Vivotek IP Surveillance Overview page 7

Chap.1 IP Surveillance Overview
A network camera mainly consists of a lens, an image sensor, an image processor, a video compression SoC
(System on Chip) and an Ethernet chip that offers network connectivity for data transmission (Figure 1.2).
Lens
When light passes through the lens to the sensor, it is converted to digital signals and then processed by a built-in
digital signal processor. The processed video data is then compressed by a multimedia SoC to achieve a smaller
data size for optimal transmission. Finally, the video images are sent through the Internet to back-end devices to
allow for viewing and storage. Apart from video compression, the SoC is built with a RISC CPU for processing
system and network data.
The general interface of a network camera includes a power cord socket, an Ethernet socket, audio I/O ports and
digital I/O ports (Figure 1.3).
Ethernet 10/100
Indented Reset
2
Figure 1.1 Network camera connection
Image
DSP for Image
Sensor
Processing
Figure 1.2 Network camera composition
Status LED
Microphone In
RJ45 Socket
Button
External/Internal
MIC Switch
Figure 1.3 General interface of network camera
Router
SoC for
Video/audio
Compression
Flash
DRAM
ROM
Audio Out
WLAN or
LAN/Internet
Ethernet/PoE
SD/SDHC
Card Slot
Power Cord
Socket
General I/O
Terminal Block