JPH0877468A - Monitor device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To record information before and after an important event occurs successively in real time and securely store the information for a long period. CONSTITUTION: This device is equipped with a video camera 2a which picks up an image of an object to be monitored, a microphone 2b which picks up the sound of the object to be monitored, a compressing circuit 3 which compresses the video signal from the video camera 2a and the sound signal from the microphone 2b, a 1st storage device 7 wherein the output of the compressing circuit 3 is recorded endlessly for a specific time, a 2nd storage device 8 wherein the reproduced signal from the 1st storage device 7 is stored for a long period, an abnormality recognizing circuit 5 which analyzes the contents of the video signal from the video camera 2a and the sound signal from the microphone 2b and detects the occurrence of an abnormal event, and a recording control circuit 6 which places the 1st storage device 7 in a reproduction state for a certain time when the abnormality recognizing circuit 5 detects the abnormal event and places the 2nd storage device 8 in a recording state during the reproduction period of the 1st storage device 7.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a monitoring device used in shops, banks and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In stores, banks and the like, surveillance devices such as security cameras are provided for crime prevention or for recording when a crime occurs.

In a conventional monitoring device, video signals and audio signals from a security camera are recorded in an intermittent operation type magnetic recording device called a time rasp recorder. This time rasp recorder records a signal from a security camera frame by frame at a constant time interval of several seconds to several tens of seconds, and can continuously record several tens of hours.

[0004]

However, since this time rasp recorder records signals only intermittently, important information such as the moment of crime occurrence and the clothing of the suspect's robe is recorded. Sometimes there is not. Moreover, since the records were intermittent, it was not possible to know the details of the behavior of the suspect.

It is also conceivable to continuously record the signal from the security camera in the magnetic recording device, but in this case, the continuous recording time is at most several hours due to the limitation of the length of the magnetic tape used. It is impractical because the tape must be replaced at regular intervals.

It is also conceivable that a person may operate the apparatus to start recording, but it is dangerous to operate the apparatus in a state where recording is required considering the characteristics of the security camera. This is also impractical because it is complicated and easy to forget.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to be able to continuously record the information before and after the occurrence of an important event in real time and to reliably store the information for a long period of time.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, a monitoring device of the present invention includes a video information detecting device for detecting video information of a monitoring target, and an audio information detecting device for detecting acoustic information of the monitoring target. A compression circuit that compresses a video signal from the video information detection device and an audio signal from the audio information detection device; a first storage device that records the output of the compression circuit endlessly for a predetermined time; A second storage device capable of recording a reproduction signal from the storage device and storing it for a long period of time, and analyzing the contents of at least one of the video signal from the video information detection device and the audio signal from the audio information detection device. An abnormality recognition circuit that detects the occurrence of an abnormal event by means of the above-mentioned method, and when the abnormality recognition circuit detects the occurrence of an abnormal event, the first storage device is brought into a regenerating state for a certain period of time, Characterized by comprising a second storage device in a location of the playback period from a recording control circuit for a recording state.

[0009]

In the monitoring device of the present invention, the first storage device is constantly performing a recording operation, and in the steady state, the video information and the audio information in the vicinity of the monitoring target are recorded endlessly for a fixed time. When the occurrence of an abnormal event is detected by the abnormality recognition circuit, the reproduction operation in the first storage device is started, the recording operation in the second storage device is started, and the original state is restored after a predetermined time. Therefore, in the second storage device, the video information and the audio information in the vicinity of the monitoring target before and after the occurrence of the abnormal event are held.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The features of the present invention will be specifically described below based on embodiments with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the monitoring apparatus of the present invention.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a plurality of monitoring units arranged at different locations in a building to be monitored. Each monitoring unit 1 includes a monitoring camera device 2 including a video camera 2a such as a CCD camera and a microphone 2b, a compression circuit 3 for compressing a video signal from the video camera 2a and an audio signal from the microphone 2b, and presence or movement of a human body. Human body sensor 4 to detect, video camera 2a
From the human body sensor 4 and the video signal from the microphone 2b and the audio signal from the microphone 2b, and analyze the contents of these signals to detect whether or not an abnormal situation has occurred. A recording control circuit 6 for controlling a recording / reproducing operation of a storage device described later based on the output of
A first storage device 7 for endlessly storing a compressed signal from the compression circuit 3 for a certain period of time, a second storage device 8 for recording information reproduced from the first storage device 7 and storing it for a long period of time. The information reproduced from the second storage device 8 is transmitted to the central management system 11 installed in the security company via the communication line 10 such as a telephone line, and
A communication circuit 9 for receiving various instructions from the centralized management system 11 is provided.

