Imaging system and imaging device

• US 10,362,275 B2
• Filed: 02/25/2016
• Issued: 07/23/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toshiba Lifestyle Products & Services Corporation (Midea Group Co., Ltd)
• Original Assignee: Toshiba Lifestyle Products & Services Corporation (Midea Group Co., Ltd)
• Inventors: Watanabe, Kota, Izawa, Hirokazu, Furuta, Kazuhiro, Marutani, Yuuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Perungavoor, Sathyanaraya V
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dang, Philip P.
• Application Number:
  US15/053,536
• Publication Number:
  US 20160173830A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,244 Days
• CPC Class Codes: F25D 27/005 combined with control means
• CPC Class Codes: F25D 29/00 Arrangement or mounting of control or safety devices
• CPC Class Codes: F25D 29/005 Mounting of control devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/57 Mechanical or electrical details of cameras or camera modules specially adapted for being embedded in other devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/633 for displaying additional information relating to control or operation of the camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/651 for reducing power consumption by affecting camera operations, e.g. sleep mode, hibernation mode or power off of selective parts of the camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/661 Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/667 Camera operation mode switching, e.g. between still and video, sport and normal or high- and low-resolution modes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/71 Circuitry for evaluating the brightness variation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 for receiving images from a single remote source

Abstract

In one embodiment, an image capturing system is configured so that a device for capturing images is communicable with an external device through a communication unit. The image capturing system is provided with an operating unit configured to make settings pertaining to image capturing, an image capturing device serving as the device for capturing images and being configured to produce image data by periodically capturing images based on the settings made to the operating unit and a display unit configured to produce a display output based on the image data.

Claims

1. An image capturing system comprising:

a body serving as an outer shell of an image capturing device configured to capture images of an interior of a storage;

a user interface disposed on the body and configured for making settings pertaining to image capturing based on user operation;

an image capturing element provided inside the body and configured to produce image data by capturing images based on the settings made by the user interface, including capturing images under a first image capturing mode in which images are captured repeatedly according to prescribed conditions; and

a communication module provided inside the body and configured to transmit image data captured by the image capturing element to an external device, the image data including data pertaining to date and time of images captured under the first image capturing mode;

wherein inside the storage provided with a door, the body of the image capturing device is held by a holding portion and installed in a position allowing easy look of the storage interior,

wherein a lighting unit is provided at the image capturing device or inside the storage which is a dark room and when capturing images, the image capturing device is configured to light the dark room by the lighting unit,

wherein the image capturing device is configured to transmit the image data to the external device through unidirectional communication, and

wherein the external device is a device independent of the image capturing device and provided outside the storage, the external device being provided with a display configured to produce a display output based on the image data and on the date and time of the captured images.

2. The image capturing system according to claim 1, wherein the image capturing element is configured to capture test images of the interior of the storage when a prescribed time period has elapsed after the settings have been made by the user interface.

3. The image capturing system according to claim 1, wherein the image capturing element is battery driven and is configured to normally standby in a low power mode consuming relatively less electric power compared to a normal operation mode, the image capturing element being configured to return to the normal operation mode when capturing images.

4. The image capturing system according to claim 1, wherein the external device comprises a server provided with a storing unit configured to store the image data.

5. The image capturing system according to claim 1, wherein the external device comprises a communication terminal provided with a terminal side display unit configured to display images based on the image data and the data pertaining to date and time.

6. The image capturing system according to claim 1, wherein the display is configured to display an image originating from image data captured with a prescribed periodicity and an image originating from image data produced by a test shot taken when a prescribed period has elapsed after the settings have been made by the user interface in a first manner.

7. The image capturing system according to claim 1, wherein the image capturing element is configured to distinguish image data captured with a prescribed periodicity and image data produced by a test shot taken when a prescribed period has elapsed after the settings have been made by the user interface by appending identification data to at least one of the image data captured with the prescribed periodicity and the image data produced by the test shot.

8. The image capturing system according to claim 1, wherein the image capturing element is configured to select either the first image capturing mode or a second image capturing mode in which an image is captured when a predetermined period has elapsed after the settings have been made by the user interface.

9. An image capturing device for use in an image capturing system provided with a display configured to produce a display output based on image data, the image capturing device comprising:

a body serving as an outer shell of the image capturing device configured to capture images of an interior of a storage;

a user interface disposed on the body and configured for making settings pertaining to image capturing based on user operation;

an image capturing element provided inside the body and configured to produce image data by capturing images based on the settings made by the user interface, including capturing images under a first image capturing mode in which images are captured repeatedly according to prescribed conditions; and

a communication module provided inside the body and configured to transmit image data captured by the image capturing element to an external device, the image data including data pertaining to date and time of images captured under the first image capturing mode,

wherein inside the storage provided with a door, the body of the image capturing device is held by a holding portion and installed in a position allowing easy look of the storage interior,

wherein a lighting unit is provided at the image capturing device or inside the storage which is a dark room and when capturing images, the image capturing device is configured to light the dark room by the lighting unit, and

wherein the image capturing device is configured to transmit the image data to the external device through unidirectional communication, and

wherein the external device is a device independent of the image capturing device and provided outside the storage, the external device being provided with the display configured to produce a display output based on the image data and on the date and time of the captured images.