EP1905225A1

EP1905225A1 - Method and system for transmitting video to a mobile terminal

Info

Publication number: EP1905225A1
Application number: EP06721500A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Dmitri c/o Level 11 SOSNIK
Original assignee: Capture-Cam IP Pty Ltd
Current assignee: Capture-Cam IP Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2005-05-13
Filing date: 2006-05-12
Publication date: 2008-04-02
Also published as: EP1905225A4; WO2006119576A1; EA200702509A1

Abstract

There is disclosed a method of transmitting video to a mobile terminal (110) from a video camera system (130) having a plurality of video cameras, the method comprising: receiving a video request from a mobile terminal (110), the video request specifying at least the video camera of the plurality of video cameras (134) from which video is requested; and transmitting video specified by the video request to said mobile terminal (110) via a streaming port (152) of the telecommunication network (150) on which said mobile terminal is registered.

Description

Title

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR TRANSMITTING VIDEO TO A MOBILE

TERMINAL

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method and system for transmitting video to a mobile terminal from a video camera system having a plurality of video cameras.

Background to the Invention

In existing security systems there is usually a facility for a user to monitor a series of video cameras. Existing systems also incorporate a mechanism of delivering an alarm. For example, an alarm to a security monitoring service in response to motion detection.

In recent times, alternative techniques for security monitoring have been proposed. For example, sending a stream of video images from a security camera directly to a mobile terminal via an IP address or other circuit. One problem with this approach is that the video data that is sent will generally be of a low quality as it is sent directly to the IP address over the Internet as data and accordingly, there may be buffering or timing problems in sending live images as data. Another problem is that a telecommunication networks general Internet access points are not tuned/designed for higher volumes of data throughput that volumes of multiple video streams through the Internet require. There is usually a resulting network congestion problem and video transmission may be slowed or cease to transmit at all. Additionally, billing information may not be identifiable as video streaming directly from a video system to a mobile terminal may not be able to be identified separately and may be thought of as general Internet data activity.

Other systems require a special software application on the mobile terminal to control or activate the camera system. This creates a problem if the mobile terminal is not compatible with the software applications.

There is a need for an alternative system capable of sending video to a mobile terminal.

In a first broad aspect, the invention provides a method of transmitting video to a mobile terminal from a video camera system having a plurality of video cameras, the method comprising: receiving a video request from a mobile terminal, the video request specifying at least the video camera of the plurality of video cameras from which video is requested; and transmitting video specified by the video request to said mobile terminal via a streaming port of the telecommunication network on which said mobile terminal is registered.

Typically the video is live video from the specified camera. However in one embodiment historical video may be requested in which case the video selection specifies when the video was created (e.g. date and time) .

In a second broad aspect the invention provides a video transmission system for transmitting video to a mobile terminal comprising: a video camera system having a plurality of video cameras, the video camera system being configured to receive a video request from a mobile terminal, the video request specifying at least the video camera of the plurality of video cameras from which video is requested; and a video streamer for transmitting video from the video camera system to said mobile terminal via a streaming port of the telecommunication network on which said mobile terminal is registered in response to said video request.

Typically, the video camera system is a security camera system.

In an embodiment, the video transmission system comprises a session controller for establishing a connection between the security system and the video streamer.

Typically, the session controller provides at least one video parameter to the video streamer to thereby control the quality of video transmitted to the mobile terminal. For example, video format type, frame size, bandwidth, frames per second, video quality.

The controller typically also provides an IP address and port of the video camera system to the video streamer to enable the video streamer to retrieve the video from the video camera system.

In an embodiment the video camera system hosts a camera index page to enable the mobile terminal to activate a camera with browser software over the Internet. In an embodiment the video camera system also hosts a control page to allow the mobile terminal to alter control settings for the video transmission with browser software.

Thus, the system enables control and activation of the camera system without a special control software application needing to be installed on the mobile terminal .

It is preferred that the session controller and the video streamer form part of a central server to thereby make the video stream separately identifiable. If the video stream is separately identifiable it may be billed in a different method - i.e.: at a discount or at a premium to normal Internet data traffic to a mobile terminal.

Separately identifiable data transmission also allows for the tracking of usage and consumption patterns and information to allow network management and marketing activities to better occur.

The session controller typically also provides a video streamer session description to the mobile terminal, typically via the video camera system so that said mobile terminal can connect to the video streamer via the telecommunications network on which the mobile terminal is registered.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating how a video stream is sent to a mobile terminal; and

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating how the system shown in Figure 1 may be scaled to handle a plurality of video camera systems and multiple mobile terminals.

Description of the Preferred Embodiment

The preferred embodiment provides an improved quality and reliability and management of video compared to existing systems by sending video to a mobile terminal via a central server and specified streaming ports of the telecommunication network on which the mobile terminal is registered. Sending the video via specified streaming ports allows a higher quality, reliability and management of video to be delivered to a mobile terminal as such ports are optimised by the telecommunication network for video whereas if the video is sent as data image, quality and reliability cannot be guaranteed.

