Video Surveillance Tech Detects Abnormal Activity

Repton writes with news of a company, Behavioral Recognition Systems, that has received 16 patents on a new video surveillance application that can convert video images into machine-readable language, and then analyze them for anomalies that suggest suspicious behavior in the camera's field of view. The software can 'recognize' up to 300 objects and establish a baseline of activity. It should go on sale in September. "...the BRS Labs technology will likely create a fair number of false positives, [the CEO] concedes. 'We think a three-to-one ratio of alerts to actual events is what the market will accept,' he says. 'We could be wrong.'"

Comments

Cool

[clang_jangle]

Great! Now, all they have to do is combine that with this, and we can all sleep soundly.

Re:Cool

[roguetrick]

Abnormal activity for a machine like that would just be some guy wearing blue.

Need a sentry here!

oh yeah?

[ILuvRamen]

If I walk past a security camera in a full sized squirrel outfit, humans couldn't even figure that one out let alone a computer. These systems are just dumb. Wait until computers are smart enough to talk with us to develop something like this otherwise it'll never be remotely accurate.

Re:oh yeah?

[Cassius Corodes]

Computers are already smart enough to talk to us. They just don't have anything interesting to say.

Why don't you try starting a conversation?

Re:oh yeah?

[rugatero]

Computers are already smart enough to talk to us.

Do computers worry you ?

They just don't have anything interesting to say.

I'm not sure I understand you fully.

Why don't you try starting a conversation?

Do you believe I don't try starting a conversation ?

Re:oh yeah?

[Hognoxious]

It looks like you're trying to start a converstion. Would you like to:

* Talk about sport.
* Talk about politics.
* Tell me how your day went.

Re:oh yeah?

[Dancindan84]

We wouldn't want you having an unsecured conversation:

You're trying to start a conversation with a computer.
Cancel or Allow?

America, what a country!

[frovingslosh]

As long as the cops don't beat too many people too extremely for false positive behavior I can't see where this could be a problem. And Homeland Security is already working on getting some Executive Orders written up that will make it a crime to act in ways that cause false positives, so there should be no false positives in the near future (by definition they will be real positives). Problem solved.

false positives

[zobier]

While it's a worry how 1984 society is becoming, I don't think false positives are a particularly bad issue with this technology. An operator who would normally be supposed to watch multiple streams of video for anomalous activity can use these more like bookmarks for subsequent human verification. The bigger issue as I see it is that 16 new patents were just granted on software/algorithms.

There's an easy way to torpedo this...

[Channard]

... when it first gets deployed - if it gets deployed - spread the word across the internet and get people to regularly silly walk past it and do other wierd but non threatening stuff. Hey presto, so many false positives it's rendered useless.

There's an easy way to deal with you...

[frovingslosh]

And you don't think that will soon be made illegal? You sure sound like a terrorist to me, to Gitmo with you!

HOWTO: guerilla PR for your startup

[Anonymous Coward]

1. File a bunch of mumbo jumbo patents on video surveillance

2. Convince some trade rag to interview your CEO

3. Submit the story to /. as a clear and present danger to "Your Rights Online"

4. ?

5. Go public!

grenade in mouth

[globaljustin]

I swear you must be a troll from Homeland Security...

While it's a worry how 1984 society is becoming, I don't think false positives are a particularly bad issue with this technology

That's like saying "Oh sure, it is worrisome that I have a live hand grenade with the pin pulled jammed in my mouth, but I don't think it would be extremely bad if it just blew off one of my pinky toes"

This kind of technology makes me want riot...ahem...i mean...to exercise my 1st amendment right to protest in a law abiding way.

I'm sickened. The CEO says: "We think a three-to-one ratio of alerts to actual events is what the market will accept."

Re:grenade in mouth

[moteyalpha]

I wonder if this software would detect a positive for suspicious activity if it observed a lobbyist for the firm entering the office of a congressman with a hooker and a briefcase. It would seem that it would select for people who fly into the radar and as a result the actual complex threats would be ignored.

Re:grenade in mouth

[FlyingBishop]

In order for that to be suspicious, it would have to be an irregular event.

