JP4065524B2 - Judgment method and video output device for judging privacy level when controlling imaging device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a determination method and a video output device for determining a privacy level when controlling an imaging apparatus.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In a STB with a camera with a camera platform that can be connected to a network or a camera, as a general method of limiting the operation range of the camera for privacy protection, a method of setting an operation range that can be referred to by each camera, A method is generally adopted in which an authentication request from the video receiving terminal side is authenticated and the privacy reference authority is confirmed, and then the referenceable operation range of the camera is relaxed.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, according to the prior art, for example, in the case of the former technique, when there is a possibility that a large number of users with various backgrounds may refer to the video, all the users share the same referenceable operation range. The convenience of video reference for users with different positions cannot be guaranteed. In the latter technique, it is necessary to operate user registration and password management for a large number of users one by one, and the more users who can refer to the video, the more troublesome the operation for authentication management becomes. Problem.
[0004]
An object of the present invention is to enable control of an imaging device in a range corresponding to various user positions in accordance with the positional relationship between a video output device and a video input device .
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention relates to a determination method for determining a privacy level when controlling an imaging device via a network, an analysis step of analyzing the number of hops in the network between the video output device and the video input device, and the analysis step And a determination step of determining a privacy level when the video input device controls the imaging device according to an analysis result, and a video output device used there.
[0006]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0007]
<Embodiment 1>
FIG. 1 shows a video transmission STB and peripheral system configuration.
[0008]
The video transmission STB 102 according to the present invention is connected to or built in the video camera 101. The video camera 101 can control the viewpoint with a pan head or the like. For example, the video camera 101 has a driving range of 180 degrees left and right, 90 degrees up and down, zoom magnification 400%, etc., and the video transmission STB 102 drives this camera to drive the video camera 101. Images with various angles and magnifications can be obtained. These obtained videos are encoded by the video transmission STB 102, compressed by a compression method such as MPEG2 or MPEG4, and transmitted by IP packets to the IP (Internet Protocol) network 100 to which the video transmission STB 102 is connected. .
[0009]
A series of video streams transmitted by these IP packets are received by a video receiving terminal or STBs 103, 104, and 108, and are expanded in, for example, the video receiving STB 103, and then converted into an analog signal, for example, to a display device (not shown) included in the video receiving STB 103 Displayed as video. At this time, the video reception terminals and STBs 103, 104, and 108 first send IP packets of connection requests 105, 106, and 107 to request video from the video transmission STB 102 via the network 100 prior to video reception. Is normal.
[0010]
In the prior art, an authentication procedure for video reference is performed on the video reception STB 103 before and after the connection request.
[0011]
When receiving the connection request 105 from the video reception STB 103, the video transmission STB 102 according to the present invention checks under what IP network conditions the video reception STB 103 is transmitting the connection request 105 to the video transmission STB 102. I do. The network resources of the video reception STB 103 to be confirmed here are shown in the connection request host network resource table of FIG. Each time the video transmission STB 102 receives connection requests 105, 106, and 107 for these network resources, the video transmission STB 102 confirms the video reception STBs 103, 104, and 108 that are the transmission sources.
[0012]
The fact that the connection request 105 is transmitted from the video reception STB 103 to the video transmission STB 102 by IP can be obtained by analyzing the connection request 105 IP packet for the IP address of the video reception STB 103 in the video transmission STB 102.
[0013]
Further, the connection request 105 IP packet generally uses UDP (User Datagram Protocol) or TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) as an upper layer of IP, and the connection request 105 IP packet is imaged from the header information of UDP or TCP. It is possible to easily determine from which port of the receiving STB 103 the output is made.
[0014]
Further, in order to determine what network distance exists between the video receiving STB 103 and the video transmitting STB 102, the number of hops, that is, the number of routers through which IP passes (number of network segments), Check the IP addresses of all routers on the route in order to grasp each network that passes through.
