KR101600287B1 - Low power smart video device and control method for varying the operation mode according to the energy level of the battery - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a low power smart video device for varying operation modes according to an energy level of a battery, which enables energy harvesting in a situation that the low power smart video device is installed in a region where it is hard to construct power infrastructure or that the low power smart video device needs to be operated with low power, and which promotes continuous operations by varying operation modes according to an energy level, and to a control method thereof. The low power smart video device for varying operation modes according to an energy level of a battery comprises: an energy harvesting unit for collecting energy from surrounding environment; a battery for charging and discharging energy transmitted from the energy harvesting unit; and a system board for detecting an energy level of the battery, determining an energy control coefficient for dynamically controlling the amount of consumed energy according to the detected energy level of the battery, and controlling power consumption based on the determined energy control coefficient.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a low power smart video device and a control method thereof for varying an operation mode according to an energy level of a battery,

The present invention relates to a low power smart video device and a control method thereof for varying an operation mode according to an energy level of a battery. More particularly, the present invention relates to an energy harvesting device, The present invention relates to a low power smart video device and a control method thereof, which can vary an operation mode according to an energy level of a battery which is operated continuously to vary the operation mode according to an energy level.

Internet of Things (IoT) With the advent of the world, smart video devices equipped with sensing, networking and intelligence technologies are being installed in everyday life. The smart video device captures and analyzes video on its own, communicates situation information by interconnecting devices, and performs common information processing based on cloud computing.

In general, smart video devices for public security, which are mainly used for disaster disasters, social safety, facility management, life security, etc. on the Internet, can be monitored and recorded at any time so that events in the image can be detected. . However, smart video devices require large capacity batteries or continuous charging because they consume a large amount of energy when operating compared to existing low-bandwidth one-dimensional sensor nodes. Most smart video devices in the future will be battery-based in a wireless environment and are likely to be installed where frequent charging is not possible.

In addition, it is costly and impractical for people to manually replace batteries in numerous video sensor nodes installed in areas where it is difficult to build a power infrastructure. Therefore, an energy harvesting function capable of collecting energy from the surrounding environment is required.

Recently, various methods have been developed and studied for low power operation of smart video devices.

The prior art disclosed in the following Patent Document 1 proposes a method of increasing the use time of a battery by controlling a sleep period for a low power operation in a mobile communication terminal.

The prior art disclosed in Patent Document 2 proposes a method of reducing battery consumption by switching to a sleep state when an energy level of a battery is lower than a specific value in a mobile communication terminal.

The prior art disclosed in Patent Document 3 proposes a power management system that maintains a camera system in a low-power operation mode at normal times, and activates a normal mode only when a specific event is detected, thereby efficiently managing power.

The prior art disclosed in Patent Document 4 proposes a method of accurately estimating and scheduling a workload based on a resource state occurring in a mobile communication terminal to reduce power consumption.

The prior art disclosed in Non-Patent Document 1 defines calculation stretch coefficients according to video coding stages and analyzes the relationship of distortion, generated bits, and power consumption based on DVFS (dynamic voltage and frequency scaling) The

The prior art disclosed in Non-Patent Document 2 proposes a method of scheduling appropriate resources for low-power operation using a DVFS-based system.

Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2005-0023822 (published on March 10, 2005) Korean Registered Patent No. 10-0659258 (Registered December 12, 2006) Korean Registered Patent No. 10-1418892 (Registered on July 31, 2014) Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2014-0090256 (published on July 16, 2014)

1. He, Y. Liang, L. Chen, I. Ahmad, and D. Wu, Analysis for wireless video communication under energy constraint, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, Vol. 5, pp. 645-658, May. 2005. 2. S. Liu, J. Lu, Q. Wu, and Q. Qiu, Power Management for Real-Time Systems with Renewable Energy, IEEE Transactions on Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Systems, Vol. 20, No. 8, pp. 1473-1486, 2012.

