CN113407952B

CN113407952B - Associating captured media to participants

Info

Publication number: CN113407952B
Application number: CN202110268780.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 伏莱德瑞克·胡戈松
Original assignee: Axis AB
Current assignee: Axis AB
Priority date: 2020-03-17
Filing date: 2021-03-12
Publication date: 2023-03-07
Anticipated expiration: 2041-03-12
Also published as: CN113407952A; TW202141965A

Abstract

The invention relates to associating captured media to participants. The present invention relates to a portable device, and a method performed in a portable device for associating media captured by the portable device to one or more participants having requested that the media be captured at one or more locations, the method comprising: receiving information associating each of the one or more participants with a location; dynamically determining a location of a portable device; media captured by the portable device is dynamically associated to one or more participants such that media currently being captured by the portable device is associated with the participant associated with the current location of the portable device in accordance with the received information.

Description

Associating captured media to participants

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a method performed in a portable device for associating media captured by the portable device to one or more participants that have requested to capture media at one or more locations.

Background

Monitoring of public and private locations is common and may include a combination of monitoring cameras and security patrols depending on the requirements of each particular location. For some locations, such as military areas or public schools, it may be very important that unauthorized persons do not obtain any information about the location (e.g., buildings, people, or students).

In private security, security guards are often equipped with cameras for capturing media such as images, video or audio related to a location. Security is also often assigned to perform work for several different customers during each shift. Thus, he or she may patrol places belonging to different customers during a single shift. Thus, processing captured media according to the requirements of each particular locale can be problematic. For example, it may be cumbersome or problematic to categorize recorded media such that each respective client receives the correct media. This may be performed, for example, by security personnel manually marking the media with information identifying each respective customer. However, such a scheme is error prone, where security can forget to mark the media, and this can result in the unexpected loss of information that may be critical to the customer. For this reason, the sorting of media recordings is usually handled after the security guard has completed a work shift. However, it can be difficult and cumbersome to correctly identify and classify media to each respective customer.

Disclosure of Invention

It is an object to mitigate, alleviate or eliminate one or more of the above-identified deficiencies in the art and disadvantages singly or in any combination.

According to a first aspect, there is provided a method performed in a portable device for associating media captured by the portable device to one or more participants that have requested to capture media at one or more locations. The method comprises the following steps: receiving information associating each of the one or more participants with a location; dynamically determining a location of a portable device; media captured by the portable device is dynamically associated to one or more participants such that media currently being captured by the portable device is associated with the participant associated with the current location of the portable device in accordance with the received information.

The portable device may be a portable camera such as a wearable camera.

A participant who has requested media to be captured at a location means a participant who has assigned or commanded the user of the portable device to capture video at the location. The participant is thus typically an external participant other than the user. The participant may be an end user of the captured media.

The term "media" as used herein refers to data captured by a sensor of a portable device. For example, it may refer to images, video and/or audio. It may also refer to other types of sensor data such as radar data, IR data, temperature data, and the like.

In the context of the present disclosure, "dynamically determining the location of a portable device" is to be interpreted as the location being repeatedly determined over time. The location of the portable device may be determined continuously or substantially continuously over time. Similarly, "dynamically associating media captured by a portable device to one or more participants" means that association is performed repeatedly over time.

In the context of the present disclosure, "location" is not meant to be construed as relating to only static physical locations. Rather, location herein is a broader concept as it may refer to a moving structure such as a train, bus or ship. Thus, the location may be a stationary location (e.g., a geographical location such as a building) or a mobile location (e.g., a train or bus). Further, the location may be at more than one geographic location, for example, it may be different buildings associated with the participant, each building being at its own geographic location. For example, a participant may be associated with buildings in multiple different cities and/or portions of cities, and all of these buildings may be locations in the context.

By virtue of the inventive concept, captured media is automatically associated to a participant in a portable device without requiring a user of the portable device to manually tag the captured media with information associated with the participant, thereby reducing the risk associated with others who are not the relevant participant obtaining the captured media. Thus, the inventive concept allows captured media to be associated with each respective participant based on a dynamically determined location, thereby allowing the captured media to be processed according to the requirements of each respective participant.

The step of receiving information associating each of the one or more participants with a location may be performed when the portable device is connected to the docking station.

A possible association advantage is that information associating each of one or more participants with a location may be received via a wired connection. By receiving the information via the wired connection, wireless bandwidth consumption of the portable device may be reduced and/or security related to transmission of the information associating each of the one or more participants with a location may be enhanced.

The method may further comprise: media currently being captured by the portable device is tagged with information identifying the participant.

A possible associated advantage of tagging captured media may be that information associated with a participant may be saved as metadata of the captured media, allowing information identifying the participant to come directly from the captured media and thereby allowing automatic processing of the captured media on a participant basis.

The step of dynamically determining the location of the portable device may comprise one or more of: determining a geographic location of a portable device; determining a connection to a location beacon; registering a location tag disposed at the location; and comparing the current time with the security schedule.

