JP2000023146A - Monitoring system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] To monitor each monitoring target according to the importance of monitoring. SOLUTION: Schedule information in which a monitoring time for each monitoring target is determined for each monitoring target in accordance with the importance of monitoring from a terminal device 5a, and this information is transmitted to an ITV video processing device 3 via a LAN communication line 4. And send it to memorize it. The ITV video processing device 3 reads the schedule information according to the time axis, and issues a switching request for selecting the ITV camera specified by the schedule information to the IT.
Output to the V switching device 2. The ITV switching device 2 selects only a video signal from a single camera among the ITV cameras 1a to 1n in response to the switching request, and converts the selected video signal into an IT signal.
The V-video processing device 3 transmits the monitoring image to the terminal device 5a via the LAN communication line 4, and displays a monitoring image on the screen of the terminal device 5a.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a monitoring system. The present invention relates to a monitoring system suitable for displaying a monitoring image according to the present invention and monitoring the status of each monitoring target at a remote location.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A surveillance system using an ITV (industrial television) camera is employed in, for example, an industrial plant or a building for managing entrance and exit areas. In a surveillance system using an ITV camera, an ITV camera is installed in each room or area to be monitored, and a video signal captured by each ITV camera is transmitted to a monitoring room or operation room installed in another place. In general, a method of displaying a monitoring image based on a video signal on a display device in a monitoring room or an operation room and monitoring the monitoring image by a monitor or an operator is generally adopted. When monitoring an entire plant or an entire building using a plurality of ITV cameras, an observer or operator monitors one or several monitors (display devices). It is not possible to monitor all areas, and a method is adopted in which video from each ITV camera is monitored while being switched by an ITV switching device.

[0003] When an image from each ITV camera is switched by an ITV switching device, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-28859 is used.
No. 4, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H8-322032, a method of sequentially switching on and off the video from each camera to switch the video. Are switched at regular time intervals according to a command from a computer.

[0004]

In the prior art,
When switching the video from each ITV camera by the ITV switching device, the monitoring time of each ITV camera is uniform and fixed, and it may not be possible to reliably monitor the status of the monitoring target. For example, in buildings that control entrance / exit areas, even during daily surveillance, during the morning and evening hours of the day, during the morning and evening hours, human and physical flows are concentrated at the entrances and exits of the buildings. Need to focus on monitoring areas other than building entrances. For this reason, if the monitoring time of each camera is uniform and fixed, there is a possibility that the situation of the entrance of the building may not be reliably monitored during the time when people concentrate on the entrance of the building.

In the monitoring of a plant, a specific monitoring target (monitored space) is mainly monitored in accordance with the state of the plant, that is, the start / stop state of the equipment and devices in the plant, and the occurrence of a failure, It is necessary to quickly obtain the situation at the site where the abnormality occurred, and to monitor the transition of the situation with high frequency according to the abnormal situation of the plant such as a fire, but the monitoring time of each ITV camera is uniform and If it is fixed, it will not be possible to respond to the state of the plant.

An object of the present invention is to provide a monitoring system capable of monitoring each monitoring target according to the importance of monitoring.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a monitoring system capable of monitoring each monitoring target in accordance with a change in the status of each monitoring target.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a plurality of ITV cameras each of which captures an image of a plurality of monitoring targets and outputs a video signal, and for monitoring the plurality of monitoring targets. Schedule information storage means for storing schedule information in which the monitoring time of each monitoring target is determined according to the importance of monitoring, and designation of video signals obtained from the plurality of ITV cameras specified according to the schedule information Video signal selecting means for selecting the video signal according to the time axis, and a monitoring terminal for capturing the video signal selected by the video signal selecting means via a signal transmission system and displaying a monitoring image based on the video signal on a screen. A monitoring system consisting of

In configuring each of the monitoring systems, the schedule information storage means determines a monitoring time for monitoring a plurality of monitoring targets in different time zones for each monitoring target according to the importance of monitoring. Video signal selecting means for selecting a single video signal determined according to the schedule information from the video signals obtained from a plurality of ITV cameras along the time axis. It can be configured by one having the function of performing

In configuring each of the monitoring systems, the following elements can be added.

