JP2009194923A - Video recorder and video recording method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily make the same menu setting with reliability on a plurality of video recorders. <P>SOLUTION: Video recorders 101 and 104 are each made up of a main storage 207, a CPU 208, and various interfaces and the like. The main storage 207 stores CGI means 301, operation means 304, memory management means 305, and system control means 306 which externally stores set setting information through the CGI means 301, obtains the setting information from the outside through the CGI means 301 as necessary or setting information having been set by another video recorder for the video recorder, and makes the same setting on the plurality of video recorders according to one of the setting information and the setting information of the another video recorder. The CPU 208 properly performs arithmetic processing on these means, so that the processing of the video recorders 101 and 104 is performed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a video recording apparatus and video recording method for setting a menu for video shooting via a network.

  In commercial stores such as convenience stores and supermarkets, and buildings such as banks, monitoring using a plurality of surveillance cameras is performed to prevent crimes. Images taken by these cameras are displayed on a monitor, visually monitored by a guardman or the like, recorded in a video recording device, and stored for a certain period. Normally, 16 cameras can be connected to one video recording apparatus.

In monitoring large chain stores such as convenience stores and rental video stores, the same monitoring system is often introduced in all stores, and the same video recording device is used in each store. A plurality of video recording devices are used for large-scale monitoring such as in a huge building.
When operating a video recording device, it is necessary to make menu settings such as the number of frames to be recorded and the degree of compression. However, when monitoring a large area, all of the video recording devices are the same for management purposes. It is necessary to use menu setting information (see Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-158995

  Conventionally, it has been necessary to copy and remember the settings of the video recording apparatus on paper or the like, and manually set the menu for each of the plurality of video recording apparatuses to make the same settings. However, when setting one by one manually as described above, there is a problem that not only setting takes time and labor, but also the setting value may be mistaken.

  The present invention is made to solve the above-described problems, and receives menu setting information of a video recording device as a file via a network, and easily and accurately performs the same setting on a plurality of video recording devices. An object of the present invention is to provide a video recording apparatus and a video recording method.

In view of the above problems, the first feature of the present invention is that a shooting condition of a plurality of cameras that shoot a video is set as setting information, a plurality of cameras are shot according to the setting information, and a video is recorded. An operation means (304) which is a recording device and obtains setting information inputted by setting;
A memory management unit (305) for recording setting information; a transmission / reception unit (301) for transmitting / receiving setting information to / from the outside via a communication network; In response, setting information or setting information of another video recording device set by another video recording device is acquired from the outside via the transmission / reception means (301), and according to either the setting information or the setting information of the other video recording device. The gist of the present invention is a video recording apparatus comprising: system control means (306) for causing a plurality of cameras to perform photographing.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a video including a plurality of video recording apparatuses that set shooting conditions of a plurality of cameras that shoot video as setting information, cause the plurality of cameras to perform shooting according to the setting information, and record the video. A recording management system (106) for managing setting information;
An operation unit (304) for acquiring setting information, a memory management unit (305) for recording setting information, a transmission / reception unit (301) for transmitting / receiving setting information to / from the outside via a communication network, and a setting information transmission / reception unit (301). Setting information is stored in the setting management device (106) via the transmission / reception means (301) from the setting management device (106) as necessary, and setting information set by another video recording device is acquired as necessary. Or a video recording apparatus including a system control unit (306) that causes a plurality of cameras to perform shooting according to any of setting information of other video recording apparatuses.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a video recording apparatus setting method for managing setting information which is a shooting condition at the time of video shooting of a plurality of cameras in a system including a plurality of video recording apparatuses including a plurality of cameras for shooting videos. The operation means (304) prompts the input of setting information and acquires the setting information;
Recording the setting information by the memory management means (305);
A step in which the transmission / reception means (301) transmits the setting information to the setting management apparatus (106) via the communication network, and the setting management apparatus (106) stores the setting information; and transmission / reception from the setting management apparatus (106) as necessary Acquiring setting information or setting information set by another video recording device via the means (301); causing a plurality of cameras to perform shooting according to either the setting information or the setting information of another video recording device; And a method for setting a video recording apparatus.

