WO2003041026A1

WO2003041026A1 - System for audiovisual monitoring of certain areas

Info

Publication number: WO2003041026A1
Application number: PCT/HU2002/000113
Authority: WO
Inventors: József Lengyel
Original assignee: Lengyel Jozsef
Priority date: 2001-11-07
Filing date: 2002-11-07
Publication date: 2003-05-15
Also published as: HUP0104740A2; HU0104740D0

Abstract

For the audiovisual monitoring of certain areas, primarily a public building or a vehicle, including the area and/or surroundings of an aircraft, visually, too, beside the technical and acoustic methods, on-line as well, a new system and a method are proposed. The system includes at least one transmission station with sensors detecting technical parameters and/or a voice-recording unit, and at least one receiving station, in wireless communication with one another. The transmission station is equipped with at least one image recording device, coupled in the given case at the picture contents evaluation stage and through a modem to a transmission stage, while the receiving state of the receiving station is coupled through the modem to a digital data storage unit. The signals received from an image recording device are digitized and transmitted via wired or wireless connection to a data storage and/or display unit. In order to use the communication band width efficiently, we monitor and evaluate the contents of the images received from the image recording device, and transmit these in case of change of a predefined nature or extent, while we also transmit the signals via the existing radio telephone network to the data storage and/or display unit.

Description

SYSTEM FOR AUDIOVISUAL MONITORING OF CERTAIN AREAS

Field of the Invention

On the one hand, the invention relates to a system for the audiovisual monitoring of certain areas including at least one transmission station with sensors detecting technical parameters and/or a voice-recording unit, and at least one receiving station, in wireless communication with one another. On the other hand, the invention relates to a method suitable for the audiovisual monitoring of certain areas is proposed, wherein the signals received from an image recording device are digitized and transmitted via wired or wireless connection to a data storage and/or display unit.

Background of the Invention

The demand for the continuous monitoring of certain areas or the retrospective, unambiguous and assessable re-viewing of events occurs ever more frequently in everyday life. This demand is especially pronounced in the case of public buildings, institutions and public-purpose vehicles, including aircraft. Financial institutions generally have closed-circuit video systems installed on an almost mandatory basis. Flying planes monitor numerous parameters defined by considerations and customs having evolved in international practice, and register them in their black boxes, the role or prospective role of which is, beyond data recording, to save data in a readable way in case of air accidents. One of the deficiencies of this solution is that it registers, beside the selected technical parameters of the vehicle, communication on board as well, which makes it suitable to a limited extent only for reconstructing events and not really ideal for taking precautionary measures either.

French Patent No. 2 645 993 describes a control or supervising system controlling the oper- ating conditions of land, water or air vehicles as specified space. In the course of the process, the signals of the sensors installed in or on the vehicle are stored in a way that prevents unauthorized access and manipulation, preferably on some kind of portable data storage medium, such as a black box, and the agent having access to/evaluating its contents possesses a unit that may, if certain predefined conditions are met, interfere with the control of the vehicle, suspending the overriding influence of the person driving it. One of the deficiencies of this solution is that it only provides real-time knowledge of the events to those on board the vehicle concerned; they are not accessible to external observers. Neither is it ensured that, after an occasional accident, the data storage unit will be found, the data recorded on it will be undamaged or suitable for evaluation.

US 6,009,356 describes a wireless supervising/monitoring system suitable for use on board a plane, including the following components: sensors monitoring technical parameters, micro- phones etc. mounted at designated points on the aircraft, fed by wire, but communicating without wire with the receiving station located in the cockpit storing the received data as a black box, and making them accessible to the pilot as well. The system communicates not only inward but also outward: the position ever of the aircraft - but only its position - can be traced in the GPS system. The deficiency of the system is that it does not offer such a com- plete solution as would allow real-time audiovisual supervision by outsiders on the basis of the available telecommunications options, without special location identification by satellite.

DE 196 33 286 also proposes a supervising and security system for commercial airplanes, in which several cameras are installed, with a storage capacity of around 10 minutes, whose pictures are recorded and stored continually in black boxes installed on the aircraft for this purpose. Obviously, the system only allows retrospective viewing, as it does not describe or mention the transmission of the data concerned to any ground station.

