DE102010060473A1 - Method for controlling image acquisition in cash dispenser, involves triggering alarm if probability for disturbing intervention in operation of cash dispenser exceeds threshold - Google Patents

Abstract

The method involves (S10) acquiring sequence of images using camera in cash dispenser. The acquired images are evaluated (S12) and the probability for disturbing intervention in operation of cash dispenser is determined (S13) based on evaluation result of acquired images. An alarm is triggered (S20) if probability for disturbing intervention in operation of cash dispenser exceeds the threshold. The acquired images are permanently stored if alarm is triggered. Independent claims are included for the following: (1) cash dispenser; and (2) computer program for controlling image acquisition in cash dispenser.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to the documentation of disturbing interventions in ATMs or ATMs, and more particularly relates to methods of controlling image capture in ATMs or ATMs, as well as a suitably designed ATM or ATM.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

ATMs are well known in the art and are used not only for cash deposit or cash-out but also for various types of banking transactions, such as bank statement functions, money transfer functions, bank statements, check cashing, etc. Such cash or bank machines are with a portrait camera usually located above a display of the machine and captures images of an area in front of the machine with a wide-angle characteristic. From the prior art it is known that with a portrait camera only in the context of a transaction, an image is captured or this is at least stored when a customer has entered his card. If it was a stolen card and therefore the portrait or the facial image information of the collector does not fit the cardholder, this can be determined later on the basis of the portrait image.

Such a transaction-dependent image storage at ATMs is for example from the US 6,583,813 B1 known. At ATMs and self-service terminals, however, there are also cases of vandalism. These are very difficult to enlighten, because the "vandal" of course not previously logged on the machine or terminal, for example by inserting a bank card into a card reader of the machine.

As an alternative, the triggering of the image triggering in surveillance cameras by motion detectors, such as ultrasonic motion detectors or infrared motion detector, known, for example from the DE 199 13 841 A1 , This can be triggered at any approach of a person a photo of the person with a portrait camera, which is then stored together with a date and time information on a server or a backup memory. However, such proximity sensors are relatively expensive and it is also not easy to integrate them in such machines. In particular, the integration of suitable software routines is costly. Such proximity sensors can also potentially cause interference in other sensors of the machine, such as anti-skimming sensors.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This is where the invention starts and it is a primary object of the present invention to detect potentially disturbing interventions, for example vandalism, destructive acts or fraud attempts, in a simple manner and to document them in the event of an incident.

This object is achieved by a method according to claim 1, a computer program for carrying out the method according to claim 11, as well as a correspondingly designed cash or bank machine according to claim 12. Further advantageous embodiments are the subject of the dependent claims.

In a method according to the present invention, a standby state is a first sequence of images captured by a camera, in particular a Portraikamera, the cash or ATM. This acquisition can be done with low image capture sequence and / or image resolution or otherwise in a simple form. The first sequence of images is then evaluated using suitable image evaluation routines, as described in more detail below, and on the basis of such image evaluation, in a further process step, a probability of interfering with the operation of the cash machine or ATM is determined, in particular for the Probability of a destructive act or a fraud attempt. The method then triggers an alarm condition if the probability determined in the determining step exceeds a predetermined threshold. In the alarm state, at least one image captured by the camera is then stored permanently, for example in an internal, protected image storage unit or on a remote server.

According to the invention, a determination is made as to whether the alarm condition should be triggered or not based on the first sequence of images captured by the camera. In other words, the camera, in particular portrait camera, the ATM or ATM and a coupled with this image evaluation unit, which evaluates the captured with the camera images are used as an alarm condition triggering device.

To trigger the alarm, various information that can be determined by such an intelligent image analysis can be used, for example approaching an image object at the ATM up to a predetermined distance (proximity sensor function) or stay in a certain area in front of the machine, reaching a predetermined approach speed or image object size. It is advantageous that such an image evaluation of the images captured by the camera can be realized by suitable software routines in the machine, without another sensor, such as a proximity sensor, as described above, must be integrated into the machine and integrated with software. Since suitable image evaluation algorithms are available, production, operation and maintenance of such a cash machine or cash dispenser can thus be realized even more simply and cost-effectively in accordance with the invention.

