JP4469996B2 - Continuous monitoring system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a system for constantly monitoring images taken by a surveillance camera via the Internet.

  The recent deterioration of security is a serious social problem, and the use of surveillance cameras is increasing to deal with it. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a system in which an image taken by a monitoring camera is sent to a monitoring center when a sensor installed in a monitoring area detects an abnormality, and a monitoring person confirms the abnormality.

JP 2002-133557 A

  However, the monitoring system disclosed in Patent Document 1 can monitor the intrusion of a suspicious person into a building or the like, but cannot monitor shoplifting of a product in a store.

  In conventional surveillance systems using surveillance cameras, there are few cases where surveillance personnel constantly monitor images taken by surveillance cameras, and the above images are recorded on videotape, and images recorded after an incident occurs are recorded. It is generally used for analysis. Reasons for low constant monitoring include high labor costs for constant monitoring and high costs for building a comprehensive continuous monitoring system.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a continuous monitoring system that can perform continuous monitoring at a relatively low cost.

Constant monitoring system according to the present invention, the monitoring requester side monitoring camera and transmit the received terminal installed in a monitoring image recording unit disposed in the monitoring center and the monitoring image display unit, the abnormal installed in emergency information center Connect the image recording unit and abnormal image display unit via the Internet,
The monitoring client sends the images taken by the monitoring camera to the monitoring center via the Internet,
At the monitoring center, the sent image is recorded in the monitoring image recording unit and displayed on the monitoring image display unit to constantly monitor the occurrence of an abnormality for each monitoring camera. with reading the image of the abnormal occurrence from the monitoring image recording unit sends an emergency information center via the Internet, the abnormality sends an abnormality occurrence information to the receiving terminal sending the discovered monitored requester, the emergency information center, sent Recording the image on the abnormal image recording unit and displaying it on the abnormal image display unit,
It is characterized by this.

The continuous monitoring system according to the present invention, a receiving terminal installed surveillance cameras and sent to the monitoring requester side, a monitoring image recording unit disposed in the monitoring center and the monitoring image display unit, installed in the emergency information center The abnormal image recording unit and the abnormal image display unit are connected via the Internet, and on the monitoring requester side, the image taken by the monitoring camera is sent to the monitoring center via the Internet,
At the monitoring center, the sent image is recorded in the monitoring image recording unit and displayed on the monitoring image display unit to constantly monitor the occurrence of an abnormality for each monitoring camera. Read the image at the time of abnormality from the monitoring image recording unit and send it to the emergency information center via the Internet,
The emergency information center, the image transmitted, recorded in the abnormal image recording unit, and displays the abnormal image display unit sends the abnormality information in the abnormality is sent to the found monitored requester receiving terminal, it It may be characterized by.

  In the continuous monitoring system of the present invention, it is preferable that the monitoring center is provided in an area where the labor cost is lower than the area where the monitoring client is located, and the emergency information center is provided in the area where the monitoring client is located.

  In the continuous monitoring system of the present invention, it is preferable that the monitoring center is provided with means for sending abnormality occurrence information in the native language of the monitoring requester.

Also a constant monitoring system of the present invention, sending and receiving terminals of the monitoring requester is provided with an image display unit, to be able to view the image at the time sent by have abnormal Hatsutome from the monitoring center or emergency information center It is preferable.

  In the continuous monitoring system of the present invention, the monitoring center is provided with an auxiliary monitoring camera that monitors the monitoring personnel in the center, and the monitor that displays images taken by the auxiliary monitoring camera at a location different from the monitoring center. Is preferably installed.

  In the continuous monitoring system of the present invention, the monitoring of the image at the monitoring center is performed by detecting the occurrence of an abnormality in the monitoring image with the image recognition analysis software, and when the abnormality is detected with this software, the monitoring image recording is performed. It is preferable that the monitor checks the time-slipped image from the section and reads it for a predetermined time.

  In the continuous monitoring system of the present invention, it is preferable to attach a time stamp to the image recorded in the monitoring image recording unit.

  In the continuous monitoring system of the present invention, the monitoring image recording unit of the monitoring center erases the recording of the same image that continues for a predetermined time when the monitoring image is normal and the same image continues for a predetermined time or longer. It is preferable.

