Network camera management system and network camera management method

Abstract

The present invention is intended to manage a plurality of network cameras simply. The network camera management system comprises: a server for managing a plurality of cameras and controlling recording and/or displaying of an image captured by a camera; and a controller for instructing a management state of a camera on the server. By the operation of the controller, an image to be displayed is dynamically selected from images captured by the plurality of cameras according to the mode instructed by the controller. Thus, even if there are a large number of cameras, it is possible to display in such a form that it is intuitively easy to understand which camera's image is being displayed.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A network camera management system for managing a plurality of cameras connected to a predetermined network, comprising:
 a server for managing the plurality of cameras and controlling recording and/or displaying of an image captured by a camera; and   a controller for instructing a management state of a camera on the server;   wherein, by the operation of the controller, an image to be displayed is dynamically selected from images captured by the plurality of cameras according to the mode instructed by the controller.   
     
     
         2 . A network camera management system according to  claim 1 , further comprises:
 a plurality of servers serving as the server; and   a client for managing the plurality of servers;   wherein the controller is configured to connect with the client and to control the plurality of cameras, and the cameras managed by each of the servers is controlled by the controller.   
     
     
         3 . A network camera management system according to  claim 2 , wherein,
 one of clients or servers connected to the network serves as global address assigning means for the plurality of cameras, and can allocate an address in a discretionary order regardless of the server managing each of the cameras.   
     
     
         4 . A network camera management system according to  claim 3 , wherein,
 the mode instructed by the controller includes a mode for displaying in an order based on an address assigned by the global address assigning means.   
     
     
         5 . A network camera management system according to  claim 3 , wherein,
 the servers and/or the clients include an alarm managing unit for managing an alarm from each of the cameras or an alarm based on an image captured by the camera;   and the mode instructed by the controller includes a mode for displaying in an order in which the alarm is generated.   
     
     
         6 . A network camera management system according to  claim 3 , wherein,
 the servers and/or the clients include an operation history managing unit for managing an operation history of each of the cameras;   and the mode instructed by the controller includes a mode for displaying in an order based on operation histories managed by the operation history managing unit.   
     
     
         7 . A network camera management system according to  claim 3 , wherein,
 the client used as the global address assigning means is different from the client connected with the controller.   
     
     
         8 . A network camera management method for managing a plurality of cameras connected to a predetermined network, include steps of:
 performing a process of managing the plurality of cameras and controlling recording and/or displaying of an image captured by a camera by one or more servers connected to the network;   instructing a management state of a camera on the server by a controller; and   by the operation of the controller, performing a dynamical selection based on the servers of an image to be displayed from images captured by the plurality of cameras according to the mode instructed by the controller.