A plurality of event occurrence command means for instructing the occurrence of an event relating to the plurality of monitoring objects, and a monitoring object in which an event has occurred in response to one of the commands from the event occurrence command means. Camera designating means for designating an ITV camera for monitoring the video signal, wherein the video signal selecting means comprises a video signal from the ITV camera designated by the camera designating means among video signals obtained from the plurality of ITV cameras. The signal is selected with priority.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a plurality of ITV cameras each imaging a plurality of monitoring targets and outputting a video signal, and generating an event related to the plurality of monitoring targets. A plurality of event occurrence commanding means for instructing each of them, a camera designating means for designating an ITV camera for monitoring a monitoring target in which an event has occurred in response to one of the commands from each event occurrence commanding means, A video signal selecting means for selecting a video signal from the ITV camera designated by the camera designating means among video signals obtained from the plurality of ITV cameras, and a signal transmission system for transmitting the video signal selected by the video signal selecting means. And a monitoring terminal for displaying a monitoring image based on the video signal on a screen.

According to the above-mentioned means, when a monitoring image based on a video signal captured by each ITV camera is displayed on the screen of the monitoring terminal, the video signal from each ITV camera is important for monitoring for each monitoring target. Schedule information determined according to the degree, for example, time interval, time zone (day, day of the week,
Month), each monitoring target can be monitored according to the importance of monitoring, and the status of each monitoring target can be monitored in detail according to the importance. When the occurrence of an event is commanded due to a change in the situation of the monitoring target, a video signal from the ITV camera for monitoring the monitoring target where the event has occurred is selected, and a monitoring image based on the selected video signal is displayed on the monitoring terminal. Since the monitoring target is displayed on the screen, the monitoring target can be monitored according to a change in the status of the monitoring target, which contributes to improvement of the monitoring function, reduction of the burden on the monitoring personnel, and improvement of the monitoring efficiency.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the monitoring system sets a room or a monitoring area to be monitored in an industrial plant or a building for managing an entrance / exit area as a monitoring target (monitored space), and for each monitoring target, an ITV camera 1a, 1b, 1c,
1d,... 1n are installed. Each ITV camera 1a
1 to 1n each captures an image of each monitoring target and converts the video signal to IT
The output is output to the V switching device 2. The ITV switching device 2 responds to a switching request from the ITV video processing device 3 and specifies a specified video signal (a video signal from the ITV camera specified by the switching request) among the video signals from the ITV cameras 1a to 1n. For example, a single video signal is selected and output to the ITV video processing device 3. The ITV video processing device 3 is connected to terminal devices 5a, 5b, 5c,... 5 via a LAN communication line (signal transmission system) 4.
n and connected to the plant information processing device 6. The ITV video processing device 3 processes the schedule information and the like from each of the terminal devices 5a to 5n, and detects, for example, an abnormality in the monitoring target as a change in the status of each monitoring target by a sensor arranged in each monitoring target. When an event occurs, a command related to the occurrence of an event is received from the plant information processing device (event occurrence command means) 6 and the command is processed or a video signal from the ITV switching device 2 is processed. .

More specifically, the ITV video processing apparatus 3 is, for example, a server, as shown in FIG.
1, schedule control unit 12, database 13, event analysis processing unit 14, ITV switching control unit 15, ITV video encoding unit 16, video storage processing unit 17, database 1
8, an image search processing unit 19, the communication control unit 11 is connected to the LAN communication line 4, and the ITV switching control unit 15 and the ITV video encoding unit 16
The switching device 2 is connected. The communication control unit 11
When exchanging information between the V-video processing device 3 and the terminal devices 5a to 5n or the plant information processing device 6,
L via the communication interface with the LAN communication line 4
Control for communicating with the AN communication line 4 is performed. The schedule control unit 12 controls each of the terminal devices 5a to 5a.
It is configured to analyze ITV switching schedule information from 5n, register schedule information in the database 13 as schedule data, and perform switching time management based on received schedule information. The database 13 is configured as schedule information storage means for storing schedule information as schedule data. Then, the schedule control unit 12
According to the time axis, for example, in response to a clock signal, for example, schedule data of the database 13 is sequentially read, and a switching request according to the schedule data is transmitted to the I / O.
The information is output to the TV switching control unit 15. The event analysis processing unit 14 analyzes an ITV automatic switching command output from the plant information processing device 6 or a manual switching request output from each of the terminal devices 5a to 5n in response to the occurrence of an event, and performs an automatic switching according to the analysis result. Switching destination I
The TV camera is determined, and a switching request according to the determination result is output to the ITV switching control unit 15. The ITV switching control unit 15 includes the schedule control unit 12
, And the switching request from the event analysis processing unit 14, the switching request from the event analysis processing unit 14 is prioritized, and the switching request is switched to the ITV switching device 2 according to the input switching request. Outputs the request.

