KR20150107931A - Camera Image Storing Apparatus for Reducing Power Consumption - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a camera image storing apparatus in a low power consumption structure which saves consumed power when an event is not detected while a black box for a vehicle is operated in a parking mode. The apparatus comprises: an image input unit for photographing an image; a sensor for sensing an event; a preprocessing unit for consuming relatively low power due to light weight compression of the image photographed through the image input unit; and an event processing unit for consuming relatively high power due to heavy weight compression of the image photographed through the image input unit. According to the present invention, when the event does not occur in the parking mode, the event processing unit, which consumes relatively high power due to the heavy weight compression of the image, allows to be in a sleep state, and only the preprocessing unit, which consumes relatively low power due to the light weight compression of the image, is activated to temporarily store the photographed image in the preprocessing unit, thereby saving the power consumption.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a camera image storage device,

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a camera image storage device having a low power consumption structure, and more particularly to a camera image storage device having a low power consumption structure for saving power consumed when an event is not detected during operation in a parking mode .

In a video data recording system for road vehicle accidents including video storage devices, video information is always stored while the vehicle is running, and when the vehicle is impacted or a predetermined event such as a sudden break occurs, The image data for the outside or the inside is recorded and stored.

The black box system for a vehicle processes images photographed by a camera provided outside or inside the vehicle using electric power supplied from a vehicle battery, and then stores the images in a storage medium.

In the vehicle black box system, a variety of sensors such as a gyroscope sensor, an acceleration sensor, an angular velocity sensor, an impact sensor, and a vibration sensor can be used to detect an event according to an event detection.

Therefore, it is possible to recognize that an event has occurred only when the threshold of the threshold value set in advance or directly set by the user in the vehicle black box system exceeds the threshold value of the sensor.

That is, it is determined whether the measured value of the sensor is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold value while monitoring the sensor. If the measured value does not exceed the threshold value, the event is regarded as not occurring.

However, if it is determined that the measured value exceeds the threshold value, it is regarded that an event has occurred and the image data for the outside or inside of the vehicle is recorded and stored using the video storage device included in the vehicle black box system.

In addition, when the vehicle black box system is operating in the parking mode, image data of a certain time before and after the event should be recorded and stored in the event of a motion detection event or an impact event.

Since the event can not be known at any time, the power consumed by accessories such as camera modules, codecs, and memories, which constitute a vehicle black box, temporarily stores video, audio, and other data, It does not decrease much compared to the middle days.

In addition, since the vehicle black box system uses a storage device having a limited capacity, the input image is increased in storage efficiency by using a high compression encoding method such as H.264.

However, using high compression encoding requires a lot of computation and a lot of memory access, which consumes a lot of power.

In the traveling mode, there is no problem in the power source for driving the vehicle black box by charging the vehicle battery by the generator provided in the vehicle. However, since there is no further charging in the parking mode, the vehicle black box is driven only by the vehicle battery There is a problem that the vehicle battery is discharged when consumed.

Korean Registered Patent Publication No. 10-1047538

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an event processing unit that consumes a relatively high power to temporally store an image before an event, such as in a traveling mode, State or power-off state, and a preprocessing unit that consumes relatively low power is configured separately, thereby providing a camera image storage device of low power consumption structure.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a camera image storage apparatus having a low power consumption structure, comprising: a preprocessor for compressing an image photographed by a camera with a relatively low efficiency to consume low power; And an event processor for consuming high power by compressing the image when the event is not detected. An image photographed by the camera is stored in the preprocessor, and the event processor is in a sleep state or a power off state do.

The event may include detection of movement or impact of an object through the sensor unit or movement of an object through the image input unit.

When the event is detected, the event processing unit may be returned from the sleep state or the power off state to perform the operation.

When the event is detected, the image stored in the preprocessing unit may be transmitted to the event processing unit.

The preprocessor may include a first controller for encoding and decoding the image at a relatively low efficiency; And a first storage unit for temporarily storing the image for a preset time.

The event processing unit includes a second control unit for consuming high power as the image is encoded and decoded at relatively high efficiency, a second storage unit for temporarily storing the processed image in the second control unit, and a second storage unit for temporarily storing the image temporarily stored in the second storage unit And a main storage unit for storing and storing the main storage unit.

