Patent Abstract:
An electronic device connected with at least one digital video camera dynamically monitors an area where the digital video camera covers. The electronic device displays a monitor point tree, where each node corresponds to a digital video camera. The electronic device can dynamically create an icon control component of a selected digital video camera on an electronic map by dragging and dropping the node corresponding to the one selected on a electronic map. The electronic device can play a video feed of the digital video camera by clicking on the created icon control component.

Full Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    1. Technical Field 
         [0002]    Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to user interfaces, and more particularly to an electronic device and method for surveillance control thereof. 
         [0003]    2. Description of Related Art 
         [0004]    Vendors of surveillance devices rarely adopt unified surveillance system software. Incompatibilities among surveillance systems cause different surveillance devices difficulties in sharing and communication information with one another. In addition, controls of surveillance systems are usually rigid and not user friendly. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0005]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of one embodiment of an electronic device providing surveillance control. 
           [0006]      FIG. 2  is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a method for surveillance control. 
           [0007]      FIG. 3  is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of step S 1  in  FIG. 2 . 
           [0008]      FIG. 4  is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of step S 2  in  FIG. 2 . 
           [0009]      FIG. 5  is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of step S 3  of  FIG. 2 . 
           [0010]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a method for changing the position of an Icon control component. 
           [0011]      FIG. 7  is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of step S 316  of  FIG. 5 . 
           [0012]      FIG. 8  is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a method for displaying the Icon control component. 
           [0013]      FIG. 9  is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of step S 4  in  FIG. 2 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0014]    The disclosure is illustrated by way of example and not by way of limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which like references indicate similar elements. It should be noted that references to “an” or “one” embodiment in this disclosure are not necessarily to the same embodiment, and such references mean at least one. 
         [0015]    In general, the word “module” as used herein, refers to logic embodied in hardware or firmware, or to a collection of software instructions, written in a programming language, for example, Java, C, or assembly. One or more software instructions in the module may be integrated in firmware, such as an EPROM. It will be appreciated that module may comprise connected logic units, such as gates and flip-flops, and may comprise programmable units, such as programmable gate arrays or processors. The units described herein may be implemented as software and/or hardware unit and may be stored in any type of computer-readable medium or other computer storage device. 
         [0016]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an electronic device  10  comprising a display device  30  and a surveillance control system  20 . The electronic device  10  is electronically connected with at least one digital video recorder  40  and an input device  50 . The digital video recorder  40  is connected with the electronic device  10  via a communication network. The communication network can be a local area network, a personal area network, WIFI, or the Internet, for example. The input device  50  may be a keyboard and a mouse connected to the electronic device  10 , for example, to conduct data registration for the electronic device  10 . The electronic device  10  further comprises a memory system  102  to store a database  22  which contains names and locations of monitor points. In the embodiment, the monitor points represents the at least one digital video recorder  40  on an electronic map. One monitor point corresponds to one digital video recorder  40 . Depending on the embodiment, the electronic device  10  can be a personal computer, or a notebook, for example. 
         [0017]    The system  20  includes a display module  200 , a set-up module  202 , a generation module  204 , a storage module  206 , and a surveillance module  208 . One or more computerized codes of the modules  200 - 208  are stored in the memory system  102  and executed by one or more processors  101  of the electronic device  10 . 
         [0018]    In the embodiment, the display module  200  is operable to display the monitor points on the display device  30 . The monitor points are maintained with a tree data-structure according to a hierarchy of geographic locations of the at least one digital video recorder  40 . For example, Shenzhen/LongHua/B3/3 rd  floor means a monitor point at the 3 rd  floor of building B3, in Long Hua district, in Shenzhen, wherein the 3 rd  floor is a leaf node of the tree data-structure. The monitor points are stored in the memory system  102  using the database  22 . 
         [0019]    In the embodiment, the set-up module  202  is operable to set up the electronic map for the monitor points and to save the electronic map in the database  22 . The display module  200  displays the electronic map on the device  30 . In the embodiment, the monitor point is a leaf node of the tree data-structure. 
