JPH0846936A - Bidirectional broadcast system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To effectively execute bidirectional broadcast by separately using a broadcast function for distributing picture data from a broadcast equipment file to the monitor of a terminal and a monitor function for collecting monitor picture data from the camera of the terminal and accumulating it in a monitor picture file. CONSTITUTION:At the time of driving a broadcast system, the bidirectional broadcast management device 1 of a broadcast station A reads a broadcast picture file 7 and distributes picture data to the picture input/output devices 2 of the respective terminals B through a network 3. When the devices 2 receive picture data, they display pictures on the monitor 4. At the time of driving a monitor system, the picture input/output devices 2 transfer picture data inputted from the cameras 5 installed in the terminals B to the bidirectional broadcast management device 1 through the network 3. The device 1 accumulates received picture data in the monitor picture file 8. Thus, the broadcast system and the monitor system can be managed and operated only by installing one device 1.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a bidirectional broadcasting technique, and more particularly to a technique effectively applied to various operations of a bidirectional broadcasting system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, with the development of information processing technology and information communication technology, a base station storing still images and moving images and a plurality of terminals equipped with an image display device such as a monitor are connected via a communication line. Individually connect and deliver general image data such as news from the base station to the terminal, or deliver image data such as specific news and movies to specific terminals in response to requests from customers on the terminal side It is possible to have a broadcasting format such as. On the other hand, it is known to construct a crime prevention system by transmitting image data of a surveillance camera installed in a desired surveillance target to a management center or the like via a communication line to store and manage the image data.

Regarding the surveillance device, for example, as in the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-183289, a television receiver is provided with an input for surveillance reception of a normal television broadcast and a surveillance video camera. A technique is known in which an input is provided and a television broadcast and a monitor image are mixedly displayed on the screen of one receiver.

[0004]

As described above, in the conventional technique, the broadcasting system for distributing the image data and the monitoring system for accumulating the monitoring data are independent, so that both the broadcasting system and the monitoring system are required. In that case, it will be uneconomical to set up both of them,
There is a problem. In addition, it is necessary to separately manage and operate the broadcasting system and the monitoring system, which causes a problem that the management and operation work becomes complicated.

Further, in the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 183289/1987, an image from a surveillance camera is simply input to a television receiver, and bidirectional image data transfer is not considered.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a bidirectional broadcasting technique capable of economically constructing both the broadcasting function and the monitoring function.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a bidirectional broadcasting technique capable of efficiently managing and operating a system having both a broadcasting function and a monitoring function.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a bidirectional broadcasting technique capable of various operations of a broadcasting function and a monitoring function.

[0009]

A bidirectional broadcasting system of the present invention has an area for accumulating image data to be broadcast (output), a broadcasting function for outputting the image data to be output to a monitor of the terminal, and a terminal side. It has an area for storing monitored (input) image data, and includes a monitoring function for storing the input image data and a control function for controlling the operating states of the broadcasting function and the monitoring function.

The control function may include a sensor drive function that is equipped with a sensor for discriminating a time zone from a change in environmental conditions and that drives a broadcast function when it is bright and a monitoring function when it is dark.

The control function is provided with a drive time zone customizing function including a timer table or the like by which the management operator can arbitrarily define the operation time zones of the broadcasting function and the monitoring function, and the broadcast time is based on the contents of the timer table. A timer driving function for controlling the broadcasting function and the monitoring function by managing each of the band and the monitoring time period can be included.

Whether the control function operates by using one or both of the information of the sensor and the timer table can be arbitrarily set by the management operator by the drive control customizing function.

[0013]

[Operation] With the drive control customization function, the user can
The drive control method can be customized by setting a pre-defined drive control code.

With the drive time zone customization function, the user can set the predefined broadcast time and monitoring time in the timer table as the broadcast time zone and the monitoring time zone, respectively.

The timer drive function manages a broadcast time zone, a monitoring time zone, and a current time obtained from a timer, etc., which are defined in advance by the drive time zone customizing function, and the current time reaches a defined start time. In this case, the broadcasting system or the monitoring system is activated, and when the current time reaches the defined end time, the broadcasting system or the monitoring system can be ended.

