System for automated screening of security cameras

• US 8,682,034 B2
• Filed: 12/20/2012
• Issued: 03/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: CheckVideo, LLC (Kastle Systems International LLC)
• Original Assignee: CheckVideo, LLC (Kastle Systems International LLC)
• Inventors: Garoutte, Maurice V.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dang, Duy M
• Application Number:
  US13/722,029
• Publication Number:
  US 20130293708A1
• Time in Patent Office: 460 Days
• Field of Search: 382/103, 382/104, 382/107, 382/115, 382/236, 348/143, 348/148, 348/149, 348/152, 348/155, 348/169
• US Class Current: 382/103
• 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: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

The present invention involves a system for automatically screening closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras for large and small scale security systems, as used for example in parking garages. The system includes six primary software elements, each of which performs a unique function within the operation of the security system to provide intelligent camera selection for operators, resulting in a marked decrease of operator fatigue in a CCTV system. Real-time image analysis of video data is performed wherein a single pass of a video frame produces a terrain map which contains parameters indicating the content of the video. Based on the parameters of the terrain map, the system is able to make decisions about which camera an operator should view based on the presence and activity of vehicles and pedestrians, furthermore, discriminating vehicle traffic from pedestrian traffic. The system is compatible with existing CCTV (closed circuit television) systems and is comprised of modular elements to facilitate integration and upgrades.

Claims

1. A non-transitory processor-readable medium storing code representing instructions to be executed by a processor, the code comprising code to cause the processor to:

receive video data from a video recording device;

analyze the video data using video analytics to identify an event of interest in the video data;

select a display area from a plurality of display areas based at least in part on the event of interest; and

send a representation of the video data to a display module such that the representation of the video data is displayed in the display area.

2. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising code to cause the processor to:

classify the event of interest as an event type from a plurality of predefined event types; and

select the display area based at least in part on the event type.

3. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the code to cause the processor to analyze includes code to cause the processor to:

determine a pixel value for each pixel from a plurality of pixels for a target within the video data, the target being associated with the event of interest;

determine an average pixel value based at least in part on the pixel value for each pixel from the plurality of pixels; and

identify the event of interest based at least in part on the average pixel value.

4. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the code to cause the processor to analyze includes code to cause the processor to:

determine a pixel value for each pixel from a plurality of pixels for a target within the video data, the target being associated with the event of interest;

partition the plurality of pixels for the target within the video data into a plurality of sections;

determine an average pixel value for each section from the plurality of sections based at least in part on the pixel value for each pixel from a set of pixels from the plurality of pixels and associated with that section from the plurality of sections;

calculate a difference between a highest average pixel value and a lowest average pixel value from the average pixel values for the plurality of sections; and

identify the event of interest based at least in part on the difference between the highest average pixel value and the lowest average pixel value.

5. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the display area is blank prior to the representation of the video data being displayed in the display area.

6. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising code to cause the processor to:

send an audio signal to the display module based at least in part on the event of interest.

7. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the code to cause the processor to send includes code to cause the processor to send the representation of the video data to the display module such that the representation of the video data is displayed in the display area for a duration of time, the duration of time being associated with the event of interest.

8. A method, comprising:

receiving video data from a video recording device;

receiving a set of system rules;

analyzing the video data using video analytics based at least in part on the set of system rules;

selecting a display area from a plurality of display areas based at least in part on the analyzing; and

sending a representation of the video data to a display module such that the representation of the video data is displayed in the display area in response to the selecting.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the analyzing includes identifying an event of interest in the video data; and

the selecting the display area from the plurality of display areas is based at least in part on the event of interest.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the receiving the set of system rules includes receiving the set of system rules from a user.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the sending includes:

sending the representation of the video data to the display module such that the representation of the video data is displayed in the display area for a duration of time, the duration of time being associated with the system rules.

12. A system, comprising:

a video analytics module implemented in at least one of a memory or a processing device, the video analytics module configured to receive video data from a video source, the video analytics module configured to analyze the video data received from the video source to identify an event of interest in the video data; and

an arbitrator module configured to receive from the video analytics module a representation of the video data, the arbitrator module configured to select a display area from a plurality of display areas based at least in part on the event of interest, the arbitrator module configured to send the representation of the video data to a display module such that the representation of the video data is displayed in the display area.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

a rules database module configured to store a set of system rules,

the arbitrator module configured to receive from the rules database module a representation of the set of system rules, the arbitrator module configured to select the display area from the plurality of display areas based at least in part on the representation of the set of system rules.

14. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

a set rules module configured to receive a set of system rules from a user; and

a rules database module configured to receive from the set rules module a representation of the set of system rules, the rules database module configured to store the representation of the set of system rules,

the arbitrator module configured to receive from the rules database module the representation of the set of system rules, the arbitrator module configured to select the display area from the plurality of display areas based at least in part on the representation of the set of system rules.

15. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

a rules database module configured to store a set of system rules,

the arbitrator module configured to receive from the rules database module a representation of the set of system rules, the arbitrator module configured to select the display area from the plurality of display areas based at least in part on the representation of the set of system rules, the arbitrator module configured to send the representation of the video data to the display module such that the representation of the video data is displayed in the display area for a duration of time, the duration of time being associated with the set of system rules.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the arbitrator module is configured to send the representation of the video data to the display module such that the representation of the video data is displayed in the display area for a duration of time, the duration of time being associated with the event of interest.

17. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

a set rules module configured to receive a set of system rules from a user; and

a rules database module configured to receive from the set rules module a representation of the set of system rules, the rules database module configured to store the representation of the set of system rules,

the arbitrator module configured to receive from the rules database module the representation of the set of system rules, the arbitrator module configured to select the display area from the plurality of display areas based at least in part on the representation of the set of system rules, the arbitrator module configured to send the representation of the video data to the display module such that the representation of the video data is displayed in the display area for a duration of time, the duration of time being associated with the set of system rules.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the display module displays a blank screen prior to the representation of the video data being displayed in the display area.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein:

the video analytics module is configured to determine a pixel value for each pixel from a plurality of pixels for a target within the video data, the target being associated with the event of interest, the video analytics module configured to determine an average pixel value based at least in part on the pixel value for each pixel from the plurality of pixels, the video analytics module configured to identify the event of interest based at least in part on the average pixel value.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein:

the video analytics module is configured to determine a pixel value for each pixel from a plurality of pixels for a target within the video data, the target being associated with the event of interest, the video analytics module configured to partition the plurality of pixels for the target within the video data into a plurality of sections, the video analytics module configured to determine an average pixel value for each section from the plurality of sections based at least in part on the pixel value for each pixel from a set of pixels from the plurality of pixels and associated with that section from the plurality of sections, the video analytics module configured to calculate a difference between a highest average pixel value and a lowest average pixel value from the average pixel values for the plurality of sections, the video analytics module configured to identify the event of interest based at least in part on the difference between the highest average pixel value and the lowest average pixel value.