SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MANAGING VIDEO DATA

• US 20130036356A1
• Filed: 08/03/2012
• Published: 02/07/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Laycock, Graeme, Worrill, Joshua
• Granted Patent: US 9,344,684 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/719
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

Described herein are systems and methods for managing video data. Embodiments are described by reference to a Digital Video Management (DVM) system, for example methods for facilitating collaborative incident management. In overview, a DVM system provides a user interface, which is renderable at a plurality of client terminal. This allows an operator of each client to independently view DVM content items. In some cases the user interface is provided by components delivered to the clients via a web-server arrangement. The user interface is configured thereby to allow an operator of a first client terminal to provide a request to share a specified DVM content item with the operator of a second client terminal. In response to this request, the content item is delivered to the operator of the second client terminal.

Claims

1. A method for operating a DVM system, the method including:

providing a user interface, renderable at a plurality of client terminals, for allowing an operator of each client to independently view DVM content items, wherein the DVM content items include live video data captured by one or more cameras in the DVM system;

by way of the user interface, allowing an operator of a first client terminal to provide a request to share a specified DVM content item with the operator of a second client terminal;

receiving the request from the operator of the first client terminal;

in response to the received request, providing a signal to the second client terminal such that the DVM content item is made available for viewing via the user interface at the second client terminal.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the signal provided to the second client terminal causes the specified DVM content item to be displayed in a content display object of the user interface at the second client terminal.

3. A method according to claim 2 wherein the specified DVM content item is live video captured by a specified camera, and the signal provided to the second client terminal causes the live video captured by the specified camera to be displayed in a video display object of the user interface at the second client terminal.

4. A method according to claim 1 wherein the specified DVM content item is a still image.

5. A method according to claim 1 wherein the specified DVM content item is a map location image.

6. A method according to claim 1 wherein the specified DVM content item is access card information.

7. A method according to claim 1 wherein the specified DVM content item is video data recorded from one or more cameras in the DVM system.

8. A method according to claim 1 wherein the operator of the second terminal manually accepts or rejects the signal.

9. A method according to claim 1 wherein the operator of the second terminal selects an on-screen content display object for displaying the specified content item.

10. A method according to claim 1 wherein, by way of the user interface, the operator of the first client terminal is enabled to provide a request to share a specified DVM content item with the operator of the second client terminal and the operators of one or more further client terminals.

11. A DVM system configured to perform a method including:

providing a user interface, renderable at a plurality of client terminals, for allowing an operator of each client to independently view DVM content items, wherein the DVM content items include live video data captured by one or more cameras in the DVM system;

by way of the user interface, allowing an operator of a first client terminal to provide a request to share a specified DVM content item with the operator of a second client terminal;

receiving the request from the operator of the first client terminal;

in response to the received request, providing a signal to the second client terminal such that the DVM content item is made available for viewing via the user interface at the second client terminal.

12. A DVM system according to claim 11 including:

a plurality of camera servers, wherein each camera server is configured to utilise video data from an assigned one or more video streaming units; and

a plurality of video streaming units, wherein each streaming unit is configured to stream, onto a network, video data for a respective camera.

13. A system according to claim 11 wherein the signal provided to the second client terminal causes the specified DVM content item to be displayed in a content display object of the user interface at the second client terminal.

14. A system according to claim 12 wherein the specified DVM content item is live video captured by a specified camera, and the signal provided to the second client terminal causes the live video captured by the specified camera to be displayed in a video display object of the user interface at the second client terminal.

15. A system according to claim 11 wherein the operator of the second terminal selects an on-screen content display object for displaying the specified content item.

16. A system according to claim 11 wherein, by way of the user interface, the operator of the first client terminal is enabled to provide a request to share a specified DVM content item with the operator of the second client terminal and the operators of one or more further client terminals.

17. A tangible non-transitive carrier medium carrying computer executable code that, when executed via one or more processes, allows the performance of a method including:

providing a user interface, renderable at a plurality of client terminals, for allowing an operator of each client to independently view DVM content items, wherein the DVM content items include live video data captured by one or more cameras in the DVM system;

by way of the user interface, allowing an operator of a first client terminal to provide a request to share a specified DVM content item with the operator of a second client terminal;

receiving the request from the operator of the first client terminal;

in response to the received request, providing a signal to the second client terminal such that the DVM content item is made available for viewing via the user interface at the second client terminal.

18. A carrier medium according to claim 17 wherein the signal provided to the second client terminal causes the specified DVM content item to be displayed in a content display object of the user interface at the second client terminal.

19. A carrier medium according to claim 18 wherein the specified DVM content item is live video captured by a specified camera, and the signal provided to the second client terminal causes the live video captured by the specified camera to be displayed in a video display object of the user interface at the second client terminal.

20. A carrier medium according to claim 17 wherein the operator of the second terminal selects an on-screen content display object for displaying the specified content item.