JP2009071503A - Image transmission system and program, and image transmitter - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide image transmission system and program, and an image transmitter, in which transmission of an imaged image can be controlled dynamically in units of terminals. <P>SOLUTION: A server 50 for imaging the image of an object 200 by means of a video camera 20 and transmitting the imaged image to a terminal 100 in response to a connection request therefrom is provided. When a control image concerning a piece 65 for connection control is detected in the imaged image, the server 50 analyzes the control image and switches the fact whether the imaged image can be transmitted or not according to the result of analysis. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image transmission system, an image transmission program, and an image transmission apparatus.

  A technique for transmitting an image captured by a video camera or the like to a terminal based on access from a remote terminal or the like (hereinafter referred to as a connection request) is known. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for restricting camera imaging for each grouped terminal in such a technique, and Patent Document 2 discloses a connection request to a distribution source based on the address of the terminal. A limiting technique is disclosed. Patent Document 3 discloses a technique for preventing leakage of highly confidential images by adding identification information when distributing images.

  In addition, Patent Document 4 discloses a technique for changing the angle of view of a camera so that a person is not imaged if an image is permitted or rejected by sound when a person is to be imaged. 5, in a technique of automatically transmitting a captured image to a display device by wireless communication, in order to prevent transmission of the captured image against a user's intention, the user's transmission is performed by illuminating a wirelessly communicable area with illumination. A technique that facilitates determination of intention is disclosed.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-161213 JP 2004-320512 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-248045 JP 2000-4435 A JP 2006-166406 A

  By the way, all the techniques disclosed in Patent Document 1 to Patent Document 3 described above are such that a system administrator or the like permanently restricts a connection request from a remote terminal, such as a restriction. Is not dynamically changed according to the imaging target. Further, with the techniques disclosed in Patent Document 4 and Patent Document 5 described above, transmission of a captured image cannot be determined for each terminal that is a transmission destination.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and provides an image transmission system, an image transmission program, and an image transmission apparatus that can dynamically control transmission of captured images for each terminal. Objective.

  The invention described in claim 1 includes a control unit that captures an image of an object by an imaging unit and transmits the captured image to the terminal in response to a connection request from the terminal. The control unit is connected to the captured image. When a control image relating to a control piece is detected, the control image is analyzed, and whether or not a captured image can be transmitted is switched according to the analysis result.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the control means holds the analysis results in time series, and if the analysis results before and after the holding are different, whether or not the captured image can be transmitted It is characterized by switching.

  The invention described in claim 3 is characterized in that, in the invention described in claim 1 or 2, the control means analyzes by OCR processing when a character string is included in the control image.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to third aspects, the image output means is formed on the object side, and the control means outputs an image relating to whether or not transmission is possible to the image output means. It is characterized by doing.

  The invention according to claim 5 is the invention according to claim 4, wherein the control means outputs an image relating to the transmission destination to the image output means.

  The invention according to claim 6 causes a computer to function as a control unit that captures an image of an object by an imaging unit and transmits the captured image to the terminal in response to a connection request from the terminal. When a control image related to a connection control piece is detected, the control image is analyzed, and whether to transmit a captured image is switched according to the analysis result.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image pickup unit for picking up an image of an object, and an image picked up by the image pickup unit is transmitted to the terminal in response to a connection request from the terminal. An image transmission apparatus comprising: a control unit that analyzes the control image when the image is detected, and switches whether to transmit the captured image according to the analysis result.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, transmission of captured images can be dynamically controlled for each terminal.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to reduce the amount of processing necessary for determining whether or not transmission is possible, as compared with the case where this configuration is not provided.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, even if the display content of the connection control piece is a character string that is easily distinguishable by the user for transmission control as compared with the case without this configuration, Transmission can be dynamically controlled for each terminal.

  According to the invention described in claim 4, it is possible to visually recognize on the object side whether the captured image can be transmitted, as compared with the case where the present configuration is not provided.

  According to the invention described in claim 5, the transmission destination of the captured image can be visually recognized on the object side as compared with the case where the present configuration is not provided.

  According to invention of Claim 6, transmission of a captured image can be dynamically controlled for every terminal.

  According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, transmission of captured images can be dynamically controlled for each terminal.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an image transmission system according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing a main configuration of the server 50, and FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the server 50.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the image transmission system includes an object-side device 10 and a terminal 100, and the object-side device 10 and the terminal 100 are connected to each other via a network 300 so that they can communicate with each other. Although only one terminal 100 is shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of terminals 100, 101, etc. can be connected to a server 50 described later of the object side device 10 through the network 300.