  In the continuous monitoring system of the present invention, the transmission / reception terminal on the monitoring requester side is configured by a personal computer, and the storage unit of each personal computer is used as a part of the monitoring image recording unit by control from the host computer connected to the continuous monitoring system. It is preferable to do.

  Further, in the continuous monitoring system of the present invention, when the monitoring requester's personal computer is used for recording the monitoring image, the point corresponding to the usage time and / or the used recording capacity of the personal computer is given to the monitoring requester and stored. It is preferable to pay the price corresponding to the points.

  In order to constantly monitor images sent from a large number of surveillance cameras, it is necessary to deploy a large number of surveillance personnel. However, in the present invention, a monitoring center that constantly monitors and detects abnormalities, and abnormalities are discovered. Since the emergency information center that performs later processing is set up separately, it is possible to set up a monitoring center that requires a large number of observers in an area where labor costs are low (for example, foreign countries), and always monitor at a low cost. be able to. On the other hand, by setting up the emergency information center in the monitoring client's location (in Japan), information can be exchanged smoothly with the monitoring client after an abnormality has occurred, and high quality services are provided to the monitoring client. Can be provided.

  Further, when the monitoring center is set up in a foreign country, it is possible to solve the problem of the system operation due to the language by providing the monitoring center with means for sending the abnormality occurrence information in the native language of the monitoring requester.

Further, if to be able to display images at the time of occurrence of an abnormality sent from the monitoring center or emergency information center for monitoring requester sending and receiving terminals, monitoring requester what abnormality occurs in anywhere from the image It is possible to grasp exactly what happened and to take prompt action.

  In addition, by installing an auxiliary surveillance camera that monitors the observer who constantly monitors the images, if the observer falls down or sneezes due to illness, it can respond quickly, and the reliability of constant monitoring Can increase the sex.

  If the captured image does not change when it is normal and changes when an abnormality occurs, the image recognition analysis software detects that an abnormality has occurred. When an abnormality is detected, it is possible to reduce the burden on the supervisor by reading the image slipped by a predetermined time from the surveillance image recording unit and confirming it by the supervisor.

  In addition, if a time stamp is added to the image recorded in the monitoring image recording unit, the time of occurrence of the abnormality can be displayed when the image is reproduced after the abnormality is discovered, and the situation of the abnormality can be grasped more accurately. .

  Further, when the same image continues for a predetermined time or longer, the recording capacity of the monitoring image recording unit can be saved by deleting the recording of the same continuous image. Even if the recording of some images is erased, the time can be confirmed at the time of reproduction if a time stamp is attached to the image to be recorded. It can be detected by the above-described image recognition analysis software that the same image continues for a predetermined time or more.

Further, the transmission / reception terminal on the monitoring requester side is configured by a personal computer, and a storage unit of each personal computer is controlled by a host computer connected to the monitoring image recording unit of the monitoring center or a host computer installed in the emergency information center Is used as a part of the monitoring image recording unit, the storage capacity of the monitoring image recording unit can be saved. In this case, since the storage unit of the monitoring requester's personal computer is used as a part of the monitoring image recording unit, an image taken by the monitoring requester's monitoring camera is not always recorded.

Also, when the monitoring requester's personal computer is used for recording a monitoring image , points corresponding to the usage time and / or recording capacity of the personal computer are given to the monitoring requester, and the compensation corresponding to the accumulated points is paid. It is preferable to do so. The consideration does not necessarily have to be cash payment, and may be a discount of monthly monitoring fee. In this way, it is possible to bring benefits to both the monitoring requester and the system operator.

  FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a continuous monitoring system according to the present invention. In the figure, 10 is a device provided on the side requesting the monitoring contractor, 12 is a monitoring center that performs constant monitoring based on the monitoring request, and 14 is an emergency information center that takes action after the monitoring center 12 finds an abnormality. is there. The monitoring requester's device 10, the monitoring center 12, and the emergency information center 14 are connected via the Internet 16. The monitoring center 12 and the emergency information center 14 are managed by a supplier who receives a monitoring request. However, since the monitoring center 12 needs to arrange a large number of monitoring personnel, it is installed in an area where labor costs are low (for example, a country in Southeast Asia). The information center 14 is installed in the area where the monitoring client is located (for example, in Japan) in order to smoothly exchange information with the monitoring client.

