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

• US 6,181,373 B1
• Filed: 01/26/1998
• Issued: 01/30/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 01/16/1989
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Christopher F. Coles
• Original Assignee: Christopher F. Coles
• Inventors: Coles, Christopher F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Vu
• Application Number:
  US09/013,367
• Time in Patent Office: 1,100 Days
• Field of Search: 348/158, 348/143, 348/148, 348/149, 348/151
• 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 portable security system (1) consisting of an electronic camera module (2) with a lens (3), a Global Positioning System module (4) and a combined memory and transmitter module (5) which includes a microphone (7). When sound-activated via microphone (7) or activated by manual operation of the button (6), the camera module (2) photographs the scene and feeds the image to the transmitter module (5), also the Global Positioning System module (4) receives positional information for satellites and converts the received information into display information, and the transmitter module (5) transmits the image and the display information to a remote receiver (10) for conversion into a printed image on a facsimile receiver (15) and into a display of the transmitter'"'"'s position on a map (11).

Claims

1. A portable security transmitter, comprising:

selective transmission means for selectively transmitting a data stream;

a camera module coupled to said transmission means and for imaging a selected region in the vicinity of said portable security transmitter and converting the image to data for inclusion in said data stream;

a global positioning module coupled to said transmission means for receiving positioning signals from remote positioning transmitters, calculating the global position of said transmitter, and converting the global position to data for inclusion in said data stream; and

activation means for selectively activating the transmission means to transmit a data stream including, at least, said converted image from said camera module and said global position.

2. The portable security transmitter of claim 1, further comprising audio receiving means coupled to said transmission means and for converting sound in the vicinity of said portable security transmitter to data for inclusion in said data stream.

3. The portable security transmitter of claim 2, wherein said audio receiving means includes a microphone.

4. The portable security transmitter of claim 3 further comprising a computer platform in operable connection to said selective transmission means, camera module, global positioning module, and activation means.

5. The portable security transmitter of claim 1, further comprising memory means for selectively storing said image and global position data prior to inclusion in said data stream.

6. The potable security transmitter of claim 1, wherein said global positioning module receives positioning signals from a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) array.

7. The portable security transmitter of claim 6, wherein said selective transmission means selectively transmits a radio signal that carries said data stream.

8. The portable security transmitter of claim 7, wherein said camera module converts an image into a television signal for inclusion in said data stream.

9. The portable security transmitter of claim 1, wherein said activation means further comprises means for activating said transmitter upon occurrence of an audible event above a predefined threshold.

10. The portable security transmitter of claim 9 wherein said activation means further comprises manually operable activation means.

11. A digital process for operating a portable security transmitter comprising the steps of:

monitoring an activation means on a portable security transmitter;

calculating the global position of the transmitter by receiving signals from global positioning transmitters;

acquiring an image through a camera module of the transmitter upon activation of the activation means;

transmitting a data stream including, at least, the global position and the image; and

storing the data stream substantially simultaneously on a memory means in the portable security transmitter.

12. The process of claim 11, further comprising the step of recording sound on an audio receiving means on the transmitter, whereby the sound is transmitted in the data stream and stored on the memory means.

13. The process of claim 11, wherein the step of calculating the global position of the transmitter comprising calculating the global position of the transmitter by utilizing the signals of the Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) array.

14. The process of claim 13, wherein the step of transmitting a data stream comprises transmitting a data stream carried by of a radio signal.

15. The process of claim 11, wherein the step of acquiring an image comprises acquiring an image in the form a television signal to be included in the data stream.

16. The process of claim 11, wherein the step of monitoring an activation means comprises monitoring an activation means for the occurrence of an audible event above a predetermined threshold.

17. The process of claim 11, wherein the step of monitoring an activation means comprises monitoring an activation means for a manual activation.

18. The process of claim 11, wherein the steps of the process are performed by software loaded upon computer hardware of the portable security transmitter.

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

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

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

(c) generating a transmittable signal that contains the data representative of the image and the data representative of the position;

(d) transmitting the transmittable signal to the remote location;

(e) receiving the transmitted signal at the remote location;

(f) at the remote location, extracting from the received signal the data representative of the image and the data representative of the position;

(g) at the remote location, reconstructing the image and the position from the extracted data; and

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

20. A method of detecting a breach of security as claimed in claim 19 and further comprising, upon the breach of security, acquiring sounds from the vicinity of the breach and converting the acquired sounds into data representative of the sounds, and wherein step (c) further comprises generating a transmittable signal that contains the data representative of the image, the data representative of the position, and the data representative of the sounds, step (f) further comprises extracting from the received signal the data representative of the sounds, step (g) further comprises reconstructing the sounds from the extracted data, and step (h) further comprises presenting the reconstructed sounds in a form usable by security personnel.

21. A method of detecting a breach of security as claimed in claim 20 and further comprising the step of storing at least some of the data representative of the image, the location, and the sounds prior to transmitting the transmittable signal containing the data to the remote location.

22. A method of detecting a breach of security as claimed in claim 19 and further comprising the step of initiating steps (a) through (h) by activating a manually operable switch.

23. A method of detecting a breach of security as claimed in claim 19 and further comprising the step of initiating steps (a) through (h) when ambient sound in the vicinity of the breach of security exceeds a predetermined threshold.

24. A method of detecting a breach of security as claimed in claim 19 and wherein step (b) comprises acquiring the global positioning signals from the Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) array.