Method and apparatus for vehicle surveillance service in municipal environments

• US 8,736,678 B2
• Filed: 12/11/2008
• Issued: 05/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Miller, Robert R II
• Primary Examiner(s): Meky, Moustafa M
• Assistant Examiner(s): RUBIN, BLAKE J
• Application Number:
  US12/332,621
• Publication Number:
  US 20100149335A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,993 Days
• Field of Search: 348/148
• US Class Current: 348/148
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19602 Image analysis to detect motion of the intruder, e.g. by frame subtraction
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1961 Movement detection not involving frame subtraction, e.g. motion detection on the basis of luminance changes in the image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

A set of cameras can operate in coordination for surveillance purposes to provide situation awareness at a system level. Any infrastructure of cameras, public or private, can incidentally view and record an individual'"'"'s mobile property when in view of any of these cameras. A locating unit can determine the approximate location of a mobile property. A monitoring device that correlates to the mobile property'"'"'s location can be selected. The transmission of surveillance information from the selected monitoring device can be provided to a user, such as via a transmission to the user'"'"'s mobile device. Thus, the individual can have access to the monitoring device'"'"'s viewing or recorded data to increase surveillance of mobile property.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

a receiver configured to;

receive a signal indicative of a location of a mobile property, the signal being indicative of being provided by equipment of the mobile property; and

receive surveillance information from at least one selected monitoring device;

a processor configured to perform operations comprising;

comparing the location of the mobile property to a plurality of surveillance regions to determine if the location of the mobile property correlates with at least one of the plurality of surveillance regions, wherein;

the plurality of surveillance regions comprises a triggering location region;

each surveillance region of the plurality of surveillance regions is associated with a respective monitoring device; and

the comparing is performed independent of the mobile property being detected by a monitoring device;

for each surveillance region of the plurality of surveillance regions that correlates with the location of the mobile property, selecting each respective monitoring device for transmitting surveillance information associated with each respective surveillance region; and

a transmitter that transmits surveillance information received from each selected monitoring device.

2. The device in accordance with claim 1, the operations further comprising storing, in a database, positional data for the plurality of surveillance regions, wherein the comparing comprises comparing the location of the mobile property to the stored positional data.

3. The device in accordance with claim 1, wherein a surveillance region that correlates to the location of the mobile property comprises at least one of:

a surveillance region that includes the location of the mobile property,

a surveillance region that is proximate to the location of the mobile property, or

a surveillance region that includes a region comprising a variable range from the location of the mobile property.

4. The device in accordance with claim 1, wherein surveillance information is transmitted at the time it is received.

5. The device in accordance with claim 1, wherein the surveillance information is transmitted as at least one of an audio feed, a video feed, a broadcast, an email, an image, a picture, or a Short Message Service (SMS) message.

6. The device in accordance with claim 1, wherein the selected monitoring device comprises at least one of a video recorder or an audio recorder.

7. The device in accordance with claim 1, further comprising a network component configured to communicate with a plurality of monitoring devices via a network.

8. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

memory coupled to the processor, the memory comprising executable instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising;

receiving a signal indicative of a location of a mobile property, the signal being indicative of being provided by equipment of the mobile property;

receiving surveillance information from at least one selected monitoring device;

comparing the location of the mobile property to a plurality of surveillance regions to determine if the location of the mobile property correlates with at least one of the plurality of surveillance regions, wherein;

the plurality of surveillance regions comprises a triggering location region;

each surveillance region of the plurality of surveillance regions is associated with a respective monitoring device; and

the comparing is performed independent of the mobile property being detected by a monitoring device;

for each surveillance region of the plurality of surveillance regions that correlates with the location of the mobile property, selecting each respective monitoring device for transmitting surveillance information associated with each respective surveillance region; and

transmitting surveillance information received from each selected monitoring device.

9. The apparatus in accordance with claim 8, the operations further comprising communicating with a plurality of monitoring devices via a network, wherein the monitoring device is at least one of the plurality of monitoring devices.

10. The apparatus in accordance with claim 9, wherein the network comprises at least one of a wireless communications network, a local area network, a metropolitan area network, a storage area network, or a system area network.