  According to the video recording device, the video recording system, and the video recording device setting method of the present invention, in a plurality of video recording devices, the items set in one video recording device are filed and sent to another video recording device for setting. All the video recording devices can easily and reliably have the same menu setting information. Further, since the menu setting information can be backed up to a file, it is not necessary to redo the setting even if the video recording apparatus is replaced due to a failure or purchase of a new model. Note that it is preferable that this file has a format that cannot be easily read, such as a binary file, because security can be improved.

It is a system diagram using the video recording apparatus of the present invention. It is a hardware block diagram showing an embodiment of a video recording device of the present invention. It is a software block diagram showing an embodiment of a video recording apparatus of the present invention. It is a flowchart of the backup of the menu setting information of a video recording device. It is a flowchart of the upload of the menu setting information of a video recording device. It is an external view of the operation part of a video recording device. It is an example of the display screen of the monitor of the setting management apparatus at the time of download. It is a figure which shows the file preserve | saved at a setting management apparatus. It is an example of the display screen of the setting management apparatus at the time of upload. It is a data structure figure of menu setting information.

  Hereinafter, a video recording apparatus, a video recording system, and a video recording apparatus setting method according to embodiments of the present invention will be described. In addition, the apparatus, method, etc. which are used in embodiment of this invention are examples, and of course this invention is not limited to these.

(Embodiment)
(Video recording system)
As shown in FIG. 1, the video recording system according to the embodiment of the present invention includes video recording devices 101 and 104, a camera 102, a display unit 103, a local area LAN 105, a setting management device 106, and the like.

  A plurality of cameras 102 (four in FIG. 1) are connected to each of the video recording apparatuses 101 and 104, and videos taken by these cameras 102 are stored. The camera 102 is a general security camera, a surveillance camera, or the like that is installed in an area to be monitored and shoots video in the monitoring area. The display unit 103 refers to a CRT monitor, a liquid crystal monitor, or the like for displaying images taken by a plurality of cameras 102. The monitor screen is usually divided into four or the like, and a monitoring area photographed by one camera 102 is displayed in one of the divided areas. The setting management device 106 stores and manages a backup of menu setting information of the video recording devices 101 and 104. The backed up menu setting information is used when controlling the operations of the plurality of cameras 102. The video recording apparatuses 101 and 104 and the setting management apparatus 106 are connected to the local area LAN 105.

  The IP address of the video recording apparatus 101 is “192.168.34.169”, the IP address of the video recording apparatus 104 is “192.168.34.170”, and the IP address of the setting management apparatus 106 is “192.168.”. .34.171 ".

  The video recording apparatuses 101 and 104 have a structure as shown in FIG. 2, and are connected to a network interface card (hereinafter referred to as “NIC”) 201, an encoder 202, a decoder 203, and the setting management apparatus 106 in FIG. Integrated Drive Electronic Interface (hereinafter referred to as “IDE”) 204, Small Computer System Interface (hereinafter referred to as “SCSI”) 206, Main Storage Unit 207, CPU 208, Operation Unit 209, Display Unit 103 Etc. These devices can communicate with each other via a bus line 211.

  The NIC 201 indicates a LAN adapter, a LAN card, or the like, and transmits a signal coming through a cable to the video recording apparatus. The encoder 202 is an electronic circuit that selects some of one or more input signals as output signals. For example, an analog signal from a telephone is converted into a digital signal placed on a LAN. The decoder 203 is an electronic circuit that selects some of one or more output signals as input signals. For example, when the CPU 208 receives an address signal output to the address bus, the address value is interpreted.

  The IDE 204 is a standard connection standard interface for connecting the setting management device 106 and the hard disks of the video recording devices 101 and 104. Two connections, master and slave, can be made with one cable. The SCSI 206 is an interface for connecting the video recording apparatuses 101 and 104 and peripheral devices. The operation unit 209 indicates the setting button 601, the up / down button 602, the right button 603, the jog dial 604, and the like shown in FIG. In addition, a keyboard, a mouse, and the like may be included.

