JP2004289324A - Surveillance camera control method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method of controlling a monitor camera capable of performing arbitrary settings without recalling the installed monitor camera. <P>SOLUTION: The display surface 5a (a liquid crystalline display, etc.) of a PDA 5 (personal digital assistance) is brought into close contact with the front of a glass 4a laid on the front of a monitor camera 1 housed in a protection case 4 to face at the lens unit 10 of a monitor camera 1. Two states of white and black on the entire screen of the PDA 5 in this condition are used to generate a white and black blinking pattern, thereby sending specific signals to the monitor camera 1. The monitor camera 1 decodes the specific pattern to receive signals from outside. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a control method of a monitoring camera, and more particularly, to a method of initializing a monitoring camera connected to a network.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, a network surveillance camera 1 has been configured to be connected to a personal computer 3 via a hub 2 that relays a network, as shown in, for example, a system diagram of FIG. As shown in the control block diagram of FIG. 6, these surveillance cameras 1 convert the light (video) input from the lens unit 10 into analog electric signals by a CCD (Charge-Coupled Devices) 11, and The D converter 12 converts the analog signal into a digital signal.
The digital signal of the video is data-compressed by the image compression unit 13 and transmitted to the network via the communication unit 14. The transmitted data is received by the personal computer 3 shown in FIG. 5, and is displayed on the screen 3a.
[0003]
On the other hand, the data digitized by the A / D conversion unit 12 is input to the control unit 15, and the control unit 15 uses the value (brightness) of this data to stop the diaphragm mechanism 10a provided in the lens unit 10. Is controlled so as to obtain an appropriate exposure. Further, the control unit 15 is connected to the image compression unit 13 and the communication unit 14 and controls each of them.
[0004]
Further, as shown in FIG. 7, for example, these monitoring cameras 1 are housed in a protective case 4 (waterproof case) for outdoor installation having a glass 4a on the front surface, and are installed in a relatively high place with a good view. There are cases.
[0005]
Generally, a plurality of surveillance cameras are connected to a personal computer, and are identified by an IP address as a method for distinguishing between them. These IP addresses need to be set so as not to be duplicated in each monitoring camera in accordance with the number of installed cameras.
As a setting method, a specific IP address is set in advance in the monitoring camera body, a new IP address is set from a personal computer by connecting to a network one by one, or an RS-232C is set one by one. (For example, see Patent Document 1).
[0006]
However, if the same IP address is incorrectly set to two surveillance cameras after all surveillance cameras have been installed, even if an attempt is made to change the IP address from the personal computer, transmission of the surveillance cameras having the same IP address Since the data collides on the network line, it can no longer be controlled from a personal computer.
For this reason, it is necessary to collect the surveillance camera having the incorrectly set IP address and reset it to the initial state, or set it through a communication method such as RS-232C as described above. In order to collect the surveillance camera, the protective case for outdoor installation installed at a high place had to be disassembled, and the work for the recovery was troublesome.
[0007]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-2002-55894 (page 3-4, FIG. 1)
[0008]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
An object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problems and to provide a surveillance camera control method that can be arbitrarily set without collecting the installed surveillance cameras.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention, in order to solve the above problems, using a surveillance camera that converts the captured video into a digital video signal and sends it to the network, and a pattern generating device that generates an intermittent specific pattern of light,
The surveillance camera converts the light of the pattern generation device into the digital video signal, converts the brightness of the digital video signal into binary luminance data by using a threshold, and the temporally continuous luminance data sequence is When the specific pattern is recognized, data corresponding to the specific pattern is set as setting data of the monitoring camera.
[0010]
The recognition of the specific pattern is performed for a predetermined time after the power of the monitoring camera is turned on.
[0011]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, a control method of a surveillance camera according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
In the present application, as a method of changing the setting data of a surveillance camera already installed outdoors or the like, a feature is to use an imaging device that is the only input part of the surveillance camera, that is, use light.
