Abstract:
A multi-streaming web camera controlling system and controlling methodology are capable of providing an original video data stream and at least one compressed video data stream for displaying demands of local host and for requested video data format(s) by remote hosts, respectively. The host can selectively display the original video data stream and transmit the compressed video data stream(s) through the Internet directly in order to satisfy the video requirements of both the local host and remote hosts. The multi-streaming web camera controlling system and controlling methodology can reduce the consuming system resource of the host for processing a video data stream. Therefore, the multi-streaming web camera controlling system and controlling methodology are capable of decreasing the cost of the host and improving the performance for processing video data stream with improved quality.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention relates to a multi-streaming web camera controlling system and a controlling methodology of the same, and more particularly, to a camera sensor controlling system capable of delivering original video data stream and generating compressed video data stream at the same time and a controlling methodology of the same. 
         [0003]    2. Description of Prior Art 
         [0004]    Web cameras (Web Cam), on account of attributing to low cost, easy-to-use, and rapid broadcasting, are widely applied to various devices such as video conference systems, web video telephones, surveillance systems, and instant messaging programs (IM programs). 
         [0005]    Please refer to  FIG. 1 , which shows a functional block diagram of a web camera controlling system according to a first prior art. The web camera controlling system according to the prior art includes an image sensor  102 , a web camera controlling chip  104 , a peripheral interface port  120 , a host device  130 , a compression module  140  and the Internet  150 . The web camera controlling chip  104  includes a sensor interface  106  and a peripheral transmission interface  108 . After perceiving an image, the image sensor  102  outputs an analog sensing image data  182  to the web camera controlling chip  104 , wherein the analog sensing image data  182  is converted into a digital image data, which is called original video data stream  184 , via the sensor interface  106 . Consequently, the original video data stream  184  is transmitted to the peripheral interface port  120  via the peripheral transmission interface  108 , and then to the host device  130  via the peripheral interface port  120 , such that the host device  130  may directly display the original video data stream  184 . When being transmitted via the Internet  150 , the original video data stream  184  must, due to the bandwidth limitation of the Internet, be compressed into the data in a smaller format before being transmitted to a remote corresponding system, then be restored to a recognizable image, for economizing the bandwidth of the internet  150  and shortening transmission time. Thus, the host device  130 , via the compression module  140  (software or hardware), compresses the original video data stream  184  into the compressed video data stream  186 , which is then transmitted to a remote end via the Internet  150 . The compression module  140  is configured within the host device  130  and is implemented as software program or hardware equipment. Therefore, a large occupancy of system resource of the host device  130  for compressing the original video data stream  184  weakens the execution efficiency of the host device  130 , or probably even delays image transmission and degrades image quality. 
         [0006]    Please also refer to  FIG. 2 , which shows a functional block diagram of the web camera controlling system according to a second prior art. The web camera controlling systems according to the first and second prior art are similar. One difference between the two is that, as can be seen in  FIG. 2 , a compression module  210  is configured in a web camera controlling chip  204 , and a host device  230  has a decompression module  270 . The web camera controlling system utilizes the compression module  210  to compress the original video data stream  284  within the web camera controlling chip  204 , wherein a compressed video data stream  286  is outputted directly. After being fed the compressed video data stream  286  via the peripheral interface port  220 , the host device  230  restores the compressed video data stream  286  to the original video data stream  284  via the decompression module  270 , so as to display the original video data stream  284 . If the original video data stream  284  is transmitted via the Internet  250 , the host device  230  may directly transmit the compressed video data stream  286  via the Internet  250  without compressing process. 
         [0007]    The prior art of the second prior art has a disadvantage: for the reason that the host device  230  fails to directly utilize the compressed video data stream  286  to display image, the original video data stream  284  can only be displayed on the host device  230 , after the decompression module  270  decompressing the compressed video data stream  286 . Meanwhile, similar with a problem according to the prior art of the first category, the web camera controlling system according to the prior art of the second category also occupies the system resource of the host device  230  for decompressing the compressed video data stream  286 . 
