JP2003061080A - Supervisory system compatible with network - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] When a terminal device receives image data from a monitoring device via a network and a display of a monitoring image of a desired image quality cannot be obtained, a dedicated expensive evaluation device is used. Without using, it is possible to identify the cause of image quality degradation,
A monitoring device, a terminal device, and a network-compatible monitoring system are provided. The monitoring device stores a measurement program for measuring the time from when the terminal device transmits a transmission request for image data to the monitoring device until the terminal device receives and displays the image data, and displays the measurement time. A program is downloaded and executed, and a transmission request for image data is transmitted to the monitoring device, and then each time from reception, development, and drawing is measured, and at least one of each of the monitoring device and the terminal device is connected to the network. This is a network-compatible monitoring system connected to the Internet.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a monitoring device for distributing image data from a camera in monitoring intruding objects at a remote place or multiple points, fixed point observation, and the like, and a terminal device for receiving and displaying the distributed image data. The present invention relates to a network compatible monitoring system connected to a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional monitoring device, image data from a camera is input, and data conversion (encoding (compression)) or uncompressed data is requested via a transmission line to another terminal (for example, a dedicated terminal) which is requested. And a personal computer, etc., but will be transmitted to a terminal device hereinafter), and a part or all of the data will be recorded in a recording medium in the device itself.

On the other hand, in the terminal device, the received image data is inversely converted (decoded (in the case of compressed data)) and displayed on a monitor as a display means.

Here, in the prior art, the international standard encoding method such as JPEG or MPEG method is adopted in the conversion of image data. By a network constructed by a public line network such as a wired line as a transmission line or a wireless telephone line, the Internet, a wireless LAN,
Image data is transmitted from a monitoring device to a terminal device from a remote location or multiple points. A memory, a hard disk, or the like is used as the recording medium. The recorded data of the image data is distributed to the requesting terminal device by the distribution server function of the monitoring device.

[0005]

If image data is transmitted from a remote place or multiple points via a public line network such as a wired line or a wireless telephone line, the Internet, a wireless LAN, or the like, The required transmission band on the network cannot be secured due to fluctuations in other traffic, and data loss, jitter, etc. occur due to the occurrence of congestion, and the required image quality is obtained in the playback video of the received image data on the terminal device side. Can't do it. In addition, a desired reproduced video cannot be obtained even if the processing capacity of the terminal device is insufficient.

In the prior art, when the desired image quality of the reproduced image cannot be obtained in this way, in order to identify the factor that is the bottleneck, a dedicated expensive evaluation device is used to There is a method of checking the number of drawn images and the image quality by monitoring or recording the reproduced image on a VTR or the like and performing frame-by-frame reproduction. In such a method, it takes a lot of time to identify the factor.

[0007]

In order to solve the above problem, an image data processing unit for inputting a video signal from a camera of a subject, converting the image signal into image data and outputting the image data, and at least one connected to a network. In a monitoring device comprising a network control unit for exchanging data including the image data with a terminal device, a CPU unit for controlling the image data processing unit and the network control unit, and a bus connecting each unit, The terminal device includes a recording unit that measures a time from transmission of the image data transmission request to the monitoring device to reception and display, and records a measurement program for displaying the measurement time, When the transmission request of the measurement program from the device is received, the measurement program is transmitted to the terminal device, and then the image data from the terminal device is transmitted. Receiving a transmission request of data and is obtained to perform the transmission start.

Further, a network control unit for exchanging data including the image data from at least one monitoring device for inputting a video signal from a camera of a subject, converting the image signal into image data, and transmitting the image data to a network. A data processing unit that outputs image data as video data,
A terminal device comprising a memory for storing the video data, a video processing unit for reading the video data stored in the memory at a predetermined timing and outputting a video signal, and a monitor for displaying the video signal, The processing unit measures the time from the monitoring device transmitting the image data until the terminal device transmits the image data transmission request to the monitoring device until it is received and displayed, and displays the measured time. The measuring program is received, the measuring program is executed, a request for transmitting the image data is transmitted to the monitoring device, and the time measurement is performed.