According to the camera image storage apparatus of the low power consumption structure of the present invention as described above, when an event does not occur in the parking mode, the event processor, which consumes relatively high power as the image is compressed with high efficiency, The image is temporally compressed with a low efficiency for a certain period of time, and only the pre-processing unit consuming a relatively low power is activated, so that the photographed image is temporarily stored in the preprocessor, thereby consuming power.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a camera image storage device of a low power consumption structure according to an embodiment of the present invention,
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a sleep state of a camera image storage device having a low power consumption structure according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 are diagrams for explaining consumption power of a camera image storage device having a low power consumption structure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in order to facilitate a person skilled in the art to easily carry out the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a camera image storage device having a low power consumption structure according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a sleep state of a camera image storage device having a low power consumption structure according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention 3 and 4 are diagrams for explaining consumption power of a camera image storage device of a low power consumption structure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

1, the camera image storage device of low power consumption structure according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an image input unit 100, a sensor unit 300, a preprocessing unit 500, and an event processing unit 700 .

The image input unit 100 corresponds to a camera installed in a black box device of a vehicle, and image capturing to front, back, and side of the vehicle can be performed.

The image input unit 100 may include a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) or a CIS (CMOS Image Sensor), which receives light through a lens (not shown) and converts the light into an electrical signal.

The image input unit 100 may include an image processor (not shown) for receiving an analog image signal and converting the analog image signal into a digital image signal.

The image processing unit may be a DSP (Digital Signal Processor) or an ISP (Image Signal Processor), and may be configured in detail including a sampling part, an amplifier, an AD converter, a vertical and horizontal driver, and the like.

The sensor unit 300 includes a sensor for detecting an object moving around the vehicle, an impact sensor for detecting an impact applied to the vehicle, and the like. have.

Meanwhile, the object detecting sensor may be an image input unit 100 using a technique of photographing a moving object in close proximity and outputting a motion recognition result after performing an image analysis through a recognition algorithm.

The preprocessing unit 500 includes a first control unit 510 and a first storage unit 550.

The first controller 510 may be provided in the form of a semiconductor chip. The first controller 510 encodes and decodes an image input through the image input unit 100 using a light weight compression method such as a JPEG method.

Since the first controller 510 performs low-efficiency compression on an image, the first controller 510 consumes relatively low power.

The first storage unit 550 may be a low power consuming memory such as LPDDR (Low Power DDR), and temporarily stores the compressed image through the first control unit 510. [

The first storage unit 550 may be a memory having a capacity for storing images for a preset time of about 10 seconds.

The event processing unit 700 includes a second control unit 710, a second storage unit 750, and a main storage unit 770.

The second controller 710 may be provided in the form of a semiconductor chip. The second controller 710 encodes and decodes the image input through the image input unit 100 using a Heavy Weight Compression method such as H.264.

Since the second controller 710 performs high-efficiency compression on an image, the second controller 710 consumes a relatively high power.

The second storage unit 750 may be a temporary memory such as an SDRAM, and temporarily stores the compressed image through the second control unit 710.

The main storage unit 770 may be a flash memory such as an SD card, and receives and stores an image stored in the second storage unit 750.

The low-efficiency compression and the high-efficiency compression described above are classified according to the compression rate of the image data. The capacity of the compressed image data through the second control unit 710 is determined based on the compression ratio of the image data compressed through the first control unit 510 Capacity.

The camera image storage apparatus of the present invention having the above-described low power consumption structure operates as follows.

First, an image is captured through the image input unit 100 while the black box installed in the vehicle is operated in the parking mode after the vehicle is parked.

2, the event processing unit 700 generates a sleep state or a power-off state when no event is detected through the object detection sensor or the shock detection sensor, And the image captured through the image input unit 100 is encoded by the first control unit 510 and temporarily stored in the first storage unit 550. [

The preprocessor 500 includes a first controller 510 and a first storage 550 consuming low power and the event processor 700 is in a sleep state or a power off state to reduce power consumption, The power consumption before the occurrence of the event can be P1 as shown in Fig.