The main storage unit 207 is a storage device composed of a flash memory or the like. Main memory unit 20
7 includes a common gateway interface (hereinafter referred to as “CGI”) means 301, an encoder means 302, a decoder means 303, an operation means 304, a memory management means 305, which are transmission / reception means as shown in FIG. The system control means 306 to be connected is stored. The CPU 208 loads these means as appropriate and performs arithmetic processing to execute the processing of the video recording apparatuses 101 and 104.

  The CGI unit 301 has a CGI function and a hypertext transfer protocol daemon (hereinafter referred to as “HTTP daemon”) function, and is a module that operates as a Web server. The encoder means 302 is a module that executes an encoding process. The decoder unit 303 is a module that executes a decoder process. The operation unit 304 is a module for prompting user input or the like and acquiring an input value via the operation unit 209 of FIG.

  The memory management unit 305 is a module that performs a backup process of the menu setting information file. The backup is written in an electrically erasable programmable read only memory (hereinafter referred to as “EEPROM”) which is an electrically erasable / rewritable nonvolatile ROM. The system control unit 306 is a module that performs overall system control, and controls and integrates internal modules, and controls communication with an external device such as the setting management device 106. Further, the system control means 306 stores the set setting information in the setting management apparatus 106 via the CGI means 301, and if necessary, the setting management apparatus 106 sends the setting information of the own apparatus or other information via the CGI means 301. The setting information of the other video recording devices set by the video recording device is acquired, and the same setting is performed on the plurality of video recording devices according to either the setting information of the own device or the setting information of the other video recording devices.

(Setting method of video recording device)
A procedure for setting the video recording apparatus 101 and transferring menu setting information will be described below.

(A) In step S400, the system control unit 306 of the video recording apparatus 101 prompts the user to input menu setting information. When the system control unit 306 confirms an input signal indicating that the setting button 601 has been pressed, the system control unit 306 displays a menu screen on the display unit 103. When the input signal indicating the pressing of the up / down button 602 is confirmed, selection of a setting item is prompted, and when the pressing of the right button 603 is confirmed, a setting screen is displayed. Since a plurality of selectable candidates are displayed on the setting screen, input of setting values via the jog dial 604 is urged. As shown in FIG. 10, the menu setting information items include an on-screen display setting item, a main body display setting item, a buzzer setting item, an input recording setting item, a title setting item, an operation setting item, an external recording operation setting item, There are monitor display setting items, alarm / sensor recording setting items, program timer setting items, network setting items, and disk utility / holding items.

  Finally, when it is confirmed that the setting is completed and the setting button 601 is pressed again, the system control unit 306 determines that the menu setting is completed, and stores the setting file in the main storage unit 207.

(B) Next, the menu setting information of the video recording apparatus 101 is transferred to the setting management apparatus 106.

  In step S 401, the setting management apparatus 106 inputs the IP address “192.168.34.169” of the video recording apparatus 101 in FIG. 1 in the browser address field, and accesses the video recording apparatus 101 via the NIC 201. Upon receiving this access, the CGI unit 301 of the video recording apparatus 101 transmits an authentication input screen for performing user authentication shown in FIG. 7A to the setting management apparatus 106.

  In step S402, the user is prompted to input the user name and password registered in advance in the video recording apparatus 101 with administrator authority on the authentication input screen, and the input user name and password are input to the CGI unit 301 of the video recording apparatus 101. Send to. In step S403, the CGI unit 301 performs this authentication. When the authentication is normally completed in step S404, the authentication information is backed up and the screen shown in FIG. 7B is transmitted. When “download” is selected from the screen of FIG. 7B, an execution screen of FIG. 7C is displayed to create download file data. When the “execute” button on this execution screen is clicked, the setting management apparatus 106 transmits a download request to the CGI means 301 in step S405.