We have realized that the desired objective is attainable by forwarding the collected signals corresponding to the technical parameters and/or the audiovisual signals after processing through the public radio frequency networks established originally for the purpose of tele- phone communication to one or several center stations at a place selected at will.

The objective of the present invention is to create a solution allowing to survey a specified space, primarily a public building or a vehicle, including the area and/or surroundings of an aircraft, visually, too, beside the technical and acoustic methods, on-line as well. Our objective, furthermore, is to make this feasible by using the available, established telecommunica- tions systems, at the least technical and financial expenditure.

Summary of the Invention

Our solution of the target objective relies, on the one hand, on a system for the audiovisual monitoring of certain areas including at least one transmission station with sensors detecting technical parameters and/or a voice-recording unit, and at least one receiving station, in wire- less communication with one another. According to the present invention, the transmission station is equipped with at least one image recording device, coupled in the given case at the picture contents evaluation stage and through a modem to a transmission stage, while the re- ceiving stage of the receiving station is coupled through the modem to a digital data storage unit.

According to a preferred embodiment of the proposed system, the data storage unit is coupled to a display unit. According to another preferred embodiment of the proposed system, several image recording devices are coupled via a multiplexer to the image contents evaluation circuit.

According to another preferred embodiment of the proposed system, modem of the transmitting station and the image contents evaluation circuit are realised by a personal computer.

According to another preferred embodiment of the proposed system, the modem of the re- ceiving station and the digital data storage unit are realized by a personal computer.

In order to accomplish the set aim, on the other hand, a method suitable for the audiovisual monitoring of certain areas is proposed, wherein the signals received from an image recording device are digitized and transmitted via wired or wireless connection to a data storage and/or display unit. According to the present invention, in order to use the communication band width efficiently, we monitor and evaluate the contents of the images received from the image recording device, and transmit these in case of change of a predefined nature or extent, while we also transmit the signals via the existing radio telephone network to the data storage and/or display unit.

According to an advantageous implementation of the proposed method, beyond the transmis- sion of audiovisual signals, we also transmit the values of certain pre-selected parameters of the space subject to monitoring.

According to yet another advantageous implementation of the proposed method, stored data are systematized according to certain definite criteria promoting retrieval. This may take place in one advantageous method of implementation so that the stored data are arranged chrono- logically, or else by arranging the stored data in case of public-purpose transport vehicles by line identifier.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The invention is described more detailed with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 shows the block diagram of the structure of a possible implementation of the transmitting station applied in the system according to the present invention, Figure 2 shows the block diagram of the architecture of a possible implementation of the receiving station applied in the system according to Fig. 1, and

Figure 3 is an exemplary flowchart of image contents evaluation applied at the transmitting station according to Fig. 1. Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment

The system according to the present invention, presented here in the form of an advantageous example only, includes two main units, namely at least one transmitting station T and at least one receiving station R, although, for the sake of easier understanding, the present description shall only refer to one transmitting station T and one receiving station R. Each transmitting station T includes at least one image recording device 1 installed openly or occasionally in a hidden way in the area that is to be monitored. Image recording device 1 is expediently an analogue camera or CCD device suitable for transmitting motion pictures, for example a commercially available observation camera or camera module of adequate design and implementation for the circumstances of application. In a basic case, it already provides 320x200 picture points or equivalent picture signals suitable for evaluation, but the available band width makes it possible to use even 800x600 resolution, signifying a high-definition black and white or even colour picture exceeding the resolution of even the monitoring systems. It is possible to equip the cameras with microphone to transmit the acoustic events of the area subject to observation, or to use separate microphones for this purpose in the known way. The image recording devices 1 transmit in a basic case analogue signals, and their output is directed to one input each of a multiplexer and digitizer circuit 2. The design of circuit 2 is determined by whether transmitting station T is manufactured as target-oriented unit or is assembled form the usual units; in the present case we use a circuit 2 developed for PCs, such as the product called "Digital Video Agent Express" of the US company Integral Technologies Inc. The design and operation of the product concerned is described in detail for those skilled in the art in the User's Guide marked 12/98 of the product. At the output of circuit 2, the currently widespread image formats - JPG, GIF etc. - appear, but for security reasons other, individually coded formats may also be used.