11. The apparatus in accordance with claim 9, wherein the network comprises a subscription-based network and the mobile property is a subscriber device of the subscription-based network.

12. The apparatus in accordance with claim 8, wherein the monitoring device is linked to at least one of a metropolitan area surveillance system, a private surveillance system, or a public surveillance system.

13. A method comprising:

receiving, by a processor, a signal indicative of a location of a mobile property as transmitted by equipment of the mobile property;

comparing, via the processor, the location of the mobile property to a plurality of camera surveillance regions to determine if the location of the mobile property correlates with at least one of the plurality of camera surveillance regions, wherein;

the plurality of camera surveillance regions comprises a triggering location region;

each camera surveillance region of the plurality of camera surveillance regions is associated with a respective monitoring device; and

the comparison is performed independent of the mobile property being detected in a camera surveillance region; and

when at least one of the plurality of camera surveillance regions correlates to the location of the mobile property, transmitting a feed from a camera covering the correlating camera surveillance region.

14. The method in accordance with claim 13, further comprising storing positional data for the plurality of camera surveillance regions.

15. The method in accordance with claim 13, wherein transmitting the feed from the camera comprises transmitting the feed from the camera to at least one of a central server or a mobile device.

16. The method in accordance with claim 15, wherein the camera and the at least one of the central server or the mobile device communicate via a network.

17. The method in accordance with claim 16, wherein the network comprises a subscription-based network, the method further comprising verifying that the mobile property is associated with a subscription for accessing services of the subscription-based network.

18. The method in accordance with claim 13, wherein the at least one of the plurality of camera surveillance regions correlates to the location of the mobile property when the at least one of the plurality of camera surveillance regions:

includes the location of the mobile property,

is proximate to the location of the mobile property, or

includes a region comprising a variable range from the location of the mobile property.

19. The method in accordance with claim 13, wherein when more than one of the plurality of camera surveillance regions correlates to the location of the mobile property, the method further comprises selecting the camera for transmission that best correlates to the location of the mobile property.

20. The method in accordance with claim 13, the method further comprising transmitting the feed from a plurality of cameras, each camera having a camera surveillance region that correlates to the location of the mobile property.

21. The method in accordance with claim 13, wherein the camera is a first camera with a first camera surveillance region, the method further comprising:

receiving an updated location of the mobile property;

comparing the updated location of the mobile property to the plurality of camera surveillance regions; and

selecting a second camera for transmission, wherein the second camera has a camera surveillance region that correlates to the location of the mobile property.

22. A computer-readable storage medium that is not a signal per se, the computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon executable instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising:

receiving an indication of a location of a mobile property as transmitted by equipment of the mobile property;

receiving surveillance information from at least one selected monitoring device;

comparing the location of the mobile property to a plurality of surveillance regions to determine if the location of the mobile property correlates with at least one of the plurality of surveillance regions, wherein;

each surveillance region of the plurality of surveillance regions is associated with a respective monitoring device;

the plurality of surveillance regions comprises a triggering location region; and

the comparing is performed independent of the mobile property being detected by a monitoring device;

for each surveillance region of the plurality of surveillance regions that correlates with the location of the mobile property, selecting each respective monitoring device for transmitting information associated with each respective surveillance region; and

transmitting the information received from the selected monitoring device.

23. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

memory coupled to the processor, the memory comprising executable instructions that when executed by the processor cause the process to effectuate operations comprising;

receiving, by a processor, a signal indicative of a location of a mobile property as transmitted by equipment of the mobile property;

comparing, via the processor, the location of the mobile property to a plurality of camera surveillance regions to determine if the location of the mobile property correlates with at least one of the plurality of camera surveillance regions, wherein;

each camera surveillance region of the plurality of camera surveillance regions is associated with a respective monitoring device;

the plurality of camera surveillance regions comprises a triggering location region; and

the comparison is performed independent of the mobile property being detected in a camera surveillance region; and

when at least one of the plurality of camera surveillance regions correlates to the location of the mobile property, transmitting a feed from a camera covering the correlating camera surveillance region.