Patent · US Expired

Automatic video monitoring system which selectively saves information

US7023469B1 · kind B1 · utility

179Cited by
14References
28Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateApr 15, 1999
Grant dateApr 4, 2006
Priority date
Expiry dateJul 2, 2020

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04N7/188
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A system (10) for automatically monitoring an area includes a camera unit (12) having therein a video camera (23) and an image processing section (27). The image processing section saves a reference image from the video camera, compares subsequent images to the reference image, and detects and tracks change regions in the subsequent images. For each change region, the image processing section saves a path of movement of the change region, and a selected image of the change region. Selection is carried out so as to optimize the selected image, for example so that a detected person is facing and close to the video camera. The camera unit is network-ready (14), so that a remote workstation (13) can access the images and other information saved in the camera unit.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.