JP2002271777A - Image communication apparatus and communication system using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide an image communication device capable of providing data such as images and sounds to a plurality of clients, and a communication system using the same. SOLUTION: A camera provided with an imaging element unit 3 for capturing a surrounding image, an image processing unit 4 for processing image data, a signal processing unit 5 for converting image data into transmission data, and a wireless processing unit 6 for transmitting data. Unit 1, a wireless processing unit 7 for receiving data, a signal processing unit 8 for restoring data, an internal proxy server 9 for controlling connection with a camera unit, a data storage unit 10 for storing data, and an external computer network 12. External proxy server 11 for controlling connection
And a server unit 2 having The camera unit and the server unit are connected by a wireless mobile phone line. Data such as images and sounds are provided from a server unit to a plurality of clients via a computer network.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an image communication apparatus and a communication system capable of providing data such as images and sounds to a plurality of remote clients via a computer network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, wireless portable telephones including wireless portable telephones (Personal Digital Cellular Phone System) (PDC) and simple wireless portable telephones (Personal Handy Phone System) (PHS) have exploded. Is widely spread. In particular, in recent years, attention has been paid to data communication, and the number of users using a mobile data communication device capable of transmitting and receiving data such as images and voices while on the go is rapidly increasing. Among them, from the high speed of the data communication,
There have been proposed some data communication devices for transmitting data such as images and sounds using a simplified wireless cellular phone line.

For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-327398 discloses a technique in which a PHS communication unit is attached to a monitoring camera and an image is transmitted to the monitoring device via an existing PHS communication network.

Further, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-271469, when a cordless image transmitter is connected to a public line and used for monitoring, a PHS communication device is used instead of a conventional spread spectrum wireless communication device. The technology used is disclosed.

[0005]

However, in a conventional data communication apparatus for transmitting data such as voice and image using a wireless portable telephone line, one camera or one client or a plurality of cameras are used for each camera. Data is provided to one camera such as one client.
Therefore, data such as images and sounds cannot be provided to a plurality of clients.

Further, the prior art is based on the premise that a general public line of a wireless portable telephone or a simplified wireless portable telephone or a privately owned private line of a simplified wireless portable telephone is used.
For this reason, it is necessary to previously install a base station at a place where the base station is used. For example, it is not necessarily suitable for use in a limited place such as at home.

[0007] The present invention has been made to solve such problems of the prior art, and is capable of providing data such as images and sounds to a plurality of clients.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an image communication device applicable to data distribution, remote monitoring, automatic alarm transmission, and the like, and a communication system using the same. Further, the present invention provides
It is an object of the present invention to provide an image communication device that can be easily used without installing a base station in advance in a particularly limited place such as at home and a communication system using the same.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided an image communication apparatus comprising: an image pickup device for picking up a surrounding image and converting the image into image data; and an image processing unit for processing image data from the image pickup device. One or more camera units, an internal proxy server that controls connection with the camera units, a data storage unit that stores data from the camera units, and a connection to an external computer network connected by wire or wireless. A camera unit having an external proxy server to be controlled; and the camera unit and the server unit are connected wirelessly or by wire, thereby achieving the above object.

An image communication apparatus according to the present invention has an image pickup device for picking up a surrounding image and converting the image into image data, an image processing unit for processing image data from the image pickup device, and an image processing unit for processing the image data. A wireless communication signal processing unit for converting image data into transmission data, a camera unit including a wireless processing unit for transmitting the transmission data, a wireless processing unit for receiving data from the camera unit, and the received data Signal processing unit for restoring the data, an internal proxy server for controlling connection with the camera unit, a data storage unit for storing data from the camera unit, and connection with an external computer network connected by wire or wirelessly And a server unit having an external proxy server for controlling the camera unit. The camera unit and the server unit are connected by a wireless mobile phone line, thereby achieving the above object. It is made.

A communication system according to the present invention uses the image communication apparatus according to the present invention to transmit a plurality of data from the camera unit or data stored in a data storage unit of the server unit from the server unit via a computer network. The above objectives are achieved.

[0011] The camera unit and the server unit may be connected using a general public line of a wireless mobile phone or a simplified wireless mobile phone.

[0012] The camera unit and the server unit may be connected to each other using a privately owned private line of a simplified wireless portable telephone.

