JP4946712B2 - Recording system and recording apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording system and a recording apparatus capable of recording an image of a visitor at a front door or a self-service entrance using a home network (LAN: local area network) and performing an initial setting by a simple method.

  Particularly in urban areas, image surveillance devices commonly referred to as camera doorphones, which can check a visitor's face image at home, have become widespread for security reasons and convenience.

  This camera door phone is composed of a door phone slave unit installed outside the house, such as the front door and the doorway, and a door phone master unit connected to it and installed in the living room or kitchen of the home. It is possible to view the visitor's image in real time.

  When the user is absent, the visitor's image is recorded on a recording medium such as an internal flash memory for a predetermined time (for example, 30 seconds) together with the time when the visitor presses the call button of the door phone. A memory having a function of calling up an image and confirming a visitor has been put into practical use.

  In camera doorphones that can record this image, the recording capacity of the recording medium is limited, so the number of images that can be recorded is limited, and if the number of images to be recorded exceeds the recording limit of the recording medium, the old image is replaced with a new image. The method of overwriting is adopted.

  For this reason, there has been a problem that it is not possible to confirm all visitors when there is no long-term absence during overseas travel.

  In recent years, with the background of the transition of television broadcasting from analog broadcasting to digital broadcasting and the widespread use of personal computers (personal computers), video recording devices that can mainly record television broadcasting have image recording media as magnetic recording media. Moving from tape to a magnetic disk (HDD: hard disk drive), the recording apparatus itself has the same structure and function as a personal computer.

  In addition, the spread of home networks has been improved against the backdrop of the spread of multiple PCs mainly for the use of the Internet in the home, and the type of network has changed from metal wiring to wireless networks with less wiring work. In addition, a PLC (power line carrier) system that uses an electric lamp line for supplying power to equipment as a signal line has been put into practical use. In connection with this, the technique of the monitoring system using a network inside and outside a home is disclosed (for example, refer patent documents 1 and 2).

  Against the backdrop of the above, a network terminal that can be connected to a network is provided to electrical devices in the home, and this network terminal is connected to a network information outlet and communicates with each other to cooperate and complement each other. Furthermore, the development of functions such as monitoring and control of electrical devices from an external personal computer or mobile phone has been promoted through the Internet, and some have been put into practical use.

  As for the camera doorphone described above, if the network terminal is provided and connected to the network, and the video recording device connected to the network is recorded with the camera doorphone image, the capacity of the recording medium of the camera doorphone is 10 giga (10 9th order of bytes) or less, while the capacity of the recording medium of the video recording device is tera (10 to the 12th power) byte order, a part of the recording capacity of about 1000 times, For example, if 10% is used, a capacity of 100 gigabytes can be recorded, and the problem that all visitors cannot be confirmed in the case of absence in the long term can be solved.

In addition, the video recording device not only compensates for the drawbacks of the camera door phone function, but also allows visitors to see real-time and recorded images on a large television display connected to the video recording device. There is also an effect that can be done.
JP 2002-279560 A JP 2002-77881 A

  As described above, connecting the camera doorphone and the video recording device via a network complements the drawbacks of the camera doorphone and provides a new effect. To achieve this, the following is necessary. is there.

  In other words, the camera door phone and the video recording apparatus to be connected to each other need to be registered and authenticated (identification of communication partner) with each other prior to use. This is because if there is no registration / authentication, especially when the network is configured by wireless or PLC, the image of the visitor is recorded on a video recording device of a similar system in the vicinity, and vice versa. Or

  Normally, this registration / authentication requires knowledge of the network or requires complicated operations, and is difficult for general users who do not have knowledge of the network. Also, as described above, the camera doorphone shot image is recorded with the shooting date and time attached, so if the calendar clock (also called timer) built in the camera doorphone generates an error due to a power failure or other reason, it will be incorrect. This is inconvenient because the visit time is notified to the user.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems, and enables even a general user who does not have knowledge of the network to perform the above-mentioned registration / authentication settings with a simple operation, and to set an accurate shooting date and time. An object of the present invention is to provide a recording system and a recording apparatus capable of recording.

In order to solve the above problems, a terminal device according to the present invention is a terminal device that can be connected to a server having a timer that can be calibrated by receiving date and time information from the outside, via the network. The apparatus transmits a time request packet for obtaining date and time information from the server, and the server returns a time response packet to which the date and time information of its own timer is added to the terminal apparatus, and the terminal The device calibrates the timer of the terminal device with the received date and time information.

