Directional surveillance camera with ring of directional detectors

1. A motion detector associated with a surveillance camera, the motion detector comprising:

a plurality of motion detector elements comprising a first plurality of motion detector elements configured to operate at a short range and a second plurality of motion detector elements configured to operate at a long range, the plurality of motion detector elements arranged in a structure associated with the camera, each element of the plurality of motion detector elements having a fixed orientation and a fixed detection zone;

a detector controller;

means for communicating an alarm signal from each motion detector element to the detector controller when movement is detected in the detection zone; and

means for communicating a control signal from the detector controller to the camera in response to receiving the alarm, signal, the control signal causing the camera to do one or more of pan, tilt, zoom and travel to a preset field of view corresponding to the detection zone.

2. The motion detector of claim 1 comprising four short range motion detector elements and four long range motion detector elements.

3. The motion detector of claim 1 wherein the plurality of motion detector elements are selected from infrared detectors, microwave detectors sound detectors or ultrasonic detectors.

4. The motion detector of claim 1 wherein the structure is a ring.

5. The motion detector of claim 1 further comprising a microprocessor which manages one or more of priorities, ranges, directions and communication.

6. The motion detector of claim 1 further comprising a sensor manager that tests alarm signals from each motion detector element against a threshold level.

7. The motion detector Of claim 1 wherein the detector controller comprises a priority processor that handles conflicts between alarm signals from detector elements.

8. The motion detector of claim 1 further comprising a storage device storing communication protocols for converting alarm signals to control signals.

9. A network of multiple motion detectors each associated with one or more cameras wherein detection of movement by at least one of the motion detectors causes one or more of the cameras to do at least one of pan, tilt, zoom and travel to view the movement, each motion detector comprising:

is plurality of motion detector elements comprising a first plurality of motion detector elements configured to operate at a short range and a second plurality of motion detector elements configured to operate at a long range, the plurality of motion detector elements arranged in a structure associated with a camera, each element of the plurality of motion detector elements having a fixed orientation and a fixed detection zone;

a detector controller;

means for communicating an alarm signal from each motion detector element to the detector controller when movement is detected in the detection zone; and

means for communicating a control signal from the detector controller to the camera, the control signal causing the camera to do the one or more of pan, tilt, zoom and travel to a preset field of view corresponding to the detection zone.

10. The network of multiple motion detectors of claim 9 further comprising a camera controller for manual control of the one or more cameras.

11. The network of multiple motion detectors of claim 9 further comprising a detector network connecting each detector controller of the multiple motion detectors.

12. The network of multiple motion detectors of claim 9 wherein the direction zones are arranged as active zones and non-active zones.

13. The network of multiple motion detectors of claim 12 wherein the active zones are arranged in a priority list.

14. The network of multiple motion detectors of claim 9 further comprising directional microphones associated with each motion detector.

15. A method of detecting motion in an area under surveillance including the steps of:

monitoring the area with multiple motion detectors associated with one or more cameras, each motion detector comprising a plurality of motion detector elements comprising a first plurality of motion detector elements configured to operate at a short range and a second plurality of motion detector elements configured to operate at a long range the plurality of motion detector elements arranged in a structure associated with a camera and providing an alarm signal when movement is detected, and a detector controller, each motion detector element of the plurality of motion detector elements having a fixed orientation and a fixed detection zone;

receiving an alarm signal from at least one detector element at a detector controller;

sending control signals from the detector controller to at least one of the one or more cameras to cause the camera to do at least one of pan, tilt, zoom and travel to a preset field of view corresponding to the movement.

16. The method of claim 15 further including the step of testing each alarm signal against a threshold.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein a detector controller receives multiple alarm signals and further including the step of the detector controller assessing a priority of each alarm signal.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein multiple detector controllers receive alarm signals and further including the step of a network controller assessing a priority for each alarm signal.