Notes from the 'Idea Whose Time Has Come Department'

From the "an idea whose time has come department," at least for those of us who have ever gone out to the bike rack and found an empty slot where our bicycle is supposed to be: Dima Damen, a PhD student in the University of Leeds Computer Vision Group, has developed a prototype system that detects people parking their bikes and automatically alerts security if someone else is retrieving (stealing?) it.

When a bike is parked, the system stores RGB color information about the bike from CCTV images. When the the bike is retrieved, the stored information is joined with the new image. If the change in the number of edge features is significantly different, security is alerted. In initial tests using a camera located above a bike rack at the university, 11 out of 13 simulated thefts were detected.

"Without a system like this, the benefit of CCTV cameras is diminished by the difficulties of manual monitoring," says Damen. "It’s a simple solution to an extremely widespread problem."

Damen is adapting the technology to identify suspicious events in public places, such as the baggage problems in airports. "Someone intending to leave a suspicious package won’t leave it in full view of a CCTV camera, but may choose to leave it in a toilet or behind a pillar," says Damen. "We think we can engineer this technology to recognise people who enter 'flagged' areas with a package or bag, but then leave without it, raising an alert for security staff."

-- Jonathan Erickson
jerickson@ddj.com

Posted by Jon Erickson at 09:52 AM  Permalink