Low power video security monitoring system

Claim 1

A video security monitoring system comprising: a video camera for producing a video signal from an image of an area viewed by a lens of said video camera, said video camera including an iris control; a digital video image compression subsystem for receiving the video signal from said video camera, for digitally processing the video signal to determine if any motion is occurring in the area viewed by the lens of said video camera, for converting the video signal into compressed digital video data that provides an image of the area viewed by the lens of said video camera, and for transmitting the compressed digital video data; a digital signal transmission interface and control for controlling operation of said video camera and said digital video image compression subsystem, for receiving the compressed digital video data from said digital video image compression subsystem, and for transmitting the compressed digital video data from said video security monitoring system to a remote video monitoring facility via a communication channel if said digital video image compression subsystem determines that motion has occurred in the area viewed by the lens of said video camera, said digital signal transmission interface and control also managing power consumption by said video security monitoring system by causing said video camera and said digital signal image compression subsystem to operate at a slower clock speed when motion is not present in the area viewed by the lens of said video camera and to operate at a faster clock speed upon detecting motion in the area viewed by the lens of said video camera; and a camera controller for effecting changes in settings of the iris control of said video camera to compensate for changes in video camera sensitivity resulting from operation of said video camera at different clock speeds in effecting power management of said video security monitoring system.

Claim 29

A method for operating a video security monitoring system, the video security monitoring system including a video camera and a digital video image compression subsystem that are fabricated using digital circuits which operate in response to a clock signal, said method comprising the steps of: providing a slow clock signal to the digital circuits included in the video security monitoring system whereby the video security monitoring system requires a low amount of electrical power; producing a video signal from an image of an area viewed by a lens of the video camera and transmitting the video signal to the digital video image compression subsystem; digitally processing the video signal in the digital video image compression subsystem to determine if any motion is occurring in the area viewed by the lens of the video camera; if motion is detected in the area viewed by the lens of the video camera, providing the digital circuits included in the video security monitoring system with a faster clock signal thereby changing video camera sensitivity and increasing the amount of electrical power required by the video security monitoring system, and altering an iris of the video camera to compensate for a change in video camera sensitivity and commencing conversion by the digital video image compression subsystem of successive images of the video signal received from the video camera into compressed digital video data to produce compressed digital video data for a sequence of images of the area viewed by the lens of the video camera; and transmitting the compressed digital video data from the video security monitoring system to a remote video monitoring facility via a communication channel.

Claim 30

A method for operating a video security monitoring system, the video security monitoring system including a video camera and a digital video image compression subsystem that are fabricated using digital circuits which operate in response to a clock signal, said method comprising the steps of: providing a slow clock signal to the digital circuits included in the video security monitoring system whereby the video security monitoring system requires a low amount of electrical power; producing a video signal from an image of an area viewed by a lens of the video camera and transmitting the video signal to the digital video image compression subsystem; digitally processing the video signal in the digital video image compression subsystem to determine if any motion is occurring in the area viewed by the lens of the video camera; if motion is detected in the area viewed by the lens of the video camera, providing the digital circuits included in the video security monitoring system with a faster clock signal thereby changing video camera sensitivity and increasing the amount of electrical power required by the video security monitoring system, and altering an iris of the video camera to compensate for a change in video camera sensitivity and commencing conversion by the digital video image compression subsystem of successive images of the video signal received from the video camera into compressed digital video data to produce compressed digital video data for a sequence of images of the area viewed by the lens of the video camera; and transmitting the compressed digital video data from the video security monitoring system to a remote video monitoring facility via a communication channel.