Abstract:
The present invention relates generally to automated remote monitoring of construction projects. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for providing worldwide access to high-resolution images of construction projects, where the images are archived through the life of the project and can be accessed through secure connections to the Internet.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD  
       [0001]     The present invention relates generally to automated remote monitoring of construction projects. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for providing global access to high-resolution images of construction projects, where the images are archived through the life of the project and can be accessed through secure connections to the Internet.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     Webcams have long been used to provide streaming video which may be accessed through the Internet. Individuals may access the Internet through the use of web browsers or other software and can view these streaming videos on the displays of their computers. However, the resolution of such videos is very low to facilitate the speed and bandwidth that most individuals have access to in using the Internet. In particular, many construction sites do not have access to high bandwidth connections to the Internet. The low resolution of these webcam images greatly limits their usage for applications where a larger, clearer picture is desired. For example, a security camera webcam feed may indicate an intruder, but may be unable to provide a picture clear enough to identify the individual, thus limiting its usefulness for an online security application. Likewise, a high resolution image is required for a user to see a functional level of detail necessary for construction site project management.  
         [0003]     Construction project managers have long struggled with finding ways to effectively monitoring construction sites. Many project managers are overseeing multiple projects in multiple locations and cannot have their eye on every aspect of each project all the time. Equipment is commonly stolen from project sites, as unscrupulous individuals recognize the difficulty that a project manager would have in monitoring the site. Such monitoring capabilities are also extremely important for many other individuals involved in a construction project, for example, developers, consultants, investors, and other interested parties.  
         [0004]     A further difficulty exists for project managers in tracking the progress of a particular project. For example, construction on a project is often delayed due to weather. However, there exists opportunities for workers to take days and time off when the weather truly does not necessitate it and the project manager cannot be on site every minute to monitor the weather condition. While generic weather data is available for general areas, this information is commonly not accurate enough to indicate the actual weather occurring at a particular location.  
         [0005]     The use of traditional web cameras to monitor construction project sites for purposes of security and project monitoring has a number of problems that makes it impractical and relatively inept for those purposes. For example, many construction sites do not have dedicated high-bandwidth connections to the Internet available to facilitate streaming video at a resolution that would allow a project manager to monitor individuals effectively at the project site. Furthermore, the use of traditional web cameras does not allow the archiving of images for the life of the project so that a project manager would be able to confirm events based on a particular date and time in the past. Thus, a need exists for a system and method to allow high-resolution video images of project sites to be stored on a remote server, wherein a project manager can access them through a web enabled interface. A need further exists for a system for archiving said images in a format where they can be viewed through an interface allowing images to be pulled for specific past dates and times. There exists a further need for the images to be compiled in a format where they may be viewed in chronological order.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     The present invention meets the above-described needs by providing a system and method for the automated remote monitoring of a construction site. The system is made up of a remote camera component, the Internet, a remote server, a remote database, and a web interface. The remote camera may be set up in any desired location at which the project manager chooses to have the best view of a construction site. The system allows for the usage of multiple cameras depending upon the size of the construction site, so that the entire site may be monitored. In alternative embodiments of the present system, the cameras may be digital cameras and may communicate to the Internet via cellular telephone connections.  
         [0007]     The camera component contains a timer and a controller to operate the camera as to create images at pre-determined times. The camera further contains a solid-state memory chip for temporary storage of camera settings and image files. The database allows for the archiving of image files of various sizes and formats, which may be organized by date and time that the images were created. The web interface allows for the viewing of the images in chronological order, and may be password protected.  
         [0008]     These and other features, aspects and embodiments of the invention will be described in more detail below. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary system in accordance with certain embodiments of the present invention.  
         [0010]      FIG. 2 , is a diagram illustrating an exemplary web interface in accordance with certain embodiments of the present invention.  
         [0011]      FIG. 3 , is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method for remote camera operation in accordance with certain embodiments of the present invention.  
