KR20040102241A - A Central Management System for a Digital Video Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A CMS(Central Management System) for a DVR(Digital Video Recorder) is provided to receive image data of the DVR by wireless by connecting to the DVR through a wireless protocol. CONSTITUTION: A connection interface unit(210) connects to a DVR(250) through a wireless communication network, and receives image data from the DVR. A database unit(220) stores image processing information associated with the process of the image data. An image control unit(230) controls a display unit(240) on the basis of image processing information to display the image data on the display unit.

Description

A central management system for a digital video recorder

The present invention relates to a central management system of a digital video recorder, and more particularly, to a central management system connected to a plurality of digital video recorders with a wireless protocol and wirelessly receiving / managing image data via the digital video recorder. will be.

In general, a digital video recorder (DVR) is a device that stores image data input from a video camera as a high quality digital signal on a hard disk. The digital video recorder can permanently store image data of a digital image on a hard disk, and has an image transmission function for monitoring recording and real-time display of the stored image data.

The central management system (CMS) which integrally manages image data of such a digital video recorder receives image data from a plurality of digital video recorders by connecting a predetermined number of video cameras, and displays the image data. Proper control of the system makes it easier for the administrator to monitor the work.

However, in the related art, the connection between the central management system and the digital video recorder is mainly connected through a wired coaxial video cable, and there has been a problem that the installation cost for the communication infrastructure is considerable. Moreover, as the distance between the central management system and each digital video recorder increases, the cost increases arithmetically, further causing a problem that makes it difficult to manage image data at a remote location.

In addition, the conventional central management system has a problem of limiting the monitoring range of the administrator by displaying only image data photographed by a video camera, and there is a concern that the administrator may not recognize this even if there is an abnormality caused by sound.

Therefore, there is an urgent need for the emergence of a central management system that facilitates the reception of image data irrespective of the distance from the digital video recorder and enables the monitoring of the image data while listening to sound collected by the video camera.

An object of the present invention is to provide a central management system for wirelessly receiving image data of a digital video recorder connected to a digital video recorder connecting a predetermined video camera by a wireless protocol. It is done.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a central management system capable of wirelessly receiving voice data collected by a video camera and monitoring the same while reproducing the voice data together with image data.

1 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a connection between a central management system and a digital video recorder and a camera according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a block diagram of a central management system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a view showing an example of a display unit according to the present invention.

4A to 4D are diagrams showing the detailed configuration of image processing information according to the present invention.

5 is a diagram illustrating a display state of a display unit according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

6A is a diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of an image controller according to the present invention.

6B illustrates an example of search condition information associated with a search job according to the present invention.

7 is a view showing a display unit including a display unit according to the present invention.

8 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a central management system of the present invention for supporting voice.

9 is an internal block diagram of a general purpose computer device that may be employed to construct a central management system in accordance with the present invention.

<Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

200: central management system 210: connection interface unit

220: database unit 230: image control unit

240: display unit 250: digital video recorder

In order to achieve the above object, the central management system for managing the digital video recorder of the present invention comprises: a connection interface unit connected to the digital video recorder and a wireless communication network and receiving image data from the digital video recorder; And a database unit for storing image processing information associated with the processing of the image processing unit, and an image control unit for controlling the display unit to display the image data on a predetermined display unit based on the image processing information.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a central management system for managing a digital video recorder, comprising: a connection interface unit connected to the digital video recorder and receiving image data and sound source information associated with the image data from the digital video recorder, a predetermined display; And an image control unit for controlling the display unit to display the image data on the means, and a sound source reproduction unit that reproduces the received sound source information in association with the image data.

Hereinafter, a central management system of a digital video recorder according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a configuration of a central management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The central management system of the present invention wirelessly remotely controls image data photographed from a plurality of video cameras and displays it on a predetermined display unit.

As shown in FIG. 1, the digital video recorders 110 and 120 collectively connect and connect a plurality of video cameras 111 to 114 and 121 to 124 scattered in a place where shooting is required, and a video camera. Image data generated by (111 to 114, 121 to 124) is received and stored through a communication network.

The digital video recorders 110 and 120 and the respective video cameras 111 to 114 and 121 to 124 are connected by coaxial video cables, for example, and a channel through which image data is transmitted is formed. That is, the channel may mean a data connection path between the video cameras 111 to 114, 121 to 124 and the digital video recorders 110 and 120, and is designated for each video camera 111 to 114 and 121 to 124. The digital video recorders 110, 120 have video-in ports 112, 122 corresponding to the number of channels formed (preferably more than the number of channels), and video cameras 111-114, 121-124 connected to a coaxial video cable. ).