According to a further embodiment, the respective permanently stored image is stored together with additional information which optionally includes:
Time, date, transaction data, other image information (for example, from the environment of the machine), sound information and the like. According to a preferred embodiment, to evaluate the first frequency of images, a face recognition routine is executed to determine a face in a respective image of the first sequence of images. The alarm condition is triggered on the basis of image information acquired in this way.

For example, the thus acquired facial image information may be compared and reconciled with facial image information stored in a list or memory containing facial image information from known fraudsters, potential "vandals" or. Such a list can be stored in an internal memory of the ATM or ATM or transmitted to this from a secure external data storage or via a network. According to a further embodiment, the acquired image information may also be compared with face image information associated with the cash card inserted into the machine. Fraud attempts, for example after a theft of a cash card, can be recorded and documented.

According to a further embodiment, such an alarm condition is only triggered when, in an image captured by the camera, a face can be identified and that face approaches the automaton to a predetermined distance, staying within a predetermined area in front of the machine , exceeds a predetermined approaching velocity value, or if the size of the detected face exceeds a predetermined face size threshold.

According to a preferred further embodiment, the images are detected by the camera after triggering the alarm state in a different manner than in the standby state, in particular with a higher image acquisition frequency, image resolution, other depth of field, other angular characteristics or the like of the camera. Preferably, the permanently stored image is an image of a second sequence of images captured with the camera in the alarm state in the aforementioned other manner.

According to another embodiment, images of the first sequence of images captured with the camera in the standby state are only temporarily stored, further reducing the cost of storing and managing the images captured in the standby state. Such a temporary image storage can also be realized by periodically deleting or overwriting memory areas of an image memory. According to a further embodiment, furthermore or alternatively, the alarm state can be determined on the basis of a distance of an image object captured by the camera to the cash machine, a dwell time of such an image object within a predetermined area in front of the machine and / or a size of such an object in one Image capture range of the camera are triggered.

In this case, in particular for determining the distance and / or the size of such an image object, further image sensors can be used, for example a further camera or a simple infrared image sensor to provide stereoscopic image information of the image area from two images acquired from the same scene at different angles Get the cash or cash machine and then derive relevant image information from this stereoscopic image information.

Further aspects of the present invention are directed to a corresponding computer program for carrying out such a method as well as a correspondingly designed cash or bank machine.

FIGURE OVERVIEW

The invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, from which further features, advantages and objects to be achieved will result. Show it:

1 a schematic representation of a cash or ATM machine according to the invention;

2 an exemplary flowchart for controlling the image acquisition in a cash or cash machine according to the 1 and

3 the detection of an image object in three different distances to a portrait camera of a cash or ATM according to 1 ,

In the figures, identical reference numerals designate identical or substantially equivalent elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

According to the 1 includes the cash machine or ATM 2 a basic body 3 in which a money storage container is provided. Bank customers need to know about inserting a cash card into the card reader 4 identify. The operation of the machine 2 via a keyboard 5 or a comparable data input device, for example a touch-sensitive surface. At the top of the machine 2 is a display 6 provided, at the upper end of a portrait camera 7 to monitor the area before car appointments 2 is arranged. A central control device 10 , For example, processor unit, can in the body 3 or elsewhere in the machine 2 be provided or communicate with this via a secure data connection. The central control unit 10 is a local image store 11 assigned on which pictures by means of the camera 7 be captured, permanently stored. According to the 1 is the central control unit 10 over a network 12 For example, a LAN, WiFi or the Internet, with a remote server 13 in connection.

The central control unit 10 monitors the entire operation of the cash machine or ATM 2 and also controls communication with the remote server if needed 13 ,

