Patent ID: 7088846

Claim:
A method for use in a video surveillance system, the method comprising generating at least one hypothesis comprising a set of hypothesized trajectories of objects identified, based on their appearance, as being in a particular object class and hypothesized to have been moving through an area under surveillance at a particular time, said system capturing an image of said area under surveillance, said image of said area under surveillance including at least two zones within said area under surveillance, utilizing said hypothesis to analyze said area under surveillance to determine whether at least one predefined alert condition has occurred within the area under surveillance, said at least one alert condition including 1) a predetermined pattern of movement of at least a first one of said objects between at least two of said zones, said predetermined pattern of movement including that a) said first object was in a first one of said zones within said area being analyzed, and b) said first object thereafter moved from said first one of said zones within said area being analyzed to a second one of said zones within said area being analyzed, and 2) at least one time criterion defining a time relationship between the presence of a) said first object in at least one of said first and second zones within said area being analyzed and b) at least a second one of said objects in that same one of said first and second zones.