[0015]
This hop number and router IP address confirmation method is shown in FIG. 2 Hop Number Confirmation Method. Here, the video transmission STB 102 checks the IP transmission path between the video reception STB 103 and the video transmission STB 102 by ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) with respect to the IP address of the video reception STB 103 obtained from the connection request 105 IP packet. . When the video transmission STB 102 starts 140 hop count confirmation, it is first assumed that the hop count is 1 (141), and the TTL (Time To Live) in the IP frame of the ICMP message is set to 1 which is the assumed hop count. The message type is set to 0 × 08 (Echo Request), and the message is transmitted to the IP address of the connection request host obtained earlier, that is, the video reception STB 103 (142).
[0016]
Here, if the ICMP message type 0 × 00 (Echo Reply) is returned from the connection requesting source video receiving STB 103, the assumed number of hops−1 is the actual number of hops. In this case, the number of hops is 0 (144). A hop number of 0 means that the connection requesting host, that is, the video reception STB 103 does not pass through the router, and basically the video transmission STB 102 and the video reception STB 103 can be considered to exist in the same network.
[0017]
However, if the reply ICMP message obtained in (143) is the message type 0 × 03 (Destination Unreachable) and the destination unreachable code is 0 × 0B (Time To Live Exceeded), the assumed hop It can be determined that the IP is discarded by the router corresponding to the number. This can be determined because the router uses the rule of relaying an IP frame by decrementing the TTL by 1 and the rule of discarding the IP frame with a TTL of 0 instead of being relayed by the router.
[0018]
That is, assuming that the number of hops is 1, an ICMP message is returned. When the first router decrements TTL by 1, the TTL becomes 0, so the first router can relay this ICMP frame (IP) frame. Instead, the Destination Unreachable message type of the ICMP message is returned to the video transmission STB 102 which is the ICMP message transmission source. The IP address of the router on the path to the connection requesting host 103 that makes this reply can be determined from the IP header of the reply ICMP, and the IP address obtained as the router on the path to the video receiving STB 103 in the video sending STB 102 Can be saved (146).
[0019]
In this flow, it can be determined that the video transmission STB 103 does not exist at least in the same network. Therefore, the video transmission STB 102 increments the assumption of the number of hops by 1 (147), and again designates the assumed number of hops in the TTL and transmits an ICMP Echo Request to the connection request source host (142). If the assumed number of hops is the actual number of hops + 1 and an ICMP Echo Request is sent, an ICMP Echo Reply is returned from the connection request source host (143). Alternatively, the process of transmitting an ICMP Echo Request by incrementing the hop count assumption by 1 is repeated (142).
[0020]
If the Echo Reply of ICMP is obtained, it can be determined that the actual number of hops is the assumed number of hops−1 (144). Incidentally, if the ICMP Echo Reply reply is not obtained from the connection request source host 102 and the ICMP destination unreachable code is other than Time To Live Exceeded, it can be detected that some abnormality has occurred in the connection path ( 148), but the treatment is not specifically mentioned here.
[0021]
In this way, the video transmission STB 102 can grasp whether there are several routers (networks) on the path of the video reception STB 102 and what kind of IP address there is, and the number of hops. (149) is finished. The means for confirming the number of hops is generally a technique called traceroute, and this video transmission STB 102 only uses this technique as one embodiment for examining the number of hops.
[0022]
The information in the network resource table of the connection request host 102 shown in FIG. 3 can be prepared by the method as described above.
[0023]
Hereinafter, a method for determining the video reference privacy level using the network resources obtained in FIG. 3 will be described.
[0024]
First, in the video transmission STB 102, it is necessary to set the correspondence between the privacy level and the video privacy related parameters. As the video privacy related parameters, for example, parameters as shown in the privacy related parameter value range table in FIG. 4 can be considered. This table further sets what setting values these parameters can take. In the video transmission STB 102 according to the present invention, the range in which the setting values of these parameters can be taken is defined according to the privacy level.
