Automated camera response in a surveillance architecture

• US 9,786,164 B2
• Filed: 09/16/2010
• Issued: 10/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Leverage Information Systems
• Original Assignee: Leverage Information Systems
• Inventors: Leblond, Raymond G.
• Primary Examiner(s): YANG, JAMES J
• Application Number:
  US12/883,754
• Publication Number:
  US 20110013018A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,581 Days
• Field of Search: 340500, 340540, 340541, 370310, 370328, 370338
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/05 Geographic models
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19695 Arrangements wherein non-video detectors start video recording or forwarding but do not generate an alarm themselves
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0175 by photographing vehicles, e.g. when violating traffic rules

Abstract

A detection and response device for a surveillance system detects events, responds to events, or both. The detection and response device may be used with or provided by a variety of surveillance systems, including peer to peer surveillance architectures. The device may utilize one or more defined geospaces. If an event occurs in a geospace a predefined response may then be provided. The predefined response may include automatically targeting one or more cameras to areas relevant to the event and presenting one or more predefined views optimized for viewing the event. If an event does not occur within a geospace, the detection and response device may provide one or more default responses.

Claims

1. A detection and response device for automatically selecting and presenting surveillance information collected by one or more capture devices comprising:

one or more transceivers configured to receive data indicating that an event has occurred;

one or more storage devices configured to store one or more geospaces each comprising data identifying one or more physical areas, one or more instructions associated with each of the one or more geospaces, one or more event types, and one or more user interface settings associated with each of the one or more geospaces, wherein the one or more instructions associated with each of the event geospaces are machine-readable instructions that are linked to the event geospace and that, when executed by a processor of the detection and response device, cause the detection and response device to respond differently depending on event type and location; and

a response system configured to automatically respond to the occurred event based on a geospace in which the event occurred and on a type of the event, by;

identifying an event geospace, wherein the event geospace is one of the one or more geospaces where the event occurred;

identifying an event type corresponding to the event;

retrieving, according to the event type, the one or more instructions that are associated with the event geospace, the instructions defining functions to be performed in response to the event type;

executing, by the processor of the detection and response device, the one or more instructions associated with the event geospace to provide a response to the event, wherein the response comprises moving at least one of the one or more capture devices from a first position that does not target the event geospace to a second position to target the event geospace;

selecting at least one of the one or more capture devices to target the event based on range and viewable area of the one or more capture devices, wherein the response system stores, for each of the one or more capture devices, an associated range and viewable area, wherein the range is represented as a radius around the capture device, and wherein the viewable area is represented as at least one shape that defines an area that can be seen by the capture device; and

control the selected capture device to target the event.

2. The detection and response device of claim 1 further comprising a routing system configured to share the surveillance information from the one or more capture devices with one or more mobile video displays.

3. The detection and response device of claim 1, wherein the response system is further configured to transmit one or more commands to the one or more capture devices through the one or more transceivers, the one or more commands defined by the one or more instructions.

4. The detection and response device of claim 1, wherein the one or more user interface settings include data identifying at least one of the one or more capture devices, the one or more storage devices being configured to store the data along with the one or more user interface settings.

5. The detection and response device of claim 4, wherein the response system is configured to establish the predefined view such that the predefined view only displays surveillance information from the at least one capture device identified in the one or more user interface settings.

6. The detection and response device of claim 1, wherein the one or more transceivers are configured to receive location information identifying the location of one or more mobile units, and wherein the response system is configured to establish the predefined view such that the predefined view presents the location of the one or more mobile units on the display.

13. The device of claim 1, wherein the one or more event types include predefined event categories.

14. The device of claim 1, wherein the one or more event types include user-defined event categories that are received via a user interface configured to accept user created categories and associate events with the user created categories based on their types.

15. The device of claim 1, wherein the one or more event types include at least some of alarms, notifications, security events, temperature warnings, moisture warnings, pressure warnings, individual presence detection, air content/smoke detection, gunshot detection, sound detection, motion detection, tripwire triggers, license plate recognition, and face recognition.

16. The device of claim 1, wherein presenting the predefined view includes listing events by type and allowing a user to switch between viewing events of different types.

17. The device of claim 1, wherein the instructions define functions that are to be performed to respond to the event type and based on whether or not the event occurred within a geospace.

18. The device of claim 1, wherein the response system is further configured to respond to the occurred event by:

determining whether or not the event occurred within a geospace;

when the event occurred within the geospace, executing a first set of instructions; and

when the event did not occur within the geospace, executing a second set of instructions.

19. The device of claim 1, further configured to provide a flow charting user interface configured to create the instructions.

20. The device of claim 19, wherein the flow charting user interface is configured to present only instructions that are within the capabilities of a selected device.

21. The device of claim 1, further configured to transmit information to an output device near the occurred event, including controlling a speaker to emit an alarm sound, a distracting sound, or a painful sound.

