Security system with method for locatable portable electronic camera image transmission to a remote receiver

• US 5,712,679 A
• Filed: 09/11/1992
• Issued: 01/27/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 01/16/1989
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Christopher F. Coles
• Original Assignee: Christopher Francis Coles
• Inventors: Coles, Christopher Francis
• Primary Examiner(s): Chin, Tommy P.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Le, Vu
• Application Number:
  US07/720,865
• Time in Patent Office: 1,964 Days
• Field of Search: 358/108, 358/125, 358/126, 358/105, 358/109
• US Class Current: 348/158
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0009 Transmission of position information to remote stations involving assistance data G01S5/0236
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19621 Portable camera
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19671 Addition of non-video data, i.e. metadata, to video stream
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0297 Robbery alarms, e.g. hold-up alarms, bag snatching alarms
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/016 Personal emergency signalling and security systems emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12

Abstract

A security system comprises a locatable portable electronic camera image transmission unit which both identifies its own location by utilising the capabilities of an integral position location apparatus module while at the same time electronically photographing and otherwise recording the immediate scene. This combined navigational and photographic information is at the same time both stored within the locatable portable electronic camera transmission unit and transmitted, along with any other desired information such as user name, address and time of day to a distant remote receiver. The remote receiver converts the transmitted navigational information into a display of the location of the locatable portable electronic camera transmission unit upon a map, and this navigational and the other visual information is suitably displayed upon a television screen and is also presented as a hard copy on a facsimile receiver. Thus the receiver of the transmitted information will have immediate knowledge of the exact navigational location of the locatable portable electronic camera transmission unit plus a visual and other record of the surrounding event.

Claims

1. A security system comprising in combination:

a portable transmitter module adapted for selective transmission of a signal capable of being encoded with and conveying data;

memory means within said portable transmitter module for storing data to be encoded in signals transmitted by said portable transmitter module;

a receiver disposed in a location remote from said portable transmitter module, said receiver being adapted to receive signals transmitted by said portable transmitter module;

means coupled to said receiver for interpreting data encoded in signals received by said receiver and presenting the data in a usable form;

a camera module physically and electronically coupled to said transmitter module, said camera module having a lens for focusing an image and including means for converting the image into data representative of the image, the data being capable of being encoded into signals transmitted by said portable transmitter module;

a global positioning module physically and electronically coupled to said transmitter module, said global positioning module being adapted to receive positioning signals from remote positioning transmitters, to calculate its current location based upon the received positioning signals, and to convert the calculated location into data capable of being encoded into signals transmitted by said portable transmitter module;

audio receiver means coupled to said portable transmitter module, said audio receiver means being adapted to detect ambient sound and to convert the detected sound to data representative of the sound, the data being capable of being embedded within signals transmitted by said transmitter module;

means in said portable transmitter module for receiving data from said camera module, said global positioning module, and said audio receiver means and for storing the received data in said memory means;

means in said portable transmitter module for accessing data stored in said memory means and encoding the data in signals to be transmitted by said transmitter module and received by said receiver; and

selective activation means for selectively activating said security system to cause image, position, and audio data to be captured, stored in said memory means, and transmitted in the form of a signal to be received by said receiver.

2. A security system as claimed in claim 1 and wherein said global positioning module is adapted to receive positioning signals from the Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) array.

3. A security system as claimed in claim 1 and wherein said means coupled to said receiver for interpreting data encoded in signals received by said receiver includes a map display and indicator unit for indicating on a map the location of a transmitter module as indicated by the location data encoded in a signal received from said transmitter module.

4. A security system as claimed in claim 1 and wherein said means coupled to said receiver for interpreting data encoded in signals received by said receiver includes a television display for displaying an image as encoded in a signal received from said transmitter module.

5. A security system as claimed in claim 1 and wherein said means coupled to said receiver for interpreting data encoded in signals received by said receiver includes a facsimile receiver for producing a hard copy of images encoded in signals received from said transmitter module.

6. A security system as claimed in claim 1 and wherein said selective activation means comprises a manually operable switch.

7. A security system as claimed in claim 1 and wherein said selective activation means comprises means for detecting an audio signal received by said audio receiver means and activating said security system when the magnitude of the detected audio signal exceeds a predetermined threshold.

8. A method of detecting a breach of security in a first location and providing information regarding the breach of security to security personal in a remote location, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) upon the breach of security, acquiring an image of the first location, converting the image into transmittable data representative of the image, and storing the data;

(b) upon the breach of security, acquiring a global positioning signal, calculating the position of the first location based upon the acquired global positioning signal, converting the calculated position into transmittable data representative of the position, and storing the data;

(c) accessing the stored data representative of the image and the position;

(d) generating a transmittable signal that contains the stored data;

(e) transmitting the signal to the remote location;

(f) receiving the signal at the remote location;

(g) extracting the data representative of the image and the position from the received signal;

(h) reconstructing the image and the position information from the extracted data; and

(i) presenting the reconstructed image and position information in a form usable by security personal to identify the location and nature of the breach of security.

9. The method of claim 8 and further comprising, upon the breach of security, acquiring sounds from the vicinity of the breach, converting the acquired sounds into data representative of the sounds, and storing the data and wherein step (c) further comprises accessing the stored data representative of the sounds, step (g) further comprises extracting the data representative of the sounds, step (h) further comprises reconstructing the sounds, and step (i) further comprises presenting the sounds in a form usable by security personnel.

10. The method of claim 9 and further comprising initiating steps (a) through (i) by activating a manually operable switch.

11. The method of claim 9 and further comprising initiating steps (a) through (i) when the ambient sound in the vicinity of the breach of security exceeds a predetermined threshold.

12. The method of claim 8 and wherein step (b) comprises acquiring the global positioning signal from the Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) array.