DE20017009U1 - Surveillance system for objects such as buildings and areas - Google Patents

Description

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Rudolf Sondermann and Helmut Adler

Description

Title: Monitoring system for objects such as buildings and areas

The invention relates to a surveillance system for objects such as buildings and areas.

The end of the 20th century was characterized by an ever-increasing need for property protection and surveillance in the security sector for individual properties, building complexes, building surroundings and areas. The quantitative increase in burglary crimes in the 1990s is reflected in the statistics of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and the State Criminal Police Office (LKA). Inversely proportionally, the number of crimes against property, theft and burglary cases solved steadily declined during this period.

Between 1991 and 1998, the number of registered burglaries in Germany rose from less than 250,000 to 380,000 per year, of which around 170,000 were burglaries in homes and around 210,000 were burglaries in businesses. With a total of around 2 million residential buildings, this means that on average every fifteenth house in Germany is burgled in the course of a year, and now almost every tenth house is burgled (source: BKA/LKA annual reports 1991 - 1998).

The number of cases of damage to property is almost twice as high and no less painful for the individual and involves considerable financial expenditure to repair the damage. In its latest statistics, the BKA lists 650,000 cases, half of which are private and half are

commercial sector. If you combine these statistics with the burglaries, you get the following result. The statistics show that on average in 1998, one in five houses was the victim of burglary or vandalism (source: announcement in the BKA annual report 1998). In contrast, the rate of burglaries solved is in a steady decline. While 22% of burglaries were solved in 1991, the percentage has fallen over the years from 14% in 1994 to 11% last year (source: BKA/LKA annual reports 1991 1998).

A much more frightening picture is provided by the

Consideration of theft and unauthorized entry into the various forms of business premises, shops, offices, workshops, factories and industrial complexes. Although security and surveillance generally have a higher priority in this area, external factors prevent a better protection balance.

The insurance industry already refuses to provide insurance cover to commercial customers if they have not installed alarm systems in accordance with the guidelines of the Association of Property Insurers in Germany (VDS). This means that a business owner who wants to insure a property against burglary or theft must install a burglary protection system that is considered suitable in the eyes of the VDS and be monitored by a security company that must also be VDS-certified (VDS guidelines, as of 1998).

Both are associated with high costs and many medium-sized companies and especially shops do not want or cannot afford this expense. Therefore, it is not

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It is surprising that the number of burglary crimes in the commercial and industrial sectors today shows the highest burglary rates. Of around 1 million commercial properties, one in five commercial properties was the target of a violent break-in last year and the crime clearance rate has fallen to around 11% (source: BKA/LKA Annual Report 1998).

If we also take into account the figures for damage to property, we have a situation in the commercial sector where every second commercial location has to deal with burglary, attempted burglary, damage to property and deliberate vandalism. The trend of this development seems unbroken. One could assume that the state has bowed to the increasing crime if one considers the following fact:

If an alarm system installed in accordance with VDS, i.e. in accordance with the highest requirements of property insurers, reports a suspicious incident, the police can, according to common practice, decide at their own discretion whether to investigate the incident immediately, i.e. to go to the suspected crime scene as quickly as possible, or whether the incident is subsequently recorded through official channels.

How this apparently unbelievable development could have come about will become clearer in the following, as it is not only due to the overburdening of the investigation authorities, but also to an inadequate security system.

To illustrate the current situation of building or project monitoring, a typical situation will serve as an example. A supermarket has installed a surveillance system that uses motion detectors to

area within the store. If this system registers movement within its surveillance field, it triggers an alarm in an external surveillance center via a telephone line. In this surveillance center, security guards sit in front of an arrangement of telephones, PC screens and displays. The triggered alarm is indicated by a sequence of tones and a code can be read on a screen which is assigned to a specific object. The employees thus register exactly which supermarket reported the alarm. They can find out initial measures to take from an assigned display which provides them with the name, address, type of surveillance and other information about the object and what to do in the event of an alarm.

In this example, they are supposed to immediately check the supermarket for intruders and two employees immediately get into waiting vehicles and make their way to the surveillance building. If it is a larger alarm center that constantly has employees on patrol, an alternative is to first check whether an employee on patrol can reach the building more quickly.

It is also possible for the employees to contact the relevant police station directly and thus initiate the police's deployment. A patrol car sets off for the project that triggered the alarm.

