Video observation systems
First Claim
1. Apparatus for remote observation of objects comprising:
- first means adjacent the objects for periodically generating data representative of an image of said objects, said data being broken into segments, each of which represents an element of said image;
second means adjacent said objects for transmitting to said point of observation the most significant portion of the data segment associated with each image element;
third means adjacent said point of observation for receiving said most significant portions and for displaying an image based on said most significant portions;
fourth means adjacent said point of observation for transmitting to the location of said objects a first signal indicative of the acceptabilty of the image displayed by said third means;
fifth means adjacent said objects for receiving said first signal and for transmitting to said point of observation the next most significant portion of the data segment associated with each image element only if said first signal indicates that the image displayed by said third means is not acceptable; and
sixth means adjacent said point of observation for receiving said next most significant portions and for displaying an image based on said most and next most significant portions of said next most significant portions are transmitted;
wherein said objects move relative to said first means so that a portion of an object feature to be observed may be in one image and another portion of said object feature may be in the next sequential image, and wherein said apparatus further comprises;
first and second buffer means adjacent said point of observation, each of said buffer means being large enough to hold all of th data for one image;
means for storing the data received from said second and fifth means for successive images in alternate ones of said first and second buffers so that the data for two sequential images is respectively stored in said first and second buffers; and
means for displaying an image based on part of the data stored in said first buffer and part of the data stored in said second buffer so that both portions of said object feature are visible in the displayed image.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A scene to be monitored (e.g., at a remote location or at a later time) is captured as a series of still images. These images are digitally encoded and stored in a digital memory for subsequent retrieval and viewing. If the scene includes a moving object (e.g., the side of a moving freight train), the images may be taken so that they are substantially mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive of the moving object. During playback, two or more adjacent images may be displayed adjacent to one another so that any feature partly present in adjacent images is visible as a whole. If the observer is at a location remote from the point at which the images are taken, various techniques can be used to facilitate transmission of the image information (preferably in digital form) via relatively low-cost transmission links such as voice-grade telephone lines.
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Citations
42 Claims
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1. Apparatus for remote observation of objects comprising:
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first means adjacent the objects for periodically generating data representative of an image of said objects, said data being broken into segments, each of which represents an element of said image; second means adjacent said objects for transmitting to said point of observation the most significant portion of the data segment associated with each image element; third means adjacent said point of observation for receiving said most significant portions and for displaying an image based on said most significant portions; fourth means adjacent said point of observation for transmitting to the location of said objects a first signal indicative of the acceptabilty of the image displayed by said third means; fifth means adjacent said objects for receiving said first signal and for transmitting to said point of observation the next most significant portion of the data segment associated with each image element only if said first signal indicates that the image displayed by said third means is not acceptable; and sixth means adjacent said point of observation for receiving said next most significant portions and for displaying an image based on said most and next most significant portions of said next most significant portions are transmitted; wherein said objects move relative to said first means so that a portion of an object feature to be observed may be in one image and another portion of said object feature may be in the next sequential image, and wherein said apparatus further comprises; first and second buffer means adjacent said point of observation, each of said buffer means being large enough to hold all of th data for one image; means for storing the data received from said second and fifth means for successive images in alternate ones of said first and second buffers so that the data for two sequential images is respectively stored in said first and second buffers; and means for displaying an image based on part of the data stored in said first buffer and part of the data stored in said second buffer so that both portions of said object feature are visible in the displayed image.
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2. Apparatus for remote observation of objects which are the sides of freight cars in a moving freight train comprising:
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first means adjacent the objects for determining the speed of said freight train and for periodically generating data representative of an image of said objects, the images for which said first means generates data being substantially mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive of the length of the train, and the data for each image being broken into segments, each of which represents an element of said image; second means adjacent said objects for transmitting to said point of observation the most significant portion of the data segment associated with each image element; third means adjacent said point of observation for receiving said most significant portions and for displaying an image based on said most significant portions; fourth means adjacent said point of observation for transmitting to the location of said objects a first signal indicative of the acceptability of the image displayed by said third means; fifth means adjacent said objects for receiving said first signal and for transmitting to said point of observation the next most significant portion of the data segment associated with each image element only if said first signal indicates that the image displayed by said third means is not acceptable; sixth means adjacent said point of observation for receiving said next most significant portions and for displaying an image based on said most and next most significant portions if said next most significant portions are transmitted; and seventh means adjacent said objects for receiving said first signal and for causing said second means to perform its function with respect to another image of said objects if said first signal indicates that the image displayed by said third means is acceptable; wherein the observer wishes to be able to read the car-identifying information painted on the side of each car at vertical locations dependent on the type of car, and wherein the apparatus further comprises; eighth means adjacent said point of observation for allowing the observer to indicate the type of car being observed; ninth means responsive to said eighth means for transmitting to the location of said objects a second signal which is a function of the indicated type of car; and tenth means adjacent said objects for receiving said second signal and for causing said second means to transmit only data regarding the vertical portion of the image in which car-identifying information occurs on the indicated type of car.