         [0008]    Hence, it is necessary to provide an ameliorated web camera controlling system and a controlling methodology of the same, for a host device to promptly display and transmit image data. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0009]    Accordingly, an objective of the present invention is to provide a multi-streaming web camera controlling system and a controlling methodology of the same, which can deliver original video data stream and generate compressed video data stream at the same time, such that a host device rapidly and selectively displays or transmits image data for the video demand required by the local and the remote hosts, respectively. 
         [0010]    The multi-streaming web camera controlling system comprises an image sensor, a web camera controlling chip, a peripheral interface port, a host device, and the Internet. The web camera controlling chip includes a sensor interface, a control unit, a peripheral transmission interface and a plurality of compression modules. After being fed image, the image sensor outputs a sensing image data to the web camera controlling chip, wherein the sensor interface coupling the image sensor converts the analog sensing image data into a digital original video data stream. The sensor interface receives at least a sensing image data and converts the sensing image data into an original video data stream. Each compression module compresses the original video data stream into a compressed video data stream in a corresponding image compression format. The control unit specifies compression modules to compress the original video stream into desirable compressed data streams in corresponding video format, and turns off the other unused compression modules, thereby reducing system resource and power consumption of the web camera controlling chip. The peripheral transmission interface transmits the original video data stream and the compressed video data stream to the host device, via the peripheral interface port. In this way, the host device is capable of displaying the original video data stream without decompressing processing. Moreover, the host device can also transmit the compressed video data stream via the Internet. As a result, the multi-streaming web camera controlling system not only accelerates the speed of image data processing but also reserves system resource of the host device and the Internet bandwidth. 
         [0011]    Additionally, the web camera controlling chip could be extended to utilize a plurality of image sensors and to generate various compressed data streams with the multiple sensing image data simultaneously. For the speed of processing the video data stream is faster than that of outputting the sensing image data of each image sensor, the web camera controlling chip is capable of multi-processing the sensing image data without influencing the quality of image data. 
         [0012]    According to the claimed invention, the method of controlling a multi-streaming web camera comprises the steps of: 
         [0013]    Step 1: The web camera controlling chip utilizes the sensor interface to receive the sensing image data output from the image sensor.
   Step 2: The sensor interface converts the received sensing image data into the original video data stream, which is then transmitted to the peripheral transmission interface and the compression modules simultaneously.   Step 3: The compression modules compress the original video data stream into the compressed video data stream in corresponding data format, which are then transmitted to the peripheral transmission interface.   Step 4: The peripheral transmission interface transmits the original video data stream and the compressed video data stream(s) to the host device, via the peripheral interface port.   Step 5: The host device can directly display the original video data stream and selectively transmit the compressed video data stream to remote devices via the Internet.   
 
         [0018]    Compared to the prior art, the multi-streaming web camera controlling system and the controlling methodology of the same according to the present invention, based on the image data format required by host device, generate an original video data stream and one or more corresponding compressed video data stream at the same time. Therefore, the host device may directly display the original video data stream or transmit the compressed video data stream via the Internet, to simultaneously satisfy the need for video required by the local and the remote hosts. Furthermore, without influencing the quality of image data, the occupancy of system resource by the host device for image processing is reduced, thereby lowering the setup cost of host device and accelerating the speed of image data processing. 
         [0019]    The present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which show various embodiments of the invention and which are incorporated in the specification hereof by reference. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0020]      FIG. 1  shows a functional block diagram of a web camera controlling system according to a first prior art. 
           [0021]      FIG. 2  shows a functional block diagram of the web camera controlling system according to a second prior art. 