The device 10 on the monitoring requester side displays an image displayed from the monitoring camera 18 that captures the monitoring area, the communication control unit 20 that communicates via the Internet 16, the monitoring center 12, or the emergency information center 14. It consists of part 22 etc. The number of monitoring cameras 18 installed in one unit of monitoring requester may be one or may be plural. An image captured by the monitoring camera 18 is compressed into a predetermined format (for example, MPEG format) by an encoding unit (not shown) and sent to the monitoring center 12 via the Internet 16. Since the images sent from the monitoring center 12 or the emergency information center 14 are compressed, they are decompressed by a decoding unit (not shown) and displayed on the image display unit 22. The image display unit 22 is a representative form of the receiving terminal transmission having monitoring requester, it may be used in combination with other feed receiving terminal such as a telephone or a FAX or the like.

  The monitoring center 12 includes a communication control unit 24, a monitoring image recording unit 26 that records compressed images sent from a number of monitoring cameras 18, and a number of monitoring image display units that decompress and display each compressed image. 28 is installed. A monitor 30 is attached to the monitoring image display unit 28 and constantly monitors whether there is an abnormality for each monitoring camera. It is preferable that the monitoring image display unit 28 divides the screen into a plurality of screens so that images from the plurality of monitoring cameras 18 can be displayed on one monitoring image display unit 28. When an abnormality (intruder, shoplifting, etc.) is detected by continuous monitoring, an image at the time of occurrence of the abnormality (image slipped a predetermined time ago) is read from the monitoring image recording unit 26, and the emergency information center via the Internet 14 and the monitoring requester side device 10 in which the abnormality is found. The monitoring requester side can grasp where and what kind of abnormality has occurred from the image displayed on the image display unit 22, and can take prompt action.

  Further, the emergency information center 14 is provided with an abnormal image recording unit 34 for recording an image at the time of occurrence of an abnormality sent from the communication control unit 32 and the monitoring center 12, and an abnormal image display unit 36 for displaying the abnormal image. ing. The contact person 38 of the emergency information center 14 looks at the image at the time of occurrence of the abnormality displayed on the abnormality image display unit 36 and exchanges necessary information with the monitoring client. Since the emergency information center 14 is installed in the country where the monitoring client is located, information exchange with the monitoring client can be performed without any trouble.

  By the way, when an abnormality is found in the monitoring center 12, it is preferable to send a message indicating the occurrence of an abnormality to the monitoring requester together with an image at the time of occurrence of the abnormality. However, when the monitoring center 12 is installed in a foreign country, it is normal that the monitoring staff 30 cannot use the native language (Japanese) of the monitoring requester, which causes language problems. In order to avoid this problem, a message in the native language of a predetermined monitoring requester is registered in the memory of the computer that controls the system, and the monitor 30 operates the selection key to automatically send the corresponding message. It is good to be able to send to. The device from which the monitoring client receives the message may be any device that can receive the message, such as a mobile phone, a personal computer, a FAX, or a PDA terminal.

  In the above embodiment, the case where an image or message at the time of occurrence of an abnormality is directly sent from the monitoring center 12 to the monitoring requester-side device 10 has been described. It is also possible to send from the center 14. In this case, a language problem does not occur with the monitoring client.

  The monitoring center 12 is provided with an auxiliary monitoring camera 40 that captures the state of the supervisor 30, and an image captured by the auxiliary monitoring camera 40 is a monitor 44 installed in a monitoring room 42 that is separate from the monitoring center 12. The auxiliary monitor 46 monitors the image. In this way, when the monitoring person 30 in the monitoring center 12 falls down due to illness or an abnormality occurs in the monitoring center 12, it is possible to respond quickly and improve the reliability of constant monitoring. .

  Moreover, the monitoring of the image in the monitoring center 12 can also be performed using both the abnormality detection by the image recognition analysis software and the monitoring by the monitor 30. That is, detection of an abnormality in the monitoring image is performed by image recognition analysis software. When an abnormality is detected by this software, an image time-slipped a predetermined time before is read from the monitoring image recording unit 26 and monitored. The member 30 confirms. In this way, the burden on the supervisor 30 can be reduced.

