Real time physical asset inventory management through triangulation of video data capture event detection and database interrogation

• US 9,092,961 B2
• Filed: 11/09/2011
• Issued: 07/28/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Sickenius, Louis S.
• Primary Examiner(s): An, Shawn
• Application Number:
  US13/292,851
• Publication Number:
  US 20130113930A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,357 Days
• Field of Search: 348/143, 348/150, 348/152, 348/155, 348/161
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19606 Discriminating between target movement or movement in an area of interest and other non-signicative movements, e.g. target movements induced by camera shake or movements of pets, falling leaves, rotating fan
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19697 Arrangements wherein non-video detectors generate an alarm themselves
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/77 between a recording apparatus and a television camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/911 for the suppression of noise H04N5/932 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

A surveillance system monitors a monitored vessel containing hidden resources. When activity is determined as occurring within a vicinity of the monitored vessel, an alert is issued to monitoring personnel. Personnel can then obtain a current image of the hidden resource within the monitored vessel. Upon receiving the current image of the hidden resource, a previous image of the hidden resource is retrieved and discrepancies between the current image and the previous image are determined. Responsive to determining that discrepancies between the current image and the previous image exist, an alarm is issued to personnel to further investigate the discrepancy.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having a computer program encoded thereon for monitoring resources, the computer program comprising:

instructions for monitoring, by a data processing system, a monitored vessel using a mounted camera that captures images of the monitored vessel, wherein the monitored vessel contains a hidden resource that is outside a field of view of the mounted camera;

instructions for determining, by the data processing system, activity occurring in a vicinity of the monitored vessel;

instructions, responsive to the data processing system determining that the activity is occurring in the vicinity of the monitored vessel, for issuing, by the data processing system, an alert to personnel;

instructions for receiving, by the data processing system, a current image of the hidden resource that is outside the field of view of the mounted camera capturing images of the monitored vessel from a portable camera held by the personnel after the issuing of the alert;

instructions for retrieving, by the data processing system, a previous image of the hidden resource that is outside the field of view of the mounted camera capturing images of the monitored vessel captured prior to the issuing of the alert;

instructions, responsive to the data processing system receiving the current image of the hidden resource captured by the portable camera after the issuing of the alert and the data processing system retrieving the previous image of the hidden resource captured prior to the issuing of the alert, for determining, by the data processing system, whether discrepancies exist between the current image and the previous image; and

instructions, responsive to the data processing system determining that discrepancies exist between the current image and the previous image, for issuing, by the data processing system, an alarm to investigate the discrepancies.

2. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1, the computer program further comprising:

instructions for determining, by the data processing system, whether the discrepancies between the current image of the hidden resource captured by the portable camera after the issuing of the alert and the previous image of the hidden resource captured prior to the issuing of the alert are innocuous discrepancies or invasive discrepancies; and

instructions, responsive to the data processing system determining that the discrepancies between the current image of the hidden resource captured by the portable camera after the issuing of the alert and the previous image of the hidden resource captured prior to the issuing of the alert are invasive discrepancies due to hidden resource objects within one of the current image and the previous image that are not in an other one of the current image and the previous image, for issuing, by the data processing system, the alarm to investigate the invasive discrepancies.

3. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 2, further comprising:

instructions, responsive to the data processing system determining that the discrepancies between the current image of the hidden resource captured by the portable camera after the issuing of the alert and the previous image of the hidden resource captured prior to the issuing of the alert are innocuous discrepancies due to differences in pixilation of the hidden resource objects within the current image and the previous image, for not issuing, by the data processing system, the alarm.

4. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the alert is issued to the personnel indicating that the activity is occurring in the vicinity of the monitored vessel.

5. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions for monitoring, by the data processing system, of the monitored vessel comprises:

instructions for receiving, by the data processing system, real time video, image captures, or combinations thereof, provided by the mounted camera.

6. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the alert is selected from a group consisting of a message, a notification, a notice, an email, a visual alarm, an audio alarm, a pop up, and a text based message to the personnel of the activity in the vicinity of the monitored vessel, and wherein the alarm is selected from a group consisting of a message, a notification, a notice, an email, a visual alarm, an audio alarm, a pop up, and a text based message to the personnel of the discrepancies between the current image and the previous image.

7. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions for determining, by the data processing system, whether discrepancies exist between the current image of the hidden resource captured by the portable camera after the issuing of the alert and the previous image of the hidden resource captured prior to the issuing of the alert further comprises:

instructions for aligning, by the data processing system, the current image of the hidden resource captured by the portable camera after the issuing of the alert and the previous image of the hidden resource captured prior to the issuing of the alert by adjusting a rotational alignment of the current image, adjusting a rotational alignment of the previous image, adjusting a magnification level of current image, adjusting a magnification level of previous image, and combinations thereof; and

instructions for performing, by the data processing system, a per pixel comparison of the current image of the hidden resource captured by the portable camera after the issuing of the alert to the previous image of the hidden resource captured prior to the issuing of the alert to determine the discrepancies between the current image and the previous image.

8. A data processing system comprising:

at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium having a computer program encoded thereon for monitoring resources; and

a bus connecting the non-transitory computer readable storage medium to at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor executes the computer program;

to monitor a monitored vessel using a mounted camera that captures images of the monitored vessel, wherein the monitored vessel contains a hidden resource that is outside a field of view of the mounted camera;

to determine activity occurring in a vicinity of the monitored vessel;

responsive to determining that the activity is occurring in the vicinity of the monitored vessel, to issue an alert to personnel;

to receive a current image of the hidden resource that is outside the field of view of the mounted camera capturing images of the monitored vessel from a portable camera held by the personnel after the issuing of the alert;

to retrieve a previous image of the hidden resource that is outside the field of view of the mounted camera capturing images of the monitored vessel captured prior to the issuing of the alert;

responsive to receiving the current image of the hidden resource captured by the portable camera after the issuing of the alert and retrieving the previous image of the hidden resource captured prior to the issuing of the alert, to determine whether discrepancies exist between the current image and the previous image; and

responsive to determining that discrepancies exist between the current image and the previous image, to issue an alarm to investigate the discrepancies.

9. The data processing system of claim 8, wherein the at least one processor further executes the computer program:

to determine whether the discrepancies between the current image of the hidden resource captured by the portable camera after the issuing of the alert and the previous image of the hidden resource captured prior to the issuing of the alert are innocuous discrepancies or invasive discrepancies; and

responsive to determining that the discrepancies between the current image of the hidden resource captured by the portable camera after the issuing of the alert and the previous image of the hidden resource captured prior to the issuing of the alert are invasive discrepancies due to hidden resource objects within one of the current image and the previous image that are not in an other one of the current image and the previous image, to issue the alarm to investigate the invasive discrepancies.

10. The data processing system of claim 9, wherein the at least one processor further executes the computer program:

responsive to determining that the discrepancies between the current image of the hidden resource captured by the portable camera after the issuing of the alert and the previous image of the hidden resource captured prior to the issuing of the alert are innocuous discrepancies due to differences in pixilation of the hidden resource objects within the current image and the previous image, to not issue the alarm.

11. The data processing system of claim 8, wherein the alert is issued to the personnel indicating that the activity is occurring in the vicinity of the monitored vessel.

12. The data processing system of claim 8, wherein the at least one processor executing the computer program to monitor the monitored vessel further comprises the at least one processor further executing the computer program:

to receive real time video, image captures, or combinations thereof, provided by the mounted camera.

13. The data processing system of claim 8, wherein the alert is selected from a group consisting of a message, a notification, a notice, an email, a visual alarm, an audio alarm, a pop up, and a text based message to the personnel of the activity in the vicinity of the monitored vessel, and wherein the alarm is selected from a group consisting of a message, a notification, a notice, an email, a visual alarm, an audio alarm, a pop up, and a text based message to the personnel of the discrepancies between the current image and the previous image.

14. The data processing system of claim 8, wherein the at least one processor executing the computer program to determine whether discrepancies exist between the current image of the hidden resource captured by the portable camera after the issuing of the alert and the previous image of the hidden resource captured prior to the issuing of the alert further comprises the at least one processor executing the computer program:

to align the current image of the hidden resource captured by the portable camera after the issuing of the alert and the previous image of the hidden resource captured prior to the issuing of the alert by adjusting a rotational alignment of the current image, adjusting a rotational alignment of the previous image, adjusting a magnification level of current image, adjusting a magnification level of previous image, and combinations thereof; and

to perform a per pixel comparison of the current image of the hidden resource captured by the portable camera after the issuing of the alert to the previous image of the hidden resource captured prior to the issuing of the alert to determine the discrepancies between the current image and the previous image.