3183 results about "Motion detection" patented technology

A system, method and apparatus for eliminating image tearing effects and other visual artifacts perceived when scanning moving subject matter with a scanned beam imaging device. The system, method and apparatus uses a motion detection means in conjunction with an image processor to alter the native image to one without image tearing or other visual artifacts. The image processor monitors the motion detection means and reduces the image resolution or translates portions of the imaged subject matter in response to the detected motion.

A multifunction sensor device which provides various transducer functions including means for performing temperature sensing, humidity sensing, ambient light sensing, motion detection, thermostat functions, switching functions, load switching and dimming functions, displaying actual and set temperature values, displaying time of day values and a means to put the device in an on, off or auto mode. The device has utility in environments such as that found in offices, schools, homes, industrial plants or any other type of automated facility in which sensors are utilized for energy monitoring and control, end user convenience or artificial or natural cooling, heating and HVAC control. The device can be used as a switch or dimmer, sensor or thermostat as well as to adjust and control all natural and artificial lighting, temperature and humidity devices. Key elements of the invention include overcoming the difficulty of mounting diverse sensors or transducers within the same device or housing; permitting these various sensors to exist in a single package that can be mounted to a wall in a substantially flush manner; and eliminating the requirement of an air flow channel in the device, thus minimizing any adverse effects on the motion detecting element or sensor as well as providing built in partial hysteresis. The device may include additional transducers or sensors and is constructed such that the temperature and humidity sensors are neither exposed to the flow of air in a room or area nor in an airflow channel whereby a chimney effect may occur. The device can transmit and receive real time data, relative data and actual discrete data in addition to switching and controlling loads locally or remotely. An embodiment utilizing airflow channels to direct air over the temperature and humidity sensors is also disclosed.

To achieve an image encoding apparatus that has extensibility by not limiting an image to be referenced, and that can reduce processing time satisfactorily if the processing of an ordinary frame is skipped, the apparatus of the present invention comprises: motion detecting means for detecting a motion vector for each block of a prescribed size from a reference image and an input image; weighted motion-compensation means for, based on the detected motion vector, extracting from the reference image an area of a prescribed size which is wider than the prescribed block size and which contains an area corresponding to each block of the input image, and for creating a predicted image for the input image by applying a predetermined weight to each of pixels in the wider area and by using the weighted pixels of the wider area; a predicted-image memory for storing the predicted image; encoding means for taking a residual between the stored predicted image and the input image, and for encoding the residual; and decoding means for decoding the encoded image data and thereby obtaining a reference image.

A wearable platform embodied in a belt or flattened patch-like central body shaped to conform to the abdomen provides physiological monitoring of soldiers during field operations or trauma victims at accident sites and makes health state assessments. The platform includes sensors for heart rate, body motion, respiration rate and intensity, and temperature and further contains a microprocessor and short range transmitter. The respiration sensor uses conductive ink in a novel manner. A small square of the ink is coated on an arched structure so that flexing of the arch either to increase or decrease its radius of curvature modifies the resistance of the structure. This is utilized to set the unstressed resistance of the arch structure and to allow a greater range of resistance values capable of measuring distortions in different deformations of the arch. The respiration sensor supplements the motion information provided by an accelerometer sensor.

There is a need for a technique to compensate for, or eliminate, motion-induced artifacts in patient-attached critical care monitoring instruments. Consequently, the invention is directed to improving pulse-oximetry by incorporating additional signals to aid in the triggering of the pulse-oximeter or in analyzing the data received by the pulse oximeter. This includes detecting when the patient moves and analyzing the pulse-oximetry data in light of the detected movement.

A patient fall prediction system receives video image frames from a surveillance camera positioned in a patient's room and analyses the video image frames for movement that may be a precursor to a patient fall. In set up phase, the viewpoint of the camera is directed at a risk area associated with patient falls, beds, chairs, wheelchairs, etc. A risk area is defined graphically in the viewport. The patient fall prediction system generates a plurality of concurrent motion detection zones that are situated proximate to the graphic markings of the risk areas. These motion detection zones are monitored for changes between video image frames that indicate a movement. The pattern of detections is recorded and compared to a fall movement detection signature. One fall movement detection signature is a sequential detection order from the motion detection zone closest to the risk area in the frames associated with patient falls, to the motion detection zone farthest away from the risk area. The patient fall prediction system continually monitors the motion detection zones for changes between image frames and compiles detections lists that are compared to known movement detection signatures, such as a fall movement detection signature. Once a match is identified, the patient fall prediction system issues a fall warning to a healthcare provider.