[0025]
For example, here, the privacy video reference level is divided into three stages, and it is defined that the privacy level 1 is the level having the most reference authority and the privacy level 3 is the level having the least reference authority. In this case, for privacy-related parameters of privacy level 1, the parameter value can be controlled within the most free range, and the privacy-related parameters are taken as the privacy levels 2 and 3 and the reference level are lowered. A method can be adopted in which the range of obtained values is controlled little by little to enable control. Here, parameters such as privacy-related parameters of privacy level 2 shown in FIG. 6 and privacy-related parameters shown in FIG. 7 regarding the camera's left / right swingable range, vertical swingable range, zoom range, and encoding rate at the time of video compression. The range that the camera can take is defined, and the camera swing control range and image quality control range are limited according to the privacy level.
[0026]
In addition to this, as an example of setting privacy-related parameters according to the privacy level, the privacy level is divided more finely, and the privacy-related parameters also specify values instead of specifying ranges, for example, the camera swing reference position It is also conceivable to make a decision for each privacy level.
[0027]
Next, a method for determining the privacy level from the network resources obtained as shown in FIG. 3 will be described.
[0028]
FIG. 8 shows an example of a privacy level determination method using the network-like sense of distance as the highest priority determination standard as privacy level determination method example 1.
[0029]
The video transmission STB 102 refers to the network resource table obtained in FIG. 3 (181), and first determines the network distance between the connection requesting host, that is, the video reception STB 103 and the video transmission STB 102 (182).
[0030]
This determination is basically made based on the number of hops. The relationship between the number of hops and the distance will be described with reference to FIG. Here, a general intranet configuration is shown. The number of routers in the overall network configuration formed by relaying individual networks by routers and the sense of geographical, organizational, and privacy distance (level) between the networks are not irrelevant. For example, in most cases, routers 221, 222, and 223 that control the establishments are installed in establishments installed in geographically distant places.
[0031]
In addition, a router 220 for intranet management should be installed in, for example, the head office department, which has a business office management function for concentrating and connecting office routers scattered in regions. Conversely, if each office is composed of a plurality of buildings, routers 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229 for each building may be installed. Here, assuming the video transmission STB 102 installed in the network of the A building router 5 (224), the video reception STB 103 and the video reception STB 104 belonging to the network of the same A building router 5 (224) are generally used. It can be assumed that they are at the same security level or the same privacy reference level. This is easy to understand when it is assumed that the video transmission STB 102 installed in the same building, for example, in the front or in the factory is referred to by the video reception STB 103 or 104 installed in the room.
[0032]
However, it is doubtful whether it is necessary to view the video of the video transmission terminal STB102 installed at a specific front of another business site from a business site that is geographically far away. In addition, it may be necessary to disclose the front video of a specific building in the same office from different buildings in the same office. From this point of view, in the present invention, the privacy video reference level is defined according to the number of routers between the video transmission STB 102 and the video reception STB 103. However, it is assumed that the number of routers (number of hops) from which the sense of distance (near, medium distance, long distance) is determined may vary depending on the router configuration of the organization, and it is necessary to have a width. .
[0033]
For example, taking the case of FIG. 10 as an example, if the privacy video reference policy is determined to be the highest privacy video reference level in the same building, intermediate in the office, and lower in the office, if the hop count is 0, the hop count is close. A setting of 3 is a medium distance and a hop number of 5 is a long distance. It is desirable that the correspondence between the number of hops and the hop number range (for example, the number of hops 2 to 3) and the distance determination (close, medium distance, long distance) can be specified by the user. It is assumed that this setting is included in the setting 190 related to the sense of network distance and 211 described later.
[0034]
In FIG. 8, the network distance determination (182) between the connection requesting host and the video transmission STB is performed based on the setting of 190. As a result, it is determined whether the distance is close, medium distance, or far. Here, if it is determined that the video reception STB 103 which is the connection requesting host is far, the host is determined to be privacy level 3 (187), and only the above-described control range is permitted. If it is determined to be close, the connection requesting host is determined to have privacy level 1 (186). If it is determined that the distance is medium, two more determinations (183) and (184) are made.
