JP3415820B2 - Image recording method - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image recording system capable of recording images from all slave stations during a period in which an image from one slave station is displayed in a master station connected to a plurality of slave stations. Regarding

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4A is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration of a conventional 1-channel transmission system. In the figure, slave stations 1, 2, ..., N respectively provided with cameras for monitoring and the like are arranged at appropriate places. These slave stations 1 to n are connected to the master station 5 via a wired or wireless transmission means, and the images captured by the cameras provided in the slave stations 1 to n are sequentially displayed on the monitor 51.

In such a system, a plurality of slave stations 1
There is a system for transmitting an image between 1 to n and the master station 5 by using a one-channel wireless transmission path with a limited band.
In such a system, a controller 52 is arranged on the side of the master station 5 and a unique identification code is allocated to each of the slave stations 1 to n. Therefore, at a predetermined time point, the controller 52 sends out the designation signal S including the identification code of the slave station to which the image projected on the monitor 50 should be sent. In response to this, the image signal I representing the still image captured by the camera is wirelessly transmitted to the master station 5 from the slave station that determines that the identification code included in the designation signal S is assigned. The image signal I is received by the antenna 53 of the master station, supplied to the monitor 51 via the controller 52, and also supplied to the recording unit 54 and recorded on an appropriate recording medium.

In FIG. 4B, when the controller 52 designates any one of the slave stations 1 to n to request the transmission of the image signal, the controller 5 is controlled within a period p of a predetermined length.
2 indicates that the designated signal S is sent and the image signal I is returned from the designated slave station. For example, when the controller 52 requests the slave station 1 to transmit the image signal, the controller 52 transmits the designation signal S including the identification code of the slave station 1 at the start of the period p. Upon receiving this, the slave station 1 transmits a still image of one screen image captured by the camera to the master station 5. The period p is a time required to transmit / receive the designation signal S and the image signal I. After the end of the period p, the controller 52 requests the slave station 2 to send out the image signal I. Hereinafter, the same operation is repeated.

As shown in FIG. 5A, the controller 52 of the master station 5 includes a switch 501 connected to an antenna 53 for receiving the image signal I transmitted from the slave station designated by the designation signal S. Equipped with switch 50
1 is connected to the input side of the receiving unit 502 and the output side of the transmitting unit 503. The receiving unit 502 performs predetermined processing such as demodulation and amplification on the image signal I received by the master station 5, and then sends the image signal I to the monitor 51 and the recording unit 54. Designated signal generator 504
Outputs the designation signal S including the identification code assigned to the slave station to which the image signal I is to be transmitted and applies it to the transmission unit 503.
The transmitter 503 transmits the applied designated signal to the slave stations 1 to n.

In order to realize such an operation, the control unit 50
5 controls the operations of the switch 501, the receiving unit 502, the transmitting unit 503, and the designation signal generating unit 504. That is, the control unit 505 operates the designation signal generation unit 504 to send the designation signal S to the transmission unit 503 and operates the switch 501 to connect the transmission unit 503 to the antenna 53 at the time of transmitting the designation signal S. Let On the other hand, at other times,
The control unit 505 controls the switch 501 to connect the antenna 53 to the receiving unit 502.

On the other hand, since the slave stations 1 to n all have the same structure, the structure and operation of the slave station 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 5B. When the slave station 1 receives a signal including the designation signal S from the master station 5 through the antenna 101, the slave station 1 sends the designation signal S to the receiving unit 103 via the switch 102. The receiving unit 103 demodulates the received signal,
The identification code included in the designation signal S is reproduced, and this identification code is given to the coincidence detection circuit 104. The match detection circuit 104 determines whether or not the given identification code and the identification code assigned to the slave station 1 match, and if they match, it notifies the control unit 105 of that. In response to this, the control unit 10
5 is an image memory 107 for storing images captured by the camera 106.
The image signal written in the image memory 107 is read out and supplied to the transmission unit 108. Transmitter 10
8 sends the supplied image signal from the antenna 101 to the master station 5 via the switch 102.

The switching timing of the switch 55 in the controller 52 shown in FIG. 5A can be determined by automatically generating sequential data from the designation signal generating section 57 in a predetermined order. Alternatively, when the monitor designates an arbitrary slave station using the operation panel of the controller 52, the control unit 59 may operate in response to the designation signal generation unit 57 to generate the designation signal S.

