System including a seamless lens cover and related methods
First Claim
1. A cap structure including a seamless lens cover, which cap structure forms a portion of a rotating camera system, the cap structure comprising:
- a generally cylindrical hollow body including an open bottom end, a top end, and a generally cylindrical sidewall extending therebetween;
a top cap that is a separate piece relative to the top end of the generally cylindrical hollow body, the top cap being positioned or positionable over the top end of the generally cylindrical hollow body;
wherein the generally cylindrical sidewall is a lens cover through which a camera of the camera system directly obtains images, the cylindrical sidewall being seamless;
wherein the generally cylindrical sidewall has a substantially uniform thickness that is less than 0.025 inch.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A seamless lens cover, and methods of forming such a seamless lens cover. The cap structure that covers a camera of a rotating panoramic camera system includes a seamless lens cover through which images are obtained by the camera. The cap structure may be injection molded at an initial lens cover thickness, and then a portion of the as molded initial lens cover thickness may be removed (e.g., by machining away) to achieve the final desired thickness. By such a method, the lens cover may be injection molded at thicknesses suitable for injection molding (e.g., about 0.06 to about 0.1 inch), after which most of the thickness may be machined away, to provide a seamless lens cover having a thickness of less than about 0.015 inch, exhibiting at least 60% transmittance to the thermal spectrum, no lensing characteristics, and no curvature effect.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A cap structure including a seamless lens cover, which cap structure forms a portion of a rotating camera system, the cap structure comprising:
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a generally cylindrical hollow body including an open bottom end, a top end, and a generally cylindrical sidewall extending therebetween; a top cap that is a separate piece relative to the top end of the generally cylindrical hollow body, the top cap being positioned or positionable over the top end of the generally cylindrical hollow body; wherein the generally cylindrical sidewall is a lens cover through which a camera of the camera system directly obtains images, the cylindrical sidewall being seamless; wherein the generally cylindrical sidewall has a substantially uniform thickness that is less than 0.025 inch. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A rotating camera system including a cap structure having a seamless lens, the system comprising:
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a rotating camera that is capable of rotation through 360°
;a cap structure that serves as a lens cover for the rotating camera, the cap structure including; a generally cylindrical hollow body including an open bottom end, a top end, and a generally cylindrical sidewall extending therebetween, the generally cylindrical sidewall being translucent rather than transparent, and the generally cylindrical sidewall being seamless; wherein the translucent generally cylindrical sidewall serves as the lens cover through which the rotating camera of the camera system obtains images; wherein the generally cylindrical sidewall has a substantially uniform thickness that is less than 0.025 inch; and a top cap that is a separate piece relative to the top end of the generally cylindrical hollow body, the top cap being positioned or positionable over the top end of the generally cylindrical hollow body. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification