JP2008022046A - Remote image monitor system and image transmitter - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To check the state at a monitoring place where a sensor detected state change finally with no delay. <P>SOLUTION: The remote image monitor system includes a plurality of sensors provided at monitoring places, respectively, a plurality of cameras provided in correspondence with the plurality of sensors and imaging the monitoring places, an image transmitter connected with the plurality of cameras and the plurality of sensors, and a monitor center connected with the image transmitter through a communication line wherein the image transmitter has a storage section for storing image data of every imaging by each camera sequentially. When state change of a monitoring place is detected by the plurality of sensors, image data of a camera corresponding to the sensor which detected state change is read out alternately from the storage section and transmitted to the monitor center. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a remote image monitoring system and an image transmission apparatus for monitoring a remote monitoring target with an image.

  In a conventional remote image monitoring system, a central monitoring station and a monitored location are connected by a communication line, and a sensor for detecting a change in the state of the monitored location and an image of the monitored location are imaged at the monitored location. There is an image pickup means for detecting an abnormality detection signal from the sensor and a transmission means for sending image data from the image pickup means to the central monitoring station side. In such a system, the monitored location is imaged at regular intervals in normal times, and the image data is stored in the storage unit. When the sensor detects the state change, an abnormality detection signal is transmitted, and the imaging unit images the monitored place at a predetermined time interval. Then, image data of a predetermined number of images taken before and after detection of the state change by the sensor is transmitted to the central monitoring station (for example, see Patent Document 1).

  In addition, a sequential control unit that switches between control of a plurality of surveillance cameras and the plurality of surveillance cameras is provided. When a state change is detected by a sensor, the video information of the plurality of surveillance cameras is switched and displayed by remote control from the surveillance room. There is one that can ensure a wide range of monitoring (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

Japanese Patent No. 2611092 JP 2000-316146 A

  In a conventional remote image monitoring system, when a plurality of sensors detect a change in the state of a monitored location, a predetermined number of image data before and after the state change detection by the camera corresponding to the order of detection of the state change by the sensor is obtained for each camera. It was the structure which reads and transmits from a memory | storage part. For this reason, when the image data captured by the camera corresponding to the sensor that has detected the last state change is transmitted, a considerable amount of time has elapsed since the detection of the state change. There was a problem that confirmation of the status of the monitored location was delayed.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and includes a storage unit that sequentially stores image data for each image picked up by each camera, and a state change of the monitored location is detected by a plurality of sensors. Then, the image data from the camera corresponding to the sensor that has detected the state change is alternately read from the storage unit and transmitted, so that the state of the monitored place where the sensor that has finally detected the state change is provided without delay. The purpose is to obtain a remote image monitoring system that can be confirmed.

  The remote image monitoring system according to the present invention includes a plurality of sensors respectively provided at monitored locations, a plurality of cameras provided corresponding to each of the plurality of sensors, and imaging the monitored locations, An image transmission device connected to the camera and the plurality of sensors; and a monitoring center connected to the image transmission device via a communication line. The image transmission device sequentially outputs image data for each image captured by each camera. A storage unit for storing, and when a change in state of the monitored place is detected by the plurality of sensors, the image data from a camera corresponding to the sensor that has detected the change in state is alternately read from the storage unit. And transmitting to the monitoring center.

  According to the present invention, even when a plurality of sensors detect a change in the state of the monitored location, the monitoring center monitor can confirm without delay the state of the monitored location where the sensor that has detected the last state change is provided. There is an effect that can be done.

Hereinafter, in order to describe the present invention in more detail, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a remote image monitoring system according to the present invention, which includes a monitoring center 2 connected to an image transmission apparatus 1 via a communication line (ISDN line) 6. Here, the monitoring center 2 includes an image receiving device 3, an image monitoring terminal 4, and a management server 5 connected thereto via a network 7. Here, the communication line 6 has a B channel and a D channel, and the D channel is always connected, but the management server 5 connects and disconnects the B channel to the image receiving terminal 3 as necessary. Instruct. The network 7 can be realized by a LAN (Local Area Network).

