A Big Brother surveillance system is being developed by Xerox in Rochester,
New York (EP 813 040 and 813 073). Cheap camcorders monitor objects in the room,
including the walls, floor and furniture, and display a composite virtual
reality image on a computer monitor. Infrared tags are put on all movable
objects. They are represented in the model by icons such as coffee machines or
laptops. Only small amounts of data are needed to create this model, so it can
easily be displayed at remote locations.
The system continually updates the position of everything in the
room—but the word “theft” isn’t mentioned in the patent. All the company
says is that “quickly locating movable objects such as portable computers in a
room can be difficult”.