The ITV switching device 2 selects one of the video signals from the ITV cameras 1a to 1n in response to the switching request, and converts the selected video signal to an IT signal.
The video data is output to the V video encoding unit 16. That is, the schedule control unit 12, the ITV switching control unit 15,
The ITV switching device 2 is configured as a video signal selection unit, and includes an event analysis processing unit 14, an ITV switching control unit 1
5. The ITV switching device 2 is configured as a camera designation unit.

The ITV video encoding unit 16 encodes the input video signal and performs MPEG (Moving Picture) encoding.
re Experts Group) While performing compression, based on the control of the communication control unit 11, the LAN communication line 4
The digital video signal is transmitted. At this time, information such as a photographing time and a place in the digitized video signal is extracted by the video storage processing unit 17, and the extracted information is stored in the database 18 as information of a video library. The information stored in the database 18 is transmitted to the image search processing unit 19 via the LAN communication line 4 and the communication control unit 11 when the video library browsing request is issued.
Is read out by the search of the image search processing section 19. At this time, a desired library video is read from the database 18, and data relating to the read library video is transmitted to the terminal device that has output the browsing request via the communication control unit 11 and the LAN communication line 4.

On the other hand, the terminal devices 5a to 5n serve as a monitoring terminal or a client, as shown in FIG. 3, as a communication control unit 21, an ITV video decoding unit 22, and an image synthesis processing unit 2.
3. Man-machine interface control unit 24, monitor 2
5, an input device 26, and a schedule edit processing unit 27.
It is connected to the. The communication control unit 21 communicates with the LAN communication line 4 via a connection interface with the LAN communication line 4.
Control when communicating with the ITV
The video decoding unit 22 decodes the video signal (digital ITV image) received by the communication control unit 21 and outputs the decoded signal to the image synthesis processing unit 23. The image synthesizing unit 23 responds to the input signal by displaying a monitor image (IT
(V image) for overlay display. The man-machine interface control unit 24 controls output of the processing result from the image synthesizing processing unit 23 to the monitor 25, and also processes a signal from the input device 26 to process the schedule editing processing unit 2.
7 is output. As shown in FIG. 4, the monitor 25 displays the received monitoring image (ITV image) in the window 30 of the graphic display screen 31, or displays a schedule setting screen, a word processor and a spreadsheet in an area other than the window 30. The application screen is displayed. The input device 26 includes a keyboard, a mouse, and the like, and constitutes schedule information input means for inputting schedule information and the like accompanying the operation of the operator, and is configured as event occurrence instruction means for instructing the occurrence of an event by the operation of the operator. I have.
The schedule information input from the input device 26 is input to the schedule editing processing unit 27 via the man-machine interface control unit 24, where the schedule information is edited, and the edited schedule information is transmitted to the communication control unit. The data is transmitted to the LAN communication line 4 via the LAN 21.

Next, according to the schedule information, the IT
The operation when switching the V camera will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, a monitor (operator) is displayed on the graphic screen of the monitor 25 of the terminal device installed in the monitoring room.
Displays the ITV automatic switching schedule setting screen 25a as shown in FIG. 5 (step S1). Thereafter, the operator operates the input device 26 to input a monitoring time and the like for monitoring each monitoring target as schedule information according to the importance of monitoring for each monitoring target (step S2). The input items at this time are, for example, ITV
The order of selecting the cameras 1a to 1n, the date for automatically switching a specific ITV camera, for example, an ITV camera for monitoring the entrance of a building, or each ITV camera 1a
There are years, months, days, days of the week, and shooting start / end times related to monitoring of 1 to 1n, and these input items are input so that the monitoring time of each monitoring target (each TV camera) is different. If the switching date and time are not specified, the switching time interval and the like are specified.

When the schedule information is input, the schedule information is edited in the schedule edit processing section 27 and registered as schedule data (step S).
3) The registered schedule data is transmitted from the communication control unit 21 to the LAN communication line 4 according to the transmission format (step S4). At this time, the schedule data is edited according to the transmission format 40 as shown in FIG. This schedule format 4
0 is generated as information of the scheduling data common information 41 and the schedules 42a to 42n. The scheduling data common information 41 includes a scheduling identification code 41a, a switching mode (time interval or time designation) 4
1b, switching time interval specification (when no switching date and time is specified) 4
1c is added. Each schedule 42a-42n
, Information about the selected channel corresponding to each of the ITV cameras 1a to 1n is added, information about designation of automatic switching date or day of the week, and information about shooting start / end time are added. The schedules 42a to 42n are edited in the order of the switching request.

