INTELLIGENT IMAGERY-BASED SENSOR

• US 20070285510A1
• Filed: 05/04/2007
• Published: 12/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Original Assignee: ObjectVideo Incorporated (Alarm.com Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Zhang, Zhong, Yu, Li, Titus, Steve, Morris, James, Thompson, Bruce, Mistry, Amit, Yin, Wei, Venetianer, Peter, Clark, John, Lipton, Alan
• Granted Patent: US 8,334,906 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/135
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1961 Movement detection not involving frame subtraction, e.g. motion detection on the basis of luminance changes in the image
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19613 Recognition of a predetermined image pattern or behaviour pattern indicating theft or intrusion
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19652 Systems using zones in a single scene defined for different treatment, e.g. outer zone gives pre-alarm, inner zone gives alarm
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19663 Surveillance related processing done local to the camera
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19686 Interfaces masking personal details for privacy, e.g. blurring faces, vehicle license plates
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19689 Remote control of cameras, e.g. remote orientation or image zooming control for a PTZ camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/00 Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast

Abstract

A sensing device includes: a video imager to obtain video of an area; a processing unit to receive and process the video from the video imager to identify one of an event or a datum of interest; and a communication channel to output a non-imagery signal representing the event or datum.

Claims

1. A sensing device, comprising:

a video imager to obtain video of an area;

a processing unit to receive and process the video from the video imager to identify an event of interest; and

a communication channel to output a non-imagery signal representing the event or datum.

2. The sensing device of claim 1, wherein the identified event of interest is of a type including at least one of:

a detected human or object in the area, a counted human or object in the area, or an occupancy of the area.

3. The sensing device of claim 2, wherein the processing unit processes the video to identify at least two different events of interest including:

a detected human or object in the area, a counted human or object in the area, or an occupancy of the area, wherein a first identified event is of a different type than a second identified event.

4. The sensing device of claim 1, wherein video and/or imagery related to the signal is output from the sensing device.

5. The sensing device of claim 4, wherein the device obscures the identity of any persons in the video and/or imagery output from the sensing device.

6. The sensing device of claim 1, wherein the sensing device further comprises an output device, wherein the output device is at least one of a liquid crystal display, a light-emitting diode display, or an audio output.

7. The sensing device of claim 1, wherein the sensing device further comprises a communication driver to communicate with one or more devices or systems external to the sensing device.

8. The sensing device of claim 7, wherein the communication driver communicates with at least one of a television, a personal computer, a cell phone, a web client, a network storage, or a central monitoring system.

9. The sensing device of claim 7, wherein the communication driver communicates with one or more components of an energy management system, including an air/water heating component, a ventilation component, an air conditioning component, or a window treatment control component.

10. The sensing device of claim 1, wherein the sensing device is a stand-alone device.

11. The sensing device of claim 1, wherein the sensing device is part of a remote monitoring system, a building automation system, an access control system, a business intelligence gathering system, an emergency responder system, or a traffic management system.

12. The sensing device of claim 1, wherein the sensing device is programmable to process the video and to identify at least one event.

13. The sensing device of claim 12, wherein the sensing device is reprogrammable to process the video and to identify the at least one event.

14. The sensing device of claim 13, wherein the sensing device is reprogrammable remotely.

15. The sensing device of claim 12, wherein the sensing device is programmable to set an area of interest or a tripwire within the area.

16. The sensing device of claim 15, wherein the sensing device detects the area of interest or the tripwire from the received video.

17. The sensing device of claim 1, further comprising an optical sensor to provide light level information to the processing unit.

18. The sensing device of claim 1, wherein the video imager comprises at least one of a color imager, a monochrome imager, a low light imager, a day/night infrared (IR) imager, a thermal imager, a thermal IR imager, a carbon-metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) imager, a charge-coupled device (CCD) imager, or special purpose video imager.

19. The sensing device of claim 1, further comprising an illuminator to illuminate the area with a range of light wavelengths, and wherein the video imager is sensitive to the range of light wavelengths of the illuminator.

20. The sensing device of claim 1, further comprising at least one physical control to configure and/or calibrate the sensing device.

21. A method of monitoring a scene, comprising:

receiving video data about the scene from a video imager;

processing the video data in a processing unit;

identifying at least one event of interest based on the processed video data; and

outputting a non-imagery signal representing the identified event.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the identified event of interest is of a type including at least one of:

a detected human or object in the scene, a counted human or object in the scene, or an occupancy of the scene.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

identifying at least two different types of an event of interest.

24. The method of claim 22, comprising detecting occupancy by comparing a number of people entering the scene with a number of people leaving the scene.

25. The method of claim 21, further comprising outputting video and/or imagery related to the signal.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising obscuring the identity of any person in the output video and/or imagery related to the signal.

27. The method of claim 21, wherein outputting the signal comprises outputting the signal to at least one of a remote monitoring system, a building automation system, an access control system, a business intelligence gathering system, an emergency responder system, or a traffic management system.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein outputting the signal comprises outputting the signal to at least one of one or more components of an energy management system, including an air/water heating component, a ventilation component, an air conditioning component, or a window treatment control component.

29. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

programming the processing unit remotely from the processing unit to detect the at least one event.

30. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

programming the processing unit to set an area of interest or a tripwire within the scene.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein programming the processing unit comprises detecting the area of interest or the tripwire from the received video.

32. The method of claim 21, wherein outputting a signal comprises outputting the signal to at least one of a local computer, a television, a set top box, a router, a cellular telephone, a remote computer, or a remote monitoring center.

33. The method of claim 21, wherein the scene contains at least one area of interest (AOI), and further comprising:

identifying at least one event of interest in the at least one AOI.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the scene contains at least two AOIs and further comprising:

identifying a first event that occurred within a first AOI and identifying a second event that occurred within a second AOI.