Surveillance system with digital tape cassette

Abstract

A video surveillance system in which the compressed video is written to a digital tape cassette. The tape cassette includes an EEPROM, which holds directory information relating to the location of particular video on the tape, the identity of the tape, the identity of the video, and other key information relating to the video. The directory on the EEPROM permits rapid access to the video and redundancy of key data. In case of tape error, the tape automatically restores itself when inserted into the tape deck.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing the location of the audio, visual, and satellite sources and wireless transmissions associated with the invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the electronics enclosure of FIG. 1 and the airflow through the enclosure;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the synchronization of MPEG audio/video according to the invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a data packet according to one preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing the relationships between the software and hardware components of the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing the details of the file system and caching scheme of the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a diagram of a surveillance network in accordance with the principles of the present invention is utilized;

FIG. 9 is a schematic illustration of how the system of FIG. 8 captures a variety of video/audio streams and multiplexes them into a sliding window storage system;

FIG. 10 is a high-level schematic diagram showing a more detailed internal structure of the video/audio capture system according to the invention

FIGS. 11A and 11B together show a diagram illustrating the flow of video/audio data, surveillance data, and control data in an exemplary system according to the invention;

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary partition directory and the information stored in the directory,

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating the partition of the data as it is recorded on digital tape or other media in another preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating the index redundancy feature of an exemplary surveillance system according to the invention;

FIG. 15 is a diagram of an exemplary system for capturing and writing data onto digital tape;

FIG. 16 is a diagram of an exemplary digital tape optionally utilized in accordance with the principles of the present invention to store content in a fault-tolerant manner and for fast retrieval of directory information;

FIG. 17 is a flow chart describing an exemplary process for capturing and writing surveillance data onto a digital tape in a fault-tolerant manner;

FIG. 18 illustrates one embodiment of how the system checks itself for errors and corrects them upon insertion of the tape cassette into the tape deck;

FIG. 19 illustrates one embodiment of how the tape self-corrects during the write function; and

FIG. 20 illustrates one embodiment of how the tape self-corrects during a read function.

Claims

1. A surveillance system, comprising: a source of a video signal;a video signal compression system electrically connected to said source and providing a compressed video signal;a directory generator for generating directory information;a digital tape cassette having semiconductor memory incorporated into it; anda digital video recorder electrically connected to said compression system and to said directory generator for recording said compressed video to said digital tape in said cassette and recording said directory information to said semiconductor memory.

2. A surveillance system as in claim 1 wherein said semiconductor memory is a non-volatile memory.

3. A surveillance system as in claim 2 wherein said semiconductor memory is selected from a Flash memory and a ferroelectric RAM memory.

4. A surveillance system as in claim 1 wherein said video compression is selected from the group consisting of: MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, and H-264.

5. A surveillance system as in claim 1 wherein said video signal is a high density (HD) video signal.

6. A surveillance system as in claim 1 wherein said directory information identifies said cassette.

7. A surveillance system as in claim 1 wherein said directory information identifies said video signal.

8. A surveillance system as in claim 1 wherein said directory information identifies the location of particular portions of said video signal on said tape.

9. A surveillance system as in claim 1 wherein said directory information includes information for authenticating said tape.

10. A surveillance system as in claim 1 wherein said surveillance system is a mobile surveillance system contained in a vehicle, and said directory information includes information regarding said vehicle.

11. A method of mobile video surveillance, said method comprising: providing on a mobile vehicle a video source producing a video signal;compressing said video signal at said mobile vehicle to form a stream of compressed video data;generating directory data associated with said compressed video;recording at said mobile vehicle said stream of compressed video data to a cassette tape having a built-in solid state memory, andrecording said directory information to said solid state memory.

12. A method as in claim 11 wherein said directory information comprises information about said vehicle.

13. A method as in claim 11 wherein said directory information comprises time information.

14. A method as in claim 11 and further comprising authenticating said video using said directory information.

15. A method as in claim 11 and further comprising identifying said cassette tape using said directory information.