Patent Application
20070070185
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of security video and more specifically to a system and method for the remote display of security video images.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Video cameras are frequently used in security systems. Normally cameras are placed in rooms of buildings, in warehouse and store ceilings and in various other locations to monitor activity in a particular area. Video cameras can also be placed in different rooms of residential structures such as homes to provide primary or secondary security.
Prior art systems generally route video signals from cameras to a monitoring site proximate to the surveillance area or at a remote location. Normally, several monitors are located at this site where guards or other personnel view them. Alternatively, or in addition, video from the cameras can be recorded for later replay. In some security systems, video is continuously recorded in a circular buffer that is saved when an alarm occurs.
It is also known in the art to stream commercial video or movies to a cellular telephone. However, it would be advantageous to be able to control and view images from security cameras on a remote handheld mobile device such as a cellular telephone.
The present invention relates to a security system with video cameras that provide video surveillance of a predetermined residential or commercial area along with a control point for receiving video signals from each of the video cameras and a communications interface device for interfacing with the control point. The communications interface device generally receives command signals from a user where the command signals specify one or more of the video cameras as selected video cameras, and the control point supplies a transmission signal representative of at least one of the video signals to the communications interface device. The present invention can also include a hand-held mobile communication device remote from the control point that receives transmission signals from the communications interface device, selects particular video cameras from which the user wants to view images, and displays video images from at least one of the selected video cameras. The handheld mobile communications device can be a cellular telephone or any other portable communications device.
The present invention allows a remote user to dial in or otherwise connect with their residence or other protected building, area or asset and view real-time streamed video from security cameras on a handheld communications device like a cellular telephone. The user, by interfacing with a menu, can select and command up video from one or more of the cameras.
Several drawings and illustrations have been presented to better aid in the understanding of the present invention. The scope of the present invention is not limited to the embodiments shown in the drawings.
The present invention relates to a system and method of displaying and controlling images from security systems on a remote, handheld communications device like a cellular telephone.
Turning to
The collection point 4 can generally combine or switch the video. In addition, video may be compressed at this point. In one embodiment of the present invention, the collection point can act as a video compressor and switch so that various of the video feeds can be fitted into the bandwidth provided by a commercial telephone line. The telephone interface 5 can provide access to a regular telephone line (known as “plain old telephone service” POTS), or to a dedicated wider bandwidth service such as a T1 line, ISDN, fiber optic or other dedicated data service including a wireless service.
A block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention is shown in
The 5 MHz video can be digitized by an A/D converter 8 as shown in
The MPEG4 standard is particularly designed for low data rate video streaming. It is based on the techniques of the MPEG1 standard with some advanced bandwidth reduction techniques. MPEG4 output can be adjusted to stream video into a telephone line modem at 50 kb/s. This works particularly well for security video because many times scenes are static for long periods of time.
In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, a remote user 6 with a cellular telephone or other communications device 7 can call the telephone number of the telephone interface 5, receive, or generate, a particular menu, and select one or more cameras to view (or alternatively view images from a single camera). Images in MPEG4 or other digital formats can then be streamed to the communication device. This allows a remote user to dial in to their residence or other protected asset and view live video from one or more cameras. The digital interface to the user can be controlled locally at the protected premises or from a central monitoring point. In
In the case of a cellular telephone, the handheld communications device 7 may be controlled by a mini-joystick 11 (as is known in the art of cellular telephones for left-right-up-down) to automatically select cameras or to send commands back to the collection point 4 to cause a particular camera to pan, tilt or zoom. A particular button 12 push could select a different security camera. A menu option could allow simultaneous, split-screen display of more than one camera.
In an alternate embodiment of the present invention, compressed video data can be streamed onto a web site where it could be made available to anyone with access to that site. In that case, a remote user with a cellular telephone or PDA would simply log onto the web site (gain authorized access) and then stream the video from the site server as is known in the art. Access control to the site could be by any of the generally known access control methods used in the site server art.
Several descriptions, illustrations and examples have been presented to better aid in understanding the present invention. One skilled in the art will realize that many changes and variations are possible. All of these changes and variations are within the scope of the present invention.
