VIDEO MONITORING SYSTEM

• US 20160275356A1
• Filed: 11/11/2013
• Published: 09/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: I-Pro Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: YOKOMITSU, Sumio, OHNO, Hiroyuki, YOMOGIDA, Yasuo, KUWAHARA, Marie, IKEDA, Jun
• Granted Patent: US 9,779,308 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/24 Classification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30252 Vehicle exterior; Vicinity of vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/20 Analysis of motion motion estimation for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals H04N19/43, H04N19/51
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/70 Determining position or orientation of objects or cameras camera calibration G06T7/80
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/47 Detecting features for summarising video content
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/52 Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/59 inside of a vehicle, e.g. relating to seat occupancy, driver state or inner lighting conditions
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/172 Classification, e.g. identification
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/20 Movements or behaviour, e.g. gesture recognition recognition of facial expressions G06V40/16
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/196 using television cameras
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19608 Tracking movement of a target, e.g. by detecting an object predefined as a target, using target direction and or velocity to predict its new position
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19613 Recognition of a predetermined image pattern or behaviour pattern indicating theft or intrusion
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19667 Details realated to data compression, encryption or encoding, e.g. resolution modes for reducing data volume to lower transmission bandwidth or memory requirements
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19669 Event triggers storage or change of storage policy
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/44 Receiver circuitry for the reception of television signals according to analogue transmission standards H04N5/14 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources
• 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 transmission apparatus detects a target object to be monitored from images obtained by imaging a monitoring area, tracks the detected target object, obtains existence time from appearance to disappearance of the target object, and transmits a data volume reduced image of the target object to a video reception apparatus. The video reception apparatus analyzes the data volume reduced image transmitted from the video transmission apparatus and transmits a video request of the target object to the video transmission apparatus) based on input made according to the result of the analysis. When the video request transmitted from the video reception apparatus is received, the video transmission apparatus generates a monitoring video from the appearance to the disappearance of the target object based on the existence time of the target object and transmits the monitoring video to the video reception apparatus.

Claims

1. A video monitoring system comprising a video transmission apparatus and a video reception apparatus,

the video transmission apparatus comprising:

an image input unit to which a plurality of consecutive images obtained by imaging a monitoring area are input;

a target detection unit that detects a target object to be monitored from the plurality of images input to the image input unit;

a target tracking unit that tracks the target object detected by the target detection unit to obtain existence time from appearance to disappearance of the target object in the monitoring area;

a data volume reduction unit that selects an image, in which the target object is detected, from the plurality of images input to the image input unit and that reduces data volume of the selected image to generate a data volume reduced image of the target object; and

an image transmission unit that transmits the data volume reduced image to the video reception apparatus,

the video reception apparatus comprising;

an image reception unit that receives the data volume reduced image transmitted from the video transmission apparatus;

a received information analysis unit that analyzes the data volume reduced image received by the data reception unit; and

a request transmission unit that transmits a video request for requesting a plurality of consecutive images of the target object to the video transmission apparatus based on input made according to an analysis result of the received information analysis unit,

the video transmission apparatus further comprising;

an image storage unit that stores the plurality of images input to the image input unit;

a request reception unit that receives the video request transmitted from the video reception apparatus;

a monitoring video generation unit that generates a monitoring video of the target object including a plurality of consecutive images from the appearance to the disappearance of the target object based on the existence time of the target object when the request reception unit receives the video request; and

a video transmission unit that transmits the monitoring video to the video reception apparatus.

2. The video monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein

the video transmission apparatus further comprises

an action analysis unit that analyzes an action of the target object from the plurality of images input to the image input unit to obtain monitoring action time from a start to an end of the action, and

when an action to be monitored is designated in the video reception apparatus,

the monitoring video generation unit

generates, as the monitoring video, a video including a plurality of consecutive images from the start to the end of the action of the target object to be monitored based on the monitoring action time.