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of the image transmission device 1 in FIG. 1, and includes an image input circuit 102, an image encoding circuit 103, an image alarm control circuit (control circuit) 104, and an image memory (storage unit) 105a. ˜105c, a line control circuit 108, a sensor input circuit 110, and an alarm control circuit 111, which are connected to the cameras 101a to 101c and the sensors 109a to 109c. Sensors 109a to 109c are provided at monitored locations such as stores, buildings, factories and the like, monitored locations such as premises or indoors, and state changes in the monitored locations, such as suspicious person intrusion, fire, Detect gas leaks. When a change in state is detected, an abnormal signal is sent to the sensor input circuit 110. The sensors 109a to 109c can be embodied by an infrared sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, a vibration sensor, a temperature sensor, a gas leak sensor, or the like.

  The cameras 101a to 101c are provided at monitored locations corresponding to the sensors 109a to 109c, respectively, take still images of the monitored locations, and send image data of the still images to the image input circuit 102. Also, panning, tilting and zooming operations are performed based on control from the image monitoring terminal 4. The image input circuit 102 captures image data sent from the cameras 101a to 101c at predetermined time intervals. The captured image data is A / D (Analog / Digital) converted and sent to the image encoding circuit 103.

  Here, the time interval at which image data is captured is set by the system administrator or the monitoring staff of the monitoring center 2. For this reason, when you want to store the image data of the monitored location for a long time or when the monitored location is not important, set the time interval to capture the image data long and check the status of the monitored location with a short time interval When the monitored location is important, it can be operated flexibly, for example, by setting a short time interval for capturing image data. The time interval can be changed by control from the image monitoring terminal 4.

  The image encoding circuit 103 encodes the A / D converted image data by a compression method such as JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group), and sends the encoded image data to the image alarm control circuit 104. When the sensor input circuit 110 receives an abnormal signal transmitted from the sensors 109a to 109c, the sensor input circuit 110 includes the unique number of the sensor that has detected the state change, the type of the sensor, the time at which the state change was detected, and the like. Information is generated, and an abnormality detection signal is generated. The generated abnormality detection signal is sent to the alarm control circuit 111.

  Here, it is assumed that the unique number of the sensor is set by a system administrator or a monitor of the monitoring center 2. In addition, since the sensors 109a to 109c are associated with the provided monitored locations and the cameras 101a to 101c, the monitoring personnel of the monitoring center 2 changes the status at which monitored location when the status change is detected. It can be recognized instantly whether it has been detected. In addition, since it includes information such as the type of sensor that has detected the state change, such as a temperature sensor or an infrared sensor, the type of state change such as whether a suspicious person has entered or a fire can be easily confirmed.

  When the alarm control circuit 111 receives an abnormality detection signal from the sensor input circuit 110, the alarm control circuit 111 sends it to the image alarm control circuit 104 and the line control circuit 108. The image memories 105a to 105c are associated with the cameras 101a to 101c, respectively. The image memory 105a is image data of the camera 101a, the image memory 105b is image data of the camera 101b, and the image memory 105c is image data of the camera 101c. Is stored. The image memories 105a to 105c can be realized by a RAM (Random Access Memory), a flash, or the like. The image alarm control circuit 104 stores the encoded image data sent from the image encoding circuit 103 in the image memories 105a to 105c. When the abnormality detection signal is received, the image data stored in the image memories 105 a to 105 c is read out and sent to the line control circuit 108. When the image erasure permission signal transmitted from the management server 5 is received via the line control circuit 108, the image data stored in the image memories 105a to 105c is erased.