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3. Apparatus for remote observation of objects which are the sides of freight cars in a moving freight train comprising:
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first means adjacent the objects for determining the speed of said freight train and for periodically generating data representative of an image of said objects, the images for which said first means generates data being substantially mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive of the length of the train, and the data for each image being broken into segments, each of which represents an element of said image; second means adjacent said objects for transmitting to said point of observation the most significant portion of the data segment associated with each image element; third means adjacent said point of observation for receiving said most significant portions and for displaying an image based on said most significant portions; fourth means adjacent said point of observation for transmitting to the location of said objects a first signal indicative of the acceptability of the image displayed by said third means; fifth means adjacent said objects for receiving said first signal and for transmitting to said point of observation the next most significant portion of the data segment associated with each image element only if said first signal indicates that the image displayed by said third means is not acceptable; sixth means adjacent said point of observation for receiving said next most significant portions and for displaying an image based on said most and next most significant portions if said next most significant portions are transmitted; and seventh means adjacent said objects for receiving said first signal and for causing said second means to perform its function with respect to another image of said objects if said first signal indicates that the image displayed by said third means is acceptable; wherein the observer wishes to be able to read the car-identifying information painted on the side of each car at horizontal locations dependent on the type of car, and wherein the apparatus further comprises; eighth means adjacent said point of observation for allowing the observer to indicate the type of car being observed; ninth means responsive to said eighth means for determining which image after an image containing car-identifying information will contain the car-identifying information for the next car based on the horizontal field of view of each image and the type of car being observed; and tenth means adjacent said objects for causing said second means to transmit data regarding the image identified by said ninth means after the observer indicates that the image displayed by said third means contains car-identifying information.
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4. The method of monitoring a scene in the field of view of a video camera, said scene changing over time, and said video camera producing a video output signal representative of successive images of said scene, said method comprising the steps of:
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digitizing said video output signal to produce a digital output signal representative of said successive images; periodically producing a first control signal, the time interval between occurrences of said first control signal being substantially greater than the time required for said video camera to produce the output signal representative of one image of said scene; applying said digital output signal to one of first and second digital memories, each of which is capable of storing said digital output signal representative of one image of said scene, and switching the application of said digital output signal from one to the other of said first and second memories in response to each occurrence of said first control signal; and transferring the digital output signal stored by the one of said first and second memories to which said digital output signal is not currently being applied to a third digital memory, said transferring step being repeated in response to each occurrence of said first control signal so that successive images of said scene are stored in said third memory in digital data form. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. Apparatus for monitoring a scene in the field of view of a video camera, said scene changing over time, and said video camera producing a video output signal representative of said scene, said apparatus comprising:
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means for digitizing said video output signal to produce a digital output signal representative of said scene; first and second digital memory means, each being capable of storing said digital output signal to accumulate said digital output signal values corresponding to an image of said scene; third memory means for storing digital output signal values retrieved from either of said first and second memory means; means for periodically producing a first control signal, the time interval between occurrences of said first control signal being substantially greater than the time required for said video camera to produce the output signal representative of one image of said scene; means for applying said digital output signal to one of said first and second memory means and for switching the application of said digital output signal from one to the other of said first and second memory means in response to each occurrence of said first control signal; and means responsive to each occurrence of said first control signal for retrieving the digital signal values stored by the one of said first and second memory means to which said digital output signal is not currently being applied, and for applying the retrieved digital signal values to said third memory means for storage in said third memory means. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. The method of monitoring a scene represented by a succession of still images stored in digital data form in a digital memory, said scene including an object moving relative to the vantage point from which said images are taken i a direction parallel to the plane of said images, said object being larger parallel to said direction of motion than the field of view of any one image, and wherein a portion of a feature of the object to be monitored may be in one image and another portion of said feature may be in the next sequential image, said method comprising the steps of:
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transferring the digital data for successive images to alternate ones of first and second buffers, each of which is capable of storing the digital data for one image so that the digital data for two sequential images are respectively stored in said first and second buffers; and using portions of the digital data stored in each of said first and second buffers to form a composite image including a portion of the image represented by the digital data stored in each of said first and second buffers. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22)
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23. Apparatus for monitoring a scene represented by a succession of still images stored in digital data form in a digital memory, said scene including an object moving relative to the vantage point from which said images are taken in a direction parallel to the plane of said images, said object being larger parallel to said direction of motion than the field of view of any one image, and wherein a portion of a feature of the object to be monitored may be in one image and another portion of said feature may be in the next sequential image, said apparatus comprising:
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first and second buffer means, each being capable of storing the digital data for one image; means for retrieving from said digital memory the digital signal values for successive images; means for storing the digital data for successive images retrieved from said digital memory in alternate ones of said first and second buffers so that the digital data for two sequential images are respectively stored in said first and second buffers; and means for using portions of the digital data stored in each of said first and second buffers to form a composite image including a portion of the image represented by the digital data stored in each of said first and second buffers. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25)
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26. The method of monitoring a scene in the field of view of a video camera, said scene including an object moving relative to said video camera in a direction across said field of view and being larger than said field of view parallel to said direction of motion, said method comprising the steps of:
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periodically producing a first control signal, the time interval between occurrences of said first control signal being substantially greater than the time required for said video camera to produce the output signal for an image of said scene; storing in digital data form in a digital memory the output signal of said video camera for an image of said scene in response to each occurrence of said first control signal; transferring the digital data for two successive images from said digital memory to first and second buffers, each of which is capable of storing the digital data for one image, so that each of said first and second buffers stores the digital data for a respective one of said two successive images; and using portions of the digital data stored in each of said first and second buffers to form a composite image including a portion of the image represented by the digital data stored in each of said first and second buffers. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. Apparatus for monitoring a scene in the field of view of a video camera, said scene including an object moving relative to said video camera in a direction across said field of view and being larger than said field of view parallel to said direction of motion, said apparatus comprising:
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means for periodically producing a first control signal, the time interval between occurrences of said first control signal being greater than the time required for said video camera to produce an output signal representative of an image of said scene; digital memory means for storing in digital data form the output signal of said video camera for an image of said scene in response to each occurrence of said first control signal; first and second buffer means, each being capable of storing the digital data for one image of said scene; means for transferring the digital data for two successive images from said digital memory means to said first and second buffer means so that each of said first and second buffer means stores the digital data for a respective one of said two successive images; and means for using portions of the digital data stored in each of said first and second buffers to form a composite image including a portion of the image represented by the digital data stored in each of said first and second buffers. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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Specification