         [0012]      FIG. 4 , is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method for storing images created by a camera at a remote construction site in accordance with certain embodiments of the present invention.  
         [0013]      FIG. 5 , is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method for processing images at a server in accordance with certain embodiments of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0014]     The system of the preferred embodiment may be described by reference to the figures.  FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary system in accordance with certain embodiments of the present invention. The digital camera  101  should be capable of taking high-resolution images, where high-resolution refers to images stored at a resolution greater than 640×480 pixels. In alternative embodiments of the invention, the camera  101  is powered through a solar panel system which generates the power necessary to operate the digital camera  101 . In the preferred embodiment, the camera  101  operates through a wired power source  103 .  
         [0015]     The camera  101  is located at a construction site  160  which is located remotely from the central server  120 . Each construction site  160 , in the preferred embodiment, may have multiple cameras  101  which communicate to the central server  120  through a connection to the Internet  110 . The number of cameras  101  located at each remote construction site  160  may range from one to any number of cameras  101 . This allows a construction site  160  to be monitored from various angles and for the multiple cameras  101  to focus onto various areas located on the site  160 . Each of the cameras  101  has the capability to transmit the stored images to the remote server  120 . It should be understood that this invention may operate with any number of cameras  101  at each construction site  160 .  
         [0016]     In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, the cameras  101  transfer information to the remote server  120  via cellular telephone transmission, thus not requiring a directly wired connection to the Internet  110  for purposes of transmitting the images to the remote server  120 . In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the cameras  101  are connected to the Internet  110  through the use of traditional wired telephone lines. The system connects to the Internet  110  through dialing an Internet service provider, or employing other well-known methods for connecting to the Internet  110 .  
         [0017]     Located remote from the construction site, is a remote server  120  capable of receiving image files transmitted from the cameras  101  over the Internet  110 . The server  120  is capable of being in communication with the remote database  130  as well as each of the cameras  101  located at the various remote construction sites  160 . When the remote server  120  receives the image files, it subsequently moves the image files to the remote database  130  for long term storage. The process of movement from the server  120  to the remote database  130  is described in greater detail below. The remote database  130  stores the image files such that they are accessible by the server  120  at any time when a user  140  of the system wants to access the images through usage of the web interface  150 .  
         [0018]     Located remote from the construction site is a central database  130  with the storage capacity to hold image files from multiple cameras  101  creating images from multiple construction sites  160 . In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, multiple databases may be used, each of which is connected to the central server  120 . The images from each of the multiple databases may be accessed by the central server  120  and displayed on the web interface  150 .  
         [0019]     The preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a web interface  150  accessible via the Internet  110 . A user  140  may use a personal computer running web browsing software to access the web interface  150 . In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, access to the web interface  150  is controlled through a password-protected website. Thus, access is limited to prevent unscrupulous users from accessing images that may be proprietary to the operators of the construction site  160 .  
         [0020]     The web interface  150  includes a viewable area  210  on which the image is displayed. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the upper-most area of the web interface  150  and the left-most area of the interface  150  are employed to include controls to operate the features as described below.  
         [0021]     The system contains a database component  130 , a server component  120  and a web interface component  150 . The database component  130  provides for long term storage of the image files, so that a user  140  of the system may access the entirety of stored images taken from a particular construction site  160 . Furthermore, the database  130  allows a user  140  of the system to access individual images for various purposes, including marketing.  
         [0022]     The database  130  may communicate with the server  120  as to transmit the image files to the server  120  when they are called upon for display. In an alternate embodiment of the invention, the image files are stored in subdirectories located within database  130 , so that a subdirectory of images may be transferred to the server  120  for viewing on the web interface  150 . For example, a sub-directory may contain all image files corresponding to a particular date for a particular camera  101  at a construction site  160 . This may reduce the number of interactions between the database  130  and the server  120  thus increasing the overall speed of the system.  