3. The video monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein

a plurality of the video transmission apparatuses are installed in one monitoring area, images obtained by imaging the monitoring area from different positions are input to the plurality of video transmission apparatuses, and

the video reception apparatus further comprises:

a target object checking unit that analyzes a plurality of the data volume reduced images received from the plurality of video transmission apparatuses to check whether the target objects of the plurality of data volume reduced images are a same person; and

a best-shot determination unit that selects a best-shot image from the plurality of data volume reduced images when the target objects are determined to be the same person as a result of the check by the target object checking unit.

4. The video monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein

the monitoring area includes an exit/entrance area of a shop, a plurality of the video transmission apparatuses are installed to monitor the exit/entrance area of the shop,

the plurality of video transmission apparatuses include a first video transmission apparatus installed at a position that allows imaging a person entering the shop and a second video transmission apparatus installed at a position that allows imaging a person leaving the shop, the target object to be monitored by the first video transmission apparatus is the person entering the shop, the target object to be monitored by the second video transmission apparatus is the person leaving the shop,

the video reception apparatus further comprises:

an appearance time reception unit that receives appearance time of the target object of the first video transmission apparatus from the first video transmission apparatus;

a disappearance time reception unit that receives disappearance time of the target object of the second video transmission apparatus from the second video transmission apparatus; and

a target object checking unit that analyzes the data volume reduced images received from the first video transmission apparatus and the second video transmission apparatus to check whether the target object of the first video transmission apparatus and the target object of the second video transmission apparatus are a same person, and

the received information analysis unit obtains, as shop stay time of the target object, time from the appearance time of the target object of the first video transmission apparatus to the disappearance time of the target object of the second video transmission apparatus when the target objects are determined to be the same person as a result of the check by the target object checking unit.

5. The video monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein

the monitoring area includes an exit/entrance area of a shop, a plurality of the video transmission apparatuses are installed to monitor the exit/entrance area of the shop,

the plurality of video transmission apparatuses include a first video transmission apparatus installed at a position that allows imaging an entrance point of the shop and a second video transmission apparatus installed at a position that allows imaging an ordering point of the shop, the target object to be monitored by the first video transmission apparatus and the second video transmission apparatus is a person entering the shop,

the video reception apparatus further comprises:

an appearance time reception unit that receives appearance time of the target object from the first video transmission apparatus;

a disappearance time reception unit that receives disappearance time of the target object from the second video transmission apparatus; and

a target object checking unit that analyzes the data volume reduced images received from the first video transmission apparatus and the second video transmission apparatus to check whether the target object of the first video transmission apparatus and the target object of the second video transmission apparatus are a same person, and

the received information analysis unit obtains, as time from entering the shop area to ordering, time from the appearance time of the target object of the first video transmission apparatus to the disappearance time of the target object of the second video transmission apparatus when the target objects are determined to be the same person as a result of the check by the target object checking unit.

6. The video monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein

the monitoring area includes a drive-through shop area, a plurality of the video transmission apparatuses are installed to monitor the drive-through shop area,

the plurality of video transmission apparatuses include a first video transmission apparatus installed at a position that allows imaging an entrance point in the shop area, a second video transmission apparatus installed at a position that allows imaging an ordering point in the shop area, and a third video transmission apparatus installed at a position that allows imaging a delivery point in the shop area,

the target object to be monitored by the first video transmission apparatus, the second video transmission apparatus, and the third video transmission apparatus is a vehicle or a driver of the vehicle passing through the shop area,

the video reception apparatus further comprises:

an appearance time reception unit that receives appearance time of the target object from the first video transmission apparatus and the second video transmission apparatus;

a disappearance time reception unit that receives disappearance time of the target object from the second video transmission apparatus and the third video transmission apparatus; and

a target object checking unit that analyzes the data volume reduced images received from the first video transmission apparatus, the second video transmission apparatus, and the third video transmission apparatus to check whether the target object of the first video transmission apparatus, the target object of the second video transmission apparatus, and the target object of the third video transmission apparatus are a same vehicle or a same person, and

the received information analysis unit obtains, as time from entering the shop area to ordering, time from the appearance time of the target object of the first video transmission apparatus to the disappearance time of the target object of the second video transmission apparatus and obtains, as time from ordering to delivery in the shop area, time from the appearance time of the target object of the second video transmission apparatus to the disappearance time of the target object of the third video transmission apparatus when the target objects are determined to be the same vehicle or the same person as a result of the check by the target object checking unit.

