Honeywell International Inc.

Koninklijke Philips Corporation N.v.

Digital Video Express, L.p.

Google Inc.

Activeye, Inc.

Active Eye, Inc.

Activseye, Inc.

Yun-Ting Lin

Tomas Brodsky

Mi-Suen Lee

Carolyn Christine Ramsey

Vasanth Philomin

Siu-Leong Iu

Srinivas Gutta

Miroslav Trajkovic

Hui Luo

Hugo Strubbe

Serhan Dagtas

Guillaume Mercier

Yong Yan

Kobad Bugwadia

Malcom Davis

The filtering tasks that are conventionally applied in a video monitoring application, to distinguish images that may be relevant to the application, are distributed to the image source, or near-source devices. Source devices, such as cameras and playback devices, and near-source devices, such as video concentrators and streaming devices, are configured to include video processing tools that can be used to pre-filter the image data to identify frames or segments of frames that include image information that is likely to be relevant to the receiving video monitoring application. In this manner, the receiving processor need not spend time and resources processing images that are pre-determined to be irrelevant to the receiving application.

Relevant image detection in a camera, recorder, or video streaming device

A system and method of detecting tampering at an automatic teller machine includes detecting start and end indicators of a transaction. A representation of a scene at the teller machine, prior to the start of the transaction can be compared to a representation of the scene after the end of the transaction. Variations therebetween can indicate tampering at the machine.

System and method to detect tampering at ATM machines

Blocking zones of a surveillance system are configured to prevent false alarms caused by motion within the zones, while allowing tracking of objects through the zones. An object that first appears within a blocking zone is not considered to be a reportable object until the object leaves the zone. All reportable objects are tracked, without regard to the blocking zones. Objects that remain within their initial blocking zone are not deemed to be reportable objects, and therefore do not generate alarms. If an object initially appears within overlapping zones, the object is not deemed to be reportable until it leaves each of the zones at least once. The blocking zones do not mask the video images, and thus a complete record of activity is available for forensic purposes.

Object blocking zones to reduce false alarms in video surveillance systems

An open digital watermark system and methodology having various features for unifying watermark production and processing among diverse user multimedia terminals (), such as set top box, that may be OPIMA compliant. In accordance with specific aspects, intentional image warping is employed to combat pirating, the analog video channel used to download programming, packet signature implemented for watermark insertion by pixel replacement and use of the data stream made to reduce local data processing and storage.

Watermarking system and methodology for digital multimedia content

A video interface kernel with a defined application program interface includes each of a plurality of core functions for interfacing with video equipment and video processing subsystems. The core functions include such functions as video capture and video output, video recording and playback, and event notification. Functions of the video interface kernel also include video analysis functions and/or interfaces to analysis subsystems, as well as interfaces to point-of-sale terminals, access control systems, and location tracking systems. An intelligent video management module facilitates managing the interactions among the other modules of the kernel, further simplifying the application level interface.

Video system interface kernel

To calibrate images from an overhead camera, two equal-length reference lines at different heights relative to the floor plane are imaged. By comparing the resultant image-width of each of these lines in the view provided by the camera, the effective focal point of the camera is determined. In a preferred embodiment, a doorframe is used to provide equal-length lines at different heights parallel to the floor. The threshold of the doorway at the floor plane is used as a reference plane, and a parallel calibration line at a known/measured height in the doorway is defined. The image produced by a vertically oriented camera of these two equal length lines will show a longer line at the elevated position, the different widths of the images of these lines being dependent upon the camera's effective focal point. From these two projections of the equal-length lines at different heights, the camera's focal point distance from the reference floor plane is determined.

Size calibration and mapping in overhead camera view

An image processing system () and method () are disclosed for correcting a head pose in a video phone image, so that a frontal view is presented on a display. A disclosed head pose corrector () estimates the orientation of a head pose and adjusts the orientation of the head pose, if necessary, to present a frontal view. The orientation of the head pose is adjusted by generating a three dimensional model of the face surface and adjusting the orientation of the three dimensional face model to provide the desired frontal view. The head pose corrector () may be included in a video phone () to correct the head pose of transmitted or received images (or both) or may be included in a server on a network to automatically adjust the head shots of one or more participants to a video phone communication.

Method and apparatus for correcting a head pose in a video phone image

A method and system is configured to characterize regions of an environment by the likelihoods of transition of a target from each region to another. The likelihoods of transition between regions is preferably used in combination with conventional object-tracking algorithms to determine the likelihood that a newly-appearing object in a scene corresponds to a recently-disappeared target. The likelihoods of transition may be predefined based on the particular environment, or may be determined based on prior appearances and disappearances in the environment, or a combination of both. The likelihoods of transition may also vary as a function of the time of day, day of the week, and other factors that may affect the likelihoods of transitions between regions in the particular surveillance environment.

Linking tracked objects that undergo temporary occlusion

A video processing and analysis system is coupled to a building management and control system. The video processing system provides traffic, occupancy, and other information derived from video images of sections of the building and its environs to the building management and control systems. The building systems use this information in a variety of business management applications, including maintenance scheduling, asset replacement, elevator dispatching, HVAC and lighting control, and so on, to reduce operational or maintenance costs, expedite emergency procedures, improve service levels of building facilities, and regulate the building's environmental conditions.

Intelligent video for building management and automation

A system and apparatus are disclosed for modeling patterns of behavior of humans or other animate objects and detecting a violation of a repetitive pattern of behavior. The behavior of one or more persons is observed over time and features of the behavior are recorded in a multi-dimensional space. Over time, the multi-dimensional data provides an indication of patterns of human behavior. Activities that are repetitive in terms of time, location and activity, such as sleeping and eating, would appear as a Gaussian distribution or cluster in the multi-dimensional data. Probability distribution functions can be analyzed using known Gaussian or clustering techniques to identify repetitive patterns of behavior and characteristics thereof, such as a mean and variance. Deviations from repetitive patterns of behavior can be detected and an alarm can be triggered, if appropriate.

Method and apparatus for detecting an event based on patterns of behavior

Linked zones define the temporal and spatial relationships among multiple zones of a surveillance area, and are used to model an object's disappearance from one zone, for potential reappearance at another zone. One or more zones are defined within each camera's field of view. Two zones are linked if an object that disappears from one zone is capable of appearing in the other zone. Each link has an associated delay parameter or function that characterizes the time delay, if any, between a disappearance and subsequent appearance. For each zone, a set of other zones that are linked to this zone is maintained. When an object disappears from a zone, the set of other zones that are linked to this zone is used to reduce the search space for object appearances corresponding to this disappearance. When the corresponding object appearance is found, the tracking function is handed-off to the tracking module associated with the zone in which the object appeared.

Linking zones for object tracking and camera handoff

A method and apparatus are disclosed for automatically learning and identifying events in image data using hierarchical HMMs to define and detect one or more events. The hierarchical HMMs include multiple paths that encompass variations of the same event. Hierarchical HMMs provide a framework for defining events that may be exhibited in various ways. Each event is modeled in the hierarchical HMM with a set of sequential states that describe the paths in a high-dimensional feature space. These models can then be used to analyze video sequences to segment and recognize each individual event to be recognized. The hierarchical HMM is generated during a training phase, by processing a number of images of the event of interest in various ways, typically observed from multiple viewpoints.

Video monitoring system employing hierarchical hidden markov model (HMM) event learning and classification

The present invention is a method and apparatus for enhancing a perceived video quality (e.g. higher resolution) on a display in a region surrounding an intersection point of a user's gaze onto a screen of the display.

Growing community of inventors

Ossining, NY, United States of America

Yun-Ting Lin