         [0023]     In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, multiple databases  130  may be used to accomplish the goals of securely backing up the image data, as well as providing extended storage capacity for a greater number of construction sites  160 . Each of the multiple databases  130  may be connected to the central server  120 , or alternative servers provided that the alternative servers are capable of transmitting the image information to the web interface  150 . Likewise, in a separate alternative embodiment of the present invention, multiple databases  130  may be linked at the same location and operate using the same central server  120  for communication purposes. This embodiment would allow for greater storage capacity without the need for multiple remote locations for the databases  130  and the expense of additional servers  120  for communication.  
         [0024]     The preferred embodiment of the present invention employs a web interface  150  which operates using the XML protocol. It should be noted that this is not an exclusive protocol to operate the interface under. A user  140  of the system can access the web interface  150  through any program capable of browsing Internet pages, for example Microsoft Internet Explorer. In an alternate embodiment of the present invention, access to the web interface  150  may be restricted by a password entry system.  
         [0025]     In one embodiment of the present invention, the system initiates a middleware PHP layer. This middleware layer handles communications between the server  120  to the database  130  through usage of a SQL software interface. Likewise, the middleware layer may extract the directory structure as well as the image files to display on the web interface  150 .  
         [0026]     The web interface  150  as depicted in  FIG. 2 , initially displays a default image  220  for the date selected by the user  140 . This default image  220  may be determined based on a particular time of day, or any other factor requested by the user  140 . Once the default image  220  is displayed, the user  140  has the capability to move through subsequent images in chronological order. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the web interface  150  includes information to alert the user  140  as to which camera  101  they are viewing images from. This is particularly useful for users  140  who are monitoring sites  160  that employ multiple cameras  101 .  
         [0027]     The web interface  150  may also include a graphical representation of a monthly calendar  240 , wherein the user can select a particular date to view the default image  220  for that date and have subsequent access to all other images associated with the active camera  101  and selected date. The user  140  has the capability to change the active month viewed in the monthly calendar  240 .  
         [0028]     One advantage of displaying a high-resolution image is the ability to provide zooming capabilities for the user  140  to employ with any particular image that they view. The high resolution allows for a useful zoom, in that the user  140  can see intricate details that would not be available for them via traditional webcam technology. The web interface  150  contains a zoom control module  250  which allows the user  140  to adjust the zoom on the image  220 . When the viewable area  210  is zoomed in so that less than the entire image  220  can be viewed on the interface  150 , the preferred embodiment of the system allows the user to click and drag the image  220  as to control the area of the image  220  which is visible in the viewable area  210  of the web interface  150 .  
         [0029]     The web interface  150  may also contain a graphical representation of a timeline  230  where the user  140  may select a particular time on the timeline  230  to access the image  220  taken at that time. The timeline  230  may run from an early time in the selected date to a late time in the selected date. The timeline  230  may be organized so that each increment corresponds to each image  220  taken based on the pre-determined time interval on which camera  101  was set to store images. When a particular time is selected from the timeline  230 , the corresponding image  220  for the selected time will be displayed in the viewable area  210  of the web interface  150 .  
         [0030]     In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, various pieces of identification information may also be displayed on the web interface  150 . For example, the camera identification information  260  for the camera  101  from which the viewed image  220  originated may be displayed on the web interface  150 . Likewise, the date and time of the current image  220  may also be displayed. Furthermore, information sufficient to identify the construction site  160  at which the camera  101  is located may be displayed. In an alternative embodiment of the current invention, the web interface  150  may be branded as to display prominently a customer&#39;s name for marketing purposes should they choose to allow outside parties to view their web interface  150 .  
         [0031]     The preferred embodiment of the present invention employs a timer device  170  which is physically located within the circuitry of the camera  101  located at the remote construction site  160 . The timer  170  operates as to control the timing of when the camera  101  creates and stores images of the remote construction site  160 . For example, in one embodiment of the invention, the timer  170  may operate as to effectuate the camera  101  to create images every fifteen minutes. This time period may be pre-determined and could be set to any time period based on the needs of the user  140  of the system.  
