EVENT PACKAGED VIDEO SEQUENCE

• US 20060239645A1
• Filed: 03/31/2005
• Published: 10/26/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Bedros, Saad J., Curtner, Keith L., Au, KwongWing
• Granted Patent: US 7,760,908 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 386/228
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/7335 Graphical querying, e.g. query-by-region, query-by-sketch, query-by-trajectory, GUIs for designating a person/face/object as a query predicate end-user interface involving hot spots associated with the video H04N21/4725; end-user interface for selecting a Region of Interest H04N21/4728
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/7837 using objects detected or recognised in the video content
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19606 Discriminating between target movement or movement in an area of interest and other non-signicative movements, e.g. target movements induced by camera shake or movements of pets, falling leaves, rotating fan
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19613 Recognition of a predetermined image pattern or behaviour pattern indicating theft or intrusion
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19669 Event triggers storage or change of storage policy
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19671 Addition of non-video data, i.e. metadata, to video stream
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1968 Interfaces for setting up or customising the system
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19682 Graphic User Interface [GUI] presenting system data to the user, e.g. information on a screen helping a user interacting with an alarm system
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/28 by using information signals recorded by the same method as the main recording G11B27/22 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/322 used signal is digitally coded
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

Methods and systems for packaging video sequences based on user-specified events are described herein. An illustrative method of event-packaging a video sequence may include the steps of acquiring a video stream containing an event of interest, extracting various event information from the video stream and storing one or more event parameters within an event database, extracting a video clip from the video stream containing the event of interest, associating metadata representing the event parameters to the video clip, and exporting the video clip containing the event of interest and associated metadata to an external agent. In certain embodiments, a video image-processing appliance manager and/or one or more appliance modules can be provided to automatically extract event information from the acquired video stream, and to manage the indexing and storage of event parameters within the event database. A graphical user interface may also be provided to permit the event information extracted from the video stream to be compared against a set of user-specified event parameters.

Claims

1. A method of event-packaging a video sequence, comprising the steps of:

acquiring a video stream containing an event of interest;

extracting event information from the video stream and storing one or more event parameters within an event database;

detecting a user-defined event from the video stream;

extracting a video clip from the video stream containing the event of interest;

associating metadata representing the event parameters with the extracted video clip; and

exporting the video clip containing the event of interest and the associated metadata to an external agent.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing a video image-processing appliance manager in communication with one or more appliance modules.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said one or more appliance modules includes a video detection module, a video motion tracking module, an object classification module, and an event detection module.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said one or more appliance modules includes a face detection module, a face tracking module, a face recognition module, and an event detection module.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein said step of extracting event information from the video stream is accomplished automatically using at least one of said one or more appliance modules.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein said step of extracting event information from the video stream is accomplished automatically using the appliance manager.

7. The method of claim 1, further including the step of storing the video clip within a video database after said step of extracting the video clip from the video stream containing the event of interest.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said step of storing the video clip includes the step of associating the metadata to the stored video clip.

9. The method of claim 1, further including the step of providing a graphical user interface.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the graphical user interface includes a means for adjusting the pre-record and/or post record duration of the extracted video clip.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the graphical user interface includes a means for providing annotation information along with the extracted video clip.

12. The method of claim 9, further including the step of comparing the extracted event information against a set of user-specified event parameters.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said one or more user-specified event parameters are selected from the group of event parameters consisting of a date parameter, a time parameter, a camera identification parameter, a location of event parameter, a type of event parameter, a lighting parameter, an object type parameter, a direction of object motion parameter, a color of object parameter, and a license number parameter.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein said one or more user-specified event parameters are semantic parameters.

15. The method of claim 12, further including the step of searching the event database using the one or more user-specified event parameters.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of exporting the video clip containing the event of interest to an external agent includes the step of sending a video clip and associated metadata to a terminal station.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of exporting the video clip containing the event of interest to an external agent includes the step of sending a video clip and associated metadata to a networked storage device.

18. A method of event-packaging a video sequence, comprising the steps of:

acquiring a video stream containing an event of interest;

extracting event information from the video stream and storing one or more event parameters within an event database;

detecting a user-defined event from the video stream;

extracting a video clip from the video stream containing the event of interest and storing the extracted video clip within a video database; and

exporting the video clip containing the event of interest to an external agent.

19. A method of event-packaging a video sequence, comprising the steps of:

acquiring a video stream containing an event of interest;

extracting event information from the video stream and storing one or more event parameters within an event database;

extracting a video clip from the video stream containing the event of interest and storing the extracted video clip within a video database;

associating metadata representing the event parameters with the extracted video clip; and

searching the event database using one or more user-specified event parameters and retrieving an associated video clip from the video database.