When using such a system for the purpose of monitoring, the image signal sent from each slave station is often recorded as a still image so that the occurrence of a problem such as an accident can be confirmed. This is to enable recording for a long time by recording a still image instead of a moving image having a large amount of information.

However, when the number of transmission channels is one, only the image signal from one slave station can be transmitted at the same time, so that only the image signal from the camera whose image is displayed on the monitor 51 can be recorded. Since the image displayed on the monitor 51 is for the purpose of visually confirming it, if it is frequently switched, it becomes very difficult to see. On the other hand, since the recording unit 54 records a still image, it is useless if the image of the same camera is displayed for a long time, and it is better to perform switching frequently to record the image of each camera.
As described above, when there is one transmission channel, there is a problem that it is difficult to perform camera switching at timings suitable for the monitor display and the recording unit.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been proposed to solve these problems, and the present invention aims to solve all the problems while an image sent from one slave station is displayed on the monitor. An object of the present invention is to provide an image recording method capable of sequentially recording image signals from slave stations.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention of claim 1 is an image recording for selectively displaying and recording image signals sent from a plurality of slave stations in a master station. In the method, the master station sequentially designates one of the plurality of slave stations, and a designated signal transmission unit for transmitting the image signal from the designated slave station to the master station, A monitor for displaying the image signal transmitted from the slave station designated by the designation signal transmission unit, wherein each of the plurality of slave stations responds to the designation by the designation signal transmission unit. In an image recording system including an image signal sending unit for sending an image signal to a master station, the master station is configured to display the image signal sent from one of the slave stations by the monitor. From the slave station and the rest of the slave stations Image recording method characterized in that it comprises a recording unit for recording the required ones of it has been said image signals to provide.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the recording section has the necessary one of the image signals transmitted from one of the child stations and the remaining one of the image signals transmitted from the remaining child stations in the section. The image signal is recorded.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the designation signal transmission section designates one of the slave stations a plurality of times in the section and an operation of designating a different one of the remaining slave stations. Is alternately performed, and each of the plurality of slave stations sends out the image signal for a period shorter than the section in accordance with the designation.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a unique identification code is assigned to each of the plurality of slave stations, and the designated signal transmission section transmits a designated signal including the identification code, It is characterized in that a desired one of the plurality of slave stations is designated.

The invention of claim 5 is characterized in that the plurality of slave stations and the master station are wirelessly coupled to each other. A sixth aspect of the present invention is an image recording system for selectively displaying and recording image signals sent from a plurality of slave stations in the master station, wherein the master station is one of the plurality of slave stations. A designated signal transmission unit for sequentially designating one of the designated slave stations and transmitting the image signal from the designated slave station to the master station, and the image transmitted from the slave station designated by the designated signal transmission unit A controller having a monitor for displaying a signal and a controller for controlling the operation of the designated signal transmitter and the monitor, each of the plurality of slave stations,
In an image recording system including a transmission unit that transmits an image signal to the master station in response to designation by the designation signal transmission unit, the master station controls the image signal transmitted from the one slave station by the monitor. An image recording system characterized by further comprising a recording unit for recording required ones of the image signals transmitted from the one slave station and the remaining slave stations in the displayed section. I will provide a.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, a plurality of sets of the controller and a plurality of the slave stations are provided, and each set includes:
It is characterized in that different frequency channels are used and the recording unit is shared.

[0018]

The image signals are transmitted from the cameras of the plurality of slave stations in the designated order, and the image signals are displayed on the master station. The image signals sent from all the slave stations are sequentially recorded as recording data within a period in which the image signals sent from one slave station are displayed. The image displayed during the recording of the image signal is the image received from the slave station before the switching.

[0019]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION One embodiment of an image recording system according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 schematically shows the configuration of a master station that implements the image recording system according to the present invention. This master station 5 is shown in FIG.
The controller 55 provided in the master station 5 is used instead of the conventional controller 52, and the slave stations 1 to n arranged at the monitoring points are already used in the 1-channel transmission system shown in FIG. It is assumed to have the configuration as described with reference to FIG. Therefore, in the following description, the transmission system shown in FIG.

In FIG. 1, the controller 55 transmits a designation signal S including the identification code of the slave station to which the still image to be displayed on the monitor 51 is to be transmitted to the slave stations 1 to n at a predetermined time. In response to this, the slave station designated by the designation signal S wirelessly transmits the image signal I of one still image captured by the camera to the master station 5. The image signal I wirelessly transmitted from a designated one of the plurality of slave stations 1 to n is received by the antenna 53 of the master station 5, supplied to the monitor 51 via the controller 55, and recorded by the recording unit. It is also supplied to 54 and recorded on an appropriate recording medium.

