US 5,712,679 AGranted

Security system with method for locatable portable electronic camera image transmission to a remote receiver

OwnerChristopher Francis Colesinventor

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Abstract

A security system comprises a locatable portable electronic camera image transmission unit which both identifies its own location by utilising the capabilities of an integral position location apparatus module while at the same time electronically photographing and otherwise recording the immediate scene. This combined navigational and photographic information is at the same time both stored within the locatable portable electronic camera transmission unit and transmitted, along with any other desired information such as user name, address and time of day to a distant remote receiver. The remote receiver converts the transmitted navigational information into a display of the location of the locatable portable electronic camera transmission unit upon a map, and this navigational and the other visual information is suitably displayed upon a television screen and is also presented as a hard copy on a facsimile receiver. Thus the receiver of the transmitted information will have immediate knowledge of the exact navigational location of the locatable portable electronic camera transmission unit plus a visual and other record of the surrounding event.

Claims12

Dependent claims

A security system comprising in combination:

a portable transmitter module adapted for selective transmission of a signal capable of being encoded with and conveying data;
memory means within said portable transmitter module for storing data to be encoded in signals transmitted by said portable transmitter module;
a receiver disposed in a location remote from said portable transmitter module, said receiver being adapted to receive signals transmitted by said portable transmitter module;
means coupled to said receiver for interpreting data encoded in signals received by said receiver and presenting the data in a usable form;
a camera module physically and electronically coupled to said transmitter module, said camera module having a lens for focusing an image and including means for converting the image into data representative of the image, the data being capable of being encoded into signals transmitted by said portable transmitter module;
a global positioning module physically and electronically coupled to said transmitter module, said global positioning module being adapted to receive positioning signals from remote positioning transmitters, to calculate its current location based upon the received positioning signals, and to convert the calculated location into data capable of being encoded into signals transmitted by said portable transmitter module;
audio receiver means coupled to said portable transmitter module, said audio receiver means being adapted to detect ambient sound and to convert the detected sound to data representative of the sound, the data being capable of being embedded within signals transmitted by said transmitter module;
means in said portable transmitter module for receiving data from said camera module, said global positioning module, and said audio receiver means and for storing the received data in said memory means;
means in said portable transmitter module for accessing data stored in said memory means and encoding the data in signals to be transmitted by said transmitter module and received by said receiver;
and
selective activation means for selectively activating said security system to cause image, position, and audio data to be captured, stored in said memory means, and transmitted in the form of a signal to be received by said receiver.

8 more elements

A method of detecting a breach of security in a first location and providing information regarding the breach of security to security personal in a remote location, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) upon the breach of security, acquiring an image of the first location, converting the image into transmittable data representative of the image, and storing the data;
(b) upon the breach of security, acquiring a global positioning signal, calculating the position of the first location based upon the acquired global positioning signal, converting the calculated position into transmittable data representative of the position, and storing the data;
(c) accessing the stored data representative of the image and the position;
(d) generating a transmittable signal that contains the stored data;
(e) transmitting the signal to the remote location;
(f) receiving the signal at the remote location;
(g) extracting the data representative of the image and the position from the received signal;
(h) reconstructing the image and the position information from the extracted data;
and
(i) presenting the reconstructed image and position information in a form usable by security personal to identify the location and nature of the breach of security.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 07/720,865Filed 11 Sep 1992
Priority: GB 890083716 Jan 1989
Granted: 27 Jan 1998
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification7 codes

G08B 13/19621
Surveillance camera constructional details: portable camera
G01S 5/0009
Position-fixing by co-ordinating two or more direction or position line determinations; Position-fixing by co-ordinating two or more distance…:…
G08B 13/19671
Details related to the storage of video surveillance data: addition of non-video data, i.e. metadata, to video stream
G08B 21/0297
Alarms for ensuring the safety of persons: robbery alarms, e.g. hold-up alarms, bag snatching alarms