It is also possible for the monitoring centre staff to contact a specific person by telephone, for example the shop owner, the store manager or a

Inform another person who should immediately visit the property to determine the cause of the alarm.

In many cases, combinations of the reactions described above are prescribed.

In any case, it should be noted that when an alarm is triggered, no one in the group of those involved knows what caused it, and everyone involved must first find a way to determine what triggered it. Everyone involved is aware of this disadvantage, and so they try to compensate for it using different means. For example, large companies employ their own security personnel who must complete specific patrols to ensure that surveillance is as seamless as possible. When an alarm is triggered, it is hoped that the security personnel will be able to intervene immediately.

Of course, external security personnel also take on the task of patrolling. Security companies undertake patrols from property to property in order to assess the security situation at regular or irregular intervals.

These measures increase the likelihood of arriving on site more quickly if an alarm occurs. However, complete monitoring of a building or object is by no means guaranteed.

Another way to increase the level of surveillance is to use surveillance cameras. The large company mentioned above can install a network of surveillance cameras

and organize security from a porter's lodge or a separate surveillance room. However, since no one can keep an eye on a large number of screens all the time and without a break, the following compromise is made. Up to four screens are installed per surveillance staff member. If there are more cameras distributed throughout the building or property than the security staff can observe, the images from the individual cameras are shown alternately on the monitors.

These images from individual cameras jumping from location to location are also known from department stores or gas stations to demonstrate to customers that they are being watched.

However, just as these cameras in public spaces cannot ultimately eradicate shoplifting, the camera surveillance of buildings and objects also reaches a natural limit, since a constant presence of all the necessary points to be monitored on the monitors cannot be guaranteed, and humans can only cope with the permanent observation task in front of a screen with extreme effort.

Meanwhile, the three largest security services in Germany also offer video surveillance of buildings and objects. On the one hand, ongoing or sporadic observations can be offered, and on the other hand, in the event of an alarm, a visual connection to the monitored complex can be established. However, this option is only offered to an exclusive group of customers, since the security staff, just as in the previously described case of an internal company solution, cannot be expected to constantly monitor all customers.

to gain insight into all guarded complexes. The cost of setting up the cameras has also been counterproductive so far.

With the current state of development of surveillance and security practices, seamless surveillance cannot be guaranteed.

As a final point in considering how a building or object is monitored today, it must be added that the camera surveillance mentioned above also reaches its limits when the lighting conditions no longer permit recording. While it is still possible to illuminate the inside of a building day and night, illuminating the outside area becomes increasingly difficult. If you do not have a special camera for low light levels, external surveillance ends when dusk sets in.

After the detailed excursion into the different methods and stages of development in today's security and surveillance practice, let us now return to our initial example, where after the alarm is triggered, the two security guards get into their car to drive to the supermarket from which the alarm was reported.

As we know from the above, when an alarm is triggered, it is not known what caused it. The two security guards approach the supermarket and must be prepared for the following situations:

There may have been a break-in and the burglars are still in the building. Then the situation requires a

Careful assessment of the options for confronting the intruders so as not to endanger yourself. If violent reactions are to be expected, alerting a police station is essential.

The burglars may also have already left the place of entry. However, if the locked building was forced open, security measures must be taken to ensure that the supermarket is not left open and unprotected.

It could be that it wasn't a burglar who broke into the building at all, but rather a supermarket employee who was in the store at the time the alarm was activated and unknowingly triggered the alarm. In that case, at least the identity of the person would have to be checked and instructions given.

However, it is also conceivable that it is merely a technical defect, for example that a voltage drop in the local power supply triggered the alarm.

The causes could be in the furnishings or the building; yielding shelves or falling ceilings could be the cause.

Even if a fire broke out, the alarm function would be activated.

Ultimately, the alarm that was triggered properly could also have a completely harmless cause. A falling stack of drinks cans has triggered the alarm system.

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There was a reason for the report. In many cases, birds, bats, or cats are also the cause of such alarms.

The triggering cause of the alarm is therefore still uncertain during the journey to the object.

Here too, measures are taken to narrow down the cause. Advanced security centers identify the trigger based on the triggering mechanisms that have been set up. This allows them to distinguish between a range of alarm devices, such as door or window opening detectors, motion detectors, smoke detectors, glass breakage or vibration detectors, power failure detectors and more.

