Method and System for Monitoring Portal to Detect Entry and Exit

• US 20130201338A1
• Filed: 02/07/2012
• Published: 08/08/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tyco Fire & Security GmbH (Johnson Controls International plc)
• Original Assignee: Sensormatic Electronics LLC (Johnson Controls International plc)
• Inventors: Westmacott, Ian, Buehler, Christopher J.
• Granted Patent: US 11,470,285 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/159
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19602 Image analysis to detect motion of the intruder, e.g. by frame subtraction
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/188 Capturing isolated or intermittent images triggered by the occurrence of a predetermined event, e.g. an object reaching a predetermined position signal generation from motion picture films H04N5/253

Abstract

A video monitoring and analysis system detect subjects when they are entering and/or exiting from a room. The system enables a user to define a portal, such as doorway of the room. The system then monitors the movement of foreground objects in the room. Objects that appear only in the portal are classified as passing by the portal, e.g., doorway. Objects that initially appear in the portal and then are detected moving within the room are classified as having entered the room. Objects that are in the room and then disappear within the portal are classified as having exited the room. The system further has provisions for generating real-time alerts and performing forensic searches.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring a portal of an area being monitored with a video analysis system, comprising:

enabling definition of an area of a background model of a scene as a portal;

monitoring movement of foreground objects against the background model; and

classifying foreground objects that first appear within the portal and then move out of the portal as entering the area being monitored.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein enabling the definition of the portal comprises an operator using a graphical user interface to identify portal within the scene.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein enabling the definition of the portal comprises analyzing video data to identify portals through which foreground objects enter and exit the area being monitored.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein monitoring movement of the foreground objects comprises tracking the foreground objects between frames of the video data and generating vectors indicating movement of the foreground objects.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising classifying the foreground objects that first appear within the portal and then disappear within the portal as passing by the portal.

6. A method for monitoring a portal of an area being monitored with a video analysis system, comprising:

enabling definition of an area of a background model of a scene as a portal;

monitoring movement of foreground objects against the background model; and

classifying foreground objects that pass into the portal and then disappear within the portal as exiting the area being monitored.

7. A method as claimed in claim 6, wherein enabling the definition of the portal comprises an operator using a graphical user interface to identify portal within the scene.

8. A method as claimed in claim 6, wherein enabling the definition of the portal comprises analyzing video data to identify portals through which foreground objects enter and exit the area being monitored.

9. A method as claimed in claim 6, wherein monitoring movement of the foreground objects comprises tracking the foreground objects between frames of the video data and generating vectors indicating movement of the foreground objects.

10. A method as claimed in claim 6, further comprising classifying the foreground objects that pass into the portal and then out of the portal but remain within the scene as moving within the area being monitored.

11. A video monitoring and analysis system comprising:

at least one video camera generating video data of a scene of an area being monitored;

a video data and metadata archive that stores the video data from the at least one video camera; and

a video analysis system that receives video data from the at least one video camera and analyzes the video data, the video analysis system enabling definition of an area of a background model of the scene as a portal, and then monitoring movement of foreground objects against the background model, and generating and storing metadata to the video data and metadata archive indicating that the foreground objects have entered the area being monitored when the foreground objects first appear within the portal and then move out of the portal and remain in the scene.

12. A system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the video analysis system enables definition of the portal by an operator using a graphical user interface to identify portal of the area being monitored.

13. A system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the video analysis system analyzes video data from the at least one video camera to identify portals through which foreground objects enter and exit the area being monitored.

14. A system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the video analysis system tracks the foreground objects between frames of the video data and generates vectors indicating movement of the foreground objects in the scene.

15. A system as claimed in claim 11, further comprising classifying the foreground objects that first appear within the portal and then disappear within the portal as passing by the portal.

16. A video monitoring and analysis system comprising:

at least one video camera generating video data of a scene of an area being monitored;

a video data and metadata archive that stores the video data from the at least one video camera; and

a video analysis system that receives video data from the at least one video camera and analyzes the video data, the video analysis system enabling definition of an area of a background model of the scene as a portal, and then monitoring movement of foreground objects against the background model, and generating and storing metadata to the video data and metadata archive indicating that the foreground objects have exited the area being monitored when the foreground objects pass into the portal and then disappear while in the portal.

17. A system as claimed in claim 16, wherein the video analysis system enables the definition of the portal by an operator using a graphical user interface to identify the portal within of the area being monitored.

18. A system as claimed in claim 16, wherein the video analysis system analyzes video data from the at least one video camera to identify portals through which foreground objects enter and exit the area being monitored.

19. A system as claimed in claim 16, wherein the video analysis system tracks the foreground objects between frames of the video data and generates vectors indicating movement of the foreground objects in the scene.

20. A system as claimed in claim 16, wherein the video analysis system classifies the foreground objects that first appear within the portal and then disappear within the portal as passing by the portal.

21. A system as claimed in claim 20, wherein the video analysis system generates metadata indicating that the foreground objects have passed by the portal.