In-vehicle camera

• US 10,471,905 B2
• Filed: 03/13/2017
• Issued: 11/12/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Ikeno, Eisuke
• Primary Examiner(s): Gee, Alexander
• Application Number:
  US15/457,027
• Publication Number:
  US 20170334365A1
• Time in Patent Office: 974 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 11/04 Mounting of cameras operative during drive; Arrangement of controls thereof relative to the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2011/0026 Windows, e.g. windscreen
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 for receiving images from a single remote source

Abstract

An in-vehicle camera including: a camera component that records out of the vehicle through a window glass; a cover that covers the camera component from the vehicle interior side, with a gap existing between the cover and the window glass; and a blocker that is secured to a vehicle interior-side surface of the window glass inside the cover and is configured to allow passage of air between the inside and the outside of the cover via the gap while blocking light passing through the gap and reflected into the camera component.

Claims

1. An in-vehicle camera comprising:

a camera component configured to record out of a vehicle through a window glass;

a cover covering the camera component from a vehicle interior side, with a gap existing between the cover and the window glass; and

a blocker directly secured to a vehicle interior-side surface of the window glass inside the cover at a position between the gap and an imaging component of the camera component such that the blocker protrudes toward the vehicle interior side from the window glass at a position between the gap and the imaging component of the camera component, the blocker being configured to allow passage of air between the inside and the outside of the cover via the gap while blocking light passing through the gap and reflected into the camera component, the gap being formed between the cover and the blocker at a portion of the blocker that is secured to the vehicle interior-side surface of the window glass.

2. The in-vehicle camera according to claim 1, further comprising a bracket secured to the vehicle interior-side surface of the window glass and supporting the camera component, wherein the blocker is formed integrally with the bracket.

3. The in-vehicle camera according to claim 1, wherein:

the blocker is configured to include a wall portion that extends in a direction orthogonal to a recording direction of the camera component, and

the wall portion has a hole that allows the passage of air.

4. The in-vehicle camera according to claim 1, wherein:

the blocker is configured to include two wall portions extending in a direction orthogonal to a recording direction of the camera component, the two wall portions being positioned opposing each other, a first wall portion of the two wall portions has a hole that allows the passage of air, and

a second wall portion of the two wall portions is positioned so as to block the light passing through the hole in the first wall portion.

5. The in-vehicle camera according to claim 1, wherein:

the blocker includes a wall portion having a hole that penetrates the wall portion in a vehicle forward and rearward direction, the hole being disposed sloping outward in a vehicle width direction heading from a vehicle front side to a vehicle rear side.

6. The in-vehicle camera according to claim 1, wherein:

the blocker includes a wall portion having two holes that penetrate the wall portion in a vehicle forward and rearward direction, the two holes being disposed side by side in a vehicle width direction, each hole of the two holes is disposed sloping outward in the vehicle width direction heading from a vehicle front side to a vehicle rear side.