Unified Activity Map Generation Circuit for Multi-Camera Monitoring
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing single-camera activity maps cannot effectively combine data from multiple cameras covering a broad area into a unified view, limiting the ability to monitor movement of objects of interest across different fields of view with varying orientations and perspectives.
Innovation Solution
The development of an apparatus and method that generates unified activity maps by transforming and normalizing activity feature maps from multiple cameras to a common perspective, allowing for the combination and display of these maps alongside trajectory graphs, enabling the monitoring of movement features like density, dwell, direction, and velocity across a wide area.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If multiple single-camera activity maps are combined into a unified wide-area activity map, then the coverage area is improved, but the complexity of data transformation and normalization increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the wide-area monitoring task into multiple single-camera fields of view, generating individual activity maps for each camera. Each camera independently processes its own field of view to create a localized activity map, which is then integrated into the unified wide-area map. This segmentation approach enables broad coverage while managing complexity through modular processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary processing layer that performs transformations and normalizations on activity features from different cameras. This intermediary layer standardizes the data from multiple camera perspectives into a common coordinate system and feature representation, enabling seamless integration into a unified activity map without requiring complex direct pairwise transformations between all cameras.
2Stability of the object's composition
If activity maps from multiple cameras with different fields of view are standardized to a common perspective, then the consistency of the unified view is improved, but the processing time and computational resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary transformations and normalizations on activity features during the map generation phase, converting camera-specific coordinates and perspectives into a standardized common perspective before integration. By pre-processing and standardizing data as it arrives from each camera, the system avoids costly real-time transformations during the unified map assembly, reducing overall processing time while maintaining view consistency.
3Loss of information
If multiple activity feature maps are overlayed and combined, then the comprehensiveness of activity analysis is improved, but the complexity of data integration increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple activity feature maps (density, dwell, direction, etc.) from different cameras into a unified activity map by overlaying them in a common coordinate system. The system integrates these diverse feature types through standardized normalization processes, combining them into a comprehensive unified representation that preserves information from all source cameras and feature types while managing integration complexity through systematic processing.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus for monitoring movement of objects of interest in an area includes an activity map generation circuit and a unified activity map generation circuit. The activity map generation circuit is configured to: generate a plurality of activity maps based on video content from a plurality of cameras, each of the plurality of activity maps being indicative of relative activity of the objects of interest over time within a field of view of a camera among the plurality of cameras, and each of the plurality of cameras having a different corresponding field of view in the area; and standardize the plurality of activity maps with regard to a single common point of view. The unified spatial activity map generation circuit is configured to combine the plurality of standardized activity maps into a unified activity map.