Surveillance method and apparatus

• US 10,313,585 B2
• Filed: 12/01/2016
• Issued: 06/04/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hanwha Vision Company Limited (Hanwha Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Hanwha Aerospace Co., Ltd. (Hanwha Corporation)
• Inventors: Kim, Ji Min
• Primary Examiner(s): Geroleo, Francis
• Application Number:
  US15/366,564
• Publication Number:
  US 20170163891A1
• Time in Patent Office: 915 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/651 for reducing power consumption by affecting camera operations, e.g. sleep mode, hibernation mode or power off of selective parts of the camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/661 Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet

Abstract

A surveillance method includes: an interrupt processing operation of determining whether an interrupt is generated and determining a type of the interrupt; a type-1 interrupt processing operation of, in response to determining that the interrupt is a type-1 interrupt, determining whether an event has occurred, and, in response to determining that the event has occurred, sending an event occurrence alarm to an outside of the surveillance apparatus using a second communicator, which transmits or receives data at a second frequency, and sending an image, corresponding to the event, acquired by an image sensor to the outside using a first communicator, which transmits or receives data at a first frequency higher than the second frequency; and a type-2 interrupt processing operation of, in response to determining that the interrupt is a type-2 interrupt, controlling the surveillance apparatus according to control information included in the type-2 interrupt, wherein the type-1 interrupt is an interrupt generated at a predetermined time interval.

Claims

1. A surveillance method performed by a surveillance apparatus, the surveillance method comprising:

an interrupt processing operation of determining whether an interrupt is generated and determining a type of the interrupt;

a type-1 interrupt processing operation of, in response to determining that the interrupt is a type-1 interrupt, determining whether an event has occurred, and, in response to determining that the event has occurred, sending an event occurrence alarm to an outside of the surveillance apparatus using a second communicator, which transmits or receives data at a second frequency, and sending an image, corresponding to the event, acquired by an image sensor to the outside using a first communicator, which transmits or receives data at a first frequency higher than the second frequency; and

a type-2 interrupt processing operation of, in response to determining that the interrupt is a type-2 interrupt, controlling the surveillance apparatus according to control information included in the type-2 interrupt,

wherein the type-1 interrupt is an interrupt generated at a predetermined time interval, and

wherein the type-1 interrupt processing operation comprises;

in response to determining that the interrupt is the type-1 interrupt, switching a power-off state of at least one detector included in or connected to the surveillance apparatus to a power-on state, the at least one detector configured to generate detection data, and

in response to determining that the event has occurred based on the detection data, switching power-off states of the first communicator and the image sensor to power-on states.

2. The surveillance method of claim 1, wherein the type-2 interrupt processing operation comprises:

in response to determining that the control information includes setting information of the image sensor, changing a setting of the image sensor according to the setting information; and

sending an image captured by the image sensor of which the setting is changed to an external apparatus using the first communicator.

3. The surveillance method of claim 1, wherein, in response to determining that the control information includes a request for status information of the surveillance apparatus, the type-2 interrupt processing operation comprises sending a physical quantity acquired by the at least one detector to an external apparatus using the second communicator.

4. The surveillance method of claim 1, further comprising a wake-up operation of switching a controller of the surveillance apparatus from a standby mode to an operating mode in response to generation of at least one of the type-1 interrupt and the type-2 interrupt.

5. The surveillance method of claim 1, wherein the type-2 interrupt processing operation comprises:

determining an element, included in or connected to the surveillance apparatus, corresponding to the control information; and

switching an operation mode of the determined element or determining whether to supply power to the determined element; and

wherein the element is at least one of the first communicator, the image sensor, and the at least one detector.

6. The surveillance method of claim 1, further comprising, after the type-1 interrupt processing operation or the type-2 interrupt processing operation, switching a controller of the surveillance apparatus controlling the type-1 and the type-2 interrupt processing operations from an operating mode to a standby mode in response to determining that the surveillance apparatus satisfies a predetermined condition.

7. The surveillance method of claim 1, further comprising:

switching a mode of the second communicator of the surveillance apparatus, from a standby mode to an operating mode or from the operating mode to the standby mode, according to a type-3 interrupt,

wherein the type-3 interrupt is an interrupt generated by a second timer different from a timer used for generating the type-1 interrupt at a certain time period.