Doesn't need to be all that accurate

[Sycraft-fu]

I'm sure everyone on Slashdot is donning their tinfoil hats and screaming big brother (I've already seen a couple posts to that effect) but that really isn't the target market. You'll find that by far the most customers of CCTV equipment are private companies. Pretty much any large store will have an extensive CCTV system to watch for shoplifting.

Ok well the problem is that you have to have humans watching it for suspicious activity. It is completely infeasible to hire one human per camera, and the more cameras a given human has to watch, the less they catch. Well, something like this could help. If it sees something suspicious, it brings it up on a display to one of the security personnel. The person then decides if it is a problem, or a false alarm.

A moderate amount of false alarms is fine. This wouldn't be a case of "The system went off, arrest him!" It'd be a case of "The system went off, let's have a human watch and see what's going on." It would allow for better use of security personnel.

Heck, I'd be interested in a system like this at work. We have CCTV on our computer labs. However we don't have anyone monitoring it. It's more for liability reasons, and so that if someone steals or damages a computer, we can hopefully help the police catch them. However prevention is better than clean up. So it'd be cool if when the system thought something was wrong, it'd notify staff and we could look. If everything was fine, we carry on as normal. If something is indeed happening, we call the police.

You've got to stop with the idea that these sort of things are designed to figure out what you are thinking for some evil government plan. They aren't. They are designed to help make security systems more effective.

Re:Doesn't need to be all that accurate

[shawb]

The ratio of false positives really shouldn't be that much of an issue if the system is implemented properly.

A bigger issue with a system like this would be false negatives. Economics being what it is, this means that the organizations deploying these cameras would likely end up hiring less people to watch the monitors per camera (whether that means an increase in cameras or a decrease in staff.) Therefore, the people watching the monitors would end up relying on the system to look for suspicious behavior. Then false negatives start to come into play. "suspicious behavior" that a human would notice and investigate may be missed by the system, and therefore go uninvestigated. This could cause escalating problems when people decide to learn what behaviors would trigger a "suspicious" flag and then go about doing their nefarious deeds where a human could have spotted them.

Sure, it would be possible to institute an automated suspicious behavior system to augment existing systems, but in reality it would end up taking away from resources used for security. Even if the system would not reduce security levels, a system such as this would at least reduce the future investment in other proven security methods, such as an increase of competent staff to watch the monitors.

Re:Doesn't need to be all that accurate

[houghi]

Ideally this would just be a help. In reality people will take the word of the machine each and every time, because people are lazy. Evener heard the expression "Well, I looked it up and the computer tells me it is like that"? That is how most people relate to computers.

So this will not only mean "search person X, because the computer tells us he is a thief". It will mean they keep searching till they find something. Can you think of places they might want to look?

It also means that people will not pay attention anymore and as long as the thing doesn't beep, you can walk out of the store with that huge 100" screen.

It will not only cause false positives, which are extremely annoying and bad for businness. It will also cause false negatives, earning people will still steal. Remember that these are not the people from CSI that are on the screens (Or even Las Vegas), these are real life, day to day people. These are the rent-a-cop that are unfit for walking around.

Re:Doesn't need to be all that accurate

[Hognoxious]

Unless you have enough guards that everybody is being watched at all times, you'd have false negatives anyway. The idea is not to remove/replace human surveillance but to target it more effectively by focusing on the more suspicious people.

Re:Doesn't need to be all that accurate

[RMH101]

The problem is that this tech leads to this: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/148370/cctv_camera_identifies_people_by_race.html - a proof of concept art piece that identifies people's race via CCTV images. The creator's done this precisely to point out to people the logical end point of this tech.

Re:Doesn't need to be all that accurate

[TapeCutter]

"A bigger issue with a system like this would be false negatives. Economics being what it is, this means that the organizations deploying these cameras would likely end up hiring less people to watch the monitors per camera (whether that means an increase in cameras or a decrease in staff.)"

Stocktakes tell the store owner how much is being lost via theft. Economics being what it is, you can use this information to measure your security bang for buck and notice there is a point where diminishing returns makes eliminating the remaining false negatives a net loss. At this point your best option is to maintain the same level of risk aversion for less money. People who run large sets of cameras are the target market so IMHO the false negatives will be expected/ignored by the buyer, they (rational but non-technical bussiness buyers) will simply want to know what it all means for their bottom line.

