Monitoring

• US 10,776,631 B2
• Filed: 07/05/2016
• Issued: 09/15/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 07/09/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Cricri, Francesco, Saarinen, Jukka
• Primary Examiner(s): Jones, Heather R
• Application Number:
  US15/741,571
• Publication Number:
  US 20180197015A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,533 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/024 of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/10 autonomous, i.e. by navigating independently from ground or air stations, e.g. by using inertial navigation systems [INS]
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0094 involving pointing a payload, e.g. camera, weapon, sensor, towards a fixed or moving target
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/101 specially adapted for aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/104 involving a plurality of aircrafts, e.g. formation flying traffic control systems for aircraft G08G5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/235 based on user input or interaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/00 Scenes; Scene-specific elements control of digital cameras H04N23/60
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/10 Terrestrial scenes scenes under surveillance with static cameras G06V20/52; scenes perceived from the exterior of a vehicle G06V20/56; scenes perceived from the interior of a vehicle G06V20/59
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/13 Satellite images
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/17 taken from planes or by drones
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/52 Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/16 Human faces, e.g. facial parts, sketches or expressions

Abstract

A method comprising: recognizing a first two-handed gesture and a second two-handed gesture in a monitored scene space to at least partially define a shape and position of a computer-implemented virtual boundary in a corresponding monitoring space, wherein the first two-handed gesture in the monitored scene space specifies a first two points in the monitoring space and the second two-handed gesture in the monitored scene space specifies a second two points in the monitoring space; causing implementation of the computer-implemented virtual boundary in the monitoring space corresponding to the monitored scene space, wherein a shape and position of the computer-implemented virtual boundary is at least partially defined by the first two points in the monitoring space and the second two points in the monitoring space; and processing received data to generate a response event when there is a change in a portion of the monitored scene space relative to the computer-implemented virtual boundary in the corresponding monitoring space.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one non-transitory memory, the at least one memory comprising machine-readable instructions that, when executed, cause the apparatus to:

determine one or more positions of one or more movable drones in a monitored scene space;

implement a computer-implemented virtual boundary in a monitoring space corresponding to the monitored scene space, wherein a shape and position of the computer-implemented virtual boundary is at least partially defined by the one or more determined positions;

process received data from sensors of the monitored scene space to generate a response event in response to a change in at least a portion of the monitored scene space relative to the computer-implemented virtual boundary in the corresponding monitoring space;

encode the response event in terms of one or more parameters determined from an analysis of the change in the at least a portion of the monitored scene space;

recognize the one or more parameter encoding to identify the response event; and

provide feedback to a user based on the generation of the response event and the identification of the response event.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more movable drones is an aircraft drone configured to autonomously maintain a three dimensional position and/or configured to autonomously maintain a three dimensional orientation.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more movable drones in the monitored scene space specifies points in the monitored scene space which correspond to points in the monitoring space, wherein the shape and position of the computer-implemented virtual boundary is at least partially defined by the points in the monitoring space.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the computer-implemented virtual boundary is an N-sided polygon having N vertices, wherein the one or more movable drones in the monitored scene space define the N vertices.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the computer-implemented virtual boundary is defined by movement of only a single drone in the monitored scene space.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the computer-implemented virtual boundary is defined by positions of multiple drones in the monitored scene space.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein determining the one or more positions comprises processing the received data to track motion of the one or more movable drones in the monitored scene space.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the machine-readable instructions, when executed, further cause the apparatus to:

pair wirelessly with the one or more movable drones in the monitored scene space to enable determination of the one or more positions of the one or more movable drones in the monitored scene space and definition of the shape and position of the computer-implemented virtual boundary;

wherein the pairing comprises an authentication procedure that identifies the one or more movable drones and/or an authorization procedure that checks one or more security credentials.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the machine-readable instructions, when executed, further cause the apparatus to:

