GB2416897A

GB2416897A - A Remote Monitoring System

Info

Publication number: GB2416897A
Application number: GB0417009A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Roger Sinden
Original assignee: VISIBLE VIGILANCE Ltd
Current assignee: VISIBLE VIGILANCE Ltd
Priority date: 2004-07-29
Filing date: 2004-07-29
Publication date: 2006-02-08
Also published as: GB0417009D0

Abstract

The present invention relates to a security and communication system, and in particular to a remote monitoring system comprising at least one camera (101) and a detector. The detector may be a motion detector comprising software (102) provided on the camera. The system also comprises a processor, such as remote storage site (109). Images are sent from the camera to the processor when a change is detected by the motion detector. Generally, the image will be sent to the processor via the internet. The processor then sends the image to a mobile device (114) via a mobile telephone network (112). In one embodiment, before sending the image to the mobile device, the processor will convert it into a format compatible with a mobile device.

Description

A Remote Monitoring System

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The present invention relates to a security and communication system.

A security system may consist of various sensors that are triggered by some external event This event might be a fire, flood or even a preset threshold of some parameter being exceeded, such as the fluid level inside some key component rising or falling beyond a set value An event could even occur by an intruder activating a motion detector Once triggered, the security system may respond in a number of ways For example, it may relay notification of the trigger event to an external third party, initiate an alarm call or even send an email. However, these alarm systems have a reputation for generating false alarms and so additional components or intelligence may be build into the security system to eliminate or minimize these false alarms.

This adds to the complexity of the system.

Some security systems may incorporate an image capturing device such as a closed circuit television camera (CCTV) and store the images locally on a storage device such as a video recorder There are three main drawbacks to this approach The first drawback is that the video tape has to be regularly changed or checked to ensure that a good quality image has been captured If the tape has failed then no images will have been stored The second drawback is that notification is always after the event unless additional trigger alarm devices are used in conjunction with the camera However, even in this scenario, there is often no possibility of physically viewing the camera image in real-time since the cost and complexity of providing a real-time analogue video link back to the monitored premises is prohibitive The third drawback is that the video recorder and/or tape may be physically damaged or removed by the intruder Newer CCTV systems based on digital cameras are available These use a digital camera, such as a web cam connected to a personal computer (PC) or local digital storage device The images can be stored or viewed locally The images can - 2 also be viewed or stored remotely if a suitable communications channel is provided Additional software can be used to detect motion in the image and so use this as the trigger event There are several drawbacks to the majority of these systems.

The first is that the web cam has to be connected to the PC by a cable. The maximum length of this cable is limited to a very short range (less than ten feet) and so may not be practical in many situations The installation of the cabling provides additional complexity The second drawback is that a PC has to be provided as part of the installation which adds to the cost and complexity of the initial installation and requires additional ongoing costs and support The third is that the motion detection software usually monitors the entire image for movement. This provides limited flexibility to ignore certain parts of the image that otherwise might give rise to false alarms Once a trigger has been raised by the motion detection software then a suitable action may be taken such as sending an email. However, the main drawback of sending an email is that it is not in real-time unless the recipient is permanently connected to the Internet and is constantly monitoring their emails Even if the recipient is mobile and relying on an email being delivered to their mobile phone, they have to make a conscious, deliberate act to log on and collect their emails The ideal CCTV based system would be able to notify immediately the owner in the event of an intruder being detected and for the owner to view the image using a mobile device This would happen without the owner having to take any proactive initiating action such as downloading their emails.