  The line control circuit 108 converts the image data and the abnormality detection signal into a data format used in the communication line 6 and transmits the data to the monitoring center 2 via the communication circuit 6. Here, since the abnormal alarm signal is transmitted using the D channel, it can always be transmitted. However, since the image data is transmitted using the B channel, the communication channel 6 is connected to the B channel. Necessary. Further, the control signal transmitted from the image monitoring terminal 4 and the image erasure permission signal from the management server 5 are received via the communication line 6. Here, the control signal includes a signal for controlling pan, tilt and zoom operations of the cameras 101a to 101c, a signal for controlling the time interval at which the image input circuit 102 captures an image, and the image transmission apparatus 1. A signal for controlling ON / OFF of a contact of a contact control device (not shown) such as an attached buzzer or light is included.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of the image reception device 3 illustrated in FIG. 1, and includes a line control circuit 301, a data format conversion circuit 302, a communication control circuit 303, and a control unit 304. The line control circuit 301 receives the image data and the abnormality detection signal transmitted from the image transmission apparatus 1 via the communication line 6 and sends them to the data format conversion circuit 302. Further, the control signal from the image monitoring terminal 4 and the image erasure permission signal from the management server 5 sent from the data format conversion circuit 302 are transmitted to the image transmission device 1 via the communication line 6. Further, connection and disconnection of the B channel of the communication line 6 are performed based on an instruction from the control unit 304.

  The data format conversion circuit 302 converts the image data and abnormality detection signal transmitted from the line control circuit 301 into a data format used in the network 7 and transmits the data format to the communication control circuit 303. Further, the control signal and the image erasure permission signal sent from the communication control circuit 303 are converted into a data format used on the communication line 6 and sent to the line control circuit 301. The communication control circuit 303 transmits the image data sent from the data format conversion circuit 302 to the image monitoring terminal 4 and the management server 5 and the abnormality detection signal to the management server 5 via the network 7. In addition, the control signal transmitted from the image monitoring terminal 4 and the image erasure permission signal, the line connection request signal and the line disconnection request signal transmitted from the management server 5 are received, and the control signal and the image erasure permission signal are converted into a data format. A line connection request signal and a line disconnection request signal are sent to the control unit 304 to the circuit 302. Further, a line connection completion signal is transmitted to the management server 5 based on an instruction from the control unit 304.

  The control unit 304 controls the line control circuit 301, the data format conversion circuit 302, and the communication control circuit 303. Specifically, when the line control circuit 301 receives the image data and the abnormality detection signal, it instructs the data format conversion circuit 302 to send it out. Next, when the data format conversion circuit 302 receives the image data and the abnormality detection signal, the data format conversion circuit 302 converts the data format and instructs the communication control circuit 303 to send it. Further, when the communication control circuit 303 receives the image data and the abnormality detection signal, it instructs the image monitoring terminal 4 and the management server 5 to transmit the image data and the abnormality detection signal to the management server 5 via the network 7.

  When the communication control circuit 303 receives the control signal transmitted from the image monitoring terminal 4 and the image deletion permission signal, the line connection request signal, and the line disconnection request signal transmitted from the management server 5, the control signal and the image deletion permission are received. Instructs the data format conversion circuit 302 to send the signal and the line connection request signal and the line disconnection request signal to the control unit 304. Upon receiving the line connection request signal and the line disconnection request signal, the control unit 304 instructs the line control circuit 301 to connect and disconnect the B channel of the communication line 6.

  When the B channel of the communication line 6 is connected, the communication control circuit 303 is instructed to transmit a line connection completion signal to the management server 5. When the data format conversion circuit 302 receives the transmitted control signal and image erasure permission signal, the data format conversion circuit 302 converts the data format to be used in the communication line 6 and instructs the line control circuit 301 to transmit it. Further, when the line control circuit 301 receives the control signal and the image erasure permission signal, the line control circuit 301 instructs the image transmission apparatus 1 to transmit it via the communication line 6.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of the image monitoring terminal 4 illustrated in FIG. 1, and includes a communication control circuit 401, an image decoding circuit 402, an image output circuit 403, a monitor 404, and a control unit 405. The communication control circuit 401 receives the abnormality detection signal transmitted from the management server 5 and the image data transmitted from the image receiving device 3 via the network 7, and receives the abnormality detection signal to the control unit 405 and decodes the image data. Send to circuit 402. Further, the control signal transmitted from the control unit 405 is transmitted to the image receiving device 3 via the network 7. The image decoding circuit 402 decodes the image data and sends it to the image output circuit 403.

