IoT Camera Ignore Mask for Bandwidth Reduction

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Solution Overview

Problem

IoT cameras often generate errant alerts and excessive network bandwidth usage due to the detection of 'high motion' events, leading to false positives and failures to trigger alerts for relevant events.

Innovation Solution

The system employs a computer-implemented method that generates an ignore mask based on video data from IoT cameras, specifying regions that should not trigger alerts. This ignore mask is transmitted to the IoT camera, allowing it to filter out irrelevant motion and reduce unnecessary network transmissions.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If IoT camera detects motion in all regions, then motion detection sensitivity is improved, but false positive alerts increase and network bandwidth is wasted

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvemotion detection sensitivityVSAvoidfalse positive alerts
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSObject-generated harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The video stream is divided into multiple regions of interest (ROIs), allowing the system to apply different detection sensitivities and alert rules to different spatial zones. This segmentation enables the camera to focus computational resources on critical areas while ignoring irrelevant motion in other regions, thereby reducing false positives while maintaining detection sensitivity where needed.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

Different regions of the video stream are assigned different properties and detection thresholds based on their importance. Critical areas have higher sensitivity and trigger alerts more readily, while non-critical areas have lower sensitivity or are excluded from alert generation entirely. This local differentiation resolves the contradiction by applying high measurement precision only where necessary.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

2Reliability

If IoT camera transmits all video data, then complete monitoring coverage is achieved, but network bandwidth consumption increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvemonitoring coverageVSAvoidnetwork bandwidth consumption
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

The system extracts and transmits only the regions of interest from the complete video stream, rather than transmitting all video data. By identifying and isolating critical ROIs, the system maintains reliable monitoring coverage of important areas while dramatically reducing network bandwidth consumption by excluding irrelevant regions from transmission.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

Instead of transmitting the complete video stream, the system transmits only a partial portion - specifically the regions of interest - that are sufficient for achieving reliable monitoring coverage. This partial action approach reduces network bandwidth consumption while maintaining the reliability needed for security monitoring in critical areas.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #16Partial or excessive action

3Loss of information

If IoT camera generates alerts for all motion events, then alert completeness is improved, but user alert fatigue increases and relevant alerts are missed

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvealert completenessVSAvoidalert fatigue
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of informationVSObject-generated harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

Alert generation is segmented by region, with different alert rules applied to different ROIs. Critical regions generate alerts that are prioritized and less likely to cause fatigue, while non-critical regions either generate no alerts or generate lower-priority alerts. This segmentation maintains alert completeness for important events while reducing overall alert volume to prevent fatigue.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

Different alert properties and thresholds are applied locally to different regions. High-priority regions have sensitive alert triggers with complete coverage, while low-priority regions have higher thresholds or suppressed alert generation. This local quality differentiation ensures completeness where needed while reducing overall alert volume to prevent user fatigue.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

Data Source

PatentEP4535303A1Reducing internet of things (IOT) camera alerts and network bandwidth with assisted cold/hot zone determination
Publication Date: 2025.04.09 ROKU INC
  • EP4535303A1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4535303A1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP4535303A1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

Disclosed herein are system, apparatus, article of manufacture, method and/or computer program product embodiments, and/or combinations and sub-combinations thereof, for reducing irrelevant alerts and/or network bandwidth usage from Internet of Things (IoT) cameras through the intelligent filtering out of video data. An example embodiment operates by receiving video data from an IoT camera. The embodiment further generates an ignore mask based on the video data, wherein the ignore mask specifies one or more regions in a video stream from the IoT camera that cannot trigger an alert. The embodiment then transmits the ignore mask to the IoT camera. The embodiment then receives the video stream from the IoT camera in response to transmitting the ignore mask to the IoT camera. The embodiment then determines that the video stream is associated with the alert. The embodiment may then transmit the alert to a user device in response to the determining.