SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR STORING AND REMOTELY RETRIEVING SURVEILLANCE VIDEO IMAGES
First Claim
1. A video surveillance and monitoring system, comprising:
- a private network that enables communication with surveillance cameras at a plurality of geographically distinct client sites; and
an off-site storage site, including an image database and at least one server, said at least one server being coupled to said private network and to a public network, said at least one server being operative to coordinate the retrieval of video images from said surveillance cameras, to produce said retrieved video images as live images to at least one client workstation coupled to said public network, and to archive said retrieved video images in said image database for subsequent production to at least one client workstation coupled to said public network.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for enabling real-time off-site video image storage is disclosed. An off-site storage site is coupled to camera servers at client sites via a private network. Each camera server is further coupled to one or more surveillance cameras. Video images captured by cameras located at the client sites are forwarded to an off-site server via a camera server. Video images received by the off-site server are produced for live viewing and/or archived in an image database. Users can retrieve live or archived video images through a client workstation that communicates with the off-site server over the public Internet. Retrieval of video images is based on a web-browser interface. Live viewing of video images is supplemented by real-time camera control functions that alter the pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) position of the camera producing the live images. Commands for controlling the PTZ camera are encoded by the client workstation and transmitted to the off-site server. The off-site server converts the camera control codes into control strings that are recognizable by the particular camera.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. A video surveillance and monitoring system, comprising:
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a private network that enables communication with surveillance cameras at a plurality of geographically distinct client sites; and an off-site storage site, including an image database and at least one server, said at least one server being coupled to said private network and to a public network, said at least one server being operative to coordinate the retrieval of video images from said surveillance cameras, to produce said retrieved video images as live images to at least one client workstation coupled to said public network, and to archive said retrieved video images in said image database for subsequent production to at least one client workstation coupled to said public network. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A video surveillance and monitoring system, comprising:
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an image database for storing video images; and at least one server, said at least one server being coupled to a private network that enables communication with surveillance cameras at a plurality of geographically distinct client sites and to a public network, said at least one server being operative to coordinate the retrieval of video images from said surveillance cameras, to produce said retrieved video images as live images to at least one client workstation coupled to said public network, and to archive said retrieved video images in said image database for subsequent production to at least one client workstation coupled to said public network.
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17. In an environment including at least one server coupled to a private network that enables communication with surveillance cameras at a plurality of geographically distinct client sites and to a public network, a video surveillance and monitoring method, comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving video image data from a surveillance camera; (b) producing said received video image data as live images to at least one client workstation; and (c) archiving said received video image data in an image database for subsequent production to at least one client workstation. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. In an environment including at least one server coupled to a private network that enables communication with surveillance cameras at a plurality of geographically distinct client sites, a method in a client workstation for retrieving and viewing video images, captured by said surveillance cameras, that are stored in an image database by the at least one server, comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving computer program logic from a server that enables the client workstation to display a graphical user interface that includes a plurality of client-site elements representative of a corresponding plurality of geographically distinct client sites, wherein each of said plurality of client-site elements are associated with one or more camera elements representative of one or more cameras located at a client site represented by said client-site element, wherein said server has access to an image database that stores video image data captured by cameras at a plurality of geographically distinct client sites; (b) receiving a command from a user to select a first camera element representative of a first camera at a first client site; (c) sending a request to a server for retrieval of video image data, recorded by said first camera, that is archived in an image database; and (d) displaying said requested video image data in an image viewing window of said graphical user interface. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30)
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Specification