Next, when the schedule data is transmitted, the schedule data is received by the ITV video processing device 3 (step S101 in FIG. 7). The schedule data received by the communication control unit 11 is analyzed by the schedule control unit 12. The analyzed schedule data is registered in the database 13 to enable reuse (step S102). Thereafter, the schedule execution process is started (step S10).
3). The schedule control unit 12 fetches schedule data from the database 13 according to the clock, that is, according to the time axis, and determines whether or not it is a schedule switching time (step S104). At this time, when the schedule switching time comes, a switching request for switching to the designated ITV camera is generated according to the schedule data, and this switching request is sent to the ITV switching control unit 15.
(Step S105). Thereafter, a switching request for selecting a specified ITV camera is output from the ITV switching control 15 to the ITV switching device 2, and a process for selecting a video signal from the specified ITV camera is executed according to the switching request. I do. And ITV switching device 2
When the video signal from the designated ITV camera is selected by switching, the video signal captured by the designated ITV camera is input to the ITV video encoding unit 16, and the input video signal is encoded ( Step S106). IT
The video signal encoded by the V video encoding unit 16 is digitized and compressed, and the compressed signal is transmitted to the LAN communication line 4 via the communication control unit 11 and transmitted to the terminal device that has made a request. The video is transmitted (step S10
7). At this time, the video encoded by the ITV video encoding unit 16 is processed by the video storage processing unit 17, and the processed video is stored in the database 18 (step S1).
08). Thereafter, the processing from step S106 to step S108 is continued until all schedules are completed (step S109).

On the other hand, when the digitized signal is transmitted from the ITV video processing device 3, the communication control unit 2 of the terminal device
1 is used to determine whether or not a video has been received (step S5 in FIG. 6). When a video signal is received by the communication control unit 21, the received ITV digital video signal is decoded by the ITV video decoding unit 21, and the decoded signal is synthesized by the image synthesis processing unit 23. The monitor image is displayed on the graphic display screen of the monitor 25 via the man-machine interface control unit 24 (steps S6 and S7). Then, the processing from step S5 to step S is repeated every time a video signal is received.

According to the present embodiment, if schedule information is set in advance, the ITV switching device 2
Is switched, and only the video signal from a single ITV camera specified according to the schedule information is selected.
The monitor image according to the selected video signal is displayed on the monitor 25.
Is displayed on the screen, the respective monitoring targets can be monitored according to the importance of the monitoring, and the respective monitoring targets can be monitored in detail according to the schedule information.
In addition, since the ITV camera can be automatically switched according to the schedule information, the monitoring operation can be automated, which can contribute to labor saving of the monitoring operation.

Next, the operation when the camera is automatically switched according to the occurrence of an event will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, the plant information processing device 6 fetches analog or digital information from a sensor disposed on each monitoring target, and monitors in real time whether or not the status of each monitoring target has changed. That is, it monitors whether a fire, intrusion, or the like is detected by any of the sensors. When a fire or the like occurs, it is determined that an event has occurred, and a command indicating that the event has occurred is transmitted via the LAM communication line 4 to the ITV. The data is transmitted to the video processing device 3. At this time, the plant information processing device 6
As shown in FIG. 0, information on ITV cameras to be switched in response to a plant event (fire in the plant building, occurrence of intrusion) is stored in the definition information table 60, and the contents of the table 60 are periodically monitored. When information indicating the occurrence of an event is added to any of the events in the table 60, an ITV automatic switching command for selecting the ITV camera in which the event has occurred is generated, and this command is sent to the LA.
It transmits to the N communication line 4.

When the communication control section 11 of the ITV video processing apparatus 3 receives the ITV automatic switching command from the plant information processing apparatus 6 (step S201), the received switching command is transmitted to the event analysis processing section 14, and the event analysis processing is performed. The content of the switching command is analyzed by the unit 14, and processing according to the analysis result is executed. At this time, the event analysis processing unit 14 performs IT
In addition to determining the V camera, the schedule control unit 12
Then, the process according to the schedule information is stopped (step S202). Thereafter, the event analysis processing unit 14 outputs a switching request for switching to the designated ITV camera to the ITV switching control unit 15 (step S).
203). When the ITV switching device 2 is switched according to the switching request, the video signal from the designated ITV camera is input to the ITV video encoding unit 16, where the input video signal is encoded, digitized, and further compressed. Is performed (step S204). At this time, the encoded video signal is stored in the database 18 by the processing of the video storage processing unit 17 (step S205). The compressed video signal is transmitted to the LAN under the control of the communication control unit 11.
The data is transmitted to the communication line 4 (step S206). Thereafter, it is determined whether or not there is a request for manual switching by the operation of the monitor (step S207). If there is no manual switching request, the processing from step S204 to step S206 is continued. In response to the manual switching request, the camera switching and event image recording / delivery are terminated (step S208), and the process shifts to a process according to the schedule information as normal shooting (step S209).