(C) In step S406, the CGI unit 301 of the video recording apparatus 101 makes a backup request to the system control unit 306. In response, in step S407, the system control unit 306 instructs the CGI unit 301 to wait. Upon receiving the standby instruction in step S408, the CGI unit 301 returns a standby screen to the setting management apparatus 106.

(D) In step S409, the setting management apparatus 106 to which the standby screen is transmitted displays the standby screen on the monitor. Also, the HTML source code of the standby screen contains instructions for updating the screen at regular intervals. For example
<META http-equiv = "refresh" content = "10">
It is described. Thereby, the setting management apparatus 106 accesses every 10 seconds or the like as in steps S413, S415, and S421.

(E) On the other hand, in step S410, the system control unit 306 that has received the backup request restarts the system in the sleep mode to prohibit the operation during the backup. Accordingly, the encoder unit 302 stops the encoding of the encoder 202, the decoder unit 303 stops the decoding of the decoder 203, and the operation unit 304 does not accept the operation of the operation unit 209.

(F) In step S411, the system control unit 306 thereafter instructs the memory management unit 305 to perform backup. In step S412, the memory management unit 305 that has received the instruction starts to create backup data in the temporary storage area of the main storage unit 207.

  As described above, the setting management device 106 accesses the CGI means 301 at regular intervals in step S413 (S415) according to the screen update instruction described in the HTML source code of the standby screen. The CGI unit 301 accesses the system control unit 306 in step S414 (S416), but this access is ignored if the backup is not completed.

  When the creation of the backup data is completed in step S417, the memory management unit 305 sends a backup completion flag to the system control unit 306 in step S418. In step S419, the system control unit 306 determines whether the backup has been normally completed by checking the backup completion flag. If the backup has been completed normally, the system is restarted in the normal mode in step S420.

(G) After that, based on the setting or operation, the encoder means 302 performs encoding with the encoder 202, and the decoder means 303 performs decoding with the decoder 203. The data encoded by the encoder 202 is recorded in the setting management apparatus 106 via the IDE 204, and the file recorded in the setting management apparatus 106 is decoded and reproduced by the decoder 203 via the IDE 204. If it is desired to increase the recording capacity, an external hard disk can be connected to the SCSI 206 and used. When restarting in the normal mode, the operation unit 204 then accepts an operation of the operation unit 209.

  After the system is restarted, the setting management apparatus 106 is accessed again in step S421, and when the CGI means 301 accesses the system control means 306 in step S422, the system control means 306 is changed to the CGI means 301 in step S423. Returns a backup completion signal to. In response to this, the CGI unit 301 returns the download screen of FIG. 7D to the setting management apparatus 106 in step S424, and the setting management apparatus 106 displays the download screen on the monitor in step S425.

  When the save button of the download screen is selected by the setting management device 106 in step S426, a download request is sent to the memory management unit 305 via the CGI unit 301 in step S427. In step S428, the memory management unit 305 names the backup file created in the temporary storage area, for example, “epbackup.dat”, and transmits it to the setting management apparatus 106 via the CGI unit 301. Receiving this, the setting management device 106 saves the downloaded file with the name “epbackup.dat” as shown in FIG. Further, after downloading, the setting management device 106 can rename the file to a file name that can be easily managed as shown in FIG. The setting management device 106 stores and manages the setting information sent in this way. Although the video recording apparatus 101 has been described above, the same menu setting can be performed in the video recording apparatus 104 as well.

  Next, a procedure for transferring the settings of the video recording apparatus 101 to the video recording apparatus 104 using the backed up file will be described.

(A) Similar to the backup procedure, in step S501, the setting management apparatus 106 confirms the input of the IP address “192.168.34.170” of the video recording apparatus 104 in FIG. The authentication input screen shown in FIG. 7A for user authentication is displayed on the monitor of the setting management device 106. In step S <b> 502, input of a user name and a password registered in advance in the video recording apparatus 104 with administrator authority is confirmed and transferred to the video recording apparatus 104. In step S503, the CGI unit 301 of the video recording apparatus 104 authenticates this, and displays the screen of FIG. 7B on the monitor of the setting management apparatus 106 in step S504. When “Upload” is selected from the menu item on the displayed screen, the screen of FIG. 9A is further displayed.