At least one of the monitoring devices and at least one of the terminal devices are connected to a network, and the terminal device receives the image data or the measurement program from the monitoring device, and the terminal device A network-compatible monitoring system capable of displaying the received image data or displaying the measurement time measured by the execution of the measurement program.

Further, the terminal device sends data of a control parameter for controlling the image data amount to the monitoring device which transmits the image data to the monitoring device according to the measurement time measured by the execution of the measurement program. Send. On the other hand, when the monitoring device receives the control parameter data via the network, the monitoring device controls the image data amount to be transmitted based on the received control parameter data and transmits the image data to the terminal device. It was done like this.

Here, the content of the time measurement is the reception required from the start of the transmission request of the image data to the monitoring device to the completion of the reception of the image data after the terminal device executes the measurement program. The time, the development time required to develop the image data into video data that can be displayed on the monitor, and the drawing time required to temporarily store the expanded video data in the storage means before being displayed on the monitor. is there. Each measured time is measured as an average value of a predetermined measurement cycle.

Further, the control parameter data transmitted from the terminal device to the monitoring device according to the measurement time relates to the control of the generation amount of image data, and is used when converting a video signal into image data. It is control information such as compression rate, resolution, or frame rate.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to FIGS.
This will be described with reference to FIG.

2, 3, and 4 show the configuration of a network-compatible system in which the monitoring device, terminal device, and a plurality of devices of the present invention are connected to a network.

In FIG. 4 showing the configuration of the network-compatible monitoring system of the present invention, 303 (303a, 303b,
..., 303n) is a camera that generates a video signal of the subject,
300 (300a, 300b, ..., 300n) is a monitoring device of the present invention, and image data of a video signal from the camera 303, or after the terminal device 301 described later transmits a request for transmitting the image data to the monitoring device 300. Time measurement until reception and display is performed, and a measurement program for displaying the measurement time is transmitted via the network 302 in response to a transmission request from the terminal device 301. A network 302 includes a transmission line such as a public line network, the Internet, or a wireless LAN.

First, FIG. 2 shows an example of the constituent blocks of the monitoring device 300. The CPU unit 200 realizes the function of the monitoring device 300 by controlling each unit described below, which is connected via the bus 201. The program of the monitoring device 300 is stored in the memory 207 in an executable state,
The functions of each unit are realized by being sequentially read.

The image data processing unit 202 includes a camera 303.
Video signal conversion process (eg compression (encoding))
And generate image data. The amount of image data generated is, for example, 30 frames per second and a resolution of 3
10k bytes, 640x240 with 20x240 pixels
The compression ratio is adjusted in advance so that the target value is 20 kbytes for pixels or 40 kbytes for 640 × 480 pixels. Further, the generation amount of image data can be changed by arbitrarily designating control parameters such as resolution and frame rate in addition to the compression rate for controlling the amount of generated image data.

The network control unit 209 recognizes the protocol (for example, TCP / IP) of the network 302 and transmits / receives data via the network 302.

The recording unit 210 is used for the image data and the monitoring device 3.
Various information handled in 00 is recorded.

In the recording unit 210, the terminal device 301, which will be described later, transmits a request for transmitting the image data to the monitoring device 300.
A measurement program for measuring the time from transmitting to receiving and displaying and recording the measured time is recorded. When receiving the request to send the measurement program from the terminal device,
The CPU unit 200 reads the measurement program from the recording unit 210 and transmits it to the network 302 via the network control unit 209, and the measurement program is sent to the terminal device 301.
Send to. Here, the measurement program is monitored by the monitoring device 300.
Is recorded only in the terminal device 301 side when it is necessary, and it is not necessary to deal with the change of the measurement program, or the terminal device 301 is limited to the execution environment like the portable terminal device. Even in such a case, the execution environment is changed only when the measurement program is executed so that the restriction of the execution environment can be dealt with.

