Through-the-obstacle radar system and method of operation

• US 8,098,186 B2
• Filed: 11/17/2008
• Issued: 01/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Camero-Tech, Ltd. (SK Group)
• Original Assignee: Camero-Tech, Ltd. (SK Group)
• Inventors: Beeri, Amir
• Primary Examiner(s): Sotomayor, John
• Application Number:
  US12/272,220
• Publication Number:
  US 20090135045A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,156 Days
• Field of Search: 342/22, 342/17, 342/179
• US Class Current: 342/22
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/0209 Systems with very large relative bandwidth, i.e. larger than 10 %, e.g. baseband, pulse, carrier-free, ultrawideband
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/284 using coded pulses
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/888 through wall detection
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/415 Identification of targets based on measurements of movement associated with the target

Abstract

There are provided a through-the-obstacle radar system and method of operating thereof comprising recording signals and/or derivatives thereof collected during a certain substantial monitoring period, and using the recorded information for generating patterns informative of a monitoring scene. There are further provided a method of motion detection based on through-the-obstacle radar and the system thereof. The method comprises collecting signals and/or derivatives thereof acquired by the radar system during a certain substantial monitoring period and accommodating respective records, said records comprising information characterizing the signals and/or derivatives thereof and information indicative, at least, of the time the signals were obtained; processing the accommodated records and generating at least one histogram characterizing a normative motion level at different time intervals; comparing an actual motion level with the level in the normative histogram corresponding to the same time intervals; and recording the motion as detected if its actual level fits a certain relationship with the corresponding level in the normative histogram.

Claims

1. A through-the-obstacle radar system comprising:

a) a recording unit operatively coupled to a processor and configured to accommodate records of one or more acquired signals and/or derivatives of the signals collected during a certain substantial monitoring period X, the records comprising information characterizing the signals and/or the derivatives of the signals and information indicative, at least, of the time the signals were obtained; and

b) a processor configured to receive records accommodated in the recording unit during a certain period of monitoring, and to generate one or more patterns informative of a monitoring scene during the substantial monitoring period,

wherein at least one generated pattern is informative of a level of motion characterizing the substantial monitoring period.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the processor is further configured to analyze information characterizing the substantial monitoring period X and to generate one or more patterns characterizing a period Y, the period Y being a part of the period X.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the processor is further configured to compare the generated pattern with a normative pattern, and to cause a response to be activated when the comparing patterns have a predetermined relationship.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the processor is further configured to detect an unusual pattern without a priori knowledge of a normative pattern.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the processor is further configured to generate at least one of a layout of a building or a layout of an interior with the help of the generated pattern informative of the level of the motion characterizing the substantial monitoring period.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the generated patterns is generated in the form of a histogram characterizing the level of the motion at certain repeating time intervals within the monitoring period.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein repeating time intervals within the monitoring period are selected from a group comprising:

days of the week, time of the day, months of the year and combinations thereof.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the processor is further configured to notice an intrusion event if a predefined relationship between the actual motion levels and the normative motion levels is detected.

9. The system of claim 6 wherein

the generated histogram characterizes a normative motion level at different repeating time intervals;

and

the processor is further configured to compare an actual motion level corresponding to certain repeating time intervals with motion level in the normative histogram corresponding to the same repeating time intervals.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the processing further comprises generating a notice of an intrusion event if a predefined relationship between the actual motion levels and the normative motion levels is detected.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the generated patterns is generated in the form of a two-dimensional top-view activities map.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the generated patterns is selected from a group comprising:

normative and/or actual behavior patterns, normative and/or actual activities patterns, normative and/or actual scene layout related patterns.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the generated patterns and/or derivatives of the patterns is implemented in a radar imaging system as perceiving image ingredients to be displayed together with an image.

14. A method of operating a through-the-obstacle radar system, the method comprising:

a) collecting signals and/or derivatives thereof acquired by the radar system during a certain substantial monitoring period X and accommodating respective records, the records comprising information characterizing the signals and/or derivatives of the signals and information indicative, at least, of the time the signals were obtained; and

b) processing to accommodated records and generating one or more patterns informative of a monitoring scene during the substantial monitoring period,

wherein at least one generated pattern is informative of a level of motion characterizing the substantial monitoring period.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the processing further comprises analyzing information characterizing a monitoring period X and to generate one or more patterns characterizing a period Y, the period Y being a part of the substantial monitoring period X.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein the processing further comprises comparing the generated pattern with a normative pattern, and causing an activation of a pre-configured response when the compared patterns have a predetermined relationship.

17. The method of claim 14 wherein the processing further comprises detecting an unusual pattern without a priori knowledge of a normative pattern.

18. The method of claim 14 wherein the processing further comprises generating a layout of a building and/or interior with the help of the generated pattern informative of the level of the motion characterizing the substantial monitoring period.

19. The method of claim 14 wherein at least one pattern is generated in a form of a histogram characterizing the level of the motion at certain repeating time intervals within the monitoring period.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein

the generated histogram characterizes a normative motion level at different repeating time intervals, the method further comprising comparing an actual motion level corresponding to certain repeating time intervals with the motion level in the normative histogram corresponding to the same repeating time intervals;

and

the repeating time intervals are selected from a group comprising;

days of the week, time of the day, months of the year and combination thereof.

21. The method of claim 14 wherein at least one of the generated patterns is generated in the form of a two-dimensional top-view activities map.

22. The method of claim 14 wherein at least one of the generated patterns is selected from a group comprising:

normative and/or actual behavior patterns, normative and/or actual activities patterns, normative and/or actual scene layout related patterns.

23. The method of claim 14 wherein at least one of the generated patterns and/or derivatives of the patterns is implemented in a radar imaging system as perceiving image ingredients to be displayed together with an image.