Further, the terminal device of the present invention measures a delay time from when the time request packet is transmitted to when the time response packet is received, and prohibits calibration of the timer of the terminal device when the delay time is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. It is characterized by doing.

The server of the present invention is a server that can be connected to a terminal device, receives a time request packet for obtaining date and time information from the terminal device, and adds the date and time information of the timer of the own device. A time response packet is returned to the terminal device.

The server of the present invention is connected to at least one terminal device capable of setting the device in the registration mode for a predetermined time through the network, and connected to the network to search for the terminal device in the registration mode. A registration mode search means for transmitting a search packet to all the terminal devices in multicast and receiving a response packet from the terminal device in the registration mode that has received the search packet; A device registration unit is provided that transmits an authentication request packet with an ID to be identified, receives a password generated by a terminal device that has received the authentication packet, and registers the password in its own device.

In the server system of the present invention, when the terminal is a camera device and the server is a recording device, the camera device transmits an event notification to the recording device when an event occurs. When the event notification is received, the recording device transmits an image acquisition request packet to which the ID and the password are added to the camera device, and the camera device at least captures the image after authentication with the password. An image is transmitted to the recording device, and the recording device records the received captured image on a recording medium.

In the server system of the present invention, the camera device is a door phone, and the network is a home power line communication network.

  According to the present invention, a user without network knowledge can easily connect a camera device such as a camera door phone and a video recording device to the network, and can accurately maintain the date and time of the recorded image and recording. Equipment can be provided.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In addition, in order to make the explanation easy to understand, a part of the numerical value is described, but the present invention is not limited to this numerical value.

(Embodiment 1)
The present embodiment is an embodiment of the invention for realizing the first object described above, and will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a recording system to which the present invention is applied. The network 1 using the PLC is provided with outlets 1a, 1b, and 1c. These outlets serve as information outlets as well as supply power to the equipment. A PLC adapter (also referred to as a door phone adapter) 2 is connected to an information outlet 1 a and further connected to a camera door phone master unit 3. A camera doorphone slave unit 4 installed at the entrance or the like is connected to the camera doorphone master unit 3.

  The PLC adapter 5 is connected to an information outlet 1b and a network camera 6 installed inside or outside the house. The PLC adapter 2 and the PLC adapter 5 are of a character that will be integrated with the camera doorphone master unit 3 and the network camera 6 in the future.

  The PLC adapter 7 is connected to the information outlet 1 c and the router 8. The router 8 is connected to the recording device 9 and the external Internet 10. The recording device 9 is connected to a television 11 that receives a television broadcast. The infrared remote control device 12 performs a mode switching operation and a channel switching operation between the recording device 9 and the television 11.

  In such a configuration, the remote control device 12 is operated, and the video recording device 9 records a video taken by the camera door phone slave unit 4 or the network camera 6 or a video outside the home. Alternatively, the video can be viewed on the screen of the television 11 or the recorded video can be called up. In addition, you can view the recorded video and the state of the pet at your home on the Internet with a mobile phone on the go.

  However, in order to perform the above, it is necessary to register and authenticate the camera doorphone master unit 3 and the network camera 6 directly to the recording apparatus by metal wiring in advance. Usually, so-called registration / authentication between devices that identify each other to communicate with each other is performed by registering an identifier (ID) of each communication partner and a common password in the devices.

  Hereinafter, the registration / authentication method will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4 by taking the camera doorphone master unit 3 and the recording device 9 as an example. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an external appearance of a PLC adapter (door phone adapter) 2 for a camera door phone according to the present embodiment. The PLC door adapter 2 for camera door phone is provided with a registration button 2a and a display lamp 2b for the user to operate. Registration / authentication is set by operating the registration button 2a and the remote control device 12. The operation of the remote control device 12 is called a GUI (graphic user interface) in which the user selects a button display called an icon displayed on the screen of the television 11 with the cursor key of the remote control device 12 and presses the enter button. Since it implements by a general system, illustration is omitted. The registration button 2a and the display lamp 2b can be provided in the camera doorphone master unit 3.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a user operation procedure for registration / authentication setting according to the present embodiment. The outline of the registration / authentication setting will be described with reference to FIG. In S (step) 101, the user sets the television screen as the device registration screen. Next, when the registration button 2a is pressed in S102, the display lamp 2b blinks for 6 minutes in S103. Next, in S104, a registration setting icon is selected and set on the registration screen while the display lamp 2b is blinking. As a result, communication for registration / authentication procedure is performed between the PLC adapter 2 of the camera doorphone master unit 3 and the recording device 9.

