User assisted customization of automated video surveillance systems

• US 7,446,797 B2
• Filed: 05/09/2003
• Issued: 11/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Columbia Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: ActivEye, Inc. (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Lee, Mi-Suen
• Primary Examiner(s): Senfi; Behrooz
• Application Number:
  US10/435,344
• Publication Number:
  US 20040155958A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,006 Days
• Field of Search: 348/143, 348/135, 348/155, 348/152, 348/142, 348/154, 348/169, 348/699, 348/96, 348/97, 348/171, 348/172, 382/103, 382/107, 382/194, 382/236, 375/240.13, 375/240.15, 375/240.17
• US Class Current: 348/143
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast

Abstract

A surveillance system allows a user to characterize the user'"'"'s environment and/or the user'"'"'s surveillance application, via a selection from among a variety of predefined environments and/or applications. Preferably, the selection is from among a variety of scene configurations, such as the expected number and type of targets in a typical scene, the lighting conditions of the scene, and so on. The selected environments and/or applications effect a determination of the parameters that are used in the various algorithms and processing modules within the surveillance system. Because the selection is preferably from a variety of common scene configurations, no technical skills are required to effect an optimization of the performance of the surveillance system for a particular environment.

Claims

1. A video surveillance system comprising:

a plurality of function modules, including at least one people-detection module, at least one object-detection module and at least one vehicle-detection module,

each module of the plurality of function modules providing a functional effect that is dependent upon one or more parameters,

a database that includes a plurality of scene characterizations including a plurality of people-image characterizations for the people-detection module, a plurality of object-image characterizations for the object-detection module and a plurality of vehicle-image characterizations for the vehicle-detection module,

a selector that is configured to allow a user of the video surveillance system to select a characterization from the plurality of scene characterizations, and

a configuration module that is configured to;

determine whether the selected characterization is a people-image characterization, an object-image characterization or a vehicle-image characterization;

determine the one or more parameters based on the selected characterization, and

communicate the one or more determined parameters to a corresponding function module according to the determined type of the selected characterization, to control the module to provide the corresponding functional effect.

2. The video surveillance system of claim 1, wherein

the one or more parameters include at least one of:

a size parameter,

a shape parameter, and

a speed parameter.

3. The video surveillance system of claim 1, wherein

each people-image characterization of the plurality of people-image characterizations corresponds to a number of people accommodated within a video image;

and

each vehicle-image characterization of the plurality of vehicle-image characterizations corresponds to a number of vehicles accommodated within the video image.

4. The video surveillance system of claim 3, wherein

the plurality of function modules includes a detecting module that is configured to detect people-images, and

at least one of the one or more parameters of the detecting module is dependent upon the number of people-images accommodated within the video image.

5. The video surveillance system of claim 4, wherein

the one or more parameters of the detecting module include at least one of:

a size parameter,

a shape parameter, and

a speed parameter.

6. The video surveillance system of claim 3, wherein

the plurality of function modules includes a detecting module that is configured to detect object-images, and

at least one of the one or more parameters of the detecting module is dependent upon the number of people-images accommodated within the video image.

7. The video surveillance system of claim 3, wherein

the plurality of function modules includes a detecting module that is configured to detect vehicle-images, and

at least one of the one or more parameters of the detecting module is dependent upon the number of vehicle-images accommodated within the video image.

8. The video surveillance system of claim 7, wherein

the one or more parameters of the detecting module include at least one of:

a size parameter,

a shape parameter, and

a speed parameter.

9. The video surveillance system of claim 1, wherein

the plurality of scene characterizations corresponds to at least one of:

a variety of camera orientations,

a variety of lighting conditions, and

a variety of fields of view.

10. The video surveillance system of claim 1, wherein

the selector is configured to display a plurality of icons corresponding to a variety of fields of view, and allows the user to select the one or more select characterizations via a selection from among the plurality of icons.

11. The video surveillance system of claim 1, further including

a video source that is configured to provide a video image to the plurality of function modules.

12. The video surveillance system of claim 1, further including

a consolidating process that is configured to receive at least one output from the plurality of function modules, and to produce therefrom one or more alerts to the user.

13. The video surveillance system of claim 12, wherein

the configuration module is further configured to determine one or more parameters of the consolidating process, based on the one or more select characterizations.

14. A method to determine one or more parameters of at least one of a plurality of function modules including at least one people-detection module, at least one object-detection module and at least one vehicle-detection module in a surveillance system, comprising:

providing a plurality of scene characterizations including a plurality of people-image characterizations for the people-detection module, a plurality of object-image characterizations for the object-detection module and a plurality of vehicle-image characterizations for the vehicle-detection module to a user,

receiving a selected characterization by the user,

determine whether the selected characterization is people-image characterization, an object-image characterization or a vehicle-image characterization;

determining the one or more parameters based on the selected characterization,

communicating the one or more determined parameters to a corresponding function module according to the determined type of the selected characterization, and

causing the corresponding module to apply the one or more parameters to provide a corresponding functional effect based on the one or more parameters.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein

the one or more parameters include at least one of:

a size parameter,

a shape parameter, and

a speed parameter.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein

each people-image characterization of the plurality of people-image characterizations corresponds to a number of people accommodated within a video image;

and

each vehicle-image characterization of the plurality of vehicle-image characterizations corresponds to a number of vehicles accommodated within the video image.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein

the plurality of function modules includes a detecting module that is configured to detect people-images, and

at least one of the one or more parameters of the detecting module is dependent upon the number of people-images accommodated within the video image.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein

the one or more parameters of the detecting module include at least one of:

a size parameter,

a shape parameter, and

a speed parameter.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein

the plurality of function modules includes a detecting module that is configured to detect object-images, and

at least one of the one or more parameters of the detecting module is dependent upon the number of people-images accommodated within the video image.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein

the plurality of function modules includes a detecting module that is configured to detect vehicle-images, and

at least one of the one or more parameters of the detecting module is dependent upon the number of vehicle-images accommodated within the video image.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein

the one or more parameters of the detecting module include at least one of:

a size parameter,

a shape parameter, and

a speed parameter.

22. The method of claim 14, wherein

the plurality of scene characterizations corresponds to at least one of:

a variety of camera orientations,

a variety of lighting conditions, and

a variety of fields of view.

23. The method of claim 14, wherein

providing the plurality of scene characterizations includes providing a plurality of icons corresponding to a variety of fields of view, and

selecting the one or more select characterizations includes selecting from among the plurality of icons.

24. The method of claim 14, further including

providing the one or more parameters to the one or more function modules, and

executing the one or more function modules.

25. The method of claim 24, further including

processing at least one output from the plurality of function modules, and

providing one or more alerts to the user, based on the processing of the at least one output.

26. The method of claim 24, further including

consolidating a plurality of output from the plurality of function modules, and

providing one or more alerts to the user, based on the consolidating of the plurality of outputs,

wherein

consolidating the plurality of outputs is based at least in part on one or more other parameters that are based on the selection of the one or more select characterizations.