[0013] The camera unit and the server unit may be connected to each other using a direct communication function between slave units of a simplified wireless portable telephone.

The camera section has a detecting section for detecting that a preset condition is satisfied, and when the set condition is satisfied, the server section automatically contacts a predetermined contact address. It may be configured to provide data.

The operation of the present invention will be described below.

In the present invention, by providing a server unit in the image communication apparatus, it becomes possible to provide data such as images and voices to a plurality of clients, and to use for image distribution, remote monitoring, automatic alarm transmission, and the like. Can easily be realized.

The camera unit and the server unit can be connected to each other by using a line of a wireless portable telephone including an existing wireless portable telephone (PDC), a simple wireless portable telephone (PHS) and the like. For example, a mobile phone is mounted on a camera unit or a server unit, and the camera unit is mainly installed by connecting the camera unit and the server unit using a general public line of a wireless mobile phone or a simplified wireless mobile phone. It is possible to easily install the apparatus without specifying a special facility without specifying a place to be installed. In addition, by connecting the camera unit and the server unit using a private wireless network of a simplified wireless mobile phone, the place where the camera unit is installed is mainly limited to a specific business office or the like. Then, it is possible to easily install the apparatus without providing any special equipment. In addition, by connecting the camera unit and the server unit using the direct communication function between the slave units of the simplified wireless mobile phone, the place where the camera unit and the server unit are installed is limited to a particularly limited place such as a home. It can be easily installed without any special equipment within the range.

Further, the camera unit is provided with a detection unit for detecting that a preset condition is satisfied, and when the set condition is satisfied, the server unit automatically contacts a designated contact address. In such a case, it is possible to transmit an alarm to a plurality of clients at the same time when applying to an application such as automatic alarm transmission.

[0019]

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

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an image communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. This image communication device includes a camera unit 1 and a server unit 2. The camera unit 1 and the server unit 2
Is a wireless L.P.C., including various types of wireless mobile telephone lines and public wired lines such as PDC, PHS, GSM, and CDMA.
Various wireless and wired methods such as AN, Bluetooth, optical fiber, and power line communication can be used for connection. Hereinafter, examples of connection using a wireless mobile phone line or a simplified wireless mobile phone line will be described. Further, here, the camera unit 1 and the server unit 2 are provided separately, but may be provided integrally. When the camera unit and the server unit are integrally formed, the image processing unit 4 and the internal proxy server 9 shown in FIG. 1 are directly connected.

The camera unit 1 captures an image of the surroundings and converts the image into image data, an image processing unit 4 that processes image data from the image sensor 3, and an image processing unit 4 that processes the image data. A wireless communication signal processing unit 5 for converting the image data into transmission data; and a wireless processing unit 6 for transmitting the transmission data to the server unit 2.

As the imaging device section 3, for example, a charge-coupled device (CCD), a C-MOS image sensor, or the like can be used. The image processing unit 4 converts the image data obtained by the imaging element unit 3 into data of a predetermined format such as a jpeg format. Data such as images transmitted to the server unit 2 is transmitted to a wireless mobile phone (P
DC) and a simple wireless portable telephone (PHS), the signal is converted by the signal processing unit 5 into data suitable for transmission. Then, the converted data passes through a wireless processing unit 6 having a data communication function and a wireless telephone function, and passes through the server unit 2.
Sent to The camera unit 1 can be built in, for example, a portable information terminal (PDA) or the like.

The server unit 2 includes a wireless processing unit 7 for receiving data from the camera unit 1, a wireless communication signal processing unit 8 for restoring the received data, and an internal proxy for controlling connection with a plurality of camera units. The system includes a server 9, a data storage unit 10 for storing data from a camera unit, and an external proxy server 11 for controlling connection to an external computer network 12 connected by wire or wirelessly.

The image data transmitted from the camera unit 1 is received by the wireless processing unit 7, restored by the signal processing unit 8 and stored in the data storage unit 10. The wireless processing unit 7 has a data communication function and a wireless telephone function similarly to the wireless processing unit 6. Note that the camera unit 1 is configured to handle not only image data but also audio, and audio data captured by a sound collecting element such as a microphone built in the camera unit 1 is output in a predetermined format such as a wave format. The data is converted into data, and the audio data is transmitted to the server unit 1 wirelessly together with the image data, and is stored in the data storage unit 10.
As the data storage unit 10, a hard disk or the like can be used.

