JP2006013568A - Remote monitoring system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the storing efficiency of a monitoring image without decreasing monitoring capability by eliminating the necessity of image compression processing. <P>SOLUTION: In a remote monitoring system, a monitoring transmitting device transmits an image photographed by a monitoring camera, and an image accumulating unit accumulates the transmitted image, or an image browsing device allows a user to browse the image in real time. In this system, the image storing unit repeats image storing continuation (S2, S3) for a predetermined time and image storing stop (S4, S6) for a predetermined time by time control by a timer (S1, S5). The system includes a step of repeating the processing of image storing continuation and image storing stop at a different time interval, and storing the monitoring image by the propriety of monitoring image storing by the determination of the presence or absence of an image change by the comparison of images per frame unit, and by the determination of the propriety of monitoring images using an image recognition technique. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a remote monitoring system including a monitoring camera, an image transmission device, an image storage unit, an image browsing device, and the like, and more particularly to an image storage method of an image storage unit.

  As shown in FIG. 3, this type of “remote monitoring system” transmits an image captured by the monitoring camera 1 using an image transmission device 2 using a network, and the image storage unit 3 transmits the transmitted image. It can be browsed in real time by the storage or image browsing device 4. Image storage by the image storage unit 3 enables browsing of past images (for example, see Patent Document 1).

There are various media for storing images in the image storage unit 3, but video tapes, hard disks, and the like that can store images with a large amount of information are mainly used. In addition, there are various encoding methods for images to be transmitted / stored, and examples include the Motion-JPEG method and the MPEG method.
JP 2000-059758 A

  A problem in the current technology is finite capacity of the image storage medium. The capacity of video tapes and hard disks, which are mainstream media used in the image storage unit 3, is finite, and when an image with a large amount of information is operated in a constant storage state, the storage medium can be replaced at a cycle when the storage medium is full. Work such as backup becomes necessary. Therefore, in such a system having an image storage function, it is desired to replace the storage medium and save labor in maintenance work.

  In Patent Document 1 described above, image data is compressed and stored in order to effectively store image data in the storage unit. However, a complicated and expensive system configuration and apparatus for the compression processing are provided. Necessary.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a remote monitoring system that eliminates the need for image compression processing and increases the storage efficiency of monitoring images without degrading the monitoring performance.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides a time management of image storage by a timer, a determination of necessity of storage of a monitoring image by determination of presence / absence of image change by comparison of image frames, and an image recognition technique. The monitoring image is stored by determining whether or not the monitoring image storage is used, and has the following system.

(1) In a remote monitoring system in which an image captured by a surveillance camera is transmitted by an image transmission device, and the transmitted image is stored in an image storage unit or viewed in real time by an image browsing device.
The image storage unit includes means for repeating image storage for a fixed time and image storage stop for a fixed time under time management by a timer, or means for repeating image storage continuation and image storage stop processing at different time intervals. It is characterized by that.

(2) In a remote monitoring system in which an image captured by a surveillance camera is transmitted by an image transmission device, and the transmitted image is stored in an image storage unit or viewed in real time by an image browsing device,
The image storage unit accumulates the monitoring image from the time when it is determined that the monitoring image has changed to some extent by comparing the monitoring image in units of frames, or from the time when it is determined that the monitoring image storage using the image recognition technology is necessary. Start and continue image accumulation while the change continues or while it is determined that the monitoring image needs to be accumulated. When it is determined that there is no change in the monitoring image at a certain time, or when the monitoring image is accumulated. Is provided with means for repeating the process of stopping the accumulation of the monitoring image when it is determined that the image is unnecessary.

As described above, according to the present invention, when accumulating monitoring images, time management of image accumulation by a timer, determination of necessity / unnecessity of monitoring image accumulation by determination of presence / absence of image change by comparison of image frames, and image recognition technology are used. Since the monitoring image is stored by determining whether the monitoring image needs to be stored, the image compression process is unnecessary, and the monitoring image storage efficiency can be increased without degrading the monitoring performance. In particular,
In the first embodiment, the storage time and the non-storage time can be managed, and the storable time can be improved with the storage medium having the same capacity as compared with the constant storage method. In addition, since the determination of whether or not to store an image is based on a timer, the function can be easily and inexpensively implemented.

  In the second embodiment, even when the state change of the monitoring target is relatively abrupt, the monitoring image can be operated without omission of accumulation. Further, when there is almost no sudden change in the state of the monitoring object, more efficient image accumulation is possible. Further, the image accumulation presence / absence determination method based on the comparison of the frame unit image sizes does not require an advanced image recognition technique, and therefore, the function can be easily and inexpensively implemented. Furthermore, when advanced image recognition technology is used to determine whether or not monitoring images are accumulated, it is possible to recognize changes in the monitoring object in detail, so that high monitoring accuracy can be achieved without missing necessary monitoring images. I can expect.

(Embodiment 1)
In the present embodiment, a method of storing images at arbitrary time intervals by timer control in the image storage unit 3 of FIG. 3 is proposed.