7. The video monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein

the monitoring area includes a drive-through shop area, a plurality of the video transmission apparatuses are installed to monitor the drive-through shop area,

the plurality of video transmission apparatuses include a first video transmission apparatus installed at a position that allows imaging an ordering point in the shop area and a second video transmission apparatus installed at a position that allows imaging a delivery point in the shop area,

the target object to be monitored by the first video transmission apparatus and the second video transmission apparatus is a vehicle or a driver of the vehicle passing through the shop area,

the video reception apparatus further comprises:

an appearance time reception unit that receives appearance time of the target object from the first video transmission apparatus;

a disappearance time reception unit that receives disappearance time of the target object from the second video transmission apparatus; and

a target object checking unit that analyzes the data volume reduced images received from the first video transmission apparatus and the second video transmission apparatus to check whether the target object of the first video transmission apparatus and the target object of the second video transmission apparatus are a same vehicle or a same person, and

the received information analysis unit obtains, as time from ordering to delivery in the shop area, time from the appearance time of the target object of the first video transmission apparatus to the disappearance time of the target object of the second video transmission apparatus when the target objects are determined to be the same vehicle or the same person as a result of the check by the target object checking unit.

8. A video monitoring method where monitoring is conducted by using a received video, the video monitoring method comprising:

storing a plurality of consecutive images obtained by imaging the monitoring area and detecting a target object to be monitored from the plurality of images;

obtaining existence time from appearance to disappearance of the target object in the monitoring area;

selecting an image, in which the target object is detected, from the plurality of images; and

transmitting the selected image, in which the target object is detected, to a reception side that monitors the image, wherein

in the reception side,

the received image, in which the target object is detected, is analyzed,

a video request for requesting a plurality of consecutive images of the target object is transmitted to a transmission side based on input made according to a result of the analysis, and

in the transmission side,

a monitoring video of the target object including a plurality of consecutive images from the appearance to the disappearance of the target object is generated from the stored images based on the existence time of the target object when the video request is received, and the monitoring video is transmitted to the reception side.

9. The video monitoring method according to claim 8, further comprising:

analyzing an action of the target object from the image, in which the target object is detected, to obtain monitoring action time from a start to an end of the action; and

generating, as the monitoring video, a video including a plurality of consecutive images from the start to the end of the action of the target object to be monitored from the stored images based on the monitoring action time of the action to be monitored designated in the reception side.

10. The video monitoring method according to claim 8, wherein

the monitoring area includes an exit/entrance area of a shop,

the target objects to be monitored are a person entering the shop and a person leaving the shop, and

in the reception side,

appearance time of the person entering the shop and disappearance time of the person leaving the shop are received as existence time from the appearance to the disappearance of the target object in the monitoring area,

whether the person entering the shop and the person leaving the shop are a same person is checked from the received images in which the target objects are detected, and

time from the appearance time of the person entering the shop to the disappearance time of the person leaving the shop is obtained as shop stay time of the person entering the shop when the person entering the shop and the person leaving the shop are determined to be the same person as a result of the check.

11. The video monitoring method according to claim 8, wherein

the monitoring area includes an exit/entrance area of a shop,

the target objects to be monitored are a person entering the shop and a person ordering in the shop, and

in the reception side,

appearance time of the person entering the shop and disappearance time of the person ordering in the shop are received as existence time from appearance to disappearance of the target object in the monitoring area,

whether the target object at the entrance point and the target object at the ordering point are a same person is checked from the received images in which the target objects are detected, and

time from the appearance time of the target object at the entrance point to the disappearance time of the target object at the ordering point is obtained as time from entering the shop area to ordering when the target objects are determined to be the same person as a result of the check.