  The object side device 10 includes a video camera 20 as an imaging unit, a server 50 as a control unit, a rotary stage 70 as a relative position changing unit, and the like.

  The video camera 20 is composed of a CCD camera, for example, and images a connection control piece (hereinafter referred to as a connection control card) 65 and an object 200 placed on the rotary stage 70, and the captured image thereof. Is taken into the server 50.

  The rotation stage 70 is controlled by the server 50 and rotates the object 200 placed on the upper surface thereof in one or more directions of the forward direction and the reverse direction (hereinafter referred to as a rotation operation), thereby making a video. The position of the object 200 with respect to the camera 20 is changed.

  The server 50 controls the operations of the video camera 20 and the rotary stage 70, and exchanges various information with the terminal 100 via the network 300.

  More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, an imaging unit 51 that controls the video camera 20 and an image transmission unit 52 that transmits a captured image captured by the video camera 20 to the terminal 100 are provided. The server 50 also includes an image analysis unit 53 that analyzes the content of the connection control image in the captured image, and a connection restriction information management DB (database) 54 that stores the analysis result. Furthermore, a connection management unit 55 that permits or prohibits connection from each terminal 100 to the image transmission unit 52 based on the connection restriction information is provided. The image analysis unit 53, the connection management unit 55, and the like constitute the control means of the present invention.

  Therefore, the server 50 transmits the captured image captured by the video camera 20 to the terminal 100 and prohibits transmission based on the image analysis result when the captured image of the connection control card 65 exists in the captured image. Or allow. In addition, the server 50 performs a rotation operation (movement) of the object 200 by the rotation stage 70.

  The server 50 described above is a so-called computer, that is, as shown in FIG. 3, a processing device such as a CPU 50a, SRAM (Static Random Access Memory), DRAM (Dynamic RAM), SDRAM (Synchronous DRAM), NVRAM (Non Volatile). RAM 50b such as RAM), ROM (Read Only Memory) 50c such as flash memory, I / F 50d for input / output with an external device such as an input device or a display device, and a magnetic disk such as a hard disk (not shown) connected by a bus 50e. This is realized by the hardware configuration.

  Therefore, each function in the server 50 is realized by the CPU 50a reading a required program stored in the ROM 50c, the hard disk or the like and performing calculations according to the program. In addition, as such a program, it can be set as the program according to the flowchart mentioned later.

As shown in FIG. 1, the terminal 100 includes a display device 110 including a liquid crystal display or a CRT display, a computer 120 connected to the network 300, a pointing device (mouse) 130 connected to the computer 120, and the like. .
The display device 110 displays an image transmitted from the object side device 10 on the display screen.
The pointing device 130 is used to instruct the rotation operation of the object 200 by the rotation operation of the rotation stage 70 by operating various buttons with a pointer on the display screen on which the captured image is displayed.

Next, the operation of the image transmission system having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS.
4 is a flowchart showing an example of processing in the server 50 of the object side device 10, FIG. 5 is an example of a connection control card 65, and FIG. 6 is an example of a connection restriction information table.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the server 50 on the object side device 10 side first starts capturing captured images of the video camera 20 (step S <b> 1), and further starts acquiring connection restriction information (step S <b> 2). . Acquisition of connection restriction information is performed at regular time intervals. The server 50 holds and updates the acquired connection restriction information as needed. Then, the server 50 receives the connection request from each terminal 100, connects itself to the terminal 100, starts communication, and transmits the captured image to the terminal 100 that is the connection request source (step S3).

  Here, the server 50 determines whether or not the connection control card 65 has been imaged (step S4). On the connection control card 65, various restrictions are displayed as shown in FIG.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 5 (a), a restriction content that prohibits the connection of the terminal B to the server 50 while permitting the connection of the terminal A and the terminal C to the server 50, FIG. 5 (b). As shown in FIG. 5 (c), as a general rule, the server 50 of all the terminals 100 is connected to the terminal group D and the terminal group E composed of a plurality of terminals 100. While the connection to the terminal 100 is permitted, there is a restriction content that denies the connection of the terminal 100 whose IP address is “102.192.10.112”.

  Here, when the terminal 100 that is permitted to connect and the terminal 100 that is rejected to connect overlap, priority is given to the control described later. Therefore, in the example of the restriction content shown in FIG. 5C, all the terminals 100 are permitted to connect to the server 50, but the terminal 100 refused to connect to the server 50 uses the above IP address. Since there is only one terminal, the connection of the terminal to the server 50 is rejected and transmission of the captured image is prohibited.