A possible associated advantage is that a detailed and/or accurate position determination may be allowed.

The method may further comprise: media associated with a participant is transferred to a data store under the control of the participant.

A possible association advantage is that after transmission, the captured media is accessible to the participants, but not to the other participants. Further, this allows different participants to use different types of data storage. For example, some participants may use cloud-based data storage, while other participants may require media to be stored in a database in their premises.

The method may further comprise: media associated with a participant is encrypted using an encryption key associated with the participant.

A possible associated advantage is that the accessibility of the captured media may be limited. Access to the captured media may then be restricted to the owner of the corresponding encryption key, e.g., the participant. The captured media may be accessible, for example, only to participants of the captured media. Thus, security related to the captured media may be enhanced.

The method may further comprise: media associated with a participant is encoded according to media quality preferences associated with the participant. The media quality preferences associated with a participant may indicate the media quality requested by the participant. For example, it may indicate a level of compression desired by the participant. An advantage is that it enables the portable device to generate media with different media qualities for different participants, even when the same portable device is used to capture media requested by multiple participants. In this way a flexible solution is achieved, since different participants may have different needs and different interests in paying for the storage of high quality media.

The method may further comprise: comparing the dynamically determined location of the portable device with information associating each of the one or more participants with the location; and upon finding that the portable device enters a location associated with the participant, capture of the media recording is commenced. The capture of a media recording can begin in the event that no media is currently being captured. In the case where the portable device is currently capturing media when entering a location, the portable device may terminate the current media recording and begin a new media recording. In this way, it may be avoided that the media recording is accidentally associated with more than one participant or with the wrong participant.

A possible associated advantage is that media recording can be started automatically when the portable device enters a location associated with a participant, thereby reducing the risk of accidental loss of the user of the portable device forgetting to manually start capturing of media, whereby accidental loss of information that may be important to the participant can be avoided.

The method may further comprise: comparing the dynamically determined location of the portable device with information associating each of the one or more participants with the location; and stopping the capturing of the current media recording upon finding that the portable device leaves the location associated with the participant. This may be followed by further starting of a new media recording by the portable device when it leaves the location associated with the participant.

A possible association advantage is that when the portable device determines that it is not at a location associated with a participant of the one or more participants, the capture of media can be automatically stopped, thereby reducing the risk of accidentally associating the captured media with an erroneous and/or unauthorized participant, whereby the security associated with the captured media can be improved. The comparison may be performed dynamically, i.e., may be repeated over time.

According to a second aspect, a portable device is provided. The portable device includes: a sensor configured to capture media; and circuitry configured to perform: a receiving function configured to receive information associating one or more participants with locations, each of the one or more participants having requested media to be captured at one or more respective locations; a location function configured to dynamically determine a location of a portable device; and an association function configured to dynamically associate media captured by the portable device to one or more participants such that media currently being captured by the portable device is associated with a participant associated with a current location of the portable device in accordance with the received information.

The above features of the first aspect may also be applied to this second aspect when applicable. To avoid excessive repetition, reference is made to the above.

The portable device may further include: a clock configured to determine a current time; and a position sensor configured to determine one or more of: one or more of a geographic location of the portable device and a connection to a location beacon, and wherein the location function may be configured to determine the location of the portable device based on one or more of: the geographic location of the portable device, the connection to the location beacon, and the current time.

The portable device may further include: a receiver configured to register a location tag disposed at a location; and wherein the location function may be further configured to determine the location of the portable device by registering the location tag.

The circuitry may be further configured to perform: a transfer function configured to transfer media associated with a participant to a data store under the control of the participant.

The circuitry may be further configured to perform: an encryption function configured to encrypt media associated with a participant using an encryption key associated with the participant.

The circuitry may be further configured to perform: a comparison function configured to compare the dynamically determined location of the portable device with information associating each of the one or more participants with the location; and a capture function configured to start capture of a media recording in response to discovering that the portable device has entered a location associated with a participant and/or to stop capture of a current media recording in response to discovering that the portable device has left a location associated with a participant.

According to a third aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium is provided. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprises program code portions for performing the method according to the first aspect when the program code portions are executed on a device having processing capabilities.

The above features of the first and/or second aspect may also be applied to this third aspect when applicable. To avoid excessive repetition, reference is made to the above.

Further scope of applicability of the present disclosure will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. It should be understood, however, that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred variations of the inventive concept, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the scope of the inventive concept will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.

Thus, it is to be understood that the inventive concepts are not limited to the specific steps of the described methods or components of the described systems, as such methods and systems may vary. It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. It must be noted that, when used in the specification and the appended claims, the articles "a," "an," "the," and "said" are intended to mean that there are one or more of the elements, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to "a unit" or "the unit" may include several devices, and the like. Also, the words "comprise," "include," and similar words do not exclude other elements or steps. The steps of any method disclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact order disclosed, unless explicitly stated.

Drawings

The above and other aspects of the inventive concept will now be described in more detail, with reference to the appended drawings showing variations of the invention. The drawings should not be taken to limit the invention to the specific variations; rather, they are presented to explain and understand the present inventive concept.

As illustrated in the figures, the size of layers and regions are exaggerated for illustrative purposes and, thus, are provided as a general structure illustrating variations of the inventive concepts. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

Fig. 1A illustrates a portable device.

FIG. 1B illustrates a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium.

Fig. 2A-2E illustrate example scenarios in which a portable device is used.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a method for associating media captured by a portable device to one or more participants that have requested media to be captured at one or more locations.

Detailed Description

The inventive concept will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which currently preferred variations of the inventive concept are shown. The inventive concept may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the variations set forth herein; rather, these variations are provided for comprehensiveness and completeness, and to fully convey the scope of the inventive concept to the skilled person.

Fig. 1A illustrates a portable device 10. The portable device 10 includes a sensor 110 configured to capture media. The sensor 110 may be an image sensor, an audio sensor (e.g., microphone), an IR sensor, a radar sensor, a temperature sensor, and the like. In the example shown in fig. 1A, the sensor 110 is an image sensor, and will be referred to as the image sensor 110 hereinafter.

As shown in the example of fig. 1A, the portable device 10 may be a camera including an imaging optical element 112. The portable device 10 may include an internal power source (not shown) such as a battery and/or an external power source (not shown). The portable device 10 may include a display (not shown). The portable device 10 may be configured to display information and/or captured media on a display. The display may be a touch screen configured to enable a user of the portable device 10 to interact with the portable device 10 (e.g., manually start/stop recording). The portable device 10 may include hardware controls such as control buttons and/or control wheels configured to allow a user of the portable device 10 to control the portable device 10. The imaging optics 112 may be arranged to image a scene onto the image sensor 110. The portable device 10 may be a wearable camera.

The portable device 10 further includes circuitry 120. The circuitry 120 is configured to perform one or more functions of the portable device 10. As shown in the example of fig. 1A, the circuit 120 may include a processor 1210. Processor 1210 may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), microcontroller, and/or microprocessor.

The circuitry 120 is configured to perform: a receive function 1310, a location function 1320, and an association function 1330. The portable device 10 may include a memory 130 configured to communicate with the circuitry 120. Memory 130 may be configured to store receive functionality 1310, location functionality 1320, and association functionality 1330. It is understood that the memory 130 may be configured to store additional functionality related to the operation of the portable device 10. The memory 130 may be configured to store media captured by the image sensor 110. Memory 130 may be a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Processor 1210 may be configured to perform one or more functions stored on memory 130.

The receiving function 1310 is configured to receive information associating one or more participants with locations at which each of the one or more participants has requested media to be captured. Memory 130 may be configured to store information associating one or more participants with a location. The information associating each of the one or more participants with a location may include one or more of: a list associating each participant with a geographic location; a list associating each participant with a location beacon; and a list associating each participant with a geotag. The receiving function 1310 may be configured to receive information associating each of the one or more participants with a location before the media is captured at the location. The circuitry 120 may be configured to perform a receiving function 1310 when the portable device is connected to the docking station. The portable device 10 may comprise a socket 160, the socket 160 being arranged to be connected to the docking station via a wired connection and to facilitate the circuitry 120 to communicate with the docking station. It is to be understood that the wired connection may include a short-range wireless connection such as a short-range inductive connection or Near Field Communication (NFC). The docking station may be configured to communicate with the server and thereby allow the circuitry 120 to communicate with the server via the docking station when the portable device 10 is connected to the docking station via the receptacle 160. Information associating each of the one or more participants with a location may be sent from a server. The information associating each of the one or more participants with a location may be sent in conjunction with an administrator preparing the portable device 10 for removal from the docking station. In other words, the information associating each of the one or more participants with a location may be transmitted in connection with the configuration and/or settings of the portable device 10. By receiving the information via a wired connection, wireless bandwidth consumption of the portable device 10 may be reduced and/or security related to the transmission of information associating each of the one or more participants with a location may be enhanced.

The location function 1320 is configured to dynamically determine the location of the portable device 10.

The association function 1330 is configured to dynamically associate media captured by the portable device 10 to one or more participants. In particular, the association function 1330 is configured to associate media currently being captured by the sensor 110 with a participant associated with the current location of the portable device 10 based on the received information. In this way, different portions of the captured media (such as different media recordings) may be associated with different participants depending on the location at which the media was captured.

Thus, the captured media is associated to one or more participants in the portable device 10 without requiring the user of the portable device 10 to tag the captured media with information associated with the participants, thereby reducing the risk associated with obtaining the captured media by other participants than its participant. Thus, captured media may be associated with each respective participant based on the dynamically determined location of the portable device 10, thereby allowing the captured media to be processed according to the needs of each respective participant. These processing requirements may include, for example, encryption, storage location, etc.