If cameras are already installed, the latest technology is that all changes in the image are registered and an alarm is triggered at the same time. As already mentioned, this technology is only available to a small group of selected customers because it is expensive, requires increased technical effort and requires optimal lighting conditions. For observations in the dark, a second additional infrared system would have to be installed.

To summarize, the following can be said once again:

Whenever an alarm is triggered, the cause has already occurred. When security personnel set out to investigate the cause, it is usually not possible to fully identify it before arriving at the property. In the vast majority of cases, the alarm concerns a fault on the exterior or inside of a building.

Monitoring the apron or the surrounding area is extremely difficult for the following reasons:

The number of possible fault messages is significantly higher than inside a building. Motion or vibration detectors can be triggered by plants, bushes and trees swaying in the wind, or by birds, animals, or by people or vehicles passing by without being involved. This would result in a large number of false alarms.

Weather and outdoor conditions are subject to constant fluctuations. The technology would have to be adapted to the outdoor conditions. Protection against moisture, changing temperatures, heat, sunlight, cold, ice and snow would have to be taken into account. Sensitive alarm sensors would easily fail under these conditions.

The day and night rhythm outside makes consistent observations difficult, as it is much more complex than inside a building. Inside, after an operating and residence phase, a monitoring period can be defined during which no stays, movements or changes are to be expected. However, this can never be completely ruled out in the outer district. Alarm systems outside a building are often misdirected.

What is consistently expressed in all discussions, surveys and statistical evaluations is the fact that in 91% of all cases the alarm message is based on a false alarm (source: field reports from Siegerland security centers; statements from VDS bodies, insurance reports; cross-country statistical

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Evaluation of Dutch security companies, It. Statements Conesco).

This incredible accumulation of alarms that cannot be explained is keeping managers awake at night, causing the security industry to introduce new systems that supposedly have fewer false alarms, and is also the main source of income for security companies. Because if less than 10% of the time a threatening situation is actually dealt with, even temporary workers who are usually paid below the standard rate or employees who are paid according to the 630 DM law will do the job of driving to the location of the alarm to assess the situation. They usually do not find a cause and "arm" the alarm system again. In the rare cases where the alarm was justified, the person or persons responsible have usually already left the scene, so they only have to report the damage that has occurred.

Of course, the security company charges for every trip to a building or object that is signaling an alarm, and so the majority of a security company's income comes from false alarms.

As stated above, the regulatory authority has also dealt with this situation. If a police patrol has repeatedly unsuccessfully driven to a suspected crime scene following an alarm, there is not only frustration but also a justified feeling of indignation about the inadequate information provided by a reported alarm. The consequences are fatal in two respects. Firstly, the police authorities are providing the

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Police departments responsible for investigating property crimes are free to decide whether they want to respond to an alarm message from a building or property secured with an alarm system. After the third false alarm at one and the same location, an immediate response will no longer be made (source: Code of Conduct for Police Authorities in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia).

Secondly, the police authority also bills the owner of the monitored building or property for every wasted trip to an operation that later turns out to be a false alarm.

The inadequate detection system for a "real" alarm and the economically detrimental consequences for the owner are further exacerbated by the behavior of the property insurers, because the insurance companies have to increase the insurance premiums for the owner in the wake of increasing crime, which can continue to spread with impunity under the protection of this scandalous "security gap", which naturally leads to increasing insurance payments for damage cases that have occurred. At the same time, the requirements for security companies, which are required to take ever more extensive security measures under the "VDS tested" seal, are increasing, which must consequently lead to increased remuneration from those seeking protection from break-ins or damage.

The invention is based on the object of creating a monitoring system in which the aforementioned disadvantages are largely eliminated or which provides the possibility of obtaining a comprehensive picture of the location of the alarm triggering, as if one were at the moment of the

The alarm is triggered on site and the cause of the trigger is identifiable and the same is recorded in picture and sound for evidence.

This object is achieved according to the invention by the characterizing features of claim 1.

Appropriate further developments of the invention are characterized in the subclaims.

The monitoring system according to the invention is the first system to open an observation corridor with visual, auditory and voice connections to each alarm-triggering sensor at the moment of occurrence.

Further advantages are evident from the following description, partly based on block diagrams.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic structure of the monitoring system and

Fig. 2a and 2b show the sequence of events in an alarm situation.

The monitoring system for objects such as buildings and areas consists of a series of components that are put together in a novel way, with properties within the components also being linked together in a novel way.