The sensor driving function is capable of discriminating the time zone from the environmental condition, for example, driving the broadcasting system when it is bright and driving the monitoring system when it is dark.

The interactive broadcasting system has the following functions.
The still image / moving image data is accumulated and delivered to the monitors of a plurality of terminals, and the operation of accumulating the image data from the cameras installed on the terminals is properly executed.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of a two-way broadcasting system which is an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of the configuration of an interactive broadcasting station that constitutes the interactive broadcasting system of the present embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of the configuration of a terminal that constitutes the interactive broadcasting system of the present embodiment. 4 and 5 are conceptual diagrams showing examples of various control information used for control operation of the interactive broadcasting system of the present embodiment. Further, FIG. 6, FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 are flowcharts showing an example of the operation of the interactive broadcasting system of the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the interactive broadcasting system according to this embodiment includes an interactive broadcasting station A, a plurality of terminals B, and
The network 3 which connects these mutually is included. The interactive broadcast station A includes an interactive broadcast management device 1, an image data storage device 6 that stores image data, and a brightness sensor 9. The brightness sensor 9 is not limited to being installed at the installation location of the interactive broadcasting station A, but may be installed and connected to the side of the terminal B to broadcast information such as the brightness of the environment through the network 3. The configuration may be such that it is transmitted to the station A. The image data storage device 6 stores a broadcast image file 7 that stores broadcast image information and a monitor image file 8 that stores monitor information.

On the other hand, each of the plurality of terminals B has an image input / output device 2 for controlling the exchange of image data with the interactive broadcast station A, a monitor 4 and a camera connected to the image input / output device 2. Includes 5. The monitor 4 operates to display the image data coming from the interactive broadcast station A via the network 3 to the user of the terminal B. Camera 5
Performs an operation of, for example, capturing a monitor image of the installation environment of the terminal B to which it is connected and inputting it to the image input / output device 2 as monitor image data.

As shown in FIG. 2, the interactive broadcast management apparatus 1 provided in the interactive broadcast station A receives commands, data, etc. from an operator 10 who performs a customization operation for system management operation. An input device (not shown), a drive control table updating mechanism 11 that updates the drive control table 12 according to the instruction of the operator 10, a timer table updating mechanism 16 that updates the timer table 17 according to the instruction of the operator 10, and a timer that manages and outputs the current time. Mechanism 18, a timer management mechanism 19 for collating the set value of the timer table 17 with the current time output from the timer mechanism 18, a sensor control mechanism 14 for controlling the brightness sensor 9, and a sensor for accepting an interrupt from the sensor control mechanism 14. From the management mechanism 15 and the drive control table 12, the sensor management mechanism 15 and the And a drive control mechanism 13 for controlling the Ma management mechanism 19.

Under the drive control mechanism 13, the external storage device input / output mechanism 2 is driven by the drive control mechanism 13.
Broadcast system control mechanism 2 for inputting image data from 5 and transmitting the image data to the image data transmission / reception control mechanism 22.
0, an image data transmission / reception control mechanism 22, a monitoring system control mechanism 21 for inputting image data from the image data transmission / reception control mechanism 22 and storing the image data in the external storage device input / output mechanism 25, and an image data transmission mechanism for transmitting the image data from the image data transmission / reception control mechanism 22 to the network 3. 23, an image data receiving mechanism 24 for receiving the monitoring image data from the network 3 and transmitting the monitoring image data to the image data transmission / reception control mechanism 22 is provided.

The image input / output device 2 provided in each of the plurality of terminals B receives the broadcast image data from the network 3 and sends the broadcast image data to the image output mechanism 28, as shown in FIG. An image output board 30 that captures image data from the receiving mechanism 26 and the image output mechanism 28 and outputs an image to the monitor 4, an image input board 31 that captures monitoring image data from the camera 5, and an image input mechanism that receives the captured monitoring image data. 29, an image data transmission mechanism 27 for receiving the monitoring image data from the image input mechanism 29 and transmitting it to the network 3.

