Apparatus, methods, and systems for intelligent security and safety

• US 7,595,815 B2
• Filed: 05/08/2007
• Issued: 09/29/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: SecureNet Solutions Group, LLC
• Original Assignee: KD Secure LLC
• Inventors: Donovan, John J., Hussain, Daniar
• Primary Examiner(s): CZEKAJ, DAVID J
• Application Number:
  US11/746,043
• Publication Number:
  US 20080278579A1
• Time in Patent Office: 875 Days
• Field of Search: 348/143, 348/162, 706/47, 340/506
• 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 method and system for intelligent monitoring and intelligent alerting. One or more data inputs are received from one or more systems. A weight is attributed to each data input based on the data input, the source of the data input, and other factors. One or more video inputs are received from one or more video sources. Image analysis is performed on the video data to determine one or more video parameters. The video parameters are assigned one or more weights based on the video source and other factors. A series of rules are evaluated using the data inputs, the video inputs, and their respective weights. An associated action is performed for each rule that is activated. The present invention may be used for various security and safety purposes, including fighting crime, detecting and preventing terrorist activity, and ensuring safety procedures are followed.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring, alerting, and acting, comprising:

one or more sensory devices for performing a measurement and generating input data;

one or more video sources for capturing video data;

one or more storage areas for storing video data and input data;

one or more processors, operatively coupled to the one or more storage areas; and

one or more memories, operatively coupled to the one or more processors and the one or more storage areas, the one or more memories encoded with program code representing instructions to be executed by the one or more processors to;

receive input data from the one or more sensory devices;

determine one or more data weights for the input data based on a weight corresponding to a reliability of the sensory devices a weight corresponding to a source of the input data, a weight corresponding to a time the input data was received, a weight corresponding to a frequency that the input data was received, and a weight based on events external to all of the sensory devices;

receive video data from the one or more video sources;

perform image analysis on the video data to generate one or more video parameters;

determine one or more video weights for the video parameters based at least on the reliability of the video sources and based on events external to the system;

evaluate a set of rules based on the input data, the video parameters, the data weights, and the video weights; and

perform one or more actions based on the evaluation of the set of rules,

wherein future data weights are determined from past data weights using weighted additional external event weights.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising program code to:

generate meta-data based on the input data and the video parameters.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising program code to:

receive data from external police databases; and

evaluate the set of rules based on the received data.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising program code to:

receive data from anonymous tips, the anonymous tips having unidentified source, unidentified location, and unidentified timestamp; and

evaluate the set of rules based on the received data.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of rules includes at least a rule for activating an action when a weighted sum of a set of events is greater than a predetermined threshold.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the data weights are determined at least from a weight corresponding to a source of the input data, a weight corresponding to a time the input data was received, and a weight corresponding to a frequency that the input data was received.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the video parameters are determined from the video data by a weighted integral of the video data over time, weighted by a video weighing function.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the video parameters are determined from the video data by a predefined function of the weighted integral, and the predefined function is a composition of several other functions.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

one or more audio sources for capturing audio data,

wherein the one or more memories further comprise program code to;

receive audio data from the one or more audio sources;

perform audio analysis on the audio data to generate one or more audio parameters; and

determine one or more audio weights for the audio parameters based at least on the reliability of the audio sources and based on events external to the system.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising program code to:

receive historical video data from the one or more storage areas;

determine one or more historical video data weights for the historical video data; and

evaluate the set of rules based at least on the historical video data and the historical video data weights.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the events external to all of the sensory devices include at least an event from a police database, an event from National Terror Alert system, an event from Amber Alerts for missing children, and an event based on at least one anonymous tip.

12. A system for monitoring, alerting, and acting, comprising:

one or more sensory devices for performing a measurement and generating input data;

one or more storage areas for storing input data;

one or more processors, operatively coupled to the one or more storage areas; and

one or more memories, operatively coupled to the one or more processors and the one or more storage areas, the one or more memories encoded with program code representing instructions to be executed by the one or more processors to;

receive input data from the one or more sensory devices;

determine one or more data weights for the input data based on a weight corresponding to a reliability of the sensory devices a weight corresponding to a source of the input data, a weight corresponding to a time the input data was received, a weight corresponding to a frequency that the input data was received, and a weight based on events external to all of the sensory devices;

evaluate a set of rules based on the input data and the data weights; and

perform one or more actions based on the evaluation of the set of rules,

wherein future data weights are determined from past data weights using weighted additional external event weights.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising program code to:

receive input from external police databases; and

evaluate the set of rules based on the received input.

14. The system of claim 12, further comprising program code to:

receive input from anonymous tips, the anonymous tips having unidentified source, unidentified location, and unidentified timestamp; and

evaluate the set of rules based on the received input.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the set of rules includes at least a rule for activating an action when a weighted sum of a set of events is greater than a predetermined threshold.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the weights are determined at least from a weight corresponding to a source of the input data, a weight corresponding to a time the input data was received, and a weight corresponding to a frequency that the input data was received.

17. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

one or more audio sources for capturing audio data;

wherein the one or more memories further comprise program code to;

receive audio data from the one or more audio sources;

perform audio analysis on the audio data to generate one or more audio parameters; and

determine one or more audio weights for the audio parameters based at least on the reliability of the audio sources and based on events external to the system.

18. The system of claim 12, further comprising program code to:

receive historical data from the one or more storage areas;

determine one or more historical data weights for the historical data; and

evaluate the set of rules based at least on the historical data and the historical data weights.

19. The system of claim 12, further comprising program code to:

perform data analysis on the input data to generate one or more data parameters; and

determine one or more data parameter weights for the data parameters based at least on the reliability of the sensory devices and based on events external to the system.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the events external to all of the sensory devices include at least an event from a police database, an event from National Terror Alert system, an event from Amber Alerts for missing children, and an event based on at least one anonymous tip.

21. A method for monitoring, alerting, and acting, comprising the following steps:

receiving input data from one or more sensory devices;

determining via a processor one or more data weights for the input data based on a weight corresponding to a reliability of the sensory devices and based on events external to the system;

evaluating a set of rules based on the input data and the data weights; and

performing one or more actions based on the evaluation of the set of rules,

wherein future data weights are determined from past data weights using weighted additional external event weights.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

receiving input from external police databases; and

evaluating the set of rules based on the received input.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

receiving input from anonymous tips, the anonymous tips having unidentified source, unidentified location, and unidentified timestamp; and

evaluating the set of rules based on the received input.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the set of rules includes at least a rule for activating an action when a weighted sum of a set of events is greater than a predetermined threshold.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein said data weights are determined at least from a weight corresponding to a source of the input data, a weight corresponding to a time the input data was received, and a weight corresponding to a frequency that the input data was received.

26. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

receiving audio data from the one or more audio sources;

performing audio analysis on the audio data to generate one or more audio parameters; and

determining one or more audio weights for the audio parameters based at least on the reliability of the audio sources and based on events external to the system.

27. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

receiving historical data from the one or more storage areas;

determining one or more historical data weights for the historical video data; and

evaluating the set of rules based at least on the historical data and the historical data weights.

28. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

performing data analysis on the input data to generate one or more data parameters; and

determining one or more data parameter weights for the data parameters based at least on the reliability of the data sources and based on events external to the system.

29. The method of claim 21, wherein the events external to all of the sensory devices include at least an event from a police database, an event from National Terror Alert system, an event from Amber Alerts for missing children, and an event based on at least one anonymous tip.

30. An apparatus for monitoring, alerting, and acting, comprising:

one or more input components adapted to receive input data from one or more data sources;

one or more storage areas for storing the input data;

a data weight component adapted to determine one or more data weights for the input data based on a weight corresponding to a reliability of the data sources, a weight corresponding to a source of the input data, a weight corresponding to a time the input data was received, a weight corresponding to a frequency that the input data was received, and a weight based on events external to all of the data sources;

a rules engine adapted to evaluate a set of rules based on the input data and the data weights; and

one or more action components adapted to perform one or more actions based on the evaluation of the set of rules,

wherein future data weights are determined from past data weights using weighted additional external event weights.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, further comprising:

an external data source component adapted to receive input from external police databases,

wherein the rules engine evaluates the set of rules based on the received input.

32. The apparatus of claim 30, further comprising:

an external data source component adapted to receive input from anonymous tips, the anonymous tips having unidentified source, unidentified location, and unidentified timestamp,

wherein the rules engine evaluates the set of rules based at least on the received input.

33. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the set of rules includes at least a rule for activating an action when a weighted sum of a set of events is greater than a predetermined threshold.

34. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein said data weights are determined at least from a weight corresponding to a source of the input data, a weight corresponding to a time the input data was received, and a weight corresponding to a frequency that the input data was received.

35. The apparatus of claim 30, further comprising:

one or more video inputs adapted to receive video data from one or more video sources;

one or more video detection components adapted to perform video analysis on the video data to generate one or more video parameters; and

one or more video weight components adapted to generate one or more video parameter weights based at least on the reliability of the video sources and based on events external to the system.

36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the video parameters are determined from the video data by a weighted integral of the video data over time, weighted by a video weighing function.

37. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the video parameters are determined from the video data by a predefined function of the weighted integral, and the predefined function is a composition of several other functions.

38. The apparatus of claim 30, further comprising:

one or more data analysis components adapted to perform data analysis on the input data to generate one or more data parameters; and

one or more data parameter weight components adapted to generate one or more data parameter weights based at least on the reliability of the data sources and based on events external to the system,

wherein the rules engine evaluates the set of rules based at least on the data parameters and the data parameter weights.

39. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the events external to all of the data sources include at least an event from a police database, an event from National Terror Alert system, an event from Amber Alerts for missing children, and an event based on at least one anonymous tip.