The 2 shows an exemplary operation of such a cash or cash machine. In step S10, a first sequence of images in a standby mode is detected. For this purpose, the images of the first sequence can be detected, for example, with a comparatively low image capture sequence (for example, one image every three seconds), a low image resolution, a comparatively large image capture angle, a shallow depth of field, or the like. In step S11, images of the first sequence of images may be temporarily stored. However, to minimize the effort, these images are preferably not stored permanently. In step S12, the images captured by the camera in step S10 are evaluated, using suitable image evaluation algorithms, with the aid of which in particular the distance of a detected image object to the ATM, its proximity speed, angle size, object size and comparable parameters can be detected. According to a preferred embodiment, in the step S12, faces are searched for in the image captured by the camera and this facial image information is suitably processed and evaluated, for example in the form of a feature vector for features of detected faces. Based on this image evaluation according to the step S12, it is inquired at the step S13 whether or not the likelihood of interfering with the operation of the cash machine, vandalism, destructive act, attempted fraud, is high. If the answer is NO in step S13, the process returns to step S10 for image acquisition in the standby mode. If the answer in step S13 is YES, that is, a predetermined threshold for a disturbing engagement probability is exceeded, the process proceeds to step S20 to acquire images in an alarm mode. According to the invention, the images in this alarm mode are detected in a different manner than in the aforementioned standby mode, in particular with higher image acquisition frequency (for example two images per second), image resolution, angular characteristic, etc. At least one image of the second sequence of images acquired in the alarm mode is displayed in FIG Step S21 stored permanently. For this purpose, the picture in the in the 1 illustrated image storage unit 11 be stored permanently or over the network 12 to the remote server 13 be transmitted. In this case, the image information to be permanently stored can be stored with further information, for example time information (date, time), face image information, transaction data and the like. In step S22, the images captured with the camera in the alarm state are evaluated. The image evaluation in the step S21 may be basically the same as in the aforementioned step S11. Thus, the same image information can be used for further evaluation in step S22. Based on such an image evaluation in the step S22, the probability of a prolonged disturbing intervention is determined in the step S23. If this probability is not low, the process returns to step S20 with image capture in the alarm mode. If the answer is YES in step S23, the process returns to step S10 in the standby mode.

According to the 3 has the portrait camera used in the cash or bank machine 7 a wide angle characteristic, as in the 3 by the reference numeral 8th for the recorded Picture angle indicated, for example, may be greater than 140 degrees. This is accompanied by a large depth of field, which is necessary because the person to be photographed in the case of operation is close to the cash or ATM, but their size can be very different (one meter to more than two meters). On the basis of a typical face size of about 20 cm (round or oval), the angle of view taken at 200 cm distance is about 5.71 degrees, at 100 cm distance about 11.31 grand and at 50 cm distance about 21.8 degrees.

According to another embodiment, face recognition software routines are used in the image evaluation step S12 and S22. The alarm state can then be triggered as soon as a face is detected in the first sequence of images in the image area of the camera. Then the image sequence for analysis is automatically increased, for example to two images per second, until a defined size of the face in the image area of the portrait camera is reached. This image is then saved permanently. For example, the alarm condition can be triggered when a face or image object is detected that has the image angle 30 occupies. This can correspond to a distance X3 to the ATM. With the reference number 31 is an angular range on further approach of the face or image object referred to a distance X2. In this area, image acquisition can continue to be in alarm. Finally, with the angle range 32 a face or image object indicated, which has approximated to a distance X1 at the ATM. The achievement of this predetermined propriety X1 can be used as a trigger to a permanent storage of image information from the angular range 32 trigger. This angle range 32 especially with an angular range in the image field 8th the portraikamera 7 coincide within which a face has been recognized.

As will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art upon studying the foregoing description, other information may be linked to the captured image data, e.g. For example, the data of the account holder for a targeted recording of customer approach or advertising even before entering the card in the cash or ATM or the deposit of wanted photos for targeted support of the police in the search for criminals.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1

Cash dispensing / Banking System

2

ATM or cash machine

3

body

4

card reader

5

Keyboard / data input unit

6

display

7

Portrait camera

8th

Image capture area

10

central control unit

11

Memory (local)

12

network

13

Server / host

30

first recording area

31

second recording area

32

third recording area

QUOTES INCLUDE IN THE DESCRIPTION

This list of the documents listed by the applicant has been generated automatically and is included solely for the better information of the reader. The list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA assumes no liability for any errors or omissions.

