Distributed Control of a Heterogeneous Video Surveillance Network

• US 20140136701A1
• Filed: 11/13/2012
• Published: 05/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Generac Power Systems Incorporated (Generac Holdings Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Billau, Ronald L., Di Luoffo, Vincenzo V., Dumarot, Dan P., Paschal, Matthew J., Schulz, Brandon W., Woodbury, James E.
• Granted Patent: US 9,681,103 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/225
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19656 Network used to communicate with a camera, e.g. WAN, LAN, Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services independent of the application payload and not provided for in the other groups of this subclass networks security protocols H04L9/40; wireless communication networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/21805 enabling multiple viewpoints, e.g. using a plurality of cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2396 characterized by admission policies admission control, resource allocation in open networks H04L12/5692; arrangements for network security using user profiles for access control H04L63/102; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25 Management operations performed by the server for facilitating the content distribution or administrating data related to end-users or client devices, e.g. end-user or client device authentication, learning user preferences for recommending movies maintenance or administration in data networks H04L41/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25816 involving client authentication restricting access to computer systems by authenticating users using a predetermined code G06F21/33; cryptographic authentication protocols H04L9/32; networks authentication protocols H04L63/08; authentication in wireless network security H04W12/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/441 Acquiring end-user identification , e.g. using personal code sent by the remote control or by inserting a card
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4627 Rights management associated to the content security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/162 Authorising the user terminal, e.g. by paying; Registering the use of a subscription channel, e.g. billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast

Abstract

A surveillance video broker arbitrates access by multiple clients to multiple surveillance video sources. Both clients and sources register with the broker. Each source independently specifies respective clients permitted real-time access to its video and conditions of access, if any. Preferably, the video source is a local surveillance domain having one or more cameras, one or more sensors, and a local controller, the source specifying clients or client groups permitted access, and independently specifying conditions of access for each client or client group, where conditions may include scheduled events, non-scheduled events, such as alarms or emergencies, and/or physical proximity. The broker automatically authorizes real-time access according to pre-specified conditions. Preferably, the broker can also arbitrate alert notifications to the clients based on pre-specified notification criteria.

Claims

1-8. -8. (canceled)

9. A method for authorizing access to video surveillance data, comprising:

registering a plurality of clients in a video broker data processing system;

registering a plurality of video surveillance domains in said video broker data processing system;

recording a plurality of authorization records, each authorization record independently specifying authorization on behalf of a respective video surveillance domain to allow at least one respective client real-time access to at least some surveillance video generated by the respective video surveillance domain, wherein a first client is granted access to a first set of video surveillance domains containing multiple video surveillance domains but fewer than all of said plurality of video surveillance domains, and wherein a second client is granted access to a second set of video surveillance domains containing some but not all of the sources to which the first client has access;

receiving in said video broker a plurality of video access requests, each request requesting real-time access by a respective client to at least some video produced by a respective surveillance domain;

responsive to each said video access request, automatically using said authorization records to determine whether the respective client is authorized to access the requested video;

responsive to determining that the respective client is authorized to access the requested video of a video access request, automatically granting real-time access by the respective client to the requested video.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said recording in said video broker data processing system a plurality of authorization records comprises recording a first and a second authorization record specifying authorization on behalf of a first video surveillance domain, the first authorization record granting access to a first set of at least one client and the second authorization record granting access to a second set of at least one client, said first and second sets being different, said first authorization record specifying conditional access based on a first at least one specified condition, said second authorization record not specifying conditional access based on said first at least one specified condition.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said second authorization record specifies unconditional access by said second set of at least one client.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein at least one authorization record specifies conditional authorization based on an alarm condition detected by an automatic sensor in the respective video surveillance domain.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein at least one authorization record specifies conditional authorization based on a scheduled event.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein at least one authorization record specifies conditional authorization based on physical proximity of the requesting client to the surveillance video domain.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein at least one authorization record specifies conditional authorization based on a declared state of emergency.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein automatically granting real-time access by the respective client to the requested video comprises generating and transmitting a respective access token to the respective client, the access token being used by the client to obtain real-time access to the requested video directly from a provider of the requested video, without transmitting the requested video through said video broker data processing system.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said provider of the requested video is a video distribution service which distributes video received from a plurality of surveillance domains.

18. A method for operating a data processing system of a surveillance video broker, comprising:

registering a plurality of clients in a data processing system of a surveillance video broker;

registering a plurality of video surveillance domains in said data processing system of said surveillance video broker;

recording in said data processing system a plurality of authorization records, each authorization record independently specifying authorization on behalf of a respective video surveillance domain to allow at least one respective client real-time access to at least some surveillance video generated by the respective video surveillance domain;

recording in said data processing system a plurality of notification records, each notification record independently specifying on behalf of a respective video surveillance domain at least one respective client authorized to receive notification of one or more respective alert events generated by the respective video surveillance domain, said notification records being independent of said authorization records;

receiving in said data processing system of said surveillance video broker a plurality of alert event notification requests, each alert event notification request being received from a respective video surveillance domain and identifying an alert event detected at the respective surveillance domain for which notification to clients is requested;

responsive to receiving each said alert event notification request, accessing said notification records to determine in said data processing system a respective set of clients to receive notification of the respective alert event, and transmitting an alert notification to each client of the set;

receiving in said data processing system of said surveillance video broker a plurality of video access requests, each request requesting real-time access by a respective client to at least some video produced by a respective surveillance domain;

responsive to each said video access request, automatically using said authorization records to determine whether the respective client is authorized to access the requested video;

responsive to determining that the respective client is authorized to access the requested video of a video access request, automatically granting real-time access by the respective client to the requested video.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

recording in said data processing system a plurality of notification filters, each notification filter independently specifying on behalf of a respective client one or more respective alert events for which the client wishes to receive notice;

wherein responsive to receiving each said alert event notification request, said data processing system accesses said notification records and said notification filters to determine a respective set of clients to receive notification of the respective alert event, the set being the intersection of a set of clients authorized to receive notification of the respective alert event by said authorization records and a set of clients wishing to receive notification of the respective alert event according to said notification filters.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein at least one authorization record specifies conditional authorization based on at least one respective specified condition.