1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a network camera system and a network camera thereof, and more specifically, to a network camera system for transforming an Ethernet signal into an xDSL (x Digital Subscriber Line) signal to perform network signal transmission between a network camera and a transmitting device and a network camera thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, a network camera utilizes a power cable to connect to an external power source for obtaining an external power, and utilizes a network cable to connect to a control terminal (e.g. a video surveillance host) for establishing network signal transmission between the control terminal and the network camera. However, when there are numerous network cameras needed to be set up, each network camera must be connected to the external power source and the control terminal respectively, so as to cause a complicated wiring process.
Via a PoE (Power over Ethernet) switch coupled to the external power source, the network camera could only utilize a network cable to obtain electrical power and establish network signal transmission between the control terminal and the network camera simultaneously. However, due to limitation of Ethernet network transmission, a wiring distance between the PoE switch and the network camera needs to be less than 100 m, or signal attenuation may occur to cause incorrect signal transmission if the wiring distance is larger than 100 m. Accordingly, convenience and flexibility for setting up the network camera could be greatly influenced.
The present invention provides a network camera system. The network camera system includes a transmitting device, a first network camera and a first shunt device. The transmitting device is used for providing a network power and receiving an Ethernet signal. The transmitting device includes a power transforming unit and a signal transforming unit. The power transforming unit is used for transforming an external power transmitted from an external power source into the network power. The signal transforming unit is used for transforming the Ethernet signal into an xDSL signal. The first network camera includes a first casing and a first main board. The first main board is disposed in the first casing for operating the first network camera. The first shunt device is connected to the first main board and connected to the transmitting device in a network cable connection manner. The first shunt device includes a first signal transceiving unit and a first power transceiving unit. The first signal transceiving unit is used for transforming the xDSL signal back into the Ethernet signal so as to perform Ethernet signal transmission between the first shunt device and the first main board. The first power transceiving unit is used for selectively transmitting the network power to the first main board as an operating power of the first network camera.
The present invention further provides a network camera for performing Ethernet signal transmission and network power transmission with a transmitting device. The transmitting device is used for transforming an external power transmitted from an external power source into a network power and transforming an Ethernet signal into an xDSL signal. The transmitting device is connected to the network camera via a network cable and transmits the network power and the xDSL signal via the network cable. The network camera includes a casing, a main board, and a shunt device. The main board is disposed in the casing for operating the network camera. The shunt device is connected to the main board and connected to the transmitting device in a network cable connection manner. The shunt device includes a signal transceiving unit and a power transceiving unit. The signal transceiving unit is used for transforming the xDSL signal back into the Ethernet signal so as to perform Ethernet signal transmission between the shunt device and the main board. The power transceiving unit is used for selectively transmitting the network power to the main board as an operating power of the network camera.
These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.
Please refer to
As shown in
For improving power selection flexibility of the first network camera 14, the first power transceiving unit 32 could be used for selectively performing the power shunting operation on the network power transmitted from the transmitting device 12 according to the practical power selection of the first network camera 14. To be more specific, as shown in
In such a manner, if the network power transmitted from the transmitting device 12 is used as the operating power of the first network camera 14, the switching unit 34 could control the first power transceiving unit 32 to shunt the first shunt power from the network power to the first main board 28, so that the first main board 28 could utilize the first shunt power to operate the first network camera 14. On the other hand, if the external power in the alternating current mode transmitted from the external power source is used as the operating power of the first network camera 14, the switching unit 34 could control the first power transceiving unit 32 to transmit the external power in the alternating current mode to the first main board 28 as the operating power of the first network camera 14. To be noted, the external power transmitted from the external power source needs to be transformed in advance into the external power suitable for the first network camera 14, the first power transceiving unit 32 or the first main board 28, and then is transmitted to the first main board 28 via the first power transceiving unit 32 as the operating power of the first network camera 14. The aforesaid power transformation process is known to one skilled in the prior art, and the related description is omitted herein.
Via the aforesaid design, due to the long distance transmission capability of the xDSL signal, the network camera system 10 could utilize a network cable (e.g. Cat.5 cable) suitable for xDSL signal transmission to insert into a corresponding connection port (e.g. RJ45 port) for establishing long distance transmission between the transmitting device 12 and the first network camera 14. Accordingly, the present invention could efficiently solve the prior art problem that the wiring distance of Ethernet signal transmission between the PoE switch and the network camera is too short (less than 100 m), so as to greatly improve convenience and flexibility for setting up the network camera. For example, in the embodiment that the transmitting device 12 could provide a 65W network power and the first network camera 14 is a 10W bullet IP camera, the network camera system 10 could utilize a 900 m Cat.5 cable or a 1000 m Cat.6 cable to establish electrical connection and network signal transmission between the transmitting device 12 and the first network camera 14. In the embodiment that the transmitting device 12 could provide a 120W network power and the first network camera 14 is a 48W speed dome IP camera, the network camera system 10 could utilize a 400 m Cat.6 cable to establish electrical connection and network signal transmission between the transmitting device 12 and the first network camera 14. As for related description for other derived embodiments, it could be reasoned by analogy according to the aforesaid embodiment. In other words, all designs that the transmitting device is used for transforming the Ethernet signal into the xDSL signal for increasing the wiring distance between the transmitting device and the network camera may fall within the scope of the present invention.
