Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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298P1CA
VIDEO DISPLAY AND SURVEILLANCE SYSTEMS
The present invention relates to video display and surveillance systems for
use, for example,
in passenger conveyances, for example, in buses, railway train cars, boats and
other vehicles,
or in stationary situations, for example in retail outlets, gas stations and
railway stations.
At the present time, the use of video surveillance systems is becoming
increasingly
widespread, not only in stores and other interior locations, but also in
streets.
It is an obj ect of the present invention to provide a system which combines
video display, for
example of advertisements and/or tourist information and, also, emergency
information,
together with surveillance.
According to the present invention, there is provided a video display and
surveillance system
which comprises a video streaming system including <~ video display unit and
video data
storage, a digital video recorder system comprising a video camera, an alaxm
indicator
device, and a CPU responsive to the alarm indicator device and controlling the
video
streaming system and the video recorder system.
When this system is in use, the video streaming systeam can normally be used
to display
advertising andlor, for example, tourist information relating to the location
through which
a conveyance provided with the present system is travelling. Upon the
occurrence of an
emergency, for example such as those described in greater detail below, an
emergency signal
triggered by the alarm indicator device is supplied to the CPU, which then
responds, for
example, by increasing the collection and storage of video information from
the video
recorder system while causing appropriate emergency information to be
displayed by the
video streaming system on the video display unit.
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The video display and surveillance system preferably includes a conveyance
communication
control and telemetry system which is provided on the passenger conveyance and
which is
associated with the video streaming system, the digital video recorder system
and the CPU.
In operation, the conveyance communication control and telemetry system may be
used to
upload and download information to and from the passenger conveyance.
For that purpose, the present system may also include a master unit separate
from the
passenger conveyance, the master unit having data storage and a master unit
communication
telemetry system for exchanging data between the data storage and the
conveyance
communication control and telemetry.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the video display and passenger
surveillance
system includes a wireless transmitter on the passenger conveyance, which may
be used to
exchange information with the master unit.
The CPU is preferably programmed to broadcast a wireless alarm signal from the
wireless
transmitter in response to an alarm indication from the alarm indicator
device.
The invention will be more readily understood from the following description
of a preferred
embodiment thereof given by way of example with reference to the accompanying
drawings,
in which:-
Figures 1A and 1B show diagrammatic views of buses provided with interior and
exterior
display and surveillance systems, respectively;
Figure 2 shows a block diagram illustrating the components of a slave assembly
installed on
one of the buses of Figures l and 2;
Figure 3 shows a block diagram illustrating the operation of the assembly of
Figure 2;
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Figure 4 shows a block diagram illustrating the components of a master unit
for exchanging
information with the assembly of Figure 2; and
Figure 5 shows a block diagram illustrating a modification of the slave
assembly of Figure
2.
As shown in Figure 1A, a bus indicated generally by reference numeral 10 has
an interior
passenger space provided with interior video display units 12 and video
cameras 14. The
video display units 12 are used to display information to passengers in the
passenger space,
as described in greater detail below, and the video cameras 14 are provided
for surveillance
of the interior of the bus 10.
In an alternative arrangement illustrated in Figure 113, an exterior video
camera 16 is
provided on the exterior of a bus, which in this case is indicated generally
by reference
numeral 1 Oa, and video display units 18 are provided on the exterior of the
bus 10a.
As will become apparent from the following description, the arrangements of
Figures 1 A and
1 B may be combined by providing a bus with both interior and exterior video
display units
and surveillance cameras.
The cameras and video display units of the above-described buses are linked to
a slave
assembly illustrated in Figure 2.
More particularly, video data from video cameras, which are indicated by
reference numeral
20 in Figure 2, is supplied through video capture hardware 22, a compression
CODEC 24
and, optionally, a motion/image recognition module 26 to a main board
indicated generally
by reference numeral 28.
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The main board 28 is provided with a CPU 30, including L1 and L2 cache, a
chipset 32, a
memory bus and ram 34, a memory/PCI bridge 36 and :PCI bus and I/O cards 38.
One or more microphones in the passenger space of the bus and/or on the
exterior of the bus
and represented by microphone inputs 40 are connected through audio capture
hardware 42,
a compression CODEC 44 and, optionally, an audio fingerprinting module 46 to
the main
board 28.
Figure 2 also diagrammatically illustrates a plurality of different alarm
indicator devices,
which include an emergency alarm panic button 48 and various alarm sensors,
indicated
generally by reference numeral 50, and one or more of which may be provided.
The alarm
sensors 50 may include GPS, bearing, speed, fuel, brakes, shock, motion, G-
Force,
temperature, diagnostic, door and physical breach sensors, a transaction
system interface, an
electronic ticket interface, a GUI and user interface panels. Also, a power
source sensor 52,
responsive to interruption of power from a power main supply or from a power
source on the
vehicle itself, is provided.
