Home video capturing and monitoring system

• US 10,321,026 B2
• Filed: 01/04/2018
• Issued: 06/11/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Duffy, Gregory R., McLean, Melissa D., Virani, Aamir S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chen, Chia Wei A
• Application Number:
  US15/862,515
• Publication Number:
  US 20180176513A1
• Time in Patent Office: 523 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19619 Details of casing
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1963 Arrangements allowing camera rotation to change view, e.g. pivoting camera, pan-tilt and zoom [PTZ]
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19656 Network used to communicate with a camera, e.g. WAN, LAN, Internet
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19658 Telephone systems used to communicate with a camera, e.g. PSTN, GSM, POTS
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/20 for generating image signals from infrared radiation only
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/50 Constructional details
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/51 Housings
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/33 Transforming infrared radiation cameras or camera modules for generating image signals from infrared radiation H04N23/20; circuitry of SSIS for transforming infrared radiation into image signals H04N25/20
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/77 between a recording apparatus and a television camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 for receiving images from a single remote source

Abstract

This application discloses a home video capturing and monitoring system including a video camera, an executable application, and a remote server. The video camera further includes a camera configured to capture video data, a communications component configured to wirelessly communicate video data to a monitoring device, and a speaker configured to output one or more audio messages from a user. The application is executed by the monitoring device, and configured to receive and display the video data captured by the camera while capturing the one or more audio messages from the user and sending them to the video camera via the remote server for playback by the speaker of the video camera. The remote server is configured to receive, store and analyze the video data communicated from the video camera, and relay the one or more audio messages captured by the monitoring device to the video camera.

Claims

1. A home video capturing and monitoring system, comprising:

a video camera including;

a camera configured to capture video data within a field of view;

a communications component configured to communicate, via a remote server, the video data captured by the camera to a monitoring device; and

a speaker configured to output one or more audio messages from a person in the field of view of the camera, the

one or more audio messages being captured by a microphone of the monitoring device and received by the communications component via the remote server; and

an application executable by the monitoring device, the application being configured to, when executed by the monitoring device;

receive from the video camera via the remote server at least a portion of the video data captured by the camera;

display on the monitoring device the received video data captured by the camera;

capture the one or more audio messages via the microphone of the monitoring device; and

while displaying the received video data, send the one or more captured audio messages to the video camera via the remote server for playback by the speaker of the video camera, thereby enabling a real-time conversation between a user viewing the video data displayed by the application and the person in the field of view of the camera;

wherein the remote server is located remotely from the video camera and the monitoring device and is configured to;

receive from the video camera the video data captured by the video camera and streamed to the remote server via the communications component of the video camera;

relay the received video data to the monitoring device;

receive the one or more audio messages from the monitoring device concurrently with receiving from the video camera the video data captured by the video camera; and

relay the received one or more audio messages to the video camera for output by the video camera concurrently with receiving from the video camera the video data captured by the camera.

2. The home video capturing and monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the video camera further comprises a housing configured to receive the camera and the communications component.

3. The home video capturing and monitoring system of claim 2, further comprising a wall mount configured to receive the housing, wherein the housing and the wall mount are configured to allow the housing to be moved relative to the wall mount.

4. The home video capturing and monitoring system of claim 3, wherein the movement includes at least one of:

pivoting the housing relative to the wall mount so as to cause a tilting of the camera; and

rotating the housing relative to the wall mount so as to cause a panning of the camera.

5. The home video capturing and monitoring system of claim 2, wherein the housing is configured to receive AC power to charge a battery and/or power the video camera, and the battery is configured to power the video camera in the event AC power no longer supplies power.

6. The home video capturing and monitoring system of claim 2, wherein a portion of the housing matches the shape of a portion of the camera to aid mechanical coupling of the camera to the housing.

7. The home video capturing and monitoring system of claim 2, wherein the housing includes an arm having a cutout opening, and the cutout opening substantially conforms to a contour of the camera and is configured to hold the video camera when the video camera is assembled within the cutout opening.

8. The home video capturing and monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the video camera further includes a front portion and a rear portion, wherein the camera is exposed at a front surface of the front portion of the video camera and one or more infrared light emitting diodes (IR LEDs) are arranged at the front surface of the front portion of the video camera, the one or more IR LEDs being configured to illuminate at least a portion of the field of view with infrared light.