In practical application, as shown in
The second network camera 18 could have the same design with the first network camera 14 and the related description could be reasoned by analogy according to the aforesaid embodiment. That is, as shown in
For improving power selection flexibility of the second network camera 18, the second power transceiving unit 46 could be used for selectively performing the power shunting operation on the network power transmitted from the transmitting device 12 according to the practical power selection of the second network camera 18. To be more specific, as shown in
In such a manner, if the network power transmitted from the transmitting device 12 is used as the operating power of the first network camera 14 and the operating power of the second network camera 18, the switching unit 34 could control the first power transceiving unit 32 to shunt the first shunt power from the network power to the first main board 28, and the switching unit 48 could control the second power transceiving unit 46 to shunt the second shunt power from a remaining power after the network power passes through the first network camera 14 to the second main board 40. Accordingly, the second main board 40 could utilize the second shunt power to operate the second network camera 18. On the other hand, if the external power in the alternating current mode transmitted from the external power source is used as the operating power of the second network camera 18, the switching unit 48 could control the second power transceiving unit 46 to transmit the external power in the alternating current mode to the second main board 40 as the operating power of the second network camera 18. As for other derived embodiments for power selection (e.g. the first network camera 14 utilizes the external power in the alternating current mode transmitted from the external power source and the second network camera 18 utilizes the network power transmitted from the transmitting device 12), the related description could be reasoned by analogy according to the aforesaid embodiments and omitted herein.
The third network camera 20 could have the same design with the first network camera 14 and the second network camera 18 and the related description could be reasoned by analogy according to the aforesaid embodiments. That is, as shown in
For improving power selection flexibility of the third network camera 20, the third power transceiving unit 58 could be used for selectively performing the power shunting operation on the network power transmitted from the transmitting device 12 according to the practical power selection of the third network camera 20. To be more specific, as shown in
In such a manner, if the network power transmitted from the transmitting device 12 is used as the operating power of the first network camera 14, the operating power of the second network camera 18 and the operating power of the third network camera 20, the switching unit 60 could control the third power transceiving unit 58 to shunt the third shunt power from a remaining power after the network power passes through the first network camera 14 and the second network camera 18 to the third main board 52, Accordingly, the third main board 52 could utilize the third shunt power to operate the third network camera 20. To be noted, as shown in
On the other hand, if the external power in the alternating current mode transmitted from the external power source is used as the operating power of the third network camera 20, the switching unit 60 could control the third power transceiving unit 58 to transmit the external power in the alternating current mode to the third main board 52 as the operating power of the third network camera 20. As for other derived embodiments for power selection (e.g. the second network camera 18 utilizes the external power in the alternating current mode transmitted from the external power source and the first network camera 14 and the third network camera 20 utilize the network power transmitted from the transmitting device 12), the related description could be reasoned by analogy according to the aforesaid embodiments and omitted herein.
It should be mentioned that amount of network camera in serial connection is not limited to three as mentioned in the aforesaid embodiments. In other words, in the condition that the connection length of the network cable does not exceed the allowable network signal transmission distance and power needed for operations of the network camera could be obtained from the aforesaid power shunting method or the external power source, the amount of network camera in serial connection could vary with the practical application of the network camera system 10. Furthermore, the aforesaid switching unit could be an omissible component for simplifying the design of the network camera. For example, in the embodiment that the switching unit is omitted, the power transceiving unit could be used for transmitting the external power in the alternating current mode to the main board as the operating power of the network camera when determining that the network camera is connected to the external power source. Moreover, in another embodiment, if the first network camera 14 is the only one network camera in the network camera system 10, the first network camera 14 could directly transmit the network power to the first main board 28 as the operating power of the first network camera 14 without performing the aforesaid power shunting operation, and could perform Ethernet signal transmission between the first shunt device 16 and the first main board 28 via the first signal transceiving unit 30.
In summary, the present invention utilizes the transmitting device to transform the Ethernet signal into the xDSL signal for increasing the allowable wiring distance between the transmitting device and the network camera. In such a manner, the network camera system provided by the present invention could utilize the network cable suitable for xDSL network transmission to perform the long distance transmission between the transmitting device and the network camera, so as to efficiently solve the prior art problem that the wiring distance between the PoE switch and the network camera needs to be less than 100 m due to limitation of Ethernet network transmission. Accordingly, convenience and flexibility for setting up the network camera could be greatly improved.
Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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104124003 | Jul 2015 | TW | national |