In FIG. 1, the interactive broadcast management apparatus 1 is
When the broadcasting system is driven, the broadcasting image file 7 stored in the image data storage device 6 is read and transferred to each image input / output device 2 via the network. Upon receiving the broadcast image data, the image input / output device 2 displays an image on the monitor 4 according to the image data. When the monitoring system is driven, the image input / output device 2 transmits the monitoring image data input from the camera 5 to the interactive broadcast management device 1 via the network 3. The interactive broadcast management device 1 stores the received monitoring image data in the monitoring image file 8 of the image data storage device 6.

A drive control code 32 is set in the drive control table 12 as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, the timer table 17 stores the broadcast time zone 37 and the monitoring time zone 38 input by the operator 10. The broadcasting time zone 37 is composed of a broadcasting system start time 33 and a broadcasting system end time 34, and the monitoring time zone 38 is a monitoring system start time 35 and a monitoring system end time 36.
It consists of

An example of the operation of the interactive broadcasting system of this embodiment will be described below.

First, to explain the overall operation, the bidirectional broadcast management apparatus 1 of the bidirectional broadcast station A reads the broadcast image file 7 when the bidirectional broadcast management apparatus 1 drives the broadcasting system, and The image data is distributed to the B image input / output device 2 via the network 3. Upon receiving the image data, the image input / output device 2 displays the image on the monitor 4. When driving the surveillance system, the image input / output device 2 transfers the image data input from the camera 5 installed in the terminal B to the interactive broadcast management device 1 via the network 3. The interactive broadcast management device 1 stores the received image data in the monitoring image file 8.

In the interactive broadcast management apparatus 1, the operator 10 previously customizes the drive control table 12 by using the drive control table updating mechanism 11 so that desired control operation is executed (step 50: FIG. 8 steps 50a to 50f). As illustrated in FIG. 4, a drive control code 32 is defined in the drive control table 12, and the drive control mechanism 13 drives the drive control code 3.
According to 2, it can be determined whether the sensor drive control method or the timer drive control method.

That is, in the initial setting process of FIG. 8, an input is accepted from the operator 10 (step 50).
a) It is determined whether or not the sensor drive control mode is designated (step 50b), and if it is designated, the sensor drive control mode (01) is set as the drive control code 32 in the drive control table 12. Further, it is determined whether or not the timer drive control mode is designated (step 50d). When the timer drive control mode is designated, the drive control code 32 is displayed in the drive control table 12.
The timer drive control mode (02) is set as (step 50e), and the operator 10 sets an arbitrary broadcast time zone 37 and monitoring time zone 3 in the timer table 17.
8 is registered (step 50f).

After that, it is judged whether or not the sensor drive control mode is set (step 51). In the case of the sensor drive control method, the brightness sensor 9 is "dark" based on the light / dark state of the installation environment of the brightness sensor 9. And "bright" are input to the sensor control mechanism 14 and the sensor control mechanism 14 notifies the sensor management mechanism 15 (step 52).

When the sensor management mechanism 15 catches "bright", it transmits the light / dark code "bright" to the drive control mechanism 13. When the drive control mechanism 13 receives the light / dark code "bright", it notifies the monitoring system control mechanism 21. The end of the monitoring operation is notified (step 53), and after the end, it is further checked whether or not the broadcasting system control mechanism 20 is operating. If it is stopped, the broadcasting system control mechanism 20 is driven (steps 54 to 55).

When the sensor management mechanism 15 catches "dark", it transmits the light-dark code "dark" to the drive control mechanism 13. The drive control mechanism 13 notifies the broadcast system control mechanism 20 when it receives the light-dark code "dark". The end of broadcasting is notified (step 57), and after completion, it is checked whether or not the monitoring system control mechanism 21 is operating. If it is stopped, the monitoring system control mechanism 21 is activated (step 58 to step 59).

After the operations of these steps 52 to 55 and steps 57 to 59, it is monitored whether or not there is any intervention by the operator (step 56). If it is determined that there is any intervention, the initialization processing of step 50 is performed. If there is no operator intervention, the process returns to the brightness determination process by the brightness sensor 9 in step 52.