As shown in the example of fig. 1, the circuitry 120 may be further configured to perform a tagging function 1360, the tagging function 1360 configured to tag media currently being captured by the portable device with information identifying the participant. The information identifying the participant may include the name and/or identity of the participant. The identity of the participant may be an alphanumeric code, such as a customer number, that identifies the participant. Tagging may include providing information identifying the participant as metadata.

As shown in the example of fig. 1, the portable device 10 may further include a clock 140 and a position sensor 150 configured to communicate with the circuitry 120.

The clock 140 may be configured to determine the current time. The clock 140 may be configured to communicate the current time to the circuit 120.

The position sensor 150 may be configured to determine one or more of the following: the geographic location of the portable device 10 and the connection to the location beacon. The location sensor may comprise a sensor for a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), such as the Global Positioning System (GPS). The sensors for GNSS may be configured to determine the geographic location of the portable device 10. The location sensor may be configured to determine a connection to the location beacon via a wireless communication protocol (e.g., wi-Fi, bluetooth, and/or Near Field Communication (NFC)). The location sensor may detect, for example, a Wi-Fi network name (SSID) or a bluetooth/NFC beacon. The location beacon may be a wireless beacon. The wireless beacon may utilize one or more of Wi-Fi, bluetooth, NFC. The location beacon may broadcast information identifying a location. The portable device 10 may include information associating locations with location beacons.

The location function 1320 may be configured to determine the location of the portable device 10 based on one or more of the geographic location of the portable device 10, the connection to the location beacon, and the current time.

The location function 1320 may determine the location of the portable device 10 by comparing the geographic location of the portable device 10 determined by the location sensor 150 to information (e.g., a list or table) that associates the location with the geographic location. The receiving function 1310 may be further configured to receive information associating a location with a geographic location. Information associating locations with geographic locations may be stored on memory 130. The information associating the location with the geographic location may be received by the portable device 10 in conjunction with the information associating each of the one or more participants with the location received by the portable device 10.

Location function 1320 may determine location by receiving information transmitted by location beacons that identify the location. Location function 1320 may determine the location of portable device 10 by comparing connections to location beacons determined by location sensor 150 and information (e.g., a list or table) associating locations with location beacons. The receiving function 1310 may be further configured to receive information associating a location with a location beacon. Information associating locations with location beacons may be stored on memory 130. The information associating the location with the location beacon may be received by the portable device 10 in conjunction with the information associating each of the one or more participants with the location received by the portable device 10.

The location function 1320 may determine the location of the portable device 10 by comparing the current time to a security schedule (guard schedule). The security schedule may associate a time with a location, for example, as a list detailing the times at which a user of the portable device 10 plans to access different locations. Thus, by comparing the current time to the security schedule, the location function 1320 may determine the location of the portable device 10. The receiving function may be further configured to receive a security schedule. The security schedule may be received by the portable device 10 in conjunction with information received by the portable device 10 associating each of the one or more participants with a location. The receive function 1310 may be further configured to receive a security schedule.

As shown in the example of fig. 1A, the portable device may further include a receiver 170, the receiver 170 configured to register a location tag disposed at the location. Receiver 170 may be configured to register the location tag via a wireless communication protocol such as Wi-Fi, bluetooth, and/or NFC. The location tag may be a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag.

The location function 1320 may be further configured to determine the location of the portable device 10 by registering location tags. The location function 1320 may be further configured to determine the location of the portable device 10 by comparing the location tag registered by the receiver 170 with information (e.g., a list or table) that associates the location tag with the location. Alternatively or additionally, the location tag may transmit information identifying the location once registered by the receiver 170 of the portable device. The receiving function 1310 may be further configured to receive information associating a location with a location tag. Information associating the location with the location tag may be stored on the memory 130. The information associating the location with the location tag may be received by the portable device 10 in conjunction with the information associating each of the one or more participants with the location received by the portable device 10.

The circuitry may be further configured to perform a transfer function 1340, the transfer function 1340 configured to transfer media associated with a participant to a data store under the control of the participant. The data store may be a proprietary control of the participant, i.e., no one other than the participant has access to the data store. The portable device 10 may further include a transceiver 180 configured to transmit and receive data. The transceiver 180 may communicate via a wired (e.g., ethernet, USB, etc.) or wireless connection (e.g., bluetooth, wi-Fi, cellular data such as 3G, 4G, 5G, etc.). The transmission function 1340 may be configured to direct the transceiver 180 to send the captured media to a data store under participant control. The captured media may be transferred from the portable device 10 directly to the data store and/or via the docking station. A protocol for transferring the captured media to the data store may be selected based on the participant of the captured media. For example, the participant may require a high security protocol to be used when transferring the captured media to the data store.

