Tracking an object utilizing location information associated with a wireless device

• US 8,570,373 B2
• Filed: 06/08/2007
• Issued: 10/29/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Variyath, Girish S., Ganesan, Karthikeyan, Jayaraman, Vikram
• Primary Examiner(s): Keehn, Richard G
• Application Number:
  US11/760,137
• Publication Number:
  US 20080303901A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,335 Days
• Field of Search: 348/143
• US Class Current: 348/143
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/088 by monitoring a device worn by the person, e.g. a bracelet attached to the swimmer
• 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

In one embodiment, a method of tracking an object carrying a wireless location device comprises recording and storing images from a plurality of cameras corresponding to respective coverage areas having predetermined locations, determining location information associated with the wireless location device, the location information corresponding to one or more of said coverage areas, and determining which of the images correspond to the location information, and retrieving said images.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

recording and storing still images on an image server from a plurality of still cameras corresponding to respective coverage areas having predetermined locations, wherein the still cameras record the still images at periodic intervals, wherein recording and storing the still images is automatically initiated in response to a predetermined event such that no recording and storing of the still images occurs prior to the predetermined event;

determining, storing and timestamping location information associated with a wireless location device carried by an object, the location information corresponding to one or more of the coverage areas, wherein the location information is determined based at least upon a determined distance of the wireless location device from one or more base stations;

in response to a surveillance request comprising a surveillance time window associated with the object that includes a time period prior to a current time period, determining which timestamped location information associated with the wireless location device carried by the object is within the surveillance time window;

determining which of the still images stored on the image server correspond to the location information associated with the surveillance time window; and

retrieving still images from the image server that are associated with the surveillance time window and that depend upon the location information associated with the object in order to track the object.

2. The method of claim 1,

wherein the still images are stored together with respective timestamps that correspond with timestamps of the location information.

3. The method of claim 2,

wherein determining which of the still images correspond to the location information comprises matching the predetermined locations of the coverage areas with the location information associated with the wireless location device and respective time-stamps associated with the still images and location information.

4. The method of claim 1,

wherein determining the location information comprises receiving wireless transmissions from the wireless location device.

5. The method of claim 1,

wherein the one or more base stations have predetermined locations and receive wireless transmissions from the wireless location device.

6. The method of claim 4,

wherein the location information comprises one or more of estimated position of the wireless location device, coverage area identifier, signal strength of wireless transmissions received from the wireless location device, wireless location device identifier, base station identifier, and GPS coordinates of the wireless location device.

7. The method of claim 1, the predetermined event being a change in the location information associated with the object and which corresponds to a predetermined change in location of the object.

8. The method of claim 1,

the predetermined event being the determination that the object is located within one of the coverage areas.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining second location information associated with a second location device carried by a second object, the second location information corresponding to one or more of the coverage areas; and

determining which of the still images correspond to the second location information, and retrieving the still images.

10. The method of claim 1,

wherein the determined distance of the wireless location device from one or more base stations is based upon a signal strength of a remote device in relation to each base station.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining location information at the wireless location device based upon signals received by the wireless location device from the one or more base stations.

12. The method of claim 1,

wherein the recording and storing still images on the image server occurs independently in relation to the surveillance request, the determining which still images stored on the image server correspond to the location information associated with the surveillance time window and the retrieving of still images from the image server that are associated with the surveillance time window, such that at least some recorded and stored still images on the image server are not associated with the surveillance request associated with the object and are thus not retrieved from the image server.

13. The method of claim 1,

wherein the object is lost, and the surveillance request comprises a request to find the lost object.

14. The method of claim 1,

wherein the object comprises one of a person and a computer.

15. A system comprising:

a plurality of still cameras arranged to record still images from respective coverage areas having predetermined locations, wherein the still cameras record the still images at periodic intervals;

an image server coupled to the still cameras and arranged to store the still images recorded by the still cameras, wherein the image server is further arranged to automatically initiate recording of the still images in response to a predetermined event such that no recording of the still images occurs prior to the predetermined event;

a plurality of wireless base stations having respective predetermined locations and operable to communicate wirelessly with a wireless location device carried by an object;

a location server arranged to determine, store and timestamp location information associated with a wireless location device carried by the object, the location information corresponding to one or more of the coverage areas, wherein the location information is determined based at least upon a determined distance of the wireless location device from one or more base stations; and

a tracking server arranged to receive a surveillance request comprising a surveillance time window associated with the object that includes a time period prior to a current time period, to determine which of the still images from the image server correspond to the location information based upon timestamps associated with the location information, and to retrieve the still images from the image server that are associated with the surveillance time window and depend upon the location information associated with the object and with timestamps within the surveillance window in order to track the object.

16. The system of claim 15,

wherein the location information comprise one or more of estimated position of the wireless location device, coverage area identifier, signal strength of wireless transmissions received from the wireless location device, wireless location device identifier, base station identifier, and GPS coordinates of the wireless location device.

17. The system of claim 15,

wherein the still images stored on the location server are each associated with a respective timestamp, and the timestamps associated with the still images correspond with timestamps associated with the location information.

18. The system of claim 15,

wherein the tracking server is further arranged to trigger storing of the still images by the image server in response to the predetermined event.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein:

the location server is further arranged to determine and store second location information associated with a second location device carried by a second object, the second location information corresponding to one or more of the coverage areas; and

the tracking server is further arranged to determine which of the still images correspond to the second location information, and to retrieve the still images.

20. The system of claim 15,

wherein the location server is further arranged to determine the distance of the wireless location device from one or more base stations based upon a signal strength of a remote device in relation to each base station.

21. The system of claim 15,

wherein the base stations provide signals to the wireless location device, the wireless location device determines location information based upon the signals received from the base stations, and the location server receives location information from the wireless location device.