However, according to the conventional technologies as described above, it is impossible to perform energy harvesting or to determine a low-power operation state, so that there is no optimal power control function capable of efficiently controlling power according to an energy level. It has the disadvantage that it can not give.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art, and it is an object of the present invention to enable energy harvesting in a situation where a power infrastructure is difficult to establish or a power- The present invention provides a low power smart video device and a control method thereof, which can vary an operation mode according to an energy level of a battery that operates continuously by varying an operation mode according to an energy level.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a smart video device capable of continuous operation under the constraint of encoding delay by integrally controlling the quantization coefficient, the picture rate, and the operating frequency of the processor in a smart video device mainly for shooting, storing and transmitting video or still images And to provide a low power smart video device and its control method for varying the operation mode according to the energy level of the battery.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a low power smart video device for varying an operation mode according to an energy level of a battery, comprising: an energy harvesting unit for collecting energy from a surrounding environment; A battery for charging and discharging energy transferred from the energy harvesting unit; A system board for detecting the energy level of the battery, setting an energy control coefficient for dynamically adjusting the energy consumption amount according to the detected energy level of the battery, and controlling the power consumption based on the set energy control coefficient .

The system board includes an image sensor for capturing an image; A video codec for compressing an image acquired by the image sensor; A memory for storing compressed image data compressed by the video codec; A transmission unit for transmitting the compressed image data; An infrared (IR) sensor for human and object detection during hibernation operation; Output energy amount of the battery based on the amount of energy consumed and the amount of energy harvested in the smart video device, determines the operation mode according to the input / output energy amount of the calculated battery, and controls the power according to the determined operation mode And an energy management module.

The energy control coefficient is a value for controlling the power by adjusting at least one of an image aspect ratio, a quantization coefficient, an operation frequency, and a resolution.

The energy management module determines the operation mode based on the calculated energy control coefficient and controls the energy consumption according to the determined operation mode.

The operation mode may include at least one of a moving picture mode, a picture mode, and a hibernation mode.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of controlling a low power smart video device that varies an operation mode according to an energy level of a battery according to the present invention, including the steps of: (a) Estimating a battery energy level after a specific time based on the amount of energy collected by the energy harvesting unit and the amount of energy consumed by the smart video device; (b) comparing an energy level with a first and second reference values for determining a predetermined operation mode after predicting the energy level in the step (a), and determining an operation mode according to the magnitude of the comparison ; (c) controlling the power consumption by adjusting the energy consumption according to the determined operation mode.

The amount of energy collected by the energy harvesting unit in step (a) is characterized by being an amount of energy harvested for a predetermined period of time profiled from the past.

Wherein the operation mode of the step (b) or (c) determines that the energy level of the battery is high when the predicted energy level is greater than the first reference value, Determines that the energy level of the battery is the middle when the predicted energy level exists between the first reference value and the second reference value and determines the operation mode as the photographic mode, 2 < / RTI > reference value, it is determined that the energy level of the battery is low, and the operation mode is determined as the hibernation mode.

In the above, the moving picture photographing mode is an operation mode in the case where the screen rate is equal to or more than a specific integer screen per second.

The photographing mode is a mode in which the screen rate is less than a specific integer screen per second, and the mode is a mode for periodically taking a picture using a timer through the snapshot function of the camera.

The hibernation mode is a mode in which the screen rate is less than a predetermined value of a decimal unit. The hibernation mode is a time when a person or an object is detected by an infrared (IR) sensor of a smart video device, The operation mode is a mode of temporarily switching to the moving picture photographing mode for a certain period of time and returning to the sleeping state again.

The hibernation mode is a mode in which the screen rate is less than a predetermined value of a decimal unit. The hibernation mode is usually operated in a dormant state, but is temporarily switched to a moving picture shooting mode by an internal timer of the smart video device, And is an operation mode.

The hibernation mode is a mode in which the screen rate is smaller than a predetermined value of a decimal unit. The hibernation mode is usually operated in a dormant state, and is temporarily switched to a picture taking mode by an internal timer of the smart video device, And then enters the sleep mode again after taking a picture.

According to the present invention, the energy consumption can be effectively controlled by controlling the operation mode according to the battery energy level of the smart video device with respect to the moving image or still image processed in the smart video device, thereby continuously operating the smart video device with low power There is an effect that can be.

