Patent Application
20080074494
The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout, and prime notation is used to indicate similar elements in alternative embodiments.
Referring initially to
The system 20 further illustratively includes a video surveillance processor 25 and a video surveillance display 26. By way of example, the video surveillance processor 25 may be a central processing unit (CPU) of a PC, Mac, or other computing workstation, for example. Generally speaking, the video surveillance processor 25 is for georeferencing captured video of the moving object 29 to the geospatial model 22, and for generating on the video surveillance display 26 a georeferenced surveillance video comprising an insert 30 associated with the captured video of the moving object superimposed into the scene 23 of the geospatial model.
In the illustrated embodiment, the insert 30 is an icon (i.e., a triangle or flag) superimposed into the geospatial model 22 at a location corresponding to the location of the moving object 29 within the scene 23. In particular, the location of the camera 24 will typically be known, either because it is at a fixed position or, in the case of a moving camera, will have a position location device (e.g., GPS) associated therewith. Moreover, a typical video surveillance camera may be configured with associated processing circuitry or calibrated so that it outputs only the group of moving pixels within a scene. In addition, the camera may also be configured with associated processing circuitry or calibrated so that it provides a range and bearing to the moving object 29. The processor 25 may thereby determine the location of the moving object 29 in terms of latitude/longitude/elevation coordinates, for example, and superimpose the insert 30 at the appropriate latitude/longitude/elevation position within the geospatial model 22, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.
It should be noted that portions of the processing operations may be performed outside the single CPU illustrated in
Referring now to an alternative embodiment illustrated in
In addition to being able to view an actual video insert of the moving object, another particularly advantageous feature is also shown in the present embodiment, namely the ability of the user to change viewpoints. That is, the processor 25 may advantageously permit user selection of a viewpoint within the georeferenced surveillance video. Here, in
Moreover, the user may also be permitted to change the zoom ratio of the georeferenced surveillance video. As seen in
Turning additionally to
In addition to, or instead of, the projected path 35″ displayed by the processor 25, a video insert 30′″ may be displayed as an identification flag/icon that is associated with the moving object for surveillance despite temporary obscuration within the scene. In the example illustrated in
In accordance with another advantageous aspect illustrated in
Another potentially advantageous feature is the ability to generate labels for the insert 30. More particularly, such labels may be automatically generated and displayed by the processor 25 for moving objects 29 within the scene 23 that are known (e.g., a marine patrol boat, etc.), which could be determined based upon a radio identification signal, etc., as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. On the other hand, the processor 25 could label unidentified objects as such, and generate other labels or warnings based upon factors such as the speed of the object, the position of the object relative to a security zone, etc. Moreover, the user may also have the ability to label moving objects using an input device such as the keyboard 27.
A video surveillance method aspect is now described with reference to
The method further illustratively includes capturing video of a moving object 29 within the scene 23 using one or more fixed/moving video surveillance cameras 24, at Block 62. Moreover, the captured video of the moving object 29 is georeferenced to the geospatial model 22, at Block 63. Furthermore, a georeferenced surveillance video is generated on a video surveillance display 26 which includes an insert 30 associated with the captured video of the moving object 29 superimposed into the scene of the geospatial model 22, at Block 64, as discussed further above, thus concluding the illustrated method (Block 65).
The above-described operations may be implemented using a 3D site modeling product such as RealSite®, and/or a 3D visualization tool such as InReality®, both of which are from the present Assignee Harris Corp. RealSite® may be used to register overlapping images of a geographical area of interest, and extract high resolution DEMs using stereo and nadir view techniques. RealSite® provides a semi-automated process for making three-dimensional (3D) topographical models of geographical areas, including cities, that have accurate textures and structure boundaries. Moreover, RealSite® models are geospatially accurate. That is, the location of any given point within the model corresponds to an actual location in the geographical area with very high accuracy. The data used to generate RealSite® models may include aerial and satellite photography, electro-optical, infrared, and light detection and ranging (LIDAR). Moreover, InReality® provides sophisticated interaction within a 3-D virtual scene. It allows a user to easily move through a geospatially accurate virtual environment with the capability of immersion at any location within a scene.
The system and method described above may therefore advantageously use a high resolution 3D geospatial model to track moving objects from video camera(s) to cerate a single point of viewing for surveillance purposes. Moreover, inserts from several different video surveillance cameras may be superimposed in the georeferenced surveillance video, with real or near real-time updates of the inserts.
Many modifications and other embodiments of the invention will come to the mind of one skilled in the art having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is understood that the invention is not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed, and that modifications and embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.