  The image output circuit 403 performs D / A (Digital / Analog) conversion on the decoded image data and sends it to the monitor 404. The monitor 404 displays, on the screen, the monitored location where the sensor that has detected the state change is provided, the type of the sensor, and the detection time of the state change in accordance with an instruction from the control unit 405. Further, reduced image data obtained by reducing the image size of the image data transmitted from the image output circuit 403 is generated, and the image of the reduced image data is displayed on the screen. Here, in order to reduce the image size, when the image size before reduction is M × N (M is the number of lines of the image, N is the number of pixels), the number of lines and the number of pixels are thinned out, and a few minutes each. By setting it to 1, the image size can be reduced. The monitor 404 can be realized by an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), a CRT (Cathode-Ray Tube), or the like.

  The control unit 405 controls the communication control circuit 401, the image decoding circuit 402, the image output circuit 403, and the monitor 404. Specifically, when the communication control circuit 401 receives image data and an abnormality detection signal, the communication control circuit 401 instructs the image decoding circuit 402 to transmit the image data and the abnormality detection signal to the control unit 405. Next, when the abnormality report signal is received, the unique number of the sensor that has detected the state change, the type of the sensor, and the detection time of the state change are read from the information included therein, and the sensor that has detected the state change is read to the monitor 404. An instruction is given to display on the screen the location to be monitored, the type of sensor and the detection time of the state change.

  Further, an instruction is given to create a display field for displaying a still image of the monitored location where the sensor that has detected the state change is provided. When the image decoding circuit 402 receives the transmitted image data, the image decoding circuit 402 decodes the image data and instructs the image output circuit 403 to transmit it. Further, when the image output circuit 403 receives the decoded image data, it instructs the monitor 404 to perform D / A conversion. In addition, a control signal is generated based on an input signal from an input unit (not shown) and sent to the communication control circuit 401. Here, the input operation to the input unit is performed by a system administrator or a monitor of the monitoring center 2, and the panning, tilting, and zooming operations of the cameras 101a to 101c are controlled, and the image input circuit 102 of the image transmitting apparatus 1 performs image processing. And a contact interval of a contact control device (not shown) such as a buzzer and a light attached to the image transmission apparatus 1 are controlled.

  The management server 5 manages and controls the remote image monitoring system according to the first embodiment. Specifically, when the abnormality detection signal transmitted from the image receiving device 3 is received, the unique number of the sensor that detected the state change and the type of the sensor are recognized from the given information, and the abnormality detection signal is transmitted to the image monitoring terminal. Transfer to 4. When the image receiving device 3 is instructed to connect the communication line 6 and a line connection completion signal is received from the image receiving device 3, the reception state of the image data transmitted from the image transmitting device 1 is monitored. When the reception of the image data is completed, an image erasure permission signal is transmitted to the image transmitting apparatus 1 and the image receiving apparatus 3 is instructed to disconnect the communication line 6. Here, the completion of reception of the image data is determined based on a flag included in the image data of the image transmitted last. The management server 5 can be embodied by a PC (Personal Computer).

Next, the operation will be described.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the normal operation of the remote image monitoring system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The image input circuit 102 selects one of the cameras 101a to 101c, for example, the camera 101a (step ST1), takes in the image data sent from the camera 101a, performs A / D conversion, and sends it to the image encoding circuit 103. It is sent out (step ST2). The image encoding circuit 103 encodes the image data sent from the image input circuit 102 (step ST3), and sends it to the image alarm control circuit 104. When the image alarm control circuit 104 receives the image data from the image encoding circuit 103, the image alarm control circuit 104 determines which camera has captured the image data (step ST4), and stores the image data in the corresponding image memory 105a (step ST4). Step ST5).

  Next, the image input circuit 102 selects the camera 101b and performs the operations from step ST1 to step ST5 as in the case of the camera 101a. The same operation is performed for the camera 101c. As described above, the image transmitting apparatus 1 at the normal time repeats the operations from step ST1 to step ST5 with respect to the cameras 101a to 101c at predetermined time intervals.