Further, in response to a request from the CPU section 200, the image data recorded in the recording section 210, various information, and the data of the measurement program are selectively read. Recording unit 2
As the medium 10, any medium such as a hard disk, a DVD, or a memory that can be randomly accessed may be used.
211 is an input unit. The input unit 211 and the displayed selection menu will not be described below, but the input unit 211
The setting / instruction such as switching of each mode of the monitoring device 300 is performed by.

Next, a block diagram of the terminal device 301 for displaying the image data received in response to the image data transmission request to the monitoring device 300 and executing the measurement program received in response to the transmission request and displaying the measurement time. An example will be described with reference to FIG.

As the terminal device 301, the network 3 is used.
If it is possible to process the image data and execute the measurement program and display the image data and the character data from the monitoring device 300 via 02, it is not limited to a general personal computer or a personal digital assistant.

As shown in FIG. 3, the structure of the terminal device 301 is such that the network control unit 604 that transmits and receives data via the network 302 requests the transmission of the image data and the measurement program and receives the image. A data processing unit 601 that expands the data into video data that can be displayed on a monitor 603 as a display unit, outputs the video data, and executes a received measurement program to generate and output display data of the measurement time. Output from the data processing unit 601. A memory 602 that temporarily stores the generated video data and display data of the measurement time until it is displayed on a monitor 603 as a display unit, and a video processing unit that reads the video data from the memory 602 at a predetermined timing and outputs it as a video signal. 606 and a monitor that receives a video signal and displays a monitoring video of the camera 303. And 603, transfer of data between said each part and the memory 602 is composed of the bus 605. performed.

The operation of the present invention will be described below. First, the operation of the network-compatible monitoring system during normal operation will be described. Terminal device 301 (301a,
301b, ..., 301m) downloads a normal program for requesting transmission, reception, development, and drawing of image data from the monitoring device 300 from the recording unit 210 in the monitoring device 300 and starts execution, or The execution may be started by the same normal program previously stored in the data processing unit 601 in the own terminal device 301. In the following, it is assumed that a normal program is downloaded from the monitoring device 300, and image data transmission request, reception, development, and drawing are performed.

Here, in the normal operation, the monitoring device 300
In order to receive the image data of 1., the terminal device 301 downloads the normal program from the monitoring device 300 and registers it in the data processing unit 601. Then, the data processing unit 601 starts the execution of the registered normal program, and completes the preparation for the processing of receiving, developing, and drawing the image data from the monitoring device 300.

The data processing unit 601 sends a transmission request of image data to the monitoring device 300 at a predetermined cycle by a protocol (for example, TCI / IP) executed by a normal program. When the CPU unit 200 of the monitoring device 300 receives the image data transmission request, the CPU unit 200 displays the image data of the live video signal generated by the image data processing unit 202 from the camera 303 or the image data already recorded in the recording unit 210. It is transmitted to the network 302 via the network control unit 209. Data processing unit 60 of terminal device 310
1 expands the image data received via the network control unit 604 and temporarily stores it as video data in the memory 602. Then, the video data stored in the memory 602 is read at a predetermined timing and is output to the monitor 603 as a video signal by the video processing unit 606,
The monitor 60 is used as a monitoring image captured by the camera 303.
It is displayed in 3.

By the way, as described above, the required transmission band cannot be secured in the network 302 due to fluctuations in other traffic, and data loss, jitter, etc. occur due to the occurrence of congestion, which is received by the terminal device 303. The image data may be missing, the image data may not be received within a predetermined period, the image data may not be expanded normally due to an error, or even if the image data is expanded, the image may be missing or unnatural. The image is displayed, and the display of a predetermined image quality cannot be secured.