As the human body sensor 4, for example, an infrared sensor, a Doppler radar or the like is used. A hard disk device or a solid state file including a semiconductor memory is used as the first storage device 7, and a magnetic tape such as a video tape recorder is used as the second storage device 8. A recording / playback device is used.

The centralized management system 11 includes a communication circuit 12 for communicating with each monitoring unit 1 via a communication line 10.
A control circuit 13 for controlling the centralized management system 11 as a whole; a decompression circuit 14 for decompressing the compressed video signal and audio signal to restore the original signal; and a video camera 2a based on the restored video signal. A video display device 15 that displays the captured video, and a sound output device 1 that outputs the sound picked up by the microphone 2b based on the restored sound signal.
6, a keyboard for giving various instructions to each monitoring unit 1, a lamp for displaying an abnormality occurrence, and a C
An operation panel 17 including an RT display is provided. The control circuit 13 receives information from each of the monitoring units 1 and supplies the information to the video output device 15 and the audio output device 16 via the expansion circuit 14 and various instructions input from the operation panel 17. Processing for sending out to the monitoring unit 1 is performed.

Next, the operation of the above-mentioned monitoring device will be described. Here, a case where the inside of the store after the store is closed is monitored by a plurality of monitoring units 1 arranged at various places in the store will be described as an example. The video signal from the video camera 2a and the audio signal from the microphone 2b are recorded in the compression circuit 3, and the data amount is compressed by encoding or the like. Various compression methods can be adopted. For example, MPE
G (moving picture coding e)
A standardized coding method called an xperts group method that uses both intra-frame coding and inter-frame coding can be adopted.

The compressed data from the compression circuit 3 is constantly supplied to the first storage device 7. The first storage device 7 can switch between a recording mode and a reproduction mode by a mode switching signal from the recording control circuit 6. In the normal state, the first storage device 7 is in the recording mode, and
The storage device 7 records the compressed data for a fixed time from the compression circuit 3 endlessly. Further, the second storage device 8 is in a stopped state in a normal state, and is in a recording state when the first storage device 7 is reproduced.

For example, when the first storage device 7 is a solid state file composed of a semiconductor memory, the compressed data is written in order from the top address of the memory, and when the memory area is full, the first writing is performed. Overwrite from the address. Solid-state files can be used semi-permanently because they have no mechanical moving parts. Similarly, in the case of a hard disk device, data is sequentially and continuously recorded in each sector and track on a rotating hard disk. In the hard disk device, the hard disk is always rotating, and the write / read head is floating above the surface of the hard disk due to the airflow generated by the rotation of the hard disk, so that the surface of the hard disk is not worn. Therefore, it is possible to use it for a very long period of several months to several years.

As a result, information is recorded in the first memory device 7 from the present time to a time point traced back by a fixed time corresponding to the storage capacity of the first memory device 7. In the normal state, as described above, the recorded contents of the first storage device 7 are constantly updated with the latest information for a fixed period. That is, the first storage device 7 functions as an endless storage device.

Next, a suspicious person enters the store and the human body sensor 4
When passing the vicinity of, the output of the human body sensor 4 is supplied to the abnormality recognition circuit 5. The abnormality recognition circuit 5 determines that an abnormality has occurred when the human body sensor 4 outputs.

When the window glass is broken or the door is opened, the sound generated at that time is picked up by the microphone 2b and supplied to the abnormality recognition circuit 5. In the anomaly recognition circuit 5, the pattern of the frequency component and the amplitude component of the input signal in the audible frequency range is the sound pattern generated when the pre-registered window glass is broken, or the door is pryed open. In this case, it is determined whether or not it matches the sound pattern that occurs, and when they match, it is determined that an abnormality has occurred.

Further, the video signal from the video camera 2a is supplied to the abnormality recognition circuit 5, and it is determined whether or not there is a change in the video within the imaging range, that is, whether or not a moving object exists within the imaging range. This moving body discrimination can be detected by, for example, examining whether or not there is a difference in the contents of the video signal at two time points separated by a certain time. That is, when there is a difference in the contents of the two video signals, it is determined that an abnormality has occurred. It is also possible to determine that an abnormality has occurred when a pattern other than a predetermined pattern registered in advance appears in the video content.

As described above, by supplying the outputs of the video camera 2a, the microphone 2b, and the human body sensor 4 to the abnormality recognition circuit 5, various situations can be dealt with.