  Depending on the object monitored by the remote monitoring system, there is almost no sudden change in the state of the monitored object. This embodiment is an effective means in such a case. In the present embodiment, monitoring images are not always stored, but monitoring images are stored at a preset timer interval. For example, when the timer interval is set to 1 minute, the image is first accumulated for 1 minute, and the image is not accumulated for the next 1 minute.

  FIG. 1 shows an image accumulation flow of the present embodiment, which is realized by a software configuration when the image accumulation unit 3 is equipped with a computer. In FIG. 1, when the apparatus is activated, a timer set in advance at a fixed time is turned on (time measurement is started) (S1), and monitoring image accumulation is started (S2). This image accumulation is continued until the timer times out (S3), and the image accumulation is stopped when the timer times out (S4). When the image storage is stopped, a timer set in advance at a fixed time is turned on (S5), and a timeout of this timer is awaited (S6). Returning to the processing (S1) with this timeout.

  By executing the above image accumulation flow, the image accumulation unit continues image accumulation only for the time period from the time when the timer is turned on in process S1 to the time-out, and then stops image accumulation until the time-out of the timer in process S5. The image accumulation for a certain period is continued and the image accumulation is stopped for a certain period.

  According to the present embodiment, for example, if the time for accumulating images is the same as the time for not accumulating images, it is possible to obtain twice the accumulation time with a medium having the same accumulation capacity as compared with a method for always accumulating images. it can. In addition, since the determination of whether or not to store an image is based on a timer, the function can be easily and inexpensively implemented.

  Note that when the timer for executing the process S1 and the timer for executing the process S5 are set to different time periods, it is possible to process the image accumulation time and the image accumulation stop time separately, and the difference in the monitoring purpose of the remote monitoring system It can change suitably according to etc.

(Embodiment 2)
In the present embodiment, a method of storing an image is proposed only when there is a certain change in the monitoring image.

  The method of recognizing whether there is a certain change in the monitoring image is to compare the size of the previous frame unit image with the current frame unit image and recognize that there is a change when there is a certain size change. A method of recognizing “changed” by motion vector detection using an image recognition technique can be used, but the image change recognition method is not particularly limited in the present embodiment.

  FIG. 2 shows an image accumulation flow of this embodiment. A determination process is performed to determine whether there is a change between the transmitted monitoring image and the monitoring image (frame) transmitted immediately before (S11), and the determination process is repeated until a change occurs (S12). When a change occurs in the monitoring image in this determination processing, accumulation of the transmitted image is started (S13), and determination processing for determining whether there is a change in the accumulated image is started (S14). In this determination, as long as the change continues, image accumulation and determination processing are repeated (S15), and when the change disappears, a timer set to a fixed time period is turned on to start timing (S16).

  A determination process is performed to determine whether or not there is a change in the transmitted image while continuing the accumulation at the start of time measurement (S17). When a change occurs (S18), the timer is turned off to continue the image accumulation (S18). S19). When the timer has timed out with no change in the determination in the determination process S17 (S20), the image storage is stopped (S21), and the process returns to the determination process S11 of whether or not there is a change in the image.

  When there is a certain change in the monitoring image due to the execution of the above image accumulation flow, the monitoring image is accumulated from the moment when the change occurs, and continues to accumulate while the change continues. When it is determined that there is no change in the image, the accumulation of the monitoring image is stopped.

  According to the present embodiment, even when the state change of the monitoring target is relatively abrupt, the monitoring image can be operated without accumulation and omission. Further, when there is almost no sudden change in the state of the monitoring object, more efficient image accumulation is possible. Further, the determination of the necessity of image accumulation by comparing the frame unit image sizes does not require an advanced image recognition technique, so that the function can be easily and inexpensively implemented.

  Note that advanced image recognition technology can be used to determine whether or not monitoring image storage is necessary. In this case, it is possible to recognize changes in the monitoring object in detail, so that necessary monitoring image storage is missed. High monitoring accuracy can be expected without any problems.

2 is an image accumulation flow showing Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The image accumulation | storage flow which shows Embodiment 2 of this invention. Configuration example of a remote monitoring system.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Surveillance camera 2 Image transmission apparatus 3 Image storage part 4 Image browsing apparatus

Claims (2)

In a remote monitoring system that transmits an image captured by a surveillance camera by an image transmission device, and stores the transmitted image in an image storage unit or in real time by an image browsing device,
The image storage unit includes means for repeating image storage for a fixed time and image storage stop for a fixed time under time management by a timer, or means for repeating image storage continuation and image storage stop processing at different time intervals. A remote monitoring system characterized by that. In a remote monitoring system that transmits an image captured by a surveillance camera by an image transmission device, and stores the transmitted image in an image storage unit or in real time by an image browsing device,
The image storage unit accumulates the monitoring image from the time when it is determined that the monitoring image has changed to some extent by comparing the monitoring image in units of frames, or from the time when it is determined that the monitoring image storage using the image recognition technology is necessary. Start and continue image accumulation while the change continues or while it is determined that the monitoring image needs to be accumulated. When it is determined that there is no change in the monitoring image at a certain time, or when the monitoring image is accumulated. A remote monitoring system comprising means for repeating the process of stopping the accumulation of monitoring images when it is determined that the monitoring is unnecessary.

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