Television – Special applications – Observation of or from a specific location
Patent
1997-01-22
1998-04-28
Britton, Howard W.
Television
Special applications
Observation of or from a specific location
348479, 348563, 360 5, H04N 718
Patent
active
057451664
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a video security system particularly, although not exclusively, envisaged for use in the monitoring of a plurality of locations, such as, in a building, for example, a casino.
More particularly the present invention relates to a video security system (VSS) particularly directed at addressing the difficulties which prior art security systems generally experience, such as: camera; and/or VCRs or other video signal recording device; approaches a 360.degree. end stop; interest; and, VCR cassettes; and dealing with camera failure and replacement.
It is to be kept in mind that the purpose of the video security system of the present invention is to provide video images regarding events pertaining to the security of a building or the like and to allow those recorded video images to be presentable in a court of law as irrefutable evidence of the events which took place.
Hereinafter the term "VCR" will be used to denote any form of video signal recording and/or playback device (referred to as a "VRD") and may include a video cassette recorder, or any optical or digital recording media suitable for recording video signals.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. "Text Overlay"--In the field of video security systems it is known to introduce text into the video signal to provide a real time record of the details of the event which is being monitored. A disadvantage of such prior art systems is that the information is introduced into the video part of the video signal and hence over-writes a part of the video picture which would have otherwise been recorded.
The present invention overcomes this by inserting the text into the non-video part of the video signal
2. "Toggle"--The secret to the success of switching between a plurality of fixed locations is to be able to quickly and easily identify two, or more, viewing locations "on the fly". This is particularly for viewing targets of short term or temporary interest.
In the context of the present invention "on the fly" means to be performed whilst the VSS is in its normal mode of operation and without interrupting the normal operation of the VSS.
Also, in the context of the present invention the feature of "switching back and forth between two (or more) viewing locations" is referred to as "toggling" between the viewing locations.
However, where the operator is interested in two or more specific locations within the viewing region the PTZ camera must be adjusted manually between these locations. This is quite laborious and tedious for the person operating the PTZ camera since it involves adjusting the pan, tilt, zoom and focus setting for the PTZ camera.
We have discovered that this can be overcome by recording the PTZ camera settings corresponding to the desired locations of viewing into a camera position controller and switching between the locations by recalling the settings for each of the viewing locations. The PTZ camera then is controlled by the camera position controller to adjust itself between the desired locations.
"Preset" PTZ camera viewing locations are known and are widely used, however, they require the operator to make several control operations to set each viewing location and at least two control operations to switch from one viewing location to another.
This is particularly inconvenient in a viewing region such as in a casino where there are many potential targets, where there is a requirement to quickly and reliably set viewing locations and where it is critical to be able to switch between typically two targets. The two targets would typically be a suspected felon and a handbag which it is suspected that the felon will steal. Typically, there is an accomplice to be monitored as well. Usually the accomplice in this scenario is a woman who collides briefly with the felon and takes the handbag once the handbag has been stolen. Hence, the task of the operator of the VSS is to first monitor the suspected felon and the handbag by toggling back and forth between the two and once the handbag has been stolen
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Jackson Andrew A.
Rhodes Scott A.
Britton Howard W.
Maxpro Systems PTY Ltd
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