Alternatively or additionally, the transfer function may be configured to stream media currently being captured at the current location in real-time to a stream receiver associated with the participant associated with the location. The stream receiver may comprise a front end. The front end of the stream receiver may be used by a person assigned to monitor the media currently being captured at that location. In this case, in response to the dynamically determined location of the portable device associated with the different participant, the transceiver may stream the media currently being captured at that location in real time to a stream receiver associated with the different participant and/or to a data store associated with the different participant.

The skilled person understands that there are many different wired and wireless connections that may be suitable for transferring the captured media. Non-limiting examples of wired connections include connections via Universal Serial Bus (USB) and/or ethernet, and non-limiting examples of wireless connections include connections via Wi-Fi and/or cellular data (3G, 4G, and/or 5G).

The circuitry may be further configured to perform an encryption function 1350, the encryption function 1350 configured to encrypt media associated with a participant using an encryption key associated with the participant.

Encryption is typically run in real-time, i.e., the media is encrypted as it is captured. The media is therefore not recorded on a local disk, such as flash memory, in the portable device 10 before being encoded. This reduces the number of times data is written to and read from the local disk, thus resulting in reduced wear on the local disk. The encryption function 1350 may be configured to encrypt the captured media further based on the participant (e.g., by selecting an encryption algorithm based on the participant's needs and/or preferences). The encryption key associated with the participant may be one of a pair of encryption keys associated with the participant. The encryption key pair may include a public encryption key and a private encryption key. The encryption function 1350 may be configured to encrypt the captured media using a public encryption key of the encryption key pair. The private encryption key of the encryption key pair associated with the participant may be known restrictively by the participant. The circuit 120 may be configured to perform the encryption function 1350 prior to the transmission function 1340. Thus, the captured media may be encrypted before being transmitted to a data store under the control of the participant associated with the captured media.

The circuitry may be configured to perform an encoding function configured to encode media associated with a participant according to media quality preferences associated with the participant. The encoding is run in real-time, i.e., the media is encoded as it is captured. The media quality preferences of a participant may indicate the media quality requested by the participant. The media quality may correspond to a level of compression. The level of compression may be given in terms of a target bit rate of the encoded media. For example, there may be a plurality of predefined media quality levels, such as "low media quality," "medium media quality," "high media quality," for the participants to select. These may correspond to "high compression level", "medium compression level" and "low compression level", respectively. Media quality preferences associated with the participant may be received by the receiving function 1310 and may be stored in the memory 130. Memory 130 may also store compression levels associated with media quality. For example, the memory 130 may store information that a first participant associated with a first location has a first media quality preference, a second participant associated with a second location has a second media quality preference, and so on.

When encoding media associated with a participant, the encoding function may compress the media to a compression level corresponding to the media quality requested by the participant. For example, the encoding function may select encoding settings such as quantization level and frame rate to achieve a desired level of compression. This may involve performing automatic bit rate control, i.e. setting the quantization level and/or frame rate such that the bit rate of the encoded video meets a target bit rate as specified by the desired level of compression. How to perform such bit rate control is well known to the person skilled in the art and is therefore not discussed in more detail.

As shown in the example of fig. 1, the circuitry may be further configured to perform a comparison function 1370. The comparison function 1370 may be configured to compare the dynamically determined location of the portable device 10 with information associating each of one or more participants with the location. In this manner, the circuitry may detect when the portable device 10 enters or leaves a location associated with a participant. The circuitry 120 may be further configured to perform a capture function 1380. The capture function 1380 may be configured to initiate capture of a media recording in response to the comparison function 1370 finding that the portable device 10 entered a location associated with a participant. If there is an ongoing media recording once the location is entered, the ongoing media recording may first be terminated before a new media recording is started. The capture function 1380 may be further configured to stop the capture of the current media recording in response to the comparison function 1370 finding that the portable device 10 has left the location associated with the participant. Alternatively or additionally, the capture function 1380 may be further configured to start and/or stop capturing media in response to a manual input, for example, via a button (not shown) of the portable device 10.

One or more of the image sensor 110, the circuitry 120, the memory 130, the clock 140, the position sensor 150, the socket 160, the receiver 170, and the transceiver 180 may communicate via a data bus (not shown).

The functionality of the portable device 10 may be embodied in the form of executable logic routines (e.g., lines of code, software programs, etc.) stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium (e.g., memory 130) of the portable device 10 and executed by the circuitry 120 (e.g., using the processor 1210).

A method 30 as illustrated in the flow chart in fig. 3 performed in the portable device 20 for associating media captured by the portable device 20 to one or more participants who have requested that the media be captured at one or more locations will now be described with reference to fig. 2A-2E and fig. 3. In fig. 2A to 2E, an example scenario in which the portable device 20 is used is described. Fig. 2A illustrates a user 200 retrieving (represented by arrow 212) a portable device 20 (in this example, a wearable camera) from a docking station 210. The portable device 20 illustrated in fig. 2A-2E may correspond to the portable device 10 discussed with respect to fig. 1. As shown in the example of fig. 2A, docking station 210 may include a plurality of portable devices 22. Which portable device 20 is assigned to the user 200 may be determined by an administrator and indicated to the user 200, for example by a light or message on a display of the portable device 20 and/or on an information display arranged in connection with the docking station 210. In this example scenario, user 200 is security assigned to patrol locations associated with four different participants. User 200 may be referred to hereinafter as security guard 200. The participant is in this case a client that has requested the security guard 200 to access the location.

