From the perspective of a city, bank branches are widely distributed. At the same time, the original business system network environment is complex, and most of the bank's internal networks currently use dedicated lines from operators for wide area network connections. In the data link layer of the bank network, general protocols such as HDLC, PPP, ATM, Frame Relay, CPOS, MSTP are mainly used, while in the network layer, IP protocol is mainly used. The complex network environment poses a high demand for the network adaptability of monitoring systems.

Application Analysis

Characteristics of Bank Surveillance Applications

1 、Widespread Distribution and Complex Network Environment

Bank branches are widely spread across a city. The existing business system has a complex network environment. Most bank internal networks use dedicated lines from telecom operators for wide - area network connections. At the data link layer of the bank network, common protocols such as HDLC, PPP, ATM, Frame Relay, CPOS, and MSTP are mainly used, while the IP protocol is used at the network layer. This complex network environment places high demands on the network adaptability of the surveillance system.

2、High Demand for Alarm Linkage

Banks have high security requirements during business operations. A large number of various types of alarm probes, such as magnetic door sensors, infrared sensors, smoke detectors, and glass breakage detectors, are installed in bank branches and departments. There are also alarm trigger devices linked with the public security system to ensure the safety of the bank at all times.

3、High Requirement for Image Quality

Since banking operations involve financial transactions, high - quality video images are required for video surveillance. Poor - quality images cannot meet the needs of video evidence collection in cases of business disputes or on - site crimes.

General Classification of Bank Surveillance Systems

1、Counter Surveillance

 The main targets of counter surveillance are counter operations and customers. Generally, the surveillance should clearly show the operations of counter staff and the physical characteristics of customers to effectively prevent business disputes and robbery. In case of such incidents, the surveillance system can be used to retrieve videos for evidence collection.

2、Business Premises Surveillance

 This type of surveillance mainly focuses on the activities of people in the bank's trading hall and entrances and exits. It not only monitors the business status and the flow of people in the bank but also provides a direct view of people's activities and movement routes.

3、ATM Surveillance

Since ATMs are unattended, in addition to monitoring the operations of users, it also includes alarms for situations such as blocked surveillance images and abnormal ATM equipment (e.g., covering the operation keyboard, blocked cash dispenser).

4、Surveillance of Important Internal Areas

In addition to the business environment, important internal areas of the bank, such as the vault and data center, should also be included in the bank's video surveillance system.

Development Trends of Bank Surveillance Systems

1、Increasing Need for Centralized Management and Digitalization:

Traditional bank video surveillance systems were mainly built separately for each branch and business outlet, with each having its own surveillance center. This made unified management, equipment maintenance, and post - event evidence collection very difficult. Currently, more and more banks are building unified management systems, and the trend towards digitalization is obvious.

2、Higher Requirement for Local Image Quality

Due to the special nature of the bank environment, the requirements for surveillance images of counter operations, customers, and people coming and going are getting higher. The image quality has generally improved from the initial CIF to D1. With the popularization of digital surveillance systems, there is an increasing demand for megapixel and high - definition images. Banks not only need to "see" but also to "see clearly."

3、Higher Requirement for Image Quality in Evidence Collection

s mentioned above, banks have higher requirements for surveillance image quality, especially for "local viewing." This is because in the local area network environment, the surveillance system has sufficient network bandwidth, ensuring high - definition local viewing. However, in the complex network environment of the entire banking system, bandwidth resources are limited. It is unrealistic for the central monitoring room to view high - definition images in real - time. Therefore, a business model of low - bit - rate real - time video transmission and high - bit - rate front - end recording has been proposed. That is, the central monitoring room usually views low - bit - rate images to adapt to the network bandwidth, and when an event occurs and evidence needs to be collected, the high - bit - rate front - end recordings are retrieved for better evidence collection. This is the so - called "dual - stream" working mode. The traditional "dual - stream" mode, which uses high - resolution video for viewing and low - resolution video for storage, often causes problems in evidence collection, as the facial features of customers are often blurred. With the decreasing cost of storage devices and media, large - capacity storage technology is gradually being applied to digital surveillance systems. Banks are gradually shifting to the "low - view, high - record" business model, with lower requirements for image quality in real - time video viewing (only needing to see "what is happening") and higher requirements in evidence collection (needing to "see clearly").

4、Intelligent Trend in ATM Surveillance

Since ATMs are more widely distributed than bank branches and are unattended, there is an increasing demand for intelligent applications in ATM surveillance, such as alarms for people loitering or gathering near the ATM and face recognition of operators.

Problems in the Development of Bank Surveillance Systems

1、Compatibility Issues in the Upgrade from Analog to Digital HD

Most bank surveillance systems were built earlier and use analog surveillance. When upgrading or expanding the system to digital, integrating the existing surveillance system is challenging due to the complexity of the types and models of existing devices. In the same branch, it is common to have a combination of analog cameras + card - type DVRs, analog cameras + embedded DVRs, analog cameras + video servers, digital cameras, and high - definition digital cameras. Therefore, the device compatibility of the new platform needs to be fully considered during construction.