In a monitoring center, devices for audio and video communication, such as microphones, loudspeakers, monitors, cameras, etc. are arranged (not shown separately in Fig. 1).

These devices or the monitoring center are connected via telephone lines 2 to an alarm unit provided in or on the objects. Several monitoring devices, such as cameras, loudspeakers, microphones and alarm triggers, which are preferably integrated in the camera together with a recording device, can be connected to the alarm units.

The alarm units can be connected to the cameras either via standard electrical cables or via a radio connection.

The control of the cameras, i.e. rotation of the same, adjustment of the lens (telephoto, zoom, wide), etc., is carried out via the telephone lines from the monitoring center, after the corresponding alarm unit is automatically connected to the monitoring center when an alarm is triggered or triggers the alarm.

The cameras 4 located in or on the objects have an automatic switchover from color recording in daylight to monochrome recording with infrared when the light intensity falls below a certain level.

The core component of the surveillance system is the ability of audio and video to interact using video communication. A device that is installed at a location to be monitored is able to connect to a similar device in a monitoring center, which can be located any distance away, via a simple ISDN telephone line, as offered by various telephone companies worldwide. Sound, image and video are transmitted via this connection with 2 B channels and a transmission capacity of 128 KB/sec.

Control signals are transmitted in both directions. Dialogue provides the opportunity to communicate with one another in real time. To support dialogue, the video communication devices on both sides are equipped with a microphone and camera. For audio exchange and to display the images from the recording cameras to each other, both sides require a monitor with a loudspeaker; this can consist of a TV monitor, a PC screen, an LCD display or a similarly common digital display option in which the sound is either already integrated, as in a television, or where the corresponding sound is added to the images via a separate loudspeaker system.

The first component on the side of the building or object to be monitored is the alarm trigger. The entire range of monitoring sensors described above, from mechanical vibration detectors to high-tech suspicious moment indicators, can be used for this. The crucial thing is that a common trigger signal is sent to the installed video communication terminal in electronic form.

If surveillance activities are required at various points in the building or project to be monitored, i.e. a number of cameras and microphones are installed, access to the ISDN telephone network would in principle be required for each individual surveillance point. In practice, the surveillance system's terminal device offers the option of switching up to 8 audio/video inputs to one terminal device.

The electronic signal transmission from the

Alarm sensors for the video communication terminal can, as already mentioned, be connected either via a standard electrical cable or

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via a radio connection with a transmitter at the monitoring point and a receiver in the immediate vicinity of the end device.

By combining audio feed, video transmission and alarm signal, the end device can be clearly assigned to a specific location to be monitored.

Subcomponents on the monitoring center side essentially consist of a central audio/video telephone system that transmits incoming alarm messages to television screens or monitors. As with conventional monitoring centers, additional information about the reporting building or object, the type of alarm and any additional measures that may be required can be read from the screens or monitors.

The special feature is that as soon as the alarm is triggered, a communication option with words and images is created with the exact location from which the alarm is reported. The decisive factor is that the image and voice connection reserved for the surveillance system according to the invention between the location of the triggered alarm and the security personnel in the monitoring center offers completely new options for reacting to the alarm that has occurred.

Additional components to expand the completely new surveillance activity into an instrument of the surveillance system are microphones and cameras that monitor the various locations where potential alarms are triggered. If the microphones and cameras are all kept in operation 24 hours a day, i.e. around the clock, and are equipped with a memory function that constantly stores 1 minute in an endless loop,

in the event of an alarm, the memory is backed up. The storage with sound and image from the last minute before the alarm broke out can be immediately transferred to the security guard's monitor using a corresponding control command from the security center. This allows the security center to assess in a few moments whether it is a real alarm or one of the far more common false alarms.

If the alarm system is set up to switch on and off in such a way that it responds to a control command via an ISDN telephone line (technically speaking, this is the generally used data exchange via an RS 232 interface), then after a false alarm, an alarm system can be switched back to its original position from a security center any distance away in order to be able to react to the next alarm. Switching the alarm back from the security center without having to personally visit the location of the reported alarm is also a technical innovation that is unknown in previous security practice.

The RS 232 function goes beyond this requirement, for example, and allows the camera to be panned in all directions to expand the field of view. Zoom and wide functions allow objects on the monitor to be enlarged to view details, or reduced to view them in full. Peripherally to the security function, doors can be locked or unlocked, windows closed, shutters operated, lights switched on and off. In addition to pure security services, machines can be operated, adjusted or maintained. The field of these applications is inexhaustible and is the future of technology adaptation and control from remote locations.

