Utilizing a portable electronic device to detect motion

• US 20060061654A1
• Filed: 09/20/2004
• Published: 03/23/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Garcia, David J., Patel, Dipen T., Smith, James E., McKay, Brent M., Perez, Ricardo Martinez, Skujins, Anthony V.
• Granted Patent: US 7,190,263 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/143
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19602 Image analysis to detect motion of the intruder, e.g. by frame subtraction
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19621 Portable camera
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1968 Interfaces for setting up or customising the system

Abstract

A mobile telephone (105) with a camera feature (110) that functions as a motion detection device. The mobile telephone can include an image capture software routine (120) and a motion detection software routine (125). The image capture software routine can use the camera feature to automatically generate one or more time spaced images. The motion detection software routine can detect motion based upon differences between the time spaced images. The motion detection software routine can selectively utilize a multiple algorithms.

Claims

1. A surveillance system comprising:

a surveillance server configured to receive images from at least one remotely located sensor and to automatically perform at least one surveillance task responsive to signals received from the at least one remotely located sensor, wherein the at least one remotely located sensor comprises at least one mobile telephone with a camera feature, said at least one mobile telephone configured to capture a plurality of time spaced images, wherein differences between said time spaced images are used to detect motion, wherein motion detected based on the image differences actuates the at least one surveillance task.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the signals exchanged between the mobile telephone and the surveillance server are conveyed across a wireless local area network.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one mobile telephone comprises a plurality of mobile telephones that are used in combination with one another to secure a perimeter defined by the images captured by the mobile telephones.

4. The system of claim 1, where the surveillance system is communicatively linked to a computer network, wherein one of the at least one surveillance tasks includes conveying an intrusion detection message to a remotely located computer communicatively linked to the computer network.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the at least one mobile telephones comprises a motion detection software routine that detects motion based upon images captured by the at least one mobile telephone, wherein the signals are conveyed to the surveillance system responsive to a motion detection event determined by the motion detection software routine.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the surveillance system comprises a different motion detection software routine that that used by the mobile telephone, wherein said different motion detection software routine is configured to verify the motion detection event.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the signals received by the surveillance system include at least one image captured by the mobile telephone, wherein the conveyed at least one image is used by the different motion detection software routine to verify the motion detection event.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the surveillance system is a portable intrusion detection system, and wherein the surveillance server is a portable computing device selected from the group consisting of a notebook computer, a computing tablet, a personal data assistant, and a mobile telephone, whereby the portable intrusion detection system is configured to be used by travelers to secure a temporary accommodation.

9. A motion detection device comprising:

a mobile telephone with a camera feature, said mobile telephone comprising an image capture software routine and a motion detection software routine, wherein said image capture software routine is configured to use the camera feature to automatically generate a plurality of time spaced images and wherein the motion detection software routine is configured to detect motion based upon differences between the plurality of time spaced images, wherein the motion detection software routine is configured to selectively utilize a plurality of different algorithms.

10. The motion detection device of claim 9, wherein the motion detection device is communicatively linked to a surveillance server via a wireless local area network, said surveillance server configured to automatically perform at least one surveillance task responsive to signals received from the motion detection device.

11. The motion detection device of claim 9, wherein the image capture software routine is configured to adjust at least one of focus and zoom associated with the camera feature.

12. The motion detection device of claim 9, wherein one of the plurality of algorithms used by the motion detection software routine comprises a RGB summation algorithm, said RGB summation algorithm comparing images encoded as an array of red, green, and blue values.

14. The motion detection device of claim 12, wherein said RGB summation algorithm calculates the differences between a first one of the plurality of time spaced images and a second one of the plurality of time spaced images by comparing a quantity of red values present in the first image with a quantity of red values present in the second image, by comparing a quantity of green values present in the first image with a quantity of green values present in the second image, and by comparing the quantity of blue values present in the first image with a quantity of blue values present in the second image.

15. The motion detection device of claim 14, said RGB summation algorithm calculating a difference (Pdiff) between the first image (first) and the second image (second) using red (R) green (G) and blue (B) value correlations based upon the formula:

Pdiff=(|Rfirst−

Rsecond|)+(|Gfirst−

Gsecond|)+(|Bfirst−

Bsecond|).

16. The motion detection device of claim 14, said RGB summation algorithm calculating a difference (Pdiff) between the first image (first) and the second image (second) using red (R) green (G) and blue (B) values based upon the formula:

Pdiff=Wred(|Rfirst−

Rsecond|)+Wgreen (|Gfirst−

Gsecond|)+Wblue (|Bfirst−

Bsecond|),

where Wred, Wgreen, and Wblue are numerical weights, and wherein a least one of Wred, Wgreen, and Wblue has a different value than another one of Wred, Wgreen, and Wblue.

17. The motion detection device of claim 9, wherein one of the plurality of algorithms used by the motion detection software routine comprises a luminance algorithm, said luminance algorithm comparing images encoded in a YUV format.

13. The motion detection device of claim 13, wherein said RGB summation algorithm utilizes only a portion of the red, green, and blue values present within each of the images being compared.

18. A method for using a mobile phone as a motion detector comprising the steps of:

capturing a first image using an image capture function of the mobile phone;

subsequently capturing a second image using the image capture function of the mobile phone;

comparing the first image and the second image to generate a correspondence score;

invoking a motion detection event when the correspondence score is greater than a motion indication threshold;

the motion detection event triggering a previously determined programmatic action, wherein the previously determined programmatic action and the motion indication threshold are user configurable values.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the previously determined programmatic action causes the mobile phone to call a user-established telephone number and convey an indicator of the motion detection event once the call has been established.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the previously determined programmatic action triggers an alarm to actuate proximate to the mobile phone.