Apparatus for remote surveillance and applications therefor

An method for remote monitoring, the method, comprising:

• continuously capturing a first video recording of surrounding environment and events occurring therein at a first resolution;
• storing the video recording in a storage unit at the first resolution;
• in response to detecting an occurrence of a triggering event, capturing the second video recording of the surrounding environment and events occurring after the triggering event at a second resolution that is higher than the first resolution;
• storing the second video recording in the storage unit at the second resolution;
• creating a copy of the second video recording and storing the copy of the second video recording;
• generating a compressed version of the second video by compressing the copy of the second video to a lower resolution;
• streaming the compressed version of the second video over a network.

An apparatus for remote surveillance, comprising:

• at least one camera sensor that captures video recordings;
• a microphone that captures audio recordings;
• a processing unit coupled to the at least one camera sensor and the microphone;
• a display unit coupled to the processing unit;
• a flash reader coupled to the processing unit, the flash reader suitable for to read a flash card;
• wherein, when in operation, the at least one camera sensor and microphone each capture video and audio recordings of the surrounding environment and events occurring therein for storage in the flash card;
• a controller coupled to the flash reader;
• a motion detector coupled to the controller, the motion detector detects a triggering event;
• wherein, upon detection of the triggering event, the controller enables the recording to be compared and stored at a higher resolution and compressed to a lower resolution for streaming in real time over a network connection.