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If a location to be monitored is designed in such a way that only movement within a field of view is to be reported, be it the approach of a person, a structure falling over, the opening of a door, etc., the camera will register any change in an overall image that has been created for a certain period of time in its own control function. A recording system in which a camera detects movements or changes is itself suitable for triggering an alarm without the need for an additional, independent alarm system.

The same applies if the occurrence of a certain sound can be registered via the microphone, or if a combination of sound and image changes defines the alarm case.

If a location is to be guarded day and night, and different lighting conditions (observation of a building courtyard, an access road, etc. or inadequate lighting during nighttime interior surveillance) pose a problem when taking pictures, a camera is selected that automatically switches to infrared operation as it gets darker. This means that night blindness will not affect surveillance, and by switching from light-sensitive lenses in broad daylight to infrared images in the dark, the radius and possible uses of the surveillance activity are significantly expanded. The type of surveillance according to the invention will increase security and prevent damage, particularly when monitoring the outer shell of the building and securing the apron or access route, which set limits for conventional systems.

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The new type of surveillance requires a reorientation of the technical equipment at the locations that need to be monitored. In summary, a comprehensive approach has been created that is unprecedented in its complexity, including image and sound, alarm triggering and recording, real alarm outbreaks and the storage of pre-planned sequences, the transmission of the alarm live and directly over any distance with the option of returning to the starting point.

If the transmission from the monitoring location to the end device for audio and video communication in the building or object is to be carried out via radio signals, the use of a 5.8 gigahertz radio system is recommended to guarantee freedom from interference within the radio transmission path. While with conventional radio frequencies, dropouts or interference can be expected at any time (a microwave that is switched on alone causes "image salad", and ongoing radio traffic from the police, air traffic control, CD radio, etc. also interferes), the frequency chosen here, which is approved for commercial radio traffic in all German-speaking countries, provides interference-free, low-noise transmission comfort.

The monitoring center must first ensure that every alarm call reaches the security personnel, even if there are a large number of buildings or objects being monitored. This is made possible by setting up a waiting loop so that no alarm call is met with a busy signal. The 100% recording of every alarm case is the first prerequisite for the monitoring client to award a contract.

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The question of the cause of the alarm can be answered for the first time with the monitoring system according to the invention at the same time as the alarm occurs. The possibility of rewinding a recording in order to find the cause of the alarm has not yet been known in direct connection with the alarm being triggered. The evaluation takes place in the high-tech monitoring center, which immediately draws the conclusions from the transmission of sound and image without having to leave the security center.

If, when viewing a monitored location, peripheral areas need to be included or details need to be viewed up close, the security guard will direct the camera to view the monitored location in detail. This increases the amount of information he has and increases his confidence in being able to respond appropriately.

If he is confronted with a situation that is literally unknown to him, for example a person appearing in the camera's field of view, he can deal with the situation without leaving his familiar surroundings. He will be able to speak to the suspected intruder and thus achieve a decisive surprise. The intruder who is caught immediately will not find an object for aggressive action; instead, he will have to justify his presence or leave. If the security guard is able to conduct dialogues using psychological behavioral guidelines, he will draw his conclusions calmly without ever having to worry about an escalation.

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If the security guard has actually come across an unauthorized intruder through the audio and visual connection established by the alarm being triggered, his technical equipment allows him to immediately save the real and simultaneous images. The stored data can be used to quickly identify the person using suitable forensic technology. In any case, an investigating police unit has a profile made up of audio and image documents at its disposal in order to initiate measures if necessary.

The triggering of the alarm and the associated audio and video connection also clarifies facts that could not previously be identified simply by knowing about an alarm. A security guard operating from a monitoring center can react appropriately to different findings at the crime scene. If it is a burglar, he can now specifically request a police intervention. In the event of a fire breaking out and causing a window to burst, he will first inform the fire department. If the intruder has harmed himself by breaking in or has attacked and injured a third party who appeared unexpectedly, an ambulance will be informed first. The type and extent of injuries or the weapons of an intruder identified on the screen can also be transmitted immediately.