8. The surveillance method of claim 1, further comprising a type-4 interrupt processing operation of, in response to determining that the interrupt is the type-4 interrupt, sending another event occurrence alarm to the outside using the second communicator and sending another image, corresponding to the other event, acquired by the image sensor to the outside using the first communicator,

wherein the type-4 interrupt is an interrupt generated in response to detecting occurrence of the other event.

9. The surveillance method of claim 1, wherein the type-1 interrupt processing operation comprises:

receiving transmission request information of the image from the outside using the second communicator; and

sending the image to the outside using the first communicator in response to the transmission request information.

17. The surveillance method of claim 1, wherein, in the type-1 interrupt processing, upon completion of generation of the detection data by the at least one detector, power to the at least one detector is shut off.

18. The surveillance method of claim 17, wherein, in the type-1 interrupt processing, in response to determining that the event has occurred based on the detection data, the power-off states of the first communicator and the image sensor are switched to the power-on state after the power to the at least one detector is shut off.

10. A surveillance apparatus comprising:

a first communicator configured to transmit or receive data to or from an outside of the surveillance apparatus at a first frequency;

a second communicator configured to transmit or receive data to or from the outside of the surveillance apparatus at a second frequency lower than the first frequency;

a timer configured to periodically generate a type-1 interrupt; and

a controller configured to control transmission or reception of the data through the first communicator and the second communicator, and detect the interrupt,

wherein the controller determines whether an event has occurred in response to the controller detecting the type-1 interrupt generated by the timer, and, in response to determining that the event has occurred, sends an event occurrence alarm to the outside through the second communicator and sends an image, corresponding to the event, acquired by an image sensor to the outside through the first communicator,

wherein in response to the controller detecting a type-2 interrupt generated, the controller controls operation of at least one of the first communicator, the second communicator, the image sensor, and at least one detector configured to generate detection data, according to control information included in the type-2 interrupt, and

wherein the controller is further configured to;

in response to determining that the interrupt is the type-1 interrupt, switch a power-off state of at least one detector included in or connected to the surveillance apparatus to a power-on state, and

in response to determining that the event has occurred based on the detection data, switch power-off states of the first communicator and the image sensor to power-on states.

11. The surveillance apparatus of claim 10, wherein in response to determining that the control information includes setting information of the image sensor, the controller changes a setting of the image sensor according to the setting information.

12. The surveillance apparatus of claim 10, wherein in response to determining that at least one of the type-1 interrupt and the type-2 interrupt is generated, the controller is switched from a standby mode to an operating mode.

13. The surveillance apparatus of claim 10, wherein the controller determines at least one element, included in or connected to the surveillance apparatus, corresponding to the control information and switches an operation mode of the determined at least one element or determining whether to supply power to the determined at least one element, and

wherein the at least one element comprises at least one of the first communicator, the image sensor, and the at least one detector.

14. The surveillance apparatus of claim 10, wherein the controller is switched from an operating mode to a standby mode in response to determining that the surveillance apparatus satisfies a predetermined condition.

15. The surveillance apparatus of claim 10, wherein the second communicator receives a type-3 interrupt, and, in response, the controller switches a mode of the second communicator from a standby mode to an operating mode or from the operating mode to the standby mode, and

wherein the type-3 interrupt is an interrupt generated by a second timer different from the timer at a certain time period.

16. The surveillance apparatus of claim 10, wherein in response to the controller detecting a type-4 interrupt, the controller sends another event occurrence alarm to the outside using the second communicator and sends another image, corresponding to the other event, acquired by the image sensor to the outside using the first communicator, and

wherein the type-4 interrupt is an interrupt generated in response to determining that the other event has occurred.

19. A surveillance apparatus comprising:

a first communicator configured to transmit or receive data to or from an outside of the surveillance apparatus at a first frequency;

a second communicator configured to transmit or receive data to or from the outside of the surveillance apparatus at a second frequency lower than the first frequency;

a controller configured to control transmission or reception of the data through the first communicator and the second communicator, and detect an interrupt; and

an image sensor configured to acquire an image,

wherein in response to the controller detecting a type-2 interrupt, the controller is configured to;

control operation of at least one of the first communicator, the second communicator, the image sensor, and at least one detector configured to generate detection data, according to control information included in the type-2 interrupt; and

determine at least one element, included in or connected to the surveillance apparatus, corresponding to the control information, and switch an operation mode of the determined at least one element or starts to supply power to the determined at least one element in response to the type-2 interrupt while maintaining an operation mode and a power state of elements other than the at least one element, and

wherein the at least one element comprises at least one of the first communicator, the image sensor, and the at least one detector.