         [0032]     Each camera  101  used in the preferred embodiment of the present invention contains a controller  180  which controls the connection between the camera  101  and its power source  103 . The timer  170  operates in such a way to periodically cause the controller  180  to block the power source  103  from providing power to the camera  101 . The timer  170  effectuates this process at a pre-determined time interval, for example, every sixty minutes. The timer  170  indicates to the controller  180  to reboot the system at each interval. At this point, the controller  180  is rebooted. This serves the purposes of fixing any problems caused by modem hangs, computer crashes, etc.  
         [0033]     Each camera  101  in the preferred embodiment of the present invention also contains a solid-state memory chip  190 , which operates similar to the RAM component of a personal computer. At the time of system start-up, as well as during each reboot of the controller  180 , the camera  101  loads its operating system into the solid-state memory chip  190 . Subsequently, the operating system starts a first script which controls the software module which handles the image creation and modification functions. Next, the operating system starts a second script which controls the software module which operates system diagnostic programs.  
         [0034]     As referenced in  FIG. 3 , in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the first script stores various information locally for the camera  101  to be used for the storage and the transmission of image files. For example, in one embodiment, at step  301 , the script downloads the information needed for the camera  101  to access the Internet  110  through a direct connection or through the use of an Internet service provider. The script, at step  301 , may load camera settings involving zoom, direction, resolution, and other similar settings. Likewise, at step  301  the script loads pre-determined time intervals appropriate for use with the timer component  170  of the camera  101 .  
         [0035]     The exemplary method proceeds to step  305  where the script applies the downloaded information to the camera  101 . Subsequently, at step  309 , the script attempts to connect the camera  101  to an Internet connection by using the loaded service provider information. This first attempt, in the case of a dial-up connection will dial the number and transmit login information to complete the connection to the Internet  110 . However, many Internet service providers can become overloaded, and this initial connection attempt may fail. To overcome this problem, one embodiment of the present invention, upon failure at step  309 , will proceed to step  313 , where the system operates to attempt connection a second time through a different access telephone number or through a different Internet service provider. Similarly, if the second connection attempt fails at step  313 , the system will proceed to step  316 , where connection is next attempted through a pre-determined fail-safe toll free number loaded by the script at boot-up.  
         [0036]     If no connection can be made after the last attempt at step  316 , the system proceeds to step  318 , where the controller  180  reboots and the system returns to step  301  and begins the connection procedure again. The system operates in this fashion until a successful connection is made. In the preferred embodiment of the system, the reasons for connection failure are stored on the solid-state memory chip  190 . When a successful connection is made, the system proceeds to step  321 , where a log of connection failures, if any, is transmitted to the remote server  120  for troubleshooting purposes.  
         [0037]     In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the system next proceeds to step  324 , where the second script starts diagnostic tools to maintain proper operation of the camera system. This second script may be run at pre-determined intervals after the controller  170  boots up the system. For example, after the script begins, the system proceeds to step  327 , where the camera transmits the connection log to the central server  120  for troubleshooting purposes. Next, the method proceeds to step  330 , where the second script operates to download updated settings for the operation of the camera  101 .  
         [0038]     In one embodiment of the present invention, the settings downloaded in step  330  may include one or more of the following: camera zoom, white balance, resolution, sleep time in-between pictures, Internet service provider account information, information as to whether or not to accept the changes, file transfer protocol information, login information for the server, and time information. The file transfer protocol information may include the network address of the central server  120  so that the camera  101  knows where to address the stored image files queued for uploading to the central server  120 .  
