Vietnamese company’s ‘AI tracking’ solution received a patent in the US

On the morning of February 26, Viettel Artificial Intelligence and Data Service Center (Viettel AI) said that for the first time the center was granted a utility patent by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The invention is called “Deep learning method for tracking multiple objects from videos”, invented and owned by Vietnamese personnel, based on practical needs.

Technically, in video surveillance and analysis systems, Multi-Object Tracking is considered a challenging problem. The task of this technology is not only to detect people or objects appearing in the frame, but also to maintain accurate identification throughout the movement, even when obscured, temporarily out of the frame and then returned, or when many people with similar appearance appear at the same time.

In fact, many systems are susceptible to identity confusion, especially in changing lighting environments, crowded spaces, fast movements or complex rotation angles. The main reason comes from the approach, dividing the problem into individual processing steps, so errors at one stage can lead to accumulated errors for the entire monitoring process, as well as longer processing time.

Viettel AI said it chose a different approach, designing its own multi-object tracking AI model with end-to-end training capabilities. Once deployed, the model helps the system learn and process the entire tracking process in a unified architecture instead of processing each discrete step, helping to increase stability, reduce identification confusion, optimize processing time and be suitable for deployment in complex real-world conditions.

The USPTO is the agency responsible for evaluating and protecting long-standing patents in the US – a market considered to have the world’s leading strict approval process. To be granted a patent, an invention must prove its novelty, level of creativity and applicability in practical production and business. The process of completing the examination and granting a patent at the USPTO can take 2-3 years or longer, depending on the complexity of the invention, and goes through many rigorous evaluation steps.

The Vietnamese company said that this patent was “granted without any objections during the appraisal process”, showing that this is a solution with clear novelty, strict technical description and is assessed to have a low risk of dispute.

This technology has been deployed in camera surveillance solutions at many locations in Vietnam, such as some offices, tourist areas, shopping centers, school gates, hospitals, gold shops, public spaces, and integrated into smart urban management systems in some provinces and cities in Vietnam.

The solution helps automatically detect situations such as illegal entry into restricted areas, climbing walls or fences, dumping trash in the wrong place, leaving objects behind in public places or museums. Viettel AI said that during practical implementation, the solution can detect traffic safety violations or identify crowds with an accuracy of over 95%.

“Being granted a patent by the USPTO reflects the ability to master core technology,” said Mr. Nguyen Manh Quy, Director of Viettel AI. “This is an important foundation for building sovereign AI technology, researched and self-owned by Vietnam, meeting both domestic requirements and international standards.”