Circuit 2 is connected in the described case to several other sensors 3 monitoring predefined technical parameters of the area subject to observation. The output of circuit 2 is coupled to the input of image contents evaluating circuit 4, monitoring in a way that is known to those skilled in the art whether any change occurs in the information contents of the range - identi- fiable at will - of the images provided by image recording device 1. If so, it lets the output signal of circuit 2 on to the input of modem 5; if not, it does not occupy the available band width with the unchanged information. An example for the design and operation of the image contents evaluating circuit 4 could be a graphic card of the type "AGP-V6600" for PCs manu- factured by ASUS Inc., Taiwan, of the type "AGP-V6600", and its accessory, the monitor program "VideoSecurity".

The sensors 3 monitoring the technical parameters are connected through circuit 2 or directly to modem 5 or to data storage means 6. The latter serves the reliable, black-box-like storage of data originating from the sensors 3, should contact with receiving station R be broken, temporarily.

The image contents evaluating circuit 4 and the data storage means 6 are connected through modem 5 to transmission circuit 7, the technical realization of which matches the radio telephone network ever or, according to another option, it forms part of an independent telephone set operating on such occasions in data mode. Receiving station R includes, as a matter of course, a receiving circuit 8 coupled to the radio telephone network, the output of which is connected via modem 9 to digital data storage unit 10. The latter forms, in the present case, part of a personal computer performing other, usual, functions as well beside data recording and storage. Hence it can be used for displaying the stored data, for performing operations relating to them such as grouping according to various criteria, and in case of an interactive, that is, two-way connection, for data loading as well. According to another possibility, the personal computer plays the role of web server as well, and the data liberated by it can be queried anywhere via the Internet, in real time.

The flowchart shown in Figure 3. outlines an exemplary implementation of the image contents evaluation applied in image contents evaluation circuit 4 at transmitting station T. At the beginning of a cycle, we investigate in step 31 whether the monitoring mode is active. If the answer is negative, signal processing is suspended in step 32, if it is positive, a configuration file is loaded in step 33 and the actual image signal information is evaluated in step 34. Having performed this, we return to step 31 and start the cycle again.

A further subdivision of step 34 yields the following: in step 341, the information of a picture provided by a camera is read from circuit 2, and in step 342 we investigate whether there exists an active range that is set and the change of which plays a role in the course of the method. If no indication pointing to an active range is found, in step 343 we switch to next image recording device 1 connected to circuit 2 - that is, to the next camera - , and in step 341 we read the image information provided by the camera from circuit 2. If, in step 341, we establish that there exists a set active range, in step 344 we evaluate the information contents of the active range, in the course of which we investigate in step 345 whether that has changed compared to its previous state. If, in step 345; we come to the conclusion that no change occurred, in step 346 we proceed to the processing of the next active range, returning to step 342, to check the existence of an active range. If step 345 establishes that some change has taken place, in step 347 we store the information, generally the image, in digital data storage unit 10, and simultaneously display it on display 11 attached to it. Applying the above to the given example of an airplane as specified certain space to be audiovisual monitored signifies the following:

Hidden cameras shall be mounted on the plane to be protected . The cameras shall be connected to a target computer, transmitting the relevant digital information to any ground station computer via one of the standard wireless connections (satellite, radio frequency). The digital information concerned may be

- a picture taken by an indoor camera located on the airplane

- any data of any device of the airplane.

Information communicated this way may be received by any (or several simultaneously) ground station computer with appropriate authorization, running a special software program suitable for processing the transmitted information. The software has adequate intelligence to "interpret" irregular events (that is, those qualifying as being out of order on the plane), and to respond to such events with the appropriate reaction. This reaction may be one of the following:

- alarm, - interference with the control system of the airplane, or

- any operation to be defined by experts at a later date.

The connection may be deployed in two ways: via standard ISDN (Internet) or via a mobile telephone based on the dial-up system.

