JPH1042275A - Monitor device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a highly precise still picture and a moving picture on a real time basis by holding encoding still picture data, connecting a line when the movement of the picture is detected, recording encoding moving picture data and transmitting selected picture data. SOLUTION: When the sum of the absolute values of moving vectors outputted from a moving picture data encoding part 2 is larger than a prescribed value, a movement detection part 9 sends a movement detection signal to a system control part 12. The system control part 12 connects the line by giving an instruction to a line control part 13 and transmits the picture at that point to a management center through a communication line. The latest moving picture data for a prescribed time is recorded in a moving picture data recording part 3 until the line is connected. The management center can select a transmission video through a picture data switching part 6. Thus, the management center can view moving picture data for the prescribed time immediately before moving picture data is actually transmitted on an almost real time basis, and can obtain the highly precise still picture.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a monitoring apparatus for transmitting image data obtained by photographing a monitoring area by an image pickup means to a management center via a communication line.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As this type of monitoring device, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No.
There is an "image monitoring apparatus" described in JP-A-215275. This monitoring device can minimize the memory capacity by compressing image data and audio data, and can speed up image data processing and transmission time. In this case, the contents can be confirmed in real time.

[0003]

However, in such a conventional apparatus, there is a limit to the compression of an image, particularly a moving image, and therefore, in order to construct a surveillance system with low cost and practical quality, An analog telephone line or a communication line
When using the ISDN of the basic interface, it is difficult to obtain clear image quality because thinning must be performed when real-time moving image data is obtained.
There was a problem with the image quality obtained.

Conversely, in order to satisfy both the real-time property and image quality of image information, it is necessary to use a dedicated communication line which is expensive to use, and the devices constituting the system are also expensive. There was a problem of becoming.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and provides a monitoring apparatus capable of obtaining a real-time moving image and a high-definition still image. The purpose is to:

It is another object of the present invention to provide a monitoring apparatus which can obtain a real-time moving image and can identify an ambiguous portion of the moving image with a still image with clearer image quality.

[0007] Further, there is provided a monitoring device which can be stored as still image data only when there is a motion in the monitoring area image, can reduce the storage capacity of the still image data recording means, and can be constituted by a low cost recording device. The purpose is to:

It is another object of the present invention to provide a monitoring device which enables control of recording of a high-definition still image from a management center, and can construct a system with good operability.

Further, by using the automatic focusing control as the motion detection, it is not necessary to keep the moving image data encoding means always in operation to detect the motion, thereby saving power. It is an object of the present invention to configure a motion detection unit with a simple configuration and to realize a system at low cost.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, an image data obtained by photographing a monitoring area by an imaging means is sent to a management center via a communication line. In the transmitting monitoring device, a motion detecting unit that detects a motion of an image in the monitoring area, a moving image data encoding unit that compresses and encodes image data obtained by the imaging unit as moving image data, Moving image data recording means for storing moving image data, still image data encoding means for compressing and encoding image data obtained by the imaging means as still image data, and encoding by each of these encoding means. An image data switching means for switching and selecting image data to be transmitted to the management center among the selected image data, and a motion of the image is detected by the motion detecting means. A control unit for connecting a line to transmit the moving image data stored in the moving image data recording unit to the management center; and transmitting the latest moving image data for a predetermined time until the line is connected to the moving image data. Moving image data recording control means to be stored in the recording means.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the monitoring device according to the first aspect, the monitoring apparatus further includes a still image data recording unit that stores the still image data encoded by the still image data encoding unit. Still image data recording control means for controlling to store still image data encoded every predetermined time in the still image data recording means at the time of motion detection by the motion detection means.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the monitoring apparatus according to the first aspect, further comprising a still image data recording unit for storing image data encoded by the still image data encoding unit, and Still image data recording control means for controlling the still image data recording means to store the still image data only when the detection means detects a movement equal to or more than a predetermined amount.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the monitoring apparatus according to the first aspect, further comprising a still image data recording unit for storing image data encoded by the still image data encoding unit, and a management unit. A control means for controlling the recording and reproduction of the still image data with respect to the still image data recording means based on a control signal from the center.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the monitoring device according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the motion detection means detects a change in a focus state by automatic focusing control of the imaging means. Thus, the motion of the image is detected.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

