Write-protected recording

• US 9,912,914 B2
• Filed: 09/28/2016
• Issued: 03/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Stellar, LLC
• Original Assignee: Stellar, LLC
• Inventors: DeKeyser, Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): DIEP, NHON THANH
• Application Number:
  US15/279,155
• Publication Number:
  US 20170019640A1
• Time in Patent Office: 524 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19621 Portable camera
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19676 Temporary storage, e.g. cyclic memory, buffer storage on pre-alarm
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 15/001 Concealed systems, e.g. disguised alarm systems to make covert systems
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/216 Rewritable discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 23/288 Protecting disks from being written or overwritten
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/10 Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Measuring tape travel
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 31/006 with video camera or receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00127 Connection or combination of a still picture apparatus with another apparatus, e.g. for storage, processing or transmission of still picture signals or of information associated with a still picture
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/661 Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/77 between a recording apparatus and a television camera
• 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 apparatus continuously records imaged data from a camera into a circular buffer in a local memory. When a record signal is received, the system records the video stream that was recorded before the record signal was received, and the video stream that is recorded after the record signal was received. The recorded segment is then write-protected, so that the surveillance apparatus does not overwrite the recorded segment. The recorded segment could then be sent to a remote memory via a wireless connection to free up local memory for future recording sessions.

Claims

1. A recording system comprising:

a sensor interface that captures sensor data from at least one sensor;

a memory coupled with the sensor interface;

a recording facility coupled with the sensor interface and memory, and that records at least some of the sensor data into an available portion of at least one buffer in the memory; and

a protecting facility coupled with the recording facility that responds to a trigger signal to record the at least some of the sensor data by designating a segment of the at least one buffer as a write-protected segment and by storing the write-protected segment as at least one file in the at least one buffer, wherein the write-protected segment includes a pre-recorded subset recorded before the trigger signal is received and a post-recorded subset to be recorded after the trigger signal is received.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a sending facility coupled with the memory and configured to transmit data associated with the at least one file from the memory to a remote memory.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor data comprises at least one of the following:

image data and video data.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the sensor data comprises a resolution of at least 640×

480 pixels.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the sensor data comprises a resolution of at least 1080p.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor data recorded into the available portions of the at least one buffer is compressed.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the sensor data recorded into the available portions of the at least one buffer is time compressed.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the sensor data recorded into the available portions of the at least one buffer is frame compressed.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor data comprises at least one of the following:

audio data and motion data.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the memory comprises at least one of the following:

RAM and flash.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor interface comprises a wireless interface to the at least one sensor.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the wireless interface comprises a BlueTooth®

wireless interface.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one buffer comprises a circular buffer.

14. The system of claim 1, further comprising a camera including the sensor interface, the memory, and the recording facility.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the camera comprises a security camera.

16. The system of claim 1, further comprising a cell phone including the sensor interface, the memory, and the recording facility.

17. The system of claim 1, further comprising a personal area network coupled with the protecting facility and including at least two of the following:

the sensor interface, the memory, and the recording facility.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one file in the at least one buffer comprises a single file.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the single file comprises an entirety of the at least one buffer.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the trigger signal represents detection of at least one of the following:

a motion, a sound, an image, content in a data stream, a pattern in the sensor data, a person, a human face, a computer screen, an event, a verbal command, operation of a switch, and operation of a button.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein the protecting facility is further configured to update the write-protected segment as being non-protected and free for recording.

22. The system of claim 1, wherein the protecting facility is further configured to store the at least one file by indexing the write-protected segment in the at least one buffer.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the protecting facility is further configured to index the write-protected segment while the recording facility is still recording the sensor data into the memory.