         [0020]    In the embodiment, the generation module  204  generates an Icon control component for a selected monitor point in the electronic map, in response to a drag and drop operation on the selected monitor point. In addition, the generation module  204  changes the position of the generated Icon control component on the electronic map using the drag and drop operation. The Icon control component is an assembly of certain icon control component components of MICROSOFT .NET Framework encapsulated by the generation module  204 . 
         [0021]    In the embodiment, the storage module  206  is operable to store an identifier (ID) of the Icon control component in the database  22  stored in the memory system  102 , in response to a confirmation of the position of the icon control component on the electronic map from the user. In the embodiment, the confirmation can be a click on a “save” button on the electronic map. The display module  200  displays the Icon control component stored previously on the display device  30 . 
         [0022]    In the embodiment, the surveillance module  208  is operable to connect to the digital video recorder  40  via the communication network, in response to a click event of the input device  50 . The click event is associated with the Icon control component by the generation module  204  upon generation. 
         [0023]      FIG. 2  is a flowchart of one embodiment of a method for surveillance control of the electronic device  10 . Depending on the embodiments, additional blocks may be added, others removed, and the ordering of the blocks may be changed. 
         [0024]    In block S 1 , the display module  200  displays the monitor point tree on the display device  30 . In block S 2 , the set-up module  202  sets up the electronic map for the monitor point tree and saves the electronic map in the database  22  stored in the memory system  102  of the electronic device  10 . The display module  200  displays the electronic map on the device  30 . In block S 3 , the generation module  204  generates the Icon control component for the selected node of the monitor point tree, in the electronic map, in response to a drag and drop operation of the input device  50  on the selected node. In addition, the generation module  204  can change the position of the generated Icon control component on the electronic map using the drag and drop operation. In the embodiment, the display module  200  displays the Icon control component stored previously on the display device  30 . In block S 4 , the surveillance module  208  connects to the video feed of the digital video recorder  40 , in response to a click event of the input device  50 . The surveillance module  208  shows a video feed page. The display module  200  plays the video feed of the digital video recorder on the video feed page. 
         [0025]      FIG. 3  is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of step S 1  in  FIG. 2 . In block  10 , the display module  200  reads the information of each monitor point from the database  22  stored in the memory system  102  of the electronic device  10 . In the embodiment, the information includes names and locations of the monitor points. In block  11 , the display module  200  binds each monitor point to the node of the tree data-structure according to the hierarchy of geographic location of the digital video recorder  50  and displays the nodes as the monitor point tree on the display device  30 . In the embodiment, the tree data-structure is implemented with UltraWebTree, a component of MICROSOFT .NET Framework. In block  12 , a user selects a node from the tree structure using the input device  50 . In block  13 , the display module  200  verifies if the selected node is a leaf node. If the selected node is a leaf node, the process goes to block S 14 . If the selected node is not a leaf node, the process goes back to block S 12 . In block S 14 , the display module reads the corresponding name of the selected node from the database  22  and displays the corresponding name on the display device  30 . 
         [0026]      FIG. 4  is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of step S 2  in  FIG. 2 . In block  20 , the set-up module  202  shows a set-up page. In block S 21 , the set-up module  202  selects an image file from the memory system  102  using a FileUpload component of MICROSOFT .NET Framework, in response to a click on a “set up electronic map” button on the set-up page. In the embodiment, the image file is the electronic map file. In block S 22 , the set-up module  202  verifies if the format of selected file is compatible using a RegularExpressionValidator component of MICROSOFT .NET Framework. If the format is compatible, the process goes to block S 24 . Otherwise, the process goes to block S 23 . In the embodiment, the compatible image file formats are GIF, PNG, JPG, and BMP. In block S 23 , the set-up module  202  informs the user that the selected file is not compatible, and the process goes back to block S 21 . In block S 24 , the set-up module  202  scales the selected file to fit the display device  30  of the electronic device  10 , 70% smaller for example, using an AlphaImageLoader component of MICROSOFT .NET Framework. In block S 25 , the set-up module  202  converts the selected file into a binary string, using a predetermined conversion function In block S 26 , the set-up module  202  stores the binary string in the database  22 , using a predetermined save function, in response to a click on a “save map” button on the set-up page. In block S 27 , the display module  200  refreshes the parent page, using a refresh function to display the saved file. 
