Method for automatically reducing stored data in a surveillance system

• US 7,760,230 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2005
• Issued: 07/20/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Identiv, Inc.
• Original Assignee: 3VR Security Incorporated (Identiv, Inc.)
• Inventors: Haupt, Gordon T., Russell, Stephen G., Vallone, Robert P., Fleischer, Stephen D., Freeman, J. Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Rao; Andy S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pe; Geepy
• Application Number:
  US11/082,027
• Publication Number:
  US 20050271251A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,953 Days
• Field of Search: 348/143, 348150-156
• US Class Current: 348/143
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/40 in video content extracting overlay text G06V20/62; video retrieval G06F16/70; processing of video elementary streams in video servers H04N21/234; processing of video elementary streams in video clients H04N21/44
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/52 Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/168 Feature extraction; Face representation
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/172 Classification, e.g. identification
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44008 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in the video stream arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/77 between a recording apparatus and a television camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/781 on disks or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

A method of managing video data storage in a video surveillance system is disclosed. The disclosed methods extend the amount of calendar time for which video and image data can be stored on a storage device. The disclosed methods apply decision criteria, such as rules, configuration data and preferences, to support intelligent automatic reduction of stored surveillance data such that images and video data of most interest are maintained while less important data is deleted, compressed or archived.

Claims

1. A method of managing data storage in a video surveillance system that monitors a physical environment, comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

receiving user input that specifies a plurality of rules;

wherein each rule of the plurality of rules is associated with (a) an event type and (b) storage information that indicates at least one of (1) where to store or (2) how to store video data that is associated with events, of the event type, that occur in or around the physical environment;

wherein a first rule of the plurality of rules is associated with a first event type and a second rule of the plurality of rules is associated with a second event type that is different than the first event type;

receiving video data;

detecting that a particular event occurred in or around the physical environment;

in response to detecting the particular event,

determining a particular event type for the particular event,

identifying a particular rule, of the plurality of rules, that is associated with the particular event type,

reading storage information associated with the particular rule, and

storing video data, captured by the video surveillance system and associated with the particular event, in accordance with the storage information;

wherein the steps are performed by one or more computing devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said second rule specifies a different time period, compression setting, and/or storage location for storing video data than said first event rule.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

said particular rule specifies how and where to store video surveillance system data received from a first camera;

said second rule specifies how and where to store video surveillance data received from a second camera that is different than the first camera.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein:

said particular rule further specifies at least one time period, and the step of storing received video data in accordance with the particular rule further comprises determining which video data to store based on a comparison between time information associated with the video data and the at least one time period specified in the particular rule.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

updating data storage in accordance with a data reduction request received from a user or generated in response to a particular event.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the particular rule comprises event metadata storage information and video data storage information; and

the step of storing received data in accordance with the particular rule comprises;

determining metadata about the event of the particular event type,

storing the determined metadata in accordance with the event metadata storage information of the particular rule, and

storing video data associated with the particular event of the particular event type in accordance with the video data storage information of the particular rule.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein:

said event metadata storage information includes an identification of an event database for storing metadata;

said video data storage information includes an identification of a video data storage location for storing video data associated with the particular event of the particular event type, said video data storage location being separate from the event database; and

said step of storing received data in accordance with the particular rule additionally comprising;

storing the video data associated with the particular event of the particular event type in the video data storage location; and

storing determined metadata with a link to the stored video data in a row in the event database.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the video data storage information specifies storing video data on archival media that is separate from the event database.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein:

the method further comprises the computer-implemented step of determining that the received video data contains an object; and

the step of determining metadata comprises determining at least one potential identification candidate for the object.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of determining metadata further comprises determining a best match for the object in the received video data.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of determining a best match comprises:

comparing a set of identifying information extracted from the received video data to a plurality of stored sets of identifying information, each stored set of identifying information associated with an object;

calculating a confidence score for each comparison; and

determining a best matching object based on the confidence scores.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the particular event of the particular event type is an event detected through an external source.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the particular event of the particular event type is a motion detection event.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of storing received data in accordance with the particular rule comprises:

determining metadata about the specified event from the external source; and

storing the determined metadata in accordance with event metadata information included in the particular rule.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein a third rule specifies a condition and data storage update information, the method additionally comprising the steps of:

detecting the condition specified by the third rule; and

in response to detecting the condition, updating video data storage in accordance with the data storage update information in the third rule.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving video data comprises receiving video data from a source external to the video surveillance system.