The present invention discloses methods and apparatuses to provide a security and communication system A colour digital camera of one of the embodiments of the present invention is installed at the location to be monitored The camera connects directly to the Internet via a suitable external communications interface The connection is either via Ethernet or a wireless connection There is no requirement for a PC to be installed at the location Motion detection software in the camera will detect movement Movement can be detected in separate adjustable zones Each zone has a separate control for - 3 adjusting the sensitivity of the motion detection and for adjusting the percentage of change in the zone that has to take place before a trigger event is initiated Multiple cameras can be installed at the location Once movement has been detected and a trigger initiated then the camera automatically transfers, via a telecommunications channel, a series of images to a remote site where they are stored securely Software in the camera allows for remote viewing of the camera images in real-time Software in the camera allows for remote monitoring and diagnostic control Software at the remote site detects that new images are available and converts the images into a format that can be viewed by a mobile device These images are then routed to an external telecommunications gateway where they are reformatted and transmitted in real-time to the mobile device In one embodiment of this invention, this mobile device is a mobile phone and the images are then sent in real-time to the mobile phone where the user is automatically alerted to the fact that the images are available. The user does not need to take any proactive action such as logging into an email account The user is thus able to act immediately on the information that an intruder has been detected at the location In a second embodiment of the invention, the user can, in real-time, view on the mobile device live images from any camera at the location Access to viewing live images is protected by security authentication access software and access is only permitted by authenticated, authorized users Figure I illustrates a block diagram of the complete system; Figure 2 illustrates the key components of the digital camera, Figure 3 illustrates the key components of the remote storage site, Figure 4 illustrates the key components of the external telecommunications gateway; and Figure 5 illustrates the key components of the mobile device.

The following description and drawings are illustrative of the invention and are not to be construed as limiting the invention Numerous specie c details are described to provide a thorough understanding of the invention In certain - 4 circumstances, well known or conventional details are not described in order to not unnecessarily obscure the present invention in detail Figure I illustrates the block diagram of the invention 100 The digital camera 101 contains software 102 that provides motion detections a web server and control functions. The digital camera 101 is connected to an external communications interface 105 In one embodiment of the invention, the connection is via a wireless link 103. In a second embodiment of the invention the connection will be via Ethernet 104.

The external communications interface 105 provides connection to the Internet 107, NAT and firewall services to provide a secure environment for the digital camera 101 to operate in. Up to sixteen digital cameras 101 can be connected at any one time to one external communications interface 105 Image and control data from the camera 101 is transferred via the Internet 107 and links 106 to a remote storage site 109 At the remote storage site 109, software l 10 is installed to manage and process the images for viewing on a mobile device l 14. The software 110 formats and converts the images into a data stream 1 19 compatible with an external telecommunications gateway 111 and this gateway converts the images mto a data stream 1 13 with the correct format and protocol for viewing on the chosen mobile device 1 14 These converted images 1 13 are then transmitted from the external telecommunications gateway I l l over a telecommunications network 112 to a mobile device 114 The telecommunications network may be, but not limited to, GSM, GPRS or 3G The user will be notified by the mobile automatically that new trigger images are available.

The mobile device 114 can also view real-tme images 116 from the colour digital camera lo l in real-time via link 1 15 and the Internet 107 Figure 2 shows the design of an exemplary colour wireless digital camera ] 01 which comprises video processing software 201, multi-zone motion detection software 202, a web server 203, configuration and management software interface 204, a wireless interface 205 and an Ethernet interface 206 The video processing software 201 processes the colour digital images and provides the ability to control the resolution and quality of the images 5 The motion detection software 202 is able to detect motion on multiple zones The position and area of each zone is adjustable within the digital camera 101 field of view Each zone has a separate sensitivity setting and a separate setting to determine the percentage that the picture must change before a trigger event is generated This approach minimises false alarms When a trigger event occurs, trigger images 108 are uploaded to the remote site 109 depending on the settings in the configuration and management software interface 204 The web server 203 provides support for connection to the Internet 107, user authentication and provides the ability for an authenticated user to view real-time images 116 from the digital camera 101 on a mobile device 114 via link 115 and the Internet 107 or for real-time images 1 16 to be recorded at the remote storage site 109 via link 115 and the Internet 107 The digital camera 101 interfaces to the external communications interface via either a wireless interface 205 or an Ethernet interface 206 Figure 3 shows the design of an exemplary remote storage site 109. This site stores, on a digital storage device 301 and under controlled conditions, any images transmitted by any of the digital cameras 101 when motion is detected at the camera's location. Image processing and control software 302 detects whenever any of these trigger images 108 are transmitted from a digital camera 101 The image processing and control software 302 converts the trigger images 108 into a format suitable for viewing on the mobile device 114 and then converts this new format into a data stream 1 19 that is compatible with the requirements of the external telecommunications gateway 111. The image processing and control software 302 then transmits this data stream 119 to the external telecommunications gateway l 11 Additional recording software 305 provides the ability to record real-time images 116 from any camera and to store them on the digital storage device 301 for later viewing and retrieval by users authenticated by the user authentication software 306.