2、Inability of the Existing Network Environment to Meet HD Video Data Transmission Requirements

As mentioned earlier, there is an obvious trend towards building a unified video platform for bank surveillance systems, along with a clear trend towards high - definition video surveillance. Due to the complex internal network environment of banks and the requirement that video system data transmission should not affect the operation of the business system, the bandwidth is limited. Therefore, in the high - definition video environment, the internal network environment between bank branches currently has difficulty meeting the data transmission requirements.

3、Need to Improve the Sensitivity and Accuracy of Unattended Intelligent Surveillance

At present, the intelligent system is only a trend. In the entire surveillance industry, there are still problems with insufficient alarm sensitivity and low accuracy in intelligent processing, and the application ability needs to be improved. Under the current technical conditions, there is no mainstream application. This article will not elaborate on intelligent applications in detail.

Application of NVR Devices in Bank Surveillance Systems

Before discussing the application of NVR devices in bank surveillance, let's first understand NVR devices. NVR (Network Video Recorder) is considered a device that will eventually replace DVR (Disk Video Recorder). Literally, both are video storage devices, but NVR emphasizes "network," meaning that NVR devices are more adaptable to the network. Therefore, the difference between them can be simply understood as follows: DVR devices focus on digital video storage, while NVR devices, in addition to having the digital storage function of DVRs, pay more attention to the network application of digital video.

Advantages of NVR

1、Diverse Front - end Devices

The front - end devices of NVR products are different from those of DVR products. The front - end of DVR products is mainly analog cameras, and DVR can be regarded as a digital encoding and storage device for analog video. In contrast, the front - end of NVR products can include network cameras (IP cameras), video servers (video encoders/decoders), and DVRs (encoding and storage). In bank surveillance, NVR can connect to DVR devices in the existing analog system, as well as video servers, IP cameras, and high - definition cameras in the digital system.

2、Network Adaptability

NVR products focus more on network applications, so they pay more attention to the transmission efficiency of video over the network. In comparison, DVR products often have low transmission efficiency in the network environment.

3、Streaming Media Application

After video data is encoded, streaming media technology is often used in the network. This technology controls the bit - rate and frame - rate of the video stream to achieve better transmission efficiency in different network bandwidth environments. The data characteristics of streaming media can generate more application models and can be easily integrated into other business systems. Therefore, by combining streaming media and database technology, video data can be more easily called in other business systems, generating more application models.

4、Distributed Structure

As mentioned earlier, the limited network bandwidth is a major bottleneck in the unified integration of the entire bank surveillance system. Large and continuous video stream data cannot be centrally stored and retrieved at the center like business system data. Therefore, when building a large - scale surveillance system such as the bank surveillance system, a distributed multi - layer structure is often required to adapt to the network environment. The distributed system can distribute the storage and forwarding pressure of video data in the surveillance system to each "node" while still allowing for unified management of each "node." Using NVR devices, a distributed network with NVR devices as "nodes" can be built, which is more adaptable to the existing network environment and effectively reduces the network transmission and data storage pressure on the central node. Since the NVR system has the advantages of a wider range of front - end device selection, better network adaptability, and stronger application capabilities when building a surveillance system, the demand for the NVR system in the bank surveillance system will become more widespread in the near future. In this context, the banking business has higher and higher requirements for the surveillance system, and high - definition, networking, and intelligence are the development directions of the system. It can be predicted that high - definition surveillance based on the NVR system will surely become the trend of industry applications in the future.

Application and Advantages of CSVision

Beijing ZhongShengYiHua is a professional provider of digital and intelligent IP video surveillance platform software. Its CSVision video platform software is characterized by openness and professionalism. The CSVision video surveillance management platform has successfully managed and deployed tens of thousands of video surveillance points and has been operating stably for a long time, providing reliable system support for many high - security customers, including banks, airports, and the public security department. The open design concept gives CSVision excellent openness, enabling it to be well - compatible with hundreds of DVRs, DVSs, and IP cameras from well - known domestic and foreign surveillance manufacturers.

System Advantages

1、Open and Multi - compatible Digital - Analog Hybrid

Adhering to the principle of openness, CSVision is currently compatible with thousands of devices from more than 30 well - known domestic and foreign brands (including card - type DVRs, embedded DVRs, video servers, and IP cameras). This allows for the easy construction of a digital - analog hybrid system structure using various types of devices. The digital - analog hybrid access method of CSVision effectively saves the user's initial investment and improves the system's operational efficiency and management convenience. It provides a cost - effective solution for users to convert their video surveillance systems from analog to digital.