A power saving device for a light emitting diode (LED) lamp mounted to an existing fixture for a fluorescent lamp having a ballast assembly and LEDs positioned within a tube and electrical power delivered from the ballast assembly to the LEDs. The LED lamp includes a device for controlling the delivery of the electrical power from the ballast assembly to the LEDs wherein the use of electrical power can be reduced or eliminated automatically during periods of non-use. Such device for controlling can include an on-off switch mounted in the tube or can also include a current driver dimmer mounted in the tube that regulates the amount of power delivered to the LEDs. A computer or logic arrays control the dimmer or power switch. A sensor such as an occupancy motion detection sensor mounted external to the tube or within the tube can send signals to the computer or logic array to trigger a switch or control a dimmer. Two or more such LED lamps with one or more computers or logic arrays in network communication with sensors can be controlled, so as to reduce flickering between lamps when illumination areas are being alternately occupied. Preset or manually set timers can control switches or be used in combination with the computer, logic array, and dimmer.

The invention provides a system and method for measuring vital signs (e.g. SYS, DIA, SpO2, heart rate, and respiratory rate) and motion (e.g. activity level, posture, degree of motion, and arm height) from a patient. The system features: (i) first and second sensors configured to independently generate time-dependent waveforms indicative of one or more contractile properties of the patient's heart; and (ii) at least three motion-detecting sensors positioned on the forearm, upper arm, and a body location other than the forearm or upper arm of the patient. Each motion-detecting sensor generates at least one time-dependent motion waveform indicative of motion of the location on the patient's body to which it is affixed. A processing component, typically worn on the patient's body and featuring a microprocessor, receives the time-dependent waveforms generated by the different sensors and processes them to determine: (i) a pulse transit time calculated using a time difference between features in two separate time-dependent waveforms, (ii) a blood pressure value calculated from the time difference, and (iii) a motion parameter calculated from at least one motion waveform.

A power saving device for a light emitting diode (LED) lamp mounted to an existing fixture for a fluorescent lamp having a ballast assembly and LEDs positioned within a tube and electrical power delivered from the ballast assembly to the LEDs. The LED lamp includes means for controlling the delivery of the electrical power from the ballast assembly to the LEDs wherein the use of electrical power can be reduced or eliminated automatically during periods of non-use. Such means for controlling can include an on-off switch mounted in the tube or can also include a current driver dimmer mounted in the tube that regulates the amount of power delivered to the LEDs. A computer or logic arrays control the dimmer or power switch. A sensor such as an occupancy motion detection sensor mounted external to the tube or within the tube can send signals to the computer or logic array to trigger a switch or control a dimmer. Two or more such LED lamps with one or more computers or logic arrays in network communication with sensors can be controlled, so as to reduce flickering between lamps when illumination areas are being alternately occupied. Preset or manually set timers can control switches or be used in combination with the computer, logic array, and dimmer.

A system and method are disclosed for improved video transmission, particularly in security settings. An improved security controller combines the interfaces and functionality for high quality video delivery over often less-than-perfect wireless networks, multi-camera analog / digital video controllers and encoders, multi-frequency wireless camera support, connectivity for serial controllers, network switching, and distributed digital video recording with optional object and motion detection. The video transmission in enhanced using wireless adaptive video encoding, mobile viewing optimization, and wireless bandwidth improvement.

A programmable sound effects device which utilizes a motion-sensitive mechanism for selecting unique sound effects. The device is comprised of an electronic motion-sensitive actuator, a sound effect storage media for storing a plurality of predetermined sound effects, and a playback mechanism for audibly emitting the motion-activated sound effects. This device is designed to be used with amusement and entertainment type products such as toys, games, dolls, and props, with exemplary uses in toy swords, drumsticks, magic wands, and the like. A preferred embodiment is comprised of a unit which is physically incorporated into the handle of a toy sword. As the user moves the toy sword in a predefined manner, the motion-sensitive actuator senses the motion and plays out a plurality of unique sound effects as a function of the user's movements. The motion-detection algorithm which triggers the different sound effects is programmable. In another embodiment, the device is contained within a single housing unit that is worn on the user's body. This embodiment is well suited for many toys, props, games, and the like that do not have any sound effects capability but would benefit from such capability.

In general, the present invention is directed to systems and methods for finding the position and shape of an object using video. The invention includes a system with a video camera coupled to a computer in which the computer is configured to automatically provide object segmentation and identification, object motion tracking (for moving objects), object position classification, and behavior identification. In a preferred embodiment, the present invention may use background subtraction for object identification and tracking, probabilistic approach with expectation-maximization for tracking the motion detection and object classification, and decision tree classification for behavior identification. Thus, the present invention is capable of automatically monitoring a video image to identify, track and classify the actions of various objects and the object's movements within the image. The image may be provided in real time or from storage. The invention is particularly useful for monitoring and classifying animal behavior for testing drugs and genetic mutations, but may be used in any of a number of other surveillance applications.

