August 23, 2006

GE Smart Camera Research

From Capital New 9:
A story on research at GE on smart camera technology. Nothing new, but another company focused on this market.

The article quotes Peter Tu:

"We've got thousand and thousands of cameras already up, you've got million and millions of pixels collected every second, if you really want to be proactive about stopping events that you might not even anticipate, video is essentially on of the key elements."

And so in a world that's battling terrorism, GE's video surveillance projects are crucial. Research Scientist Peter Tu and his team have been working on software that allows them to see several camera angles as one bird's eye view, programs that enhance face recognition. They can even track people in crowds.

Tu said, "If one is acting erratic or suspiciously then we can track this person, figure out who he is with, who he or she has been meeting with, what objects they're working with, which kinds of threatening behaviors, and possibly look them up against a database against know perps and terrorists." . . Tu said, "We can understand the motion of people, hopefully we can get to the point where we can get an articulated model of individuals and based on those motions and where people are looking, all of these things together we can combine that with the knowledge of what constitutes a dangerous act versus a safe one."

Posted by rshah at 10:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 22, 2006

Majority of Americans Support Video Surveillance

From WSJ.com:
The latest Harris poll shows that 70% of Americans favor expanded video surveillance. This is a high for video surveillance.

The question with the historical data:

Here are some increased powers of investigation that law enforcement agencies might use when dealing with people suspected of terrorist activity, which would also affect our civil liberties. For each, please say if you would favor or oppose it.

Expanded camera surveillance on streets and in public place

Posted by rshah at 06:42 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 07, 2006

Smart Cameras for Marketing Research

From PC-Welt:

Smart cameras are also applicable to marketing research. The article provides a few ideas along these lines:

Companies are using video to measure footfalls in stores and within subsections of stores. They map traffic -- where someone walks, where they stop and for how long -- to see how people browse. Why do they tend to stop longer in one spot? Is there something there that's drawing them? Are there "blind spots" in the store where people are missing good products? There's any number of things you can look for. The visual data is used to reconfigure store interiors to maximize marketing and drive sales. Outside the store, surveillance of mall parking lots can spot where traffic backups occur, so trouble spots can be reconfigured in ways that make it easier to park -- and shop

Posted by rshah at 09:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Doctors Using Cameras

From 10 Now:

A new study being conducted at Upstate Medical University will look into using images of crash scenes to help treat victims. Doctors will use traffic surveillance cameras to see the accidents and rescue operations to try to help the staff in the E.R. provide better care to crash victims. They will have access to 20 DOT cameras around Syracuse to see the accident scenes right after they happen. The idea is that if doctors know more about the accident, they can better treat the patient. The study is funded by Alfred Kahn, who survived a crash in 2003 and spent weeks recovering at University Hospital.

What an unusual use of traffic surveillance cameras! It will be interesting to see the results of the study.

Posted by rshah at 09:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack