JP2012023644A - Supervision camera and supervision camera system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce an evaluation period and a time to investigate a cause on the occurrence of a trouble, both having an increasing trend because of increased functions of a supervision camera.SOLUTION: With provision of a nonvolatile internal memory 13 in a supervision camera 11, internal operation is stored at all times. Also, every manipulation of operation history information and every update of the camera's set value and the immediately previous set value are stored in the internal memory 13 so that the newest states are stored at all times. The stored content is made arbitrarily obtainable from a maintenance system 31 via a network 21. An analysis unit 33 displays internal operation information not only by a character string but also graphically so that an internal operation sequence and operation timing may be obtained visually.

Description

  The present invention relates to a surveillance camera, and more particularly to a surveillance camera and surveillance camera system suitable for confirming internal processing information.

  In recent years, the demand for surveillance cameras compatible with networks has increased. And since it is compatible with communication, the number of functions installed is increasing compared to analog cameras that have been mainstream until now, and internal processing is also complicated. As a result, the number of items that must be evaluated before shipment of the camera increases, the range that must be investigated when a defect occurs, and the time required to determine the cause of the defect also increases.

  As a solution to this problem, it is known that camera operation information, operation history, and the like are stored in the camera so that a quick response can be made when a problem occurs (Patent Documents 1 and 2). In Patent Document 1, information such as auto pan operation time, power-on time, temperature in the monitoring camera device, preset operation count, camera filter switching operation count and coordinate system reset count is stored. In Patent Document 2, when an error occurs, camera operation information and the like are stored in a nonvolatile memory.

JP 2001-1000028 A JP 2005-33325 A

  In Patent Document 1, only the number of unique events and the time are stored, and in Patent Document 2, information is stored only when an error occurs. Necessary information can be obtained only when a specific event occurs.

  For this reason, it is not possible to find a malfunction that the camera cannot determine as an error at an early stage, and it takes time to investigate the cause even if a malfunction is found. Further, when analyzing by looking at the camera operation information, it cannot be quickly analyzed from the time and contents displayed in the character string, and it takes time.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a monitoring camera and a network capable of confirming in detail the internal operation information of the monitoring camera and enabling quick operation analysis and the like. It is to provide a surveillance camera system using the system.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is characterized in that a non-volatile internal memory and internal operation information, operation history information, a current camera setting value, and a previous camera setting value are stored in the non-volatile internal memory. And a non-volatile internal memory data transmission request transmitted via the network and transmitted to the control unit, and the control unit controls the non-volatile internal memory to the device that requested the transmission. The internal operation information is added to the internal operation information storage area of the nonvolatile internal memory by the control unit, and when the capacity is exceeded, from the oldest information The operation history information is overwritten, and when the camera is operated, the control unit adds the operation history information to the operation history information storage area of the nonvolatile internal memory. The setting value of the current camera and the setting value of the previous camera are overwritten from the information, and when the setting value of the camera is changed, all the setting values after the change are changed to the current camera of the nonvolatile internal memory. The control unit stores the setting value in the setting value storage area, and stores all setting values before the change in the setting value storage area of the previous camera in the nonvolatile internal memory.

  Furthermore, the features of a surveillance camera using a removable non-volatile external memory, a surveillance camera system using a network system, and the like will be described in detail in an embodiment described later.

  According to the present invention, the internal operation information is always stored in the nonvolatile internal memory, and the information can be arbitrarily acquired, so that the operation check / analysis can be performed at any time using the internal operation information. Therefore, the quality of the product can be improved. In addition, since defects can be seen at an early stage and the cause can be investigated quickly, the time until the defects are resolved can be shortened.

  When the data is also stored in the external non-volatile memory, since past internal operation information, operation history, setting values, and the like can be known in detail, analysis can also be performed based on these.

  Also, when evaluating and analyzing, not only displaying the contents as text, but also displaying it in a graph, it is easy to grasp the flow of the operation, and the internal operation that should be operating periodically is abnormal. It becomes easy to determine whether or not the operation is performed, and the operation confirmation time and the analysis time can be shortened.

It is a block diagram of the surveillance camera system which concerns on one Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a data structure of the non-volatile internal memory of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a data structure of the internal operation information of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a data structure of the operation history information of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example which added the setting value preservation | save area | region 2 previous in the internal memory of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a text display of the internal operation information in the analysis part of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a graph display of the internal operation information in the analysis part of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the operation history information in the analysis part of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the present camera setting value in the analysis part of this invention, and the last one.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a configuration diagram of a surveillance camera system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The surveillance camera system of FIG. 1 includes a removable nonvolatile external memory 12 and a nonvolatile internal memory 13, and a communication unit that can output data of the nonvolatile external memory 12 and the nonvolatile internal memory 13 via the network 21. 14, and can be connected to a network 21 and a monitoring camera 11 having a control unit 15 that writes data to the nonvolatile internal memory 13 and transfers data from the nonvolatile internal memory 13 to the nonvolatile external memory 12. The maintenance system 31 includes a communication unit 32 that can receive data from the nonvolatile external memory 12 and the nonvolatile internal memory 13 of the monitoring camera 11 and an analysis unit 33 that analyzes the received data. .

  In addition, the communication unit 32 of the maintenance system 31 issues a data transmission request for the nonvolatile external memory 12 or the nonvolatile internal memory 13 to the communication unit 14 of the monitoring camera 11, and when the communication unit 14 of the monitoring camera 11 receives the request, the control unit 15, the communication unit 14 of the monitoring camera 11 transmits data to the communication unit 32 of the maintenance system 31.

  The control unit 15 of the monitoring camera 11 always writes and appends internal operation information to the internal operation information storage area 100 of the nonvolatile internal memory 13, and overwrites and saves the oldest one when the capacity of the area is exhausted. The control unit 15 additionally writes the operation history information to the operation history information storage area 101 of the nonvolatile internal memory 13 every time the monitoring camera 11 is operated, and overwrites and saves the oldest one when the capacity of the area is exhausted. Go.

  Then, every time the setting value is changed, the current camera setting value and the previous camera setting value are changed to the current camera setting value area 102 in the nonvolatile internal memory 13 and one set value after the change. All setting values before the change are stored in the previous camera setting value storage area 103 under the control of the control unit 15. By saving in this way, the information to be saved can always be kept up-to-date.

  When the monitoring camera 11 detects an error, when the monitoring camera 11 is operated, or when a setting value of the monitoring camera 11 is changed, the control unit 15 changes the nonvolatile internal memory 13 to the nonvolatile external memory 12. By passing all data under control, past information can be held in the nonvolatile external memory 12.

  Further, the maintenance system 31 can acquire the data of the nonvolatile internal memory 13 and the nonvolatile external memory 12 via the network 21 at any time, and can analyze the data acquired by the analysis unit 33. Thus, the latest information of the camera can always be acquired at any time, the data can be analyzed, and it is possible to lead to early detection of defects.

  FIG. 2 shows the structure of the nonvolatile internal memory 13 and an example of stored data. An internal operation information storage area 100, an operation history information storage area 101, a current set value storage area 102, and a previous set value storage area 103 are prepared in the nonvolatile internal memory 13, and data is stored in each area. Saved.

  FIG. 3 shows the stored contents of the internal operation information, and FIG. 4 shows the stored contents of the operation history information. The internal operation information consists of 6 bytes, the task ID 110 is 1 byte, a total of 256 tasks can be defined from "00 to FF", and the relative time (elapsed time) 111 with the previous log is 1 byte, the operation The ID 112 is 2 bytes and contains an ID for which the operation content is defined. The error ID 113 is 2 bytes and contains an ID in which the error content is defined. Finally, the last update time is stored in real time (year / month / day / hour / minute / second / millisecond).

  In the operation history information of FIG. 4, the real time 120 is 17 bytes, and the real time is entered in the format of year / month / day / hour / minute / second / millisecond. The operation ID 121 is 2 bytes, and contains an ID that defines the operation content. The current setting value and the previous setting value are stored in the order in which the IDs corresponding to the setting values are determined, and the update time is finally entered in the format of year / month / day / hour / hour / minute / second / millisecond.

  The data example of the nonvolatile internal memory 13 in FIG. 2 is an example in which IDs are entered in the order of brightness, contrast, color level, and shutter speed from the top, and the brightness setting value is changed.

  Further, the structure of the nonvolatile internal memory 13 can be arbitrarily changed, and when the previous set value is to be stored, the previous set value storage area 104 is added as shown in FIG. This can be realized by changing the structure of, and when further addition is desired, it can be realized by creating a setting value storage area three or four times before. Furthermore, the structures of the internal operation information storage area 100, the operation history information storage area 101, the current setting value storage area 102, and the previous setting value storage area 103 can be changed as necessary. By doing in this way, it can respond flexibly according to the item to save.

  FIG. 6 shows an example when the acquired internal operation information is displayed as text in the analysis unit 33. At the time of display, the time of operation in the column of time 130 is calculated from the last update time and the relative time 111 and displayed in year / month / day / hour / minute / second / millisecond. Then, the contents of the task ID 110 are displayed as text in the task name 131, the contents of the operation ID 112 are displayed as the operation contents 132, and the contents of the error ID 113 are displayed as text in the error information 133.

  FIG. 7 shows an example in which the recorded internal operation information is displayed in a graph. The horizontal axis is the elapsed time, the task running at that time is represented by a black line, and the oldest log is 0 milliseconds. By visualizing in this way, internal processing that is operating periodically can be found more easily than when displaying abnormal states such as non-periodic text display, so the efficiency of the analysis Goes up.

  FIG. 8 is an example when the recorded operation history information is displayed in the analysis unit 33. The operation history of the camera is displayed along with the actual time in time series. In this example, the IP address is changed first, then the SD card is installed, and finally the brightness setting is changed. For this reason, the history when the IP address is changed from the top, the history when the external memory is installed, and the history of changing the brightness setting are displayed.

  FIG. 9 shows an example in which the analysis unit 33 displays the current camera setting value and the previous camera setting value. Each set value is displayed as a list, and in this example, a history when the brightness set value is changed from 4 to 5 is shown. Also, the current setting value is stored in NOW, the previous setting value is stored in OLD, the time when brightness is set in NOW, and the time when IP address is set in OLD.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the internal operation information is always stored in the non-volatile internal memory so that the details of the internal processing can be understood, and the operation history information is updated every time the camera is operated. A history such as the setting value of the camera and the setting value of the previous camera is also saved. Thereby, all the information can be held in the latest state.

  Also, if an error occurs inside the camera, the camera is operated, or the camera settings are changed, all the data in the internal memory is transferred from the nonvolatile internal memory to the nonvolatile external memory. It is transferred and stored in a non-volatile external memory. Data stored in the nonvolatile internal memory / nonvolatile external memory can be acquired via the network at any time.

  In addition, when analyzing the operation of the surveillance camera, not only can you display the time and operation contents in text when displaying the internal operation information, but you can also display the flow of operation visually by graphing, The flow of operation can be easily grasped, and the time required for investigating the cause and solving the problem can be shortened.

11 ... surveillance camera 21 ... network 31 ... maintenance system 110 ... task ID
111 ... Relative time 112 ... Operation ID
113 ... Error ID
120 ... real time 121 ... operation ID
130 ... time 131 ... task name 132 ... operation content 133 ... error information

Claims (4)

Non-volatile internal memory;
A controller that stores internal operation information, operation history information, current camera setting values, and previous camera setting values in the nonvolatile internal memory;
A nonvolatile internal memory data transmission request transmitted via a network is received and transmitted to the control unit, and the data in the nonvolatile internal memory is output to the device that requested the transmission under the control of the control unit. A surveillance camera comprising a communication unit,
The internal operation information is added to the internal operation information storage area of the nonvolatile internal memory by the control unit, and when the capacity is exceeded, the oldest information is overwritten,
The operation history information is added to the operation history information storage area of the nonvolatile internal memory when the camera is operated, and is overwritten from the oldest information when the capacity is exceeded,
The current camera setting value and the previous camera setting value are all changed setting values when the camera setting value is changed, and the current camera setting value storage area of the nonvolatile internal memory The surveillance camera stores the all setting values before the change in a setting value storage area of the previous camera in the nonvolatile internal memory.   The surveillance camera according to claim 1, further comprising a removable nonvolatile external memory, wherein when the surveillance camera detects an error, when it is operated, and when a set value is changed, the nonvolatile internal memory is stored. The stored internal operation information, the operation history information, the current camera setting value information, and the previous camera setting value information are stored in the nonvolatile external memory, and the communication unit is connected via a network. Receiving the non-volatile external memory data transmission request transmitted in step (b) and transmitting the non-volatile external memory data transmission request to the control unit. Under the control of the control unit, transmitting the non-volatile external memory data to the requesting device. A featured surveillance camera.   3. The surveillance camera according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the area structure of the nonvolatile internal memory can be changed, and the setting value of the previous camera is saved in addition to the setting area of the setting value of the previous camera. A surveillance camera characterized in that an area and a setting value storage area for the previous camera are prepared, and the setting value for the previous camera and the setting value for the previous camera are stored in the nonvolatile internal memory. It connects with the said communication part of the surveillance camera in any one of Claims 1-3 via a network, The said non-volatile internal memory data transmission request and the said non-volatile external memory data transmission request are transmitted, The said non-volatile In a surveillance camera system provided with a communication unit that receives data in the internal memory and the nonvolatile external memory, and an analysis unit that analyzes the acquired data,
The analysis unit can read the internal operation information, the operation history information, the current camera setting value, and the previous camera setting value in a time-series manner as text, and output the internal operation information. The surveillance camera system is characterized in that information is also displayed as a graph representing the flow of internal processing in addition to the text display.

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