The deployment of a two-way information relationship creates the possibility to define and implement a so-called " earth black box". There is no theoretical obstacle to record the tech- nical parameters of the plane on a continuous basis, directly on the ground station computer, and hence to eliminate once and for all the possibility of loss of the material in the real black box used in prior art techniques.

The application of this technology may be of importance in case of other events, too, than ter- rorist action. It may have an equally important role in case of technical malfunction by creating a possibility for direct interference by the ground station.

In the course of the implementation of the system according to the present invention, the following criteria shall be taken into account:

The system includes sub-units (video cameras, sensors, adjuster units) available commer- cially. The sub-units may be catalogued in the sales preparation phase.

The protective system conforms to the data transmission standards on both the hardware and the software side. The applied IT equipment can be configured in function of the performance demand ever.

Communication is client/server based, with the computer installed on the plane acting as server and any ground station with an operation system capable of handling TCP/IP as client. The TCP/IP protocol is not necessary for transmission via dial-up mobile connection. The receiving computer simply calls the computer on board the plane and reads data collected by the deck computer or its digitized images continuously.

Digital image processing (image recording, compression, data conversion) is controlled by the software running on the server. The software program can control several cameras, and records the events associated with each camera position in a way suitable for parameterization. Recording sensitivity can be enhanced by designating so-called active zones. The active zone can be focused on a protected object in the area subject to monitoring or to a "traffic node" on the plane. It reduces the accumulation of redundant information to a minimum. The planned server-side software allows to store images only if the designated active zones are subject to change. The intelligence feature of the monitoring system is carried by the hardware and software tools installed in the system.

The client-side software programs running on the workstation are able to process the multi- media database stored on the server both on-line and off-line. In off-line retrieval mode, it is possible to define a monitoring time interval the events of which shall be replayed by the system from the discrete image material, in a film-like way, perceived by the observer as jerky movement. Beside reducing the redundancy of the multimedia database to the minimum, the storage and replay algorithms preserve the perfect identification/possibility of objects (persons). Its protective algorithms ensure complete safety against unauthorized access to the central supervisory system and in periods of malfunction due to technical errors. In case of signal stoppage, it may trigger automatic alarm on the basis of the analysis of the signal curves of the sensors.

Although we have concentrated on air traffic, of priority importance, the present solution is applicable, in a manner that will be obvious to those skilled in the art, to the monitoring of other spaces/objects, taking into account the circumstances of application ever.

Claims

1. A system for the audiovisual monitoring of certain areas comprising at least one transmitting station (T) with sensors detecting technical parameters and/or a voice-recording unit, and at least one receiving station (R), in wireless communication with one another, characterized in that

- the transmitting station (T) is equipped with at least one image recording device (1), coupled in given case to a image contents evaluation circuit (4) and via a modem (5) to a transmission circuit (7); and

- a receiving circuit (8) of the receiving station (R) is coupled via a modem (9) to a digital data storage unit (10).

2. A system according to claim 1, characterized in that he data storage unit (10) is coupled to a display unit.

3. A system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that several image recording devices (1) are coupled via a multiplexer to the image contents evaluation circuit (4).

4. A system according to any preceding claims, characterized in that the modem (5) of the transmitting station (T) and the image contents evaluation circuit (4) are realised by a personal computer.

5. A system according to any preceding claims, characterized in that the modem (9) of the receiving station (R) and the digital data storage unit (10) are realised by a personal computer.

6. A method for the audiovisual monitoring of certain areas, wherein the signals received from an image recording device (1) are digitised and transmitted via wired or wireless connection to a data storage and/or display unit, characterized by the steps of

- monitoring and evaluating the contents of the images received from the image recording device in order to effective use the communication band width; - transmitting these signals in case of change of a predefined nature or extent;

- while also transmitting the signals via the existing radio telephone network to the data storage and/or display unit.

7. A method according to claim 6, characterized in also transmitting the values of certain preselected parameters of the space subject to monitoring beyond the transmission of the audiovisual signals.

8. A method according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in systematically methodising the stored data are according to certain definite criteria promoting retrieval.

9. A method according to claim 8, characterized in methodising the stored data chronologically.

10. A method according to claim 8, characterized in methodising the stored data by line identifier in case of public transport vehicles.