           [0022]      FIG. 3  shows a functional block diagram of the multi-streaming web camera controlling system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0023]      FIG. 4  shows a functional block diagram of the multi-streaming web camera controlling system according to a second embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0024]      FIG. 5  illustrates a flow chart of the multi-streaming web camera controlling system and a controlling methodology of the same according to the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0025]    Please refer to  FIG. 3 , which shows a functional block diagram of the multi-streaming web camera controlling system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The multi-streaming web camera controlling system includes an image sensor  302 , a web camera controlling chip  304 , a peripheral interface port  320 , a host device  330  and the Internet  350 . The web camera controlling chip  304  includes a sensor interface  306 , a control unit  312 , a peripheral transmission interface  308  and a plurality of compression modules  310   a,    310   b  and  310   c.  After being fed image, the image sensor  302  outputs a sensing image data  382  to the web camera controlling chip  304 , wherein the sensor interface  306  coupling the image sensor  302  converts the analog sensing image data  382  into a digital original video data stream  384 . 
         [0026]    Then, the control unit  312  compresses the original video data stream  384  into the respective compressed video data stream  386   a,    386   b  and  386   c  in various image compression formats, via the compression modules  310   a,    310   b  and  310   c.  The function of the compression modules  310   a,    310   b  and  310   c  may be adjusted or be set up according to users&#39; requirements, such that the control unit  312  may control the compression modules  310   a,    310   b  and  310   c  to output the compressed video data stream in various formats at the same time. Controversially, suppose that a user only requires one specific compression image format, the control unit  312  then activates only one corresponding compression module to output the desirable compressed image format, and turns off the other compression modules unused for power saving. Various compression image formats includes the formats well-known in the field or the others such as MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, H.263, H.264/AVC, Real Video, VC-1, AVS, etc., but not to be limited thereto. Thus, the quantity of compression modules according to the present invention and the category of compression image format can be adjusted according to users&#39; real requirements. 
         [0027]    Next, the peripheral transmission interface  308  transmits, the original video data stream  384  from the sensor interface  306  and the compressed video data stream  386   a,    386   b  and  386   c  respectively from the compression modules  310   a,    310   b  and  310   c  at the same time, to the host device  330  via the peripheral interface port  320 . On account of the buffer within the peripheral interface port  320 , the host device  330  directly utilizes the original video data stream  384  to constantly display images without any decompression processing. On the other hand, the host device  330  may also directly transmit any one or a plurality of the compression image data  386   a,    386   b  and  386   c  desirable to a remote demander via the Internet  350 . Thus, the host device  330  according to the present invention may, without any additional processing program on the original video data stream  384  or the compressed video data stream  386   a,    386   b  and  386   c,  directly utilize corresponding image data, so as to economize the system resource of the host device  330  and accelerate the corresponding image processing. On the other hand, on account of no compression or decompression processing on image data, it is not necessary to install any corresponding compression or decompression module in the host device  330 , thereby reducing the specification requirement for the host device  330  and the setup cost thereof. 
         [0028]    When only one original video data stream  384  or one of the image data  386   a,    386   b  or  386   c  in specific compression image format is required, the host device  330  sends a controversy instruction  3302  to the control unit  312 , via the peripheral interface port  320  and the peripheral delivery interface  308 . The control unit  312 , based on the instruction  3302 , separately generates control signal  3120  to control the compression modules  310   a,    310   b  and  310   c,  so as to turn off a compression module unused or turn on an appointed one for image processing. On the other hand, the control unit  312  may constantly detect the feedback signal from the host device  330 . When the host device  330  fails to respond to a channel for transmitting specific image data format within a supposed time, the control unit  312  turns off the circuit region of corresponding channels, until the host device  330  instructs again a desirable image data format. At a result, the power consumption by the web camera controlling chip  304  is reduced. Furthermore, the control unit  312  may also receive an instruction from the host device  330  to generate a control signal  3120  for the sensor interface  306  to control the pick-up of image. 