In addition, according to the present invention, there is an advantage to be applied to a smart video device in an object Internet environment installed in an area where a power infrastructure is difficult to construct because a low power operation is possible and an energy harvesting is performed by itself.

According to the present invention, the energy management module collects and manages the data of the past energy harvested and the energy consumed, and estimates future input / output energy amount according to the energy level remaining in the battery at present, The smart video device can be operated stably and stably.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a low power smart video device for varying an operation mode according to an energy level of a battery according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an energy consumption relationship according to an operating frequency of a processor, which is an energy control coefficient in the present invention,
3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation mode determination process in a low power smart video device control method for varying an operation mode according to an energy level of a battery according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation procedure of a moving picture photographing mode in a low power smart video device control method for varying an operation mode according to an energy level of a battery according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a photographing mode of a low power smart video device control method for varying an operation mode according to an energy level of a battery according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a hibernation mode in a low power smart video device control method for varying an operation mode according to an energy level of a battery according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a low-power smart video device and its control method for varying an operation mode according to an energy level of a battery according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a low power smart video device that varies an operation mode according to the energy level of a battery according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

A low power smart video device (1) for varying the operation mode according to the energy level of a battery according to the present invention comprises an energy harvesting unit (10), a battery (20) and a system board (30).

The energy harvesting unit 10 serves to collect energy from the surrounding environment. The energy harvesting unit 10 includes a solar panel 11 for converting solar energy into battery energy, And a charging circuit 12 for charging the battery 20 by converting the level to a level.

Here, the present invention uses solar energy existing in nature as harvesting energy, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and energy harvesting using wind or water using wind power or water power can also be used.

The battery 20 serves to charge and discharge the energy generated in the energy harvesting unit 10.

The system board 30 detects the energy level of the battery 20, sets an energy control coefficient for dynamically adjusting the energy consumption amount according to the detected energy level of the battery 20, It controls power consumption as a basis.

Here, the energy control coefficient means a combination of the picture ratio, the quantization coefficient, the operating frequency, and the resolution. It is desirable to use one of the possible combinations of the above detailed coefficients in the smart video device to use the energy control coefficient.

For example, the possible frame rate fr = {30,15,10,5,2,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0}, the quantization factor qp = {25, ..., 50}, the operating frequency = {1000, 1100, 1200, 1300, 1400, 1500, 1600, 1700, 1800, 1900, 2000} MHz and resolution r = {QCIF, CIF, VGA, XGA, FullHD} (EC), for example EC = {fr = 10, qp = 25, f = 1600, r = CIF}.

Here, each of the detailed coefficients may be further subdivided according to the hardware supported by the device or the policy of the designer, and it is also possible to set each value more densely or further widen the interval.

The system board 30 includes an image sensor 32 for capturing an image; A video codec 35 for compressing the image obtained by the image sensor 32; A memory (34) for storing compressed image data compressed by the video codec (35); A transmission unit (33) for transmitting the compressed image data; An infrared (IR) sensor 31 for human and object detection during hibernation operation; Output energy amount of the battery on the basis of the amount of energy consumed and the amount of energy harvested in the smart video device 1, determines the operation mode in accordance with the input / output energy amount of the calculated battery, An energy management module 36 for controlling the entire operation of the smart video device 1, and a central processing unit (CPU) 37 for controlling the overall operation of the smart video device 1.

Here, the energy control coefficient is a value for controlling power by adjusting at least one of an image aspect ratio, a quantization coefficient in a video codec, an operation frequency of a processor such as a central processing unit, and a resolution.

In addition, the energy management module 36 may determine the operation mode based on the calculated energy control coefficient, and adjust the energy consumption according to the determined operation mode.

Here, it is preferable that the operation mode includes at least one of a moving image shooting mode, a photo shooting mode, and a hibernation mode.