  Here, the image data of the cameras 101a to 101c is stored in the corresponding image memories 105a to 105c by the image alarm control circuit 104, but is stored in a storage area different from the storage area used for the previous storage. When all the storage areas of the image memories 105a to 105c are used and there is no storage area in which image data is not stored, new image data is overwritten and stored in the storage area in which the oldest image data is stored (cyclically). processing). In FIG. 2, the image memories 105a to 105c corresponding to the cameras 101a to 101c are provided. However, one image memory is provided, an area in the image memory is virtually divided, and the divided areas are camera. You may assign to 101a-101c. In this way, the mounting area of the image memory is reduced, and the image transmission device 1 can be reduced in size and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation at the time of detecting a state change of the remote image monitoring system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Here, a case will be described in which the sensor 109b detects a state change immediately after the sensor 109a detects the state change. When sensor 109a and sensor 109b detect a change in state, sensor 109a and sensor 109b each send an abnormal signal to sensor input circuit 110 (step ST10). The sensor input circuit 110 gives, in the order of reception, information including the unique number of the sensor that has detected the state change, the type of the sensor and the time at which the state change was detected, and the like as an abnormality detection signal. 111 (step ST11).

  Here, the case where the sensor 109b detects the state change immediately after the sensor 109a detects the state change is described. However, when a plurality of sensors detect the state change at the same time, priority is set for each sensor. It can cope with it. Here, it is assumed that the priority is set by the system administrator or the monitoring staff of the monitoring center 2 according to the importance of the monitored location imaged by the corresponding camera.

  When receiving an abnormality detection signal from the sensor input circuit 110, the alarm control circuit 111 sends the abnormality detection signal to the image alarm control circuit 104 and the line control circuit 108. When the line control circuit 108 receives the abnormality detection signal from the alarm control circuit 111, the line control circuit 108 converts it to a data format used in the communication line 6 and transmits it to the image receiving device 3 via the D channel of the communication line 6 (step ST12). When receiving the abnormality detection signal, the image reception device 3 transmits the abnormality detection signal to the management server 5 via the network 7. Upon receiving the abnormality detection signal, the management server 5 recognizes the unique number of the sensor that has detected the state change and the type of the sensor from the information given to the abnormality detection signal, and transfers the abnormality detection signal to the image monitoring terminal 4 At the same time, a line connection request signal is transmitted to the image receiving apparatus 3 (step ST13).

  When the image monitoring terminal 4 receives the abnormality detection signal, the image monitoring terminal 4 displays on the screen of the monitor 404 the monitored location where the sensor that has detected the state change is provided, the type of the sensor, and the detection time of the state change. Further, when receiving the line connection request signal, the image receiving apparatus 3 connects the B channel of the communication line 6 and transmits a line connection completion signal to the management server 5 (step ST14). When receiving the line connection completion signal, the management server 5 starts monitoring the reception state of the image data transmitted from the image transmission device 1.

  The image alarm control circuit 104 of the image transmission apparatus 1 changes which state of the sensor from the information of the sensor unique number included in the abnormality detection signal transmitted from the alarm control circuit 111 when the B channel of the communication line 6 is connected. Is detected, and the image data of the corresponding cameras 101a and 101b is read from the image memory 105a and the image memory 105b (step ST15).

  Here, the operation when the alarm control circuit 111 reads out and transmits image data from the image memory will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a reading order of image data according to the first embodiment of the present invention. First, the image alarm control circuit 104 reads the image data 1 a from the image memory 105 a and sends it to the line control circuit 108. Next, the image data 1b is read from the image memory 105b and sent to the line control circuit 108.

  Thereafter, the image data is alternately read out and transmitted from the image memories 105a and 105b. Here, the image alarm control circuit 104 reads out image data in units of images, and the image data 1a to Na correspond to the images 1a to Na, respectively, and the image data 1b to Nb correspond to the images 1b to Nb, respectively. And Here, the number of images to be read is set by a system administrator or a monitor of the monitoring center 2 and includes images before and after detection of a state change. With this configuration, the system administrator or the monitoring staff of the monitoring center 2 can compare the images before and after the detection of the state change, and the state of the monitored place where the state change is detected, where and what happens. It can be recognized instantly.

