Video data transmitting/receiving method and video monitor system

• US 7,460,601 B2
• Filed: 10/29/2002
• Issued: 12/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Security Video Camera Systems Inc. (Wi-LAN Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Taniguchi, Koji
• Primary Examiner(s): RAO, ANAND SHASHIKANT
• Application Number:
  US10/282,599
• Publication Number:
  US 20030093810A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,226 Days
• Field of Search: 37524001-24029
• US Class Current: 375/240.26
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19656 Network used to communicate with a camera, e.g. WAN, LAN, Internet
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19671 Addition of non-video data, i.e. metadata, to video stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2187 Live feed
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4828 for searching program descriptors retrieval of video data G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8543 using a description language, e.g. Multimedia and Hypermedia information coding Expert Group [MHEG], eXtensible Markup Language [XML] information retrieval of semistructured data, the underlying structure being taken into account, e.g. mark-up language structure data G06F16/80
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast

Abstract

In a video data transmitting method of sending in real-time video data being externally inputted, when encoding video data being inputted as stream data, start and stop of an encoding process is repeated at a predetermined time interval to carry out a data dividing process whereby a plurality of time-continuous video data are generated as partial video data. Also, metadata of partial video data is generated, which is sent, together with the partial video data, in real-time as partial video metadata.

Claims

1. A method of transmitting video data input as stream data in real-time, comprising:

a video encoding process step of encoding the video data by;

     1) dividing the stream data at predetermined points in time into a plurality of time-continuous video data, each of the plurality of time-continuous video data being different from each other,

     2) performing an encoding process on each of the time-continuous video data to generate a respective plurality of encoded video data that form partial video data and

     3) sequentially outputting the partial video data;

a video data transmitting step of sending the partial video data in real-time;

a metadata generating step of generating respective metadata of each of the partial video data to provide partial video metadata; and

a metadata transmitting step of sending the partial video metadata,

wherein the metadata generating step includes a step of managing a plurality of the partial video metadata having a time-continuous relationship as whole video metadata and outputting the respective partial video metadata including, at least, an identifier of the partial video metadata, link information to preceding and succeeding partial video metadata having the time-continuous relationship and link information to the respective partial video data.

2. A method of transmitting video data according to claim 1, further including a step of outputting a header file including the link information to the partial video metadata at a leading end prior to outputting the partial video metadata positioned at the leading end of the whole video metadata, and outputting a footer file including the link information to the partial video metadata at the terminal end after outputting the partial video metadata positioned at the terminal end of the whole video metadata.

3. A method of transmitting video data according to claim 1, further comprising a video analyzing process step of carrying out a video analyzing process of the video data and outputting a video analysis result at the predetermined time interval, and a scene dividing process step of carrying out a scene dividing process on the partial video data on the basis of a predetermined scene dividing condition and outputting a scene dividing result, wherein the metadata generating step includes a step of generating the respective metadata based on a scene of the partial video data, on the basis of the scene dividing result, and outputting respective scene metadata having the metadata describing the video analysis result.

4. A method of transmitting video data according to claim 3, wherein the metadata transmitting step includes a step of dividing the partial video metadata into the respective scene metadata for handling and sending the scene metadata.

5. A method of transmitting video data according to claim 4, wherein the process of dividing the partial video metadata into the scene metadata sets, as the predetermined scene dividing condition, a condition to determine a similarity of the video analysis result to be outputted at the predetermined time interval, and determines video data portions having similar video analysis results and a time-continuous relationship as one scene, whereby a video data portion that is not similar in the video analysis result is determined as a scene boundary, thereby carrying out the scene dividing process.

6. A method of transmitting video data according to claim 3, wherein the video analyzing process step includes a step of detecting a moving object in a video image of the video data and outputting a detection result of the moving object including a feature amount of the detected moving object, the scene dividing process step including a step of setting a presence or absence of the moving object as the predetermined scene dividing condition by the detection result of the moving object and carrying out the scene dividing process to divide between a video data portion not including the moving object and a video data portion including the moving object, the metadata generating step including a step of describing a numerical representative of the presence or the absence of the moving object detection in the scene metadata.

