Digital video system using networked cameras
DCFirst Claim
1. A computer readable medium for use by a computer in providing an interface to multiple cameras via one or more video servers accessible to the computer via a network, comprising:
- a digital storage device;
a user interface program stored on said digital storage device in computer readable form, said program being operable upon execution by the computer to access server data uniquely identifying each video server and to attempt access to the video servers over the network, said program also being operable to obtain from each of the accessible video servers a hardware address stored in the video server;
wherein said program is further operable to validate the hardware addresses received from the video servers using the server data and, for those video servers having valid hardware address, said program is operable to generate a user interface display on the computer that includes a display window for each of the cameras accessed via the validated servers over the network and to display in each of the display windows an image received from the camera associated with that display window.
2 Assignments
Litigations
4 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A digital video system including a computer connected via a network to a number of video servers and cameras. The computer includes a program that provides a grid of display windows, each of which displays an image received from the camera associated with that window. The program sequentially polls each camera, accessing and displaying an image from the camera in its associated window. The program can access the cameras at different frame rates. The program stores image streams in a single file, concatenating each successive image onto the end of the file. The file is then indexed using SOI and EOI markers to permit fast access to individual images within the file. The program can monitor received video and automatically start recording upon detecting motion within the video stream. Motion detection is implemented by comparing color component values for pixels from different images.
131 Citations
54 Claims
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1. A computer readable medium for use by a computer in providing an interface to multiple cameras via one or more video servers accessible to the computer via a network, comprising:
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a digital storage device;
a user interface program stored on said digital storage device in computer readable form, said program being operable upon execution by the computer to access server data uniquely identifying each video server and to attempt access to the video servers over the network, said program also being operable to obtain from each of the accessible video servers a hardware address stored in the video server;
wherein said program is further operable to validate the hardware addresses received from the video servers using the server data and, for those video servers having valid hardware address, said program is operable to generate a user interface display on the computer that includes a display window for each of the cameras accessed via the validated servers over the network and to display in each of the display windows an image received from the camera associated with that display window. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A computer readable medium for use by a computer in providing an interface to multiple cameras accessible to the computer via a network, comprising:
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a digital storage device;
a user interface program stored on said digital storage device in computer readable form, said program being operable upon execution by the computer to access camera data uniquely identifying the cameras and to attempt access to the cameras over the network using the camera data;
wherein said program is further operable to verify access to those ones of the cameras that are accessible over the network and to generate a user interface display on the computer that includes a display window for each of the cameras accessed over the network and to display in each of the display windows an image received from the camera associated with that display window; and
wherein said program is operable to monitor the network for a trigger event generated by one of the cameras. - View Dependent Claims (30)
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31. A computer readable medium for use by a computer in providing an interface to multiple cameras accessible to the computer via a network, comprising:
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a digital storage device;
a user interface program stored on said digital storage device in computer readable form, said program being operable upon execution by the computer to access camera data uniquely identifying the cameras and to attempt access to the cameras over the network using the camera data;
wherein said program is further operable to verify access to those ones of the cameras that are accessible over the network and to generate a user interface display on the computer that includes a display window for each of the cameras accessed over the network and to display in each of the display windows an image received from the camera associated with that display window; and
wherein said program is operable in response to user selection of a display window to display a form that permits the user to initiate recording of images from the camera associated with that display window.
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32. A computer readable medium for use by a computer in detecting motion in a sequence of color video images received by the computer, comprising:
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a digital storage device;
a program stored on said digital storage device in computer readable form, said program being operable upon execution by the computer to select one of the video images as a reference image and another of the video images as a selected image to be compared to the reference image;
wherein said program is operable to access a plurality of different color component values for each of a number of pixels from the reference image and for each of a number of corresponding pixels from the selected image, with said program being operable to perform pixel companions using the color component values and to maintain a count of the number of pixels for which the difference in color component values for corresponding pixels from the reference and selected images differ by more than the preselected amount;
wherein said program is operable to maintain a separate counter for each of the different color component values and to increment the counter associated with a particular color component value if that color component value for a pixel from the selected image differs from that same color component value for the corresponding pixel from the reference image by more than a preselected offset associated with that color component; and
wherein said program is operable to generate a motion detect signal based on the counts stored in the counters. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. A computer readable medium for use by a computer in detecting motion in a sequence of color video images received by the computer, comprising:
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a digital storage device;
a program stored on said digital storage device in computer readable form, said program being operable upon execution by the computer to select one of the video images as a reference image and another of the video images as a selected image to be compared to the reference image;
wherein said program is operable to access a color component value for each of a number of pixels from the reference image and for each of a number of corresponding pixels from the selected image, with said program being operable to perform pixel comparisons using the color component values and to generate a motion detect signal when the difference in color component values for corresponding pixels from the reference and selected images differ by more than a preselected amount;
wherein said program is operable during comparison of the selected and reference images to maintain a count of the number of pixels for which the difference in color component values for corresponding pixels from the reference and selected images differ by more than the preselected amount;
wherein each pixel has a plurality of different color component values associated therewith and wherein said program is operable to maintain a separate counter for each of the different color component values and to increment the counter associated with a particular color component value if that color component value for a pixel from the selected image differs from that same color component value for the corresponding pixel from the reference image by more than a preselected offset associated with that color component;
wherein said program is operable to generate the motion detect signal when, for each of the counters, the count stored in that counter exceeds a predetermined minimum count associated with the color component value associated with that counter; and
wherein the different color component values comprise RGB component values, each of which has its own offset and minimum count. - View Dependent Claims (46)
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47. A computer readable medium for use by a computer in recording a sequence of images, each of which comprises an individual image file in which the image is represented in a graphics file format that includes a first marker identifying the start of the image and a second marker identifying the end of the image, comprising:
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a digital storage device;
a program stored on said digital storage device in computer readable form, said program being operable to store the images together as a single file that comprises the images concatenated together in sequential order;
wherein said program is further operable to index the file using the first and second marker;
wherein said single file comprises a digital video file and said program is operable to store a plurality or digital video files on the data storage device; and
wherein said program is operable to automatically index the digital video files on a periodic basis.
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48. A computer readable medium for use by a computer in recording a sequence of images, each of which comprises an individual image file in which the image is represented in a graphics file format that includes a first marker identifying the start of the image and a second marker identifying the end of the images, comprising:
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a digital storage device;
a program stored on said digital storage device in computer readable form, said program being operable to store the images together as a single file that comprises the images concatenated together in sequential order;
wherein said program is further operable to index the file using the first and second markers;
wherein said program comprises an image viewer program that is operable upon user selection of the single file to use the index to locate individual images within said single file; and
wherein said program is operable upon user selection of the single file to search for the index and, if not found, is further operable to create the index.
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49. A digital video system, comprising:
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a client computer, one or more video servers accessible by the client computer over a network;
a plurality of cameras connected to the video server(s), said video server(s) providing an interface between the cameras and client computer in which images from the cameras are accessed by the video server(s) and then sent to the client computer upon request by the client computer;
the video server(s) including a unique number that is stored in memory within the video server(s) and that is accessible to the client computer over the network;
wherein the client computer provides a user interface display on the computer that includes a display window for each of the cameras accessed over the network and that displays in each of the display windows an image received from the camera associated with that display window; and
wherein the client computer uses the unique number obtained from a particular video server to determine whether to enable or disable the display of images from one or more cameras connected to that particular video server. - View Dependent Claims (50, 51, 52, 53, 54)
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Specification