The internal proxy server 9 has an IP address (IP address) uniquely assigned to the camera unit 1 in the apparatus.
(A number used to identify devices on the network used in the Internet protocol)
Communication between the plurality of camera units 1 and the server unit 2 can be controlled. Further, the external proxy server 11 can control communication between the computer network 12 and the server unit 2 based on an IP address when the network is viewed from the outside.

Next, the overall processing flow in the image communication apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, in step 1, a URL (Uniform Resource) is received from a client on the computer network 12 connected by wire or wirelessly.
Locator: a format for explicitly specifying which network to access and in what way, the same as the official IP address of the network) is received by the external proxy server 11 in step 2. That is, the external proxy server 11 specifies the server unit 2 by the IP address.

Next, in step 3, in the server unit 2, for example, a desired one is selected from a plurality of links to the camera unit 1 in a web page specified by the requested URL. The camera unit 1 that the client is trying to access (connect) is specified. Since a plurality of camera units 1 are mapped to the internal proxy server 9 as directories, step 4
Then, the internal proxy server 9 dials and connects to the camera unit 1 requested by the client.

As described above, since the external proxy server 11 and the internal proxy server 9 are separated from each other, a unique IP address can be assigned to each camera unit 1 inside the apparatus, no matter how many camera units 1 increase. In addition, computer
From a client on the network 12, it is possible to obtain data such as images from a plurality of camera units 1 only by specifying the IP address of the external proxy server 11.

Next, the data such as images and sounds sent from the camera unit 1 in step 5 is provided to the client in step 6 and is stored in the data storage unit 10 in step 7. Then, when there are requests from a plurality of clients, the data is provided from the data storage unit 10 in step 8.

According to the present embodiment, since the server unit 2 is provided in the image communication apparatus, it becomes possible to provide data such as images and voices even when accessing from a plurality of clients.

FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram for explaining an outline of a communication system including an image communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this communication system, the image communication device 13 is connected to a plurality of clients 16 that receive data such as images through a computer network 15 including the Internet or an intranet. In the image communication device 13, the plurality of camera units and the server unit are connected to the wireless mobile phone line 1
4.

A plurality of clients 16 receiving data such as images and sounds by the communication system of the present embodiment.
Accesses the server unit of the image communication device 13 via a computer network 15 such as the Internet or an intranet to which the client is connected,
Receive the data. The image communication device 13 has a plurality of camera units, and the client 16 can select a camera unit to access.

According to the present embodiment, since the image communication device 13 is provided with the server unit, it is possible to provide data such as images and sounds even when a plurality of clients 16 access.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram for explaining a communication system including an image communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 4 and the following FIGS. 5 and 6 show a portion on the left side of the server unit in FIGS. 3 and 7. In this communication system,
The image communication device 17 is connected via a computer network 21 including the Internet or an intranet.
It is connected to a plurality of clients receiving data such as images. In the image communication device 17, the plurality of camera units and the server unit are a general public wireless mobile phone line 18 of a wireless mobile phone including a wireless mobile phone (PDC) and a simple wireless mobile phone, and the general public base station 19 thereof. And a general public line 20.

In the communication system according to the present embodiment, the image communication device 17 can be easily installed without providing any special equipment without mainly specifying the location where the camera unit is installed. Data from the camera unit is sent to the server unit via the general public wireless mobile phone line 18 of the wireless mobile phone and its general public base station 19 and general public line 20. Then, the client can access the server unit of the image communication apparatus 17 via the computer network 21 such as the Internet or an intranet to which the client is connected, and can receive data such as images and sounds.

According to the present embodiment, since the image communication device 17 is provided with the server unit, it is possible to provide data such as images and voices even when accessing from a plurality of clients. Further, since the connection is made using the general public wireless mobile phone line 18 of the wireless mobile phone including the wireless mobile phone (PDC) and the simplified wireless mobile phone (PHS),
The image communication device 17 can be easily installed anywhere within the service area of the general public base station 19.

(Embodiment 3) FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram for explaining a communication system having an image communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this communication system, the image communication device 22 is connected to a plurality of clients receiving data such as images through a computer network 26 including the Internet or an intranet. Further, in the image communication device 22, the plurality of camera units and the server unit are a self-owned simple wireless mobile phone line 23 of the simple wireless mobile phone and the self-owned base station 2 thereof.
4 and the in-house private line 25.

