Surveillance System With Intelligently Interchangeable Cameras

• US 20140267745A1
• Filed: 03/13/2013
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pelco (Schneider Electric SE)
• Original Assignee: Pelco (Schneider Electric SE)
• Inventors: Martin, Steven D., Herrera, Oscar R.
• Granted Patent: US 9,787,947 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/159
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1966 Wireless systems, other than telephone systems, used to communicate with a camera
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19663 Surveillance related processing done local to the camera
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1968 Interfaces for setting up or customising the system
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

An embodiment of the invention provides a surveillance system with intelligently interchangeable cameras. The system includes multiple bases, each with a respective base identifier, and multiple cameras configured to learn the respective base identifiers while in proximity with a respective base. The cameras in the system are configured to employ a camera configuration corresponding with the respective learned base identifier. Each camera in the system employs the appropriate camera configuration for its placement in the system because each camera employs the camera configuration associated with the base identifier learned by the camera. This allows the cameras to be easily replaced, swapped, and moved throughout the surveillance system.

Claims

1. A surveillance system, comprising:

bases having associated therewith respective base identifiers;

cameras configured to be interchangeably coupled to multiple bases, and a given camera configured to learn a respective base identifier while in proximity with a given base and to employ a camera configuration corresponding to the respective base identifier.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a system controller having access to camera configuration information associated with the base identifiers and communicatively coupled to the cameras to provide respective camera configuration information to the cameras for the respective base identifiers.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the cameras are configured to transmit the learned base identifier to the system controller and to receive the corresponding camera configuration information based upon the transmitted base identifier.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the cameras modify their respective camera configuration to comply with the received camera configuration information.

5. The system of claim 2 wherein the system controller is communicatively coupled to each base and wherein each base is configured to transmit a signal to the system controller indicating a camera has been removed from a base.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the system controller generates a flag when the signal indicating a camera has been removed from a base is received.

7. The system of claim 2 wherein each camera is configured to transmit a signal to the system controller indicating a camera has been removed from a base.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the system controller generates a flag when the signal indicating a camera has been removed from a base is received.

9. The system of claim 2 wherein the system controller creates a log of camera/base pairings.

10. The system of claim 2 wherein the system controller is configured to provide the camera configuration information periodically to the cameras in the system and each camera is configured to comply with the camera configuration information while in proximity with a base.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the cameras are configured to learn the respective base identifier associated with a base when the camera is mechanically coupled to the base.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the system includes more bases than cameras or more cameras than bases.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein each camera can be mechanically coupled to every base.

14. The system of claim 1 wherein the respective base identifiers are each stored on a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag coupled to each base.

15. The system of claim 1 wherein the cameras are wireless cameras.

16. The system of claim 1 wherein the cameras are battery powered.

17. A method for providing a surveillance system, the method comprising:

by a camera, among multiple cameras, configured to be interchangeably coupled to multiple bases;

learning a respective base identifier associated with a respective base while in proximity with the respective base; and

employing a camera configuration corresponding to the respective base identifier.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

receiving camera configuration information from a system controller.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

transmitting the learned base identifier to the system controller; and

receiving the camera configuration information based upon the transmitted base identifier.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising:

modifying the camera configuration to comply with the received camera configuration information.

21. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

causing a base to transmit a signal to the system controller when a camera is removed from the base.

22. The method of claim 21 further comprising:

causing the system controller to generate a flag in response to receiving the signal indicating that the camera was removed from the base.

23. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

causing a camera to transmit a signal to the system controller when the camera is removed from a base.

24. The method of claim 23 further comprising:

causing the system controller to generate a flag in response to receiving the signal indicating that the camera was removed from the base.

25. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

causing the system controller to create a log of camera/base pairings.

26. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions which, when loaded and executed by a processor coupled to a camera, causes the camera to:

learn a respective base identifier associated with a respective base while in proximity with the respective base; and

employ a camera configuration corresponding to the base identifier.