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

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an NTSC (National Televis) video signal from a video camera.
camera signal processing unit for performing signal processing such as decoding, A / D conversion, etc.
2 converts the image data A / D converted by the camera signal processing unit 1 into ITU-T Recommendation H.2. A moving image data encoding unit 3 for compressing and encoding the moving image data in the format specified by H.261, and a moving image data recording unit 3 for storing the moving image data encoded by the moving image data encoding unit 2 Reference numeral 4 denotes a moving image data recording control unit for controlling the moving image data recording unit 3.

On the other hand, reference numeral 5 denotes a JPEG (Joint) which converts the image data A / D-converted by the camera signal
Photographic Expert Grou
p) A still image data encoding unit that compresses and encodes as still image data according to the method. Reference numeral 6 denotes an image data switching unit for switching and selecting image data to be transmitted to the management center from the moving image data and the still image data encoded by the encoding units 2 and 5.

Reference numeral 7 denotes an audio signal processing unit for performing signal processing such as A / D conversion on an audio signal from a microphone, and 8 denotes an audio signal for compressing and encoding the audio data A / D converted by the audio signal processing unit 7. It is a data encoding unit.

Reference numeral 9 denotes a motion vector (the direction and magnitude of the motion of an object in an image) output from the video data encoding unit 2.
The motion detection unit determines that there has been a motion when the motion amount is greater than a predetermined value, and the determination signal is output to a system control unit 12 described later.

A multiplexing unit 10 demultiplexes image data from the image data switching unit 6, audio data from the audio data encoding unit 8, or control data sent from the system control unit 12 or a management center (not shown). In the demultiplexing section, the demultiplexing section 10 is connected to an ISDN line via a line interface section 11.

Reference numeral 12 denotes a circuit for controlling the line controller 13 based on the determination signal from the motion detector 9 to perform line connection control, and controlling the image data switching unit 6 based on control data from the management center. Is a system control unit that controls each unit of the apparatus.

Next, the operation of the monitoring device thus configured will be described.

An image signal and an audio signal input from a video camera and a microphone are respectively processed by a camera signal processing unit 1 and an audio signal processing unit 7 and output as digital data. The audio data is input to the audio data encoding unit 8 and is compressed and encoded (hereinafter, the process of compressing and encoding is simply referred to as encoding).
Note that audio is not directly related to the present invention, and therefore, only image data will be described below. In addition, the moving image data encoding unit 2 conforms to ITU-T Recommendation H.264. In the algorithm of H.261, the still image data encoding unit 5
And the communication line uses ISDN, but the present invention is not limited to these.

Normally, when the motion of the image in the monitoring area is not detected by the motion detecting section 9, the encoded moving image data is controlled by the moving image data recording control section 4 and stored in the moving image data recording section 3. Is stored.

A motion vector is output from the moving image data encoding unit 2. The motion detection unit 9 uses the sum of the absolute values of the motion vectors as a motion amount. , And sends a determination signal to the system control unit 12.

When receiving the presence of the motion detection, the system control unit 12 sends a control signal for making a line connection to the line control unit 13. As described above, when a change in the image being captured is detected, the line is connected and the image at that time is transmitted to the management center through the communication line.

As long as no change in the image data is detected and the line is not connected, the moving image data recording unit 3 records the latest continuously encoded moving image data for a predetermined time. You. That is, the moving image data recording unit 3
Are addresses a1, a2,..., A as shown in FIG.
Cycles through n, a1, a2,..., an. When a change in the image is detected, the line is connected and the moving image data is transmitted. Therefore, the recording is stopped after the frame currently being recorded is recorded. If the last recording address is an-k, data starting from an-k + 1 and up to an-k is recorded. Therefore, an−k + 1
When the frames are sequentially reproduced from the frames recorded to the address an-k, the moving image data recorded during a predetermined time immediately before the moving image data is transmitted to the management center via the communication line is reproduced.