"Abnormal Activity"

[Tablizer]

Abnormal activity? You mean like a slashdotter outside, in the sun, with a date?
         

Abnormally this:

[Fluffeh]

Machine: Uh oh, Jeremy stoped sticking his finger into his nose. I better call this one in!
Operator: Ummm... Why has it shown me Jeremy just sitting there?
Machine: Nope, there he goes again, digging away at his nose, everything back to normal. Better stop transmitting.
...
Machine: Whoa, he stopping barking for boogers again! Better show the boss!!
Operator: Why does this dumbass machine keep showing me Jeremy just sitting there for goodness sake...
Machine: Boss! Boss! Come on, look! DIFFERENT! ABNORMAL!
Operator: *Hmmm what's for lunch...*

A ratio of three-to-one false alarms?!

[misterhypno]

If that's what they're shooting for, then I have a name for the system:

Cry Wolf!

Because, that's all it's really going to do!

Heaven help any street performer that gets caught by this video frankenstein's monster, because the cops will, in some jurisdictions, come in blasting away and a mime is a terrible thing to waste!

Re:A ratio of three-to-one false alarms?!

[oodaloop]

The ratio is 3-1 alerts to false alarms. That is, 4 events, three of which are real and one a false positive. Given the real events for which security personnel are going to be looking (mugging, rape, vandalism, etc), it would quite a while before 4 total events come to pass and only one of those was a false alarm. I would not call that crying wolf.

Re:Acceptance

[oodaloop]

Jebus, what imaginations you people have. Who the hell is talking about arresting the false positives? There's a HUMAN IN THE LOOP. Someone is watching the alerts, which means innocent behavior gets discarded before the police show up. Fucking relax.

Re:And for epic fail...

[ya really]

If I walk past a security camera in a full sized squirrel outfit, humans couldn't even figure that one out let alone a computer.

Imagine deploying this system at a furry convention.

I'd guess the cameras would most likely be programmed to identify the subject(s) as mentally disturbed, but most likely harmless.

Technically impossible

[Potatomasher]

I call shenanigans on this.

There is no way they can recognize 300 objects in real world conditions. I work in machine learning (academics) and the current record for generic object recognition sits at around 54-57% for the Caltech 101 database (contains images of 101 different objects). So basically the algorithms of the best and brightest minds in academia (LeCun, Poggio, Lowe, etc) get it wrong half the time !!

If any government officials are listening... Please don't waste our tax money on this !

Unusual is abnormal

[jibjibjib]

To the fool who tagged this 'unusualisnotabnormal':

You're wrong. Unusual and abnormal mean essentially the same thing - something out of the ordinary, something not routine.

If the point you were trying to make is that authorities shouldn't be suspicious of every unusual occurrence, then perhaps something like 'unusualisnotwrong' would have better served your purpose.

Being the former architect of a...

[Assmasher]

...wide area surveillance system (which included video analytics for loitering, wrong way traffic in a crowd, crowd panic analysis, smoke/fire detection by video, et cetera) I can point out that there are MANY companies, corporate research groups, and universities that have been doing things like this for several years (in some cases almost 10 years.)

          This company is in for a rude awakening when they realize that (a)their price per camera is extraordinarily high (this one metric is the biggest decider in large installation proposals [along with whether or not you have to mount the cameras on poles or just hallways/buildings]) and (b)a false alert rate of 3 to 1 is TOTALLY unacceptable. The entire purpose of video analytics in a security environment is to reduce the workload on the monitoring staff (and hopefully put more of them out into the field) while being able to scale up your coverage. I assure you that a 3 to 1 false alert rate will result in zero customers in a year. Measuring the false alert rate is also highly subjective. Companies tend to use a given scenario repeatedly to measure their results when, of course, this has little to no bearing on reality. Things like the weather (moving shadows affect certain algorithms even when accounted for algorithmically, headlights, flashlights, camera flashes change things, wind, rain, snow, bugs, everything you can imagine, lol...) negate all of these measurements.

          It is nice to see new blood in this space, but I hope they were smart enough to make their software offerings totally distinct from their hardware (many companies do not) so that they can integrate with other systems without to much work. That's the best way to make money in the video analytics market right now. The big boys (like SIEMENS) got into the game about 3 years ago and they'll squeeze you out every time unless you can offer something that helps them land a big deal.