3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation mode determination process of a low power smart video device control method for varying an operation mode according to a battery energy level according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

3, when the smart video device 1 is activated, the operation mode determination process initializes the driving time T of the smart video device 1, and the energy saving unit 10 (S10 to S40) of predicting a battery energy level after a specific time based on the collected energy amount and the consumed energy amount consumed in the smart video device 1; (b) comparing the current energy level with the first and second reference values for determining a predetermined operation mode after predicting the battery energy level, and determining an operation mode according to whether the current energy level is large or small (S50, S70 ); (c) controlling the energy consumption to be different according to the determined operation mode (S60, S80, S90).

A low-power smart video device and its control method for varying the operation mode according to a battery energy level according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6 attached hereto.

First, the energy management module 36 of the smart video device 1 charges the battery 20 with the energy harvested by the energy harvesting unit 10 itself so as to enable the continuous operation of the smart video device 1 And operates using the energy charged in the battery 20 and dynamically determines the operation mode of the image rate of the image, the quantization coefficient of the video codec, the operation frequency of the processor, and the resolution according to the energy level of the battery 20 So that low power operation is possible.

For example, the electric energy obtained in the solar panel 11 of the energy harvesting unit 10 is stored in the battery 20 as harvesting energy through the charging circuit 12, and the amount of energy harvested is stored in the system board 30 to the energy management module 36. The amount of energy to be harvested here can be detected through the charging circuit 12, and it is also possible to detect using the energy detection means.

Here, when the operation of the smart video device 1 is started, the energy management module 36 detects the amount of energy consumed in the smart video device 1 in real time and stores it in units of time. The amount of input / output energy of the battery 20 is calculated using the amount of energy consumed in the smart video device 1 stored in units of hours and the amount of energy harvested from the energy harvesting unit 10. The amount of energy input / output for a predetermined time is predicted by using the amount of energy harvested for a predetermined time and the amount of energy consumed for a predetermined time in the smart video device. Based on the prediction result, the smart video device 1 determines the operation mode so that the operation is not stopped due to energy exhaustion in the future, and controls the power consumption according to the determined operation mode.

For example, as shown in Fig. 3, the operation mode is determined according to the energy level of the battery.

In order to determine the operation mode, when the system is started as in step S10, the system drive time T is initialized to 0 (0 sec) and the energy level of the current battery is input in step S20. Here, the energy level of the present battery is the energy level calculated by using the amount of energy harvested for a predetermined time and the amount of energy consumed by the device for a predetermined time.

Next, in step S30, an amount of energy to be harvested for a predetermined time profiled from the past is input, and in step S40, based on the amount of energy harvested for a certain period of time profiled from the past, Estimates the energy amount, calculates the usable amount of energy up to a certain time by summing the amount of energy of the present battery and the amount of energy harvested for a predetermined period of time, and predicts the energy level of the battery after a predetermined time. As a result of the prediction, if there is a possibility that the battery energy is exhausted after a predetermined time, the device is operated in a low power state and the energy is controlled by adjusting the power consumption to enable continuous operation.

That is, as in step S50, if the energy level of the battery is greater than the first reference value by comparing the energy level of the current battery with the predetermined first reference value to determine the operation mode, The power control mode is determined to be a moving image shooting mode, and the power consumption is controlled.

If it is determined in step S50 that the energy level of the current battery is less than the predetermined first reference value for determining the operation mode, the process proceeds to step S70 to determine the energy level and the operation mode of the battery. If the energy level of the battery is greater than the second reference value, that is, if the energy level of the battery is between the first reference value and the second reference value, the process proceeds to step S80 The power consumption control mode is determined as the photographing mode, and the power consumption is controlled.

If it is determined in step S70 that the energy level of the battery is lower than the second reference value, the process proceeds to step S90 to determine the power consumption control mode as the hibernation mode and to control the power consumption.

Here, the first reference value is a threshold for determining the operation mode to be a moving image shooting mode, and the second reference value is a threshold for determining the operation mode to be the hibernation mode. The first and second reference values are preferably set appropriately in consideration of the power consumption of the device through experiments.

The power consumption control for each mode sets the resolution, the picture rate, the quantization coefficient, and the operating frequency as control coefficients, and controls the power consumption by controlling the respective control coefficients.