For example, as shown in the perspective view of FIG. 1A and the cross-sectional view of FIG. 1B, a PDA 5 (portable information terminal) is provided on the front surface of a glass 4a disposed on the front surface of the surveillance camera 1 housed in the protective case 4. (A liquid crystal display device or the like) in close contact with each other, and are disposed so as to face the lens unit 10 of the monitoring camera 1. With this arrangement, the display surface 5a of the PDA 5 covers almost the entire viewing angle of the lens unit 10.
[0012]
In this state, the PDA 5 uses the two states of black on the entire screen and white on the entire screen to generate a blinking pattern of white and black, whereby a specific signal can be sent to the monitoring camera 1. That is, the PDA 5 is used as a pattern generating device that generates light of a specific pattern that is intermittent. The surveillance camera 1 can receive an external signal by decoding this specific pattern.
For this specific pattern, a protocol may be determined in advance between the sending side and the receiving side. As this protocol, there are a start-stop synchronization method used in Morse code, RS-232, and the like. In the present application, an example using the start-stop synchronization method will be described.
[0013]
In the start-stop synchronization method, a synchronization signal is paired with a data signal, and can be realized by a relatively simple program. FIG. 2A shows an example of a blinking pattern when one character, here, 1-byte data is communicated by the start-stop synchronization method. In the figure, the upper side is logic "1" and the lower side is logic "0".
One character is composed of one start bit, one stop bit, and character bits (eight bits) sandwiched between them. The start bit is a synchronization signal indicating the start of one character, and has a logic "1". The stop bit is a synchronization signal indicating the end of one character, and is a logical "0".
The character bits are sequentially transmitted from the lower bit position, and one byte is composed of eight bits. In the example of this figure, it is ED (hexadecimal).
[0014]
In the present application, one bit time is defined as 1 ms (millisecond), and one character is 10 ms. Therefore, on the transmitting side, it is sufficient to set the logic “1” or the logic “0” in accordance with the data bit transmitted every 1 ms. If the transmission data is one character or more, the above is repeated continuously. Therefore, on the PDA side, the logic "1" is controlled so that the screen is white, and the logic "0" is controlled such that the screen is black.
[0015]
On the receiving side, that is, the surveillance camera side, the data (luminance) converted by the A / D converter 12 in FIG. 6 is determined by using a threshold value. Recognized as "0".
When the logic "1" is first recognized, it is determined to be a start bit, and waits for 0.5 ms. This is to take the margin of time variation by capturing the center of each bit. When the standby of 0.5 ms is completed, logic "1" and logic "0" are detected every 1 ms, and character bits are extracted therefrom to complete the reception of one byte. If a signal subsequently comes, it is similarly received as another character.
[0016]
FIG. 2B shows an example in which a plurality of characters are received in this manner. First, the IP address setting command is 1 byte, the IP address to be set is 4 bytes, and the end of the command is indicated. The end code to be represented has one byte, and represents one setting record as a whole. The surveillance camera rewrites its own IP address with this information.
In the present application, in order to identify whether the input video is such setting data or a normal monitoring image, the above-described reception is performed for a predetermined time, for example, only 10 seconds after the power of the monitoring camera is turned on. I do it. Normally, the power supply of the monitoring camera is wired so as to be centrally managed in a monitoring room (not shown) for monitoring images, and a person who actually operates the PDA 5 sends a signal to a person in the monitoring room, for example. The power-on timing can be instructed using a mobile phone.
[0017]
Next, the transmission operation of the PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) will be described using the flowchart of FIG. In the flowchart, ST represents a step, a number following ST represents a step number, Y represents Yes, and N represents No in a determination step.
First, the screen is turned black (ST1), and a transmission start instruction is waited (ST2). This is waiting for a button provided on the PDA to be pressed. If there is no instruction, the process jumps to ST2 (ST2-N). If there is an instruction (ST3-Y), a character of transmission data is designated (ST3), and a start bit is transmitted (ST4). This is to make the screen white for 1 ms.
Next, the bit position of the designated character is designated, the bit is taken out (ST5), the logic of the bit is determined (ST6), and if the logic is 1, the screen is white for 1 mS (ST7), and the logic 0 If it is, the screen is turned black for 1 ms (ST8).
If the eight bits (one character) are not completed (ST9-N), the process is repeated from ST5, and if completed (ST9-Y), a stop bit is transmitted (ST10). This is to make the screen black for 1 ms.