  When the image recognition analysis software is used, as shown in FIG. 2, when there is no abnormality, a small icon 48 is displayed on the monitoring image display unit 28, and when an abnormality occurs, it is displayed on an automatically enlarged screen 50. It is preferable to do so. In this way, the monitor can quickly respond to the occurrence of an abnormality, and is effective in saving the monitoring image display unit and saving the monitoring personnel.

  Moreover, it is preferable to attach a time stamp to the image recorded in the monitoring image recording unit 26 of the monitoring center 12. If a time stamp is added, the time of occurrence of an abnormality can be accurately known when the image is confirmed by time slipping a predetermined time after an abnormality is discovered.

  In addition, when there is no abnormality in the monitoring image and the same image continues for a predetermined time or longer, the monitoring image recording unit 26 of the monitoring center 12 may delete the recording of the same image continuing for a predetermined time. Since an enormous amount of images are recorded in the monitoring image recording unit 26, the storage capacity of the monitoring image recording unit 26 can be saved by deleting unnecessary recordings. Even when images are thinned out in this way, if a time stamp is added, the images can be restored and displayed as a continuous image with a time stamp during reproduction, and the image shooting time can be confirmed.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the monitoring camera 18 installed on the monitoring requester side is integrated with information devices such as an image compression unit 52 and a communication control unit 54 to be miniaturized so that it can be directly connected to the Internet. Is preferred. Specifically, an encoder chip that compresses an image into an MPEG format (MPEG2 or MPEG4, etc.) is converted into a component using a DSP or the like, and an interface function that can be connected to the Internet using a wireless or cable is incorporated in the surveillance camera 18. Furthermore, a microphone 56 and a speaker 58 may be incorporated in the monitoring camera 18 and connected to the Internet via the voice input / output interface unit 60. In this way, sound can be captured together with the image, while a warning can be issued directly from the monitoring camera 18 when an abnormality is found.

  In addition, when a small surveillance camera having a function capable of connecting to the Internet is used, a peripheral image in which the person acts by attaching the camera to a person and always connecting to the Internet by a wireless function such as PHS. Can be photographed, and the range of human activity can be constantly monitored by the monitoring center. In this case, a position information detection function using GPS may be added to the small surveillance camera. This system has a wide range of applications such as crime prevention measures when going to dangerous places and safety measures for elderly people and children, and its security effect is great.

  In addition, if a small surveillance camera having a function capable of connecting to the Internet is installed in an automobile, an image taken as the automobile travels can be constantly monitored at the surveillance center. Drive recorders mounted on automobiles have already been put into practical use, but this is an image recording for several tens of seconds before and after the accident, and cannot always be monitored by humans. If you install a small surveillance camera equipped with a function that can connect to the Internet on a car, the surveillance center can constantly monitor the surrounding area where the car is traveling, so that in addition to accidents such as a collision, The effect is wide-ranging, such as helping to improve the efficiency of the transportation industry.

  In addition, installing surveillance cameras and information devices for Internet connection in vending machines not only helps prevent crimes targeting vending machines, but also uses the Internet to inventory and sell products in vending machines. There is also an effect that can be managed. Further, if a liquid crystal display is provided, a moving image such as advertisement information can be transmitted from the host computer of the constant monitoring system and displayed.

  For example, when monitoring a machine tool in a factory with this continuous monitoring system, a sound collection microphone is installed in the monitoring area, and the sound that enters the sound collection microphone is sent to the monitoring center for continuous inspection. By doing so, it is possible to detect that an abnormality has occurred in the machine tool from the sound generated when the machine tool or the like malfunctions.

