Omnidirectional camera for use in police car event recording

• US 9,262,800 B2
• Filed: 06/06/2012
• Issued: 02/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Watchguard Video Incorporated (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Enforcement Video Incorporated (Enforcement Technology Group Incorporated)
• Inventors: Cilia, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Blair, Douglas
• Application Number:
  US13/489,615
• Publication Number:
  US 20120236112A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,350 Days
• Field of Search: 348/39
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 11/04 Mounting of cameras operative during drive; Arrangement of controls thereof relative to the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20012 Locally adaptive
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30232 Surveillance
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30252 Vehicle exterior; Vicinity of vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/12 Panospheric to cylindrical image transformations
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/11 Region-based segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/70 Determining position or orientation of objects or cameras camera calibration G06T7/80
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/25 Determination of region of interest [ROI] or a volume of interest [VOI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/56 exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0866 the electronic data carrier being a digital video recorder in combination with video camera
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0875 using magnetic data carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/103 Selection of coding mode or of prediction mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/14 Coding unit complexity, e.g. amount of activity or edge presence estimation H04N19/146 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/17 the unit being an image region, e.g. an object
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/172 the region being a picture, frame or field
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/59 involving spatial sub-sampling or interpolation, e.g. alteration of picture size or resolution
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/698 for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture
• 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 7/183 for receiving images from a single remote source

Abstract

A system and method for an omnidirectional camera for use in recording events around a police vehicle is disclosed. The system and method include an omnidirectional camera and a digital processor for processing the omnidirectional images captured by the omnidirectional camera. The digital processor may be operable to locate one or more regions of interests disposed within the omnidirectional images. A recordable medium is also disclosed for storing at least some of the captured images.

Claims

1. A system for capturing and storing images, the system comprising:

a camera mounted to a vehicle and configured to capture a wide-angle image of a scene in a field of view of the camera;

a digital processor coupled to the camera and configured to receive the captured image, locate an area of interest from the scene and define a first subset of the image corresponding to the area of interest as a region of interest;

a data-storage device coupled to the digital processor and configured to receive and store the first subset of the image at a first resolution;

an antenna coupled to the digital processor, wherein the antenna and the digital processor detect a signal from a wireless device; and

wherein the digital processor defines the at least one region of interest from a direction of the detected signal from the wireless device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the camera is an omnidirectional camera.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the wide-angle image comprises a 360 degree image.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the field of view of the camera is a 360-degree field of view.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the field of view of the camera is less than 360 degrees.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the camera is configured to take high-definition images.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless device comprises a wireless microphone.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the digital processor defines the region of interest based in at least partial dependence on a user input.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the digital processor is configured to:

define a second subset of the image; and

perform at least one of the following;

discard the second subset; and

save the second subset at a second resolution lower than the first resolution.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the second subset of the image is mutually exclusive of the first subset of the image.

11. A method of capturing and storing images, the method comprising:

providing a camera mounted to a vehicle and configured to capture a wide-angle image of a scene in a field of view of the camera;

transmitting the wide-angle image to a digital processor coupled to the camera;

locating, via the digital processor, an area of interest from the scene and defining at least one region of interest within the wide-angle image corresponding to the area of interest, the at least one region of interest corresponding to a first subset of the wide-angle image;

storing the first subset at a first resolution in a data-storage device coupled to the digital processor;

coupling an antenna to the digital processor;

detecting, via the antenna and the digital processor, a signal from a wireless device;

determining, by the digital processor, a direction of the detected signal; and

defining the at least one region of interest using the determined direction.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the camera is an omnidirectional camera.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the wide-angle image comprises a 360 degree image.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the field of view of the camera is a 360-degree field of view.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the field of view of the camera is less than 360 degrees.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

storing a second subset of the image at a second resolution in the data-storage device, the first resolution being greater than the second resolution; and

discarding the second subset of the image.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the second subset is mutually exclusive of the first subset.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least one region of interest corresponds to an area of the scene immediately surrounding a law enforcement officer.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least one region of interest is defined based in at least partial dependence on user input.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the wireless device comprises a wireless microphone.