The alarm panic button 48 is connected through a main alarm input gate 58 to
the CPU 30
on the main board 28; the sensors 50 are connected through an input ADC/gate
56 to the
CPU 30 and the power source sensor 52 is connected through a power status
monitor and
backup power system 58 to the CPU 30.
The main board 28 is also connected to a data storage 60,, which may comprise
a fixed and/or
removable hard drive, CDROM, DVDROM, DLT or flash disk.
From the main board 28, video data is fed through a video decompression CODEC
to one
or more video display units 63 so as to be visible to passengers in the bus 10
or 10a and
through dial-out hardware 64 to a satellite, cellular trunked radio or PSTN
interface 66 for
transmission from the bus.
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An audio decompression CODEC decompresses audio information from the main
board 28
and feeds it through a public address system 70 to the passengers in the bus
10 or 10a.
An alarm relay bank and external trigger hardware 72 , in response to an
output from the
main board 28, operates switched external actuators o:r barriers, alarms and
kill switches
indicated by reference numeral 74.
A conveyance communication control and telemetry system 76 provides
communications
from the main board 28 through one or more of a wireless network link 78, a
hard wire
network port 80 and a virtual private network devices port 82.
In addition, a status and control display 84, controlled by the main board, is
provided for the
driver of the bus.
Figure 3 diagrammatically illustrates the software topology of the hardware of
Figure 2.
As illustrated in Figure 3, audio and video compression protocols 90 and 92
are employed
for the microphone inputs 40 and the video camera 20,, and an I/O quantizer
routine 94 is
employed for the inputs from the sensors 50 and 52. The inputs then undergo a
central
control layering routine 96 and are passed to a task switcher program 98 and a
video
capture/record management program 100.
The task switcher program 96 also controls the supply ~of data to and from the
storage 60.
The task switcher program 98 also outputs video information to a video player
and
management program 104.
An X windows system 106, an operating system 108, memory 110 and the CPU 30,
under
control of the task switcher program 98, output data through a data flow,
resource allocation
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layering routine 112 to video decompression protocol 114, an audio
decompression protocol
116, a dial out stack 118 and an analog/digital satellite narrowband layer
120, and a network
interface stack 122 and a communication protocol layer 124.
A master unit, the topology of which is illustrated in Figure 4, is provided
at a suitable
location, for example at a stationary location, which ma;y be a bus stop, for
exchanging data
with the slave assembly illustrated in Figure 2 and 3.
The master unit may have a broadband port 126, forming a master unit
communication
telemetry system and employing TCIP, LAN, WLAN, l3LUETOOTH, IRDA or broadband
cell.
An external device communication port and peripheral VPN 128 provides short
range point
to point and limited bandwidth communication.
The broadband port station 126 and the external device communication port and
peripheral
VPN 128 communicates with a main board 130 using a layering routine, flow
control and
security protocol 131.
The main board 130 includes a CPU 132 with L 1 and L2 cache, a chipset 134, a
memory bus
and RAM 136, a memory/PCI bridge 138 and a PCI bus and I/O cards 140, and is
provided
with a data store 142, which may comprise fixed and or removable hard drive, a
CDROM
or other suitable storage media. The main board 130 outputs data to an
administration video
display unit 144, receives input from a keyboard, mouse or other input device
146 and,
through a communications network interface 148, communicates with a VPN port
150,
remote PC's 152, an emergency services LAN, PSTN or wireless alarm link 154
and an
Internet web server 156,, the latter providing live scheduling, moving map
display and web
content information.
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The operation of the above-described apparatus as follows.
The slave assembly of Figures 2 and 3, provided on the bus, is a quasi-
autonomous
management module that functions as a full video advertiising streaming and
content delivery
system, a security management system and recorder and an off board
communications
control and telemetry system.
The master unit of Figure 4 provides archiving, storage., advance
communication functions
and CIS/MIS compliant data retrieval. The components shown in Figure 2 which
output to
the video display unit or units 63 form, with the main board 28 and the data
storage, a video
streaming system and digital video recorder, and communicate through a common
port
coupling, for example the wireless network link 78, the hardwire network port
80 or the
virtual private network devices port 82, with the master unit of Figure 4, and
data is
automatically stored in the data store 60 for future retrieval and play back.
This data may,
for example, comprise advertising programming, other normal programming and
emergency
programming for display on the video display unit or units 63 in the bus 10 or
10a.
Video camera data captured and processed by the video cameras 29, the video
capture
hardware 22, the compression CODEC 26 , which with t'~he main board 28 and the
data store
60 form a video recorder system, are transferred from the slave assembly to
the master unit
for archiving and station use at the site the master unit. Upon completion and
verification
of data upload to the master unit, video camera information is cleared and the
system is reset
to a ready status. All operations and data transfer may ~be autonomous or may
be manually
initiated.