  Next, in S106, the guidance indicating that the registration of the camera door phone master unit 3 in the recording device 9 has been completed is displayed on the television screen. At the same time, in S107, the blinking of the display lamp 2b of the PLC adapter 2 changes to lighting, and it can be identified that the recording device 9 is registered in the camera doorphone master unit 3.

  Next, details of the above-described mutual communication in S105 will be described using the first half of FIG. The first half of FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a communication procedure for registration setting. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a communication procedure between the camera door phone PLC adapter (door phone adapter) 2 and the recording device 9 according to the present embodiment. For convenience of explanation, the former is A and the latter is B.

  First, in S201, when the user presses A registration button 2a, A enters a standby state for registration setting for 6 minutes. Next, when the user performs registration setting operation on the B side in S202, B sends a registration mode device search packet to the network 1 by multicast or broadcast in S203 (hereinafter simply referred to as transmission).

  In step S204, A, which has received this packet, sends a response packet indicating that it is a registration mode device to the MAC address of B included in the packet by unicast. In this case, the transmission of the response packet is limited to the case where the registration mode device search packet is received within 6 minutes. When the registration mode device search packet is received after 6 minutes, the response packet is not transmitted. The registration operation is canceled.

  Next, in S205, B generates and stores a password B by a method such as random number generation. This password B is assumed to be used when registering a plurality of camera doorphones. However, this password B is not necessarily used, and the password A generated by A is shared by all devices as will be described later. You may do it.

  In the next step S206, an authentication request packet is sent with passwords B and B IDs (an identifier for the recording device, a model number, a series of serial numbers, etc.) attached.

  Next, in S207, A stores the MAC address B and ID included in the authentication request packet in association with its own nonvolatile memory and generates and stores the password A.

  In step S208, an authentication completion packet attached with the generated password A is sent to the MAC address of the recording apparatus.

  Next, in S209, B stores A's password A included in the authentication completion packet in its own nonvolatile memory or the like, and ends the registration setting communication procedure.

  As described above, the MAC address B and ID of the recording device 9 are registered in the PLC adapter (door phone adapter) 2, and the password A of the PLC adapter 2 is registered in the recording device 9. As a result, mutual communication partners can be specified to prevent eavesdropping or erroneous recording. As described above, the doorphone adapter and the recording device share the same password A, so that each device can be easily authenticated. The same applies when two or more doorphones are connected to the recording apparatus.

  As described above, the recording system of the present invention can register and authenticate an imaging device such as a camera connected to a network and the recording device with a simple button operation, and the user has knowledge of the network. Even if it does not have, it can be implemented easily.

  Note that the IDs of the devices registered in the present embodiment that are registered with each other are not necessarily required and may be omitted.

  The registration button 2a provided on the PLC adapter 2 may be provided in a touch panel manner on the display of the camera doorphone master unit 3, and similarly, the display lamp 2b may be implemented with guidance such as characters on the display. Absent.

  Further, the setting operation on the recording apparatus side may be performed by providing the recording apparatus 9 with the buttons and display shown in FIG. 2 regardless of the GUI method.

(Embodiment 2)
The present embodiment is an embodiment of the invention for realizing the second object described above, and will be described with reference to FIGS. Since the system configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment, the description of the system is omitted, and the configuration of the recording device 9 will be described.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an internal configuration example of the recording device 9 according to the present embodiment. The recording device 9 includes a CPU 21 composed of a microcomputer, a RAM, a ROM, a calendar clock (timer), a tuner 22 that selects a digital broadcast, and a video processing unit 23 that performs processing such as compression of the selected video. , HDD 24 for recording video, operation unit 25 for selecting music and recording settings, display unit 26 for displaying mode such as time display, channel display and recording, network terminal 27 for connecting to network 1, communication with network 1 A communication interface 28 for performing video, a video buffer (memory) 29 for temporarily storing video of the camera doorphone slave unit 4 obtained via the network 1, a video processing unit 30 for compressing video in the video buffer 29, A video output terminal 31 for monitoring the video in the video buffer 29 on a television (not shown), Signal terminal 32 for communicating control signals with bi, and a video input terminal 33 for recording video of the television.

  Here, the calendar clock in the CPU 21 is always calibrated by date / time information included in the digital broadcast. Further, when it is set to record the video of the camera doorphone main unit 3 when it is absent, the recording device has stopped driving the HDD 24 and the other components are in a ready state. At the same time as the acquisition of the video of the camera doorphone main unit 3 is started, the CPU 21 starts to drive the HDD 24, and when the HDD 24 is ready for recording, the video in the video buffer 29 is partitioned to a dedicated recording unit in the HDD 24. Control is performed so as to record in C (TV broadcast is recorded in B). Therefore, the image buffer 29 has a storage capacity of about 40 megabytes so that one video (30 seconds) of the video distributed from the camera doorphone master unit 3 can be stocked.

