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Method and apparatus for surveillance using an image serverMethod and apparatus for surveillance using an image server description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20080036863, Method and apparatus for surveillance using an image server. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a continuation of Ser. No. 11/535,461 filed on 26 Sep., 2006, which is a divisional of patent application Ser. No. 09/482,181, filed 12 Jan., 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,124,427, which claims priority from U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/131,990, filed Apr. 30, 1999. Each of these applications and all documents cited therein are incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention is in the field of electronic circuits and camera systems. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a system for surveillance using digital images and image servers. [0003] Many types of camera surveillance systems are known. Typical building surveillance systems today capture analog video signals from one or more video cameras and transmit those signals to a security panel for viewing by security personnel. Deployment of such systems over a large area and making the video images available over a network can be problematic because of the large bandwidth requirements of the video signal. Monitoring of multiple analog cameras is also difficult; for example, a human viewer's attention may not be on the security panel or directed to the correct camera image at the time an incident occurs. An, in general, the number of cameras a human can effectively monitor is limited. While techniques for motion detection in surveillance systems are known, the complexity and expense of incorporating these techniques into analog systems has limited the use of motion detection in many video surveillance systems. [0004] Another problem that arises in analog surveillance systems is storage and playback technology of analog video data. Typical security cameras, at a retail store for example, employ videotape technology wherein full-motion video is continuously recorded, without regard to whether an incident of interest has occurred. Video tapes are retrieved and played back on the rare occasions when an incident occurs. A major problem with such systems is that the videotapes are often recorded at the slowest speed, giving the poorest image quality, and are repeatedly rerecorded. As a result, playback image quality is often very poor and when an incident does occur, investigators cannot get a clear enough image of individuals involved in the incident to make an identification. In response to this problem, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has established a laboratory program whose primary function is to help law enforcement personnel enhance poor quality images from video surveillance systems in order to aid in investigations. [0005] It is known to make digitized video images available over the web for presentation by a web browser. Generally, such systems periodically update a full-frame captured still image from a camera using a push (controlled at the server side) or a pull (controlled at the client side) technology. Such systems have had a limited deployment to make images of such things as ski slope weather conditions, elephant houses at a zoo, or children at a day care center, available over the web using a standard web browser. In some applications, such as the day care center, access to the image is password protected so that only authorized viewers can receive the images. [0006] One group of cameras and camera servers for these applications are marketed under the brand name Axis. However, these installations are generally limited to single or a few cameras and do not have the ability to be deployed as a flexible and fully functional surveillance systems. Standard Axis technology also generally relies on full-frame updating and has only limited ability to reduce bandwidth of images. [0007] A number of techniques are known for compressing digital video information. Well known techniques for digital video include hardware assisted techniques such as MPEG, DVI, Motion JPEG, and software-only techniques such as QuickTime, Video for Windows, RealVideo, or AVI. Some of these techniques include mechanisms for processing and transmitting delta frame information, wherein delta frames encode information about pixels that have changed between one frame and another. However, these compression techniques for the most part are concerned with the quality of reproduction of real-time video image and have not been optimized for use in surveillance systems or for use in systems that do not contain custom video playback software or hardware. [0008] What is needed is a flexible surveillance system that can capture image data from a number of digital cameras and make that data available to viewers in a variety of different ways. In some applications, what is further needed, is a surveillance system with a basic architecture that is scalable, allowing for efficient installation, coordination, and control of one, to a few, to thousands of individual cameras and one to a few to thousands of individual clients. Additionally, what is needed is an integrated system for digital surveillance that at every step of image processing optimizes images for easy storage, analysis, transmission, and presentation in a surveillance system. