Description of Related Art A video monitoring system is usually installed in a place such as a bank or a shopping district, and includes a video camera for filming a certain area and a display device for outputting an image transmitted from the video camera.

The image displayed by the display device is monitored by a supervisor, and is recorded in a video recording medium such as videotape by a video recording device such as a VTR or VCR.

However, the video monitoring system using an analog method described above has the following disadvantages. Since the image is recorded in the video recording medium, the supervisor has to change the videotape in certain time cycle and has to write a shooting date and a shooting time of the filmed image on the videotape. In addition, in order to fine a desired scene in the recorded image, the supervisor has to look over the corresponding videotape according to a shooting date and a shooting time in full.

The problems of the analog video camera described above can be overcome by employing a digital video camera. An image filmed by the digital video camera is stored in a hard disk of a computer. There are various methods to store the image in the hard disk.

However, the video monitoring system employing the digital video camera also has disadvantages in that since the supervisor has to monitor a desired place in only a certain place such as a control room, there is a special restriction. In other words, the supervisor cannot reproduce and watch the image stored in the computer hard disk from the other places other than the place where the video monitoring system is installed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION To overcome the problems described above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a video monitoring system that a supervisor can monitor a desired place without a special restriction.

In order to achieve the above object, the preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a video monitoring system, comprising: a video monitoring unit including a controller extracting a stop image or an object image from a film image, and inserting a shooting date and a shooting time in the extracted image and storing the image in a database, and a gateway contacting a local area network (LAN); and a wireless terminal including a wireless modem having a communication port (IrDA) of a RS-232C method, contacting an internet to access the image stored in the database, and reproducing the selected image.

The the controller divides the image filmed in a predetermined time unit, and extracts an image of a stop screen changed between neighboring image screens from the divided images. Or, the controller set a background screen and then extracts an image of objects changed according a movement of an image from the entire image frame.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS For a more complete understanding of the present invention and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals denote like parts, and in which: FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a video monitoring system according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFFERED EMBODIMENTS Reference will now be made in detail to preferred embodiments of the present invention, example of which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a video monitoring system according to the present invention. The video monitoring system of FIG. 1 includes a video monitoring unit 100 and a wireless terminal 300 which are connected by a communication network 200 such as an internet.

The video monitoring unit 100 includes a camera 110, a controller 120, a database 130, and a gateway 140. The camera 110 is installed in a certain position such as an entrance door of a bank and a shopping district to film a desired place in real-time. An image filed by the camera 110 is input to the controller 120. The controller 120 extracts a stop image or an object image from the filmed image, and inserts the shooting date and the shooting time in the extracted image and stores the image in the database 130.

For example, the controller 120 divides the image filmed by the camera 110 in a predetermined time unit, and extracts an image of a stop screen changed between neighboring image screens from the divided images. Or the controller 120 set a background screen and then extracts an image of objects changed according a movement of an image from the entire image frame.

The gateway 140 is a processor to contact a local area network (LAN) and is configured to contact the internet 200.

The wireless terminal 300 includes a wireless modem to perform a wireless data communication. The wireless terminal 300 contacts the internet 200 through a communication port (IrDA) of a RS-232C communication method.

The wireless terminal 300 also has various functions a stop function, a play function, a reward function, and a forward function to thereby reproduce the image stored in the database 130. The wireless terminal 300 is a mobile phone which can perform a wireless data communication such as a cellular phone, a PCS, and an IMT-2000.

Operation of the video monitoring system according to the present invention is described below.

The controller 120 receives the images filmed by the camera and stores the images in the database 130 by various methods. For example, the controller 120 divides the image signal in a predetermined time unit and extracts and compresses an image of a stop screen changed between neighboring image screens in the time-divided images, or extracts an object image of the image changed according to a movement of the image in a screen in which a background screen is set. A shooting time and a shooting data are included in the extracted image data before the image data is stored in the time unit.

The image data stored in the database 130 is connected to the gateway 140 by the controller 120 and can be watched from an external portion when the wireless terminal 300 contacts the video monitoring unit 100 to access the image data.

That is, when an external user contacts the internet 200 using the wireless terminal 300 having a wireless modem and contacts a URL of the video monitoring unit 100, the authentication is performed to ascertain when the external user is an allowed supervisor or not. When the external user is regarded as the allowed supervisor, a list of the image data stored in the database 130 is transmitted to the wireless terminal 300.

The supervisor selects a desired image data from the list of the image data displayed on the wireless terminal 300 and selects a play mode or reproducing mode, whereupon the desired image data is reproduced on the wireless terminal 300.

As described herein before, using the video monitoring system according to the present invention, the supervisor can monitor a desired place without a special restriction.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and other changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.