7. A method of transmitting video data according to claim 5, wherein the scene dividing process step includes a step of outputting a provisional scene dividing process result in a case a predetermined time elapses from carrying out a preceding scene dividing process and periodically repeating to output the provisional scene dividing process result until a regular scene dividing process is executed, on the basis of the scene dividing condition.

8. A method of transmitting video data according to claim 6, wherein the scene dividing process step includes a step of outputting a provisional scene dividing process result in a case a predetermined time elapses from carrying out a preceding scene dividing process and periodically repeating to output the provisional scene dividing process result until a regular scene dividing process is executed on the basis of the scene dividing condition, the metadata generating step including steps of handling the scene metadata corresponding to a scene generated by the provisional scene dividing process as provisional scene metadata, and handling the scene metadata corresponding to a scene generated by a fixed scene dividing process as fixed scene metadata, the scene metadata including at least scene fixing information to distinguish between two kinds of scene metadata, scene numbers to be assigned to all scenes included in the whole video data, recorded date information representative of a scene-recording start date and an end date and the video analysis result.

9. A method of receiving video data comprising:

a video data receiving step of receiving the whole video data being sent by the method according to claim 8;

a video data storage step of separating the whole video data into a plurality of partial video data to be respectively stored as independent data files to a storage medium;

a metadata receiving step of receiving whole video metadata; and

a metadata storage step of separating the whole video metadata into a header file, a plurality of partial video metadata and a footer file that are to be respectively stored as further independent data files to the storage medium.

10. A method of receiving video data according to claim 9, wherein the metadata receiving step includes a step of receiving scene metadata respectfully associated with the partial video metadata, the metadata storage step including a step of storing the partial video metadata reconstructed by connecting the scene metadata belonging to the partial video metadata into a memory.

11. A method of receiving video data according to claim 9, wherein the metadata storage step distinguishes between provisional scene metadata and fixed scene metadata on the basis of scene fixing information of the scene metadata, and in the case of receiving the fixed scene metadata having a same scene number as the provisional metadata already written onto the partial video metadata, the fixed scene metadata is additionally written after deleting the provisional scene metadata from the partial video metadata.

12. A computer readable medium encoded with a video data transmitting program for a computer to execute a data process based on a video data transmitting method comprising:

a video encoding process step of encoding video data input as stream data by;

     1) dividing the stream data at predetermined points in time into a plurality of time continuous video data, each of the plurality of time-continuous video data being different from each other,

     2) performing an encoding process on each of the time-continuous video data to generate a respective plurality of encoded video data that form partial video data and

     3) sequentially outputting the partial video data;

a video data transmitting step of sending the partial video data in real-time;

a metadata generating step of generating respective metadata of each of the partial video data and to provide partial video metadata; and

a metadata transmitting step of sending the partial video metadata,

wherein the metadata generating step includes a step of managing a plurality of the partial video metadata having a time-continuous relationship as whole video metadata, and outputting the respective partial video metadata including, at least, an identifier of the partial video metadata, link information to preceding and succeeding partial video metadata having the time-continuous relationship and link information to the respective partial video data.

13. A computer readable medium according to claim 12, further comprising a scene dividing process step of carrying out a scene dividing process on the partial video data on the basis of a predetermined scene division determining condition and outputting a scene division result, the scene dividing process step including a step of outputting the provisional scene dividing process result in a case a predetermined time elapses from carrying out a preceding scene dividing process and periodically repeating to output the provisional scene dividing process result until a regular scene dividing process is executed on the basis of the scene dividing condition, the metadata generating step including steps of handling scene metadata corresponding to a scene generated by the provisional scene dividing process as provisional scene metadata, and handling scene metadata corresponding to a scene generated by a fixed scene dividing process as fixed scene metadata.

