From: Ariel Glenn <ariel@watsun.cc.columbia.edu>
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 1997 00:45:13 +0800
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Subject: patenting big brother
Message-ID: <CMM.0.90.4.876760788.ariel@stealth.cc.columbia.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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if it's not one thing, it's another.

Ariel Glenn
ariel@columbia.edu
-----

http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/101397patents.html

Engineer Invents Computerized Surveillance System

            By TERESA RIORDAN

Imagine that a city park were studded with discreetly
placed cameras that fed images into computers programmed to keep
a watchful eye. This may sound darkly Orwellian, but
David Aviv, a former aerospace engineer, has patented exactly
such a system as a way of combating crime. 

Aviv said his invention, which he calls the Public Eye,
used pattern recognition to detect robberies or acts of violence. 

He said he had digitized and stored a library of physical
interactions. "We employed actors to do re-enactments of
muggings," he said. "We had 10 different sizes of muggers
and 10 different sizes of victims." 

The camera sends to a computer the real-time images of a person
getting money from an automated teller machine, for example. The
computer then takes a snapshot and compares the image against the
library of threatening interactions. 

"It takes another snapshot and then another snapshot and does a similar
comparison over and over again to reduce false alarms," Aviv
said. "I'm describing this in slow motion, but it
actually takes place every fraction of a millisecond." 

If the computer detects a malicious act, an alarm promptly alerts the 
police or a paid guard. 

Aviv said he also used a type of pattern recognition,
called word gisting, to detect aggressive verbal interactions. Muggers,
according to Aviv's research, use a limited vocabulary.
"Mostly they say, 'Give me your money,' and then use a lot of cuss
words," he said. His word-gisting library contains about 20
basic words, spoken in a number of different dialects. 

How is Aviv's system different from having a human guard
observe a bank of television monitors? "Guards get tired," Aviv
said. "And they are expensive." Aviv estimated that it cost
about $130,000 a year to have one site manned by guards 24
hours a day. "My system you could lease at $500 a month,"
he said. "You're not going to eliminate all guards, because you
still need someone to run over when a hostile act is taking
place." 

Aviv's company, ARC Inc., which is based in Las Vegas, is
seeking financing for further development of the surveillance
system. He received patent 5,666,157.