IMAGING SYSTEM FOR IMMERSIVE SURVEILLANCE

• US 20120242788A1
• Filed: 04/03/2012
• Published: 09/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Original Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Inventors: Candell, Lawrence M., Ross, William D., Beattie, Mark E., Fang, Cindy Y., Ren, Bobby, Blanchard, Jonathan P., Chuang, Daniel B.
• Granted Patent: US 9,036,001 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/36
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19602 Image analysis to detect motion of the intruder, e.g. by frame subtraction
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19619 Details of casing
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19626 optical details, e.g. lenses, mirrors or multiple lenses
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19643 wherein the cameras play different roles, e.g. different resolution, different camera type, master-slave camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/62 Control of parameters via user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/698 for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

Security guards at big facilities, such as airports, monitor multiple screens that display images from individual surveillance cameras dispersed throughout the facility. If a guard zooms with a particular camera, he will lose image resolution, along with perspective on the surrounding area. Embodiments of the inventive Imaging System for Immersive Surveillance (ISIS) solve these problems by combining multiple cameras in one device. When properly mounted, example ISIS systems offer 360-degree, 100-megapixel views on a single screen. (Other resolutions may also be employed.) Image-stitching software merges multiple video feeds into one scene. The system also allows operators to tag and follow targets, and can monitor restricted areas and sound an alert when intruders breach them.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

an array of cameras, each of which is disposed to image a respective portion of a wide-area scene at a respective distance, the array of cameras providing a spatially continuous view of the entire wide-area scene at a substantially constant spatial resolution throughout the entire scene.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein each camera in the array of cameras includes a lens whose focal length is selected to maintain the substantially constant resolution throughout the entire scene.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein each camera in the array of cameras has a field of view that overlaps with fields of view of neighboring cameras in the array of cameras.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a fisheye camera configured to image the scene; and

a processor operably coupled to the array of cameras and to the fisheye camera, and wherein the processor is configured to register image data acquired by the array of cameras to the scene based on data from the fisheye camera.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the processor is further configured to compress image data acquired by the array of cameras.

6. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

memory configured to store image data acquired by the array of cameras; and

a server configured to serve the image data stored in the memory at a resolution up to and including the substantially constant resolution.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the memory is further configured to store the image data in an image format.

8. The system of claim 6 further comprising:

an interface coupled to the server and configured to enable a user to request at least a portion of the image data at a given resolution; and

wherein the server is further configured to serve requested image data based on the user request and registration data stored in the memory.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the system is formed of different modules, each of which comprises at least one camera in the array of cameras.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the substantially constant spatial resolution is about one meter or less.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the substantially constant spatial resolution is about 1.5 centimeters or less.

20. The interface of claim 11 wherein the interface is further configured to track a target throughout the scene and to display an indication of the target'"'"'s location in at least one of the full-scene view and the zoom view.

21. The interface of claim 20 wherein the interface is further configured to enable a user to select the target.

12. A surveillance system comprising:

an array of cameras, each camera having a field of view that overlaps with fields of view of neighboring cameras in the array;

a fisheye camera with a field of view that substantially encompasses the fields of view of cameras in the array of cameras; and

a processor operably coupled to the array of cameras and to the fisheye camera, the processor configured to register imagery acquired by the array of cameras to a scene based on imagery acquired by the fisheye camera.

13. An interface for a surveillance system that monitors a scene, the interface comprising:

a full-scene view configured to render a panoramic image of the entire scene monitored by the surveillance system; and

a zoom view configured to render a close-up of a region of the panoramic view.

14. The interface of claim 13 wherein the full-scene view is further configured to enable a user to select a region of the scene for display in the zoom view.

15. The interface of claim 13 wherein the interface is further configured to enable at least one user to set at least one zone in the panoramic image to be monitored for activity.

16. The interface of claim 15 wherein the interface is further configured to alert the at least one user upon detection of activity in the at least one zone.

17. The interface of claim 15 wherein the interface is further configured to populate an activity database with an indication of detected activity in the at least one zone.

18. The interface of claim 17 further comprising:

an activity view configured to display the indication of detected activity to the at least one user in a manner that indicates a time and a location of the detected activity.

19. The interface of claim 17 wherein the interface is further configured to display images of detected activity in at least one of the full-scene view and the zoom view.

22. The interface of claim 13 wherein the interface is further configured to display a pre-warped image in at the zoom view.

23. A method of rendering an image representing a selected region of a field of view imaged by an array of cameras, the method comprising:

determining selected cameras in the array of cameras that image at least a portion of the selected region of the field of view;

determining image tiles within the images acquired by the selected cameras to render the image of the selected region of the field of view; and

rendering the image as a composite of the image tiles.

24. The method of claim 23 further comprising:

determining a minimum resolution necessary to render the image; and

wherein rendering the image further comprises rendering the image tiles at the minimum resolution.

25. The method of claim 24 further comprising:

requesting data representing the image tiles at the minimum resolution from a server; and

transmitting the data from the server to a display.

26. The method of claim 23 further comprising:

acquiring scene data from the array of cameras;

compressing the scene data; and

storing the scene data in an image format.

27. The method of claim 23 wherein rendering the image further comprises performing at least one of color balancing, white balancing, non-uniformity correction, and distortion correction.