Systems and methods for event recorder logging

• US 10,354,689 B2
• Filed: 04/03/2009
• Issued: 07/16/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/06/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Axon Enterprise, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Taser International Incorporated
• Inventors: Smith, Patrick W., Shekarri, Nache D., Dhillon, Jasjit S., Cerovic, Milan, Winn, Jr., Roger Clay
• Primary Examiner(s): Young, Kevin L
• Assistant Examiner(s): Jiang, Haimei
• Application Number:
  US12/418,540
• Publication Number:
  US 20090276708A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,756 Days
• Field of Search: 715716, 715727
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/16 Real estate
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/18 Legal services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/26 Government or public services business processes related to the transportation industry G06Q50/40
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 19/18 Manual action on one element producing control effect indirectly by consequent action of driving mechanism
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/772 the recording apparatus and the television camera being placed in the same enclosure

Abstract

An incident recorder, worn by a user, maintains records in a log regarding operation of the incident recorder.

Claims

1. A primary subsystem for recording video information about an event and contemporaneously annotating the video information at a location of the event, the primary subsystem comprising:

a camera configured to be worn by a user for capturing the video information;

a processor;

a memory for storing the video information and a log of modifications associated with the video information, wherein the memory comprises a pre-event circular buffer for storing a first portion of the video information prior to a start of the event, and wherein the memory further stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the primary subsystem to;

in response to an occurrence of the event, retrieve, by the processor, the first portion of the video information from the pre-event circular buffer;

store the first portion in a segment of the memory outside of the pre-event circular buffer;

assemble the video information captured after the start of the event in sequence after the first portion in the segment of the memory;

detect a change in a length of the pre-event circular buffer; and

responsive to detecting the change, store a record in the log, the record includes indicia of the change in the length of the pre-event circular buffer and a first time of occurrence of the change;

receive supplemental information from the user to annotate the video information including the first portion of the video information; and

generate then store, in the log, a new record comprising a time and date of the annotation of the video information.

2. The primary subsystem of claim 1 wherein the first time comprises a time of day.

3. The primary subsystem of claim 1 wherein the first time comprises a date.

4. The primary subsystem of claim 1 wherein the record includes a description of the length of the pre-event buffer after the change.

5. The primary subsystem of claim 1 wherein the record includes a time when the change occurred of day, a date when the change occurred, and a description of the length of the pre-event buffer after the change.

6. The primary subsystem of claim 1 wherein:

the processor further detects a change of at least one of a time and a date maintained by the primary subsystem; and

responsive to detecting, the processor stores a further record in the log, the further record includes indicia that at least one of the time and the date maintained by the primary subsystem changed and a second time of the change.

7. The primary subsystem of claim 1 wherein:

the processor further detects at least one of applying power to the primary subsystem and removing power from the primary subsystem; and

responsive to detecting, the processor stores a further record in the log, the further record includes indicia as to whether the power was applied or removed and a second time of the change.

8. The primary subsystem of claim 1 wherein:

the processor further detects a change of a configuration of the primary subsystem; and

responsive to detecting, the processor stores a further record in the log, the further record includes indicia of the change of the configuration and a second time of the change.

15. The primary subsystem of claim 1 wherein:

the processor further detects a change in a resolution for storing the video information in the pre-event circular buffer; and

responsive to detecting, the processor stores a further record in the log, the record includes indicia of the change in the resolution a second time of the change.

16. The primary subsystem of claim 1 wherein:

the processor further detects a change in a resolution for storing the video information during the event.

17. The primary subsystem of claim 1 wherein:

the pre-event circular buffer includes a start address and an end address; and

the processor detects a change in at least one of the start address and the end address to detect the change in the length of the pre-event circular buffer.

9. A system for recording video information about an event and contemporaneously annotating the video information at a location of the event, the system comprising:

a camera configured to be worn by a user for capturing the video information;

a processor; and

a memory for storing the video information and a log of modifications associated with the video information, wherein the memory includes a pre-event buffer for storing a first portion of the video information prior to occurrence of the event, and the pre-event buffer has a length, and wherein the memory further stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to;

in response to the occurrence of the event, retrieve, by the processor, the first portion of the video information from the pre-event buffer;

store the video information captured after the occurrence of the event in sequence after the first portion of the video information;

detect a change in the length of the pre-event buffer; and

responsive to detecting the change, store a record in the log, the record includes indicia of the change in the length of the pre-event buffer and a first time of occurrence of the change;

receive supplemental information to annotate the video information including the first portion of the video information; and

generate then store, in the log, a new record comprising a time and date of the annotation of the video information.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the pre-event buffer is implemented as a circular buffer.

11. The system of claim 9 wherein:

the processor maintains a time of day and a date; and

the first time includes the time of day and the date.

12. The system of claim 9 wherein:

the processor maintains a time of day and a date;

the processor further detects a change of at least one of the time of day and the date maintained by the processor; and

responsive to detecting, the processor stores a further record in the log, the further record includes indicia that at least one of the time and date maintained by the processor changed and a second time of the change.

13. The system of claim 9 wherein:

the processor further detects at least one of applying power to the system and removing power from the system; and

responsive to detecting, the processor stores a further record in the log, the further record includes indicia as to whether the power was applied or removed and a second time of the change.

14. The system of claim 9 wherein:

the processor further detects a change of a configuration of the system; and

responsive to detecting, the processor stores a further record in the log, the further record includes indicia that the configuration was changed and a second time of the change.

18. The system of claim 9 wherein:

the pre-event buffer includes a start address and an end address; and

the processor detects a change in at least one of the start address and the end address to detect the change in the length of the pre-event buffer.

19. A system for recording video information about an event and contemporaneously annotating the video information at a location of the event, the system comprising:

a camera configured to be worn by a user for capturing the video information;

a processor; and

a memory for storing the video information and a log of modifications associated with the video information, wherein a section of the memory is used as a circular buffer to store the video information prior to occurrence of the event, and the circular buffer has a length that is determined in accordance with a first address of the section of the memory that represents a start of the circular buffer and a second address of the section of the memory that represents an end of the circular buffer, and wherein the memory further stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to;

in response to the occurrence of the event, retrieve, by the processor, a first content of the circular buffer from the first address to a current address, and a second content of the circular buffer from after the current address to the second address;

store the second content and the first content in sequence in a segment of the memory outside of the circular buffer;

assemble the video information captured after the occurrence of the event in sequence following the second content and the first content in the segment of the memory;

detect a change in at least one of the first address and the second address to detect the change in the length of the circular buffer; and

responsive to detecting the change in the length of the circular buffer, store a record in the log, the record includes indicia of the change in the length of the circular buffer;

receive supplemental information to annotate the video information corresponding to at least one of the first content and the second content; and

generate then store, in the log, a new record comprising a time and date of the annotation of the video information.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein responsive to detecting the change in the length of the circular buffer, the processor further records a time of occurrence of the change, in the log.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the system is worn by the user.

22. The system of claim 20 wherein the time comprises a time of day and a date.

23. The system of claim 19 wherein the record further includes a description of the length of the buffer after the change.

24. The system of claim 19 wherein the record further includes a time of day when the change occurred, a date when the change occurred, and a description of the length of the buffer after the change.

25. The system of claim 19 wherein the memory stores further computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to:

detect a change of a configuration of the system; and

responsive to detecting the change of the configuration of the system, store a further record in the log, the further record includes indicia that the configuration was changed and a second time of occurrence of the change of the configuration.