Video frame store; An advanced solid state recorder

In many security applications, such as in nuclear facilities, solid state recorders (SSR) have been used to instantly record and play back video images of a scene when an alarm occurs in that scene. Unlike video cassette recorders (VCR) which take a second or two to start, SSRs can respond to a command from a host computer in less than 1/30th of a second. Therefore they can be a very useful tool for video alarm assessment. There are, however, four major drawbacks with current commercial SSRs. One is high cost: a typical commercial SSR unit that can store up to 128 frames of video image costs about $70,000. Another drawback is the inability to record asynchronous video. A third problem is inflexibility of system configuration; e.g., increasing memory for image storage in an SSR can only be done by purchasing an additional unit or replacing it with another one with more memory. The final drawback is the inability to handshake with a host computer to guarantee the integrity of its response to the host's commands. The Video Frame Store (CFS) is an advanced solid state recorder that provides an effective resolution to the above problems. A VFS unit that storesmore » 128 video frames costs less than half of a typical SSR. In addition to many basic features of a typical SSR, the VFS also provides a number of advanced features. The hardware and software implementation as well as the advanced features are discussed in detail in this paper.« less