In addition, in addition to the above-mentioned channel formation by wires, a wireless protocol is connected between the video cameras 111 to 114 and 121 to 124 and the digital video recorders 110 and 120 at a remote location, and the digital video recorders 110 and 120 generate images. Data can be received by wireless communication. At this time, a wireless channel is formed between the video cameras 111 to 114, 121 to 124 and the digital video recorders 110 and 120 by a predetermined wireless transmission process.

In the present embodiment, a video camera is exemplified as a source of image data. For example, a digital still camera, a time lapse camera, an infrared / ultraviolet sensor, an X-ray, a radar, a microscope camera, or computer-generated image data may be used. It's okay.

The central management system 100 serves to remotely control and display image data received from the digital video recorders 110 and 120 using a wireless protocol. The central management system 100 is provided with a display unit for selectively displaying wirelessly received image data for each channel, through which the administrator can monitor the site situation. In addition, at the request of an administrator, a search operation may be performed on stored image data previously stored in the digital video recorders 110 and 120, and the retrieved stored image data may be displayed on the display unit by wireless communication.

As such, in order to form a wireless protocol between the central management system 100 and the digital video recorders 110 and 120, the digital video recorders 110 and 120 include transmission modules 115 and 125 for wirelessly transmitting image data. The management system 100 includes a reception module 105 for wirelessly receiving image data.

The receiving module 105 includes a receiving antenna and a down mixer, and performs receiving and demodulation processing for a wireless signal including image data. In addition, the transmission modules 115 and 125 for transmitting the radio signal including the image data include a transmission antenna and an up-converter and perform transmission and modulation processing.

Accordingly, the central management system 100 according to the present invention can easily receive image data of a number of digital video recorders 110 and 120 through a wireless location, which is located remotely, and simplify and use equipment by adopting a wireless system. Convenience can be achieved.

2 is a block diagram of a central management system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

The central management system 200 of the present invention is connected to the digital video recorder 250 in a wireless communication network and connected with the connection interface 210 for receiving image data from the digital video recorder 250, and associated with the processing of the image data. A database controller 220 storing image processing information and an image controller 230 controlling the display unit 240 to display the image data on a predetermined display unit 240 based on the image processing information. .

The connection interface unit 210 is an apparatus for receiving image data wirelessly transmitted by the digital video recorder 250 according to a predetermined wireless protocol. As described above, the reception module 215 included in the connection interface unit 210 performs a radio reception operation by demodulating a radio signal including image data and extracting image data for each channel.

The database unit 220 is an apparatus for storing image processing information associated with the processing of image data. This image processing information includes information on display processing of various image data such as a display method on the display unit 240 and a display position of the received image data.

The image controller 230 is a device that controls the image data to be displayed at a predetermined position of the display unit 240 based on the image processing information. The image controller 230 may divide the display unit 240 to generate one or more display cells (hereinafter, referred to as windows), and display image data of a corresponding channel in each window. That is, a multiplexer function capable of dividing and displaying image data generated by a plurality of video cameras in one display unit 230 is possible. The condition input unit 235 included in the image controller 230 receives a display condition associated with the generation of the image processing information from the manager, that is, information about the display of image data desired by the manager. Hereinafter, the image data control operation of the image controller 230 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

3 is a view showing an example of a display unit according to the present invention.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the display unit 240 generates one or more windows and divides the windows, and each window displays image data based on channel information and display window information included in the image processing information. The division of the display 240 of the image controller 230 is, for example, a process of dividing the LCD liquid crystal screen into a unit window of a predetermined range and reconfiguring the display 240 to perform an independent display operation of each window. The display 240 includes a screen divider (not shown) to support screen partitioning. In addition, a window number is given in accordance with the number of divided windows, and information about the window is recorded in the image processing information. The number of windows to be divided can be fixed by the screen divider (not shown), and the number of windows can be adjusted at the request of an administrator. In FIG. 3, a display screen divided into 32 unit windows is illustrated, and an administrator can simultaneously monitor image data coming from up to 32 video cameras.

4A to 4C are diagrams showing the detailed configuration of the image processing information.