recognize at least one predetermined waypoint signal to allow a vertex in the computer-implemented virtual boundary to be recognized.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least some of the sensors of the monitored scene space are part of the one or more movable drones.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein processing the received data to generate the response event comprises processing image data to monitor the computer-implemented virtual boundary to detect activity across the computer-implemented virtual boundary and/or activity within a threshold of the computer-implemented virtual boundary.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the machine-readable instructions, when executed, further cause the apparatus to:

recognize a handover from a first drone to a second drone;

position the second drone in the monitored scene space to at least partially define a new computer-implemented virtual boundary in the corresponding monitoring space; and

process second received data from second sensors of the monitored scene space to enable generation of a second response event in response to a second change in at least a second portion of the monitored scene space relative to the new computer-implemented virtual boundary in the corresponding monitoring space.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the machine-readable instructions, when executed, further cause the apparatus to update the virtual boundary in response to a maneuver of the one or more movable drones and a determined corresponding new position of the one or more movable drones.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of the sensors is fixed relative to the scene space in a spatially distributed arrangement.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the response event is further generated in response to one or more user criteria being satisfied.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the recognizing of the one or more parameter encoding to identify the response event is performed using a machine inference engine trained via supervised learning.

17. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing of the sensor data comprises a temporary recording of the sensor data at a dynamic memory or buffer.

18. A method comprising:

determining one or more positions of one or more movable drones in a monitored scene space;

causing implementation of a computer-implemented virtual boundary in a monitoring space corresponding to the monitored scene space, wherein a shape and position of the computer-implemented virtual boundary is at least partially defined by the one or more determined positions;

processing received data from sensors of the monitored scene space to generate a response event in response to a change in at least a portion of the monitored scene space relative to the computer-implemented virtual boundary in the corresponding monitoring space;

encoding the response event in terms of one or more parameters determined from an analysis of the change in the at least a portion of the monitored scene space;

recognizing the one or more parameter encoding to identify the response event; and

providing feedback to a user based on the generation of the response event and the identification of the response event.

19. A method as claimed in claim 18, wherein at least one of the one or more movable drones is an aircraft drone configured to autonomously maintain a three dimensional position and/or configured to autonomously maintain a three dimensional orientation.

20. A method as claimed in claim 18, wherein the one or more movable drones in the monitored scene space specifies points in the monitored scene space which correspond to points in the monitoring space, wherein the shape and position of the computer-implemented virtual boundary is at least partially defined by the points in the monitoring space.

21. A method as claimed in claim 18, wherein the computer-implemented virtual boundary is an N-sided polygon having N vertices, wherein the one or more movable drones in the monitored scene space define the N vertices.

22. A method as claimed in claim 18, wherein determining the one or more positions comprises processing the received data to track motion of the one or more movable drones in the monitored scene space.

23. A method as claimed in claim 18, further comprising pairing wirelessly with the one or more movable drones in the monitored scene space to enable determination of the one or more positions of the one or more movable drones in the monitored scene space and definition of the shape and position of the computer-implemented virtual boundary, wherein the pairing comprises an authentication procedure that identifies the one or more movable drones and/or an authorization procedure that checks one or more security credential.

24. A method as claimed in claim 18, further comprising recognizing at least one predetermined waypoint signal to allow a vertex in the computer-implemented virtual boundary to be recognized.

25. At least one non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed, perform:

determining one or more positions of one or more movable drones in a monitored scene space;

implementing a computer-implemented virtual boundary in a monitoring space corresponding to the monitored scene space, wherein a shape and position of the computer-implemented virtual boundary is at least partially defined by the one or more determined positions;

processing received data from sensors of the monitored scene space to generate a response event in response to a change in at least a portion of the monitored scene space relative to the computer-implemented virtual boundary in the corresponding monitoring space;

encoding the response event in terms of one or more parameters determined from an analysis of the change in the at least a portion of the monitored scene space;

recognizing the one or more parameter encoding to identify the response event; and

providing feedback to a user based on the generation of the response event and the identification of the response event.