7. A surveillance system for providing automated responses to one or more events comprising:

a display device;

a detection and response device; and

one or more storage devices configured to store one or more geospaces each comprising data identifying one or more physical areas, one or more instructions associated with each of the one or more geospaces, one or more event types, and one or more user interface settings associated with each of the one or more geospaces, wherein the one or more instructions associated with each of the event geospaces are machine-readable instructions that are linked to the event geospace and that, when executed by a processor of the detection and response device, cause the detection and response device to respond differently depending on event type and location; and

wherein the detection and response device is in communication with one or more cameras, the detection and response device configured to automatically respond to an event based on a geospace in which the event occurred and on a type of the event, by;

detecting the occurrence of the event;

identifying an event geospace, wherein the event geospace is one of the one or more geospaces where the event occurred;

identifying an event type corresponding to the event;

retrieving, according to the event type, the one or more instructions that are associated with the event geospace, the instructions defining functions to be performed in response to the event type;

executing, by the processor of the detection and response device, the one or more instructions associated with the event geospace to provide a response to the event, wherein the response comprises moving at least one of the one or more cameras from a first position that does not target the event geospace to a second position to target the event geospace;

selecting at least one of the one or more cameras to target the event based on range and viewable area of the one or more cameras, wherein the surveillance system stores, for each of the one or more cameras, an associated range and viewable area, wherein the range is represented as a radius around the camera, and wherein the viewable area is represented as at least one shape that defines an area that can be seen by the camera; and

controlling the selected camera to target the event.

8. The surveillance system of claim 7, wherein the detection and response device is further configured to, in response to the event occurring outside the one or more geospaces:

select at least one of the one or more cameras to target the event based on the camera range and the viewable area of each of the one or more cameras, wherein the event is not within the viewable area of the selected camera, wherein the event is within the range of the selected camera; and

control the selected camera to target the event.

9. The surveillance system of claim 7, wherein

the first predefined view comprises video from a first preselected one of the one or more cameras in response to the event that occurs within the first geospace;

and

the second predefined view comprises video from a second preselected one of the one or more cameras in response to the event that occurs within the second geospace.

22. The surveillance system of claim 7, wherein selecting the at least one camera includes selecting one or more cameras that are closest to the event.

23. The surveillance system of claim 7, further configured to:

store a mapping between zoom levels of a camera and viewable locations provided by the zoom levels; and

use the mapping to target the camera to provide a view of the event.

24. The surveillance system of claim 7, wherein the selected camera is a mobile camera.

10. A method in a detection and response device for responding to an event with a surveillance system having one or more cameras comprising:

receiving and storing on one or more storage devices one or more geospaces each comprising data identifying one or more physical areas one or more instructions associated with each of the one or more geospaces, one or more event types, and one or more user interface settings associated with each of the one or more geospaces, wherein the one or more instructions associated with each of the event geospaces are machine-readable instructions that are linked to the event geospace and that, when executed by a processor of the detection and response device, cause the detection and response device to respond differently depending on event type and location;

detecting the occurrence of the event with one or more sensors; and

automatically responding to the occurred event based on a geospace in which the event occurred and on a type of the event, by;

identifying an event geospace, wherein the event geospace is one of the one or more geospaces where the event occurred;

identifying an event type corresponding to the event;

retrieving, according to the event type, the one or more instructions that are associated with the event geospace, the instructions including machine-readable code defining functions to be performed in response to the event type;

executing, by the processor of the detection and response device, the one or more instructions associated with the event geospace to provide a response to the event, wherein the response comprises moving at least one of the one or more cameras from a first position that does not target the event geospace to a second position to target the event geospace;

selecting at least one of the one or more cameras to target the event based on range and viewable area of the one or more cameras, wherein the surveillance system stores, for each of the one or more cameras, an associated range and viewable area, wherein the range is represented as a radius around the camera, and wherein the viewable area is represented as at least one shape that defines an area that can be seen by the camera; and

controlling the selected camera to target the event.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

determining if the event occurred within the one or more geospaces;

targeting at least one of the one or more cameras at at least one of the one or more preselected areas if the event has occurred within the one or more geospaces;

targeting at least one of the one or more cameras at the event if the event has occurred outside the one or more geospaces;

arranging one or more user interface windows on a display according to user interface settings associated with the one or more geospaces if the event has occurred within the one or more geospaces, the user interface settings defining a location for the one or more user interface windows on a display;

presenting one or more video streams from at least one of the one or more cameras within the one or more user interface windows on the display; and

receiving and presenting the location of one or more mobile units on the display.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

presenting one or more video streams from at least one of the one or more cameras on a display;

receiving and presenting the location of a mobile unit on the display; and

transmitting at least one of the one or more video streams to the mobile unit.