[0035]
The first determination is a determination (183) regarding the network to which the connection requesting host belongs. This is previously set (191) in the video transmission STB 102 for a network in which privacy cannot be disclosed, and the privacy level is determined based on this. This setting is specified by a network destination and a netmask for a network that cannot disclose privacy. A setting example is shown in FIG.
[0036]
In the setting example of FIG. 11, for example, when the IP address of the video receiving host 103 is 192.168.10.11 or 192.168.11.13, the video receiving host cannot disclose privacy. Can be determined to belong to a different network. This can be said to be a means for determining a special case such as a case in which the reference is from a building that is completely different in FIG.
[0037]
Further, the IP address of the router on the route determined from the network resource shown in FIG. 3 is 192.168.10. Even if it is XX, it is possible to set the privacy video not to be displayed on the network beyond that. In this example, the setting is simply whether the document can be disclosed or not when it belongs to the network, but a method of further moving forward and assigning a private video reference level to each network is also conceivable. In this case, it is necessary to consider what weight is used to determine the final privacy level together with the determination of the network distance (182) between the connection requesting host and the video transmission STB described above.
[0038]
The final determination regarding the network resource in FIG. 8 is whether or not the connection requesting host is a specific host (184). In the example of FIG. If the video receiving terminal 103 has an address, a determination is made to lower the video privacy level. For this purpose, it is necessary to set the IP address (192) of a host that cannot disclose privacy in advance.
[0039]
As described above, in the privacy level determination method example 1 of FIG. 8, determination of the network distance between the connection requesting host, that is, the video reception STB 103 and the video transmission STB 102 (182), determination regarding the network to which the connection request host belongs (183), and The video reference privacy level of the video reception STB can be determined by performing the three determinations of determining whether the connection requesting host is a specific host (184) in this order, and as a result, control can be performed from the video reception STB. The camera operating range and encoding rate (image quality) are determined.
[0040]
<Embodiment 2>
As a second embodiment, it is assumed that the video transmission terminal 251 built in or connected to the video camera 250 is controlled from the IP networks 255 and 258 and the video transmission is performed from the ATM network 252.
[0041]
Here, it is assumed that the control terminal client and the video receiver are different devices. For example, an STB for video transmission is installed at a representative reception in the office, and an ATM installed in the security room from the control terminal 261 of the security room. When outputting video for security to the connected video receiving terminal 253, and when outputting video from the control terminal 260 installed in the reception waiting room to the video receiving terminal 262 that is installed in the receiving waiting room and that is open to the visitors. Is assumed.
[0042]
According to the present invention, the same connection request is transmitted from the security room control terminal 261 and the establishment reception waiting room terminal 260 to the video transmission terminal 251 by IP, but the video transmission terminal 251 checks each network resource. It is possible to give privacy reference rights of different security levels to the video receiving terminal 253 in the security room and the video receiving terminal 262 in the waiting room.
[0043]
Furthermore, when the video transmission terminal 251 transmits video by ATM, when setting, for example, PVC (Permanent Virtual Channel) to the video receivers 253 and 262 from the video transmission STB, VPI (Virtual Path Identifier) and It is necessary to set the VCI (Virtual Channel Identifier) in the video transmission STB 251, where the video receiver 253 has the rights of private reference level 1 and the video receiver 262 has the rights of private reference level 3. If the transmission STB 251 is set to (VPI / VCI) = (0.31), the video receiver 253 is set. If the video transmitter STB 251 is set to (VPI / VCI) = (0.32), the video receiver 262 is set. If the video is transmitted, the VPI / VCI combination associated with the privacy reference level is set as the STB 25 for video transmission. 1, the privacy reference level-driven video transmission can be performed to the video receiving terminal associated with the corresponding privacy reference level. That is, if the video transmission terminal 251 receives a connection request and the connection request transmission source control terminal is privacy reference level 1, it sets VPI / VCI = (0.31) and outputs the video as a security video to the security room. It can be set to privacy reference level 3 and can be released as a reception video for the waiting room.