On the other hand, when it is determined in step 51 that the timer drive control mode is set (not in the sensor drive control mode), first, the timer management mechanism 19 acquires the set time from the timer table 17 (step 60), and the timer is further set. The current time is acquired from the mechanism 18 (step 6
1) The current time output from the timer mechanism 18 is compared with the broadcast time zone 37 and the monitoring time zone 38 (step 6).
2) The comparison result is transmitted to the drive control mechanism 13.

When the current time is in the broadcast time zone, the drive control mechanism 13 further checks whether or not the broadcast system control mechanism 20 is in operation, and if it is stopped, activates the broadcast system control mechanism 20 (step 63). ~ Step 64). If the current time is not in the broadcast time zone, first, the broadcast system control mechanism 20 is stopped (step 66), and it is further checked whether or not the current time is in the monitoring time zone (step 6).
7) If the current time is the monitoring time zone, it is checked whether or not the monitoring system control mechanism 21 is operating. If it is stopped, the monitoring system control mechanism 21 is activated (step 68 to step 69). If it is determined in step 67 that the current time is not in the monitoring time zone, the monitoring system control mechanism 21
Is stopped (step 70).

After the above steps 61 to 64 and steps 66 to 70, it is monitored whether or not there is any operator intervention (step 65). If it is determined that there is any intervention, the initialization processing of step 50 is performed. On the other hand, if there is no operator intervention, the management using the timer table 17 after the acquisition of the current time in step 61 is continued.

In step 55 and step 64, the broadcast system control mechanism 20 determines that the drive control mechanism 1 has been operated.
When started from 3, the broadcast image file 7 stored in the image data storage device 6 is read via the external storage device input / output mechanism 25, and the image data is transmitted to the image data transmission / reception control mechanism 22. Image data transmission / reception control mechanism 22
Sends the received image data to the image data transmitting mechanism 23, and sends it to the image input / output device 2 installed in each terminal B via the network 3. In the image input / output device 2, the image data receiving mechanism 2 receives the image data coming from the network 3.
6, the image output mechanism 28 writes the image data to the image output board 30. The image data written on the image board is output to the monitor 4.

In steps 59 and 69 described above, the monitoring system control mechanism 21 causes the drive control mechanism 1 to operate.
When started from 3, first, the image input / output device 2 of each terminal B is notified of the start of the collection of monitoring image data, and the camera 5 connected to the image input / output device 2 collects the monitoring image data. After starting, the reception of the monitoring image data from the terminal B side that arrives via the image data receiving mechanism 24 and the image data transmission / reception control mechanism 22 is started. The image input / output device 2 of the terminal B, which has been notified of the start of collecting the monitoring image data, activates the camera 5 to input the monitoring image data to the image input board 31, and further, the image input mechanism 29 and the image data transmitting mechanism. It is sent to the network 3 via 27.

As described above, according to the bidirectional broadcasting system of this embodiment, it is possible to manage and operate both the broadcasting system and the monitoring system by installing only one bidirectional broadcasting management device 1. Since the broadcasting system and the monitoring system do not have to be separately provided separately, the cost required for system construction can be significantly reduced, which is economical.

In addition, the timer table 17 which can automatically discriminate the time zone of day and night from the change of the brightness of the environment or which the operator 10 can arbitrarily set the contents at any time,
By setting management information such as an arbitrary broadcasting time zone 37 and a monitoring time zone 38, the daytime or the broadcasting time zone is automatically switched to the broadcasting system and the nighttime or the monitoring time zone is automatically switched to the monitoring system. Therefore, the management and operation of the interactive broadcasting system can be simplified and efficiently performed. Also, by combining the control by the brightness sensor 9 and the control by the timer table 17, various management operations can be easily performed.

In the above description of the embodiment, the case where the broadcasting system and the monitoring system operate exclusively to each other for the sake of simplification of description has been described, but the network 3, the terminal B and the interactive broadcasting station are described. If the information processing capability of the image data in A allows, both the broadcasting system and the monitoring system may be operated simultaneously in parallel.