In the preferred embodiment the video transmission system has a session controller which establishes a connection between the security system and the video streamer. The session controller provides video parameters to the video streamer to enable it to send video to the mobile terminal that is suitable to be received by the mobile terminal. The session controller also provides video streamer session description to the mobile terminal via the video camera system so that the mobile terminal can connect to the video streamer via the telecommunications network on which the mobile terminal is registered.

Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that herein mobile terminals must have a number of capabilities: 1. The ability to connect to the Internet - e.g. via WAP or GPRS; 2. The ability to communicate over a wireless telecommunications network; and

The ability to receive video/audio.

Typically the mobile terminal will be a mobile phone (cell phone) that has these features and thus have other functions, however persons skilled in the art will appreciate that dedicated devices that are capable of being wireless video players also fall within the scope of a mobile terminal in the terms of the present specification.

Further, while the term "mobile terminal" is often associated with GSM networks, it is not intended to have that connotation in this specification and the invention is intended to extend to all wireless telecommunication networks that are capable of delivering video to a mobile device e.g. GSM, WCDMA, 3G. Referring now to Figure 1, there is shown a system of the preferred embodiment that enables carrier grade video/audio to be delivered to a mobile terminal from a video camera system. In the preferred embodiment, the video camera system is a security system 130 known as a multiple video/audio security system (MVASS) . The security system 130 has a security system computer (MVASS PC) 132 and a plurality of video cameras 134a, 134b, 134c and 134d. Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that while a four camera system is illustrated in Figure 1, the system can be adapted to any number of video cameras .

Each video camera monitors an area or has a view of an area (e.g. more than one camera may monitor the same area but from different directions) . The video from each of the cameras is monitored by the security system computer 132 in order to detect whether any motion has occurred in a monitored area. When a potential security breach (or other alarm condition) is noted by the security system, an alert message is generated and sent to a mobile terminal. The alert message typically consists of an image from the camera that relates to the alarm condition and a link which enables a browser software running on the mobile terminal to initiate a video session which results in transmission of live video from the relevant video camera. However, this is only one way of launching a request for video and the request for video need not be made in response to an alert. In an alternative technique, the mobile terminal requests a camera index page from the

MVASS PC 130 via Internet 120 on a message path indicated by arrow 161. The MVASS PC 132 serves the camera index page to the mobile terminal 110 again via the Internet 120 as indicated by message path 161.

The camera index page comprises a series of links to each of the cameras 134a to 134d that are under control of the MVASS 130. The user operates the browser of the mobile terminal 110 to select a video camera and clicks on the link for the desired camera in order to start the live video stream process. Thus, it will be appreciated that this provides a video request that specifies a camera.

Once the video request is received, the MVASS 132 contacts a central server 140 via Internet 120 over message path 162 in order to start the video stream. The central server 140 has a command server 142 that acts a session controller and a video streamer 144 that has a transcoding server for transforming video from security system 130 into a format suitable for mobile terminal 110 and a streaming server 145 for controlling transmission of the video stream to the mobile terminal 110.

When the command server 142 is contacted by the MVASS PC 132 it configures the streaming server with the video stream parameters. These include the video format type, the frame size, bandwidth, frames per second, the IP address of the MVASS 132, the port that should be contacted of the MVASS 132 and the required video quality. MVASS 132 either stores video parameters specific to mobile terminal 110 or obtains them when the index page request is made. In this way, the command server 142 is able to configure the video streamer 144 - e.g. so that the transcoder server 146 knows the native video format of the MVASS 132 and the destination video format of the mobile terminal 110 and the streaming server what frame size and how many frames per second should be sent and also the IP address of the MVASS 132 so it can access the video. Typically the video from the security systems 130 will be in motion jpeg (MJPEG) format and the transcoder server will code the MJPEG streams to MPEG-4 streams and packet it into RTSP. The command server also obtains a session description that describes which resources of the video streamer 144 will produce the video stream so that the session description can be supplied to the mobile terminal. The video streamer 144 then contacts the address of the MVASS 132 to obtain the video stream. The command server transfers the video session description data of the video streamer 144 to the mobile terminal 110 via the MVASS 132 over message paths 161,162. On receipt of the video session description data, the mobile terminal 110 contacts the video streamer 145 via the telecommunications network 150 as indicated by arrow 168. The mobile phone contacts the streamer server 145 via real time streaming protocol (RTSP) port (TCP 554) . The streamer server 145 then starts the video stream to the mobile terminal 110 via streaming port 152 as indicated by- arrow 169. Streaming port 152 is typically a UDP port obtained during RTSP negotiations. In this way, the quality of the video delivered to the mobile terminal can be high as 1. it matches the video capability of the mobile terminal; and 2. it is sent via ports configured for video transmission.

Figure 2 illustrates how the system can be extended to a plurality of different security monitoring systems MVASS 1 to MVASS n 130a, 130b...13On and a plurality of mobile terminals MTl to MTk 110a, 110b...110k. To enable this scaling, it will also be appreciated that the video streamer 146 comprises a plurality of transcoding servers TCSl to TCSm 148a, 148b...144m and a plurality of streaming servers SSl to SSl 145a, 145b...1451. These are all under the control of a single command server 142.