Whether or not the CW radar is utilized for through-the-wall detection, additional one or more sensors are used with the CW radar to confirm the motion detection result or to in fact turn on the CW radar once motion or the physical presence of an individual has been sensed, thereby to provide confirmation of a less-reliable sensor with the use of the more reliable CW radar. Thus, the addition of other sensors provides lower power consumption, lower false alarm rates and better discrimination and classification of moving objects.

Techniques for generating timelines and event logs from one or more fixed-position cameras based on the identification of activity in the video are presented. Various embodiments of the invention include an assessment of the importance of the activity, the creation of a timeline identifying events of interest, and interaction techniques for seeing more details of an event or alternate views of the video. In one embodiment, motion detection is used to determine activity in one or more synchronized video streams. In another embodiment, events are determined based on periods of activity and assigned importance assessments based on the activity, important locations in the video streams, and events from other sensors. In different embodiments, the interface consists of a timeline, event log, and map.

A movement detecting device comprises a container (10), at least a first vibrator (16) which vibrates in accordance with a physical movement in a first direction (X), and a second vibrator (17) which vibrates about a second direction (Z), the first and second vibrators mounted in the container. The vibrations of the first and second vibrators are converted into an electric signal, and a value of the converted signal is shown on a display.

A power saving device for a light emitting diode (LED) lamp mounted to an existing fixture for a fluorescent lamp having a ballast assembly and LEDs positioned within a tube and electrical power delivered from the ballast assembly to the LEDs. The LED lamp includes means for controlling the delivery of the electrical power from the ballast assembly to the LEDs wherein the use of electrical power can be reduced or eliminated automatically during periods of non-use. Such means for controlling can include an on-off switch mounted in the tube or can also include a current driver dimmer mounted in the tube that regulates the amount of power delivered to the LEDs. A computer or logic arrays control the dimmer or power switch. A sensor such as an occupancy motion detection sensor mounted external to the tube or within the tube can send signals to the computer or logic array to trigger a switch or control a dimmer. Two or more such LED lamps with one or more computers or logic arrays in network communication with sensors can be controlled, so as to reduce flickering between lamps when illumination areas are being alternately occupied. Preset or manually set timers can control switches or be used in combination with the computer, logic array, and dimmer.

An outdoor light system comprising a plurality light elements linked to a central controller. Each light element include a translucent shell, plurality of LEDs positioned so as to emit a light show through the shell A compartment for receiving and securing a replaceable volatile active cartridge and a heater for enabling the device to effectively emit an active ingredient from the cartridge when the cartridge is secured in the compartment. A white light source may be provided in each device as a source of illumination along with the LEDs The devices can be used as white light sources, for displaying a coordinated colored light shows, for displaying colored light schemes and for volatile active emission. The devices of disclosed the system may include an acoustic transducer for producing light and sound shows. The device may also include a light sensor, a motion detector and / or a microphone or acoustic receiver thereby enabling the light and sound shows to be dependent upon ambient light intensity, motion detection and / or ambient noise. The devices and systems are suitable for outdoor home lighting, porch and deck lighting and path / driveway lighting.

A computer program, system and method to track motion and control navigation and display of an object viewer. Information content generated by a digital processor is mapped into a virtual display space suitable for conveying the information to a user. A certain portion of the virtual display space is displayed using a display device coupled to the digital processor. An image capture device captures an image from which a reference navigation target is acquired. Tracked movement of a display device relative to the reference navigation target is used to update the displayed certain portion of the virtual display space in a manner related to the tracked movement.

A subarray of a CMOS imaging sensor array is addressed to detect when a target symbol is fully within a field of view of an imaging reader to improve reader performance at high swipe speeds.

The present invention features a qualitative method to detect independent motion revealed in successive frames of a compressed surveillance MPEG video stream using linear system consistency analysis without decompression of the stream, identifying the segments containing independent motion in a real-time or faster manner, for the retrieval of these segments. The linear system is constructed using the macroblocks of MPEG compressed video frames. The normal flow value of the macroblock is obtained by taking the dot product between the macroblock gradient vector, computed by averaging the four block gradient vectors, and the motion vector of this macroblock. The normal flow value is filtered for inclusion in the linear system, and the statistic of the matrices of the resulting linear system is determined, filtered to screen out false negatives and outliers, and used to determine the presence or absence of independent motion.

