BACKGROUND

1. Field

Apparatuses consistent with exemplary embodiments of the inventive concept relate to a storage device, a search device, and an alarm device for an event occurring in a surveillance area.

2. Description of the Related Art

Surveillance systems are widely used in various places including banks, department stores and residential areas for crime prevention and security purposes. The surveillance systems are also used to monitor a pet or child indoors in real time. One of the most used surveillance systems is a closed circuit television (CCTV) system in which a camera is installed at an appropriate position to capture images of an area to be monitored and a user can monitor the images captured by the camera.

An image pickup apparatus measures an event, for example, by measuring the amount of change in a sensor detection signal and detecting a motion from an image. In a surveillance system, when an event occurs, it stores metadata including event information together with an image captured at the time of occurrence of the event. The stored metadata is used by the user to retrieve the stored image afterwards.

Since the surveillance system generally stores images and metadata according to whether or not an event has occurred, the user must sequentially view the stored images to retrieve the event. In order to shorten the event search time, video analytics (VA) and the like may be performed. However, if the amount of stored images is large, the time required for retrieving a desired event becomes long even though VA is performed.

Also, in the surveillance system, event related information stored therein is listed in order of event occurrence time and is provided to the user. When the event related information is provided in this manner, it is easy to view all the events that occur sequentially. However, if there are too many events which have occurred, it is difficult to know which events are important events.

In addition, for an event alarm, a sensor amount or motion exceeding a predetermined reference value must be detected, and the reference value is generally a fixed value and is not adjusted. Accordingly, since an excessive number of event alarms may occur more than necessary in some situations and an insufficient number of event alarms may occur in some other situations, it is impossible to ensure appropriateness of the event alarm frequency, which is problematic.

SUMMARY

Exemplary embodiments of the inventive concept provide a device for storing an event level along with an image captured in a surveillance area. The exemplary embodiments also provide a method of defining the event level and calculating the event level.

The exemplary embodiments provide a device for searching for an event using an event level in a stored image. The exemplary embodiments also provide a method of defining an event attribute and searching for an event using a search requirement for an event attribute.

The exemplary embodiments provide an event alarm device capable of adjusting an alarm frequency according to an event level. The exemplary embodiments also provide a method of setting a request level, which is an alarm generation condition, differently over time. Further, the exemplary embodiments provide an event alarm device capable of adjusting an alarm frequency of an event which a user is interested in.

According to an exemplary embodiment, there is provided an event storage device including a processor and a memory, wherein the processor is configured to: receive images captured in a surveillance area; detect an event generated in the surveillance area; store, in the memory, an image related to the event, among the received images; and store an event level of the detected event along with the stored image.

According to an exemplary embodiment, there is provided an event search device including a processor and a memory, wherein the processor is configured to: read events related to images stored in the memory; read event levels of the read events from the memory; receive a search requirement for at least one event attribute; retrieve an image related to an event satisfying the search requirement from among the stored images; and display the retrieved image.

According to an exemplary embodiment, there is provided an event alarm device including a processor and a memory, wherein the processor is configured to: receive a request level for an event level; receive an image captured in a surveillance area; detect an event from the surveillance area; calculate an event level of the detected event; store the calculated event level in the memory; and output an alarm for the detected event in response to determining that the event level satisfies the request level.

According to the exemplary embodiments, there are at least the following advantageous effects. It is possible to store all events occurring in a surveillance area and images thereof. It is also possible to retrieve images for all events without omission. Since an event level is stored along with a captured image, it is possible to retrieve an event according to the event level. That is, an event can be retrieved according to the event level, and further, an event can be retrieved according to the frequency and duration of the event. Therefore, it is possible to retrieve an event quickly and efficiently compared with a conventional case of retrieving an event in the time order.

In addition, since the frequency of event alarms can be adjusted differently according to the event level, it is possible to prevent an excessive number of alarms from occurring for all events.

Further, since a request level for the alarm frequency can be set according to the time, it is possible to set the request level suitable for the schedule and the life pattern of the user, and it is possible to receive the alarm corresponding thereto.

Furthermore, since the user can designate the user's interest event for an event alarm and provide feedback, it is possible to adjust the alarm frequency with respect to the user's interest event by feedback.

Advantageous effects according to the exemplary embodiments are not limited to those mentioned above, and various other advantageous effects are included herein.