When the abnormality recognition circuit 5 determines that an abnormality has occurred, an abnormality detection signal is supplied from the abnormality recognition circuit 5 to the recording control circuit 6, and the first storage device 7 is switched from the recording mode to the reproduction mode. The recording operation of the second storage device 8 is started, and the information of the latest fixed period recorded in the first storage device 7 is recorded in the second storage device 8.
Information recorded in the first storage device 7 is stored in the second storage device 8
When the recording is performed on the first storage device 7, the first storage device 7 is set to the recording mode again, and the recording operation of the second storage device 8 is stopped.

By the above-mentioned operation, the first
The reproduction operation of the storage device 7 for a certain period of time and the recording operation of the second storage device 8 for a certain period of time synchronized with this reproduction operation are repeated. Therefore, the fixed image information and the audio information immediately before the occurrence of the abnormal event are sequentially recorded in the second storage device 8 every time the abnormal event occurs.

When the abnormality recognizing circuit 5 determines that an abnormality has occurred, the communication circuit 9 together with the identification data indicating from which monitoring unit the abnormality occurrence data indicating that the abnormality has occurred. And a centralized management system 11 installed in the security company via the communication line 10.
Sent to. This abnormality occurrence data is supplied to the control circuit 13 via the communication circuit 12, and the operation panel 17 displays where and what kind of abnormality has occurred.
Further, at the same time that the information recorded in the first storage device 7 is reproduced and recorded in the second storage device 8, the reproduction signal from the first storage device 7 is transferred to the central management system 11 via the communication line 10. It is supplied to the control circuit 13, and further the expansion circuit 1
At 4, the original video signal and audio signal are restored and supplied to the video output device 15 and the audio output device 16 to reproduce the video and sound immediately before the occurrence of the abnormal event. The first storage device 7
After the information recorded in 1 is reproduced, real-time information from the video camera 2a and the microphone 2b may be transmitted automatically or based on an instruction from the operation panel 17.

As a result, the security company can know the details of the abnormality, and can take appropriate measures such as dispatching security personnel and notifying the police station in charge.

In addition, by giving an activation instruction from the operation panel 17 to the recording control circuit 6 of the monitoring unit 1 other than the monitoring unit that has detected the abnormality, another monitoring unit near the monitoring unit that has detected the abnormality Also, as recording to the second storage device 8 is started, real-time information is transmitted through the communication line 10, and the central management system 11 side can easily grasp the intruder's intrusion route and escape route. it can.

Further, by issuing an instruction from the operation panel 17 to the recording control circuit 6 of the monitoring unit 1 to reproduce the second storage device 8, the data is recorded in the second storage device 8 on the central management system 11 side. The state of past abnormal events can also be known. The second storage device 8 of the monitoring unit 1
It is also possible to directly connect a television monitor to and reproduce the recorded contents of the second storage device 8.

In the above-mentioned embodiments, the crime prevention device has been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this, and is also applied to the monitoring of abnormal events in chemical plants and manufacturing plants, for example. can do.

[0030]

As described above, in the present invention, the status of the monitored object is always recorded in the first storage device endlessly, and the reproduction operation is performed in the first storage device when an abnormal event occurs. The reproduced signal is recorded in the second storage device that can be stored for a long period of time. This allows
The situation at the time of occurrence of an abnormal event can be reliably retained without being limited by the recordable time of the first storage device that performs endless recording.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a monitoring device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Surveillance unit, 2 ... Surveillance camera device, 2a ... Video camera, 2b ... Microphone, 3 ... Compression circuit, 4 ... Human body sensor, 5 ... Abnormality recognition circuit, 6 ... Recording control circuit, 7 ... First storage device, 8 ... second memory device, 9 ... communication circuit, 10 ...
Communication line, 11 ... Centralized control system, 12 ... Communication circuit,
13 ... Control circuit, 14 ... Expansion circuit, 15 ... Video display device, 16 ... Acoustic display device, 17 ... Operation panel

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A video information detection device for detecting video information of a monitoring target, an audio information detection device for detecting audio information of a monitoring target, a video signal from the video information detection device, and an audio information detection device from the audio information detection device. A compression circuit for compressing an audio signal, a first storage device for endlessly recording an output of the compression circuit for a predetermined time, and a second storage device for recording a reproduction signal from the first storage device and storing it for a long period of time. A device, an abnormality recognition circuit that analyzes the content of at least one of a video signal from the video information detection device and an audio signal from the acoustic information detection device to detect the occurrence of an abnormal event, and the abnormality recognition circuit A recording system that puts the first storage device into a reproduction state for a certain period of time when an abnormal event is detected, and puts the second storage device into a recording state during the reproduction period of the first storage device. A monitoring device comprising a control circuit.