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0009] Specific embodiments of the present invention address a number of problems associated with a digital camera surveillance system, such as control and coordination of digital cameras that may be widely deployed, analyzing data from multiple cameras, making data available in such a way that it can be efficiently transmitted over a network and can be easily displayed to potentially a large number of users, and displaying and controlling image data by existing client software such as a browser. According to the invention, these problems are addressed by providing a flexible and scalable surveillance system and method; the method and system according to the present invention can work effectively in small installations with just a few cameras and only one viewer to installations including thousands of cameras, widely dispersed, allowing for selectable viewing by many viewers. [0010] In a specific embodiment, the invention consists of the following functional elements: [0011] (1) Multiple Frame Grabbers (FGs) that include one or more cameras, digital image capture circuitry, and low-level logic routines. In one embodiment, an FG comprises a PC equipted with one or more off-the-shelf video capture boards, with each video capture board connected to a camera. The PC is programed according to the invention, to control the video capture functions and to perform low-level logic processing. FG low-level logic processing generally includes one or more of the following: short-term storage of full images, computing of differential images, computing differential scores for a current image, filtering of gradual ambient light changes, and adjusting of camera characteristics. FGs have a communication interface to send full frames and differential frames to a coordinator. [0012] (2) One or more Camera Coordinators for receiving full frames, differential frames, and possibly other data from FGs, storing this data, and for adding a higher level of image processing. Coordinators generally include logic for one or more of the following: detecting and storing an incident from one or more FGs, resolving incidents from multiple FGs into an incident sequence; image recognition; logging and cataloging incidents according to a rules-based engine; generating alarms to security personnel or a server, etc. A coordinator may also include an interface for sending control signals to the FG to control basic FG functions such as frequency of capture, focus, contrast, and, for moveable FGs, positioning. [0013] (3) A Camera Server for providing an interface to one or more client viewers. A server handles image presentation and may include logic allowing a client to pan and zoom the view of an image. A server includes logic to provide an intelligent interface to a client viewer including launching windows in the client viewer when incidents are detected and updating open windows with differential frames and full frames. A server may also include an interface for receiving commands back from a client and forwarding those commands to a coordinator when appropriate. In some embodiments, a server also provides a possibly high capacity connection to the Internet, allowing potentially thousands of viewers to view the same image. [0014] (4) One or more clients for displaying images delivered by the server. In some applications, clients may also receive commands from a user and forward results of those commands back to a server. In various embodiments of the invention, clients may be familiar, off-the-shelf, browser applications, such as Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer, or clients may be proprietary applications. According to the present invention, where desired in a particular installation, both off-the-shelf and proprietary clients can simultaneously access image data. [0015] According to the invention, these elements perform separable tasks appropriate to that element to allow for a flexible and scalable surveillance system. The flexible system according to the invention allows various data and image processing tasks to be easily incorporated into specific systems depending on application. In security surviellance systems where later authentication of a recorded digital image is important, for example, cameras and FGs can employ digital signature key technology or other technology to verify that an image was not altered after it was initially captured. [0016] A further understanding of the invention can be had from the detailed discussion of specific embodiments below. For purposes of clarity, this discussion refers to digital devices and concepts in terms of specific examples. However, the method and apparatus of the present invention may operate with a wide variety of types of digital devices. It is therefore not intended that the invention be limited except as provided in the attached claims. Furthermore, it is well known in the art that logic systems can include a wide variety of different components and different functions in a modular fashion. Different embodiments of a system can include different mixtures of elements and functions and may group various functions as parts of various elements. For purposes of clarity, the invention is described in terms of systems that include many different innovative components and innovative combinations of components. No inference should be taken to limit the invention to combinations containing all of the innovative components listed in any illustrative embodiment in the specification, and the invention should not be limited except as provided in independent embodiments described in the attached claims. [0017] The invention will be better understood with reference to the following drawings and detailed description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0018] FIG. 1 is a diagram of an illustrative embodiment of the invention using representative hardware elements as it might be deployed in a moderately sized business or academic setting. [0019] FIG. 2 is a diagram of an alternative embodiment of the invention using representative hardware elements as it might be deployed at a single location, such as a single moderately sized building. [0020] FIG. 3 is an illustrative functional diagram of an embodiment of the invention. Continue reading about Method and apparatus for surveillance using an image server... Full patent description for Method and apparatus for surveillance using an image server Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Method and apparatus for surveillance using an image server patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. Start now! - Receive info on patent apps like Method and apparatus for surveillance using an image server or other areas of interest. ### Previous Patent Application: Digital video surveillance system Next Patent Application: System and method for capturing and transmitting image data streams Industry Class: Television ### FreshPatents.com Support Thank you for viewing the Method and apparatus for surveillance using an image server patent info. 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