Cited patent literature

• US 6583813 B1 [0003]
• DE 19913841 A1 [0004]

Claims (21)

A method of controlling image capture in a cash machine, comprising: acquiring (S10) a first sequence of images using a camera ( 7 ) of the cash or bank machine ( 2 ); Evaluating (S12) the first sequence of images and determining (S13) a probability of interference based on the evaluation of the first sequence of images, wherein an alarm condition is triggered when the probability determined in the determining step exceeds a predetermined threshold and in which Alarm state at least one captured by the camera image is permanently stored (S21). The method of claim 1, wherein the respective permanently stored image is stored together with additional information, in particular a time information and / or transaction data. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein to evaluate the first sequence of images, a face recognition software routine is executed to determine a face in a respective image and the alert condition is triggered based on thus detected facial image information. The method of claim 3, wherein the alarm condition is triggered when it is determined that the detected face approaches the ATM or ATM up to a predetermined distance; the size of the detected face exceeds a predetermined face size threshold; or the detected face image information matches a face image information of a list deposited in or transmitted to the cash machine or cash dispenser. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein after triggering the alarm state, a second sequence of images is detected in a different manner than in the standby state (S20) and at least one permanently stored image is an image of the second sequence of images. The method of claim 5, wherein the first sequence of images having a lower image capture frequency and / or resolution and / or a larger image capture angle of the camera ( 7 ) and images of the first sequence of images are only temporarily stored. The method of claim 1, wherein the alarm condition is further determined based on a distance of an image object captured by the camera to the ATM, a dwell time of an image object captured by the camera within a predetermined range, and / or a size with the camera captured image object in an image capture area of the camera is determined. The method of claim 7, wherein the propriety and / or size of the image object captured by the camera is determined based on stereoscopic image information. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one image acquired by the camera in the alarm state is transmitted to a remote server ( 13 ) and stored there permanently. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the camera is a portrait camera ( 7 ) is the cash or ATM with a wide-angle characteristic. A computer program comprising computer program code means adapted to carry out a method according to any one of the preceding claims when executed on a processor. A cash machine or ATM, comprising an image capture unit ( 7 ) for capturing images of an area in front of the cash machine or ATM; an image evaluation and control unit ( 10 ) from the image acquisition unit ( 7 ) and to control the image acquisition by the image acquisition unit and to trigger an image storage process for storing at least one acquired image in an alarm state of the cash machine or ATM, characterized in that the image evaluation and control unit ( 10 ) is triggered to trigger the alarm condition when a probability of a disturbing intervention based on an evaluation of a first sequence of the camera ( 7 ) is detected, exceeds a predetermined threshold value, and in order to control the image process such that at least one image captured by the camera in the alarm state is permanently stored. Cash or bank machine according to claim 12, wherein the image evaluation and Control unit ( 10 ) is designed so that the respective permanently stored image is stored together with additional information, in particular a time information and / or transaction data. Cash or bank machine according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the image evaluation and control unit ( 10 ) is adapted to perform a face recognition software routine for evaluating the first sequence of images to determine a face in a respective image and to trigger the alarm condition based on thus detected facial image information. Cash or bank machine according to claim 14, wherein the image evaluation and control unit ( 10 ) is arranged to trigger the alarm condition when it is determined that the detected face is approaching the cash machine by a predetermined distance; the size of the detected face exceeds a predetermined face size threshold; or the detected face image information matches a face image information of a list deposited in or transmitted to the cash machine or cash dispenser. Cash or bank machine according to one of claims 12 to 15, wherein the image evaluation and control unit ( 10 ) is designed so that after triggering the alarm state, a second sequence of images is detected in a different manner than in the standby state (S20) and that at least one permanently stored image is an image of the second sequence of images. Cash or bank machine according to claim 16, wherein the image evaluation and control unit ( 10 ), so that the first sequence of images having a lower image acquisition frequency and / or resolution and / or a larger image capture angle of the camera ( 7 ) and images of the first sequence of images are only temporarily stored. Cash or bank machine according to one of claims 12 to 17, wherein the image evaluation and control unit ( 10 ), so that the alarm condition is further determined based on a distance of an image object captured by the camera to the ATM, a dwell time of an image object detected by the camera within a predetermined range, and / or a size of an image object detected with the camera an image capture area of the camera is determined. Cash or bank machine according to claim 18, wherein the image evaluation and control unit ( 10 ), so that the propriety and / or size of the image object captured by the camera is determined on the basis of stereoscopic image information. A cash machine according to any one of claims 12 to 19, wherein the image evaluation and control unit is adapted to send the at least one image captured by the camera in the alarm condition to a remote server (14). 13 ) communicating via a network with the ATM or ATM. A cash machine according to any one of claims 12 to 20, wherein the camera is a portrait camera ( 7 ) is the cash or ATM with a wide-angle characteristic.

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