Automated camera response in a surveillance architecture

Abstract

A detection and response device for a surveillance system detects events, responds to events, or both. The detection and response device may be used with or provided by a variety of surveillance systems, including peer to peer surveillance architectures. The device may utilize one or more defined geospaces. If an event occurs in a geospace a predefined response may then be provided. The predefined response may include automatically targeting one or more cameras to areas relevant to the event and presenting one or more predefined views optimized for viewing the event. If an event does not occur within a geospace, the detection and response device may provide one or more default responses.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A detection and response device for automatically selecting and presenting surveillance information collected by one or more capture devices comprising:
 one or more transceivers configured to receive data indicating that an event has occurred;   one or more storage devices configured to store one or more geospaces comprising data identifying one or more physical areas, one or more instructions associated with each of the one or more geospaces, and one or more user interface settings associated with each of the one or more geospaces; and   a response system configured to:
 identify an event geospace, wherein the event geospace is one of the one or more geospaces where the event occurred; 
 retrieve the one or more instructions associated with the event geospace; 
 execute the one or more instructions associated with the event geospace to provide a response to the event; 
 retrieve the one or more user interface settings associated with the event geospace; and 
 present on a display a predefined view comprising surveillance information from at least one of the one or more capture devices according to the one or more user interface settings associated with the event geospace. 
   
     
     
         2 . The detection and response device of  claim 1  further comprising a routing system configured to share the surveillance information from the one or more capture devices with one or more mobile video displays. 
     
     
         3 . The detection and response device of  claim 1 , wherein the response system is further configured to transmit one or more commands to the one or more capture devices through the one or more transceivers, the one or more commands defined by the one or more instructions. 
     
     
         4 . The detection and response device of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more user interface settings include data defining the location of one or more user interface windows, the one or more storage devices being configured to store the data along with the one or more user interface settings. 
     
     
         5 . The detection and response device of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more user interface settings include data identifying at least one of the one or more capture devices, the one or more storage devices being configured to store the data along with the one or more user interface settings. 
     
     
         6 . The detection and response device of  claim 5 , wherein the response system is configured to establish the predefined view such that the predefined view only displays surveillance information from the at least one capture device identified in the one or more user interface settings. 
     
     
         7 . The detection and response device of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more transceivers are configured to receive location information identifying the location of one or more mobile units, and wherein the response system is configured to establish the predefined view such that the predefined view presents the location of the one or more mobile units on the display. 
     
     
         8 . A surveillance system for providing automated responses to one or more events comprising:
 one or more storage devices configured to store one or more geospaces identifying one or more physical areas; and   at least one detection and response device in communication with one or more cameras, the at least one detection and response device configured to:
 detect the occurrence of an event; 
 determine if the event has occurred within at least one of the one or more geospaces; 
 control at least one of the one or more cameras to target one or more predefined first areas in response to an event that occurs within a first geospace; and 
 control at least one of the one or more cameras to target one or more predefined second areas in response to an event that occurs within a second geospace, the second geospace distinct from the first geospace. 
   
     
     
         9 . The surveillance system of  claim 8 , wherein the detection and response device is further configured to, in response to the event occurring outside the one or more geospaces:
 select at least one of the one or more cameras to target the event based on camera range or viewable area of the one or more cameras; and   control the at least selected camera to target the event.   
     
     
         10 . The surveillance system of  claim 9 , wherein the at least one of the one or more cameras targeting the event is nearest the event relative to the other cameras. 
     
     
         11 . The surveillance system of  claim 8 , wherein the detection and response device is further configured to present a predefined view at a display, the predefined view comprising video from a preselected one of the one or more cameras. 
     
     
         12 . The surveillance system of  claim 8 , wherein the detection and response device is further configured to:
 present a first predefined view comprising video from a first preselected one of the one or more cameras in response to the event that occurs within the first geospace; and   present a second predefined view comprising video from a second preselected one of the one or more cameras in response to the event that occurs within the second geospace;   wherein the detection and response device is configured to present the first predefined view and the second predefined view on a display.   
     
     
         13 . The surveillance system of  claim 8 , wherein at least one of the one or more first areas is outside the first geospace. 
     
     
         14 . The surveillance system of  claim 8 , wherein at least one of the one or more first areas is a remote transportation link selected from the group consisting of a road, highway, and airport. 
     
     
         15 . The surveillance system of  claim 8 , wherein the detection and response system controls the at least one of the one or more cameras to target the one or more first areas or the one or more second areas by moving the at least one of the one or more cameras to target the one or more first areas or the one or more second areas. 
     
     
         16 . A method for responding to an event with a surveillance system having one or more cameras comprising:
 receiving one or more geospaces identifying one or more physical areas and storing the one or more geospaces on one or more storage devices;   receiving one or more preselected areas and storing the one or more preselected areas associated with at least one of the one or more geospaces;   detecting the occurrence of the event with one or more sensors;   determining if the event occurred within the one or more geospaces;   targeting at least one of the one or more cameras at at least one of the one or more preselected areas if the event has occurred within the one or more geospaces;   targeting at least one of the one or more cameras at the event if the event has occurred outside the one or more geospaces; and   presenting one or more video streams from at least one of the one or more cameras on a display.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16  further comprising receiving and presenting the location of one or more mobile units on the display. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16  further comprising transmitting at least one of the one or more video streams to a mobile unit based on input from a user, the input identifying the mobile unit. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 16  further comprising selecting at least one of the one or more cameras to target the event based on a camera range of the one or more cameras if the event has occurred outside the one or more geospaces. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 16  further comprising selecting at least one of the one or more cameras to target the event based on a viewable area of the one or more cameras if the event has occurred outside the one or more geospaces.