Further, as the sensor, the case of using the brightness sensor for discriminating a specific time zone such as day and night depending on the brightness of the environment has been described, but for example, rainfall, snowfall,
A sensor that detects changes in weather such as temperature and pressure, and a sensor that determines the presence / absence of users and the number of users on the side of the terminal B are used to identify a specific time period, and the broadcasting system and monitoring are performed. The activation and deactivation of each of the systems may be controlled at will.

[0044]

According to the interactive broadcasting system of the present invention,
Both broadcasting and monitoring functions can be constructed economically,
The effect is obtained.

According to the bidirectional broadcasting system of the present invention, it is possible to effectively manage and operate a system having both a broadcasting function and a monitoring function.

According to the bidirectional broadcasting system of the present invention, it is possible to obtain the effect that various operations of the broadcasting function and the monitoring function can be performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of a bidirectional broadcasting system that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of the configuration of an interactive broadcast station included in the interactive broadcast system that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of the configuration on the terminal side included in the interactive broadcasting system that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of various control information used for a control operation of the interactive broadcasting system which is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of various control information used for a control operation of the interactive broadcasting system which is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the interactive broadcasting system that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the interactive broadcasting system that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the interactive broadcasting system that is an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Interactive broadcast management device, 2 ... Image input / output device, 3 ... Network (data communication means), 4 ... Monitor, 5 ... Camera, 6 ... Image data storage device, 7 ... Broadcast image file (broadcast image data storage means) ), 8 ... Monitoring image file (monitoring image data storage means), 9 ... Brightness sensor (sensor), 10 ... Operator (management operator), 11 ... Drive control table updating mechanism, 12 ... Drive control table, 13 ...
Drive control mechanism (operation control means), 14 ... Sensor control mechanism, 15 ... Sensor management mechanism, 16 ... Timer table updating mechanism, 17 ... Timer table, 18 ... Timer mechanism, 19
... Timer management mechanism, 20 ... Broadcast system control mechanism, 21
... monitoring system control mechanism, 22 ... image data transmission / reception control mechanism, 23 ... image data transmission mechanism (image data distribution means), 24 ... image data receiving mechanism, 25 ... external storage device input / output mechanism, 26 ... image data receiving mechanism, 27 ... Image data transmission mechanism, 28 ... Image output mechanism, 29 ... Image input mechanism, 30 ... Image output board, 31 ... Image input board, 3
2 ... Drive control code, 33 ... Broadcast system start time, 3
4 ... Broadcast system end time, 35 ... Monitoring system start time, 36 ... Monitoring system end time, 37 ... Broadcast time zone,
38 ... Monitoring time zone, A ... Interactive broadcasting station, B ... Terminal.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Tetsuro Otsuka 2-6-2 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Inside Hitachi Information Network, Inc.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A terminal including a monitor for displaying an image, a broadcast image data storage unit for storing broadcast image data including at least one of a still image and a moving image, and the broadcast image for the monitors of a plurality of the terminals. A broadcasting system including a host device including image data delivery means for delivering data, a data communication means for connecting the terminal and the host device, and a monitoring video of an installation environment connected to the terminal A monitoring system including a camera that captures image data as image data, and a monitoring image data storage unit that is provided in the host device and that stores the monitoring image data collected from the camera via the data communication unit, and the broadcast system. System and operation control means for controlling the start and stop of each of the monitoring systems. Directional broadcasting system. 2. The operation control means comprises a sensor for discriminating a specific time zone from a change in the state of the installation environment, and an operation of the broadcasting system and the monitoring system for each of the specific time zones obtained from the sensor. The bidirectional broadcasting system according to claim 1, further comprising: a control logic for controlling operation stop. 3. The operation control means sets a timer table in which operating hours of each of the broadcasting system and the monitoring system, which are arbitrarily set by a management operator, are stored, and the current time and the timer table are set. A control operation of operating the broadcasting system in the operating time zone of the broadcasting system and operating the monitoring system in the operating time zone of the monitoring system based on the operating time zone The bidirectional broadcasting system according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a control logic.