  The line control circuit 108 sequentially converts the image data sent from the image alarm control circuit 104 into a data format used in the communication line 6 and transmits it to the image receiving device 3 via the communication line 6 (step ST16). When receiving the image data, the image receiving device 3 converts the image data into a data format used in the network 7 and sends it to the image monitoring terminal 4 and the management server 5. When the image monitoring terminal 4 receives the image data, the image monitoring terminal 4 decodes the image data, performs D / A conversion, and reduces the image size, and displays the image in the display field created on the screen of the monitor 404 (step ST17).

  A display example on the monitor 404 is shown in FIG. FIG. 8 shows an image display example according to the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 8, an image is displayed on the screen of the monitor 404. The display will be described here. Images are displayed on the screen of the monitor 404 in the order in which the image transmission apparatus 1 transmits image data as shown in FIG. That is, on the screen of the monitor 404, the image 1a corresponding to the image data 1a is displayed in the display column of the camera 101a, and then the image 1b corresponding to the image data 1b is displayed in the display column of the camera 101b. Similarly, images 2a to 8b are sequentially displayed in the display column.

  8 shows an example in which eight images are displayed on the screen of the monitor 404. However, when the number of images to be displayed exceeds eight, the screen of the monitor 404 can be scrolled up and down. The monitoring center 2 may be configured such that the monitor of the monitoring center 2 can confirm all the images of the received image data by scrolling the screen up and down by operating an input device such as a mouse or a keyboard. In addition, when the number of sensors that have detected a change in state is large and the number of images that can be displayed in the horizontal direction on the screen of the monitor 404 is exceeded, it is configured so that the screen can be scrolled horizontally. You may make it possible to confirm all received images by scrolling in the direction. With such a configuration, it is possible to prevent a problem that the monitor cannot recognize what is displayed because the image displayed on the screen of the monitor 404 is too small.

  Next, the management server 5 determines the completion of image data reception from the flag included in the image data of the image transmitted last, and transmits an image erasure permission signal and a line disconnection request signal to the image receiving device 3. The image receiving apparatus 3 transfers the image erasure permission signal to the image transmitting apparatus 1 and disconnects the B channel of the communication line 6 based on the line disconnection request signal (step ST18). When the image transmission apparatus 1 receives the image erasure permission signal, the image transmission apparatus 1 erases the image data stored in the image memories 105a and 105b corresponding to the sensors 109a and 109b that detected the state change, and the normal operation described with reference to FIG. Return (step ST19).

  As described above, according to the invention according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, when a plurality of sensors detect a change in state, the storage unit sequentially stores the image data for each image picked up by each camera, and the state change Since the image data from the camera corresponding to the sensor that detected the image is alternately read out from the storage unit and transmitted, the state of the monitored location where the sensor that detected the state change is provided last is monitored. Can be confirmed without delay. Further, on the screen of the monitor 404, the monitored location where the sensor detecting the state change is provided, the type of the sensor and the detection time of the state change are displayed, and the displayed images include the images before and after the detection of the state change. Thus, there is an effect that the state of the monitored place where the state change is detected and what is happening can be recognized instantly.

  In the first embodiment, the configuration in which one image transmission device 1 is connected to the monitoring center 2 has been described. However, a configuration in which a plurality of image transmission devices 1 are connected to the monitoring center 2 may be employed. In this case, since a plurality of image transmission apparatuses 1 can be managed by the monitoring center 2, there is an effect that a wider range of monitoring can be performed with less equipment investment. In this embodiment, the image data transmitted from the image transmitting apparatus 1 is transmitted as a unit of image data corresponding to one image. However, the image data is transmitted by dividing it into smaller units. Also good. The same effect can be obtained even if the image receiving device 3 or the image monitoring terminal 4 has the function of the management server 5.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
In the first embodiment, the image monitoring terminal reduces the image size and displays the reduced image on the screen. Here, the image transmission device generates reduced image data with a reduced image size, and uses the plurality of reduced image data as a composite image in which a plurality of reduced images are arranged, and then transmits the image data to the monitoring center. An embodiment is shown. Here, the same components as those described in Embodiment 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.

  FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the image transmission device 8 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. An image decoding circuit 112, an image reduction circuit 113, an image synthesis circuit 114, and an image encoding circuit 115 are newly added to the image transmission apparatus 8 according to the second embodiment. The image decoding circuit 112 decodes the image data read from the image memories 105 a to 105 c by the image alarm control circuit 104 and sends the decoded image data to the image reduction circuit 113. When receiving the decoded image data, the image reduction circuit 113 generates reduced image data in which the image size of the image data is reduced, and sends the reduced image data to the image composition circuit 114. The image synthesis circuit 114 generates image data of a synthesized image in which a plurality of reduced images are arranged using the plurality of reduced image data, and sends the generated image data to the image encoding circuit 115. The image encoding circuit 115 encodes a plurality of reduced image data into a single image data using a compression method such as JPEG, and sends it to the image alarm control circuit 104.

Next, the operation will be described.
FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an operation at the time of detecting a state change of the remote image monitoring system according to the second embodiment of the present invention. As in the first embodiment, the case where the sensor 109a and the sensor 109b detect a change in state will be described. Since the operation up to the point of reading data is the same as that of the first embodiment, the description thereof is omitted.

  When the image alarm control circuit 104 reads the image data from the storage units 105a and 105b, the image alarm control circuit 104 sequentially sends the image data to the image decoding circuit 112 (step ST20). The image decoding circuit 112 decodes the image data sent from the image warning control circuit 104 (step ST21), and sends it to the image reduction circuit 113. When receiving the decoded image data, the image reduction circuit 113 generates reduced image data in which the image size of the image data is reduced (step ST22) and sends it to the image composition circuit 114. Here, the method for reducing the image size is the same as that in the first embodiment, and thus the description thereof is omitted.

  The image composition circuit 114 uses the plurality of reduced image data sent from the image reduction circuit 113 to generate image data of a composite image in which a plurality of reduced images are arranged (step ST23), and sends the image data to the image encoding circuit 115. Send it out. Here, a method for generating image data of a composite image in which a plurality of reduced images are arranged using a plurality of reduced image data will be described. First, the image composition circuit 114 generates an image in which the 16 reduced images received from the image reduction circuit 113 are arranged in 4 columns in the vertical direction and 4 columns in the horizontal direction to form one image, and the 16 images arranged as described above. The reduced image data of the image is the image data of the composite image.

  Here, the reduced image size is reduced to a quarter size both in the vertical and horizontal directions, and the original image size and the 16 reduced images are arranged in 4 columns vertically and horizontally. It is assumed that the size is the same size. In addition, as shown in FIG. 6, the images after reduction are arranged in two rows in the horizontal direction and in four columns in the vertical direction, and are similarly picked up by the monitoring camera 101b. 8 images are arranged next to the image of the monitoring camera 101a.

  The image encoding circuit 115 encodes image data of a combined image in which a plurality of reduced images are arranged using a plurality of reduced image data sent from the image combining circuit 114 by a compression method such as JPEG (step ST24). The image is sent to the image alarm control circuit 104. The image data of the composite image is sent to the line control circuit 108 by the image alarm control circuit 104, converted into a data format used in the communication line 6 by the line control circuit 108, and then via the communication line 6. It is transmitted to the image receiving device 3 (step ST25). The image data of the composite image is transmitted from the image receiving device 3 to the image monitoring terminal 4 as in the first embodiment, and an image corresponding to the image data is displayed on the screen of the monitor 404 of the image monitoring terminal 4. (Step ST26). At this time, the image transmission device 8 reduces the image size to generate reduced image data, and transmits the reduced image data to the monitoring center 2 as composite image data in which the plurality of reduced images are arranged. On the top, a plurality of reduced images are displayed simultaneously.

