network. An image monitoring method in an image monitoring system including a terminal device,
An image data capturing step for sequentially capturing, as still image data, the image data that is sequentially input to the image monitoring device from the imaging device that captures the monitoring target and generates image data;
By comparing the first still image data and the second still image data captured in this order in time by the image data capturing step, the change of the second still image data with respect to the first still image data is changed. An image data change determination step for determining presence or absence;
A detection information output step of supplying detection information from the image monitoring device to the image control device when it is determined by the image data change determination step that there is the change;
A detection information transmission step in which the image control apparatus transmits the detection information supplied in the detection information output step to a server via the network;
A notification information transmission step of generating notification information indicating that the detection information has been received when the server receives the detection information, and transmitting the notification information to the terminal device via the network;
Broadcast information output step for outputting the broadcast information received by the terminal device via the network;
An image monitoring method comprising:   The imaging device is also connected to the image control device, and when the terminal device makes a transmission request for image data to the server via the network, the server takes the imaging via the network and the image control device. An image data acquisition step of acquiring the image data from a device and supplying the acquired image data to the terminal device; and an image data output step of outputting the image data received by the terminal device via the network; The image monitoring method according to claim 5, further comprising: 7. The image monitoring method according to claim 5, wherein the terminal device is a mobile phone or a personal computer.

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