Further, in the case where such a display of the monitor video of the predetermined image quality cannot be obtained, in the terminal device 301, the data processing unit 6 for expanding the image data into the video data.
01 is insufficient, or the drawing ability until the expanded video data is transferred to and stored in the memory 602 is insufficient.

When such a state is confirmed from the monitor video displayed on the monitor, the operator downloads a measurement program from the monitoring device 300 in order to identify the factor causing such a state. , Register in the data processing unit 601 of the terminal device 301 and start execution. Then, a screen having an example layout as shown in FIG. 1 is displayed on the monitor 603. Reference numeral 101 is a video display unit for displaying a monitor video of the video data which is the expanded image data received, and 102 is an information display unit for displaying various information including measurement time (reception time 104, expansion time 105, drawing time 106). is there. The information display unit 102 displays a state of displaying a video frame for 1 second (here, 30 frames (drawing number) per second in a normal receiving state).
"-" Indicates that the monitor video of the received image data of the frame could not be displayed, and "1" indicates that the monitor video could be displayed) and the transmission of the image data to the monitoring device 300. The reception time 104 indicating the time required from the request to the completion of the reception of the image data, the expansion time 105 indicating the time required for expanding the received image data into the video data, and the expanded video data are stored in the memory 602. Drawing time 1 showing the time required to do
The measurement time of 06 is displayed.

Here, the processing by the measurement program of the terminal device 301 will be described with reference to FIG.

When the measurement program is downloaded from the monitoring device 300, the terminal device 301 downloads the data processing unit 60.
1 and image data reception is started (step 4).
01). First, a request for transmitting image data is issued to the monitoring device 300 (step 402). At the same time, the measurement of the elapsed time of each series of processes is started (step 40).
3). When the image data reception from the monitoring device 300 is completed (step 404), the time required to complete the image data reception is calculated (step 405). Next, the development of the received image data is started (step 406). When the expansion is completed (step 407), the time required for the expansion is calculated (step 408). Finally, the drawing process for storing the video data, which is the expanded image data, in the memory 602 is started (step 409). When the drawing is completed (step 410), the time required for drawing the video data is calculated (step 411).

The above processing is repeated until the elapsed time reaches 1 second (step 413). When the processing time becomes 1 second, the average value of the measurement times measured so far is calculated and stored in the memory 602 as character data, and is read out at a predetermined timing together with the video data and is monitored 603 as a video signal. And is displayed on the information display unit 102 (step 412).

Here, when the calculated measurement time does not fall within the predetermined reference value (step 414), the coloring of the characters or places displaying the measurement time which does not fall within the reference value is changed or Display the message (Step 4)
15).

The reference value of whether or not the calculated measured time is within the judgment value is, for example, a transmission band estimated from statistical data of network traffic, and a data processing unit 601 (terminal device) which is a reference in advance. If 300 is a personal computer, its performance is evaluated by using a plurality of terminal devices 300 having different CPU processing speeds, bus 605 transfer speeds, memory 602 writing speeds, etc. Create based on the value.

In the information display section 102 of FIG. 1, as additional information, a “measurement cycle” 118 indicating a time measurement cycle, and a “request” indicating the number of times image data is requested to the monitoring device 300 within the measurement cycle 118. "Number of times" 107, "Number of drawn images" 1 indicating the number of video frames drawn in the measurement cycle
08, “connection time” 109 indicating the elapsed time after connecting to the monitoring device 300 and requesting image data, “average image size” 110 displaying the average image data size of the image data received within the measurement period, Similarly, the "maximum image size" that indicates the maximum amount of received image data
111 as well as "minimum image size" 112 indicating the minimum data amount are displayed. Further, 113 indicates the resolution of the image data currently being received. These pieces of information are similarly calculated and displayed (not shown in FIG. 5 showing the processing flow of the measurement program).

Note that in 115, an example is shown in which the indicator 103 indicating the display state of a video frame for 1 second is color-coded every 5 frames in order to improve visibility.

