Patent Issued for Cross-Camera Tracking of Suspects, Customers

IntelliVid told Zalud’s Blog that the U.S. Patent and Trade Mark Office has awarded it a patent covering the underlying camera adjacency algorithm used in what it calls a Computer Aided Tracking (CAT) tool.

According to IntelliVid, this patent is significant because the CAT technology, included as part of IntelliVid's Video Investigator software, plays an important role in helping loss prevention teams combat organized retail crime and assisting retail merchandisers in better understanding in-store customer behavior.

Loss prevention teams at leading retailers use IntelliVid's CAT both to reduce bad stops of innocent customers and create compelling evidence videos of shoplifting suspects. Fast access to these door-to-door evidence movies improves law enforcement's ability to hold and convict serial shoplifters or members of organized retail crime rings. Retail merchandisers take advantage of CAT to understand customer traffic flows in their stores and improve merchandise placement. The underlying data collected by the CAT algorithm also provides retail store designers with unique feedback about how to achieve localization of store planograms - adapting layouts to the unique needs of customers in each community.

IntelliVid's newly patented CAT technology uses sophisticated video analytics to track the movements of every person, on every camera in every store. This information allows the system to guide the loss prevention or merchandising professional in following a suspect or customer throughout the store. As the person exits a single camera view, the CAT technology signals the operator the most likely camera where the person will appear next. While the operator tracks suspects or customers across cameras, IntelliVid's Video Investigator software instantly creates an end-to-end movie of their travels.   The CAT technology is unique because it requires no pre-configuration and can automatically adapt to the changes in floor plans and store layouts that are common in retail. Operators can use CAT on live and recorded video and track people across cameras going forward or in reverse.