4A illustrates an example of image processing information including channel information corresponding to a window, and the channel information includes information of a digital video recorder and a video camera. For example, in FIG. 1, if each of the digital video recorders 110 and 120 is designated as a variable i and each of the video cameras 111 to 114 or 121 to 124 is designated as a variable j, the channel information is represented by (i, j ) Can be displayed. Therefore, channel 1 having channel information (1, 1) means that the first digital video recorder 110 and the first video camera 111 are connected. Further, based on the image processing information, the corresponding image data of the channel 1 is displayed in the window 1. Similarly, channel 8 has channel information (2, 8) indicating the connection of the second digital video recorder 120 and the eighth video camera 124, the corresponding image data of the channel 8 is displayed in the window 8 . The positioning of the window to be displayed for these channels and channel information can be directly input by the administrator.

4B is a diagram illustrating an example of image processing information including information about a display order and display time for each channel, and shows image processing information when periodically displaying image data of several channels in one window. . The display condition may include information such as the display order and display time for each channel with respect to a specific window. The display condition is received from the manager through the condition input unit 235 of the image controller 230 and recorded in the image processing information. For example, as shown in FIG. 4B, image data of channel information (1, 1), channel information (1, 2), channel information (1, 3), channel information (1, 4) is specified in a window 3. In order to display by period, the display order is channel information (1, 1) → channel information (1, 3) → channel information (1, 4) → channel information (1, 2). do. That is, the channel information (1, 1) is displayed for 1 minute, the channel information (1, 3) is displayed for 2 minutes, the channel information (1, 4) is displayed for 2 minutes, and the channel information (1, 2) is displayed for 0.5 minutes. do. When the display of the channel information (1, 2) is completed, it is possible to loop again to display the image data of the channel information (1, 1), or to display another channel under the control of the administrator. In addition, when there is an urgent display request from the administrator, image data of channel information requested for display is displayed regardless of the display order described above.

4C is a diagram illustrating an example of image processing information including information about an encoding method for each channel, and receives image compression information of image data from each video camera and records the image processing information in the image processing information. As an image compression method, for example, JPEG, MJPEG, MPEG-1, Wavelet, MPEG2, JPEG2000, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, etc. may be divided and specified, and the image controller 230 corresponds to the encoding method for each channel. The decoding operation accordingly is performed and image data is displayed on the window.

FIG. 4D is a diagram showing an example of image processing information including information on the type of image data displayed on the display unit during a retrieval operation, wherein stored image data retrieved at the request of an administrator or an image currently photographed by a video camera The positional information of the window in which the data is displayed is recorded. The image control unit 230 displays the corresponding stored image data based on the image processing information, and if the same video camera needs to compare the currently displayed image data with the retrieved stored image data, each corresponding to the corresponding window. Display image data. As shown in Fig. 4D, for example, when a retrieval operation for channel information (1, 3) is required, the stored image data extracted by the search is displayed in window 9, and in window 10, the channel information (1, 3) is displayed. Image data currently being shot by the corresponding video camera 113 is displayed. Therefore, it is possible to more efficiently perform a search operation that simultaneously monitors both screens of the present and specific past viewpoints.

On the other hand, for convenience of the search operation, it is possible to display the image data using a plurality of unit windows, which will be described with reference to FIG.

5 is a diagram illustrating a display state of a display unit according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in Figs. 4D and 5, the stored image data extracted by the retrieval operation for the channel information (2, 7) to be searched is stored in the right screen of the display unit (8 to 8, Windows 13 to 16, and Windows 21). 24, windows 29 to 32, and the image data currently captured by the video camera 123 and generated is displayed on the left screen of the display unit (4 in windows 1, 12 in windows 9, 20 in windows 17, 20 in windows 25). ). The designation of the window range to be displayed is input from the administrator and recorded in the image processing information. Therefore, it is possible to perform a comparative monitoring operation more easily through the greatly enlarged image. The description of the display of one image data in a plurality of such windows is omitted herein because it is a technical scope already known to those skilled in the art.

The configuration of the image controller for performing such a search operation will be described with reference to FIGS. 6A and 6B.

6A illustrates a detailed configuration of an image controller according to the present invention, and FIG. 6B illustrates an example of search condition information associated with a search job.

The image controller 600 may include a manager interface unit 610 for receiving search condition information on a search channel from a manager, a digital video recorder search unit 620 for searching a digital video recorder associated with the search channel, and the searched search results. A search control unit 630 for requesting stored image data stored in association with the search channel and receiving the stored image data from a digital video recorder, and a stored image data storage unit 640 for storing the received stored image data And a storage image display unit 650 for controlling the display unit 240 to display the stored image data stored in the storage image data storage unit 640 on the display unit 240 based on the search condition information. do.