In addition, at 116, a color display is performed in order to improve the visibility with respect to the phenomenon that is the cause of the bottleneck that is the deterioration of the image quality of the displayed monitor video, which is identified by the method described later. It is an example.

Further, in 117, the data of the control parameter for controlling the compression rate, the resolution, the frame rate, etc. when the video signal is converted into the image data is transmitted to the monitoring device by the method described later. An example of a message display indicating that is shown. Here, as an example, the display state shown in FIG.
04 to 20 (ms), received image data development time 105
15 (ms), and the drawing time 106 requires 10 (ms), for a total of 45 (ms). This is the NTSC standard for television signals in Japan, 30
It exceeds 33 (ms), which is the time allowed for processing per frame in (frame / sec) video display. In this example, the number of drawn images is 22 (frame /
Seconds) (108).

When the terminal device 301 determines that the reception time 104 is required as a result of comparison with the reference value for identifying the cause of the bottleneck that causes the deterioration of the image quality of the displayed monitor video, the terminal device 301 determines Since it is estimated that the traffic is large, when the automatic adjustment mode 114 is designated (step 417), the monitoring apparatus 300 is requested to instruct the monitoring apparatus 300 to compress the video signal into image data, the resolution, the frame rate, or the like. (Step 416), transmitting control parameter data for controlling
Try to reduce the amount of transmitted data. In the example of FIG. 1, a message 117 is displayed when the information on the change of the compression ratio is transmitted in the control parameter data.

If it is determined that the expansion time or the drawing time is long, it is because the performance of the terminal device 301 is insufficient, and the introduction of the terminal device 301 having a high processing speed may be a solution. Or monitoring device 300
To the terminal device 30 by transmitting the data of the control parameter for controlling the compression rate, the resolution, the frame rate, etc. when the video signal is converted into the image data.
The amount of image data to be processed in 1 is shortened to shorten the development time or the drawing time so that the display of the monitoring video with the desired image quality can be obtained.

Based on the reception time within the measurement time,
If it is estimated that the traffic of the network 302 has a margin, it is displayed on the terminal device 301 by transmitting control parameter data for reducing the compression rate or increasing the resolution of the image data to the monitoring device 300. It goes without saying that the quality of the surveillance image can be improved.

[0043]

The monitoring program stores the measurement program for measuring the image data reception time, the development time, and the drawing time in the terminal device, and the terminal device downloads and executes the measurement program from the measured time. , It becomes possible to specify from the display of the received image data whether the factors of image quality deterioration are the network, the data processing capacity, and the drawing capacity. Therefore, use a dedicated expensive evaluation device. In addition, it becomes easy to operate the network compatible monitoring system and the terminal device.

Further, since the terminal device can transmit control parameters such as a compression rate, a resolution, or a frame rate for controlling the image data amount of the monitoring device based on the measurement time, the situation of the network traffic and the image. According to the processing capability of the terminal device that displays the data, it becomes possible to display the monitoring video with a desired image quality.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of monitor display contents when a measurement program is executed in a terminal device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a monitoring device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a terminal device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a network-compatible monitoring system of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of processing flow contents of a measurement program in the terminal device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

100: display screen, 101: video display unit, 102: information display unit, 103: indicator, 104: reception time, 1
05: development time, 106: drawing time, 114: automatic adjustment mode button, 117: message display section, 200: C
PU unit, 201: bus, 202: image data processing unit, 20
7: memory, 209: network control unit, 210: recording unit, 211: input unit, 300, 300a, 300b,
..., 300n: monitoring device, 301, 301a, 301
b, ..., 301 m: terminal device, 302: network,
303, 303a, 303b, ..., 303n: camera,
601: data processing unit, 602: memory, 603: monitor, 604: network control unit, 605: bus, 60
6: Video processing unit