(B) Then, in step S505, the user clicks the browse button and refers to a file or folder in the setting management apparatus 106, or specifies setting information to be uploaded by directly inputting a path or file name. In step S506, the user clicks the update button, and the setting management device 106 transmits the specified setting information to be stored in the temporary storage area of the main storage unit 207 to the memory management unit 305 of the video recording device 104. .

In step S507, the CGI means 301 checks the version of the sent setting information, and if it is an appropriate version, sends an upload request to the system control means 306 in step S508. In step S509, the system control unit 306 renames the sent file to a predetermined name “epbackup.dat”, and restarts the system in the sleep mode to rewrite the setting information in step S510. In step S511, a standby instruction is sent to the CGI unit 301. In step S512, the CGI unit 301 returns a standby screen to the setting management apparatus 106. In step S513, the setting management apparatus 106 displays a standby screen on the monitor.

(C) In step S514, the setting management device 106 accesses the CGI means 301 at regular intervals according to the screen update instruction described in the HTML source code of the standby screen. The CGI unit 301 receiving this in step S515 accesses the system control unit 306, but this access is ignored if the backup is not completed.

  In step S516, the system control unit 306 sends an upload request to the memory management unit 305. In step S517, the memory management unit 305 places the sent setting information in a designated area of the main storage unit 207. In step S518, the checksum of the setting information is confirmed. If there is no problem, an upload completion notice is sent to the system control means 306 in step S519.

(D) In step S520, the system control unit 306 determines from the signal sent from the memory management unit 305 whether or not the upload has been completed. If the upload is successful, the system control unit 306 normally uses the new setting information in step S521. Reboot in mode.

  If the setting management apparatus 106 accesses again after the system is restarted in step S522, the CGI unit 301 accesses the system control unit 306 in step S523. In step S524, the system control unit 306 An upload completion notification is returned to the means 301. In step S525, the CGI means 301 that has received this returns the upload completion screen of FIG. 7B to the setting management device 106, and in step S526, the setting management device 106 displays this screen on the monitor.

(Example of change)
In the embodiment, the menu setting information of the video recording apparatus 101 can be transmitted to the video recording apparatus 104 only through the setting management apparatus 106. The menu setting information may be directly transmitted by connecting the terminals 101 and 104 via USB or IEEE 1394 or via the Internet.

101, 104 ... Video recording device 102 ... Camera 103 ... Display unit 104 ... Video recording device 105 ... LAN
106: Setting management apparatus 201 ... NIC
202 ... Encoder 203 ... Decoder 204 ... IDE
206 ... SCSI
207 ... Main memory 208 ... CPU
209 ... Operation unit 211 ... Bus line 301 ... CGI means (transmission / reception means)
302 ... Encoder means 303 ... Decoder means 304 ... Operation means 305 ... Memory management means 306 ... System control means 601 ... Setting button 602 ... Up / down button 603 ... Right button 604 ... Jog dial

Claims (4)

Receiving means for receiving shooting conditions of cameras of other video recording devices as setting information from the outside via a communication network;
Control means for causing the camera of its own device to perform shooting according to the received setting information;
Recording means for recording a photographed image photographed by the camera of the device;
A video recording apparatus. Receiving the shooting conditions of the camera of the other video recording apparatus from the outside via the communication network as setting information;
A step of causing the camera of its own device to take a picture in accordance with the received setting information; a step of recording a shot image taken by the camera of the own device;
A video recording method comprising: Storage means for storing shooting conditions of the camera of the device as setting information;
Transmission means for transmitting and storing the shooting conditions of the camera of the own device as setting information to the outside via a communication network,
A video recording apparatus that causes the camera's shooting condition of its own apparatus to be used as a camera's shooting condition of another video recording apparatus. A step of transmitting and storing the shooting conditions of the camera of its own device as setting information to the outside via a communication network;
Using the shooting condition of the camera of the own device as the shooting condition of the camera of another video recording device;
A video recording method comprising:

Images