The method 30 includes receiving S302 information associating each of the one or more participants with a location. In the example of fig. 2, this is done in conjunction with removing portable device 20 from the docking station, where information associating the customer with the location that each customer has requested security 200 to access is received by portable device 20. Thus, the step of receiving S302 information associating each of the one or more participants with a location may be performed when the portable device 20 is connected to the docking station 210. In this particular example, the information associates the first customer with first location 2210, the second customer with second location 2220, the third customer with third location 2230, and the fourth customer with fourth location 2240. Each customer may, for example, own or lease a respective location, and/or be associated with a respective location in some other manner. In this particular example, the administrator prepares portable device 20 for use by security guard 200, and in connection with the preparation, information is sent from server 214 to portable device 20. Each time the portable device 20 is connected to the docking station 210, information (e.g., associating a customer to a location) may be sent to the portable device 20, and which information to send to the portable device 20 may thus relate to which security guard is to use the portable device 20. In other words, the user of the portable device 20 may use the portable device 20 having user-specific information stored thereon. Alternatively or additionally, the portable device 20 may receive information that is only hit in the configuration/discretion of the portable device 20. The received information may further include media quality preferences for each of the one or more participants. The media quality preference may correspond to a desired level of compression of the media.

Fig. 2B-2E illustrate the planned route of the security guard 200. The route includes a first location 2210, a second location 2220, a third location 2230, and a fourth location 2240. The first location 2210 is a parking lot, and the second location 2220 and the third location 2230 are buildings. Thus, the first position 2210, the second position 2220, and the third position 2230 are stationary positions. The fourth location 2240 is a bus. Thus, when the bus occasionally moves, the fourth position 2240 is the moved position.

The method 30 further comprises: dynamically determining S304 a location of the portable device 20; and dynamically associating S306 the media captured by the portable device 20 to one or more participants such that the media currently being captured by the

portable device

10, 20 is associated with the participant associated with the current location of the

portable device

10, 20 according to the received information. In the example scenarios shown in fig. 2B-2E, four different ways in which the portable device 20 may be configured to determine its location and associate participants to media captured at each location will be described. At each

location

2210, 2220, 2230, 2240, the portable device 20 captures media to be associated with the participant (one of the customers in this example) according to the information associating each participant to the location.

The step of dynamically determining S304 the location of the portable device 20 may include comparing S316 the current time to a security schedule, which will be exemplified in the scenario described with respect to FIG. 2B. The security guard 200 plans to arrive at a first location 2210 at a first time according to a security schedule. A security schedule is received in connection with receiving information associating each customer to a location. The security schedule may associate a time with a location. For example, the security schedule may include a list of locations, and each location may be associated with a time at which the security guard is to visit the location.

The portable device 20 in this example includes a clock that determines the current time, and when the current time is determined to be at or past the first time, the location of the portable device 20 is determined to be a first location 2210. The security schedule may also include information about when the security guard 200 plans to leave the first location 2210. The method 30 may further include comparing the dynamically determined location of the portable device 20 with information associated with each of the one or more participants with the

locations

2210, 2220, 2230, 2240S 322. In this way, it may be detected when the portable device 20 enters or leaves a location associated with a participant. Once the portable device 20 is found to have entered the location associated with the participant, capture of the media recording may begin S324. Thus, in this example, the portable device 20 is configured to begin capturing new media recordings when it has determined that it has reached the first location 2210. Alternatively or additionally, portable device 20 may be configured to begin capturing media recordings in response to input from a user (in this example, security guard 200) and/or administrator. Media captured while security 200 is located at first location 2210 is associated with a first customer. The media captured by the portable device 20 may thus include multiple media recordings. The start of the media recording may be initiated manually by the user at any time or automatically by the portable device 20 once the user enters the location associated with the participant. If there is an ongoing video recording when the portable device 20 enters a new location, the ongoing video recording may be terminated before the new video recording is started.

The method 30 may further include tagging S308 media currently being captured by the portable device 10 with information associated with the participant. In the example shown in fig. 2B, the captured media is tagged with information associated with the first customer, e.g., when the media is captured at first location 2210, the media is tagged with a customer number related to the first customer.

The step of dynamically determining S304 the location of the portable device 20 may include determining S310 the geographic location of the portable device 20, as will be described with respect to fig. 2C. In fig. 2C, security guard 200 has left first location 2210 and reached second location 2220. In this example, first location 2210 and second location 2220 are non-adjacent or non-overlapping.

