System And Process For Detecting, Tracking And Counting Human Objects of Interest

Abstract

A system is disclosed that includes: at least one image capturing device at the entrance to obtain images; a reader device; and a processor for extracting objects of interest from the images and generating tracks for each object of interest, and for matching objects of interest with objects associated with RFID tags, and for counting the number of objects of interest associated with, and not associated with, particular RFID tags.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for separately counting and tracking defined objects and anonymous objects, including:
 an image capturing device for capturing object data associated with both defined objects and anonymous objects that pass an entrance;   a reader device for capturing tag data for RFID tags associated with defined objects that pass the entrance;   a counting system for receiving object data and tag data, generating track records based on the object data and sequence records based on the tag data, identifying matching track records and sequence records and track records that do not match a sequence record, wherein the track records that match sequence records are associated with defined objects and the track records that do not match a sequence record are associated with anonymous objects, counting the defined objects and anonymous objects; and   tracking defined objects and anonymous objects.   
     
     
         2 . The system described in  claim 1 , wherein the image capturing device is video-based. 
     
     
         3 . The system described in  claim 1 , wherein the image capturing device includes a stereo camera. 
     
     
         4 . The system described in  claim 1 , wherein the image capturing device includes two or more sensors. 
     
     
         5 . The system described in  claim 1 , wherein the RFID tags may be active RFID tags. 
     
     
         6 . The system described  claim 5 , wherein the RFID tags transmit their tag information at a fixed time interval. 
     
     
         7 . The system described  claim 6 , wherein the fixed time interval is between 1 and 10 times per second. 
     
     
         8 . The system described  claim 1 , wherein the RFID tag is self-powered. 
     
     
         9 . The system described  claim 1 , wherein the RFID tag uses passive technology. 
     
     
         10 . The system described  claim 1 , wherein the RFID tag uses ultrasonic signals. 
     
     
         11 . The system described  claim 1 , wherein the RFID tag uses infrared signals. 
     
     
         12 . The system described  claim 1 , wherein the counting system is in wired communication with the image capturing device or the reader device. 
     
     
         13 . The system described  claim 1 , wherein the counting system is wirelessly connected to the image capturing device or the reader device. 
     
     
         14 . The system described in  claim 1 , wherein the counting system, the image capturing device and the reader device are integrated into a single device. 
     
     
         15 . The system described in  claim 1 , wherein the image capturing device and the reader device are mounted near an entrance to an enclosed space. 
     
     
         16 . The system described in  claim 1 , wherein defined objects and anonymous objects are reported separately. 
     
     
         17 . A method for counting and tracking defined objects and anonymous objects, comprising the steps of:
 capturing object data with an image capturing device, wherein the object data is associated with both defined objects and anonymous objects that pass an entrance;   capturing tag data for RFID tags with a reader device, wherein the tag data is associated with defined objects that pass the entrance;   receiving object data and tag data at a counting system and generating track records based on the object data and sequence records based on the tag data;   identifying matching track records and sequence records, wherein matching track records and sequence records are representative of the defined objects and track records that do not match a sequence record are representative of the anonymous objects;   counting the defined objects and the anonymous objects; and   tracking the defined objects and the anonymous objects.   
     
     
         18 . The method described in  claim 17 , wherein the image capturing device is video-based. 
     
     
         19 . The method described in  claim 17 , wherein the image capturing device, the reader device and the counting system are wirelessly connected. 
     
     
         20 . A method for separating defined objects and anonymous objects, comprising the following steps:
 capturing object data with an image capturing device, wherein the object data is associated with both defined objects and anonymous objects that pass an entrance;   capturing tag data for RFID tags with a reader device, wherein the tag data is associated with defined objects that pass the entrance;   receiving object data and tag data at a counting system and generating track records based on the object data and sequence records based on the tag data, wherein each of the track records and sequence records include information indicative of a start time and an end time for the respective track record or sequence record;   identifying track records that overlap temporally with sequence records;   iteratively determining which overlapping track records and sequence records best match one another until all of the sequence records and track records have best matches or it is determined that no match exists; and   wherein track records that best match sequence records are defined objects and track records that do not match sequence records are anonymous objects.