As a result, in the management center, the predetermined time (an-k + 1 to 1) immediately before the moving image data is actually transmitted.
The moving image data of the time recorded in the an-k area) can be viewed almost in real time via the communication line.

On the other hand, the still image data encoding section 5 performs encoding processing of one frame data every time the motion detection section 9 detects the motion of the image. However, the sum of the absolute values of the motion vectors for determining the motion in this case may have a configuration different from that described above.

The encoded data of the moving image and the encoded data of the still image are arbitrarily switched by the image data switching unit 6 according to an instruction from the management center, and are transmitted to the management center.

The control of each of these processing units is performed by the system control unit 12, and an instruction from the management center to the system control unit 12 is performed by control data separated from the demultiplexing unit 10.

As described above, the management center can obtain a real-time moving image and a high-definition still image.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a monitoring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3, this embodiment is different from the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 in that a still image data recording unit 14 for storing still image data encoded by the still image data encoding unit 5 is provided. , A still image data recording control unit 15 for controlling this is added.

In the above configuration, when the motion is detected by the motion detecting unit 9, the system control unit 12 sends a predetermined control signal to the still image data recording control unit 15, and In response to this, the data recording control unit 15 controls the still image data recording unit 14 so that the still image data recording unit 14 records the encoded still image data every predetermined time. When the readout command is transmitted from the management center at an arbitrary time, the control signal is transmitted to the system control unit 12, and the system control unit 12 controls the still image data recording control unit 15 to read the recording data. It can be read from the image data recording unit 14 and transmitted to the management center.

As a result, on the management center side, a real-time moving image can be obtained, and an ambiguous portion in the moving image can be identified by a still image with clearer image quality.

In the third embodiment, when the motion detector 9 determines that the motion amount of the image is equal to or larger than the predetermined value, the determination signal is transmitted to the still image data recording controller 15 and the still image data The encoded still image data for one frame is recorded in the data recording unit 14.

As described above, by storing the still image data only when there is a movement, the storage capacity of the still image data recording unit 14 can be reduced, so that a low-cost recording apparatus can be configured.

In the fourth embodiment, a still image recording control signal is added to control data from the management center,
In response to this control signal, the system control unit 12 causes the still image data recording unit 14 via the still image data recording control unit 15.
Is configured to control the start of recording.

Thus, the recording of a high-definition still image can be controlled from the management center, so that a system with good operability can be constructed.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the motion detecting means according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention.

A focusing method of driving a focus motor and stopping the motor with a position where the high frequency component of the video signal becomes the maximum as a focusing position (called a hill-climbing servo) is a general focusing control method of a video camera. Used in Since this is a well-known technique, a detailed description thereof will be omitted, but in general, a focusing lens 1a included in a photographing lens system and a CCD
Image sensor 1b and camera signal processing unit 1 described above
, A video signal processing unit 1c, and a high-pass filter (HP
F), an integrating circuit 1e, an arithmetic circuit 1f, and a CPU 1g.
And a focus motor controller 1g.

With this automatic focusing control, the camera normally
The camera is in focus. Since the integrated value of the high-frequency component of each of the current frame and the previous frame is input to the CPU 1g, the difference is calculated. When the difference is larger than a predetermined value, it is determined that the subject has moved, and the motion determination signal is output. Figure 1
It is sent to the system control unit 12 in FIG. Other operations are the same as described above.

As described above, since the automatic focusing control is used as motion detection, it is not necessary to always keep the moving image data encoding unit 2 in an operating state in order to detect motion, and it is possible to save power. In addition, since the motion detecting means can be configured with a simple configuration, the system can be realized at low cost.