In the less dramatic case, if the screen and the audio connection do not show any change in the location after an alarm has been reported, it can be assumed that there is a different type of disturbance. The next step is an intensive inspection of the location in the minute before the alarm broke out. The camera recording is observed on the monitor of the monitoring center and it may show an animal in the camera's field of view. In other cases,

In some cases, it will not be possible to identify a cause at all. If the information available is not sufficient for an operation or intervention, the security guard is able to restore the original situation using his technical equipment.

The monitoring system according to the invention does not have any false alarms.

The frequently occurring case of an alarm without an identifiable cause would be marked as a false alarm in the monitoring practice that is still common today. It would involve a trip to the monitored building or object, even if the malfunction was obvious for some reason and those involved were aware of it. A person would have to "arm" the alarm system again at the location of the false alarm. This represents a significant cost reduction compared to the monitoring activity that is still common today.

The monitoring system according to the invention is also characterized by energy savings due to the avoidance of driving services. This also applies without restriction to the inspection trips from customer protection object to customer protection object that are common practice up to now and have already been described.

In addition to the consequence of energy savings, there is also a contribution to environmental protection, as fewer car journeys mean less fuel consumption and less pollution from exhaust fumes.

The surveillance system according to the invention avoids unnecessary use of people. In the surveillance activities that prevail today, as shown above, a number of people are forced to take active action, for example the

Security guard, who relocates his place of work, the owner or person responsible for dealing with alarm cases, who must be present at all times and, when an alarm occurs, must initiate predetermined courses of action, the police station, which is called upon to intervene in the event of an alarm.

All these persons can be confident that they will not be unnecessarily alarmed when using the monitoring system according to the invention.

The surveillance system according to the invention has no gaps in surveillance. The practice of courier trips only has a dubious deterrent effect, since there are longer periods of unguarded time between trips to monitored buildings or objects. In contrast, cameras and microphones in the surveillance system according to the invention work around the clock.

Even alarm devices that are constantly in operation, even those used by surveillance companies that are still in use today, experience downtimes when one of the false alarms described above occurs. Depending on the distance, several minutes can pass before the system is reached by a person who is specifically required to switch the alarm device back to its original position. If this task is assigned to a security company that has to deal with one or more alarms or false alarms that have occurred at the same time, downtimes of 1 hour or more are not uncommon.

The surveillance system according to the invention does not endanger the life and limb of reconnaissance personnel. Since in many alarm cases the journey to the site can be omitted, the risk is only limited to the journey to and from the site by security personnel, police or

other people involved in the investigation have already been reduced. The journeys, which mostly take place at night and are stressful due to the uncertainty, can be significantly reduced.

According to the current practice, after the security personnel arrive at the building or object, the location must be searched thoroughly. In addition, where there is insufficient lighting, it is sometimes necessary to walk through confusing terrain with flashlights. Accidents, falls with fractures, abrasions, major or minor injuries are the result.

If the alarm is actually caused by an unauthorized intrusion, for example by a burglar or a group of intruders, dangerous situations arise when one side feels threatened or cornered. The spectrum of conflict potential that threatens life and limb ranges from flight and pursuit to jostling and physical violence to violence and the use of firearms.

If, under the new conditions of the surveillance system according to the invention, a real alarm occurs with unauthorized persons entering buildings or objects to be monitored, the intruders will be addressed from a safe distance via the telecommunications medium. Violent confrontations at the crime scene cannot occur in any way.

The monitoring system according to the invention provides secure information in advance. After an alarm has occurred, a reliable statement is made about the current situation at the monitored location and an alarm message is displayed.

Location enables. Listening and visual overview of the situation gives the security personnel a level of knowledge from the outset that the security practice common today can only achieve with considerable effort and at a much later point in time.

If the facts that have now become known require it, the police, fire brigade, ambulance or other required emergency services will be called in on the basis of confirmed findings.

Especially those police units, who have had experience of previous surveillance practices and have often tried in vain, will note with satisfaction that they will only be called into action when a criminal offence has actually been committed.

The information that the inventive

The information that a surveillance system can transmit goes far beyond simply reporting a criminal offense. The emergency services receive precise information about the number of people found at the monitored location, circumstances on site with regard to the movements, behavior or actions of the intruders, details about physical characteristics such as age, gender or other peculiarities, information about tools, equipment or possible weapons, and special features of the location.

All of this information is supported by images. The storage function in the monitoring center records the digitally processed images from the surveillance location. They can be evaluated immediately and sent to investigators without delay via electronic media, such as email.