According to the present embodiment, when a failure or abnormality occurs in a monitored object as a change in the state of each monitored object, a video signal from the monitored object in which an event occurs is forcibly selected and selected. Since the monitoring image based on the video signal is displayed on the screen of the monitor 25, the monitoring target can be monitored in accordance with the change of the status of each monitoring target, so that the monitoring function is improved, the labor of the monitoring work is reduced and the efficiency of the monitoring operation is reduced Can be contributed to.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When a monitor image based on any one of the video signals from a plurality of ITV cameras is displayed on a screen and monitored, an ITV designated according to schedule information predetermined for each monitoring target according to the importance of monitoring. Since the video signal from the camera is selected, each monitoring target can be monitored according to the importance of monitoring. In addition, each I
When a monitoring image based on any one of the video signals from the TV camera is displayed on the screen and monitored, a video signal from the ITV camera for monitoring a monitoring target in which an event has occurred is selected. In addition, each monitoring target can be monitored in accordance with a change in the status of each monitoring target, and the monitoring function can be improved, which contributes to labor saving and efficiency of monitoring work.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of an ITV image processing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a terminal device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a display screen configuration of a monitor.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration of a schedule setting screen.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a process performed by a terminal device when an ITV camera is switched according to a schedule.

FIG. 7: IT when switching ITV cameras according to a schedule
5 is a flowchart for describing processing of a V-video processing device.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration of a transmission format.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining processing of the ITV video processing device when an ITV camera is switched by an event.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration of a definition information table.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1a-1n ITV camera 2 ITV switching device 3 ITV video processing device 4 LAN communication line 5a-5n terminal device 6 Plant information processing device 11 Communication control unit 12 Schedule control unit 13 Database 14 Event analysis processing unit 15 ITV switching control unit 16 ITV Video encoding unit 17 Video storage processing unit 18 Database 19 Image search processing unit 21 Communication control unit 22 ITV video decoding unit 23 Image synthesis processing unit 24 Man-machine interface control unit 25 Monitor 26 Input device 27 Schedule editing processing unit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Makoto Iku 5-2-1 Omika-cho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture F-term in the Omika Plant of Hitachi, Ltd. F-term (reference) 5C054 CC02 CD03 CH08 CH09 DA08 EA01 EA05 FA09 FE02 FE22 FF02 HA18

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of ITV cameras each of which captures an image of a plurality of monitoring targets and outputs a video signal, and a monitoring time for monitoring the plurality of monitoring targets according to the importance of monitoring for each monitoring target. Schedule information storage means for storing predetermined schedule information; video signal selection means for selecting a specified video signal determined according to the schedule information from the video signals obtained from the plurality of ITV cameras along a time axis; A monitoring system comprising: a monitoring terminal that captures a video signal selected by a signal selection unit via a signal transmission system and displays a monitoring image based on the video signal on a screen. 2. A plurality of ITV cameras each of which captures an image of a plurality of monitoring targets and outputs a video signal, and monitors monitoring times for monitoring the plurality of monitoring targets in different time zones for each monitoring target. Schedule information storage means for storing schedule information determined in accordance with the degree of importance; and a video for selecting a single video signal determined in accordance with the schedule information from among the video signals obtained from the plurality of ITV cameras in accordance with a time axis A monitoring system comprising: a signal selection unit; and a monitoring terminal that captures a video signal selected by the video signal selection unit via a signal transmission system and displays a monitoring image based on the video signal on a screen. 3. A plurality of event occurrence command means for instructing occurrence of an event related to the plurality of monitoring targets, respectively, and an event is generated in response to one of the commands from the event occurrence command means. Camera designation means for designating an ITV camera for monitoring a monitoring target, wherein the video signal selection means includes an image signal from the ITV camera designated by the camera designation means among video signals obtained from the plurality of ITV cameras. 3. The monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the video signal is selected with priority. 4. A plurality of ITV cameras which respectively image a plurality of monitoring targets and output video signals, a plurality of event occurrence command means for respectively commanding occurrence of events related to the plurality of monitoring targets, and each event A camera designating unit for designating an ITV camera for monitoring a monitoring target in which an event has occurred in response to any one of the commands from the generation commanding unit; and a video signal obtained from the plurality of ITV cameras. A video signal selecting means for selecting a video signal from the ITV camera designated by the camera designating means, and a video signal selected by the video signal selecting means taken in through a signal transmission system, and a monitoring image based on the video signal is displayed on a screen. A monitoring system comprising a monitoring terminal for displaying the information.