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Abstract

A remote sensing system suitable for use in businesses which include queues and/or servers has a camera which captures successive images of the area to be monitored. The sensing system includes one or more video cameras which generate an array of pixel samples representing an image of the area. Sub-areas of interest in the image are defined by selectively illuminating each of the sub-areas during an initialization phase. During operation, the system analyzes pixel data from only the defined sub-areas. A combination of blob analysis and motion analysis is used to determine if a server is on-duty and present at his station, and if he is serving a customer. The system also maintains a count of the number of people waiting in the queue to be served. This information is used to generate displays directing waiting customers to the next available server and to inform newly arriving customers of their expected waiting time. The remote sensing system may also be used in an office environment to detect changes initiated by a worker or inherent in his work to gather performance statistics on the worker.

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First Claim