Distributed control of a heterogeneous video surveillance network
View Patent ↗A surveillance video broker arbitrates access by multiple clients to multiple surveillance video sources. Both clients and sources register with the broker. Each source independently specifies respective clients permitted real-time access to its video and conditions of access, if any. Preferably, the video source is a local surveillance domain having one or more cameras, one or more sensors, and a local controller, the source specifying clients or client groups permitted access, and independently specifying conditions of access for each client or client group, where conditions may include scheduled events, non-scheduled events, such as alarms or emergencies, and/or physical proximity. The broker automatically authorizes real-time access according to pre-specified conditions. Preferably, the broker can also arbitrate alert notifications to the clients based on pre-specified notification criteria.
1. A method for operating a data processing system of a surveillance video broker, comprising:
registering a plurality of clients in a data processing system of a surveillance video broker;
registering a plurality of video surveillance domains in said data processing system of said surveillance video broker, each video surveillance domain comprising a respective disjoint set of one or more video cameras operated by a respective operating entity common to all video cameras of the respective set, wherein at least some video surveillance domains are operated by different respective operating entities;
recording in said data processing system a plurality of authorization records, each authorization record associated with a single respective video surveillance domain of said plurality of video surveillance domains and independently specifying authorization on behalf of the respective video surveillance domain with which it is associated to allow at least one respective client real-time access to at least some surveillance video generated by the respective video surveillance domain with which it is associated, each authorization record granting access to one or more respective clients independently of association of the one or more respective clients with the respective operating entity and independently of whether one or more clients have been granted access to one or more other video surveillance domains;
recording in said data processing system a plurality of notification records, each notification record associated with a single respective video surveillance domain of said plurality of video surveillance domains and independently specifying on behalf of the respective video surveillance domain with which it is associated at least one respective client authorized to receive notification of one or more respective alert events generated by the respective video surveillance domain, each said notification record specifying at least one respective client authorized to receive notification independently of whether the at least one respective client is authorized by said authorization records to access surveillance video generated by the respective video surveillance domain with which the respective notification record is associated;
recording in said data processing system a plurality of notification filters, each notification filter independently specifying on behalf of a respective client one or more respective alert events for which the client wishes to receive notice;
receiving in said data processing system of said surveillance video broker a plurality of alert event notification requests, each alert event notification request being received from a respective video surveillance domain and identifying an alert event detected at the respective surveillance domain for which notification to clients is requested;
responsive to receiving each said alert event notification request, accessing each notification record associated with the respective surveillance domain from which the respective alert event notification request was received to determine in said data processing system a respective set of clients to receive notification of the respective alert event, and transmitting an alert notification to each client of the respective set, wherein responsive to receiving each said alert event notification request, said data processing system accesses said notification records and said notification filters to determine a respective set of clients to receive notification of the respective alert event, the set being the intersection of a set of clients authorized to receive notification of the respective alert event by said authorization records and a set of clients wishing to receive notification of the respective alert event according to said notification filters;
receiving in said data processing system of said surveillance video broker a plurality of video access requests, each request requesting real-time access by a respective client to at least some video produced by a respective surveillance domain;
responsive to each said video access request, automatically using the one or more authorization records associated with the respective surveillance domain to which the respective client requested access to determine whether the respective client is authorized to access the requested video;
responsive to determining that the respective client is authorized to access the requested video of a video access request, automatically granting real-time access by the respective client to the requested video.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one authorization record specifies conditional authorization based on at least one respective specified condition.