SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR QUICK OBJECT VERIFICATION

• US 20120229629A1
• Filed: 03/08/2011
• Published: 09/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qognify Ltd. (PSBU Midco SARL)
• Original Assignee: Nice Systems Limited (Nice Ltd)
• Inventors: BLUMSTEIN-KOREN, Guy, Yehezkel, Raanan Yonatan
• Granted Patent: US 8,854,474 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/143
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/7837 using objects detected or recognised in the video content

Abstract

Systems and methods for identifying an appearance of an object in a video stream, include receiving, in real-time, an indication of an area of interest, from a user, within a frame of a video stream. The area of interest may include an image of an object. Automatically analyzing the characteristics of the area of interest, finding a frame in which the object first appears in time in the video stream and displaying to the user the video stream starting from the frame in which the object first appears.

Claims

1. A method for identifying an appearance of an object in a video stream, the method comprising:

receiving an indication of an area of interest, from a user, within a first frame of a video stream recorded at a monitored scene, wherein the area of interest includes an image of an object;

automatically analyzing the characteristics of the area of interest;

automatically finding a second frame in which the object first appears in time in the video stream, based on the characteristics; and

displaying to the user the video stream starting from the second frame or from a frame previous in time to the second frame.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving an area of interest from a user is based on a notification regarding the object received from a person present at the monitored scene.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the area of interest comprises receiving the area of interest by a computing device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the object is an object existing in the monitored scene.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically analyzing the characteristics of the area of interest comprises:

extracting a query feature vector from the area of interest of the first frame;

extracting a feature vector from the area of interest of a plurality of frames of the video stream;

comparing the query feature vector to the feature vector of each of the plurality of frames; and

determining whether a mismatch exists between the first frame and each one of the plurality of frames.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein automatically finding the frame in which the object first appears in the monitored scene comprises:

counting a number of mismatches between the first and each one of the plurality of frames;

comparing the number of mismatches to a predefined threshold;

if the number of mismatches is higher than the predefined threshold marking the first appearance of the object in the scene; and

if the number of mismatches is lower than the predefined threshold comparing the query feature vector to the feature vector of a next frame.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically finding the frame in which the object first appears in the monitored scene comprises scanning back the video stream to find a frame in which the object first appears in the monitored scene.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the user is a user of a control system.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein a user pre-determines whether the method is to display the video stream starting from the second frame or from a frame previous in time to the second frame.

10. A video analytics system comprising:

a plurality of cameras placed to monitor a scene;

a data server to save a video stream recorded by the plurality of cameras;

a computing device to;

receive an indication of an area of interest, from a user, within a first frame of the video stream, wherein the area of interest includes an image of an object;

automatically analyze the characteristics of the area of interest; and

automatically find a second frame in which the object first appears in time in the video stream, based on the characteristics; and

an output device to display to the user the video stream starting from the second frame or from a frame previous in time to the second frame.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

a communication element to transfer a notification regarding the object from a person present at the monitored scene, wherein the area of interest is based on the notification.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the object is an object existing in the monitored scene.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the computing device is to receive the area of interest from an input device.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the computing device is to extract a query feature vector from the area of interest of the first frame, to extract a feature vector from the area of interest of a plurality of frames of the video stream, to compare the query feature vector to the feature vector of each of the plurality of frames and to determine whether a mismatch between the first frame and each one of the plurality of frames.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the computing device is to count a number of mismatches between the first and each one of the plurality of frames, to compare the number of mismatches to a predefined threshold and to mark the first appearance of the object in the scene, if the number of mismatches is higher than the predefined threshold or to compare the query feature vector to the feature vector of a next frame if the number of mismatches is lower than the predefined threshold.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the data server is to compress the video stream and transfer a compressed video stream to the computing device.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the computing device is to decompress a selected subset of the plurality of frames of the video stream.

18. An article comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon instructions, that when executed on a computer, cause the computer to:

receive an indication of an area of interest, from a user, within a first frame of the video stream, wherein the area of interest includes an image of an object;

automatically analyze the characteristics of the area of interest; and

automatically find a second frame in which the object first appears in time in the video stream, based on the characteristics; and

an output device to display to the user the video stream starting from the second frame or from a frame previous in time to the second frame.

19. The article of claim 18, wherein the instructions when executed further result in:

extracting a query feature vector from the area of interest of the first frame;

extracting a feature vector from the area of interest of a plurality of frames of the video stream;

comparing the query feature vector to the feature vector of each of the plurality of frames; and

determining whether a mismatch exists between the first frame and each one of the plurality of frames.

20. The article of claim 18, wherein the instructions when executed further result in:

counting a number of mismatches between the first and each one of the plurality of frames;

comparing the number of mismatches to a predefined threshold;

if the number of mismatches is higher than the predefined threshold marking the first appearance of the object in the scene; and

if the number of mismatches is lower than the predefined threshold comparing the query feature vector to the feature vector of a next frame.