Management software 303 receives notifications 117 from the external telecommunications gateway l I I as to the status of any data stream l 13 sent to a mobile device 1 14 This status indicates whether the data stream 1 13 was sent - 6 successfully to the mobile device 114 or not and whether the external telecommunications gateway 111 is functioning normally.

Figure 4 shows the design of an exemplary external telecommunications gateway I I l This receives the formatted data stream I 19 from the remote storage site l 09 A protocol converter 401 converts this data stream 1 19 into another data stream 405 that has a format compatible with the mobile device 114 and a format that gives immediate indication to the user on the mobile device 114 that a trigger event has occurred at the camera location and that new images are available for viewing The user does not need to take any proactive action to continually check to see whether a trigger action has occurred or not In one embodiment of this invention this protocol format would be by a WAP Push In another embodiment the format could be compatible with MMS. In another embodiment of this invention the format could be compatible with 3G. The important aspect is that in each embodiment the user does not have to take any proactive action The user is notif ed automatically when new trigger images are available for viewing A queuing mechanism 402 takes the formatted data stream 405 and queues them up for transmission 113 to the mobile device 114 over the telecommunications network 1 12 Successful receipt of the data stream 1 13 by the mobile device 1 14 is sent as a separate data stream 117 to the management software 404 This management software 404 then passes this separate data stream l 17 back to the remote storage site l 09 thus providing a status update Figure 5 shows the design of an exemplary mobile device 114 This comprises a wireless receiver and transmitter 501, a keyboard 502, a processing unit 503 and a colour screen 504 The wireless receiver and transmitter 501 receives the data stream I l 3. On receipt of this data stream 1 13 the processing unit automatically alerts the user that a trigger event has happened at the camera location and that new images are available. The user then accepts the images by using the keyboard 502 and the images are viewed on the colour screen 504 A receipt I l 7 that the images have been received successfully is sent back to management software 303, located at the remote storage unit l 09, via the external telecommunications gateway I I l by the mobile device 1 14 The mobile device 114 can also view images from a camera 10] as a real- time image feed 116 by connecting to the web server 203 in the digital camera 101 via the Internet 107.

Claims

Claims I A remote monitoring system, comprising at least one camera, a

detector, and a processor, wherein the system is configured to send at least one image from the camera to the processor when a change is detected by the detector and wherein the processor is configured to send the image to a mobile device via a mobile telephone network.

2 A remote monitoring system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said detector is a motion detector 3 A remote monitoring system as claimed in claim 2, wherein said motion detector detects motion independently in a plurality of zones within the field of view of the camera 4 A remote monitoring system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said processor is remote from said camera A remote monitoring system as claimed in any preceding claim further comprising a communications interface to send said at least one image from the camera to the processor via the Internet 6 A remote monitoring system as claimed in claim 5 wherein said image is transmitted from said camera to said communications interface via a wireless link 7 A remote monitoring system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein said camera is configured to send a live image feed to the processor when a change is detected by the detector.

8 A remote monitoring system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein said processor comprises a storage facility that stores said at least one image 9 A remote monitoring system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein upon receipt of said at least one image, said processor automatically converts the image into a format compatible with the mobile device and sends the formatted image to the mobile device A remote monitoring system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein said processor sends said at least one image to the mobile device using WAP Push.

11 A remote monitoring system as claimed in any of claims 1 to 9 wherein said processor sends said at least one image to the mobile device via MMS 12 A remote monitoring system as claimed in any of claims I to 9 wherein said image format is compatible with 3G 13 A remote monitoring system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein said camera comprises a web server such that said mobile device can connect to the web server via the Internet in order to receive images captured In real-time by the camera 14 A method of remote monitoring, comprising detecting a change in a monitored location, on detection of the change sending an image of the monitored location to a processor, the processor sending the image to a mobile device via a mobile telephone network.

A processor configured to receive at least one image from a camera in response to the detection of a change by a detector, to convert the image into a format compatible with a mobile device and send the formatted image to the mobile device via a mobile telephone network - 10 16. Computer software which when run on a processor causes the processor to operate as claimed in claim 15 17 A remote monitoring system, a method of remote monitoring, a processor or computer software substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings