Apparatus for alerting human operator to status conditions of intelligent video information management system
First Claim
1. A closed-circuit video surveillance system, comprising:
- a plurality of video cameras;
selection means for selecting one or more of said video cameras;
display means for displaying video images generated by ones of said video cameras selected by said selection means; and
control means for controlling said display means, said control means causing said display means to display a plurality of symbols each representative of a respective one of said video cameras, said control means also causing said display means to display an indication in association with at least one of said symbols to indicate that the camera or cameras corresponding to said at least one of said symbols have been selected by said selection means.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A video data storage apparatus simultaneously records a plurality of streams of video images each generated by a respective video camera. The apparatus includes a housing having a front panel, a storage device inside the housing for storing a video information, a display screen for displaying video information and a control circuit inside the housing. A plurality of manually-operable switches is mounted in a layout pattern on the front panel. A mouse controls positioning of a cursor on the display screen. The display screen displays switch areas in accordance with the switch layout pattern of the front panel. The switch areas on the display screen are actuatable by the mouse.
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Citations
33 Claims
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1. A closed-circuit video surveillance system, comprising:
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a plurality of video cameras; selection means for selecting one or more of said video cameras; display means for displaying video images generated by ones of said video cameras selected by said selection means; and control means for controlling said display means, said control means causing said display means to display a plurality of symbols each representative of a respective one of said video cameras, said control means also causing said display means to display an indication in association with at least one of said symbols to indicate that the camera or cameras corresponding to said at least one of said symbols have been selected by said selection means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A method of indicating a display status of video cameras selected for display from among a plurality of video cameras included in a closed-circuit video surveillance system, the method comprising the steps of:
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displaying in a window on a display screen images generated by one or more of said cameras, said one or more of said cameras having been selected for display; displaying, outside of said window on said display screen, a plurality of symbols each corresponding to a respective one of said plurality of video cameras included in said closed-circuit video surveillance system; and displaying one or more indicia for indicating which one or ones of said plurality of video cameras have been selected for display, each of said one or more indicia being displayed in proximity to one of said symbols which corresponds to a video camera selected for display.
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6. A closed-circuit video surveillance system, comprising:
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a plurality of video cameras; display-selection means for display-selecting one or more of said video cameras; display means including a display screen for displaying respective streams of video images generated by ones of said video cameras display-selected by said display-selection means, each respective displayed stream of video images being displayed in a respective display window on said display screen; record-selection means for record-selecting one or more of said video cameras; recording means for recording video information corresponding to the video images generated by ones of said video cameras record-selected by said record-selection means; and control means for controlling said display means, said control means causing said display means to display a record-enable indicia at a border of each said display window, said record-enable indicia for indicating whether the display-selected video camera corresponding to the respective display window is currently record-selected by said record selection means. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of indicating a recording status with respect to video cameras included in a closed-circuit video surveillance system, the method comprising the steps of:
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displaying in a window on a display screen a dynamic image generated by one of said video cameras; displaying at a border of said window a record enable indicia to indicate whether signals output by said one of said video cameras have been selected for recording. - View Dependent Claims (13)
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14. In a closed-circuit video surveillance system including a video camera, a method of automatically diagnosing the video camera, comprising the steps of:
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storing a reference image generated by the video camera; analyzing the stored reference image to form reference parameters indicative of characteristics of the stored reference image; storing the reference parameters; automatically and periodically operating the video camera to generate comparison images; storing and analyzing the comparison images to generate comparison parameters indicative of characteristics of the respective comparison images; and comparing the comparison parameters with the stored reference parameters; at least one of said comparison images being generated at least five days after said reference image was stored. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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17. A method according to step 14, wherein said step of periodically operating the video camera to generate said comparison images is performed weekly.
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18. Apparatus for automatically diagnosing a video camera included in a closed-circuit video surveillance system, the apparatus comprising:
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means for storing a reference image generated by the video camera; means for analyzing the stored reference image to form reference parameters indicative of characteristics of the stored reference image; means for storing the reference parameters; calendar means for generating calendar signals; diagnosis operation means, responsive to said calendar signals, for automatically and periodically operating the video camera to generate comparison images; means for storing and analyzing the comparison images to generate comparison parameters indicative of characteristics of the respective comparison images; and means for comparing the comparison parameters with the stored reference parameters; said diagnosis operation means causing said video camera to generate at least one of said comparison images at least five days after said reference image was stored.
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19. A method of displaying status information relating to a video surveillance system, the system including at least one hard disk for storing in digital form video image information generated by a plurality of video cameras, the system further including an archive storage device for driving a removable recording medium and copying video image information onto the removable recording medium from the hard disk, the method comprising the steps of:
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displaying on a display screen first information indicative of unused recording space available on said at least one hard disk; and displaying on said display screen second information indicative of unused recording space available on said removable recording medium. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A video surveillance system, comprising:
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a plurality of video cameras; at least one hard disk for storing in digital form video image information generated by said video cameras; archive means for driving a removable recording medium; means for copying video image information from said hard disk onto said removable recording medium; and a display screen for displaying first information indicative of unused recording space available on said at least one hard disk, and for displaying second information indicative of unused recording space available on said removable recording medium. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28)
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29. Video data storage apparatus for simultaneously recording a plurality of streams of video images each generated by a respective video camera, comprising:
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a plurality of video cameras; a housing having a front panel; storage means disposed within the housing for storing video information generated by the video cameras; display means including a display screen for displaying the video information generated by the video cameras; control means disposed within the housing for receiving the video information generated by the video cameras and transmitting the video information to the storage means and to the display means; a plurality of manually-operable switches, mounted in a layout pattern on the front panel of the housing, for inputting respective command signals to the control means; and cursor means for transmitting signals to the control means to control positioning of a cursor on said display screen; wherein the control means controls the display means to display a plurality of switch areas on the display screen in accordance with the switch layout pattern on the front panel, each of said switch areas on the display screen corresponding to one of the switches on the front panel and being actuatable by the cursor means to generate a command signal which is the same as the command signal generated by actuation of the corresponding switch on the front panel. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33)
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Specification