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F-term (reference) 5B042 JJ20 JJ23 JJ29 KK17 MC31                       NN33                 5B076 BB06                 5B089 GA21 GB02 JA35 JA36 JB03                       JB07 KA05 KA12 KB10 LB10                       LB14 MC06 MC16                 5C054 CC05 DA06 EA05 EG00 FC15                       HA18                 5C062 AA11 AA14 AA29 AA35 AB38                       AB42 AC02 AC22 AC35 AC55                       AF06 BD00

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. At least one monitoring device which receives a video signal from a camera, converts it into image data and transmits it to a network, and at least one terminal device which receives the image data and displays it as the video signal. In the network-compatible monitoring system, the terminal device measures a time from a request to transmit the image data to the monitoring device to reception and display of the image data. 2. The network-adaptive monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the time from the transmission request of the image data to the reception and display of the image data is measured by executing a measurement program. . 3. The network-compatible monitoring system according to claim 2, wherein the measurement program is executed by storing the measurement program in the monitoring device and loading the measurement program by the terminal device. Network compatible monitoring system. 4. The network-compatible monitoring system according to claim 3, wherein the terminal device displays the measurement time by the execution of the measurement program and the received image data. 5. The network-compatible monitoring system according to claim 4, wherein the terminal device transmits control parameters for conversion of the video signal to the image data to the monitoring device, and information indicating transmission of the control parameters. A network-compatible monitoring system characterized by displaying. 6. An image data processing unit for inputting a video signal from a camera, converting it into image data and outputting it, and a network control unit for transmitting and receiving the image data between a terminal device connected to a network. In a network compatible monitoring system having a monitoring device including a control unit that controls the image data processing unit and the network control unit, and a bus that connects the units, the terminal device monitors the transmission request for the image data. When a transmission request of the measurement program is received from the terminal device, the recording unit records a measurement program for measuring the time from transmission to the device and reception and display, and displaying the measurement time. The measurement program is transmitted to the terminal device, and when the transmission request of the image data is subsequently received from the terminal device, the transmission is started. A network-compatible monitoring system having a monitoring device. 7. A network control unit for exchanging data including the image data from a monitoring device for inputting a video signal from a camera, converting the image signal into image data and transmitting the image data to a network, and the received image data as an image. A data processing unit that outputs the data, a memory that stores the video data, a video processing unit that reads the video data stored in the memory at a predetermined timing and outputs a video signal, and a monitor that displays the video signal. In the network-compatible monitoring system having a terminal device, the data processing unit receives from the monitoring device transmitting the image data after the terminal device transmits a request for transmitting the image data to the monitoring device. Then, the time until it is displayed is measured, the measurement program that displays the measurement time is received, and the measurement program is executed. A network-compatible monitoring system, comprising a terminal device that transmits a request for transmitting the image data to the monitoring device to measure the time. 8. At least one monitoring device according to claim 6 and at least one terminal device according to claim 7 are connected to a network, and the image data from the monitoring device or the measurement program is stored in the network. A network-compatible monitoring system, characterized in that a terminal device receives and the terminal device displays the received image data, or displays a measurement time measured by executing the measurement program. 9. A network-compatible monitoring system according to claim 6, wherein data of a control parameter for controlling the amount of image data transmitted by the monitoring device is received via the network,
A network-compatible monitoring system, wherein the amount of image data to be transmitted is controlled based on the received control parameter data. 10. The network-compatible monitoring system according to claim 7, wherein the terminal device controls the image data amount to the monitoring device that transmits the image data according to the measurement time measured by the execution of the measurement program. A network-compatible monitoring system characterized by transmitting control parameter data to be controlled. 11. The network-compatible monitoring system according to claim 7, wherein the terminal device displays the measurement time by the execution of the measurement program and the received image data on the monitor. . 12. The network compatible monitoring system according to claim 10, wherein the terminal device displays information indicating the transmission of the control parameter on the monitor. 13. A network-compatible monitoring system characterized in that at least one monitoring device according to the invention of claim 6 and at least one terminal device according to the invention of claim 7 are connected to a network.