Here, the resolution means the sharpness of the image, which is the accuracy of the image at the time of image capturing. The higher the resolution, the more energy is consumed. The screen rate is the number of times the image is captured per second, and the typical aspect ratio is 30 fps (frame per second). The higher the aspect ratio, the more energy is consumed. The quantization coefficient means a quantization coefficient used in video compression.

The quantization coefficients used in general video codecs such as H.264 / AVC and MPEG-4 are used to control the quality of video. In particular, the lower the quantization coefficient, the better the video quality, but the higher the amount of computation the processor has to process, the higher the energy consumption.

In general, when the motion in the image is small, the video encoder can reduce the calculation amount more effectively by controlling the picture rate than the calculation amount reduction by controlling the quantization coefficient or the motion estimation method.

The operating frequency is the operating timing of the processor, such as a central processing unit.

(또는

)의 관계를 갖는다. 비디오 부호기에서 각 비디오 프레임은 압축 및 전송시 지연이 존재하고, 각 비디오 프레임별로 영상의 복잡도가 달라서 부호화를 위한 연산량이 달라질 수 있다. 따라서, 도 2와 같이 부호화 지연 제약하에서 CPU에 의한 부호화가 가능할 수 있는 수준으로 주파수를 제어하는 방식으로 많은 에너지를 절약할 수 있다.The DVFS technique is used to control CPU energy consumption. The power supply voltage of the CMOS circuit is proportional to the operating frequency, and the consumed energy is

(or

). In the video encoder, there is a delay in compression and transmission of each video frame, and the complexity of the video is different for each video frame, so that the amount of coding for coding can be changed. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 2, much energy can be saved by controlling the frequency to a level at which encoding by the CPU is possible under the coding delay constraint.

Considering the current battery level, harvesting energy per unit time, and coding complexity of the input video frame in the smart video device, the control coefficients of the video codec must be determined so that the image quality can be encoded with a certain level of quality. In particular, since the coding delay of the video frame increases inversely as the picture rate is lowered, it is possible to more effectively control the energy consumption when the DVFS control is performed simultaneously.

Therefore, in the present invention, the control coefficient is adjusted to adjust the overall energy consumption amount, thereby making the device sustainable for a long time at low power.

Hereinafter, a power consumption control process for each of the operation modes will be described in detail.

FIG. 4 shows a power consumption control process for a moving picture shooting mode. As shown in FIG. 4, the mode operates when the energy level of the battery is equal to or greater than the first reference value, and is a mode for performing video shooting, compression, storage, and transmission with a screen rate of a certain integer unit or more.

The mode is switched to the moving picture shooting mode as in step S101, and the energy control coefficient is set according to the energy level of the input battery as in step S202.

Next, in step S103, the amount of energy consumed in the smart video device is predicted for a certain period of time during the motion picture shooting mode operation, and the energy level of the battery is measured in the smart video non- It is confirmed that it is larger than the amount of energy consumed. For example, when the smart video device operates for a predetermined time according to the set energy control coefficient, it is determined whether energy exhaustion does not occur. If the energy level of the battery is not greater than the amount of energy consumed in the smart video device for a certain period of time during the moving image capture mode operation, the energy is exhausted after a predetermined time, .

If the energy level of the battery is greater than the amount of energy consumed in the smart video device for a certain period of time during the moving picture photographing mode operation, the process proceeds to step S105 where the system is operated with the set energy control coefficient to adjust the power consumption do.

Thereafter, in step S106, the Nth operation mode end time is set by adding a certain time period (t) to the system drive time (T). Here, the predetermined time period t means a period for resetting the operation mode.

Next, in step S107, the energy level of the current battery is input. In step S108, it is checked whether the energy level of the currently input battery is greater than or equal to a minimum energy required for system operation. If it is equal to or greater than the minimum energy required for driving, the process proceeds to step S109 to process one piece of video. The process moves to step S110 and adds one processor desk processing time to the system driving time to set the system driving time. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S108 that the energy level of the currently input battery is smaller than the minimum energy required for driving the system, the process directly proceeds to step S110 without processing the video.

Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S111. In step S111, the system drive time is compared with the Nth operation mode end time. If the system drive time is greater than the Nth operation mode end time, the process proceeds to step S20 in FIG. Is smaller than the N-th operation mode end time, the process moves to step S109 to process one video again, and controls the operation for the moving picture shooting mode.

FIG. 5 shows a power consumption control process for the photographing mode. As shown in FIG. 5, a mode in which the energy level of a battery operates between a photographing conversion threshold value (first reference value) and a sleep switching threshold value (second reference value) Compression, storage, and transmission. When the smart video device operates in the photo shooting mode, it should be able to take a snapshot using the timer within the smart video device at regular intervals. When the smart video device operates in the photo shooting mode, it should be operated with an appropriate energy control coefficient so as not to cause energy exhaustion of the battery according to the energy control coefficient, as in the video shooting mode, and the amount of energy consumed by the smart video device is relatively high Therefore, it is necessary to periodically check the energy level of the current battery in order to prevent the system operation from being stopped periodically.

For example, the photographing mode is switched to the photographing mode as in step S201, and the energy control coefficient is set according to the energy level of the input battery as in step S202.

Next, in step S203, the amount of energy consumed in the smart video device is predicted for a certain period of time during the photographing mode operation, and the energy level of the battery is measured in the smart video non- It is confirmed that it is larger than the amount of energy consumed. For example, when the smart video device operates for a predetermined time according to the set energy control coefficient, it is determined whether energy exhaustion does not occur. If the energy level of the battery is not greater than the amount of energy consumed in the smart video device for a certain period of time during the photographing mode operation, the energy is exhausted after a predetermined time, .

If the energy level of the battery is greater than the amount of energy consumed in the smart video device for a predetermined period of time during the photographing mode operation, the process proceeds to step S205 to control the power consumption do.

Thereafter, in step S206, a predetermined time period t is added to the system drive time T, the Nth operation mode end time is set, and the timer is driven. Here, the predetermined time period t means a period for resetting the operation mode.

Next, in step S207, it is determined whether a timer event has occurred (photographing). If no timer event has occurred, the current state is maintained. If a timer event has occurred, the process proceeds to step S208, In step S209, it is determined whether the energy level of the currently input battery is greater than or equal to a minimum energy required for system operation. If the energy level of the input battery is greater than or equal to the minimum energy required for the system operation, The process proceeds to step S211, and one processor desk processing time is added to the system driving time to set the system driving time. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S209 that the energy level of the currently input battery is smaller than the minimum energy required for driving the system, the process directly goes to step S211 without processing the still image.

If the system drive time is greater than the Nth operation mode end time in step S212, the process proceeds to step S213 to terminate the timer. In step S20 If the system drive time is less than the Nth operation mode end time, the process proceeds to step S207 to process a single piece of video again to control the operation for the picture taking mode.

6 shows a power consumption control process for the hibernation mode. 6, the hibernation mode is a mode that operates when the energy level of the battery is lower than the dormancy switching threshold (second reference value). The hibernation mode is a mode in which a picture rate is set to a predetermined value or less in decimal units, Compression, storage, and transmission. When the smart video device operates in the hibernation mode with a specific energy control coefficient set, the internal timer of the smart video device performs video compression for a predetermined period of time at a relatively long periodic interval, or after taking a specific number of pictures, . ≪ / RTI > The selection of moving images or still images captured by the timer during the hibernation operation of such a smart video device needs to be controllable by the user. In addition, when a specific person or an object is detected by the IR sensor while the smart video device is operating in the sleep mode, it is switched to the moving image shooting mode only for a certain period of time or for a period of time during which the object is detected, It is possible. In addition, there is a need for the smart video device to be able to control the shooting time period of the moving picture by the user during the hibernation operation by the IR sensor.

This will be described in more detail as follows.

For example, the mode is switched to the hibernation mode as in step S301, and the energy control coefficient is set according to the energy level of the input battery as in step S302.

Next, in step S303, an infrared sensor event processing mode for detecting an object or a person is selected using the infrared sensor. Here, it is determined whether to process only the period in which the object or the person is detected or only for a predetermined period.