In order to enable such operation, the controller 55 includes a transmission / reception changeover switch 511 having a movable contact connected to the antenna 53, and the transmission / reception changeover switch 51.
The first fixed contact of No. 1 is connected to the reception unit 512, and the second fixed contact of the transmission / reception changeover switch 511 is connected to the transmission unit 513. The receiving unit 512 performs predetermined processing such as demodulation and amplification on the image signal I received by the antenna 53,
The output is connected to the movable contact of the output changeover switch 514. The first fixed contact of the output changeover switch 514 is connected to the image memory 515 capable of storing image data corresponding to one still image for a predetermined period, and the output of the image memory 515 is connected to the monitor 51. On the other hand, the second fixed contact of the output changeover switch 514 is connected to the recording section 54.

On the other hand, the input of the transmission unit 513 is the designation signal S
When the designation signal S is applied from the designation signal generation unit 516, the designation signal S is transmitted to the slave stations 1 to n via the transmission / reception changeover switch 511 and the antenna 53. Works like.

The control unit 517 controls the operations of the transmission / reception changeover switch 511, the reception unit 512, the transmission unit 513, the output changeover switch 514, the image memory 515, and the designation signal generation unit 516 which constitute the controller 55.

2A and 2B show the controller 5 of FIG. 1 when there are four slave stations (that is, n = 4).
5 is a diagram for explaining the operation of FIG. The image signals I sent from the slave stations 1 to 4 are displayed on the monitor 51 for T seconds each in the order of the slave stations 1, 2, 3, and 4. As shown in FIG. 2A, the monitor 51 displays the image signal from the camera of the slave station 1 only in the section T1, the image signal from the camera of the slave station 2 is displayed in the section T2, and the section T3. The image signal from the camera of the slave station 3 is displayed, the image signal from the camera of the slave station 4 is displayed only for the section T4, and thereafter, the cycle of T1 to T4 is repeated. The length of each section T1 to T4 is T seconds, for example, 1 second. Each section T1
At T4, a predetermined number of still images, for example, 16 still images are sequentially sent from one child station and a moving image is displayed on the monitor 51.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2A, the image recording system according to the present invention has a predetermined time interval in each of the sections T1 to T4 displaying the image signal from any of the slave stations. Image signals from all the slave stations 1 to 4 are sequentially displayed and recorded.

2B is a diagram showing in detail the portions of the sections T1 and T2 in FIG. 2A, and the controller 55 shown in FIG. 1 will be described below with reference to FIG. 2B. The operation of will be described in detail. At time t ₁ , the control unit 517 activates the designation signal generation unit 516, applies the designation signal S including the identification code assigned to the slave station 1 to the transmission unit 513, and controls the transmission / reception changeover switch 511 to control the antenna 53. And the transmission unit 513 are connected to each other, and the transmission unit 513 transmits the designation signal S for designating the slave station 1. After sending,
The control unit 517 controls the transmission / reception changeover switch 511 to connect the antenna 53 and the reception unit 512, and the reception unit 512.
Is connected to the image memory 515 through the output changeover switch 514 to prepare to receive the image signal from the slave station 1. Designation signal S sent from controller 55
When the slave station 1 sends out the image signal I for one still image in response to this, this image signal is sent to the antenna 53, the transmission / reception changeover switch 511, the receiving section 512 and the output changeover switch 514.
And is written in the image memory 515. The image signal thus written is read from the image memory 515 and displayed on the monitor 51. Thus, in response to the designation signal transmitted at time t1, the image from the slave station 1 is displayed on the monitor 51 of the master station 5.

After that, the controller 55 moves to the time t ₂ ,
At t ₃ , t ₄ , t ₅ , t ₆ , and t ₇ , the same operation as at time t ₁ is performed. That is, the controller 55 sends a designation signal S including the identification code of the slave station 1 to request the slave station 1 to send the image signal I, and responds to the designation signal S sent at each time. The image signal I is transmitted from the slave station 1, and the image transmission signal I is transmitted to the antenna 53, the transmission / reception changeover switch 511, the reception section 512, and the output changeover switch 514.
Stored in the image memory 515 through the image memory 51
The contents stored in 5 are then read and displayed on the monitor 51.

