Method and system for controlling a guard tour of a thermal camera

A non-transitory computer readable computer medium having recorded thereon a computer program having instructions which, when executed by a computing device or computing system, cause the computing device or computing system to carry out a method for controlling a guard tour of a thermal camera, wherein the thermal camera is a pan-tilt camera or a pan-tilt-zoom camera, the method comprising the steps of:

• obtaining a guard tour comprising a plurality of views of an area or facility and a sequence of movements and view times of the thermal camera for traversing the plurality of views;
• controlling the thermal camera to traverse the plurality of views according to the sequence of movements and view times of the guard tour, wherein the thermal camera stays for a given time in each of the plurality of views;
• for each view:
• computing or extracting a temperature profile based on thermal images from the thermal camera;
• based on the temperature profile, estimating whether an increased risk of overheating or overcooling exists for the view,
• if an increased risk of overheating or overcooling exists, adjusting the sequence of movements and/or view times of the thermal camera to show the view having an increased risk of overheating or overcooling more frequently.

A surveillance system comprising:

• a thermal pan-tilt camera or a pan-tilt-zoom camera configurable to capture thermal images of an area or facility;
• a processing unit configured to:
• a) obtain a guard tour comprising a plurality of views of the area or facility and a sequence of movements and view times of the thermal camera for traversing the plurality of views;
• b) control, or provide controlling data to an operator or control unit to control the thermal camera to traverse the plurality of views according to the sequence of movements and view times of the guard tour, wherein the thermal camera stays for a given time in each of the plurality of views;
• for each view:
• c) compute or extract a temperature profile based on thermal images from the thermal camera;
• d) based on the temperature profile, estimate whether an increased risk of overheating or overcooling exists for the view,
• e) if an increased risk of overheating or overcooling exists, adjust the sequence of movements and/or view times of the thermal camera to show the view having an increased risk of overheating or overcooling more frequently.