2、Distributed Architecture

The CSVision video surveillance platform software uses a single - server (NVR) distributed architecture. When the system scale is small, a single server (NVR) can meet the system's functional requirements, and the video storage, forwarding, and system management functions are all concentrated on one server (NVR). If the system scale expands, only the number of servers (NVRs) needs to be increased, and the distributed servers (NVRs) can be assembled into a two - level, three - level, or even multi - level server architecture, without reducing the system performance. In the single - server distributed architecture, each server (NVR) can independently undertake video management, storage, and forwarding functions. After forming a multi - server (NVR) system, the corresponding video stream access requirements are directly forwarded and retrieved from the corresponding server (NVR). The network node of the central - level server (NVR) does not need to bear excessive video stream forwarding and storage pressure, and the system has good scalability and balanced network and storage pressure. The following figure shows the video stream routing method in the multi - server (NVR) architecture.

3、Alarm Linkage

CSVision can accept multiple alarm methods and achieve video - alarm linkage. It can integrate temperature and humidity, access control data, POS data, and alarm information and support industry data integration.

4、High - definition Application

CSVision is compatible with mainstream megapixel and high - definition devices on the market. Through software functions, it can achieve digital zoom and digital pan - tilt functions during real - time viewing and video playback, allowing users to obtain more details from high - definition images in a flexible way.

5、Streaming Media Application

 Through streaming media applications, multiple functions can be achieved.

Image enhancement can eliminate blurring, improve image clarity, and enhance the viewing quality of the picture.

6、Electronic map linkage can visually display the corresponding video images on the map and provide corresponding map prompts when an alarm occurs.

7、Fine - grained time - bar video playback allows users to freely drag the time axis with the mouse during playback search, achieving forward and reverse playback of videos at different speeds. The operation is simple and intuitive.

8、"Time - slicing" video retrieval can quickly retrieve the moments of events in the video images within a certain period through time - slicing, such as searching for the loss or movement of objects in a certain area.

9、Digital panoramic lens stitching can deform and stitch the video images of a group of multiple lenses in large - scale scene monitoring applications, forming a panoramic video image covering the entire area. It also supports snapshot and image operations under the panoramic lens and target object tracking.

Typical Bank Application

Instructions：

1、Establish an independent NVR - centered digital surveillance platform at branches and sub - branches: Through the TCP/IP network, DVRs, DVSs, and IP cameras can be connected to the switch as network devices. Other devices such as alarm probes, detectors, voice devices, and sirens can be connected through the switch - quantity interfaces of DVRs, DVSs, or IP cameras, and the existing alarm system host can be connected through the network. All these video and alarm devices can be uniformly managed by the server (NVR) software and the videos can be stored. The monitoring personnel at the branch can manage, view, control, and playback the local surveillance system through the client. Since the surveillance system at branches and sub - branches is built in the local area network environment, high - bit - rate video can be used for viewing and storage to achieve better surveillance results.

2、Establish a monitoring center at each sub - branch through the bank's internal surveillance private network: The sub - branch monitoring center can use the secondary server to uniformly manage the server (NVR) systems of each branch under its jurisdiction. Through the client, it can view, control, and playback the audio and video of any monitoring point at the branches. When the network bandwidth is limited, low - bit - rate viewing can be used to save network resources. At the same time, the sub - branch monitoring center can selectively store the front - end videos. Generally, the sub - branch center only stores the videos of important monitoring points at important times, and the videos of other monitoring points are only retrieved temporarily through the network when necessary, thus saving and utilizing the internal surveillance network bandwidth resources.

3、Establish a monitoring center at the branch through the internal private network: All secondary servers are added to the management directory of the central - level server. After users log in to the central - level server, they can view the device list of all secondary servers and view, control, and playback the audio and video of any monitoring point in the entire network. It is recommended to build a large - screen display system at the branch monitoring center and use the VGA matrix for digital video display on the wall. Through the CSVision virtual matrix management software, the digital large - screen display can be controlled and switched using the control keyboard.

4、The CSVision platform is built based on a distributed architecture: In the existing network environment of the bank, it can effectively utilize the existing network bandwidth. Since the distributed architecture distributes the streaming media forwarding and storage services, it effectively reduces the network and storage pressure on the branch and sub - branch monitoring centers. In this architecture, when new branches or monitoring points are added in the future, only the server (NVR) devices need to be added to expand the system scale, and the performance of the branch and sub - branch monitoring centers will not decline.

5、When the network environment improves and the bandwidth increases in the future: Through simple software settings, the branch and sub - branch monitoring centers can directly view high - definition images for better surveillance results.

CSVision Application Case

Project Overview

Front - end Devices: Panasonic WV - NP502

Video Format: 1.3 - megapixel video with a resolution of 1280×960

Compression Format: H.264 for video transmission and storage

Project Requirements

The project requires clear viewing of the cashier's details, including the denomination and number of banknotes, which is a typical application of megapixel - level video surveillance. In addition, the existing analog and D1 - level surveillance systems need to be integrated into the newly built surveillance platform, and the platform needs to be linked with the POS system.