Object tracking and alerts

• US 9,881,216 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2016
• Issued: 01/30/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Johnson Controls Tyco IP Holdings LLP (Johnson Controls International plc)
• Original Assignee: Sensormatic Electronics LLC (Johnson Controls International plc)
• Inventors: Buehler, Christopher J.
• Primary Examiner(s): FINDLEY, CHRISTOPHER G
• Application Number:
  US15/198,848
• Publication Number:
  US 20170053171A1
• Time in Patent Office: 579 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30108 Industrial image inspection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0004 Industrial image inspection
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/41 Higher-level, semantic clustering, classification or understanding of video scenes, e.g. detection, labelling or Markovian modelling of sport events or news items segmenting video sequences G06V20/49
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/44 Event detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/48 Matching video sequences
• 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: G07C 9/28 the pass enabling tracking or indicating presence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19602 Image analysis to detect motion of the intruder, e.g. by frame subtraction
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19608 Tracking movement of a target, e.g. by detecting an object predefined as a target, using target direction and or velocity to predict its new position
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19641 Multiple cameras having overlapping views on a single scene
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1966 Wireless systems, other than telephone systems, used to communicate with a camera
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19671 Addition of non-video data, i.e. metadata, to video stream
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19691 Signalling events for better perception by user, e.g. indicating alarms by making display brighter, adding text, creating a sound
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19697 Arrangements wherein non-video detectors generate an alarm themselves
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/248 EAS system combined with another detection technology, e.g. dual EAS and video or other presence detection system
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 17/002 for television cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

An integrated surveillance system combining video surveillance and data from other sensor-based security networks is used to identify activities that may require attention.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

at least one memory for storing computer-executable instructions; and

at least one processor for executing the instructions stored on the at least one memory, wherein execution of the instructions programs the processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving data from a video surveillance system comprising a plurality of cameras—

each having a field of view, each field of view comprising a plurality of sub-regions;

receiving data from a non-video transmitter-receiver system comprising a plurality of stations, each station configured to detect physical tags within a respective operational radius;

determining a probability that a first one of the sub-regions and a first one of the operational radii are associated;

increasing the probability that the first sub-region and the first operational radius are associated by detecting, at a plurality of different times, a simultaneous presence of a tracked object in the first sub-region and the first operational radius; and

determining that the first sub-region and the first operational radius are associated when the probability meets a threshold probability of association.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the non-video transmitter-receiver system comprises a radio-frequency identification (RFID) system, the stations comprise RFID stations, and the physical tags comprise RFID tags.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the video surveillance system is configured to capture visual representations of objects moving among the fields of view of the cameras.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the non-video transmitter-receiver system is configured to capture spatial information associated with objects moving among the operational radii of the stations.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein, in determining the association between the first sub-region and the first operational radius, at least one of the following is unknown:

(i) a location of the camera having the field of view comprising the first sub-region, and (ii) a location of the station associated with the first operational radius.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise chronologically representing physical locations of tracked objects based on data received from the video surveillance system and the non-video transmitter-receiver system.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the operations further comprise creating an alert upon identifying a violation of a rule by one or more of the chronological representations of the physical locations of one or more of the tracked objects.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the video surveillance system and the non-video transmitter-receiver system operate within a region, the region comprising at least one ineffective area outside the fields of view of the cameras and the operational radii of the stations.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise inferring a location of the tracked object as the tracked object passes through at least one ineffective area.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise inferring a next camera location for the tracked object as the tracked object passes through an ineffective area, the next camera location being inferred based on a previously known location of the tracked object.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the video surveillance system and the non-video transmitter-receiver system are calibrated independently of each other.

12. A method implemented using one or more computers each comprising at least one memory storing computer-executable instructions and at least one processor for executing the instructions, the method comprising:

receiving data from a video surveillance system comprising a plurality of cameras each having a field of view, each field of view comprising a plurality of sub-regions;

receiving data from a non-video transmitter-receiver system comprising a plurality of stations, each station configured to detect physical tags within a respective operational radius;

determining a probability that a first one of the sub-regions and a first one of the operational radii are associated;

increasing the probability that the first sub-region and the first operational radius are associated by detecting, at a plurality of different times, a simultaneous presence of a tracked object in the first sub-region and the first operational radius; and

determining that the first sub-region and the first operational radius are associated when the probability meets a threshold probability of association.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the non-video transmitter-receiver system comprises a radio-frequency identification (RFID) system, the stations comprise RFID stations, and the physical tags comprise RFID tags.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the video surveillance system is configured to capture visual representations of objects moving among the fields of view of the cameras.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the non-video transmitter-receiver system is configured to capture spatial information associated with objects moving among the operational radii of the stations.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein, in determining the association between the first sub-region and the first operational radius, at least one of the following is unknown:

(i) a location of the camera having the field of view comprising the first sub-region, and (ii) a location of the station associated with the first operational radius.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising chronologically representing physical locations of tracked objects based on data received from the video surveillance system and the non-video transmitter-receiver system.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising creating an alert upon identifying a violation of a rule by one or more of the chronological representations of the physical locations of one or more of the tracked objects.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the video surveillance system and the non-video transmitter-receiver system operate within a region, the region comprising at least one ineffective area outside the fields of view of the cameras and the operational radii of the stations.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising inferring a location of the tracked object as the tracked object passes through at least one ineffective area.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising inferring a next camera location for the tracked object as the tracked object passes through an ineffective area, the next camera location being inferred based on a previously known location of the tracked object.

22. The method of claim 12, wherein the video surveillance system and the non-video transmitter-receiver system are calibrated independently of each other.