[0046]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the motion detecting means for detecting the motion of the image in the monitoring area, and the image data obtained by the imaging means are used as moving image data. Moving image data encoding means for compressing and encoding, moving image data recording means for storing encoded moving image data, and still image data for compressing and encoding image data obtained by the imaging means as still image data Image data encoding means, image data switching means for switching and selecting image data to be transmitted to the management center among the image data encoded by each of these encoding means, and motion of the image is detected by the motion detecting means. Control means for connecting the line and transmitting the moving image data stored in the moving image data recording means to the management center, and a predetermined time until the line is connected. Since the minute latest video data and a video data recording control means for storing the moving picture data recording device, there is an effect that it is possible to obtain a moving image real-time, high-definition still images.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the monitoring apparatus according to the first aspect further includes a still image data recording unit that stores the still image data encoded by the still image data encoding unit. In addition, a still image data recording control unit that controls to store still image data encoded every predetermined time in the still image data recording unit at the time of motion detection by the motion detection unit is provided, so that real-time moving images can be obtained. In addition to this, there is an effect that an ambiguous portion in a moving image can be more clearly identified by a still image.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the monitoring apparatus according to the first aspect further comprises a still image data recording unit for storing image data encoded by the still image data encoding unit. The still image data recording control means for controlling the still image data to be stored in the still image data recording means only when the motion detection means detects a motion equal to or more than a predetermined amount. In addition, there is an effect that the storage capacity of the still image data can be saved and the apparatus can be configured at low cost.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the monitoring apparatus according to the first aspect, further comprising still image data recording means for storing image data encoded by the still image data encoding means. A control unit for controlling recording and reproduction of the still image data with respect to the still image data recording unit based on a control signal from the management center. Since recording of a still image can be controlled, there is an effect that a system with good operability can be constructed.

Further, according to the fifth aspect of the present invention, in the monitoring device according to the first to fourth aspects,
Since the motion detecting means detects the motion of the image by detecting a change in the focus state by the automatic focusing control of the imaging means, it is not necessary to always set the moving image data encoding means to the active state. In addition, there is an effect that a low-cost system can be configured with a simple configuration that can reduce power consumption and has a simple configuration.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a monitoring device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of recording and reproduction of moving image data.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a monitoring device according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of motion detection using automatic focusing control.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 camera signal processing unit 2 moving image data encoding unit 3 moving image data recording unit 4 moving image data recording control unit 5 still image data encoding unit 6 image data switching unit 7 audio signal processing unit 8 audio data encoding unit 9 operation Detecting unit 10 Demultiplexing unit 11 Line interface unit 12 System control unit 13 Line control unit 14 Still image data recording unit 15 Still image data recording control unit

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A monitoring device for transmitting image data obtained by capturing an image of a monitoring area by an imaging means to a management center via a communication line, wherein: a motion detecting means for detecting a motion of an image of the monitoring area; Moving image data encoding means for compressing and encoding the image data obtained by the means as moving image data; moving image data recording means for storing the encoded moving image data; Still image data encoding means for compressing and encoding image data as still image data, and image data switching means for switching and selecting image data to be transmitted to the management center among the image data encoded by each of the encoding means When a motion of an image is detected by the motion detecting means, a line is connected and the motion data is stored in the moving image data recording means. Control means for transmitting moving image data to the management center; and moving image data recording control means for storing the latest moving image data for a predetermined time in the moving image data recording means until a line is connected. A monitoring device, characterized in that: 2. A still image data recording unit for storing still image data encoded by a still image data encoding unit, and the still image data encoded every predetermined time when motion is detected by the motion detection unit. 2. The monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a still image data recording control unit that controls storage in the still image data recording unit. 3. Still image data recording means for storing image data encoded by the still image data encoding means, and recording of the still image data only when a predetermined amount or more of motion is detected by the motion detecting means. 2. The monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a still image data recording control unit that controls the unit to store the still image data. 4. A still image data recording means for storing image data encoded by the still image data encoding means, and the still image data recording means is transmitted to the still image data recording means based on a control signal from a management center. 2. The monitoring device according to claim 1, further comprising control means for controlling recording and reproduction. 5. The motion detecting means detects a change in a focus state by automatic focusing control of an image pickup means,
The monitoring device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a motion of the image is detected.