JPH10191295A - Video conference device having monitoring function - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily realize the function of monitoring and to control an external unit connected to an opposite terminal by adding the monitoring function to a video conference device and exchanging a pad with a private operation pad. SOLUTION: When the operation pad 4 is connected to the private pad instead of an operation pad used for a regular video conference device, the regular video conference device automatically judges so that the monitoring function is automatically executed. When the terminal key of the private pad is depressed, information that a sub-address is monitored is added and a call is made. An incoming terminal automatically receives the call and it functions as the slave machine for monitoring. Information on the terminal during monitoring is easily obtained by transmitting connection information constituted of the terminal name of the salve machine and a camera number. A code which is set by depressing the key of the private pad is sent and the slave machine can be controlled.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video conference apparatus having a plurality of surveillance cameras and having a monitoring function in which the surveillance cameras are driven based on an instruction from the surveillance apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, a conventional video conference apparatus is provided as a dedicated device for monitoring. Therefore, it is usually used as a video conference device, and cannot be used as a monitoring device as needed. Even those having both functions require the device to be restarted once, or are used exclusively for the master unit or the slave unit, and do not easily respond to user requests.

[0003]

As described above, in the conventional video conference apparatus, the functions of the normal video conference and the monitoring function can be easily realized without restarting the video conference apparatus. Also, in the case of monitoring, when a call is made from oneself, a camera or the like of the partner terminal can be controlled as a master unit. When an external device is connected and a control signal is detected from the external device, a call can be made to a preset abbreviated number. When connected from the master unit, monitoring can be performed as a slave unit.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve these problems, and an operation pad used for control of a partner terminal in monitoring in a video conference apparatus connected to an ISDN conversion network, and an operation pad of the partner terminal after connection. Means for displaying a terminal name, means for requesting the other party to switch cameras, means for displaying camera information in accordance with camera information from the other party, means for transmitting a set arbitrary code to the other party, It has a monitoring function to call a preset abbreviated number upon request. According to the present invention having such a configuration, when a terminal is selected on the dedicated operation pad, a call is made to the corresponding abbreviated number. Upon receiving the incoming call, it automatically receives the incoming call and sends out connection information including the name of the terminal and the current camera name. Display the terminal information on the screen according to the connection information. If the camera key is pressed during connection, a camera switching command including the camera number is transmitted to the connected terminal, and camera information including the name of the switched camera is transmitted. If the camera information is received as well as the connection information, this information can be displayed on the screen.

[0005]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a video conference device having a monitoring function according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an operation pad used in a video conference device having a monitoring function according to the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of connection information of a video conference device having a monitoring function, FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a display screen of the video conference device having a monitoring function of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a monitoring function of the present invention. It is a figure explaining the command sequence of the video conference device which has. In FIG. 1, in the video conference apparatus having a monitoring function of the present invention, 1 is a system control unit for performing operation control, 2 is an ISDN interface, 3 is a moving image, an audio codec, and 4 is an operation pad. . In the operation pad of FIG. 2, 5 is a terminal key, 6 is a camera key, and 7 is an expansion key. The operation will be described with reference to FIGS. A dedicated operation pad shown in FIG. 2 is connected instead of an operation pad used in a normal video conference device. When the connection of the operation pad is detected, the ordinary video conference apparatus automatically determines to perform the monitoring function automatically. When the terminal key 5 of the dedicated operation pad is pressed, a call is made by adding information indicating that monitoring is to be performed to the subaddress. In other words, the call is made by monitoring using the dedicated operation pad. The terminal that receives the incoming call automatically receives the call regardless of the state of the video conference or the monitoring, and connects as a monitoring slave unit. When the monitoring mode (or the slave unit) is set by the connection of the dedicated operation pad, the connection information including the information of FIG. 3 is transmitted to the monitoring device (or the master unit). This connection information includes the terminal name of the slave unit, the camera number, and the title of this camera number, and this information is resent if there is a request from the master unit during connection. The terminal that receives this information displays the partner terminal name and the current camera name on the screen as shown in FIG.
For this reason, the monitoring device can easily acquire the information of the terminal performing the monitoring. When the camera key is pressed in the dedicated operation pad, a camera switching command is sent to the slave unit. When a camera switching command is received, the camera is switched and the current connection information is transmitted.
When this connection information is received, it is displayed on the screen and updated. A key that can be set arbitrarily is arranged on the dedicated operation pad. When this key is pressed, the set code is transmitted to the partner terminal. When the receiving side receives these keys, the code is passed to the external device as it is,
For example, by connecting a VTR, this control can be viewed from the parent device side. If this value is input from an external device by setting an alarm code from the external device, a call is automatically made to the terminal set to the shortening 99. At this time, a call is executed in the same manner as the call by the dedicated operation pad. These are the procedures shown in FIG.

[0006]

As described above, according to the present invention, monitoring can be used by adding a monitoring function to a video conference device and replacing it with a dedicated operation pad, and a call can be made to a terminal having a short number set with one key. be able to. With this operation pad, the camera can be switched, and an external device connected to the partner terminal can be controlled. In addition, since a call is made with information indicating monitoring being added to the sub-address, the call is determined and the sub address operates as a monitoring slave without switching modes. These allow the usual video conferencing and monitoring functions to be used effectively.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a video conference apparatus having a monitoring function according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an operation pad used in a video conference device having a monitoring function according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of connection information of a video conference device having a monitoring function according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a display screen of a video conference device having a monitoring function according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a command sequence of the video conference device having the monitoring function of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 System control 2 ISDN interface 3 Video and audio codec 4 Operation pad 5 Terminal key 6 Camera key 7 Expansion key

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A video conference device connected to a communication line and having a monitoring function based on an instruction from a monitoring device, wherein a plurality of monitoring cameras and one of the plurality of monitoring cameras are controlled by an instruction from the monitoring device. Driving means for driving at least one camera, and transfer means for transferring the management number of the monitoring camera driven by the driving means, photographing information of the monitoring camera, and the like to the monitoring device. A video conference device having a monitoring function.