The manager interface 610 is a device for inputting information on a search condition requested by an administrator, and the search condition information may include channel information to be searched and time zone information to be searched. For example, it can be seen from the search condition information in Fig. 6B that the search target is channel information (1.3) and stored image data for one hour from 2 pm on May 22, 2003. The display condition information about the display order and display time for each channel in the unit window can be input from the administrator.

The digital video recorder search unit 620 checks the digital video recorder of the channel information based on the search condition information and extracts the image data of the search target.

In addition, the search control unit 630 transmits a reception request for the extracted image data to the corresponding digital video recorder, and receives the stored image data corresponding thereto.

The storage image data storage unit 640 is a recording medium for storing the received storage image data, and displays the storage image data in a predetermined window in response to a display request of the display unit. At this time, the stored image data is displayed in the corresponding window based on the image processing information (see Fig. 4D).

The stored image display unit 550 displays the stored image data in the window based on the image processing information. The image processing information includes the number of the unit window in which the stored image data is displayed, which is input by the administrator.

Meanwhile, in the present exemplary embodiment, the display unit generates a window by logically dividing the screen by a screen divider (not shown) or a predetermined program. However, the display unit according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a plurality of units. It can illustrate what consists of a display part.

7 is a diagram illustrating a display unit including a unit display unit according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 7, the image data received from the digital video recorders 750 and 760 is controlled by the central management system 700 and displayed on each display unit 710, 720, 730, 740. The display units 710, 720, 730, and 740 are independent display devices corresponding to the above-described unit windows, and may be, for example, liquid crystal screens or monitor screens. Therefore, the image processing information includes display unit information displayed for each channel, and based on this image processing information, the image control unit controls such that image data is displayed on each unit display unit.

In addition, the image control unit causes the image processing data to be displayed on the display unit based on the image processing information including information on the display order or display time of the image data displayed on the display units 710, 720, 730, and 740.

Such an embodiment of the display unit including the display units 710, 720, 730, and 740 is replaced with a unit display unit instead of a window in the above-described embodiment of the display unit by window generation, and displays image data. The technical contents of the search and the like are similar to or the same as those in the above-described embodiment, and are omitted here.

8 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a central management system of the present invention for supporting voice.

As shown in FIG. 8, the central management system 800 that supports voice receives image data and sound source information associated with the image data from the digital video recorder 840 and connected to the digital video recorder 840. A connection interface unit 810 for controlling the display unit to display the image data on a predetermined display means, and a sound source playback unit 830 for reproducing the received sound source information in association with the image data. ).

First, the connection interface unit 810 receives the sound source data collected from the video camera to which the sound source collecting means (for example, a microphone or the like) is attached to the central management system 800 wirelessly via the digital video recorder 840. The sound source information includes received image data and sync information (information for matching the time flow of the image data and sound source data) of the corresponding sound source data. This sync information is received from a video camera that generates sound source data and image data.

The image control unit 820 is a device for displaying image data on a corresponding window or display unit based on the image processing information, and the sound source reproducing unit 830 may reproduce sound source data synchronized with the image data through, for example, a speaker. Device. In addition, the sound source reproducing unit 830 may mute the predetermined sound source data so as not to play or reproduce only by the administrator request.

Therefore, the administrator can view the image data displayed on the window or the display unit together with the scene sound, thereby achieving an effective monitoring operation.

Embodiments of the invention include a computer readable medium containing program instructions for performing various computer-implemented operations. The computer readable medium may include program instructions, data files, data structures, etc. alone or in combination. The medium or program instructions may be those specially designed and constructed for the purposes of the present invention, or they may be of the kind well-known and available to those having skill in the computer software arts. Examples of computer readable recording media include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks and magnetic tape, optical media such as CD-ROMs and DVDs, and magnetic disks such as floppy disks. Magneto-optical media, and hardware devices specifically configured to store and execute program instructions, such as ROM, RAM, flash memory, and the like. The medium may be a transmission medium such as an optical or metal wire, a waveguide, or the like including a carrier wave for transmitting a signal specifying a program command, a data structure, or the like. Examples of program instructions include not only machine code generated by a compiler, but also high-level language code that can be executed by a computer using an interpreter or the like.

9 is an internal block diagram of a general purpose computer device that may be employed to construct a central management system in accordance with the present invention.