         [0027]      FIG. 5  is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of step S 3  of  FIG. 2 . In block S 310 , the generation module  204  verifies if the electronic map has been set up. If the electronic map has been set up, the process goes to S 311 . Otherwise, the process goes to S 312 . In block S 312 , the generation module  204  reminds the user to set up the electronic map before proceeding and the process ends. In block S 311 , the user drags a selected node of the monitor point tree to the electronic map and drops the selected node on the electronic map, using the input device  50 . The generation module  204  stores information of the Icon control component in the memory system  102 . In the embodiment, the information includes an ID and position of the Icon control component, wherein the ID consists of the string “pic” concatenated with the name of the selected node and the position is where the user drops the node. In block S 313 , the generation module  204  creates an Icon control component in response to the drop operation of the input device  50 , using JAVA script technology. If the Icon control component has already been generated, the generation module  204  informs the user that the Icon control component has already been generated. In block S 314 , the generation module  204  assigns an icon image to the created Icon control component. In block S 314 , the generation module  204  associates the assigned Icon control component with a click event using MICROSOFT .NET Framework. In the block S 316 , the display module  200  shows the Icon control component as the assigned icon image on the electronic map on the position thereof. 
         [0028]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a method for changing the position of the Icon control component on the electronic map. In block S 320 , the user selects a generated Icon control component from the electronic map. In block S 321 , the generation module  204  saves the ID and position of the selected Icon. In block S 322 , the generation module  204  tracks the present position of Icon control component in response to the drag operation. In block S 323 , the generation module  204  moves the Icon control component to the present position using a transpose function call, in response to the drop operation. In block S 324 , the generation module  204  saves the new position to the position entry of the generated Icon control component in the database  22  stored in the memory system  102  of the electronic device  10 , in response to the drop operation. 
         [0029]      FIG. 7  is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of step S 316  of  FIG. 5 . In block S 410 , the storage module  206  retrieves the ID and position of the Icon control component, in response to the click on the “save” button on the set-up page. In block S 411 , the storage module  206  resolves the name and location of the monitor point corresponding to the Icon control component using Ajax technology. In block S 412 , the storage module  206  stores the ID and position of the Icon control component along with the name and location of the monitor point in the database  22  stored in the memory system  102  of the electronic device  10 . 
         [0030]      FIG. 8  is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a method for displaying the Icon control component. In block S 420 , the user selects a leaf node from the monitor point tree. In block  421 , the display module  200  reads the binary string according to the name of the selected leaf node from the database  22 . In block S 422 , the display module  200  converts the binary string to the image file and uses the image file as a background image. In block S 423 , the display module  200  resolves the names and locations of all the nodes of the monitor point tree. In block S 424 , the display module  200  retrieves the IDs and positions of the Icon control components according to the monitor point tree. In block S 425 , all the Icon control components are displayed on the electronic map. 
         [0031]      FIG. 9  is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of step S 4  in  FIG. 2 . In block S 50 , the surveillance module  208  shows a video feed page, in response to a click on the generated Icon control component on the electronic map. In block S 51 , the display module  200  resolves the name and location of the monitor point corresponding to the clicked Icon control component and sends the name of the monitor point to the video feed page. In block S 52 , the surveillance module  208  connects and logs in the digital video recorder  40  and the display module  200  plays the video feed of the digital video recorder  40  on the video feed page, using Software Development Kit (SDK) of the digital video recorder  40 . 
         [0032]    Although certain inventive embodiments of the present disclosure have been specifically described, the present disclosure is not to be construed as being limited thereto. Various changes or modifications may be made to the present disclosure without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure.

Technology Classification (CPC): 7