[0044]
The privacy level determination method used here optimizes the three judgment orders for determining the video reference privacy level from the network resources performed in privacy level determination method example 1 in FIG. 8, and may be performed as shown in FIG. Conceivable. Here, it is first determined whether or not the video reception STB 103 is a specific host (202), then a determination regarding the network to which the video reception STB 103 belongs (203), and finally between the connection requesting host and the video transmission STB. By determining the network distance (204), the video reference privacy level is determined.
[0045]
As is clear from the above description, it is necessary to refer to the video captured by the video transmission STB, and it is inconvenient to provide only a video within a uniquely limited camera driving range to many users with different positions. Without applying a special authentication mechanism or user registration, it is possible to provide images in a range corresponding to various user positions.
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to control the imaging apparatus in a range corresponding to various user positions according to the positional relationship between the video output device and the video input device .
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a video transmission STB and peripheral systems.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a hop count confirmation method.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a connection request host network resource table;
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a privacy-related parameter value range table.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing privacy-related parameters of privacy level 1;
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing privacy-related parameters at privacy level 2;
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing privacy-related parameters at privacy level 3;
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a privacy level determination method example 1;
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a privacy level determination method example 2;
FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the relationship between the number of hops and distance.
FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a network setting in which privacy cannot be disclosed;
12 is a diagram showing video transmission controlled by IP and ATM. FIG.
[Explanation of symbols]
100 IP network 101 Video camera 102 STB for video transmission
103 STB for video reception
104 STB
105-107 Connection request

Claims (12)

In a determination method for determining a privacy level when controlling an imaging device via a network,
An analysis process for analyzing the number of hops in the network between the video output device and the video input device;
A determination step of determining a privacy level when the video input device controls the imaging device according to an analysis result in the analysis step;
The determination method characterized by having.   The determination method according to claim 1, wherein the imaging device is a device provided separately from the video output device.   The determination method according to claim 1, wherein the imaging device is a device built in the video output device. And a first determination step of determining a network to which the video input device belongs,
The determination method according to claim 1, wherein the determination step determines the privacy level according to an analysis result in the analysis step and a determination result in the first determination step. . And a second determination step of determining whether the video input device is a specific device,
5. The determination method according to claim 1, wherein the determination step determines the privacy level also using a determination result in the second determination step.   The privacy level includes a parameter of any one of a pan control range, a tilt control range, a zoom control range, and an encoding rate at the time of compressing a video captured by the imaging device when the imaging device is controlled. The determination method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: In video output equipment ,
Analyzing means for analyzing the number of hops in the network between the video output device and the video input device;
Judgment means for judging a privacy level when the video input device controls the imaging device via a network according to an analysis result by the analysis means;
A video output device comprising: 8. The video output device according to claim 7, wherein the imaging device is a device provided separately from the video output device . The video output device according to claim 7, wherein the imaging device is a device built in the video output device . Furthermore, it has the 1st determination means which determines the network to which the said video input device belongs,
The video output according to claim 7, wherein the determination unit determines the privacy level according to an analysis result by the analysis unit and a determination result by the first determination unit. Equipment . Furthermore, it has a 2nd determination means which determines whether the said video input device is a specific apparatus,
The video output device according to claim 7, wherein the determination unit determines the privacy level also using a determination result by the second determination unit. The privacy level includes a parameter of any one of a pan control range, a tilt control range, a zoom control range, and an encoding rate at the time of compressing a video captured by the imaging device when the imaging device is controlled. The video output device according to claim 7, wherein the video output device is a video output device .

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