If the transmission of all the characters has not been completed (ST11-N), the processing is repeated from ST3. If the transmission has been completed (ST11-Y), this processing is terminated.
[0018]
Next, the receiving operation of the monitoring camera will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
When the power of the monitoring camera is turned on, it is determined whether the luminance is equal to or higher than a threshold (ST20). If not (ST20-N), it is determined whether 10 seconds have elapsed (ST21). If it has not elapsed (ST21-N), the process is repeated from ST20. It is waiting for a start bit. If 10 seconds have elapsed (ST21-Y), this process ends. That is, the function returns to the normal monitoring camera function.
If the luminance is equal to or larger than the threshold (ST20-Y), the elapse of 0.5 mS is waited (ST22), and the luminance data at this time is taken as logic 1 or logic 0 according to the threshold (ST23). Then, it waits for the elapse of 0.5 mS (ST24), and determines whether or not 10-bit fetching is completed (ST25). If the processing has not been completed (ST25-N), the processing is repeated from ST22. If the processing is completed (ST25-Y), the eight bits of the character bits are stored as one-byte characters (ST26).
If the received character is not the end code (ST27-N), the process is repeated from ST20. If the received character is the end code (ST27-Y), the set value (IP address) is rewritten according to the received data string (record) (ST28). Then, this process ends. That is, the function returns to the normal monitoring camera function.
[0019]
As described above, the setting operation can be performed with the surveillance camera installed, so that the workability is improved.
Further, since the reception of the setting data and the function of the normal surveillance camera are determined at a predetermined time from the time when the power is turned on, it is possible to reliably switch between these two modes.
Although not shown, a parity bit may be provided before the stop bit in FIG.
In the present application, a network camera is assumed, but the present invention is not limited to this, and may be applied to setting of a single surveillance camera.
[0020]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the surveillance camera control method according to the present invention, the invention according to claim 1 includes a surveillance camera that converts a captured video into a digital video signal and sends the digital video signal to a network, Using a pattern generator that generates light,
The surveillance camera converts the light of the pattern generating device into a digital video signal, converts the brightness of the digital video signal into binary luminance data by using a threshold, and a temporally continuous luminance data sequence is a predetermined specific data. When it is recognized as a pattern, by setting data corresponding to the specific pattern as setting data of the surveillance camera,
Since the setting operation can be performed while the surveillance camera is installed, workability is improved.
[0021]
According to the second aspect of the present invention, the recognition of the specific pattern is performed for a predetermined time after the power of the monitoring camera is turned on, so that the setting data reception and the normal monitoring camera function can be reliably switched. it can.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1A is a perspective view and FIG. 1B is a sectional view showing an embodiment of a surveillance camera according to the present invention.
FIGS. 2A and 2B show an embodiment of a method for controlling a surveillance camera according to the present invention, wherein FIG. 2A is a configuration diagram of a character bit, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart on the transmitting side showing an embodiment of control according to the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart on the receiving side showing an embodiment of control according to the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of a network camera system.
FIG. 6 is a control block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a surveillance camera.
FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of a protective case in which the monitoring camera is stored.
1 Surveillance Camera 2 Hub 3 Personal Computer 3a Screen 4 Protective Case 4a Glass 5 PDA (Personal Digital Assistant)
Reference Signs List 10 Lens unit 10a Aperture mechanism 11 CCD (Charge-Coupled Devices)
12 A / D conversion unit 13 Image compression unit 14 Communication unit 15 Control unit

Claims (2)

It uses a surveillance camera that converts the captured video to a digital video signal and sends it out to the network, and a pattern generator that generates a specific pattern of intermittent light,
The surveillance camera converts the light of the pattern generation device into the digital video signal, converts the brightness of the digital video signal into binary luminance data by using a threshold, and the temporally continuous luminance data sequence is A method of controlling a surveillance camera, wherein when a specific pattern is recognized, data corresponding to the specific pattern is set as setting data of the surveillance camera. The surveillance camera control method according to claim 1, wherein the recognition of the specific pattern is performed for a predetermined time after the power of the surveillance camera is turned on.

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