         [0029]      FIG. 4  shows a functional block diagram of the multi-streaming web camera controlling system of a second embodiment according to the present invention. The second embodiment is almost the same as the first one, and a difference between the two is that, the web camera controlling chip  304 ′ may receive and handle the sensing image data  482 ′,  484 ′ and  486 ′ output from a plurality of image sensors  402 ′,  404 ′ and  406 ′ at the same time. The frame rate of a conventional image sensor is 30 frames/sec. However, the frame rate of image data handled by the camera controlling chip  304 ′ is more than 30 frames/sec, such that a plurality of image data  482 ′,  484 ′ and  486 ′ can be handled at the same time without influencing the quality of the image to be output. 
         [0030]    As mentioned in the embodiments according to the present invention, the transmission interface specification of the peripheral transmission interfaces  308 ,  308 ′ and the peripheral interface ports  320 ,  320 ′, may be a serial transmission interface specification, such as USB, PCI Express, Serial ATA, or a parallel interface specification, such as PCI, IDE, Parallel ATA. The host devices  330 ,  330 ′, may be widely applied to various devices, such as desktop computers, notebook computers, cellular phones, personal digital assistants, web video telephone devices and video conference systems, etc. The image sensors  302 ,  402 ′,  404 ′ and  406 ′, fall within various categories of image sensors, such as CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor) image sensors and CCD (Charge-Coupled Device) image sensors. 
         [0031]      FIG. 5  illustrates a flow chart of the multi-streaming web camera controlling system and a controlling methodology of the same according to the present invention. An exemplary embodiment, the multi-streaming web camera controlling system according to the  FIG. 3 , includes the following steps:
   S 502 : The web camera controlling chip  304  utilizes the sensor interface  306  to receive the sensing image data  382  (or a plurality of sensing image data  482 ′,  484 ′ and  486 ′ as shown in  FIG. 4 ) output from the image sensor  302  (or a plurality of image sensors  402 ′,  404 ′ and  406 ′ as shown in  FIG. 4 ).   S 504 : The sensor interface  306  converts the received sensing image data  382  (or a plurality of sensing image data  482 ′,  484 ′ and  486 ′ as shown in  FIG. 4 ) into the original video data stream  384 , which is then transmitted to the peripheral transmission interface  308  and the compression modules  310   a,    310   b  and  310   c  at the same time.   S 506 : The compression modules  310   a,    310   b  and  310   c  compress the original video data stream  384  into the corresponding compressed video data stream  386   a,    386   b  and  386   c,  which are then transmitted to the peripheral transmission interface  308 .   S 508 : The peripheral transmission interface  308  transmits the collected original video data stream  384  and the compressed video data stream  386   a,    386   b  and  386   c  to the host device  330 , via the peripheral interface port  320 . The control unit  312  controls the corresponding circuit blocks to stop generating the image data format unused by the host device  330  based on the instruction of the host device  330  or by detecting the function thereof.   S 510 : The host device  330  selects to directly display the original video data stream  384  or to transmit the compressed video data stream  386   a,    386   b  or  386   c  via the Internet  350 .     
         [0037]    As described above, the multi-streaming web camera controlling system and the controlling methodology of the same according to the present invention, based on the image data format(s) required by host device, generate an original video data stream and one or many corresponding compressed video data streams at the same time. Therefore, the occupancy of system resource of host device for image processing, or the influence of the Internet bandwidth for transmitting original video data stream, is dramatically reduced. As a result, the quality of image to be output is improved, and some disadvantages in prior arts, such as delay, freeze or inconstant display of camera frame, can be resolved. Meanwhile, the setup cost of host device is lowered and the speed of image data processing is accelerated. 
         [0038]    On the other hand, the multi-streaming web camera controlling system according to the present invention, may directly and simultaneously compress abundant of image data, via a plurality of compression modules other than any circuit or device, thereby generating the instant original video data stream and corresponding compressed video data stream to meet with the demand for image by the local and the remote. 
         [0039]    The above description is only a better embodiment according to the present invention. Any equivalent modification or change, based on the spirit of the present invention, by any professional who knows well the technology according to the present invention, is covered within the scope of the attached patent application.