In the period from time t ₁ to time t ₈ ,
The control unit 517 operates the output selection switch 514 from time t ₄ to time t ₅ to switch the output of the reception unit 512 to the recording unit 54 side. As a result, from time t ₄ to time t ₅
The image signal sent from the slave station 1 during the period up to
Sent to and recorded there. Further, in this period, the control unit 517 reads out the image signal sent from the slave station 1 and accumulated in the image memory 516 from the slave station 1 during the period from time t ₃ to time t ₄ to monitor the monitor 51. To display.

At time t ₈ , the control unit 517 controls the transmission / reception changeover switch 511 to connect the transmission unit 513 to the antenna 53, and outputs the designation signal S including the identification code assigned to the slave station 2 to the designation signal generation unit. From 516 to the transmitter 51
3 to transmit the data, and after the transmission is completed, the transmission / reception changeover switch 511 is controlled to connect the antenna 53 to the reception unit 512. Further, the control unit 517 switches the output changeover switch 514 to the recording unit 54 side during the period from time t ₈ to time t ₉ . As a result, the image signal I from the slave station 2 received by the receiving unit 512 is recorded in the recording unit 54 during the period from time t ₈ to time t ₉ .

On the other hand, during the period from time t ₈ to time t ₉ , the control unit 517 controls the image stored in the image memory 515 and sent from the slave station 1 during the period from time t ₇ to time t _8. The signal is read and displayed on the monitor 51.

During the subsequent period from time t ₉ to time t ₁₂ , the same operation as the operation during the period from time t ₁ to time t ₄ is repeated. In the period from time t ₁₂ to time t ₁₃ , the same operation as in the period from time t ₈ to time t ₉ is performed. That is, the controller 55 sends out the designation signal S including the identification code assigned to the slave station 3, and the image signal I sent from the slave station 3 in response to this is recorded in the recording section 54 and displayed on the monitor 51. , The image signals from the slave station 1 accumulated in the image memory 515 from time t ₁₁ to t ₁₂ are displayed.

During the subsequent period from time t ₁₃ to time t ₁₆ , the same operation as the operation during the period from time t ₁ to time t ₄ is repeated. In the period from time t ₁₆ to time t ₁₇ , the same operation as in the period from time t ₁₂ to time t ₁₃ is performed. That is, the controller 55 is the slave station 4
The specified signal S including the identification code assigned to
In response to this, the image signal I sent from the slave station 4 is recorded by the recording unit 5.
4 and the monitor 51 displays the image signal from the slave station 1 during the period from time t ₁₅ to t ₁₆ which is stored in the image memory 515.

As described above, in the section T1, the monitor 51 displays the image signal sent from the slave station 1, and the recording section 54 displays the images sent from all the slave stations 1, 2, 3, and 4. The signal is recorded for each still image.

At time t ₁₇ , section T2 is entered. The section T2 is different from the section T1 in that the controller 55 sends a designation signal S including an identification code assigned to the slave station 2 so as to display an image from the slave station 2 on the monitor 51. Thus, in the section T2, the monitor 51 displays the image signal sent from the slave station 2, and the recording unit 54, like the section T1, receives the images sent from all the slave stations 1, 2, 3, and 4. Record the signal.

Thereafter, the same operation is performed in the sections T3, T4, ..., And the controller 55 of FIG. 1 designates any one of the plurality of slave stations 1 to n.
To display the image signal I sent from the designated slave station on the monitor 51 over a predetermined section,
In each section, the recording unit 54 sequentially records the image signals from all the slave stations.

In the above description, each of the sections T1 to T4 is, for example, 1 second, but when the number of cameras is large or the amount of data that can be transmitted by the transmission channel is small, this section length is 2 seconds. The image displayed on the monitor 54 may be made unnatural by widening it as described above. In the above description, the slave station 1
.. n and the master station 5 are connected by one wireless channel, but if there is one channel, the same effect can be obtained by connecting by wire.

It is also possible to provide the combination of the slave station and the controller described so far by the number of different frequency channels. FIG. 3 schematically shows the configuration of the master station 5 when two such combinations are provided. In the figure, the first set of slave stations is coupled to the controller 55A by channel A, the second set of slave stations is coupled to the controller 55B by channel B, and the recording unit 54 and the control unit 517 are connected to both controllers 55A. , 55B
Share on.