The method 30 may further include comparing the dynamically determined location of the portable device 20 with information associated with each of the one or more participants with the

locations

2210, 2220, 2230, 2240S 322. In this way, it may be detected when the portable device 20 enters or leaves a location associated with a participant. The capture of the current media recording may be stopped upon finding that the portable device 20 leaves the location associated with the participant. Thus, in this example, the portable device 20 is configured to stop recording in response to leaving the first location 2210. Thereafter, the portable device 20 may begin a new video recording. Alternatively or additionally, the portable device 10 may be configured to stop capturing media in response to input from a user (in this example, the security guard 200) and/or administrator. The stopping of the recording of media may thus be initiated manually by the user at any time, or automatically by the portable device 20 once the user leaves the location associated with the participant. The media recordings captured while the portable device 20 is located at a particular location will be associated in real-time with the participant (the first customer in this example) associated with that location. It is to be understood that the portable device 20 may determine that the portable device 20 has left the location in a similar manner as when the portable device 20 determined that the portable device 20 arrived at the location. Alternatively or additionally, the portable device 20 may be configured to associate media captured between the first location 2210 and the second location 2220 with the first customer. In other words, the portable device 20 may be configured to capture media and associate the captured media with a first participant until the portable device 20 determines that the portable device 20 has reached a location associated with a different participant. Alternatively, the portable device 20 may be configured to not associate media captured between the first location 2210 and the second location 2220 with any particular participant, or with a user of the portable camera 20. It is to be understood that the portable device 20 may be configured according to the above behavior independent of how the location of the portable device 20 is determined.

In this example, the portable device 20 determines that it has reached the second location 2220 by determining the geographic location of the portable device 20. The portable device 20 may also include information that associates a location to a geographic location, in which case the information associates the second location 2220 to a geographic location. Second location 2220 comprises a building and security guard 200 is requested to patrol within the building. In this example, the portable device 20 is unable to determine the geographic location when the security guard 200 is located within a building. As in the case of this example, the portable device 20 may be configured to assume the location as the most recently determined location if the portable device 20 is unable to determine the location therein. Thus, in this example, when the portable device 20 captures media within a building, it assumes the location is the second location 2220, and when media is captured, the captured media is associated with the second customer. Similar to the media captured at first location 2210, the media captured at second location 2220 is also labeled with a customer number of the second customer.

The step of dynamically determining S304 the location of the portable device 20 may comprise registering S314 a location tag arranged at the location, as will be described with respect to fig. 2D. In fig. 2D, security guard 200 has left second location 2220 and reached third location 2230. At a third location 2230, the security guard 200 registers a location tag 2232. In this example, the registered location tag 2232 is used by the portable device 20 to determine the location of the portable device 20. As in this example, the portable device 20 may include information that associates the location tag with the location. Thus, in this example, the portable device 20 includes information associating the third location 2230 with the location tag 2232 disposed at the third location 2230. Alternatively or additionally, the location tag 2232 may communicate the location directly to the portable device 20 by transmitting information related to the location to the portable device 20. With security guard 200 in third position 2230, portable device 20 captures media and the media is marked with a customer number of the third customer. The portable device 20 may determine that it has left the third location in response to registering the location tag 2232 or a different location tag (not shown). The continuous registration of the location tag may be registered after a predetermined amount of time (e.g., 5 minutes to 30 minutes) has elapsed. The predetermined amount of time may be set depending on the estimated amount of time that security guard 200 is scheduled to stay at the location (the third location in this example).

The step of dynamically determining S304 the location of the portable device 20 may include determining S312 a connection to a location beacon, as will be described with respect to fig. 2E. In fig. 2E, the guard has left third position 2230 and arrived at fourth position 2240. As security guard 200 approaches and/or enters a bus, portable device 20 detects a location beacon 2242 disposed at the bus. This detection is represented by double arrow 2242 in fig. 2E. In this example, the location beacon 2242 is a Wi-Fi base station. The location beacon 2244 may be configured to transmit the location to the portable device 20. Alternatively or additionally, the portable device 20 may include information associating locations with location beacons. Thus, portable device 20 in this example may include information associating location beacon 2244 with fourth location 2240. After security guard 200 has entered the bus, the bus begins to move. The media captured while the security was at the fourth location 2240 (i.e., the bus) is associated with the fourth customer and, while the media was captured, it is tagged with information about the fourth customer (e.g., customer ID, customer number, customer name, etc.). When the portable device 20 is no longer able to detect the location beacon 2242, it can be determined that the security guard 200 has left the bus. In response to no longer detecting the location beacon 2242, the portable device 20 may be configured to determine that it has left the fourth location after a predetermined amount of time (e.g., 5-30 minutes) has elapsed. It is to be understood that the predetermined amount of time may be set depending on the estimated amount of time that the security guard 200 is scheduled to stay at the location (the fourth location in this example).