Computer device 900 includes one or more processors 910 coupled with a main memory device including random access memory (RAM) 920 and read only memory (ROM) 930. The processor 910 is also called a central processing unit (CPU). As is well known in the art, the ROM 930 serves to transfer data and instructions to the CPU unidirectionally, and the RAM 920 typically transfers data and instructions bidirectionally. Used to. RAM 920 and ROM 930 may include any suitable form of computer readable media. Mass storage 940 is bidirectionally coupled to processor 910 to provide additional data storage capability and may be any of the computer readable recording media described above. The mass storage device 940 is used to store programs, data, and the like, and is a secondary storage device such as a hard disk which is generally slower than the main memory device. Certain mass storage devices such as CD ROM 960 may be used. The processor 910 may include one or more input / output interfaces, such as a video monitor, trackball, mouse, keyboard, microphone, touch screen display, card reader, magnetic or paper tape reader, voice or handwriting reader, joystick, or other known computer input / output device. 950. Finally, the processor 910 may be connected to a wired or wireless communication network through the network interface 970. Through this network connection, the procedure of the method described above can be performed. The apparatus and tools described above are well known to those skilled in the computer hardware and software arts.

The hardware device described above may be configured to operate as one or more software modules to perform the operations of the present invention.

While specific embodiments of the present invention have been described so far, various modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be defined not only by the claims below, but also by the equivalents of the claims.

As described above, the present invention has been described by way of limited embodiments and drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, which can be variously modified and modified by those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains. Modifications are possible. Accordingly, the spirit of the present invention should be understood only by the claims set forth below, and all equivalent or equivalent modifications thereof will belong to the scope of the present invention.

As can be seen from the above description, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a central management system for wirelessly receiving image data of the digital video recorder by connecting to a digital video recorder for connecting a predetermined video camera by a wireless protocol.

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a central management system capable of wirelessly receiving audio data collected by a video camera and performing monitoring while reproducing the audio data together with image data.

In addition, according to the present invention, it is possible to manage image data displayed for each channel and to search the stored image data at the same time as monitoring the current situation for the same channel.

Claims (11)

In the central management system for managing the digital video recorder, A connection interface unit connected to the digital video recorder via a wireless communication network and receiving image data from the digital video recorder; A database unit for storing image processing information associated with the processing of the image data; And An image control unit controlling the display unit to display the image data on a predetermined display unit based on the image processing information; Central management system of the digital video recorder comprising a. The method of claim 1, And the image controller generates one or more windows to display the image data on the display unit. The method of claim 2, The image processing information includes information about a window displaying the image data corresponding to a channel associated with the image data, And the image control unit controls to display the image data in the window corresponding to a channel associated with the image data with reference to the image processing information. The method of claim 2, The image processing information includes a channel associated with image data displayed in the window, a display order in the window of the image data, and a display time in the window of the image data, And the image control unit controls to display the image data displayed on the window in the window during the display time of the image data according to the display order of the image data. Central management system of video recorders. The method of claim 1, The display unit is composed of one or more unit display unit, The image processing information includes information about a unit display unit for displaying the image data corresponding to a channel associated with the image data, And the image control unit controls to display the image data on the unit display unit corresponding to a channel associated with the image data with reference to the image processing information. The method of claim 5, The image processing information includes a channel associated with image data displayed on the unit display portion, a display order of the image data on the unit display portion, and a display time of the image data on the unit image portion, And the image control unit controls to display the image data displayed on the unit display unit in the unit display unit during the display time of the image data in accordance with the display order of the image data. Central management system of digital video recorders. The method of claim 1, The image processing information includes encoding scheme information about an encoding scheme of the image data corresponding to a channel associated with the image data, And the image control unit decodes the image data with reference to the encoding method information regarding the encoding method of the image data, and controls the decoded image data to display the image data. Central management system of the recorder. The method of claim 1, The video controller, An administrator interface for receiving search condition information from an administrator, wherein the search condition information includes information about a search channel to search for; A digital video recorder searcher for searching a digital video recorder associated with the search channel; A search control unit for requesting the searched digital video recorder for stored picture data stored in association with the search channel and receiving the stored picture data; And A stored image data storage unit for storing the received stored image data; A storage image display unit for controlling the display unit to display the stored image data stored in the storage image data storage unit on the display unit based on the search condition information; Central management system of the digital video recorder comprising a. The method of claim 8, And the display on the display unit for the image data and the display on the display unit for the stored image data are simultaneously performed. The method of claim 1, And a connection interface unit requests the digital video recorder to transmit the image data. In the central management system for managing the digital video recorder, A connection interface unit connected to the digital video recorder and receiving image data and sound source information associated with the image data from the digital video recorder; An image controller which controls the display unit to display the image data on predetermined display means; And A sound source reproducing unit for reproducing the received sound source information in association with the image data Central management system of the digital video recorder comprising a.