SURVEILLANCE METHOD, DEVICE AND SYSTEM

• US 20170255833A1
• Filed: 09/24/2015
• Published: 09/07/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cesare Micheli, Filippo Guerzoni
• Original Assignee: Cesare Micheli, Filippo Guerzoni
• Inventors: GUERZONI, Filippo
• Granted Patent: US 10,438,070 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10016 Video; Image sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30232 Surveillance
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30241 Trajectory
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/248 involving reference images or patches
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/70 Determining position or orientation of objects or cameras camera calibration G06T7/80
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/41 Higher-level, semantic clustering, classification or understanding of video scenes, e.g. detection, labelling or Markovian modelling of sport events or news items segmenting video sequences G06V20/49
• 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: G08B 13/19606 Discriminating between target movement or movement in an area of interest and other non-signicative movements, e.g. target movements induced by camera shake or movements of pets, falling leaves, rotating fan
• 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: H04N 23/54 Mounting of pick-up tubes, electronic image sensors, deviation or focusing coils
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 for receiving images from a single remote source

Abstract

A method for surveillance of a predetermined volume comprising the following steps:

• • a) preparing at least one video camera designed to acquire images of a predetermined volume which is under surveillance;
  • b) defining in the images at least a first predetermined authorised region having a first level of authorisation and at least a second predetermined unauthorised region,
  • c) analysing the images to identify a moving object and to identify at least one position associated with the moving object;
  • d) comparing the position of the moving object identified with the positions of the above-mentioned authorised region and/or unauthorised region;
  • e) making available an alarm indication depending on the results of the comparison.

Claims

1. A method for surveillance of a predetermined volume, wherein it comprises the following steps:

a) preparing at least one video camera designed to acquire images of a predetermined volume which is under surveillance;

b) defining in said images at least a first predetermined authorised region having a first level of authorisation and at least a second predetermined unauthorised region,

c) analysing said images to identify a moving object and to identify at least one position associated with the moving object;

d) comparing the position of the moving object identified with the positions of said authorised region and/or unauthorised region to identify if said moving object is inside or outside one or more of said regions;

e) making available an alarm indication depending on the results of said comparison.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of analysing said images to identify the position of a moving object comprises a step of analysing a plurality of images which are consecutive in terms of time, so as to identify positions of the object in each of said images and to determine a movement trajectory of said object, the method also comprising a step of making available an indication depending on the movement trajectory of the object relative to the positions of said authorised and unauthorised areas.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein said step of analysing said images to identify a moving object in the predetermined volume comprises a step of acquiring a plurality of images and identifying a static content associated with said images, and wherein the step of analysing said images to identify a position of a moving object in the predetermined volume comprises a step of removing the static content from at least one image acquired, for identifying the moving object.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of analysing said images to identify a position of a moving object in the predetermined volume comprises a step of identifying a position of the object according to a three-dimensional system of coordinates.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein said step of analysing said images to identify the position of a moving object in the predetermined volume comprises a first step of identifying the position of the object in the image and a second step of identifying the three-dimensional position of the object in the volume under surveillance by using a functional relationship between two-dimensional points of the image and three-dimensional coordinates of the predetermined volume under surveillance.

6. The method according to claim 4, comprising a step of assigning three-dimensional coordinates to one or more points which are part of the outline of the object.

7. The method according to claim 4, comprising a step of determining the volume of said object detected and in which the alarm indication is inhibited or made available also depending on the volume of said object determined.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of analysing said images to identify the position of a moving object in the predetermined volume comprises a step of analysing images which are consecutive in terms of time and the method comprises, in the case in which said object is detected in first images and is not detected in second images which come after the first in terms of time, a step of saving the last position of the object detected.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of defining in said images at least one first authorised region and one second unauthorised region comprises a step of defining at least one further region which has a second and different level of authorisation.

10. The method according to claim 1, comprising a step of analysing said images to identify the presence of fog and/or rain and/or hail and/or snow in the images I, and a step of inhibiting the alarm indication if fog and/or rain and/or hail and/or snow is identified.

11. The method according to claim 1, comprising a step of establishing zones of the image I which are excluded from the analysis.

12. A device for surveillance of a predetermined volume, wherein it comprises:

at least one video camera designed to acquire images of a predetermined volume;

processing means designed to implement the steps of the surveillance method according to claim 1.

13. The surveillance device according to claim 12, comprising a supporting body to which the video camera and the processing means are constrained.

14. A surveillance system, comprising a plurality of devices according to claim 12, wherein each of said devices is provided with a data receiving and transmitting module, designed to exchange information relating to the moving object with one more of the other devices.

15. The surveillance system according to claim 14, wherein at least two of said devices are positioned in such a way as to acquire images of volumes which are near one another or partly overlapping, and wherein the processing means of said at least two devices are designed to dialogue with each other and to exchange information relating to at least the objects identified.