Next, the flow advances to step S304 to set the event processing mode by the timer. Here, it is a step of selecting whether to process the event processing method by the timer as a moving image or a still image.

Next, in step S305, the Nth operation mode end time is set by adding a certain period of time to the system drive time, and the operation goes to step S306 to drive the infrared sensor and the timer.

Then, in step S307, it is determined whether an event is generated by the infrared sensor. If an event is generated by the infrared sensor, the process proceeds to step S308 where the energy level of the current battery is input. In step S309, Level is greater than or equal to the minimum energy necessary for driving the system. If the energy level of the input battery is equal to or greater than the minimum energy required for driving the system, the process proceeds to step S310 to process the moving image generated by the infrared sensor. Then, the process proceeds to step S311, where one processor desk processing time is added to the system drive time to set the system drive time. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S309 that the energy level of the currently input battery is smaller than the minimum energy required for driving the system, the process proceeds directly to step S311 without processing the moving image.

Then, in step S316, the system driving time is compared with the Nth operation mode end time. If the system drive time is greater than the Nth operation mode end time, the process proceeds to step S317 to terminate the timer and the infrared sensor, If the system driving time is less than the N-th operation mode end time, the process proceeds to step S307 and the process returns to the step of confirming the occurrence of the event by the infrared sensor. Thereby controlling the power consumption of the device.

If it is determined in step S307 that no event is generated by the infrared sensor, the flow advances to step S312 to check if an event by the timer has occurred. If an event by the timer is not generated, the process proceeds to step S307. Otherwise, if an event by the timer occurs, the process proceeds to step S313 to receive the energy level of the current battery. If it is determined that the energy level of the received battery is equal to or greater than the minimum energy required for driving the system, the process proceeds to step S315 to process the moving image or the still image by the timer .

Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S311, where one processor desk processing time is added to the system drive time to set the system drive time. If it is determined in step S314 that the energy level of the currently input battery is smaller than the minimum energy required for the system operation, the process proceeds directly to step S311 without processing the moving image or the still image by the timer.

If the system drive time is greater than the N-th operation mode end time, the process goes to step S317 to terminate the infrared sensor and the timer, The process proceeds to step S20. If the system drive time is less than the Nth operation mode end time, the process proceeds to step S307 to process the following steps.

The present invention described above dynamically adapts the image rate of the image, the quantization coefficient of the video codec, the operating frequency of the processor, the resolution of the video codec, and the resolution of the video codec according to the energy level of the battery according to the energy haribing in the energy harvesting unit and the amount of energy consumed in the smart video device The energy consumption coefficient can be adjusted by controlling the energy consumption coefficient so that the low power operation can be performed and the continuous operation can be ensured even in the low power state.

Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the above embodiments, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

The present invention can be effectively applied to a smart video device that is installed in a region where it is difficult to construct a power infrastructure and operates with low power.

10: Energy harvesting unit
11: Solar Panel
12: Charging circuit
20: Battery
30: System board
31: Infrared sensor
32: Image sensor
33: transmission unit
34: Memory
35: Video Codec
36: Energy management module
37: Central Processing Unit

Claims (13)

