Man overboard events continue to be a safety concern for cruise lines and their passengers. Recent action by the cruise industry and current legislation calls for systems that can accurately detect and communicate these types of events to aid in the safety of passengers. The latest patent issued to PureTech Systems by the United States Patent Office - US Patent No 9,569,671, ‘System And Method For Man Overboard Incident Detection’, furthers the company’s development of geospatial video analytics to address this safety issue.
Accurate detection
The new technology claimed in the patent is aimed at two specific needs of the end-user, accurate detection and low false alarm rates. Specifically, the patent protects the use of opposing videos sources monitoring the same zone and utilising the paired video data along with world coordinate data, to more accurately detect a person falling.
The patent also addresses the use of fall characteristics—object size, location, time, speed, acceleration, and trajectory—to accurately classify a fall event while suppressing non-fall situations that could otherwise create a false alarm. Additional claims include the act of a person climbing up a structure, which would then create an alarm for a potential piracy or intrusion event.
PureActiv geospatial video management system
The complete system includes a full alarm database and video playback capability |
“Our company continues to develop novel computer vision algorithms to address real-world problems,” explains Larry Bowe, President and CEO of PureTech Systems. “This particular patent is the first that specifically addresses the use of video analytics for a safety application,” furthers Bowe. “We will continue to innovate and expand our intelligent video offerings to meet market needs in security, safety, and business intelligence.”
The technology protected via the patent is combined with the PureActiv geospatial video management system and user interface, designed specifically to provide the ship’s crew with real time situational awareness to facilitate immediate dispatch of search and rescue assets in the event of a man overboard event. This is achieved through geolocation of the man overboard alarm, instant access to detection images, looping videos of the event, as well as audio notification. The complete system includes a full alarm database and video playback capability.
Further to addressing man overboard events in the cruise line market, the technology is directly applicable to the broader safety category of long fall events, which are a safety concern to bridges, oil platforms, ferry operators, commercial shipping, as well as, the military. The new technology is fully integrated into the PureActiv geospatial video management system, developed by PureTech Systems, which is deployed in the United States and internationally.
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