For reference, the sleep state pauses the operation of the event processing unit 700 when a specific event according to the present invention is not generated, thereby reducing the power consumed by the event processing unit 700. [

When the event is not detected through the sensor unit 300, the event processing unit 700 maintains the sleep state or the power-off state and is photographed through the image input unit 100 and is stored in the first storage unit 550 The stored image is continuously overwritten with the previously stored image.

When an event is detected through the sensor unit 300, the event processing unit 700 returns from the sleep state or the power off state to be in an operating state, and the image photographed through the image input unit 100 is returned to the pre- And is sequentially stored in the first storage unit 550 through the second storage unit 500.

The first controller 550 decodes the low-efficiency compressed image, which has been temporarily stored in the first storage unit 550 for a certain period of time before the occurrence of the event, and outputs the decoded image to the event processing unit 700 And is encoded in the second control unit 710 and temporarily stored in the second storage unit 750.

Then, the image stored in the second storage unit 750 is moved to the main storage unit 770 and stored.

For example, an image input through the image input unit 100 is encoded in a low efficiency compression manner through the first control unit 510 and then stored in the first storage unit 550, and an event is generated.

When an event occurs, an image up to a predetermined time (10 seconds) before the event stored in the first storage unit 550 is decoded by the first control unit 550 and then delivered to the event processing unit 700, Compressed by the control unit 710 in the H.264 format, and then stored in the main storage unit 770.

Since the event processing unit 700 includes the second control unit 710, the second storage unit 750 and the main storage unit 770 consuming high power, the power consumption after the event is generated is P1 P2. ≪ / RTI >

At this time, when an event occurs, only power corresponding to P2 is consumed only during the time when the event is generated, and power corresponding to P1 is consumed again when the event is completed.

An unexplained reference character 'E' indicates the consumed power generated by an event occurring at a specific time.

As described above, by adding the preprocessing unit 500 according to the present invention, it can be seen that power corresponding to P1, which consumes less power than P2, is consumed if no event is generated.

Also, even if an event occurs, the power corresponding to P2 is consumed only for a certain period of time after completion of the event, and when the event is completed, the power corresponding to P1 is consumed again.

If there is no pre-processing unit 500 and only the event processing unit 700 is present in the prior art vehicle black box, the power consumed before the occurrence of the event and the power consumed after the generation of the event are both P2 Will be.

Therefore, by providing the preprocessing unit 500, the power of P2 is consumed when the vehicle is in the traveling mode, the power of P1 is consumed when the vehicle is in the parking mode, It can be seen that the power of P3 is consumed on average.

That is, since the P3 power value is a power value lower than P2, which is the power consumed in the black box for a vehicle and the power consumed after the occurrence of the event, the power consumed after the event is generated in the parking mode, It can be seen that the multi-power consumption is small.

Although the present invention has been described in connection with the preferred embodiments thereof, it should be understood that the present invention is not limited to a black box for a vehicle. Particularly, the present invention can be applied to video storage devices such as CCTV, Structure.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit of the invention.

100: image input unit 300:
500: preprocessor 700: event processor

Claims (6)

A preprocessor 500 for compressing an image photographed by a camera with a relatively low efficiency and consuming low power; And
And an event processing unit 700 for compressing the input image captured by the camera with relatively high efficiency to consume high power,
And the event processing unit 700 is in a sleep state or a power-off state when the event is not detected, the image photographed by the camera is stored in the preprocessing unit 500, . The method according to claim 1, wherein the event includes sensing an object motion or an impact through the sensor unit (300) or detecting an object motion through the image input unit (100) Device. The camera image storage apparatus of claim 1, wherein the event processing unit (700) is returned from a sleep state or a power off state when an event is detected. The camera image storage apparatus of claim 1, wherein the image stored in the preprocessing unit (500) is transmitted to the event processing unit (700) when an event is detected. [2] The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the preprocessing unit comprises: a first controller for encoding and decoding the image at a relatively low efficiency; And a first storage unit (550) for temporarily storing an image for a preset time period. [7] The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the event processor 700 includes a second controller 710 that consumes high power as the image is encoded and decoded at a relatively high efficiency, a second storage unit 750) and a main storage unit (770) for receiving and storing an image temporarily stored in the second storage unit (750).

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