  The setting for recording the video of the camera doorphone main unit 3 when absent is performed by the remote control device on the television screen by the above-described GUI method, and the CPU 21 acquires the signal from the signal terminal 32. The video of the camera doorphone main unit 3 is recorded in the dedicated recording unit C of the HDD 24 because the video of the camera doorphone cannot be recorded when the recording capacity of the HDD 24 is full due to the recording of the television broadcast. This is to avoid that.

  Next, referring to FIG. 5, the recording operation taking the case of going out as an example will be described using the latter half of FIG. 4 and FIG. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the procedure of the recording operation of the present embodiment. The second half of FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a communication procedure for recording setting and video distribution.

  In FIG. 6, in S301, the user performs a recording setting operation. The procedure will be described in S210 to S213 in FIG.

  When the user operates the remote control device 12 to perform recording setting in S210, B (recording device 9) unicasts an event notification request packet to A (PLC adapter 2 for camera door phone). Send it out. Upon receiving this packet, A authenticates B using the MAC address included in the packet, and in S212, A is set to a mode in which an image is transmitted when the call button of the camera door phone slave unit 4 is pressed.

  Then, an event preparation completion packet informing B that the mode has been set is sent out by unicast, and the preparation for recording is completed. By this communication, in S302 of FIG. 6, the recording device 9 enters the above-described preparation (recording standby) state in which only the HDD 24 is stopped.

  In step S303, the camera door phone side is in a video transmission preparation state in which video can be transmitted. Next, when the camera door phone call button is pressed in S304, an image of the camera door phone is sent to the recording device in S305. Details of S303 to S305 will be described in S214 to S218 of FIG.

  When a visitor presses a call button (not shown) of the camera door phone 4 in S214, A (PLC adapter 2 for camera door phone) also transmits an event occurrence packet to B (recording device 9) in S215. Send by cast. Upon receiving this packet, B, in S216, sends a video request packet attached with the password A acquired from A and the ID of its own device B to A by unicast.

  Upon receiving this video request packet, A authenticates B with password A and ID in S217, and distributes video data to B in the next S218. In this case, information about the time when the call button is pressed is attached to the video data to be distributed.

  In this way, since A authenticates B not only with the MAC address but also with the password and ID, it does not occur that the video is transmitted to a nearby recording device as described at the beginning.

  Returning again to FIG. In S <b> 306, the video acquired from the camera door phone is temporarily stored in the video buffer 29. When the recording device 9 receives the event notification of S215 in FIG. 4, the CPU 21 drives the HDD 24 (S307), and the recording preparation is completed in the process of storing the video in the video buffer 29 (S308). The video stored in the video buffer 29 is sequentially recorded on the HDD 24. When the recording is finished in S310, the drive of the HDD 24 is stopped in S311 and the process returns to S304 to prepare for the next recording operation.

  Next, a method for correcting the time of the camera door phone master unit 3 will be described with reference to FIG. The date / time when the call button is pressed is attached to the video distributed by the camera doorphone master unit 3. This date / time information is based on a calendar clock (timer) built in the camera doorphone master unit 3. Is required. This is because using the time received by the recording apparatus via the network does not guarantee that the transmission time on the network is always constant.

  FIG. 7A is a flowchart for explaining a procedure for correcting the time of a calendar clock built in the camera door phone by accessing the recording device from the camera door phone side, and FIG. 7B is accessed from the recording device side. 5 is a flowchart for explaining a procedure for correcting the time of a calendar clock built in the camera door phone.

  First, FIG. 7A will be described. When the door phone adapter 2 reaches a predetermined time (for example, 0 o'clock) from the built-in calendar clock in S401, the doorphone adapter 2 sends a time request packet attached with its predetermined time information to the recording device 9 by unicast in S402. Receiving this packet, the recording device 9 grasps the error based on the time obtained by the digital television broadcast in S403 or the information of the own calendar clock timed by the digital broadcast.

  Next, in S404, the error information (for example, minus 10 seconds) is sent to the door phone adapter 2 by unicast as a regular time response packet. Receiving this packet, the door phone adapter 2 corrects the time of its own calendar clock in S405, and sends a correction notification packet indicating that the time is corrected in S406 to the recording apparatus 9 by unicast. Accordingly, the recording apparatus can confirm that the time on the camera door phone side has been corrected (S407).

