Directed attention digital video recordation

• US 8,026,945 B2
• Filed: 07/24/2006
• Issued: 09/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cernium Corporation (Kastle Systems International LLC)
• Original Assignee: Cernium Corporation (Kastle Systems International LLC)
• Inventors: Fitzgerald, Michael T., Wang, Fengtang, Garoutte, Maurice V.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ye; Lin
• Assistant Examiner(s): DIEP, TRUNG T
• Application Number:
  US11/491,485
• Publication Number:
  US 20070035623A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,891 Days
• Field of Search: 348 65- 67, 348/143, 348/169, 348/208.1, 348372-376
• US Class Current: 348/143
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19608 Tracking movement of a target, e.g. by detecting an object predefined as a target, using target direction and or velocity to predict its new position
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19643 wherein the cameras play different roles, e.g. different resolution, different camera type, master-slave camera
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19671 Addition of non-video data, i.e. metadata, to video stream
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19693 using multiple video sources viewed on a single or compound screen
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/61 based on recognised objects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/611 where the recognised objects include parts of the human body
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/661 Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/951 by using two or more images to influence resolution, frame rate or aspect ratio
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/765 Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/77 between a recording apparatus and a television camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

The present invention describes systems and methods of incorporating detailed snapshots of targeted areas of interest into a video or digitized recording of the overall scene including metadata to link the snapshots to the time and location in the overall scene from which the snapshot was acquired. A single fixed high-resolution scene camera or a fixed standard resolution scene camera of analog or IP connected type is used, co-located with at least one pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera or by using the same scene camera in a mode where less than full resolution of the scene camera is used for video but snapshots of areas are captured by the same camera where higher resolution thereof is used for snapshots than for video. The area of interest is selected by the object-tracking feature of an intelligent video system, operated without human intervention, by electronically-implemented identification of the existence of area-specific subjects or targets of interest in the scene image field.

Claims

1. A method implemented by at least one processing device, comprising:

recording at a first resolution a first sequence of video images of a scene;

determining from content of the first sequence of video images a presence of a target of interest within a first portion of the scene at a first time;

recording at a second resolution, greater than the first resolution, a snapshot image of the first portion of the scene containing the target of interest at the first time;

recording at the first resolution a second sequence of video images of the scene, the second sequence acquired after the first time but before a second time;

determining a velocity and a direction of the target of interest from at least one image produced by a single stationary camera;

predicting, based on the velocity and the direction of the target of interest, that the target of interest will be within a second portion of the scene at the second time different than the first time;

recording at the second resolution a snapshot image of the second portion of the scene at the second time; and

linking the snapshot image of the first portion and the snapshot image of the second portion to at least one of the first sequence and second sequence of video images.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second time is at least one second after the first time.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing for simultaneous viewing of the first sequence of video images and the snapshot image of the first portion of the scene.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining from the content of the first sequence of video images the presence of the target of interest includes determining that a person is breaking into a car.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first portion of the scene containing the target of interest is a first rectangular portion of the scene and the second portion of the scene containing the target of interest is a second rectangular portion of the scene that does not overlap the first rectangular portion of the scene.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

partitioning the scene into a plurality of portions;

recording at the second resolution a snapshot image of each portion from the plurality of portions; and

connecting the snapshot image of each portion from the plurality of portions with the snapshot images of the other portions from the plurality of portions to create a snapshot image of the scene.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the single stationary camera is a first camera:

the recording at the first resolution the first sequence of video images includes receiving the first sequence of video images from the first camera; and

the recording at the second resolution the snapshot image of the first portion of the scene includes receiving the snapshot image of the first portion from a second camera, different from the first camera.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the recording at the first resolution the first sequence of video images includes receiving the first sequence of video images of the scene from the single stationary camera; and

the recording at the second resolution the snapshot image of the first portion of the scene includes receiving the snapshot image of the first portion of the scene from the single stationary camera.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the linking includes linking the snapshot image of the first portion to a time in the at least one of the first sequence and second sequence of video images and a location of the first portion of the scene within the scene.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the linking includes storing metadata associated with a time in the at least one of the first sequence and second sequence of video images and a location of the first portion of the scene within the scene.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first portion of the scene does not overlap the second portion of the scene.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing, in a memory, the first sequence of video images, the content of the first sequence of video images including the target of interest; and

discarding a third sequence of video images, the content of the third sequence of video images not including the target of interest.

13. A non-transitory processor-readable medium storing code representing instructions to cause a processor to:

receive a first sequence of video images of a scene having a first resolution;

determine from content of the first sequence of video images a presence of a target of interest within the scene;

receive a plurality of snapshot images of the portion of the scene containing the target of interest, a number of the snapshot images of the plurality of snapshot images being of a face of the target of interest, the number being based on a parameter indicating a ratio of the plurality of snapshot images to include the face to those not to include the face, each snapshot image from the plurality of snapshot images having a second resolution greater than the first resolution;

receive a second sequence of video images of the scene having the first resolution, the second sequence acquired after the first sequence and the plurality of snapshot images; and

link the plurality of snapshot images to at least one of the first sequence and second sequence of video images.

14. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 13, wherein each snapshot image from the plurality of snapshot images is acquired at a time at least one second after a time at which another snapshot image from the plurality of snapshot images was acquired.

15. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 13, the code further comprising code representing instructions to cause a processor to:

provide for simultaneous viewing of the first sequence of video images and the plurality of snapshot images.

16. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the code representing instructions to cause a processor to determine the presence of the target of interest includes code representing instructions to determine that a person is breaking into a car.

17. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the portion of the scene containing the target of interest is a first rectangular portion of the scene, the code further comprising code representing instructions to cause a processor to:

receive a snapshot image of a second rectangular portion of the scene that does not overlap the first rectangular portion of the scene, the snapshot image of the second rectangular portion having the second resolution.

18. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 13, the code further comprising code representing instructions to cause a processor to:

partition the scene into a plurality of portions;

receive a snapshot image of each portion from the plurality of portions, the snapshot image of each portion from the plurality of portions having the second resolution; and

connect the snapshot image of each portion from the plurality of portions with the snapshot images of the other portions from the plurality of portions to create a snapshot image of the scene.

19. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the first sequence of video images is received from a first camera and the plurality of snapshot images is received from a second camera different from the first camera.

20. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the first sequence of video images is received from a camera and the plurality of snapshot images is received from the same camera.

21. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the code representing instructions to cause a processor to link the plurality of snapshot images includes code representing instructions to cause a processor to link each snapshot image from the plurality of snapshot images to a time in at least one of the first sequence and second sequence of video images and a location of the portion of the scene within the scene.

22. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the code representing instructions to cause a processor to link the plurality of snapshot images includes code representing instructions to cause a processor to store metadata associated with a time in at least one of the first sequence and second sequence of video images and a location of the portion of the scene within the scene.

23. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the portion of the scene is a first portion of the scene, the scene including a second portion that does not overlap the first portion.

24. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the portion of the scene is a first portion of the scene containing the target of interest at a first time, the code further comprising code representing instructions to cause a processor to:

receive a velocity and a direction of the target of interest at the first time;

predict, based on the velocity and the direction of the target of interest, that the target of interest will be within a second portion of the scene at a second time different than the first time; and

record at the second resolution a snapshot image of the second portion of the scene at the second time.

25. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 13, the code further comprising code representing instructions to cause a processor to:

store, in a memory, the first sequence of video images, content of the first sequence of video images including the target of interest; and

discard a third sequence of video images, content of the third sequence of video images not including the target of interest.

26. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the code representing instructions to cause the processor to receive the plurality of snapshot images includes code representing instructions to cause the processor to receive the plurality of snapshot images from a plurality of cameras.

27. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the code representing instructions to cause the processor to receive the first sequence of video images includes code representing instructions to cause the processor to receive the first sequence of video images from a single stationary camera.

28. A method implemented by at least one processing device, comprising:

recording at a first resolution a sequence of video images of a scene using at least one video camera;

determining from content of the sequence of video images a presence of a first target of interest within a first portion of the scene;

recording at a second resolution, greater than the first resolution, a first plurality of snapshot images of the first portion of the scene at a first rate, the first plurality of snapshot images not including a second portion of the scene;

determining from the content of the sequence of video images the presence of a second target of interest converging with a third target of interest within the second portion of the scene; and

recording at the second resolution a second plurality of snapshot images of the second portion of the scene at a second rate, the second rate being based on the first rate and a converging multiplier parameter that indicates an amount to increase the first rate when the second target of interest converges with the third target of interest.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

partitioning the scene into a plurality of distinct portions;

recording at the second resolution a snapshot image of each portion from the plurality of distinct portions; and

connecting the snapshot image of each portion from the plurality of distinct portions with the snapshot images of the other portions from the plurality of distinct portions to create a snapshot image of the entire scene.

30. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

linking a position within the scene of each snapshot image from the first plurality of snapshot images and a time within the scene of each snapshot image from the first plurality of snapshot images to the sequence of video images using metadata associated with the position and the time of each snapshot image from the first plurality of snapshot images.

31. The method of claim 28, wherein the first portion of the scene contains the first target of interest at a first time, the method further comprising:

receiving a velocity and a direction of the first target of interest at the first time;

predicting, based on the velocity and the direction of the first target of interest, that the first target of interest will be within a third portion of the scene at a second time different than the first time; and

recording at the second resolution a snapshot image of the third portion of the scene at the second time.