Methods and apparatus to perform remote monitoring

• US 10,666,909 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2016
• Issued: 05/26/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Brady, John, Nolan, Keith, Guibene, Wael, Nolan, Michael, Kelly, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): Kelley, Christopher S
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nirjhar, Nasim N
• Application Number:
  US15/197,239
• Publication Number:
  US 20180007321A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,427 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20224 Image subtraction
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30232 Surveillance
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/13 Edge detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/174 involving the use of two or more images
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00209 Transmitting or receiving image data, e.g. facsimile data, via a computer, e.g. using e-mail, a computer network, the internet, I-fax
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/661 Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/67 Focus control based on electronic image sensor signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 for receiving images from a single remote source

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture to perform remote monitoring are disclosed. Some example methods include adjusting an image capture rate at which an image sensor captures images based on a difference image containing differences between a first image of a first set of objects and a second image of a second set of objects. Example methods also include reducing a file size of the difference image using an edge detection technique and prioritizing one or more of a set of frames based on an amount of information contained in the frames. The frames are subdivisions of the image. In further example methods, the first image is taken at a first time and the second image is taken at a second, later time, and the method includes subtracting the first image from the second image to generate the difference image.

Claims

1. A method to process image data at a remote monitor, the method comprising:

adjusting an image capture rate at which an image sensor captures images based on a difference image, the difference image containing differences between a first image of a first set of objects and a second image of a second set of objects;

reducing a file size of the difference image using an edge detection technique;

prioritizing one or more of a set of frames based on an amount of information contained in the frames, the frames being subdivisions of the image;

selecting at least one of the frames of the set of frames to be transmitted to a base station based on the prioritizing;

arranging the at least one of the frames to be transmitted in a randomly generated order based on a seed value; and

appending information to the at least one of the frames to be transmitted, the information including a state of charge of a battery, a number of frames to be transmitted, and the seed value.

2. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first image is taken at a first time and the second image is taken at a second time, the second time later than the first time, the method further including subtracting the first image from the second image to generate the difference image.

3. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the adjusting of the image capture rate includes:

determining the file size of the difference image;

generating a comparison between the file size and a threshold value, the adjusting occurring based on the comparison.

4. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the reducing of the file size of the difference image includes:

using the edge detection technique to determine a set of outlines of a corresponding set of objects appearing in the difference image;

causing a first set of pixels located within the outlines to be a first color; and

causing a second set of pixels located outside of the outlines to be a second color.

5. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the prioritizing of the one or more of the set of frames includes:

dividing the difference image into the set of frames;

estimating respective amounts of information included in respective ones of the frames of the set of frames; and

assigning respective priorities to the respective ones of the frames of the set of frames based on the respective amounts of estimated information included in the respective ones of the frames of the set of frames.

6. A remote monitor to monitor a field of interest, the monitor comprising:

an image capture controller to cause an image sensor to capture images of the field of interest at a rate that varies based on an amount of activity occurring in the field of interest;

an image analyzer to (i) reduce an amount of data used to represent an image of a set of objects appearing in the field of interest between a first time and a second time, (ii) divide the image into a set of frames, and (iii) estimate respective amounts of information associated with respective ones of the frames;

a prioritizer to identify at least some of a subset of frames as being priority frames, the priority frames being identified based on the respective amounts of information associated with respective ones of the subset of frames;

a puncturing tool to remove pixels from the priority frames;

an order generator to generate an order in which the priority frames are to be transmitted to a remote base station;

a data embedder to append data to the priority frames before transmission of the priority frames to the remote base station; and

a frame packager to (i) prioritize the subset of the frames, (ii) package the subset of frames with the data, and (iii) transmit the subset of frames to a transceiver.

7. The remote monitor as defined in claim 6, wherein the image capture controller includes:

a difference generator to create a difference image identifying differences between a first image taken at the first time and a second image taken at the second time;

a comparator to generate a comparison between a file size of the difference image and a threshold data value; and

an image capture scheduler to adjust the rate at which images are captured by the image sensor based on the comparison.

8. The remote monitor as defined in claim 7, wherein the image capture scheduler increases the rate at which images are captured if the comparison indicates that the file size of the difference image is equal to or exceeds the threshold data value.

9. The remote monitor as defined in claim 6, wherein the image analyzer includes:

an edge detector to differentiate the set of objects appearing in the image from a background of the image;

an image divider to divide the image into the set of frames;

an information estimator to estimate the respective amounts of information associated with the respective ones of the frames, a first one of the amounts of information associated with a first one of the frames being based on a first number of pixels representing the objects in the first one of the frames and a second number of pixels representing the background in the first one of the frames.

10. The remote monitor as defined in claim 6, wherein the order generator uses a seed value to generate the order and the data embedder appends the seed value to the priority frames.

11. The remote monitor as defined in claim 6, further including:

a battery to power the remote monitor,

a battery monitor to determine a state of charge of the battery, the state of the charge of the battery to be transmitted to the transceiver.

12. A tangible machine readable storage medium storing instructions to cause a machine to at least:

based on the rate of change of an amount of activity occurring within a field of interest, adjust an image capture rate at which an image sensor captures images of the field of interest;

reduce a file size of a difference image illustrating changes occurring in the field of interest between a first time and a second time;

prioritize each of a set of frames based on a quality of information contained in each frame, the set of frames together forming the image; and

package at least some of the frames for transmission to a remote transceiver by;

selecting the at least some of the frames for transmission based on respective priorities assigned to respective ones of the frames;

reducing the size of the frames selected for transmission by removing selected pixels from the frames selected for transmission;

arranging the frames selected for transmission in a random order; and

appending information to the frames selected for transmission.

13. The tangible machine readable storage medium as defined in claim 12, further including instructions to cause the machine to determine the rate of change of the amount of activity occurring within the field of interest by generating the difference image, the difference image being generated by subtracting a first image taken at the first time from a second image taken at the second time.

14. The tangible machine readable storage medium as defined in claim 13, wherein the image capture rate is increased when the amount of activity in the field of interest between the first time and the second time exceeds a threshold.

15. The tangible machine readable storage medium as defined in claim 12, wherein the file size of the difference image is reduced by removing a first set of details from the difference image while retaining a second set of details in the difference image.

16. The tangible machine readable storage medium as defined in claim 12, further including instructions to cause the machine to:

determine the quality of information contained in a first one of the frames by comparing a first number of pixels representing an object appearing in the first one of the frames to a second number of pixels representing a background appearing in the first one of the frames.

17. The tangible machine readable storage medium as defined in claim 12, wherein the instruction to append information to the frames selected for transmission includes instructions to cause the machine to:

determine a state of charge of a battery; and

append information identifying the state of charge to the frames selected for transmission.