  In the above description, the time request packet is transmitted from the doorphone adapter 2 to the recording device 9 with the own time attached, and error information is received from the recording device 9 to correct the time. It is not limited to. For example, only the time request packet may be transmitted from the doorphone adapter 2, the regular time may be received from the recording device 9, and the time of the doorphone adapter may be corrected with the received time.

  Also, the delay time from when the doorphone adapter 2 sends a time request packet to the recording device 9 until it receives error information or regular time from the recording device 9 varies depending on the network status and has an allowable range (for example, 1 second). May exceed. Therefore, it is desirable that the door phone adapter 2 monitors the delay time and corrects the time of the door phone adapter 2 by trusting the error information only when the error information is received within 1 second, for example.

  Next, FIG. 7B will be described. When the predetermined time (for example, 0 o'clock) comes in S501, the recording device 9 multicasts a time information packet based on the time obtained by digital television broadcasting or the information of its own calendar clock timed by receiving digital broadcasting in S502. To send.

  The door phone adapter 2 that has received this packet corrects the time of its own calendar clock (timer) in S503, and sends the time correction packet indicating that it has been corrected in S504 to the recording apparatus 9 by unicast. Thus, the recording device 9 can confirm that the time on the camera door phone side has been corrected (S505).

  As described above, the recording system of the present invention can record the video of an imaging device such as a camera in a specific area of a video recording device, and has a much larger capacity than that recorded in the imaging device. Since recording is possible and the recording area is specified, there is little occurrence of recording omission.

  In addition, since the time of the calendar clock held by the imaging viewing device itself is corrected based on the time information obtained from the digital television broadcast, the date / time of the recorded image can be accurately maintained.

  The present invention can be widely applied to recording systems in which an imaging apparatus and a recording apparatus connected via a network register and authenticate each other and record captured images in the recording apparatus.

The figure which shows the structural example of the video recording system with which this invention is applied. The figure which shows the external appearance of the PLC adapter for camera door phones of Embodiment 1 of this invention The figure which shows the operation procedure of the user for the same registration / authentication setting The figure which shows the communication procedure for the same registration setting, recording setting and video distribution The figure which shows the structural example inside the video recording apparatus of Embodiment 2 of this invention. Flow chart for explaining the procedure of the recording operation Flowchart for explaining the procedure for correcting the same time

Explanation of symbols

1 Network 1a, 1b, 1c Information outlet 2, 5, 7 PLC adapter (door phone adapter)
2a Registration button 2b Display lamp 3 Camera door phone master unit 4 Camera door phone slave unit 6 Network camera 9 Recording device 12 Remote control device

Claims (6)

A server connectable to a network with at least one terminal device that can be set to a registration mode for a predetermined time;
The terminal device
A transmission unit that transmits a time request packet for requesting transmission of date and time information to the server;
A receiving unit for receiving date and time information from the server as a response to the transmitted time request packet;
A first timer capable of calibrating the date and time based on the date and time information received by the receiving unit,
The server
A receiving unit for receiving the time request packet from the terminal device;
A second timer indicating the date and time;
A transmission unit that transmits a time response packet to which date and time information indicated by the second timer is added to the terminal device in response to the reception unit receiving the time request packet;
The transmitting unit transmits a search packet by multicast to all terminal devices connected to the network in order to search for terminal devices set in the registration mode,
The receiving unit receives a response packet from the terminal device in the registration mode that has received the search packet;
The transmission unit transmits an authentication request packet with an ID identifying itself to the terminal device that transmitted the response packet,
The receiving unit receives a first password generated by a terminal device that has received the authentication request packet;
Based on the received first password, further comprising a registration unit for registering the terminal device that has generated the first password in its own device,
server. A terminal device connected to the server according to claim 1,
A control unit that measures a delay time from when the time request packet is transmitted to when the time response packet is received; and when the delay time is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, a control unit that controls to prohibit calibration of the first timer In addition,
Terminal device.   A server system comprising the server according to claim 1 and the terminal device according to claim 2. When the terminal device is a camera device and the server is a recording device,
The camera device has event notification means for transmitting an event notification to the recording device when an event occurs,
When receiving the event notification, the recording device transmits an image acquisition request packet with the ID and the password added thereto to the camera device, and the camera device records the captured image after at least authentication with the password. And the recording device records the received captured image on a recording medium.
The server system according to claim 3. The camera device is a door phone, and the network is a home power line communication network;
The server system according to claim 4.   The transmission unit in the server transmits the second password generated by the own device to the terminal device together with the ID for identifying the own device,
  The terminal device generates the same password as the received second password as the first password.
  The server system according to claim 3.

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