Method and apparatus for controlling a video surveillance camera

Abstract

An apparatus for controlling a camera in a video surveillance system comprising a camera for providing a video signal having a vertical blanking interval, a controller for controlling the camera, the controller adapted to provide control signals to the camera during a vertical blanking interval in the video signal, a transmission line having a length such that the transmission of a control signal from the controller to the camera will have a propagation delay causing the control signal to arrive at the camera outside of the vertical blanking interval, a first transmitter connected to the camera and the transmission line and a first receiver connected to the controller and the transmission line, the first transmitter providing the video signal to the transmission line and the first receiver receiving the video signal, a second transmitter connected to the controller and the transmission line, the second transmitter providing control signals from the controller to the transmission line such that the control signals do not interfere with the video signal, and a second receiver connected to the camera and the transmission line for receiving the control signals transmitted by the second transmitter, the second receiver detecting a vertical blanking interval in the video signal and providing the control signals from the transmission line to the camera during a vertical blanking interval in the video signal.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.