Acoustically monitored shopper traffic surveillance and security system for shopping malls and retail space
First Claim
1. For a defined spatial zone having fixed structures and a pattern of normal human movement, apparatus for identifying said human movement and deriving therefrom traffic flow indicia, said apparatus comprising:
- means for transmitting periodic bursts of acoustic energy from one or more sites in said zone to generate return echoes from said fixed structures and from individual humans in movement;
an array of horizontally oriented directional microphones at selected ones of said sites and an array of vertically oriented directional microphones mounted at selected ones of said sites,the adjacent microphones of each said array being disposed at successive incremental horizontal or vertical angles, thereby to create at each site a plurality of adjacent horizontal and/or vertical beams of return echoes from discrete horizontal or vertical sectors of said spatial zone;
a data base comprising;
means for storing data frames representing a time series of spatial maps generated from said return echoes of objects, each said map containing indicia of said moving humans, including data on the distance and relative direction from said transmitting means for each said object; and
means for comparing said maps of successive said data frames to determine the total number of humans and the changes in the spatial location of said moving humans within said spatial zone.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Acoustic surveillance of objects and human traffic in spatial zones of a shopping mall and associated retail selling space is used to detect shopper traffic movement and from it, traffic data such as: shopper volume, shopper flow, crowding, and also unusual motion such as crowd surges that might connote an emergency situation. The apparatus uses phased arrays of acoustic transducers including arrays oriented in a vertical aspect which enables differentiation of non-shopping young children to arrive at more accurate headcount figures. Several specific types of detected movement defined as abnormal trigger an alert to a remote monitoring station. The alerts are automatically prioritized using rule-based criteria. Enhanced surveillance of the alert site by audio links as well as site alert history information are also provided.
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Citations
11 Claims
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1. For a defined spatial zone having fixed structures and a pattern of normal human movement, apparatus for identifying said human movement and deriving therefrom traffic flow indicia, said apparatus comprising:
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means for transmitting periodic bursts of acoustic energy from one or more sites in said zone to generate return echoes from said fixed structures and from individual humans in movement; an array of horizontally oriented directional microphones at selected ones of said sites and an array of vertically oriented directional microphones mounted at selected ones of said sites, the adjacent microphones of each said array being disposed at successive incremental horizontal or vertical angles, thereby to create at each site a plurality of adjacent horizontal and/or vertical beams of return echoes from discrete horizontal or vertical sectors of said spatial zone; a data base comprising; means for storing data frames representing a time series of spatial maps generated from said return echoes of objects, each said map containing indicia of said moving humans, including data on the distance and relative direction from said transmitting means for each said object; and means for comparing said maps of successive said data frames to determine the total number of humans and the changes in the spatial location of said moving humans within said spatial zone. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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Specification