Method for suspect identification using scanning of surveillance media

• US 6,975,346 B2
• Filed: 06/27/2002
• Issued: 12/13/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kumhyr, David Bruce
• Primary Examiner(s): VO, TUNG T
• Application Number:
  US10/185,685
• Publication Number:
  US 20040001142A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,265 Days
• Field of Search: H04/N00.7/18, 348143-177, 713/202, 713/170, 713/186, 707/104.1, 707/102, 707/101, 340/574, 340/573.1, 340/5.53, 382/190, 382/191, 704/275, 705/1, 705/2, 705/5, 04/N
• US Class Current: 348/143
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/52 Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/625 License plates
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 2201/08 Detecting or categorising vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/172 Classification, e.g. identification
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/188 Capturing isolated or intermittent images triggered by the occurrence of a predetermined event, e.g. an object reaching a predetermined position signal generation from motion picture films H04N5/253

Abstract

A method, program and apparatus for criminal suspect identification are provided. Monitoring and video recording are used to collect information at a given location. In response to specific events, such as a criminal act, the system uses real time analysis of the video to identify physical characteristics of any persons shown. The system compiles an identification profile for each person, including distinguishing physical characteristics extracted from the video information, and then transmits the profiles to law enforcement authorities. The suspect-identification system also scans previously stored video information of the location, comparing profiles from the crime scene with images in the stored video. If any matches are found, the system updates the identification profiles with additional information from matched images and transmits the updated identification profile to the authorities.

Claims

1. A method for criminal suspect identification, the method comprising the computer implemented steps of:

monitoring and recording video at a location;

responsive to a criminal event at the location, in real time, tagging every person visible in the video to form a set of tagged persons;

comparing the set of tagged persons to stored profiles of known persons;

responsive to comparing the set of tagged persons to the stored profiles of known persons, excluding known persons from unknown persons in the set of tagged persons using the comparison to create a list of unknown persons;

identifying hand held objects possessed by unknown persons in the list of unknown persons to generate an identification of hand held objects;

generating a list of suspects from the list of unknown persons and the identification of hand held objects;

responsive to generating the list of suspects, determining whether a recipient of preliminary information for the criminal event is an agent arriving on the location;

responsive to the recipient being an arriving agent adding global positioning system data to the list of suspects;

responsive to generating the list of suspects, determining whether the recipient is receiving live video,

responsive to the recipient is equipped to receive live video, formatting the live video to include identifying marks superimposed on both suspects in the list of suspects and known persons for use in the preliminary information;

responsive to generating the list of suspects, determining whether the recipient is receiving static images;

responsive to a determination that the recipient is equipped to receive static images, formatting the static images to include the identifying marks superimposed on both suspects in the list of suspects and known persons for use in the preliminary information;

after generating the list of suspects, determining whether the recipient is equipped to receive text messages;

responsive to a determination that the recipient is equipped to receive text messages, formatting a text message for use in the preliminary information;

broadcasting the preliminary information an suspects and known persons to the recipient in all appropriate formats to form a preliminary broadcast;

responsive to the preliminary broadcast, scanning stored historical video for possible matches through comparing physical characteristics between suspects in the list of suspects and persons in the stored historical video to form a comparison;

analyzing behavioral actions of the suspects in the video and persons in the historical video to form an analysis;

calculating a probability of a match, through regression analysis, using the analysis and the comparison;

determining whether the probability of the match exceeds a threshold;

confirming the match if the probability of the match exceeds the threshold;

appending the match to the preliminary information;

responsive to appending the match to the preliminary information, determining whether a change in a number of suspects or a change in a location of suspects has occurred;

responsive to an occurrence of the change in the number of suspects or the change in the location of the suspects, analyzing new visual data containing the change in the number of suspects or the change in the location of the suspects;

broadcasting updated information to the recipient, in which the updated information includes appended matches with the preliminary information; and

responsive to broadcasting the updated information, storing the updated information.