Networked digital security system and methods
First Claim
1. A digital security system comprising:
- at least one camera unit for capturing and transmitting frames of video and/or audio signals over a communication network, wherein said camera unit is programmable to perform at least one of the following;
to transmit a snap shot, streaming video, or an event clip upon detecting a predefined event, to simultaneously transmit a snap shot, streaming video and an event clip or combinations thereof upon detecting a predefined event, and to detect different predefined events based on the time of day, the camera unit includes a network bandwidth controller that adjusts the signal transmission delay of the camera unit as a function of a network collision rate and priority of the camera unit;
at least one customer server coupled to the camera unit via the communications network;
at least one customer work station coupled to the customer server via the communications network;
an administrator server coupled to the at least one customer server via the communications network, wherein the administrator server receives event packets and associated video and/or audio information, and intelligently routes the event packets and information to one or more administrator work stations; and
authentication means at the administrator server for authenticating a customer at the at least one customer work station so as to allow the work station to receive the video and/or audio signals transmitted by the at least one camera unit.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A networked digital security system is disclosed that preferably includes a centralized administrator web server coupled via a communication network such as the Internet to a plurality of customer servers and-a plurality of customer work stations. The centralized web server advantageously provides a point of control and management of the networked digital security system. The customer servers and customer work stations are preferably located at the customer'"'"'s monitored sites. The customer servers are coupled to one or more intelligent camera units, which are preferably fully integrated intelligent units that gather, analyze, and transmit video, audio, and associated detected alarm event information to their associated customer server and the administrator web server. The camera units also include an intelligent automatic gain controller, an encoder buffer controller, and a network bandwidth priority controller. The system supports several compression algorithm standards.
232 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A digital security system comprising:
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at least one camera unit for capturing and transmitting frames of video and/or audio signals over a communication network, wherein said camera unit is programmable to perform at least one of the following;
to transmit a snap shot, streaming video, or an event clip upon detecting a predefined event, to simultaneously transmit a snap shot, streaming video and an event clip or combinations thereof upon detecting a predefined event, and to detect different predefined events based on the time of day, the camera unit includes a network bandwidth controller that adjusts the signal transmission delay of the camera unit as a function of a network collision rate and priority of the camera unit;
at least one customer server coupled to the camera unit via the communications network;
at least one customer work station coupled to the customer server via the communications network;
an administrator server coupled to the at least one customer server via the communications network, wherein the administrator server receives event packets and associated video and/or audio information, and intelligently routes the event packets and information to one or more administrator work stations; and
authentication means at the administrator server for authenticating a customer at the at least one customer work station so as to allow the work station to receive the video and/or audio signals transmitted by the at least one camera unit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A digital security system comprising:
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at least one camera unit for capturing and transmitting frames of video and/or audio signals over a communication network, wherein said camera unit is programmable to perform at least one of the following;
to transmit a snap shot, streaming video, or an event clip upon detecting a predefined event, to simultaneously transmit a snap shot, streaming video and an event clip or combinations thereof upon detecting a predefined event, and to detect different predefined events based on the time of day, the camera unit includes a network bandwidth controller that adjusts the signal transmission delay of the camera unit as a function of a network collision rate and priority of the camera unit;
at least one customer server coupled to the camera unit via the communications network;
at least one customer work station coupled to the customer server via the communications network;
an administrator server coupled to the at least one customer server via the communications network, wherein the administrator server receives event packets and associated video and/or audio information, and intelligently routes the event packets and information to one or more administrator work stations; and
authentication means at the administrator server for authenticating a customer at the at least one customer work station so as to allow the work station to receive the video and/or audio signals transmitted by the at least one camera unit, wherein the camera unit further includes;
a camera system;
an encoder coupled to the camera system that encodes the video signals transmitted by the camera system; and
an automatic gain controller coupled to the camera system and the encoder, the automatic gain controller receiving mean, maximum, and minimum intensity video signal values from the camera system, and variance and delta values from the encoder, and providing in response a control signal that controls the gain of the camera system so that the camera unit transmits video signals with substantially constant image luminance for varying lighting conditions.
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20. A digital security system comprising:
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at least one camera unit for capturing and transmitting frames of video and/or audio signals over a communication network, wherein said camera unit is programmable to perform at least one of the following;
to transmit a snap shot, streaming video, or an event clip upon detecting a predefined event, to simultaneously transmit a snap shot, streaming video and an event clip or combinations thereof upon detecting a predefined event, and to detect different predefined events based on the time of day, the camera unit includes a network bandwidth controller that adjusts the signal transmission delay of the camera unit as a function of a network collision rate and priority of the camera unit;
at least one customer server coupled to the camera unit via the communications network;
at least one customer work station coupled to the customer server via the communications network;
an administrator server coupled to the at least one customer server via the communications network, wherein the administrator server receives event packets and associated video and/or audio information, and intelligently routes the event packets and information to one or more administrator work stations; and
authentication means at the administrator server for authenticating a customer at the at least one customer work station so as to allow the work station to receive the video and/or audio signals transmitted by the at least one camera unit, wherein the camera unit includes;
a camera system;
an encoder coupled to the camera system that encodes the video signals transmitted by the camera unit;
an encoder buffer coupled to the encoder; and
an encoder buffer controller coupled to the camera system and the encoder buffer, the encoder buffer controller receiving as inputs an in buffer bit rate input from the encoder, and an out buffer bit rate from the encoder buffer.
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Specification