Security Drone Imaging Control for Excluding Adjacent Properties
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Solution Overview
Problem
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) face challenges in selectively surveilling areas while avoiding adjacent properties to respect privacy and minimize unauthorized capture of images or videos, particularly when distinguishing between surveilled and unsurveilled sections.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a method using drones equipped with imaging devices and on-board circuitry to dynamically adjust altitude and viewing angles, employing adjustment algorithms to exclude specific sections from surveillance imagery, and utilizing multiple cameras to calculate and adjust frame coverages to avoid capturing adjacent properties.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If the drone surveills a broader area to improve monitoring coverage, then surveillance effectiveness is improved, but privacy intrusion into adjacent properties increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic adjustment of viewing angles and altitude based on real-time detection of property boundaries and structures. The imaging device continuously adapts its parameters to maintain surveillance of the target property while automatically excluding adjacent properties, resolving the contradiction between coverage area and privacy protection.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from image processing and object detection to continuously adjust surveillance parameters. When the drone detects boundaries or structures indicating adjacent properties, it receives feedback to modify its viewing angles and altitude, ensuring privacy compliance while maintaining effective surveillance of the authorized area.
2Ease of operation
If the drone uses fixed viewing angles to simplify control, then ease of operation is improved, but ability to exclude specific sections deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The drone system performs self-adjustment of viewing angles and altitude based on automated processing of image data and detection of property boundaries. The pilot does not need to manually control these parameters; the system autonomously optimizes surveillance coverage while excluding unauthorized areas, maintaining ease of operation without sacrificing adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically changes imaging parameters such as viewing angles, altitude, and field-of-view based on processed image data and detected environmental features. This dynamic parameter adjustment enables precise control over surveillance areas without requiring complex manual intervention from the operator.
3Productivity
If the drone processes image data in real-time to improve surveillance responsiveness, then productivity is improved, but computational resource requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system processes only the necessary portions of image data required for boundary detection and surveillance control, rather than analyzing every pixel in full resolution. This partial processing approach maintains real-time responsiveness while significantly reducing computational energy consumption compared to complete image analysis.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, are described for performing privacy-aware surveillance with a security camera drone. The drone obtains image data using an imaging device and processes the image data to detect an object external to the drone. In response to processing the image data, the drone determines multiple viewing angles indicated in the image data with respect to the object. Based on the image data and the multiple viewing angles, a first section of the area for surveillance and a second, different section of the area to be excluded from surveillance are identified. The drone determines an adjustment to at least one of the multiple viewing angles to cause the second section to be excluded from surveillance. Based on the adjustment, the drone controls the imaging device to exclude the second section from surveillance imagery obtained by the drone.