         [0039]     In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the system operates as depicted in  FIG. 4 . At step  403 , the method determines if a pre-determined time interval has been reached. If so, the method proceeds to step  404 , where the camera  101  is triggered to create a new image of the construction site  160 . If not, the method returns to the starting step  401 . After an image is created by the camera  101 , the method proceeds to step  406 , where the camera  101  creates the image applying the downloaded camera settings. Next, at step  409 , the image file is stored on the solid-state memory chip  190 . In alternative embodiments, the camera  101  may incorporate a separate hard drive to store image information. The preferred embodiment uses a solid-state memory chip  190  to minimize the number of moving pieces stored in the camera  101  to increase the life of the camera  101 . Likewise during a power outage, there will be no loss of stored data.  
         [0040]     The exemplary method next proceeds to step  412 , where the image file is labeled with identifying information which may include the time of image creation, as well as information which identifies the camera  101  which stored the image and the construction site  160  at which the image was created. The method then proceeds to step  415 , where tracking information is stored in a log which can be transmitted to the central server  120 . The information stored in this log may consist of time connected, memory usage, CPU usage, and connection speed during connections to the central server  120 .  
         [0041]     In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the central server  120  operates as indicated in  FIG. 5 . At step  501 , the server  120  begins scripts which control the receipt and transmission of information at the server  120  when a successful connection is made with the camera  101 . The method proceeds to step  504 , where the scripts cause the uploading of log information and image files from the remote camera  101 . When the server receives an image file, the method proceeds to step  510 , where the image file is prepared for transmission to the database  130 .  
         [0042]     The system operates to maintain a directory structure in the database  130  containing subdirectories for each date associated with each camera  101 . Within the subdirectory, an indication is made of which image file serves as the default image file to display upon the user  140  selecting a particular date to view images via the web interface  150 . These subdirectories may also be used for organization of the different file types made for each original image created. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the subdirectories are organized by date, containing all images associated with that date and the associated camera  101 .  
         [0043]     At step  510 , for each image file that is uploaded from a remote camera  101 , the image file is analyzed at the server  120  to determine if the image has been uploading for longer than a pre-determined amount of time. If the image has not been uploading for longer than the pre-determined amount of time, the method proceeds to step  515 , where the server  120  scans the image to determine is the image is complete. If the image has been uploading for longer than the pre-determined amount of time and is not a complete image, the method proceeds to step  520 , where the image is deleted and the server  120  records the event of the image deletion. After deletion of the image, the method returns to step  504 .  
         [0044]     Once an image is successfully uploaded, the method proceeds to step  524 , where the server  120  runs image processing software to enhance the image. In one embodiment of the present invention, such enhancement may include the adjustment of auto-level and contrast. However, the limitations on image enhancement are based on the particular image processing software loaded on the server which may include any number of image processing options.  
         [0045]     Next, at step  528 , the server performs a comparison of the camera identification number associated with the image file with information stored in the database  130  to determine which remote construction site  160  the image file is associated with. Based on the identification of the appropriate construction site  160 , the method proceeds to step  534 , where the server  120  moves the image file to the appropriate directory in the directory structure for files in the database  130 .  
         [0046]     Subsequent to the determination of the appropriate location for storage of the file, the server  120  creates a number of image files from the initial image file. The central system may create a number of image files of various sizes (i.e., thumbnails), and file formats (i.e., .jpg, .swf, etc.). This allows a user  140  of the exemplary system to store lower resolution copies of the original image files for posting on various web sites separate from the web interface  150  integrated in the present system.  
         [0047]     Similarly, the system operates to convert the uploaded time information associated with the image file to a human-readable format, which may be displayed on the web interface  150 .  
         [0048]     As may be seen from the foregoing, the present invention provides systems and methods for providing remote monitoring services for remote construction sites. It should be appreciated that the exemplary aspects and features of the present invention as described above are not intended to be interpreted as required or essential elements of the invention, unless explicitly stated as such. It should also be appreciated that the foregoing description of exemplary embodiments was provided by way of illustration only and that many other modifications, features, embodiments and operating environments are possible. Accordingly, the scope of the present invention should be limited only by the claims to follow.