12. The video monitoring method according to claim 8, wherein

the monitoring area includes a drive-through shop area,

the target object to be monitored is a vehicle or a driver of the vehicle passing through an entrance point, an ordering point, and a delivery point of the shop area, and

in the reception side,

appearance time of the vehicle or the driver at the entrance point and the ordering point and disappearance time of the vehicle or the driver at the ordering point and the delivery point are received as existence time from appearance to disappearance of the target object in the monitoring area,

whether the target object at the entrance point, the target object at the ordering point, and the target object at the delivery point are the same vehicle or the same person is checked from the received images in which the target objects are detected, and

when the target objects are determined to be the same vehicle or the same person as a result of the check, time from the appearance time of the target object at the entrance point to the disappearance time of the target object at the ordering point is obtained as time from entering the shop area to ordering, and time from the appearance time of the target object at the ordering point to the disappearance time of the target object at the delivery point is obtained as time from ordering to delivery in the shop area.

13. The video monitoring method according to claim 8, wherein

the monitoring area includes a drive-through shop area,

the target object to be monitored is a vehicle or a driver of the vehicle passing through an ordering point and a delivery point in the shop area, and

in the reception side,

appearance time of the vehicle or the driver of the vehicle passing through the ordering point and disappearance time of the vehicle or the driver of the vehicle passing through the delivery point are received as existence time from appearance to disappearance of the target object in the monitoring area,

whether the target object at the ordering point and the target object at the delivery point are a same target or a same vehicle is checked from the received images in which the target objects are detected, and

time from the appearance time of the target object at the ordering point to the disappearance time of the target object at the delivery point is obtained as time from ordering to delivery at the shop area when the target objects are determined to be the same vehicle or the same person as a result of the check.

14. A video transmission apparatus connected to a video reception apparatus in a video monitoring system, the video transmission apparatus comprising:

an image input unit to which a plurality of consecutive images obtained by imaging a monitoring area are input;

a target detection unit that detects a target object to be monitored from the plurality of images input to the image input unit;

an existence time detection unit that obtains existence time from appearance to disappearance of the target object in the monitoring area;

a request reception unit that receives a video request transmitted from the video reception apparatus;

a monitoring video generation unit that generates a monitoring video of the target object including a plurality of consecutive images from the appearance to the disappearance of the target object based on the existence time of the target object when the request reception unit receives the video request; and

a video transmission unit that transmits the monitoring video to the video reception apparatus.

15. A program executed by a video transmission apparatus connected to a video reception apparatus in a video monitoring system,

the program causing a computer to execute:

a process in which a plurality of consecutive images obtained by imaging a monitoring area are input;

a process of detecting a target object to be monitored from the plurality of images input;

a process of obtaining existence time from appearance to disappearance of the target object in the monitoring area;

a process of receiving a video request transmitted from the video reception apparatus;

a process of generating a monitoring video of the target object including a plurality of consecutive images from the appearance to the disappearance of the target object based on the existence time of the target object when receiving the video request; and

a process of transmitting the monitoring video to the video reception apparatus.

16. A video reception apparatus connected to a video transmission apparatus in a video monitoring system, the video reception apparatus comprising:

an image reception unit that receives an image, in which a target object is detected, transmitted from the video transmission apparatus;

an image analysis unit that analyzes the image received by the data reception unit; and

a request transmission unit that transmits a video request for requesting a plurality of consecutive images of the target object to the video transmission apparatus based on input made according to an analysis result of the image analysis unit.

17. A program executed by a video reception apparatus connected to a video transmission apparatus in a video monitoring system,

the program causing a computer to execute:

a process of receiving an image, in which a target object is detected, transmitted from the video transmission apparatus;

a process of analyzing the image received; and

a process of transmitting a video request for requesting a plurality of consecutive images of the target object to the video transmission apparatus based on input made according to a result of the analyzing.