  The display format of the restriction content is not limited to that shown in FIGS. 5A to 5C. For example, a figure corresponding to the character string of the restriction content, and a combination of various colors. In the former case, there are, for example, a bar code and a QR code as shown in FIG. 5D, and in the latter case, there are, for example, a color code. In addition, a glyph or the like may be used. Further, as the material of the connection control card 65, various materials such as resin such as plastic, metal, paper and the like can be used. Further, the size is not limited as long as it is within the imaging area of the video camera 20, but from the viewpoint of convenience, it is desirable to have high portability such as the size of a business card. In this case, the material is preferably lightweight.

  Next, the server 50 analyzes the captured image of the connection control card 65 in the captured image (step S5). The analysis of the image content is performed by, for example, OCR processing. In the case of a bar code or QR code, a function used for a bar code reader or QR code reader that reads and recognizes such information may be used.

  Next, the server 50 stores the analysis result as connection restriction information in the connection restriction information management DB 54 (step S6). As a result, the connection restriction information management DB 54 stores various connection restriction information as shown in FIG. According to the figure, the connection restriction information is composed of items such as a management number, a user terminal, connection permission / prohibition, and a card number. For example, if the management number is “0001”, the connection of “terminal A” is “permitted”, and if the management number is “0002”, the connection of “terminal B” is “prohibited”.

  Here, the server 50 determines whether or not a connection-prohibited terminal is included in the connection restriction information (step S7). That is, the server 50 determines whether or not each terminal that is a transmission destination of the captured image is prohibited from being transmitted by the connection restriction information.

  If the server 50 determines that there is a terminal 100 that is prohibited from transmitting captured images, the server 50 prohibits transmission of the captured image to the corresponding terminal 100 (step S8), and proceeds to subsequent processing. In this case, the server 50 continues to transmit the captured image to the terminal 100 that does not correspond.

  Next, the server 50 determines whether or not the terminal 100 permitted to connect is included in the connection restriction information (step S9). That is, the server 50 determines whether or not each terminal 100 that is a transmission destination of the captured image is permitted to transmit according to the connection restriction information.

  If the server 50 determines that there is a terminal 100 that is permitted to transmit a captured image, the server 50 starts transmitting the captured image to the corresponding terminal 100 (step S10), and returns to the process of step S4. Thereby, even if it is the terminal 100 from which transmission of the captured image was once prohibited, transmission of the captured image is permitted and transmission is started again.

  On the other hand, if it is determined that there is no terminal 100 that is permitted to transmit the captured image, the process returns to step S4 while the corresponding terminal 100 remains prohibited in the process of step S8. The connection control card 65 is imaged, and the captured image is not transmitted until the terminal 100 corresponding to the transmission prohibition of the captured image is permitted to transmit.

  As described above, when the user who uses the image transmission system presents the connection control card 65 in the imaging area to the video camera 20, the display content of the connection control card 65 is imaged together with the object 200. Furthermore, the transmission of captured images to each terminal 100 is dynamically prohibited or permitted depending on the display content.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram showing a main configuration of the server 50 according to the second embodiment. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the structure similar to each part of the server 50 shown by FIG. 2, and the description is abbreviate | omitted.

The server 50 according to the present embodiment is different from the server 50 according to the first embodiment in that a change detection unit 56 is further provided.
The change detection unit 56 sequentially holds the analysis results obtained by the image analysis unit 53, and requests that the connection management unit 55 check the connection authority information management DB 54 when the analysis results are changed. Outputs a command.

Next, the operation of the server 50 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the server 50. Note that the flowchart can be included in the flowchart shown in FIG. 4, and can be preferably included between step S6 and step S7. In this case, it is preferable not to perform the process of step S2.

  When the image of the image control card 65 is included in the captured image, the server 50 analyzes the contents, stores the analysis result in the connection restriction information management DB 54 as connection restriction information, and sequentially analyzes the analysis results. It keeps (step S21).

  Here, the server 50 determines whether or not the held analysis result is different from the previous analysis result held (step S22). For example, the analysis result held at time t−1 is compared with the analysis result held at time t, and it is determined for each terminal 100 whether or not the content, for example, whether or not transmission to the terminal 100 is different. If the server 50 determines that there is a difference, the server 50 starts acquiring connection restriction information (step S23).

  In this way, the analysis results are sequentially retained, and when the retained analysis result is different from the previous analysis result, the connection restriction information is confirmed at regular time intervals by adding processing for confirming the connection restriction information. Compared to the first embodiment in which processing is performed, confirmation processing can be reduced, and a reduction in processing speed of the entire system is suppressed.

(Third embodiment)
Subsequently, an image transmission system according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram of an image system according to the third embodiment, and FIG. 10 is an example of a projected image.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the image transmission system according to the present embodiment has a configuration in which a projector 40 and a half mirror 60 are added to the image transmission system according to the first embodiment. More specifically, the projector 40 and the half mirror 60 are configured in the object side device 10.