In the master station 5 having such a configuration, the control unit 520 sequentially designates the slave stations included in the first group one by one, and the designated slave stations transmit images to the master station 5 via the channel A. Send a signal to display on the monitor 51A,
The slave stations included in the second set are sequentially designated one by one, and an image signal is sent from the designated slave station to the master station 5 via the channel B and displayed on the monitor 51B. At the same time, the control unit 5
Reference numeral 17 denotes one still image of the image signals from all the slave stations of the first group in each of the sections in which the image signals from one of the slave stations of the first group are displayed on the monitor 51A. Minutes are recorded in the recording unit 54 for each minute, and the image signals from any one of the second slave stations are displayed in the monitor 51B in each of the sections, and from all the slave stations of the second set. The image signal is recorded in the recording unit 54 for each still image at a timing different from the timing of recording the image signal from the first group of slave stations.

[0039]

As can be understood from the above description of the embodiments of the image recording system according to the present invention, the present invention uses only one channel for transmitting image signals from a set of slave stations. Despite not doing so, it is possible to record the image signals from all the slave stations in order in the section where the image signals from one slave station are displayed on the monitor, so use the image signals from all the slave stations. With this, it is possible to confirm the occurrence of a problem, which is a special effect.

Since a receiver equipped with an image memory for displaying a digital image signal is available, the image recording method of the present invention does not cause a significant increase in cost by using such a device. It can be realized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration of a master station that implements an image recording system according to the present invention.

2A is a diagram for explaining the operation of the controller of FIG. 1, and FIG. 2B is a timing chart for explaining the operation of the controller in a part of the section shown in FIG. is there.

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing another configuration of a master station that implements the image recording system according to the present invention.

4A is a diagram showing a conventional transmission system for image display / recording, and FIG. 4B is a diagram for explaining the operation of the transmission system shown in FIG. 4A.

5A is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of the controller shown in FIG. 4A, and FIG. 5B is a diagram showing FIG. 4A.
It is a figure which shows roughly the structure of the slave station shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 to n: slave station, 5: master station, 54: recording unit, 55, 55
A, 55B: controller, 511: transmission / reception changeover switch, 512: reception section, 513: transmission section, 514: output changeover switch, 515: image memory, 516; designation signal generation section, 517: control section

Claims (7)

(57) [Claims] 1. An image recording system for selectively displaying and recording in a master station image signals sent from a plurality of slave stations, wherein the master station is one of the plurality of slave stations. Are sequentially designated, and a designated signal transmission unit for transmitting the image signal from the designated slave station to the master station, and the image signal transmitted from the slave station designated by the designated signal transmission unit. And a monitor for displaying, wherein each of the plurality of slave stations includes an image signal transmitting unit that transmits an image signal to the master station in response to the designation by the designation signal transmitting unit. The master station receives the required one of the image signals transmitted from the one slave station and the remaining slave stations within the section in which the monitor is displaying the image signal transmitted from one slave station. Recording unit for recording things An image recording method comprising: 2. The recording unit records a required one of the image signals transmitted from one of the slave stations and the image signals transmitted from the remaining slave stations in the section. The image recording method according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The designation signal transmission section, in the section,
Alternately performing an operation of designating one of the slave stations a plurality of times, and an operation of designating a different one of the remaining slave stations, each of the plurality of slave stations, according to the designation, The image recording method according to claim 2, wherein the image signal is transmitted over a period shorter than the section. 4. A unique identification code is assigned to each of the plurality of slave stations, and the designated signal transmission section is
4. The image recording method according to claim 1, wherein a desired one of the plurality of slave stations is designated by sending a designation signal including the identification code. 5. The image recording system according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of slave stations and the master station are wirelessly coupled to each other. . 6. An image recording method for selectively displaying and recording in a master station image signals sent from a plurality of slave stations, wherein the master station is one of the plurality of slave stations. Are sequentially designated, and a designated signal transmission unit for transmitting the image signal from the designated slave station to the master station, and the image signal transmitted from the slave station designated by the designated signal transmission unit. A controller having a monitor for displaying and a control unit for controlling the operation of the designation signal transmission unit and the monitor, wherein each of the plurality of slave stations responds to the designation by the designation signal transmission unit. In an image recording system including a transmission unit for transmitting an image signal to a master station, in the master station, the one slave station is in a section where the monitor is displaying the image signal transmitted from one slave station. And the rest of the above An image recording system, further comprising a recording unit for recording a desired one of the image signals transmitted from the slave station. 7. The apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising a plurality of sets of the controller and a plurality of the slave stations, each set using a different frequency channel and sharing the recording unit. Image recording method.