Method and system for video surveillance system motor overcurrent protection

1. A motor over-current protection system for a camera assembly, the system comprising:

a processor, the processor configured to:

assess a signal value corresponding to an accumulated speed-error value, the accumulated speed-error value indicating whether a stall condition of a motor is occurring;

terminate the current to the motor based on the assessed signal value that corresponds to the accumulated speed-error value that indicates the stall condition has occurred; and

allow manual repositioning of at least a portion of the camera assembly when current to the motor is terminated.

2. The motor control system according to claim 1 , wherein the processor terminates the current provided to the motor when the assessed signal value exceeds a predetermined value for a predetermined period of time.

3. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the processor terminates the current to the motor when the assessed signal value exceeds a predetermined value for a predetermined period of time and an assessed speed of the motor is less than a predefined speed value.

4. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising a pulse-width-modulation driver in electrical communication with the processor, the pulse-width-modulation driver configured to provide the current to the motor by adjusting a duty cycle of the signal.

5. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the assessed signal value is an integral value term in a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control algorithm.

6. A video surveillance system, the system comprising:

a video camera;

a motor operable to move the video camera; and

a processor configured to:

assess a signal value corresponding to an accumulated speed-error value, the accumulated speed-error value indicating whether a stall condition of the motor is occurring; and

terminate the current to the motor when the assessed signal value exceeds a predetermined value for a predetermined period of time; and

allow manual repositioning of at least a portion of the video surveillance system when current to the motor is terminated.

7. The video surveillance system according to claim 6 , wherein the processor is configured to assess a speed of the motor, the processor terminating the current to the motor when the assessed speed is less than a predetermined speed value.

8. The video surveillance system according to claim 6 , further comprising a communication network coupled to the processor, the processor configured to communicate the termination of the current across the network.

9. The video surveillance system according to claim 6 , wherein the assessed signal value is an integral value term in a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control algorithm.

10. The video surveillance system according to claim 9 , wherein the processor is configured to:

monitor a signal value corresponding to the amount of current; and

adjusts at least one of a zoom setting and focus setting of the video camera based at least in part on the monitored signal value.

11. The video surveillance system according to claim 7 , further comprising:

a pulse-width-modulation driver in electrical communication with the processor and the motor, the pulse-width-modulation driver configured to provide the current to the motor; and

a decoder configured to generate a speed output based on revolutions of the motor, the assessed speed of the motor based at least in part on the speed output.

12. A method of operating a video camera assembly having at least one motor, the method comprising:

defining a threshold signal value corresponding to a predefined accumulated of a speed-error value, the predefined accumulated speed-error value indicating whether a stall condition of a motor is occurring;

monitoring a value of a signal corresponding to an accumulation of the speed-error value that is used to adjust the motor;

determining that the monitored signal value exceeds the threshold signal value for a predetermined period of time;

terminating the current to the motor based on the determination that the monitored signal value exceeds the threshold signal value for the predetermined period of time; and

allowing manual repositioning of at least a portion of the video camera assembly when current to the motor is terminated.

13. The method according to claim 12 , further comprising comparing a pulse-width-modulation signal with a pulse-width-modulation duty cycle threshold.

14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the pulse-width-modulation duty cycle threshold is less than 100% for a pulse-width-modulation signal duty cycle.

15. The method according to claim 12 , further comprising:

defining a threshold speed of the motor;

monitoring a speed of the motor;

determining that the monitored speed is lower than the threshold speed; and

the terminating of the current to the motor being based at least in part on the monitored speed of the motor.

16. The method according to claim 12 , further comprising communicating the termination of the current across a communication network.

17. The method according to claim 12 , further comprising manually applying a force to the assembly until the monitored signal value exceeds the threshold signal value.

18. The method of claim 12 , wherein the monitored signal value is an integral value of a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) algorithm.

19. The method according to claim 12 , further comprising:

monitoring movement of at least a portion of the video camera assembly, and

reestablishing current to the motor after a predetermined time period lapses without any monitored movement.

20. The method according to claim 12 , further comprising manually applying a force to at least a portion of the camera assembly to adjust of at least one of a focus setting and zoom setting of the camera assembly.

21. The motor control system according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

assess a speed of the motor, the current to the motor being based on the assessed speed of the motor.