The method 30 may further include encoding media associated with the participant according to the media quality preferences of the participant. In this way, the media quality can be tailored to the particular needs of the participants. This may also save storage space in the portable device, since the media is not stored with unnecessarily high video quality. Encoding of media may involve compressing the media to a target compression level corresponding to media quality preferences. For example, it may involve selecting encoding settings such that the resulting compression level of the media meets a target compression level. The encoding level may relate to one or more of a frame rate and a quantization parameter.

The method 30 may further include transmitting S318 media associated with the participant to a data store under the control of the participant. In the example scenario described with reference to fig. 2A-2E, this is done when security guard 200 has completed the route and returned to docking station 210. Portable device 20 may then be placed in docking station 210 by security guard 200. In this example, the captured media recordings are transferred to a data store under control of each respective client.

The method 20 may further include encrypting S320 media associated with the participant using an encryption key associated with the participant. This may be done to improve security in connection with the transmission and/or storage of captured media, which may be encrypted using encryption keys associated with each respective client. Thus, captured media is not available to unauthorized persons even if the transmission is intercepted by the unauthorized persons. The captured media may be encrypted in conjunction with capturing the media and/or before the captured media is transmitted to the data store under participant control. The data store may be, for example, a remote server, a local server, and/or a cloud storage. The step of encrypting S320 the captured media may comprise: generating a random encryption key; encrypting the captured media using a random encryption key; encrypting the random encryption key using the participant encryption key; removing the random encryption key; and transmitting the encrypted random encryption key to a data store under control of a participant associated with the captured media.

Fig. 1B illustrates a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium 40. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium 40 includes program code portions that, when executed on a device having processing capabilities (e.g., the portable device 10 described with respect to fig. 1A), perform the method 30 described with respect to fig. 3.

It will be appreciated by the person skilled in the art that the inventive concept is in no way limited to the preferred variants described above. On the contrary, many modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the appended claims.

For example, the functions of the portable device are described as program code portions on a computer memory, however, one or more of the functions may be hardware implemented and/or a combination of hardware and software implementations.

Moreover, variations to the disclosed modifications can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed invention, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method performed in a portable device for associating media captured by the portable device to a plurality of participants that have requested that the media be captured at a plurality of locations, the method comprising:

receiving information associating each of the plurality of participants with a location;

dynamically determining a location of the portable device; and

associating the media captured by the portable device to the plurality of participants such that media currently being captured by the portable device is tagged with information identifying participants associated with a current location of the portable device according to the received information; and

media tagged with information identifying a participant is encrypted using an encryption key associated with the participant.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving information associating each of the plurality of participants with a location is performed when the portable device is connected to a docking station.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein dynamically determining the location of the portable device comprises one or more of:

determining a geographic location of the portable device;

determining a connection to a location beacon;

registering a location tag disposed at the location; and

and comparing the current time with the security schedule.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

media associated with a participant is transferred to a data store under the control of the participant.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

comparing the dynamically determined location of the portable device with the information associating each of the plurality of participants with a location; and

upon finding that the portable device enters a location associated with a participant, capture of a media recording is initiated.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the capture of the current media recording is stopped upon finding that the portable device leaves the location associated with the participant.

7. A portable device, comprising:

a sensor configured to capture media; and

circuitry configured to perform:

a receiving function configured to receive information associating a plurality of participants with locations, each of the plurality of participants having requested media to be captured at a plurality of respective locations,

a location function configured to dynamically determine a location of the portable device, an

An association function configured to associate the media captured by the portable device to the plurality of participants such that media currently being captured by the portable device is tagged with information identifying participants associated with a current location of the portable device in accordance with the received information, an

An encryption function configured to encrypt media tagged with information identifying a participant using an encryption key associated with the participant.

8. The portable device of claim 7, further comprising:

a clock configured to determine a current time; and

a position sensor configured to determine one or more of:

the geographical location of the portable device, an

A connection to a location beacon, and

wherein the location function is configured to determine the location of the portable device based on one or more of:

the geographic location of the portable device is determined,

said connection to said location beacon, an

The current time.

9. The portable device of claim 7, further comprising:

a receiver configured to register a location tag disposed at the location; and

wherein the location function is further configured to determine the location of the portable device by registering the location tag.

10. The portable device of claim 7, wherein the circuitry is further configured to perform:

a transfer function configured to transfer media associated with a participant to a data store under the control of the participant.

11. The portable device of claim 7, wherein the circuitry is further configured to perform:

a comparison function configured to compare the dynamically determined location of the portable device with the information associating each of the plurality of participants with a location; and

a capture function configured to start capture of media recordings in response to discovering that the portable device has entered a location associated with a participant and/or stop capture of current media recordings in response to discovering that the portable device has left a location associated with a participant.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising program code portions which, when executed on a device having processing capabilities, perform a method in a portable device for associating media captured by the portable device to a plurality of participants who have requested that the media be captured at a plurality of locations, the method comprising:

dynamically determining a location of the portable device; and