In the communication system according to the present embodiment, the image communication device 22 mainly limits the place where the camera unit is installed to a specific business place or the like, and if it is within the range, no special equipment is required. It can be easily installed. Data from the camera unit is stored in a simple wireless mobile phone (P
HS), and is sent to the server unit via the premises self-operated simple wireless portable telephone line 23, the premises self-operated base station 24, and the premises self-operated line 25. Then, the client can access the server unit of the image communication device 22 via the computer network 26 such as the Internet or an intranet to which the client is connected, and can receive data such as images and sounds.

According to the present embodiment, since the image communication apparatus 22 is provided with the server unit, it is possible to provide data such as images and sounds even when accessing from a plurality of clients. In addition, since the connection is made by using the premises self-managed simplified wireless mobile phone line 23 of the simplified wireless mobile phone (PHS), the image communication device 22 can be easily installed anywhere within the service area of the premises self-managed base station 24. Can be installed.

(Embodiment 4) FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram for explaining a communication system including an image communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this communication system, the image communication device 27 is connected to a plurality of clients receiving data such as images via a computer network 29 including the Internet or an intranet. Further, in the image communication device 27, the plurality of camera units and the server unit are connected by a direct communication function 28 between handset units of a simplified wireless mobile phone.

In the communication system according to the present embodiment, the image communication device 27 limits the place where the camera unit and the server unit are installed to a particularly limited place such as a home, and special equipment within the range. Even if it is not provided, it can be easily installed. Data from the camera unit is sent to the server unit by a direct wireless communication function 28 between handset units of a simple wireless portable telephone (PHS). Then, the client can access the server unit of the image communication device 27 via the computer network 29 such as the Internet or an intranet to which the client is connected, and can receive data such as images and sounds.

According to the present embodiment, since the image communication device 27 is provided with the server unit, it is possible to provide data such as images and sounds even when accessing from a plurality of clients. In addition, since the connection is made using the direct call 28 function between the slave units of the simplified wireless portable telephone (PHS),
As long as the radio wave of each of the camera unit and the server unit can reach, both the camera unit and the server unit can be freely installed. Therefore, a communication system can be easily constructed especially in a limited place such as at home.

(Embodiment 5) FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram for explaining a communication system including an image communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this communication system, the image communication device 30 is connected via a computer network 33 including the Internet or an intranet to a client 34 specified in advance as a contact for receiving data such as images. In the image communication device 30, the plurality of camera units and the server unit are connected by a wireless mobile phone line 32 including a wireless mobile phone (PDC), a simple wireless mobile phone, and the like. In addition, the camera unit detects a predetermined condition (for example, that the smoke sensor detects smoke, that the heat sensor detects that the temperature has exceeded the set temperature, or that the water level sensor has exceeded the warning water level in the increased river. (For example, detection).

In the communication system according to the present embodiment, when the sensor 31 detects that the preset condition is satisfied, the server unit automatically contacts the client 34 designated as a contact address in advance to transmit images, sounds, and the like. Send the data. At this time, data from the camera unit is sent to the server unit via a telephone line 32 of a wireless mobile phone including a wireless mobile phone (PDC) and a simplified wireless mobile phone (PHS), and the client unit 34 Is sent via a computer network 33 such as the Internet or an intranet to which the is connected.

According to the present embodiment, since the image communication apparatus 30 is provided with the server section, it is possible to provide data such as images and voices even when accessing from a plurality of clients. Therefore, by designating a plurality of clients as contacts in advance, it is possible to simultaneously issue alarms to a plurality of clients when applying to applications such as automatic alarm transmission.

[0046]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
By providing a server unit in the image communication device, it is possible to provide data such as images and voices to multiple clients, and a system that can be applied to applications such as image distribution, remote monitoring, automatic alarm transmission, etc. It can be easily realized. Furthermore, since the internal proxy server is divided into an external proxy server and an internal proxy server inside the server unit, even if a plurality of camera units are installed, the client only needs to specify the IP address of the server unit. IP resources are not wasted.