  The projector 40 is an example of an image output unit according to the present invention, and is configured by a liquid crystal projector or the like. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 10B, the projection image 45 relating to the transmission destination is projected by distinguishing whether or not transmission is possible. Further, the projector 40 is arranged such that its optical system is substantially coincident with the video camera 20 by the half mirror 60. The projector 40 projects the image transmitted from the server 50 onto the target object 200, the wall surface in the vicinity thereof, the whiteboard 47, and the like through the optical system and the half mirror 60.

  The projected image (projected image) includes all forms of images such as lines, characters, and figures. When the image to be projected is a character, the projector 40 projects a terminal name, an IP address, etc. whose transmission is prohibited, and when the image is a graphic, an “X” mark is displayed together with the prohibited terminal name. Etc. may be projected. An icon or a photograph of the face of the user who uses the destination terminal 100 may be projected.

  Further, instead of the projector 40, an image output means such as a liquid crystal display may be used to display the above-described image. In this way, by causing the projector 40 or the like to output an image related to the transmission destination, the visibility on the object 200 side regarding the transmission destination of the captured image is improved. Further, when the projector 40 is used, the restriction on the output area is relaxed compared to the case where the display device is used.

  The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, but the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments according to the present invention, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the gist of the present invention described in the claims.・ Change is possible. For example, the program of the present invention can be provided not only by communication means but also stored in a recording medium such as a CD-ROM.

  In addition, for example, the object 200 and the connection control card 65 are imaged by an imaging unit such as the video camera 20, and an annotation image (annotation image) corresponding to an instruction based on the captured image is projected by the projector 40 or the like. You may make it project in the imaging area of the video camera 20 by a means. As a result, instructions between remote locations can be made smooth, and transmission of captured images can be easily performed on the object 200 side. Furthermore, since the type of transmission control increases only by increasing the types of connection control cards 65, the versatility is high.

  Furthermore, the control information of the connection control card 65 may be written on an IC card or the like, and the IC card may be read by a card reader or the like installed on the object 200 side to control transmission of the captured image. .

  According to the present invention, transmission of captured images is dynamically controlled for each terminal, and for example, transmission of captured images with high confidentiality can be controlled according to the level of viewing authority (for example, job title). High availability.

It is a block diagram of an image transmission system. It is a functional block diagram which shows the principal part structure of a server. It is a functional block diagram which shows the hardware constitutions of a server. It is a flowchart which shows an example of operation | movement of a server. It is an example of an imaging control card. It is an example of a connection restriction information table. It is another functional block diagram which shows the principal part structure of a server. It is a flowchart which shows an example of operation | movement of a server. It is a block diagram of an image transmission system. It is an example of a projection image.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Object side apparatus 20 Video camera 40 Projector 45 Projected image 47 White board 50 Server 50a CPU
50b RAM
50c ROM
50d I / F
50e bus 51 imaging unit 52 image transmission unit 53 image analysis unit 54 connection restriction information management DB
55 Connection Management Unit 56 Change Detection Unit 65 Connection Control Card 70 Rotation Stage 100 Terminal 110 Display Device 120 Computer 130 Pointing Device 200 Object 300 Network

Claims (7)

A control unit that captures an image of an object by an imaging unit and transmits the captured image to the terminal in response to a connection request from the terminal,
When the control unit detects a control image related to a connection control piece in the captured image, the control unit analyzes the control image and switches whether to transmit the captured image according to the analysis result. Image transmission system.   2. The image transmission according to claim 1, wherein the control unit holds the analysis result in time series, and switches whether the captured image can be transmitted when the analysis results before and after the holding are different. system.   3. The image transmission system according to claim 1, wherein the control unit analyzes by OCR processing when a character string is included in the control image. 4. Forming image output means on the object side;
The image transmission system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the control unit outputs an image relating to whether or not transmission is possible to the image output unit.   The image transmission system according to claim 4, wherein the control unit outputs an image related to a transmission destination to the image output unit. Computer
The object is imaged by the imaging unit, and the captured image is caused to function as a control unit that transmits to the terminal in response to a connection request from the terminal.
When the control unit detects a control image related to a connection control piece in the captured image, the control unit analyzes the control image and switches whether to transmit the captured image according to the analysis result. Image transmission program. An imaging means for imaging an object;
When the captured image by the imaging means is transmitted to the terminal in response to a connection request from the terminal, and the control image related to the connection control piece is detected in the captured image, the control image is analyzed, and the analysis result Control means for switching the availability of transmission of the captured image according to
An image transmitting apparatus comprising:

Images