  In the continuous monitoring system as described above, in order to prevent the continuous monitoring from being interrupted in any case, contracts are made with a plurality of Internet connection providers (providers), and the backup of the line is strengthened, and the monitoring image is also displayed. It is preferable to place a plurality of recording servers and to back up the compressed monitoring image with a predetermined time delay.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the continuous monitoring system according to the present invention. This embodiment is different from the embodiment of FIG. 1 in that the transmission / reception terminal of the monitoring requester side device 10 is configured by a personal computer 62 and connected to the monitoring image recording unit of the monitoring center or the emergency information center. The storage unit of each personal computer 62 is used as a part of the monitoring image recording unit 26 of the monitoring center 12 under the control of the host computer 64 connected to. Since the personal computer 62 includes a communication control unit for the Internet, an image compression unit, an image display unit, and the like, it is suitable as a transmission / reception terminal on the monitoring requester side. If the storage unit (external storage device or the like) of the personal computer 62 is used as a part of the monitoring image recording unit 26, the capacity of the monitoring image recording unit 26 of the monitoring center can be saved. When the storage unit of the monitoring requester's personal computer 62 is used as part of the monitoring image recording unit 26, whether the monitoring image is recorded in the monitoring image recording unit 26 of the monitoring center or in the storage unit of the personal computer 62 This selection and control is performed by a host computer connected to the monitoring image recording unit of the monitoring center or the host computer 64 installed in the emergency information center, which controls the entire monitoring system.

  When the monitoring requester's personal computer 62 is used for recording in the monitoring image, points corresponding to the usage time and / or usage recording capacity of the personal computer 62 are given to the monitoring requester, and the compensation corresponding to the accumulated points is given. It is preferable to pay. In this way, it is possible to bring benefits to both the monitoring requester and the system operator.

  Further, if the monitoring requester's personal computer can be used as a transmission / reception terminal, a back-end job can be executed under the control of the host computer 64 in the free time of the personal computer. Also in this case, it is preferable to give points according to the usage time to the monitoring requester.

  Furthermore, if the monitoring requester's personal computer 62 can be used as a transmission / reception terminal, the required number of personal computers can be connected via the Internet to function as a grid computer as a whole, and can be used as a supercomputer under the control of the host computer 64. It is also possible to do.

  Since the configuration and system operation other than the above are the same as those of the embodiment shown in FIG.

1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a continuous monitoring system according to the present invention. Explanatory drawing which shows an example of the display method of the monitoring image display part. Explanatory drawing which shows an example of the small surveillance camera which integrated information equipment. The block diagram which shows other embodiment of the continuous monitoring system which concerns on this invention.

Explanation of symbols

10: Monitoring client side device 12: Monitoring center 14: Emergency information center 16: Internet 18: Monitoring camera 20: Communication control unit 22: Image display unit 24: Communication control unit 26: Monitoring image recording unit 28: Monitoring image display unit 30: Monitoring person 32: Communication control part 34: Abnormal image recording part 36: Abnormal image display part 38: Contact person 40: Auxiliary monitoring camera 42: Monitoring room 44: Monitor 46: Auxiliary monitoring person 48: Icon 50: Enlarged display 52 : Image compression unit 54: Communication control unit 56: Microphone 58: Speaker 60: Audio input / output interface 62: Personal computer 64: Host computer

Claims (3)

A monitoring camera and a transmission / reception terminal installed on the monitoring client side, a monitoring image recording unit and a monitoring image display unit installed in the monitoring center, and an abnormal image recording unit and an abnormal image display unit installed in the emergency information center Connected via the Internet, the monitoring client sends the image taken by the monitoring camera to the monitoring center via the Internet, and the monitoring center records the sent image in the monitoring image recording unit and displays the monitoring image. The monitoring image recording unit reads out the image at the time of occurrence of abnormality and sends it to the emergency information center via the Internet. The abnormality occurrence information is sent to the transmission / reception terminal of the monitoring requester who has found the abnormality, and the emergency information center displays the sent image as an abnormal image recording unit. A monitoring system for recording and displaying on an abnormal image display unit, wherein the monitoring requester side transmission / reception terminal is configured by a personal computer and connected to the monitoring image recording unit of the monitoring center, or A continuous monitoring system, wherein the storage unit of each personal computer is used as a part of the monitoring image recording unit under the control of a host computer installed in an emergency information center. The continuous monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein when the monitoring requester's personal computer is used for recording a monitoring image, a point corresponding to the usage time and / or the usage recording capacity of the personal computer is given to the monitoring requester, A constant monitoring system characterized by paying consideration according to accumulated points. The continuous monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the monitoring camera is incorporated in a vending machine.

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