Abstract:
A pool safety sensing system to attempt to reduce the likelihood of drowning visually observes a zone with a camera, and if detected motion occurs, and alarm is generated. The alarm can be visible, audible, text based (email, with or without attached images, instant message) or telephonic. Alarm events can be stored for future reference. Zones of sensing or zones to ignore when monitoring may be defined in the field of view of the camera. Motion thresholds, such as size of moving object, speed of movement, can be employed to adapt to particular location requirements and types of sensing.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     This invention relates to swimming pool safety, security and intrusion detection, and more particularly to a video analysis based surveillance system for watching swimming pool area activity.  
         [0002]     Some 248 children drown annually in swimming pools, typically as a result of unmonitored children entering the pool area when adults are not present and falling into the pool. 2054 hospital emergency rooms visits related to near-drowning incidents occurred in a recent year, 42% of those requiring hospitalization, with medical costs ranging from $20,000 to $150,000, depending on the severity of the incident.  
         [0003]     These pool accidents can happen quickly. 75% of the victims noted above were missing less than 5 minutes.  
         [0004]     Typical home security monitoring systems are not suitable for addressing this problem, as they employ remote central station monitoring, which can be slow to respond (or not respond at all). Such remote stations result in notification that is too late given the short response window required to prevent permanent injury to a drowning victim, as brain damage can occur within 3 minutes of drowning.  
         [0005]     In an attempt to address the issue of unattended child or unauthorized pool access, alarm systems for swimming pools are available. These systems include water disturbance or displacement detectors which determine when either the surface or subsurface of the water moves or is displaced as a result of a person entering the pool water. Such detector systems have disadvantages, being susceptible to false alarms. Also, since such an alarm does not activate until after the child is in the water, the alarm response is reactive rather than preventive and critical time is lost.  
         [0006]     Mechanical safety systems may also be employed, such as fencing the pool area to prevent access to the pool area and/or pool covers to prevent access to the water. These types of solutions do not provide any notification of entry to the pool or pool area, can be expensive to install, require active participation (e.g., locking a gate or installing the cover after each use of the pool), and can be intrusive to the yard (aesthetically unpleasing fencing, for example).  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0007]     In accordance with the invention, a system employing video monitoring of a pool area, with movement recognition and adaptability to different needs is provided.  
         [0008]     Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved system for reducing the likelihood of accidental drowning of unsupervised children.  
         [0009]     It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved pool safety observation system for alerting of unauthorized access to the pool area.  
         [0010]     It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved pool safety security system for alerting of unauthorized access to the pool area.  
         [0011]     It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an improved swimming pool sensing system to detect movement around a pool zone.  
         [0012]     The subject matter of the present invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of this specification. However, both the organization and method of operation, together with further advantages and objects thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following description taken in connection with accompanying drawings wherein like reference characters refer to like elements. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0013]      FIG. 1  is a schematic view of a system according to the invention; and  
         [0014]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a sensing system according to the invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0015]     The system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a sensing system adapted to define sensing areas and events that would result in an alarm condition, suitably via video analysis sensing. Multiple alarm actions and notifications can be selected. The system may be employed for safety, security and intrusion detection.  
         [0016]     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a schematic diagram of a sensing system, a swimming pool  12  is observed by one or more video cameras  14  which observe the pool area. A observation perimeter  16  (or multiple such perimeters or zones) is defined around the pool such that upon detection of certain movement or events through the perimeter, an alarm communication is made to drive an internal and/or external notification process. Such notification may include triggering an audible alarm  18 , for example. The system is suitably armed or disarmed from house  20 , or via a pool side control (not shown). The monitoring zones may be set by selection of an area or areas on a video display or displays that show the monitored views visible by the cameras  14 . Such selection of areas may be defined by operation of a mouse or other suitable pointing or motion devices to draw or define zones which define monitored zones that are considered when determining alarm conditions or ignored zones that are disregarded when determining alarm conditions. Individual monitored (or ignored) zones may be set to different levels of sensitivity such that different degrees of motion or size of moving objects may be set that are required in a monitored zone or ignored zone to generate an alarm condition.  
         [0017]     Referring now to  FIG. 2 , a block diagram of an exemplary system, the camera  14  (or cameras) is suitably positioned to have a view of the area being observed, which in the illustrated application is a swimming pool area. The output of the camera is supplied to a processor  21  via such video processing/conversion circuits as may be required. The processor interacts with a user interface which enables setting of features and activation of the system, as well as display of status or information to a user. The processor further interfaces with a visual alert  24 , an audio alert  26 , an email (or other computer network communication such as instant messaging, file transfer, etc.) alert  28  and a telephone alert  30 .  
         [0018]     On detection of an alert condition as viewed by camera  14  and interpreted by processor  21 , an alarm may be sounded to indicate that someone has entered the sensing area. The alerts can suitably be one or more of a visual alert (flashing light, for example), audio alter (horn, bell, other sound alert), and email or other network communication alert, and a telephone alert, which might call one or more phone numbers (cell phone, neighbor&#39;s home, etc.) to deliver an alert message. The network alert can be an instant message, an email with attached images selected from the images from the camera that resulted in the alert.  
         [0019]     The system can further include a video monitor  32 , for example, to enable viewing of the image being supplied by the camera from a location remote from the pool. Further, a recorder  34  may be provided to record the images supplied by the camera  14 . Recording can be done on a continuous basis, or only when an event is detected. Events can be archived if desired, storing a certain number of events, e.g., the last 5 or 10 events, or specific events can be saved indefinitely.  
         [0020]     The detected events will typically be motion in the field of view of the camera(s). This can comprise motion crossing a certain defined perimeter in the view, which may be set by the user, or any motion within a particular zone or zones defined in the field of view of the camera. The amount of motion or size of object moving that is required to trigger an event may be adjusted, so that, for example, a small bird flying through the camera field of view will not register as an event, but a human child or adult moving will be large enough to be interpreted as an alarm event. Further, the speed at which movement is occurring may be a factor to determine whether an alarm event has taken place. For example, a high speed movement might be considered to not be an alarm event, so that an animal running through would not generate an alarm, but a much slower moving object, which might represent a small child crawling along, would generate an alarm.  
         [0021]     The system may further be provided with an interface  36  adapted to connect to a network or other remote access technology, to enable remote testing, servicing or control, for example.  
         [0022]     The processor provides the ability to separate foreground and background, wherein the system can be setup to learn the background objects in the view of the camera, being able to ignore movement or slight change in the background, while detecting foreground activity. Further, areas in the field of view can be masked off or on so as to be ignored or specifically observed, as desired and necessary according to the particular installation. So, for example, if one portion of the view of the camera is of a high traffic area that is out of the pool perimeter of concern, such as a walkway, the user can select that portion of view and instruct the system to ignore movement in that area, so as to not generate false alarms.  
         [0023]     In accordance with the invention, a system is provided to afford increased pool safety to reduce the likelihood of unattended children drowning, particularly in residential swimming pool environments. Various types of alarms and alerts may be selected, as well as recording/archiving of events. System sensitivity, types of events suitable for alert and sensing zones can be adjusted to accommodate individual location factors. The system is also suitable for security monitoring of a pool and for intrusion detection.  
         [0024]     While a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many changes and modifications may be made without departing from the invention in its broader aspects. The appended claims are therefore intended to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.