In Figure 2, arrows 120a and 120b indicate that connections between the command server and the security systems and between the security systems and the mobile terminals are Internet type connections. These arrows do not imply in the case of the mobile terminals that the mobile terminals are able to access each of the security systems 130. Typically, there will be a security layer in place that allows only mobile terminals that are intended to have access to a particular system to be able to access those systems.

Similarly, line 150 which is intended to illustrate a telecommunications network between the video streamer 144 and the mobile terminals 11On is not intended to imply that those mobile terminals 110 are able to receive video from all of the security systems 130.

The command server 142 is capable of configuring multiple sessions between the security systems 130 and the mobile terminal. To do this it allocates resources within the video streamer 146 by allocating resources on the transcoding servers 144 and the streaming servers 145 to a particular video session and creating session descriptions .

The command server 142 also performs a number of other important functions in administration of the system including controlling which telecommunications network is used.

It will be appreciated that while a single telecommunications network is shown in Figure 2 that mobile terminal may be registered with different telecommunications carriers. Accordingly, it is important to ensure that the video server 146 only communicates via the correct telecommunication carrier. Accordingly, the command server maintains a database in which all mobile terminals which are participating in the video streaming service are registered together with the serial number of the software application running on MVASS PC 132 and a carrier identifier to thereby control which carrier is used - i.e. the command server checking the database whenever a session is requested. This is also important for keeping track of billing - e.g. to ensure that if the user has signed up for the service to be delivered via one carrier that it is not delivered via another carrier.

The system of the preferred embodiment also allows the same video to be delivered to a plurality of mobile terminals. In one common situation, the same security warning may be sent to a number of different mobile phones for example, to two different security personnel. The first security person uses their mobile terminal to contact the security system to obtain a video session and is provided with a video session description which allows them to connect to the streaming server. The streaming server 145 is capable of sending the same images to a number of different mobile telephones and accordingly, when a second mobile terminal seeks to obtain a video image in response to an alert the same session description can be passed to that mobile terminal enabling it to contact the streaming server. Further, the system has great flexibility in that, at any time, there may be running various different permutations of connections between cameras of individual security systems and mobile terminals. For example two mobile terminals may be obtaining video from two different cameras from the same security system or multiple mobile terminals may be obtaining video from multiple security systems.

The command server also plays an important role in controlling the utilisation of video streamer resources. It will also be appreciated that a user having viewed one video stream may decide to view a second video stream and accordingly may request a new session. Accordingly, the command server can then close the existing session and create a new session description to send to the mobile terminal 110.

While it is preferred that the system is used to send live video which takes particular advantage of the ability of - li the command server to connect the video output from the video server to a streaming server, it is also possible to send historical video as the request for video may incorporate time and date information as well as details of the camera for which images are requested. The MVASS PC 132 of the security system 130 in that case retrieves the relevant video from a local video database for playing as if it were a live video stream and the configuration process otherwise proceeds as described above.

Various modifications will be apparent to persons skilled in the art and should be considered as falling within the scope of the invention described herein.

Claims

CLAIMS :

1. A method of transmitting video to a mobile terminal from a video camera system having a plurality of video cameras, the method comprising: receiving a video request from a mobile terminal, the video request specifying at least the video camera of the plurality of video cameras from which video is requested; and transmitting video specified by the video request to said mobile terminal via a streaming port of the telecommunication network on which said mobile terminal is registered.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the transmitted video is live video from the specified camera.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1, comprising receiving a video request specifying when the video was created and transmitting historical video corresponding to the received video request.

4. A video transmission system for transmitting video to a mobile terminal comprising: a video camera system having a plurality of video cameras, the video camera system being configured to receive a video request from a mobile terminal, the video request specifying at least the video camera of the plurality of video cameras from which video is requested; and a video streamer for transmitting video from the video camera system to said mobile terminal via a streaming port of the telecommunication network on which said mobile terminal is registered in response to said video request.

5. A video transmission system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the video camera system is a security camera system.

6. A video transmission system as claimed in claim 4, comprising a session controller for establishing a connection between the security system and the video streamer.

7. A video transmission system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the session controller provides at least one video parameter to the video streamer to thereby control the quality of video transmitted to the mobile terminal.

8. A video transmission system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the at least one video parameter is selected from the group of video format type, frame size, bandwidth, frames per second, video quality.

9. A video transmission system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the session controller provides an IP address and port of the video camera system to the video streamer to enable the video streamer to retrieve the video from the video camera system.

10. A video transmission system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the video camera system hosts a camera index page to enable the mobile terminal to activate a camera with browser software over the Internet.

11. A video transmission system as claimed in claim

10. wherein the video camera system hosts a control page to allow the mobile terminal to alter control settings for the video transmission with browser software.

12. A video transmission system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the session controller and the video streamer form part of a central server to thereby make the video stream separately identifiable.

13. A video transmission system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the session controller provides a video streamer session description to the mobile terminal, via the video camera system so that said mobile terminal can connect to the video streamer via the telecommunications network on which the mobile terminal is registered.