Granted Patent B2

US 12,531,967 · App. 18/565,887 · Granted Jan 20, 2026

Inventors: Marc Weathers (Mahopac, NY); Tamer Nasr (Piscataway, NJ); Ahmad Eied (Cary, NC); Paul Bender (Clayton, NC)

Assignee: Michael Stapleton Associates, Ltd.

H04N7/185G11B27/34H04N23/66

Abstract

Claims (65)

1 . A computer-implemented method comprising:

transmitting, from a mobile computing device to a camera external to the mobile computing device, a command to capture video data;

obtaining, at the mobile computing device from the camera, the video data, wherein the video data comprises video data of a canine sniff inspection of a parcel;

obtaining, at the mobile computing device, auxiliary data characterizing the canine sniff inspection;

at the mobile computing device, compressing the video data, to obtain compressed video data;

transmitting, from the mobile computing device to a remote computing system:

the compressed video data,

the auxiliary data, and

an association between the auxiliary data and the compressed video data; and

generating, at the remote computing system, an inspection log, wherein generating the inspection log comprises:

identifying a first plurality of fields in the auxiliary data, the first plurality of fields storing a corresponding plurality of values,

accessing a stored correspondence between the first plurality of fields in the auxiliary data and a second plurality of fields in the inspection log, and

based on the stored correspondence, filling the second plurality of fields in the inspection log with corresponding values from the first plurality of fields.

2 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , comprising, at the remote computing system:

receiving the compressed video data from the mobile computing device;

stripping audio from the compressed video data, to obtain compressed, audio-stripped video data;

storing the compressed, audio-stripped video data in a storage of the remote computing system; and

deleting the compressed video data from the remote computing system.

3 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the command is transmitted to the camera through a first type of network connection between the mobile computing device and the camera, and

wherein the video data is obtained at the mobile computing device through a second type of network connection between the mobile computing device and the camera, wherein the first type of network connection is distinct from the second type of network connection.

4 . The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein the first type of network connection is a Bluetooth connection, and wherein the second type of network connection is a WiFi network connection.

5 . The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , wherein a WiFi network of the Wifi network connection is generated by the camera.

6 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein transmitting the command and compressing the video data are performed, respectively, in distinct threads running on the mobile computing device.

7 . The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein the distinct threads run in respective distinct applications on the mobile computing device.

8 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the auxiliary data comprises at least one of: an identifier of the parcel, an identifier of a handler, or an identifier of a sniffer dog.

9 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the auxiliary data comprises:

capturing, by the mobile computing device, an image of a code associated with the parcel; and

extracting, by the mobile computing device, at least some of the auxiliary data from the image of the code.

10 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , comprising:

inserting, by the mobile computing device, into metadata of the compressed video data, an identifier of the auxiliary data.

11 . The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein inserting the identifier of the auxiliary data comprises inserting the identifier of the auxiliary data into a header of the compressed video data.

12 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , comprising:

during recording of the video data by the camera, receiving, at the mobile computing device, a user input indicating a detection event; and

in response to receiving the user input, including, in the auxiliary data, an indicator of the detection event.

13 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , comprising:

at the remote computing system, parsing the compressed video data to obtain a recording length of the compressed video data; and

including the recording length in the inspection log.

14 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the video data comprises obtaining the video data in a first format and in a second format, and wherein the computer-implemented method comprises:

in response to an input by a user, playing, on the mobile computing device, the video data in the first format,

wherein compressing the video data comprises compressing the video data in the second format.

15 . The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , wherein the first format has a lower resolution than the second format.

16 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein compressing the video data comprises compressing the video data while maintaining at least a specified minimum resolution of the video data.

17 . A computer-implemented system, comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more computer memory devices interoperably coupled with the one or more processors and having tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable media storing one or more instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

transmitting, from a mobile computing device to a camera external to the mobile computing device, a command to capture video data;

obtaining, at the mobile computing device from the camera, the video data, wherein the video data comprises video data of a canine sniff inspection of a parcel;

obtaining, at the mobile computing device, auxiliary data characterizing the canine sniff inspection;

at the mobile computing device, compressing the video data, to obtain compressed video data; and

transmitting, from the mobile computing device to a remote computing system:

the compressed video data,

the auxiliary data, and

an association between the auxiliary data and the compressed video data; and

generating, at the remote computing system, an inspection log, wherein generating the inspection log comprises:

identifying a first plurality of fields in the auxiliary data, the first plurality of fields storing a corresponding plurality of values,

accessing a stored correspondence between the first plurality of fields in the auxiliary data and a second plurality of fields in the inspection log, and

based on the stored correspondence, filling the second plurality of fields in the inspection log with corresponding values from the first plurality of fields.

18 . The computer-implemented system of claim 17 , wherein the command is transmitted to the camera through a first type of network connection between the mobile computing device and the camera, and

wherein the video data is obtained at the mobile computing device through a second type of network connection between the mobile computing device and the camera, wherein the first type of network connection is distinct from the second type of network connection.

19 . The computer-implemented system of claim 17 , wherein transmitting the command and compressing the video data are performed, respectively, in distinct threads running on the mobile computing device.

20 . The computer-implemented system of claim 17 , wherein the operations comprise, at the remote computing system:

receiving the compressed video data from the mobile computing device;

stripping audio from the compressed video data, to obtain compressed, audio-stripped video data;

storing the compressed, audio-stripped video data in a storage of the remote computing system; and

deleting the compressed video data from the remote computing system.

Assignments (2)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (185)