Method and system for remote wireless video surveillance

• US 20030163826A1
• Filed: 02/25/2002
• Published: 08/28/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bradley A. Weinstein
• Original Assignee: Sentrus, Inc.
• Inventors: Weinstein, Richard D.
• Granted Patent: US 7,051,356 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/105
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19656 Network used to communicate with a camera, e.g. WAN, LAN, Internet
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19667 Details realated to data compression, encryption or encoding, e.g. resolution modes for reducing data volume to lower transmission bandwidth or memory requirements
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19689 Remote control of cameras, e.g. remote orientation or image zooming control for a PTZ camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/185 from a mobile camera, e.g. for remote control

Abstract

Disclosed are a system and method for providing wireless video surveillance of a remote location using microwave transmission of video data using TCP/IP networking protocol. The system comprises a remote unit having one or more analog cameras, a video encoder/decoder linked to a microwave transceiver using Ethernet transceivers connected by a twisted wire pair. The microwave transmission is received by a base unit comprising another microwave transceiver and Ethernet transceiver linked to a computer. The base unit computer is connected to one or more computer networks to enable transmission of the video data to multiple computer terminals on the network.

Claims

1. A method of providing remote wireless video surveillance of a location comprising the steps of:

using a miniature analog video camera to generate analog electrical signals representative of an image of the location;

converting the analog signals to digital electrical signals and packetizing the digital electrical signals into an IP format;

transmitting the video data in IP format over a twisted wire pair using a first ethernet transceiver;

receiving the video data in IP format over the twisted wire pair using a second ethernet transceiver;

wirelessly transmitting a microwave signal containing the IP format data to a base unit;

at the base unit, receiving the IP format data microwave signal from the remote unit;

sending the IP format data over a computer network to a user terminal;

converting the IP format data to digital video signals using a video player; and

displaying the digital video signals on a monitor at the user terminal.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the IP format comprises TCP/IP.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the microwave transmission has a frequency between 5.0 and 6.0 Ghz.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of inputting pan, tilt, and zoom control instructions at the base unit to control the operation of the camera.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of using additional cameras at the location and selecting between video data generated by the cameras.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the selecting between video data is made by inputs to the base unit.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the computer network is the Internet.

8. A system for providing wireless video surveillance data of a location to a plurality of computer terminals on a network comprising:

at least one camera for generating an electromagnetic signal containing video data representing an image of the location;

means for converting the video data of the electromagnetic signal into IP format;

a first Ethernet transceiver for transmitting the video data in IP format over a twisted wire pair;

a second Ethernet transceiver for receiving the video data in IP format over the twisted wire pair;

means for wirelessly transmitting the video data output of the second Ethernet transceiver to a base unit;

means for receiving and decoding the wireless video data transmission at the base unit; and

means for transmitting the video data from the base unit to a plurality of computer terminals over a network.

9. The system of claim 8 further comprising means for storing video data at the remote unit.

10. The system of claim 8 further comprising means for controlling the camera from inputs at the base unit.