The transfer of information between the slave assembly on the bus and the
master unit may
conveniently be effected when the bus is docked for servicing or refueling or
upon the
triggering of an alarm event. When the vehicle is docked, advertising data is
thus
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g
downloaded to the slave assembly from the master unit and security information
is uploaded
from the former to the latter.
The slave assembly receives, digitally records and archives camera data from
the video
surveillance system, monitors the alarm indicators, i.e. the panic button 48
and the alarm
sensors 50 and 52, and responds with an emergency response program as
indicated below.
In addition, the slave assembly communicates with the; master unit e.g. by
cellular, radio,
infra-red, satellite or other communications systems, through the wireless
network link 78,
the hardwire network port 80 and/or the virtual private network devices port
82, and/or
through the radio interface 66.
The slave assembly may be programmed to operate appropriately under three
sepaxate
conditions which for convenience are referred to in the following description
as the Red
Condition, the Yellow Condition and the Green Condition.
The Red Condition is initiated by the driver of the bus by actuating the alarm
panic button
48, e.g. in response to a severe impact, a fire or other circumstance
potentially harmful to
life. In response to this condition, the slave assembly automatically
transmits an alarm signal
to an external emergency response service, through the conveyance
communication control
and telemetry system, relaying situational and GPS data and simultaneously
allocates more
resources to surveillance recording by the digital video recorder system and,
where permitted
by law, activates audio recording through the microphone inputs 40.
Also, in the Red Condition, emergency information andl procedures, where
appropriate, are
displayed on the video display units.
It is also possible for the video display units to display feeds from the
surveillance camera
showing that a potential crime is in progress together with an audible alarm
or message and
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a visual warning message, for example "police/fire/ambulance have been
notified", to assist
in deterring further potentially harmful action.
Under the Red Condition, therefore, the above-described system functions to
minimize
further immediate risk to the driver and passengers by I>rotecting, diffusing,
informing and
logging data for future review, identification and evidentiary purposes.
The Yellow Condition may be initiated by the sensors 50 or 52, in response,
for example, to
excessive noise, vibration, deceleration or acceleration, smoke or contact.
The Yellow
I O Condition may also be remotely triggered by the master unit.
Also, the Yellow Condition may be initiated by collision avoidance and
emergency
manoeuvring, physical contact or accident, forced entry, locked doors, facial
or sound
recognition, power outage or detection of another lower class emergency
situation where
silent monitoring is appropriate.
Under the Yellow Condition, the driver is alerted to the situation by an
onboard status light
or by a display, and the CPU concentrates resources of the slave assembly
logging and
documenting data from the surveillance cameras through the video camera inputs
20.
In this condition, advertising data or other normal data may continue to be
fed to the video
display units, but at a reduced rate. Alternatively, display emergency
information may be fit
to the video display units.
Also an emergency signal may be transmitted to the master unit.
The purpose of the operation during the Yellow Condiition is to record and
report on low
class emergency incidents while maintaining a silent alarm condition without
further
contributing further to potential level of panic and confusion in the vehicle.
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The normal operation of the system according to the invention during the
absence of any
emergency, is the Green Condition, in which increased resources of the slave
assembly are
applied to the display of the advertising or other normall data on the video
display units.
The video display units can also display stop, transfer and map information,
as desired. By
use of a GPS receiver the system can be employed to display advertisements and
information
corresponding to the geographic location of the bus, thus providing a
targeted, context
sensitive video program feed to the passengers.
Figure 5 shows a block diagram of a modification of the above-described slave
assembly and
more particularly includes a digitallanalog video recorder and ancillary
hardware 160 which
is powered from the power source 52 and serves to receive inputs form the
video cameras
and the microphones and to output binary IIO alarm control data, serial and
digital control
and overlay data and video IIO feeds through an extern<~l device layering
control, interface
and multiplexing module 161 to the mail board 28. A network manager and VPN
162 are
also provided between the hardware 160 and the main board 28.
It will be apparent that by the ability of the present system to display
advertisements and,
thus, to generate revenue, the present system may not only be self financing
but may also be
a revenue source.
As will be apparent to those skilled in the art, various modifications may be
made to the
present invention within the present invention.
Thus, while an embodiment of the invention has been described above and
illustrated in the
drawings as a system installed on a bus, the present invention may be provided
in other types
of conveyances, including aircraft, taxis, ships and trains, or may be
installed in stationary
situations, such as retail outlets, hospitals, banks, and railway stations.
~~_. _.-
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It is also envisaged that the storage of visual information may be effected
cumulatively via
SCA subcarrier and that the slave units may be daisychained, and also that a
plurality of the
slave assemblies may be grouped using the VPN port or otherwise. Also,
bidirectional
streaming with E-COM enabled may be employed and the master assembly or some
other
remote station may be enabled to access the slave assemlbly at will. Instead
of employing the
PCI bridge of the above-described embodiment, it is envisaged that other non-
legacy
hardware may be employed.