The surveillance system according to the invention reduces the costs for surveillance customers. Since the data provided provides a level of knowledge that was previously not possible, expenses for an untargeted investigation of an alarm case have become obsolete.

False alarms do not occur, which means that the costs for trips to and from the buildings or objects to be monitored are eliminated in 9 out of 10 cases.

The need to appear on site after a false alarm to reset the alarm system to its original position and the associated costs are also eliminated.

It is no longer necessary for the owner of a building or property to have their own staff on hand to respond quickly to an alarm. This also leads to significant cost savings.

If the deployment of the police in the event of an alarm subsequently turns out to be unnecessary (usually in the case of false alarms), it has become common practice to charge the owner of the building or property to be monitored for the cost of the patrol car journey.

To illustrate future surveillance practice through the use of the new surveillance system, a typical surveillance situation is presented below as an example:

If we assume the same supermarket described above, which reports an alarm call to a security center, this time already using a surveillance system according to the invention

has been installed and the alarm is reported in a new monitoring center, a telecommunications terminal installed in the supermarket's premises is activated when the alarm is triggered. This is done via a "trigger high" or "trigger low" switch, which is typical for triggering an alarm and which measures the voltage increase or decrease required to trigger the alarm. A camera with image and sound recording equipment that is constantly aimed at the monitoring location records the last minute recorded before the alarm broke out at the same time using the same technical reaction. The telecommunications terminal then dials a programmed number in order to reach the corresponding counterpart in the monitoring center, for example 100 km away, via an ISDN telephone line.

In this surveillance center, two security guards sit in front of an arrangement of eight gray screens that appear to be inactive and are in standby mode. When the supermarket terminal is dialed, one of these screens wakes up and, even before the first image appears and the sound connection is established, the corresponding identification data appears on the screen.

XYZ Supermarket

in ABC City

Tel No. OWNER

Tel No. Police

Tel No. Fire Department

Space for internal codes and additional messages

The security guard turns to the screen and observes the familiar image. A view of a long supermarket room with several rows of shelves and display of goods appears. In the foreground, the exit with three checkouts arranged next to each other can be seen. Exactly 11 seconds have passed since the alarm was triggered by a movement registered in the camera's image.

The following describes the scenario of a false alarm:

The security guard looks carefully at the live image from the supermarket, which is displayed in very good quality in front of him (despite the low light intensity of the night lighting, he can clearly see the aisles, shelves and structures) and listens intently to the image. He cannot see any suspicious signs. To be on the safe side, he uses his loudspeaker in the supermarket to address a few sentences, which have been pre-set for such a case, to an imaginary intruder in the supermarket. At the same time, he changes the image section and uses his control device to pan the camera to the right to a stack of detergent at the edge of the image section. He hears his own words echoing in the supermarket. Nothing moves. He looks at his image section again and moves the camera closer to the stack of detergent. A package is lying on the floor. To be on the safe side, he switches the camera to "replay", rewinds it for a short time and commands "play". The image section jumps back to the original view and the camera gives him the recorded images of the situation shortly before the alarm went off.

He pays particular attention to the stack of detergents. And suddenly he sees how, for no apparent reason, a package from the

slides off the top of the stack, rolls over and falls to the ground in the free space in front of the cash registers.

Satisfied, he turns to his routine. He uses a signal over the established telephone connection to cancel the recording of the last minute on the camera in the supermarket. He uses the same method to fix the short-circuited contact that triggered the alarm due to the change in the image. The alarm system is switched on again. Finally, he ends the telecommunications, enters the process in his guard log, and marks the recording of the entire process stored in the security center for temporary filing.

At the end of the month, the owner of the supermarket can find the incident on a standardized form alongside other surveillance activities, without being affected or alarmed by this particular case. The police were not alerted.

The following describes the scenario of a real alarm:

The history of a real alarm also requires 11 seconds after the alarm is triggered until the security guard has a perfect picture and sound connection.

Here, too, it is assumed that the security guard does not notice any changes or movements in his image and that his words also fade away in the supermarket without eliciting a reaction.

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Only in the camera recording of the last minute before the alarm was triggered does the security guard notice that the package was clearly touched by a dark figure who entered the picture and then tumbled to the ground. The person is frightened, but recovers relatively quickly and moves slowly, crouching down, to the middle part of the supermarket, where he remains until the recording ends.