Further, the camera unit and the server unit are connected to an existing wireless portable telephone (PDC) or a simple wireless portable telephone (PHS).
By using various wireless mobile phone lines including those etc., the image communication device can be installed without any special equipment within the service area of the base station of each general public line or privately owned private line. It can be installed arbitrarily. For this reason, traffic monitoring. Disaster site monitoring. Services such as factory safety confirmation, facility security, and event relay can be easily realized.

In a particularly limited place such as in a home, for example, the camera unit and the server unit are connected to each other by using a communication function between slave units of a simple wireless portable telephone (PHS), so that an image can be displayed. Since there is no need to previously install a base station at the place where the communication terminal device is used, it is possible to easily use an image communication device that can be applied to applications such as image distribution, remote monitoring, and automatic alarm transmission. . For this reason, for example, it is possible to perform housework while watching the state of the infant at another place in the home such as a kitchen, or to work while watching at a remote place such as an office.

Further, when the automatic alarm transmission function is applied to the application, when the sensor installed around the camera unit detects that a preset condition is satisfied, the server unit designates it as a contact in advance. Can automatically provide data such as images and audio to the client who was contacted, so that if there is an intruder on the premises or if the appearance of infants is abnormal, etc. The received client can immediately confirm the situation based on the provided data. In addition, since data such as images and sounds can be provided to a plurality of clients at the same time, it is possible to simultaneously issue an alarm to a plurality of clients by designating a plurality of clients as contacts. Can also.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an image communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining a processing flow in the image communication apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram for explaining an outline of a communication system using an image communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram for describing an embodiment of a communication system using an image communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram for describing an embodiment of a communication system using an image communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram for describing an embodiment of a communication system using an image communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram for describing an embodiment of a communication system using an image communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 1 camera unit 2 server unit 3 image sensor unit 4 image processing unit 5, 8 signal processing unit for wireless communication 6, 7 wireless processing unit 9 internal proxy server 10 data storage unit 11 external proxy server 12 computer connected by wire or wireless Network 13, 17, 22, 27, 30 Image communication device 14, 32 Wireless mobile phone line 15, 21, 26, 29, 33 Computer network such as Internet or intranet 16 Client 18 General public wireless mobile phone line 19 General public base station Reference Signs List 20 general public line 23 premises self-managed simple wireless mobile phone line 24 premises self-managed base station 25 premises self-managed line 28 direct call between handset of simple wireless mobile phone 31 sensor 34 client specified as contact information in advance

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An image sensor unit that captures a surrounding image and converts the image data into image data, one or more camera units including an image processing unit that processes image data from the image sensor unit, and the camera unit A server unit having an internal proxy server for controlling connection with the camera unit, a data storage unit for storing data from the camera unit, and an external proxy server for controlling connection with an external computer network connected by wire or wireless. An image communication device, wherein the camera unit and the server unit are connected wirelessly or by wire. 2. An image sensor unit for picking up a surrounding image and converting the image data into image data, an image processing unit for processing image data from the image sensor unit, and transmitting image data processed by the image processing unit to transmission data. A camera unit having a wireless communication signal processing unit for converting the data into a wireless communication unit and a wireless processing unit for transmitting the transmission data; a wireless processing unit for receiving data from the camera unit; and a wireless communication unit for restoring the received data. A signal processing unit, an internal proxy server that controls connection with the camera unit, a data storage unit that stores data from the camera unit, and an external proxy server that controls connection with a wired or wirelessly connected external computer network An image communication device, comprising: a server unit having: a camera unit and a server unit connected by a wireless mobile phone line. 3. The image communication device according to claim 1, wherein data from the camera unit or data stored in a data storage unit of the server unit is transmitted from the server unit via a computer network. Communication system for multiple clients. 4. The communication system according to claim 3, wherein the camera unit and the server unit are connected using a general public line of a wireless mobile phone or a simplified wireless mobile phone. 5. The communication system according to claim 3, wherein the camera unit and the server unit are connected by using a private line of a simple wireless portable telephone. 6. The communication system according to claim 3, wherein the camera unit and the server unit are connected using a direct communication function between slave units of a simplified wireless mobile phone. 7. The camera unit has a detection unit for detecting that a preset condition is satisfied, and when the set condition is satisfied, the server unit automatically sends a contact to a predetermined contact. 7. The data is transmitted upon contact.
The communication system according to any one of the above.