The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 27, 1998
Filed:
Dec. 28, 1995
Paul C Ross, Morris Plains, NJ (US);
Alex Kononov, Bridgewater, NJ (US);
William Wayne Plumlee, Andover, NJ (US);
Lucent Technologies Inc., Murray Hill, NJ (US);
Abstract
Acoustic surveillance of objects and human traffic in spatial zones of a shopping mall and associated retail selling space is used to detect shopper traffic movement and from it, traffic data such as: shopper volume, shopper flow, crowding, and also unusual motion such as crowd surges that might connote an emergency situation. The apparatus uses phased arrays of acoustic transducers including arrays oriented in a vertical aspect which enables differentiation of non-shopping young children to arrive at more accurate headcount figures. Several specific types of detected movement defined as abnormal trigger an alert to a remote monitoring station. The alerts are automatically prioritized using rule-based criteria. Enhanced surveillance of the alert site by audio links as well as site alert history information are also provided.