Street light controller video surveillance system with electronic pan, tilt and zoom capability
Disclosed is a street light controller and concealed video surveillance system having a camera lens with electronic pan, tilt and zoom capability mounted in a lamp head for securement to a modern street light having a NEMA socket. The video surveillance device is a single, compact unit with a video compressor allowing live video to be wirelessly transmitted through cellular modem or microwave radio transmitters.
1 . A video surveillance system and street light controller comprising:
an enclosure having a NEMA coupling securable to a street light NEMA socket;
a camera with a lens constructed with electronic pan, tilt and zoom capabilities, said camera positioned within said enclosure and electrically coupled to a power source, said camera forming a video output;
an image processor coupled to said camera providing a video output using a multi-megapixel imaging sensor having a greater number of pixels than required for a desired resolution to allow sub-sampling in the form of a window of pixels wherein said imaging sensor has a resolution equal to or greater than a first resolution defined by a horizontal pixel count and a vertical pixel count and said sub-sampling of image data is performed by selecting one pixel at intervals of X pixels in both the horizontal and vertical directions, wherein the value of X is determined by the ratio of the imaging sensor's resolution to a second resolution required for a video output;
a video encoder for receipt of said video output from said image processor and encoding the video output;
a transmitter for wireless transmission of said encoded video output; and
a photosensor coupled to said NEMA coupling;
wherein said video surveillance system replaces a conventional NEMA socket based street light controller for providing street light control and video for discrete surveillance.
2 . The video surveillance system according to claim 1 including a video compressor to control and reduce video bandwidth of said transmission.
3 . The video surveillance system according to claim 1 wherein said transmitter is a cellular modem for wireless coupling to a cellular network.
4 . The video surveillance system according to claim 1 wherein said transmitter is a microwave radio for wireless coupling to a microwave radio network.
5 . The video surveillance system according to claim 1 wherein said image processor and sensor increases the magnification of a video without changing the focal length of said lens by changing the position of a window of pixels on the sensor wherein the view angle through the lens is altered providing an electronic pan and tilt function within the optical range of the lens.
6 . The video surveillance system according to claim 5 wherein the position of the window of pixels and size of the window of pixels can be stored and recalled by a preset view function.
7 . The video surveillance system according to claim 1 wherein said camera includes a video recorder for storage of video surveillance.
8 . The video surveillance system according to claim 1 wherein said enclosure is equal to or less than 91 mm in diameter and 72 mm in height.
9 . The video surveillance system according to claim 1 including a heat sink with fans constructed and arranged to dissipate heat within said enclosure and condensation from the lens.
10 . The video surveillance system according to claim 1 including a pancake slip ring integrated into said base to maintain electrical connectivity if said camera is rotated.
11 . The video surveillance system according to claim 1 wherein said photo sensor provides a measurement of ambient light based on an algorithm to determine when the street lamp is to be illuminated.
12 . The video surveillance system according to claim 1 wherein the interval value X is adjustable to vary the sampling area of the imaging sensor whereby reducing X minimizes the sampling area, limiting the active area of the sensor and reducing the horizontal and vertical viewing angles of the lens and increasing X maximizes the sampling area, utilizing a larger portion of the sensor and preserving the full field of view determined by the imaging sensor and lens combination.
13 . The video surveillance system according to claim 1 wherein reducing horizontal and vertical viewing angles of the lens by 50% creates the effect of doubling the focal length.
14 . The video surveillance system according to claim 1 wherein said imaging processor is configured to shift the sampling area horizontally and vertically within the unused regions by modifying the sampling start position, thereby enabling panning and tilting of the output image across the full range of the lens.
15 . The video surveillance system of claim 1 , wherein said imaging processor is further configured to maintain the aspect ratio of the output image during adjustments to the sampling area.
16 . The video surveillance system of claim 1 , wherein the subsampling process maintains the effective resolution of the output image while varying the field of view based on the sampling area and lens focal length.