20. A method of event-packaging a video sequence, comprising the steps of:

providing a graphical user interface;

acquiring a video stream containing an event of interest;

extracting event information from the video stream and storing one or more event parameters within an event database;

comparing the extracted event information against a set of user-specified event parameters configured using the graphical user interface;

extracting a video clip from the video stream containing the event of interest; and

exporting the video clip containing the event of interest to an external agent.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the graphical user interface includes a means for adjusting the pre-record and/or post record duration of the extracted video clip.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the graphical user interface includes a means for providing annotation information along with the extracted video clip.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein said one or more user-specified event parameters are selected from the group of event parameters consisting of a date parameter, a time parameter, a camera identification parameter, a location of event parameter, a type of event parameter, a lighting parameter, an object type parameter, a direction of object motion parameter, a color of object parameter, and a license number parameter.

24. The method of claim 20, wherein said one or more user-specified event parameters are semantic parameters.

25. The method of claim 20, further including the step of searching the event database using the one or more user-specified event parameters.

26. The method of claim 20, wherein said step of exporting the video clip containing the event of interest to an external agent includes the step of sending a video clip and associated event parameters to a terminal station.

27. The method of claim 20, wherein said step of exporting the video clip containing the event of interest to an external agent includes the step of sending a video clip and associated event parameters to a networked storage device.

28. A method of event-packaging a video sequence, comprising the steps of:

providing a video image-processing appliance manager in communication with one or more appliance modules;

providing a graphical user interface in communication with the appliance manager;

acquiring a video stream containing an event of interest;

automatically extracting event information from the video stream using the appliance manager and/or one or more of the appliance modules;

storing one or more event parameters within an event database;

extracting a video clip from the video stream containing the event of interest; and

exporting the video clip containing the event of interest to an external agent.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein said one or more appliance modules includes a video detection module, a video motion tracking module, an object classification module, and an event detection module.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein said one or more appliance modules includes a face detection module, a face tracking module, a face recognition module, and an event detection module.

31. The method of claim 28, further including the step of storing the video clip and associated event parameters within a video database after said step of extracting the video clip from the video stream containing the event of interest.

32. The method of claim 28, wherein the graphical user interface includes a means for adjusting the pre-record and/or post record duration of the extracted video clip.

33. The method of claim 28, wherein the graphical user interface includes a means for providing annotation information along with the extracted video clip.

34. The method of claim 28, further including the step of comparing the extracted event information against a set of user-specified event parameters.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein said one or more user-specified event parameters are selected from the group of event parameters consisting of a date parameter, a time parameter, a camera identification parameter, a location of event parameter, a type of event parameter, a lighting parameter, an object type parameter, a direction of object motion parameter, a color of object parameter, and a license number parameter.

36. The method of claim 34, wherein said one or more user-specified event parameters are semantic parameters.

37. The method of claim 34, further including the step of searching the event database using the one or more user-specified event parameters.

38. The method of claim 28, wherein said step of exporting the video clip containing the event of interest to an external agent includes the step of sending a video clip to a terminal station.

39. The method of claim 28, wherein said step of exporting the video clip containing the event of interest to an external agent includes the step of sending a video clip to a networked storage device.

40. A method of event-packaging a video sequence, comprising the steps of:

providing a video image-processing appliance manager in communication with one or more appliance modules;

providing a graphical user interface in communication with the appliance manager;

acquiring a video stream containing an event of interest;

automatically extracting event information from the video stream using the appliance manager and/or one or more of the appliance modules;

comparing the extracted event information against a set of user-specified event parameters configured using the graphical user interface;

storing one or more event parameters within an event database;

extracting a video clip from the video stream containing the event of interest; and

exporting the video clip containing the event of interest to an external agent.

41. A video monitoring system, comprising:

a video image-processing appliance manager in communication with one or more appliance modules, said appliance manager adapted to run an algorithm or routine for extracting an event-packaged video clip from a video stream containing an event of interest; and

means for configuring one or more user-specified event parameters within the appliance manager and/or one or more of the appliance modules.

42. The video monitoring system of claim 41, wherein said means for configuring one or more user-specified event parameters within the appliance manager and/or one or more of the appliance modules includes a graphical user interface.

43. The video monitoring system of claim 42, wherein the graphical user interface includes a means for adjusting the pre-record and/or post record duration of the event-packaged video clip.

44. The video monitoring system of claim 42, wherein the graphical user interface includes a means for providing annotation information along with the event-packaged video clip.

45. The video monitoring system of claim 41, wherein said one or more user-specified event parameters are selected from the group of event parameters consisting of a date parameter, a time parameter, a camera identification parameter, a location of event parameter, a type of event parameter, a lighting parameter, an object type parameter, a direction of object motion parameter, a color of object parameter, and a license number parameter.

46. The video monitoring system of claim 41, wherein said one or more user-specified event parameters are semantic parameters.