Method and apparatus for searching recorded video

• US 7,562,299 B2
• Filed: 08/13/2004
• Issued: 07/14/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pelco (Schneider Electric SE)
• Original Assignee: Pelco (Schneider Electric SE)
• Inventors: Haning, Ryan, Millar, Greg
• Primary Examiner(s): BAUTISTA, XIOMARA L
• Application Number:
  US10/918,184
• Publication Number:
  US 20060034586A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,796 Days
• Field of Search: 715/700, 715/716, 715/717, 715/719, 715/764, 715/765, 715/781, 715/804, 715/835, 715/846, 715/810, 348/143, 348/152, 348/153
• US Class Current: 715/719
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

A method of searching recorded video from a surveillance camera comprising the steps of displaying a first timeline representing a first period of time, using a first user input to select a first time on the first timeline, using a second user input to display a second timeline, said second timeline having a shorter duration of time than said first timeline, using a third user input to select a second time on the second timeline, and using a fourth user input to display the video that was recorded at the second time.

Claims

1. A method of searching recorded video from a camera comprising the steps of:

displaying a first timeline representing a first period of time of recorded video on a graphical user interface;

using a first user input to select a first time on the first timeline by moving a pointer along the first timeline;

using a second user input that does not require the user to interface with the graphical user interface to generate a second timeline, the second timeline representing a second period of time within the first period of time and having a shorter duration of time than the first period of time and containing all of the video information for the second period of time that was contained in the same time period in the first period of time;

replacing the first timeline with the second timeline;

using a third user input to select a second time on the second timeline; and

using a fourth user input to display the video that was recorded at the second time.

2. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising the step of providing indications on the first and second timelines when video was recorded.

3. A method as recited in claim 2 wherein said providing step comprises providing indications that indicate the lengths of video recorded.

4. A method as recited in claim 2 wherein said providing step comprises providing an indication of the type of event that was recorded.

5. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising the steps of displaying the first timeline in a first window and displaying the recorded video in a second window.

6. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising the steps of selecting a plurality of cameras and displaying video that was recorded at the second time by the plurality of cameras so that the video from the plurality of cameras is synchronized on the display thereby allowing a user to simultaneously view the video from the selected plurality of cameras that was recorded at the second time.

7. A method as recited in claim 6 further comprising the steps of creating a plurality of windows in the display, creating a plurality of icons in the display representing video cameras, and wherein said step of selecting a plurality of video cameras comprises selecting an icon in the display and dragging the selected icon to one of the plurality of windows for each of the selected plurality of video cameras.

8. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising the steps of using a fifth user input to display a third timeline, said third timeline having a shorter duration of time than said second timeline;

replacing the second timeline with the third timeline;

using a sixth user input to select a third time on the third timeline; and

using a seventh user input to display the video that was recorded at the third time.

9. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein said step of using a second user input to generate a second timeline comprises the step of changing the scale on the second timeline.

10. A method as recited in claim 9 wherein said step of changing the scale on the second timeline comprises changing the scale to a scale selected from the group of from months to days, from days to hours, from hours to minutes, and from minutes to seconds.

11. A method as recited in claim 10 wherein said step of changing the scale on the second timeline comprises the step of rotating a mouse wheel to change the scale on the second timeline.

12. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said step of using a first user input and said step of using a second user input can be done at the same time.

13. An apparatus for searching recorded video from a camera comprising:

a display;

a storage device for storing recorded video;

a processor for generating a first signal to display a first timeline representing a first period of time of recorded video on said display in a graphical user interface;

a user input device for providing a first user input to said processor for selecting a first time on said first timeline by moving a pointer along the first timeline and for providing a second user input to said processor that does not require the user to interface with the graphical user interface, said processor generating a second signal to display a second timeline on said display in response to said second user input and replacing said first timeline with said second timeline, said second timeline representing a second period of time within the first period of time and having a shorter duration of time than said first period of time and containing all of the video information for the second period of time that was contained in the same time period in said first period of time, said user input device providing a third user input to select a second time on said second timeline and a fourth user input to select the display of video that was recorded at said second time, said processor accessing said storage device in response to said fourth user input to generate a signal to display the video that was recorded at said second time on said display.

14. An apparatus as recited in claim 13 wherein said processor generates a signal to display said first and second timelines with indications of when video was recorded.

15. An apparatus as recited in claim 14 wherein said indications have widths that indicate the lengths of recorded video.

16. An apparatus as recited in claim 14 wherein said indications have different colors to indicate the type of event that was recorded.

17. An apparatus as recited in claim 13 wherein said processor generates a signal to display said first timeline in a first window and the recorded video in a second window.

18. An apparatus as recited in claim 13 wherein said processor is responsive to user input to enable a user to select a plurality of cameras and generates a signal to display video that was recorded at said second time by the selected plurality of surveillance cameras so that the video from the plurality of cameras is synchronized on the display thereby allowing a user to simultaneously view the video from the selected plurality of cameras that was recorded at the second time.

19. An apparatus as recited in claim 18 wherein said processor generates a display having a plurality of windows and a plurality of icons representing a plurality of cameras and wherein said processor enables a user to select an icon from the plurality of icons to select a camera and to place that icon in one of the plurality of windows to display the video recorded from the selected camera.

20. An apparatus as recited in claim 13 wherein said user input device comprises a mouse.

21. An apparatus as recited in claim 13 wherein said user input device comprises a jog/shuttle.

22. An apparatus as recited in claim 13, wherein said user input device comprises a keyboard.

23. An apparatus as recited in claim 13 wherein said second timeline has a different scale than said first timeline.

24. An apparatus as recited in claim 23 wherein said processor changes the scale on said second timeline to a user selected scale from the group of from months to days, from days to hours, from hours to minutes and from minutes to seconds.

25. An apparatus as recited in claim 24 wherein said second user input comprising rotation of a mouse wheel.

26. An apparatus as recited in claim 13, wherein said first and second user inputs can be done at the same time.

27. A method of searching recorded video from a surveillance camera comprising the steps of:

displaying a first timeline representing a first period of time of recorded video on a graphical user interface;

using a first user input to select a first time on the first timeline by moving a pointer along the first timeline;

using a second user input that does not require the user to interface with the graphical user interface to generate a second timeline, the second timeline representing a second period of time within the first period of time and having a shorter duration of time than the first period of time and containing all of the video information for the second period of time that was contained in the same time period in the first period of time;

replacing the first timeline with the second timeline;

using a third user input to select a start point on the second timeline for recorded video to be exported;

using a fourth user input to select an end point on the second timeline for recorded video to be exported; and

using a fifth user input to initiate the exporting of the video data for the time period from the start point to the end point.

28. A method as recited in claim 27, wherein said step of using a first user input and said step of using a second user input can be done at the same time.