27. A computer-readable storage encoded with a computer program for performing the method recited in claim 1.

28. A computer-readable storage encoded with a computer program for performing the method recited in claim 2.

29. A computer-readable storage encoded with a computer program for performing the method recited in claim 3.

30. A computer-readable storage encoded with a computer program for performing the method recited in claim 4.

31. A computer-readable storage encoded with a computer program for performing the method recited in claim 5.

32. A computer-readable storage encoded with a computer program for performing the method recited in claim 6.

33. A computer-readable storage encoded with a computer program for performing the method recited in claim 7.

34. A computer-readable storage encoded with a computer program for performing the method recited in claim 8.

35. A computer-readable storage encoded with a computer program for performing the method recited in claim 9.

36. A computer-readable storage encoded with a computer program for performing the method recited in claim 10.

37. A computer-readable storage encoded with a computer program for performing the method recited in claim 11.

38. A computer-readable storage encoded with a computer program for performing the method recited in claim 12.

39. A computer-readable storage encoded with a computer program for performing the method recited in claim 13.

40. A computer-readable storage encoded with a computer program for performing the method recited in claim 14.

41. A computer-readable storage encoded with a computer program for performing the method recited in claim 15.

42. A computer-readable storage encoded with a computer program for performing the method recited in claim 16.

17. A method of managing data storage in a video surveillance system, comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

receiving user input that specifies a plurality of rules that include a first rule and a second rule;

wherein the second rule specifies a condition, one or more parameters for assessing the importance of certain video data, and how to update the storage of the certain video data;

wherein the condition must be satisfied in order for the second rule to be evaluated;

receiving video data;

storing the video data in accordance with the first rule;

monitoring the video surveillance system to determine whether the condition is satisfied; and

in response to determining that the condition is satisfied;

identifying the second rule that specifies the condition,

identifying the one or more parameters specified by the second rule,

evaluating metadata associated with the stored video data, in accordance with the one or more parameters, and

updating data storage of the stored video data in accordance with the evaluation;

wherein the steps are performed by one or more computing devices.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the plurality of rules include a third rule, said third rule associated with a specified event, further comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

detecting the specified event;

determining metadata about the specified event;

storing the determined metadata and the received video data associated with the specified event in accordance with the third rule.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the step of storing the determined metadata and the received video data further comprises storing the determined metadata and the received video data in separate storage locations, in accordance with the third rule.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the condition specified in the second rule comprises a time.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of updating data storage comprises reducing the stored video data using a data reduction technique selected from the group consisting of:

moving the stored video data to archival media, deleting the stored video data, compressing the stored video data, and resampling the stored video data.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of updating data storage comprises reducing the stored video data using two data reduction techniques selected from the group consisting of:

moving the stored video data to archival media, deleting the stored video data, compressing the stored video data, and resampling the stored video data.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein:

said first rule specifies how and where to store video data received from a first camera in the video surveillance system;

said plurality of rules include a third rule specifying how and where to store video data received from a second camera in the video surveillance system that is different than the first camera;

the step of storing the received data in accordance with the first rule comprises;

storing the received video data in accordance with the first rule when the received video data is received from the first camera.

24. The method of claim 17, further comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

updating data storage in accordance with a data reduction request received from a user or generated in response to a particular event.

25. The method of claim 17, wherein:

the condition specified in the second rule comprises a user having verified or corrected an object identification made by the video surveillance system for an object in stored video data; and

the step of updating data storage comprising deleting the stored video data from which an object identification was verified or corrected.

26. The method of claim 17, wherein the condition specified in the second rule comprises an age of stored video data.

43. A computer-readable storage encoded with a computer program for performing the method recited in claim 17.

44. A computer-readable storage encoded with a computer program for performing the method recited in claim 18.

45. A computer-readable storage encoded with a computer program for performing the method recited in claim 19.

46. A computer-readable storage encoded with a computer program for performing the method recited in claim 20.

47. A computer-readable storage encoded with a computer program for performing the method recited in claim 21.

48. A computer-readable storage encoded with a computer program for performing the method recited in claim 22.

49. A computer-readable storage encoded with a computer program for performing the method recited in claim 23.

50. A computer-readable storage encoded with a computer program for performing the method recited in claim 24.

51. A computer-readable storage encoded with a computer program for performing the method recited in claim 25.

52. A computer-readable storage encoded with a computer program for performing the method recited in claim 26.

53. A method of managing data storage in a video surveillance system that monitors a physical environment, comprising:

multiple cameras feeding video data into a single pipeline where video analyzers read and process the video data as the video data passes through the pipeline;

storing a plurality of rules that each specifies a particular camera, of the multiple cameras, and a storage location;

after a portion of the video data has been processed by the video analyzers,

determining a camera that captured the portion of the video data,

identifying a particular rule, of the plurality of rules, that corresponds to the camera, and

storing the portion of the video data according to the storage location specified in the particular rule;

wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

54. The method of claim 53, wherein:

a first rule of the plurality of rules specifies how and where to store video surveillance system data received from a first camera of the multiple cameras;

a second rule of the plurality of rules specifies how and where to store video surveillance data received from a second camera that is different than the first camera.

55. The method of claim 54, wherein:

the first rule further specifies at least one time period, and

the step of storing the portion of the video data further comprises determining which video data to store based on a comparison between time information associated with the video data and the time period specified in the first rule.

56. A computer-readable storage encoded with a computer program for performing the method recited in claim 53.

57. A computer-readable storage encoded with a computer program for performing the method recited in claim 54.

58. A computer-readable storage encoded with a computer program for performing the method recited in claim 55.