Security system with locatable portable electronic camera image transmission

• US 6,469,735 B2
• Filed: 01/12/2001
• Issued: 10/22/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 01/16/1989
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Christopher F. Coles
• Original Assignee: Christopher F. Coles
• Inventors: Coles, Christopher F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Vu
• Application Number:
  US09/760,104
• Publication Number:
  US 20010001561A1
• Time in Patent Office: 648 Days
• Field of Search: 348/143, 348/148-149, 348/151, 348/158
• US Class Current: 348/158
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0009 Transmission of position information to remote stations involving assistance data G01S5/0236
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19621 Portable camera
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19671 Addition of non-video data, i.e. metadata, to video stream
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0297 Robbery alarms, e.g. hold-up alarms, bag snatching alarms
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/016 Personal emergency signalling and security systems emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12

Abstract

A method of detecting a breach of security in a first location and providing information about the breach of security to security personnel in a remote location is provided. The method includes acquiring global positioning signals at the first location upon the breach of security and transmitting the global positioning signals to the remote location. The method further may include acquiring a digital image of the first location and transmitting the digital image to the remote location along with the global positioning signals. Personnel at the remote location are thus notified of the breach of security and also are provided the position and a photograph of the first location for taking action appropriate to the breach.

Claims

1. A method of detecting a breach of security in a first location and providing information regarding the breach of security to security personnel in a remote location, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) upon the breach of security at the first location, acquiring global positioning signals at the first location, calculating the position of the first location based upon the acquired global positioning signals, converting the calculated position into transmittable data representative of the position, acquiring a digital image of the vicinity of the first location, and converting the digital image into transmittable data representative of the digital image;

(b) at the first location, generating a transmittable signal that contains the data representative of the calculated position of the first location and the data representative of the digital image;

(c) transmitting the transmittable signal from the first location to the remote location;

(d) receiving the transmitted signal at the remote location;

(e) at the remote location, extracting from the received signal the data representative of the position of the first location and extracting from the received signal the digital image;

(f) at the remote location, presenting the extracted data representative of the position of the first location and presenting the digital image in a form usable by security personnel to identify the position of the first location.

2. A method of detecting a breach of security as claimed in claim 1 and further comprising the step of initiating steps (a) through (h) by activating a manually operable switch.

3. A method of detecting a breach of security as claimed in claim 1 and further comprising the step of initiating steps (a) through (h) upon the occurrence of a predetermined condition.

4. A method of detecting a breach of security as claimed in claim 3 and wherein the predetermined condition is ambient sound in the vicinity of the first location.

5. A method of detecting a breach of security as claimed in claim 1 and wherein step (a) comprises acquiring the global positioning signals from the Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) array.

6. A method of identifying the position of a first location to security personnel in a remote location upon the occurrence of a distress condition at the first location, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) acquiring global positioning signals at the first location and acquiring an image of the first location upon occurrence of the distress condition, the global positioning signals being indicative of the position of the first location;

(b) converting the acquired global positioning signals and the acquired image into transmittable data;

(c) generating a transmittable signal that contains the transmittable data;

(d) transmitting the transmittable signal to the remote location;

(e) receiving the transmitted signal at the remote location;

(f) at the remote location, extracting from the received signal the position of the first location and the image and presenting the position of the first location and image to security personnel at the remote location as a part of an alarm indicating the distress condition at the first location; and

(g) at the remote location, taking action appropriate to the distress condition.

7. The method of claim 6 and wherein step (a) comprises acquiring signals from the Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) array.

8. The method of claim 6 and wherein steps (a) through (g) are initiated by activating a manually operable switch at the first location upon occurrence of the distress condition.

9. The method of claim 6 and wherein steps (a) through (g) are initiated upon occurrence of a predetermined stimulus at the first location.

10. The method of claim 9 and wherein the predetermined stimulus is ambient sound in the vicinity of the first location above a predetermined threshold.

11. The method of claim 6 and wherein step (a) further includes acquiring sound from the first location upon occurrence of the distress condition, step (b) further includes converting the acquired sound to transmittable data, and step (f) further includes extracting the sound from the received signal and presenting the extracted sound to security personnel in conjunction with the image and position of the first location.

12. The method of claim 6 and wherein step (g) includes contacting the first location from the remote location to inquire regarding the distress condition.

13. A method of identifying the position of a first location to security personnel at a remote location, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving global positioning signals at the first location;

(b) obtaining an image of the first location; and

(c) transmitting the received global positioning signals and the obtained image from the first location to the remote location.

14. The method of claim 13 and further including the step of initiating steps (a) (b) and (c) through activation of a manually operable switch at the first location.

15. The method of claim 14 and wherein activation of the manually operable switch is in response to a distress condition at the first location.

16. The method of claim 14 and wherein the global positioning signals are acquired from the Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) array.