14. A computer readable medium encoded with a video data receiving program for a computer to execute a data process based on a video data receiving method, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving whole video data being sent by the method of encoding the video data input as stream data by;

     1) dividing the stream data at a predetermined points in time into a plurality of time continuous video data, each of the plurality of time-continuous video data being different from each other,

     2) performing an encoding process on each of the time-continuous video data to generate a respective plurality of encoded video data that form partial video data and

     3) sequentially outputting the partial video data;

sending the partial video data in real-time,

generating respective metadata of each of the partial video data to provide partial video metadata; and

sending the partial video metadata;

a video data storage step of separating the whole video data into a plurality of the partial video data that are to be, respectively, stored as independent data files to a storage medium;

a metadata receiving step of receiving whole video metadata associated with a plurality of the partial video metadata; and

a metadata storage step of separating the whole video metadata into a header file, the plurality of the partial video metadata and a footer file that are to be respectively stored as further independent data files to the storage medium,

wherein the metadata generating step includes a step of managing a plurality of the partial video metadata having a time-continuous relationship as whole video metadata and outputting the respective partial video metadata including, at least, an identifier of the partial video metadata, link information to preceding and succeeding partial video metadata having the time-continuous relationship and link information to the respective partial video data.

15. A video transmitting apparatus for transmitting video data in real-time, comprising:

program executing means for executing a video data transmitting program for a computer to execute a data process based on a video data transmitting method comprising;

a video encoding process step of encoding the video data input as stream data by;

     1) dividing the stream data at predetermined points in time into a plurality of time continuous video data, each of the plurality of time-continuous video data being different from each other,

     2) performing an encoding process on each of the time-continuous video data to generate a respective plurality of encoded video data that form partial video data and

     3) sequentially outputting the partial video data;

a video data transmitting step of sending the partial video data in real-time;

a metadata generating step of generating respective metadata of each of the partial video data to provide partial video metadata; and

a metadata transmitting step of sending the partial video metadata;

video data input means for inputting the video data acquired from a video camera to the video data transmitting program; and

communication interface means for transmitting the video data and the metadata of the video data,

wherein the metadata generating step includes a step of managing a plurality of the partial video metadata having a time-continuous relationship as whole video metadata, and outputting the respective partial video metadata including, at least, an identifier of the partial video metadata, link information to preceding and succeeding partial video metadata having the time-continuous relationship and link information to the respective partial video data.

16. A video receiving apparatus comprising:

program executing means for executing a video data receiving program for a computer to execute a data process based on a video data receiving method, said method comprising the steps of;

receiving whole video data being sent by the method of encoding the video data input as stream data by;

     1) dividing the stream data at predetermined points in time into a plurality of time continuous video data, each of the plurality of time-continuous video data being different from each other,

     2) performing an encoding process on each of the time-continuous video data to generate a respective plurality of encoded video data that form partial video data and

     3) sequentially outputting the partial video data;

sending the partial video data real-time;

generating respective metadata of each of the partial video data to provide partial video metadata; and

sending the partial video metadata;

a video data storage step of separating the whole video data into a plurality of the partial video data that are to be, respectively, stored as independent data files to a storage medium;

a metadata receiving step of receiving whole video metadata associated with a plurality of the partial video metadata; and

a metadata storage step of separating the whole video metadata into a header file, the plurality of the partial video metadata and a footer file that are to be respectively stored as further independent data files to the storage medium;

program executing means for executing a video data displaying program for a computer to execute a data process based on a method of displaying received video data, comprising;

a search condition setting step of setting a search condition for the video data;

a partial video metadata search step of analyzing the whole video metadata already stored or in a progress of storage on the basis of the search condition and detecting the partial video metadata satisfying the search condition;

a scene metadata search step of analyzing the detected partial video metadata and detecting scene metadata satisfying the search condition;

a partial video data search step of detecting the partial video data corresponding to the searched partial video metadata; and

a partial video data displaying step of displaying a scene of the partial video data corresponding to the searched scene metadata;

communication interface means for receiving the video data and the metadata;

data storage means for storing and managing the video data and the metadata;

data display means for displaying the video data and displaying the metadata; and

search condition setting means for setting the search condition for the video data,

wherein the metadata generating step includes a step of managing a plurality of the partial video metadata having a time-continuous relationship as whole video metadata, and outputting the respective partial video metadata including, at least, an identifier of the partial video metadata, link information to preceding and succeeding partial video metadata having the time-continuous relationship and link information to the respective partial video data.