The security guard reacts and first of all switches on the supermarket's full lights via the telecommunications connection. He then moves the camera to the widest possible image section and returns the short-circuited alarm-triggering contact to its original position. Every movement will trigger a new alarm, which will only be visible to the security guard.

He reads the telephone number of the police in ABC City from his screen and asks to be connected to the control center. He reports the break-in and asks not to interrupt the connection as he may be able to provide additional information shortly. The security guard turns to the screen again and addresses the intruders using sentences prepared according to a psychological pattern. His words are transmitted into the room in the supermarket via a loudspeaker, initially without a reaction. But then the alarm contact is closed again and the security guard has fixed the section of the image where movement could be seen. He zooms in on a freezer in the middle of the supermarket, where the head of a suspicious person is visible on the side facing away from the camera.

Satisfied, the guard enlarges the image until the head fills the screen and shoots a "quick-shot"

for immediate digital recording and utilization of the captured image.

He then speaks directly to the intruder, confronts him with his identification through a camera recording, informs him of the imminent arrival of the police and asks him to wait calmly for the inevitable questioning by the officers. Since the security guard is still connected to the police, he asks for the email address of the department and in a few seconds sends the portrait of the intruder, whom we hereby leave to his fate.

The current market

Surveillance companies are limited in the spatial extent of their surveillance area, as they have to visit the building or object in question in every alarm case, as is the case with surveillance inspection trips. In order to get to the place of their surveillance activity, the route and travel time must not exceed a certain extent so that danger can be averted at all.

The surveillance system according to the invention, on the other hand, is not bound to a specific location. A telecommunications connection between Berlin and Munich takes the same amount of time to set up as a connection within a city, and in the media age, communication with external bodies such as the police, fire department, etc. is no longer location-dependent.

Security companies operating nationwide have been providing security services with many regionally scattered security centers.

The surveillance system according to the invention can concentrate its nationwide planned surveillance activities at one location. This has the advantage that far-reaching synergy effects are achieved compared to regional urban sprawl. Economic, corporate and practical reasons speak in favor of such an approach.

From an economic point of view, it makes sense to provide identical service requirements, such as security offices, personnel or telephone switchboards, centrally, instead of maintaining a large number of smaller surveillance companies. The selection and number of companies to be monitored can be based solely on economic criteria, and not on spatially limited criteria.

When word gets around in the circles of those whom such security systems are intended to deter from entering that a more effective system of identification and rapid access has replaced the outdated security systems, they initially exercise caution when approaching objects marked in this way.

If the locations monitored by the surveillance system according to the invention display this fact publicly and in a way that is visible to everyone, then they are practicing real prevention through deterrence.

Ultimately, the expected consequences will also have measurable economic effects. In simple terms, this means that if burglars avoid properties monitored by the surveillance system according to the invention, everyone else wins.

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The home or building owner has less damage, reduced financial expenditure on surveillance, and in a further step he can also reduce the premiums for his burglary and theft insurance.

The burden on the insurance industry will be measurably reduced, as greater awareness and increased prevention will mean fewer payments for insurers in the event of a claim. The insurance industry can and will reward this by reducing insurance premiums.

The public sector, police, fire brigade, casualty care and transport are relieved of unnecessary operations with fewer incidents and only targeted requirements.

The monitoring system according to the invention ultimately ensures an improvement in the energy balance, since the same or greater damage prevention can be achieved with less consumption of environmental resources.

Claims (5)

1. Surveillance system for objects such as buildings and areas, characterized by a surveillance center in which devices for audio and video communication such as microphones, loudspeakers, monitors, cameras and the like are arranged, which are connected via telephone lines to a central alarm unit provided in or on the objects, wherein several devices for surveillance such as cameras, loudspeakers, microphones and alarm triggers can be connected to the alarm units, the connection of the alarm triggers to the cameras is established via commercially available electrical cables or via a radio connection and the alarm units are designed in such a way that when an alarm is triggered they are automatically connected to the surveillance center or report the alarm. 2. Surveillance system according to claim 1, characterized in that the control of the cameras located in or on the objects takes place via the telephone line from the surveillance center. 3. Surveillance system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the cameras located in or on the objects have an automatic switchover from a color recording to a monochrome recording with infrared. 4. Surveillance system according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the cameras located in or on the objects have recording devices. 5. Surveillance system according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that microphones, loudspeakers and the recording devices are integrated in the cameras located in or on the objects.