VIDEO IMAGERY-BASED SENSOR

• US 20130113932A1
• Filed: 11/09/2012
• Published: 05/09/2013
• 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, Mistry, Amit, Morris, James, Lipton, Alan J., Clark, John I.W., Venetianer, Pter L., Yin, Weihong, Thompson, Bruce
• Granted Patent: US 9,591,267 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/143
• 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 a video; a processing unit to receive and process the video from the video imager; and a communication channel to output non-imagery signals.

Claims

1. A sensing device, comprising:

a video imager to obtain a video comprising a stream of video images within a parking area;

a processing unit having a processor to receive and process the stream of video images of the video from the video imager to count a number of vehicles in a field of view of the video imager based solely on the video, wherein the process comprises;

segmenting the at least one vehicle in at least one of video image in the stream of video images, and

tracking a movement of the at least one vehicle over the stream of video images; and

a communication channel to output non-imagery signals based on the video and not to output images or video from the video imager, at least one of the non-imagery signals representing the counted number of vehicles in the field of view.

2. The sensing device of claim 1, wherein the parking area is at least one of a parking lot or a parking garage.

3. An apparatus, comprising:

an imaging device to obtain a stream of images within a field of view;

a processing unit having a processor to receive and process the stream of images from the imaging device, the processing unit identifying at least one event of interest; and

a communication channel to output non-imagery data representing the identified at least one event of interest.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the identified event of interest is of a type including at least one of:

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

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the processing unit processes the stream of images 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 of interest is of a different type than a second identified event of interest.

6. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising a second communication channel to output images related to the non-imagery data.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the outputted images are modified to obscure identities of people.

8. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising an output device, wherein the output device comprises at least one of a liquid crystal display, a light-emitting diode display, or an audio output.

9. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising a communication driver to communicate with one or more devices or systems external to the apparatus.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, 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.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, 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.

12. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the imaging device is a stand-alone device.

13. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the apparatus comprises part of a remote monitoring system, a building automation system, an access control system, a business intelligence gathering system, an emergency responder system, an elevator control system, a health care environment, a residential monitoring system, a security system, or a traffic management system.

14. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the processing unit is programmable to process the stream of images and to identify the event of interest.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the processing unit is reprogrammable to process the stream of images and to identify the event of interest.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processing unit is reprogrammable remotely.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the apparatus is programmable to set an area of interest or a tripwire within the area.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processing unit detects the area of interest or the tripwire from the received stream of images.

19. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising an optical sensor to provide light level information to the processing unit.

20. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the imaging device 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.

21. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising an illuminator to illuminate the area with a range of light wavelengths, and wherein the imaging device is sensitive to the range of light wavelengths of the illuminator.

22. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising at least one physical control to configure or calibrate the imaging device.

23. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the apparatus comprises part of a lighting control system, wherein the lighting control system controls one or more lights in an area based on non-imagery data received from the apparatus, wherein the identified at least one event of interest of the received non-imagery data represents at least one of an occupancy of the area, a natural or artificial lighting level of the area, or one or more predicted motions of people or vehicles in the area.

24. A method of monitoring a scene, comprising:

receiving a stream of images from an imaging device;

processing, by a processing unit with a processor, the stream of images;

identifying, by the processing unit, at least one event of interest based on the processed stream of images; and

outputting non-imagery data representing the identified at least one event of interest via a communications channel.

25. A sensing device, comprising:

a processing unit having a processor to receive a stream of images from a video imager having a field of view of a parking area and process the received stream of images to count a number of at least one vehicle or at least one person in the field of view of the video imager based solely on a plurality of images in the received stream of images, wherein the process comprises;

segmenting the at least one vehicle or the at least one person in at least one image in the received stream of images, and

tracking a movement of the at least one vehicle or the at least one person over a number of images in the received stream of images; and

a communication channel to output non-imagery signals based on the processed stream of images and not to output images of the received stream of images, wherein at least one of the non-imagery signals represents the counted number of the at least one vehicle or the at least one person in the field of view of the video imager.

26. The sensing device of claim 25, further comprising a communication driver to communicate with one or more lighting devices, wherein, based on the at least one of the non-imagery signals representing the counted number, the one or more lighting devices is at least one of turned on, turned off, dimmed, or increased.