Television – Camera – system and detail – Remote control
Reexamination Certificate
1998-07-30
2003-04-29
Garber, Wendy R. (Department: 2712)
Television
Camera, system and detail
Remote control
C348S211300, C348S211110, C348S207100, C348S207110, C348S143000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06556241
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a remote-controlled camera-picture broadcast system and, more particularly, to a remote-controlled camera-picture broadcast system that facilitates use by a potentially large plurality of unspecified users through a computer network and which is applicable to a video monitoring system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, the remote-controlled camera-picture broadcast systems of this sort have been used to acquire a picture by operating or controlling at least one video camera mounted at a distant place through a computer network.
An example of the conventional remote-controlled camera-picture broadcast systems is disclosed in the Japanese Non-Examined Patent Publication No. 8-265742 published in 1996, which is comprised of a first workstation to which a video camera is connected, a second workstation, a third workstation to which a display monitor is connected, and a fourth workstation to which a display monitor is connected. These four workstations are interconnected together by a network.
Picture transmission/reception software and camera control server software are installed into the first workstation. Camera management server software for managing the video camera is installed into the second workstation. Picture transmission/reception software and camera control client software are installed into the third workstation. Picture transmission/reception software and camera control client software are installed into the fourth workstation.
The camera management server software installed into the second workstation communicates with the camera control server installed into the first workstation to update or renew the state of the video camera connected to the first workstation at any time. Also, the camera management server software notifies regularly the camera control client software installed into the third and fourth workstations of the camera state.
If the user or operator of the third (or fourth) workstation operates the video camera connected to the first workstation, the camera control client software in the third (or fourth) workstation issues a request of access to the camera management server software in the second workstation exclusively managing the camera prior to transmission of a camera operation command. If this request of access is permitted by the camera management server software in the second workstation, the camera management server software transmits a camera operation command directly to the camera control server software in the first workstation to which the video camera is connected. In response to this camera operation command, the picture transmission/reception software in the first workstation transmits the picture information acquired by the video camera directly to the picture transmission/reception software in the third (or fourth) workstation.
If this request of access is not permitted by the camera management server software, the camera management server software transmits a message notifying the refusal of access to the camera control client software in the third (or fourth) workstation.
With the conventional remote-controlled camera-picture broadcast system disclosed in the Japanese Non-Examined Patent Publication No. 8-265742 as described above, however, there are the following three problems.
A first problem is that the cost of the hardware and the network becomes high to ensure or secure the satisfactory performance of the conventional broadcast system even for the use of a lot of unspecified users. The is caused by the following reason.
The use of a lot of unspecified users tends to be concentrated on the camera control server software in the first workstation which is usually mounted on a distant place. Also, the interconnection among the camera control server software, the camera management server software, and the camera control client software need to be always secured for the purpose of the inquiry and notice of the state of the video camera. These facts require the high performance of not only the camera control server software and the first workstation but also the network connected thereto, resulting in high cost of the hardware and the network.
A second problem is that the necessity of maintenance of the camera control server software and the first workstation becomes high in order to ensure the stable operation for a lot of unspecified users. This requires the camera control server software and the first workstation to be located at a place facilitating maintenance, which limits the location of the video camera also.
The second problem is caused by the fact that the camera control server software and the first workstation tend to operate unstably due to load change and/or unjust access since the broadcast system is used by a lot of unspecified users.
A third problem is that the overhead tends to be large on use by a lot of unspecified users, the reason of which is as follows.
If the user of the third workstation operates the video camera, a request for access needs to be transmitted by the camera control client software in the third workstation to the camera management server software in the second workstation in order to acquire the access authority. After the user acquires the access authority, a camera control command is transmitted by the camera management server software in the second workstation to the camera server software in the first workstation according to the access authority, thereby operating the camera connected to the first workstation.
Accordingly, the waiting time for this camera operation from the instruction input by the user to the start of the camera operation tends to be long. Especially, when the transmission speed of the computer network is not high, the waiting time will be longer.
Also, to ensure the camera operation, the holding time of the access authority needs to be set according to the transmission speed of the network. Specifically, the holding time of the access authority needs to be set longer if the transmission speed of the network is low.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a remote-controlled camera-picture broadcast system that decreases the cost of hardware and network for the use of a lot of unspecified users.
Another object of the present invention is to provide remote-controlled camera-picture broadcast system that avoids a need for high performance of a camera controller and a network connected thereto.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a remote-controlled camera-picture broadcast system that decreases the necessity of maintenance of a camera controller located at a distant place.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a remote-controlled camera-picture broadcast system that lowers the overhead even on use by a lot of unspecified users.
The above objects together with others not specifically mentioned will become clear to those skilled in the art from the following description.
A remote-controlled camera-picture broadcast system according to the present invention is comprised of
a camera apparatus for acquiring a picture and producing a video signal of the picture,
a camera controller for controlling the camera apparatus,
a camera server connected to the camera controller through a first network, and
clients connected to the camera server through a second network.
Each of the clients transmits an operation demand for the camera apparatus to the camera server through the second network according to an input of a user.
The camera server receives the operation demand thus transmitted from the client into which the input of the user is applied, and transmits an operation command corresponding to the operation demand thus received to the camera controller through the first network.
The camera controller controls the camera apparatus according to the operation command thus transmitted from the camera server so that the camera apparatus acquires a picture and produces a video signal of the picture.
T
Ohno Hideo
Okano Hisashi
Yoshimura Naoto
Garber Wendy R.
Rosendale Matthew L
Whitham Curtis & Christofferson, P.C.
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