An energy harvesting unit for collecting energy from the surrounding environment;
A battery for charging and discharging energy transferred from the energy harvesting unit; And
A system board for detecting an energy level of the battery, setting an energy control coefficient for dynamically adjusting an energy consumption amount according to the detected energy level of the battery, and controlling power consumption based on the set energy control coefficient ,
The system board calculates the input / output energy amount of the battery on the basis of the amount of energy consumed and the amount of energy harvested in the smart video device, predicts the energy level based on the input / output energy amount of the battery, And an energy management module for determining an operation mode and controlling power according to the determined operation mode,
Wherein the energy management module determines that the energy level of the battery is high when the predicted energy level is greater than a predetermined first reference value and determines the operation mode to be a moving image shooting mode, Determining that the energy level of the battery is intermediate between the reference value and the preset second reference value, and determining the operation mode as the photographing mode; and when the predicted energy level is less than the second reference value, It is determined that the energy level of the battery is low, the operation mode is determined as the hibernation mode,
Wherein the moving picture photographing mode is a mode for photographing a moving picture in a smart video device and the photograph photographing mode is a mode for periodically photographing a photograph using a timer through a snapshot function of the camera, (IR) sensor of the smart video device. When a person or an object is detected by the IR sensor of the smart video device, the mode is switched to the movie shooting mode for a predetermined time or for a certain period of time Wherein the operation mode is changed according to the energy level of the battery.
The system of claim 1, wherein the system board comprises: an image sensor for imaging; A video codec for compressing an image acquired by the image sensor; A memory for storing compressed image data compressed by the video codec; A transmission unit for transmitting the compressed image data; And an infrared (IR) sensor for sensing a person and an object during a hibernation operation. The low power smart video device according to claim 1,
The energy control method according to claim 1, wherein the energy control coefficient is a value for controlling power by adjusting at least one of an image aspect ratio, a quantization coefficient of a video codec, an operation frequency of a processor, A low power smart video device that varies its operating mode accordingly.
The energy management module according to claim 2, wherein the energy management module determines an operation mode based on the calculated energy control coefficient, and adjusts an energy consumption amount according to the determined operation mode. Low-power smart video device.
delete A method for adjusting power of a smart video device by varying an operation mode according to an energy level of a battery,
(a) when the smart video device is activated, it initializes the driving time of the smart video device, predicts the battery energy level after a certain time based on the amount of energy collected in the energy harvesting unit and the amount of energy consumed in the smart video device ;
(b) comparing an energy level with a first and second reference values for determining a predetermined operation mode after predicting the energy level in the step (a), and determining an operation mode according to the magnitude of the comparison ; And
(c) controlling the power consumption by adjusting the energy consumption according to the determined operation mode,
Wherein the operation mode of the step (b) or step (c) determines that the energy level of the battery is high when the predicted energy level is greater than the first reference value, determines the operation mode as a moving image capturing mode, Determines that the energy level of the battery is the middle when the predicted energy level is between the first reference value and the second reference value, and determines the operation mode as the photographing mode, Determines that the energy level of the battery is low, determines the operation mode as the hibernation mode,
Wherein the moving picture photographing mode is a mode for photographing a moving picture in a smart video device and the photograph photographing mode is a mode for periodically photographing a photograph using a timer through a snapshot function of the camera, (IR) sensor of the smart video device. When a person or an object is detected by the IR sensor of the smart video device, the mode is switched to the movie shooting mode for a predetermined time or for a certain period of time Wherein the operation mode is changed according to an energy level of the battery.
[7] The method of claim 6, wherein the amount of energy collected by the energy harvesting unit in step (a) is an amount of energy harvested for a predetermined period of time profiled from the past. A method for controlling low power smart video devices.
delete 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the moving picture shooting mode is an operation mode when the screen rate is equal to or greater than a certain integer screen per second.
[Claim 7] The method of claim 6, wherein the photographing mode is a mode in which a screen rate is less than a specific integer screen per second, and is a mode for periodically taking a picture using a timer through a snapshot function of the camera, A method of controlling a low power smart video device that varies an operation mode.
[7] The method of claim 6, wherein the hibernation mode is a normal hibernation state when the screen rate is less than a predetermined value of a decimal unit, and when an object or an object is detected by an IR sensor of a smart video device, Wherein the power saving mode is an operation mode in which the camera is temporarily switched to a moving picture shooting mode for a predetermined time or for a predetermined time, and then returns to a sleeping state.
[7] The method of claim 6, wherein the hibernation mode operates in a normal dormant state when the screen rate is less than a predetermined value of a decimal unit, then temporarily switches to a moving image capture mode by an internal timer of the smart video device, Wherein the operation mode is changed according to the energy level of the battery.
[7] The method of claim 6, wherein the hibernation mode is a mode in which the screen rate is less than a predetermined value of a decimal unit, the device operates in a normal dormant state, Wherein the operation mode is changed according to an energy level of the battery. The method of claim 1, wherein the operation mode is changed according to the energy level of the battery.

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