  As described above, in the second embodiment, the reduced image data is generated by reducing the image size, and the plurality of reduced image data is used as the composite image image data in which a plurality of reduced images are arranged to the monitoring center. Since it is configured to transmit, the amount of data when transmitting image data to the monitoring center can be reduced, and a large number of sensors detect a change in state. In the first embodiment, all image data is transmitted to the monitoring center. Even when it takes a long time, an image can be transmitted to the monitoring center earlier.

  In addition, after transmitting to the monitoring center 2 as image data of a composite image in which a plurality of reduced images are arranged using a plurality of reduced image data, the image data of the image before reduction is obtained in the same manner as in the first embodiment. You may comprise so that it may transmit to the image monitoring terminal 4. FIG. The transmission of the image data of the image before reduction may be performed only when there is a request from the image monitoring terminal 4. With this configuration, even when the image size displayed on the screen of the monitor 404 of the image monitoring terminal 4 is small and the details cannot be confirmed, the details can be confirmed with a large image.

It is a block diagram which shows an example of a structure of the remote image monitoring system of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows an example of a structure of the image transmission apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows an example of a structure of the image receiver which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows an example of a structure of the image monitoring terminal by Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is the flowchart which showed the operation | movement at the normal time of the remote image monitoring system which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is the flowchart which showed the operation | movement at the time of the detection of the state change of the remote image monitoring system which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the read-out order of the image data by Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is an example of a display on the screen by Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows an example of a structure of the image transmitter by Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is the flowchart which showed the operation | movement at the time of the detection of the state change of the remote image monitoring system which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image transmission apparatus, 2 Monitoring center, 3 Image reception apparatus, 4 Image monitoring terminal, 5 Management server, 6 Communication line (ISDN line), 7 Network, 8 Image transmission apparatus, 101a-101c Camera, 102 Image input circuit, 103 Image encoding circuit, 104 Image alarm control circuit (control circuit), 105a to 105b Image memory (storage unit), 108 Line control circuit, 109a to 109c Sensor, 110 Sensor input circuit, 111 Alarm control circuit, 112 Image decoding circuit, 113 image reduction circuit, 114 image composition circuit, 115 image encoding circuit, 301 line control circuit, 302 data format conversion circuit, 303 communication control circuit, 304 control unit, 401 communication control circuit, 402 image decoding circuit, 403 image output circuit 404 monitor 405 control unit.

Claims (6)

A plurality of sensors provided at each monitored location;
A plurality of cameras provided corresponding to each of the plurality of sensors and imaging the monitored location;
An image transmission device connected to the plurality of cameras and the plurality of sensors;
A monitoring center connected to the image transmission device via a communication line;
The image transmission device includes a storage unit that sequentially stores image data for each image captured by each camera, and corresponds to the sensor that has detected the state change when the state change of the monitored location is detected by the plurality of sensors. The remote image monitoring system, wherein the image data from the camera is read from the storage unit alternately and transmitted to the monitoring center. The monitoring center receives an image data transmitted from the image transmission device via the communication line; and
An image monitoring terminal for displaying the image data transmitted from the image transmitting device via the image receiving device;
A management server for monitoring the reception state of the image data;
The remote image monitoring system according to claim 1, further comprising: Connected to a plurality of sensors provided at each monitored location and a plurality of cameras provided corresponding to each of the plurality of sensors for imaging the monitored location, and transmits image data to a monitoring center via a communication line In the image transmitting apparatus to
A storage unit that sequentially stores image data for each image picked up by each camera; and when the state change of the monitored location is detected by the plurality of sensors, the image data by the camera corresponding to the sensor that has detected the state change Are alternately read out from the storage unit and transmitted to the monitoring center.   Generating reduced image data in which the image size of the image data is reduced, and using the plurality of reduced image data as composite image image data in which a plurality of reduced images are arranged, and then transmitting to the monitoring center 4. The image transmission apparatus according to claim 3, wherein   5. The image transmission unit according to claim 4, wherein after the image data of the composite image is transmitted, the image data before the image size is reduced is transmitted to the monitoring center.   6. The image transmission apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the image data before reducing the image size is transmitted to the monitoring center only when there is a request from the monitoring center.

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