Notifications for camera tampering

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11200793-B2
Application number	US-202016928122-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 14, 2020
Priority date	Jul 15, 2019
Publication date	Dec 14, 2021
Grant date	Dec 14, 2021

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a storage device, are disclosed. A system includes one or more processors and one or more computer storage media storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more processors, to cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising: obtaining, by the system, video of a scene captured by a camera; determining a likelihood that the camera will be tampered with based on the video of the scene; determining that the likelihood that the camera will be tampered with satisfies criteria; and transmitting data generated from the video.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
one or more processors and one or more computer storage media storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more processors, to cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
obtaining first video data representing first video images of a scene captured by a camera;
storing the first video data in a memory;
determining a likelihood that the camera will be tampered with based on the first video data;
determining that the likelihood that the camera will be tampered with satisfies criteria;
obtaining second video data representing second video images of the scene captured by the camera; and
in response to determining that the likelihood that the camera will be tampered with satisfies criteria, transmitting the second video data and a portion of the first video data, wherein frames of the portion of the first video data are transmitted interleaved with transmission of frames of the second video data.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein determining the likelihood that the camera will be tampered with based on the first video data comprises:
determining, using video analysis, that a person depicted within the scene is approaching the camera based on one or more of a speed of approach, a direction of approach, a distance from the camera, a movement of a limb, or an eye direction of the person.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein determining the likelihood that the camera will be tampered with based on the first video data comprises determining, using video analysis, that a person depicted within the scene is an unrecognized person.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein determining that the person depicted within the scene is an unrecognized person comprises determining that at least part of the person's face is concealed.

5. The system of claim 1 , the operations comprising:
in response to determining that the likelihood that the camera will be tampered with satisfies a criteria, estimating, using video analysis, a time that camera tampering will likely occur.

6. The system of claim 5 , the operations comprising:
determining, based on the estimated time that the camera will be tampered with, a size of data that is capable of transmission before the estimated time that the camera will be tampered with; and
based on determining the size of data that is capable of transmission before the estimated time that the camera will be tampered with, selecting a subset of the first video data to transmit, the subset of the first video data having a size that is less than the size of data that is capable of transmission before the estimated time.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein determining that the likelihood that the camera will be tampered with satisfies criteria comprises:
determining a risk score of camera tampering;
determining that the risk score exceeds a threshold risk score; and
based on determining that the risk score exceeds the threshold risk score, determining that the likelihood that the camera will be tampered with satisfies the criteria.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein transmitting the second video data comprises transmitting, to a server and from the system, a notification of likely camera tampering.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein transmitting the second video data comprises transmitting, in real-time, the second video data.

10. The system of claim 1 , the operations comprising:
determining (i) that the camera was not tampered with or (ii) that the likelihood that the camera will be tampered with no longer satisfies criteria; and
in response to determining (i) that the camera was not tampered with or (ii) that the likelihood that the camera will be tampered with no longer satisfies the criteria:
transmitting a notification that (i) that the camera was not tampered with or (ii) that the likelihood that the camera will be tampered with no longer satisfies the criteria; and
transmitting the first video data that was stored in the memory.

11. The system of claim 1 , the operations comprising:
receiving system data indicating a status of one or more system components; and
determining the likelihood that the camera will be tampered with based on the first video data and based on the status of the one or more system components.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the status of the one or more system components comprises an arming status of a monitoring system that is configured to monitor a location of the scene.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein:
the status of the one or more system components comprises a status of one or more additional cameras, and
determining the likelihood that the camera will be tampered with based on the first video data and based on the status of the one or more system components comprises:
determining, based on the status of the one or more additional cameras, that the one or more additional cameras was tampered with; and
based on determining that the one or more additional cameras was tampered with, determining the likelihood that the camera will be tampered with.

14. The system of claim 1 , the operations comprising:
in response to transmitting the second video data, receiving a confirmation that the camera was tampered with; and
in response to receiving the confirmation that the camera was tampered with, performing a system action.

15. The system of claim 1 , wherein transmitting the second video data comprises:
transmitting, at a first video quality, the second video data; and
storing the second video data in the memory at a second video quality, wherein the first video quality is a lower video quality than the second video quality.

16. The system of claim 15 , comprising:
transmitting the first video data after transmitting the second video data at the first video quality; and
transmitting the second video data at the second video quality from the memory after transmitting the first video data.

17. The system of claim 1 , comprising:
cropping, from the first video data, an image of a person depicted within the scene; and
transmitting the cropped image of the person depicted within the scene.

18. A method, comprising:
obtaining first video data representing first video images of a scene captured by a camera;
storing the first video data in a memory;
determining a likelihood that the camera will be tampered with based on the first video data;
determining that the likelihood that the camera will be tampered with satisfies criteria;
obtaining second video data representing second video images of the scene captured by the camera; and
in response to determining that the likelihood that the camera will be tampered with satisfies criteria, transmitting the second video data and a portion of the first video data, wherein frames of the portion of the first video data are transmitted interleaved with transmission of frames of the second video data.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software comprising instructions executable by one or more computers which, upon such execution, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:
obtaining first video data representing first video images of a scene captured by a camera;
storing the first video data in a memory;
determining a likelihood that the camera will be tampered with based on the first video data;
determining that the likelihood that the camera will be tampered with satisfies criteria;
obtaining second video data representing second video images of the scene captured by the camer

Assignees

• Alarm Com Inc

Inventors

• Hutz David James
• Beach Allison
• Yin Weihong
• Madden Donald Gerard
• Gordon Adam
• Berg Benjamin Asher
• Silverman Christopher
• Faraci Donald

Classifications

• G08B13/19613

  Recognition of a predetermined image pattern or behaviour pattern indicating theft or intrusion · CPC title

• G06V40/173

  face re-identification, e.g. recognising unknown faces across different face tracks · CPC title

• G06V40/20

  Movements or behaviour, e.g. gesture recognition (recognition of facial expressions G06V40/16) · CPC title

• G06V20/52

  Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects (recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69) · CPC title

• G06V20/40

  in video content (extracting overlay text G06V20/62; video retrieval G06F16/70; processing of video elementary streams in video servers H04N21/234; processing of video elementary streams in video clients H04N21/44) · CPC title