A system and method for monitoring an industrial vehicle are presented. The system includes a first imaging subsystem for acquiring a plurality of load-carrying-portion images. A cargo-detection subsystem is configured for analyzing each of the plurality of load-carrying-portion images to determine whether cargo is positioned on the load-carrying portion. A power-detection subsystem is configured for determining when the industrial vehicle is running. A motion-detection subsystem is configured for determining when the industrial vehicle is in motion. An analytics subsystem is configured for calculating the amount of time that the industrial vehicle is running, the amount of time that the industrial vehicle is running while cargo is positioned on the load-carrying portion, the amount of time the industrial vehicle is in motion, and the amount of time the industrial vehicle is in motion while cargo is positioned on the load-carrying portion.

Some embodiments of the invention provide one or more novel motion-detected, tap-input methods for initiating one or more particular operations of a device. In some embodiments, these methods detect a tap input without relying on the output of a touch-sensitive screen sensor, which the device may or may not have. Instead, these methods detect the tap input by relying on the output of one or more other motion sensors of the device. Examples of such motion sensors include accelerometers, gyroscopes, and other sensors that generate output based on the movement of, or physical interactions with, the device.

An electronic device associated with a remote wand controlling the operations of the electronic device is provided. The wand may include a motion detection component operative to provide an output reflecting the motion of the wand to the electronic device, such that the movements of a cursor displayed by the electronic device may be related to the output of the motion detection component. The wand may also include an input mechanism operative to receive user inputs. Using the input mechanism, the wand may detect a user's inputs and direct the electronic device to zoom or scroll displayed objects. The electronic device may display a screen saver by which the user may select particular media items for playback while remaining in the screen saver mode. In some embodiments, the electronic device may display video with a scroll bar that includes a preview window of the video.

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for detecting and monitoring obstructive sleep apnea. The apparatus includes an intracardiac impedance sensor to measure intracardiac impedance, a movement sensor to measure an amount of movement of a patient, and a controller operatively coupled to said intracardiac impedance sensor and said movement sensor, said controller adapted to receive at least one of an intracardiac impedance and the amount of movement of the patient and detect obstructive sleep apnea based upon said intracardiac impedance and said movement.

An illumination system and methods to control a light source are provided. An illumination system includes a light source, a two-dimensional non-Passive Infrared (non-PIR) imager, and a controller. The light source provides at least two levels of illumination. The non-PIR imager images an area and to produce image data representative of images across at least part of a visible portion of an electromagnetic spectrum. The controller is communicatively coupled to receive the image data from the non-PIR imager and process the received image data to detect at least one ambient environmental characteristic of the area in the part of the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, where the ambient environmental characteristic is indicative of a presence or imminent presence of a body in the area. The controller is also coupled to control operation of the light source based on, at least in part, detection of the ambient characteristic of the environment.

A motion detection method, apparatus and system are disclosed in the present invention, which relates to the video image processing field. The present invention can effectively overcome the influence of the background on motion detection and the problem of object “conglutination” to avoid false detection, thereby accomplishing object detection in complex scenes with a high precision. The motion detection method disclosed in embodiments of the present invention comprises: acquiring detection information of the background scene and detection information of the current scene, wherein the current scene is a scene comprising an object(s) to be detected and the same background scene; and calculating the object(s) to be detected according to the detection information of the background scene and the detection information of the current scene. The present invention is applicable to any scenes where moving objects need to be detected, e.g., automatic passenger flow statistical systems in railway, metro and bus sectors, and is particularly applicable to detection and calibration of objects in places where brightness varies greatly.

A method and system for detecting moving objects and controlling a surveillance system includes a processing module adapted to receive image information from at least one imaging sensor. The system performs motion detection analysis upon captured images and controls the camera in a specific manner upon detection of a moving object. The image processing uses the camera's physical orientation to a surveillance area to facilitate mapping images captured by the camera to a reference map of the surveillance area. Using the camera orientation, a moving object's position (e.g., latitude, longitude and altitude) within a scene can be derived.

This invention describes a method and apparatus for security monitoring with a video camera. A mathematical model consisting of an array of cells, or learning map, is used to describe the motion of any object(s) detected by the camera. When an object(s) is detected, its positional location(s) for a period of time, or motion event, is recorded in a learning map. This learning map is then compared to a reference learning map where the camera determines whether to alert the user or not that an object of interest was detected. After viewing the video of the motion event, the user provides feedback that impacts how the reference learning map is updated by information in the motion event learning map. Through this user feedback mechanism, the camera learns to more accurately determine whether or not to alert the user about future motion events, thus reducing the number of false alarms.