9. The home video capturing and monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the video camera further includes:

a video camera module;

an arm physically coupled to the video camera module;

a base; and

a joint that connects the arm and the base and the provides at least one degree of motion of the arm and video camera module mounted therein, the at least one degree of motion including tilting of the camera relative to the base.

10. The home video capturing and monitoring system of claim 9, wherein the video camera module is an integrated video camera module, and the arm includes a cutout shaped to receive the integrated video camera module.

11. A monitoring device, comprising:

an application executable by the monitoring device, the application being configured to, when executed by the monitoring device;

receive from a video camera via a remote server at least a portion of video data captured by the video camera;

display on the monitoring device the received video data captured by the video camera;

capture one or more audio messages via a microphone of the monitoring device; and

while displaying the received video data, send the one or more captured audio messages to the video camera via the remote server for playback by a speaker of the video camera, thereby enabling a real-time conversation between a user viewing the video data displayed by the application and a person in a field of view of the video camera;

wherein the video camera includes a camera, a communications component and a speaker, and is configured to;

capture by the camera the video data within the field of view;

communicate, via the remote server, the video data captured by the camera to the monitoring device; and

output by the speaker the one or more audio messages from the person in the field of view of the camera, the one or more audio messages being captured by the microphone of the monitoring device and received by the communications component via the remote server; and

wherein the remote server is located remotely from the video camera and the monitoring device and is configured to;

receive from the video camera the video data captured by the video camera and streamed to the remote server via the communications component of the video camera;

relay the received video data to the monitoring device;

receive the one or more audio messages from the monitoring device concurrently with receiving from the video camera the video data captured by the video camera; and

relay the received one or more audio messages to the video camera for output by the video camera concurrently with receiving from the video camera the video data captured by the video camera.

12. The monitoring device of claim 11, wherein the communications component is configured to wirelessly stream the captured video data to the remote server for storage by the remote server, and the application is further configured to, when executed by the monitoring device and at a time later than when the remote server stores the captured video data, receive the captured video data from the remote server and display the captured video data to the user of the monitoring device.

13. The monitoring device of claim 11, wherein the communications component is configured to wirelessly communicate the captured video data directly to the monitoring device over a wireless network.

14. The monitoring device of claim 11, wherein the application includes an Internet browser application executed on the monitoring device.

15. The monitoring device of claim 11, wherein the application includes a dedicated and/or downloaded application executed on the monitoring device.

16. A server, comprising:

a processor; and

memory storing one or more programs for execution by the processor, the one or more programs comprising instructions for;

receiving from a video camera video data captured by the video camera and streamed to the server via a communications component of the video camera;

relaying the received video data to a monitoring device, wherein the server is located remotely from the video camera and the monitoring device;

receiving one or more audio messages from the monitoring device concurrently with receiving from the video camera the video data captured by the video camera; and

relaying the received one or more audio messages to the video camera for output by the video camera concurrently with receiving from the video camera the video data captured by the video camera;

wherein the video camera includes a camera, a communications component and a speaker, and is configured to;

capture by the camera the video data within a field of view;

communicate, via the server, the video data captured by the camera to the monitoring device; and

output by the speaker the one or more audio messages from a person in the field of view of the camera, the one or more audio messages being captured by a microphone of the monitoring device and received by the communications component via the server; and

wherein an application is executable by the monitoring device, and is configured to, when executed by the monitoring device;

receive from the video camera via the server at least a portion of the video data captured by the camera;

display on the monitoring device the received video data captured by the camera;

capture the one or more audio messages via the microphone of the monitoring device; and

while displaying the received video data, send the one or more captured audio messages to the video camera via the server for playback by the speaker of the video camera, thereby enabling a real-time conversation between a user viewing the video data displayed by the application and the person in the field of view of the camera.

17. The server of claim 16, wherein the server is configured to analyze the received video data captured by the video camera and cause the user to be notified based on the analysis of the received video data captured by the video camera.

18. The server of claim 17, wherein being configured to analyze the received video data includes being configured to compare a current image with a previous image, and wherein being configured to cause the user to be notified includes sending a notification to the user based on a difference between the current image and the previous image.

19. The server of claim 18, wherein the server is configured to manage a cloud-based video system including a plurality of user accounts, and the user is presented with the notification when logging on to the cloud-based video system.

20. The server of claim 16, wherein the video camera further includes a microphone configured to capture audio received at the camera, wherein the captured audio is communicated, concurrently with the wireless communicating via the server of the video data captured by the camera to the monitoring device.