AERIAL CAMERA SYSTEM

• US 20090207250A1
• Filed: 02/20/2009
• Published: 08/20/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Skycam LLC (Florida) (Melrose Industries Plc)
• Original Assignee: Actioncam, LLC
• Inventors: MacDonald, Alexander, Jones, Matthew R., Bennett, Patrick J., Cook, Garret, Henry, Michael F., Ashenayi, Kaveh
• Granted Patent: US 8,199,197 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/144
• CPC Class Codes: B66C 21/00 Cable cranes, i.e. comprising hoisting devices running on aerial cable-ways rope or cable drives for trolleys, combinations of such drives with hoisting gear B66C11/16; railway systems B61B; rope or cable winding mechanisms B66D1/00
• CPC Class Codes: B66D 1/38 by means of guides movable relative to drum or barrel
• CPC Class Codes: F16M 11/105 the horizontal axis being the roll axis, e.g. for creating a landscape-portrait rotation
• CPC Class Codes: F16M 11/18 with mechanism for moving the apparatus relatively to the stand
• CPC Class Codes: F16M 11/2064 for tilting and panning F16M11/2078 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F16M 11/425 along guiding means
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 15/006 Apparatus mounted on flying objects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/695 Control of camera direction for changing a field of view, e.g. pan, tilt or based on tracking of objects

Abstract

An aerial camera system including a plurality of main reels, a camera interface/safety reel and a stabilized camera head. The camera head is supported from main cables from the main reels with a safety reel cable providing power, data and video communication between the camera head and a main computer system. Each of the main reels, the camera interface/safety reel and the camera head are in communication with the main computer system, which controls the feeding and reeling in of the main cables. Further, the computer system controls the feeding and reeling in of the safety reel cable, which typically only follows the camera head as it moves in three-dimensional space, but may in emergency mode support the weight of the camera head and be used to slowly pull the camera head up and out of the way so that it does not interfere with any activity below the flight area. The aerial camera system may also include a level wind assembly that keeps the cables wound on the drum of the main reels and/or the safety reel in a controlled and consistent manner. Furthermore, the camera head of the aerial camera system may use a rotating gimbal assembly with computer controlled leveling motors for keeping the camera head level as the gimbal assembly moves.

Claims

1. An aerial camera system, comprising:

a plurality of main reels for feeding and reeling a plurality of main cables;

a camera interface/safety reel for feeding and reeling a safety reel cable;

a stabilized camera head being supported from and flown by said main cables;

a main computer system for controlling said feeding and reeling of said main cables and said safety reel cable, wherein each of said main reels, said camera interface/safety reel and said camera head are in communication with said main computer system; and

wherein said safety reel cable provides power, data and video communication between said camera head and said main computer system, and wherein said safety reel cable is capable of supporting the weight of and reeling in said camera head in an emergency mode.

2. The aerial camera system of claim 1 wherein said camera head includes a plurality of cantilevered arms rotatably coupled to said main cables respectively.

3. The aerial camera system of claim 2 wherein said cantilevered arms of said camera head are fixed platform arms to adjust pull closer to the center of gravity.

4. The aerial camera system of claim 2 wherein said cantilevered arms of said camera head are articulated platform arms to adjust the level of said camera head.

5. The aerial camera system of claim 2 wherein said cantilevered arms of said camera head are angled rods pivotally coupled intermediate of said camera head and a cable connection platform to adjust the level of said camera head.

6. The aerial camera system of claim 1 wherein a camera mounted to said camera head includes three axis control with 45 degree angled roll axis before tilt axis.

7. The aerial camera system of claim 1 wherein a camera mounted to said camera head includes three axis control with orthogonal roll axis after tilt axis.

8. The aerial camera system of claim 1 wherein a camera mounted to said camera head provides for camera rotation about a lens nodal point in pan, tilt and roll axes, and wherein rotation about said lens nodal point eliminates parallax error.

9. The aerial camera system of claim 1 wherein a camera mounted to said camera head includes a lens with full servo control of the lens zoom, focus and iris settings.

10. The aerial camera system of claim 1 wherein said camera interface/safety reel includes angled sheaves to eliminate cable twist.

11. The aerial camera system of claim 1 wherein said camera interface/safety reel includes a slip ring assembly to effectively transfer said power, data and video communication between said camera head and said main computer system.

12. The aerial camera system of claim 1 further comprising a level wind assembly to keep said safety reel cable wound on a drum of the said camera interface/safety reel in a controlled and consistent manner.

13. The aerial camera system of claim 12 wherein said level wind assembly includes a solid state tension sensor that accurately measures tension of said safety reel cable regardless of the angle from which said safety reel cable enters or exits said level wind assembly.

14. The aerial camera system of claim 1 wherein each of said main reels includes a level wind assembly coupled thereto in order to keep said main cable wound on said main reel in a controlled and consistent manner.

15. The aerial camera system of claim 14 wherein each of said level wind assemblies includes a solid state tension sensor that accurately measures tension of said main cable regardless of the angle from which said main cable enters or exits said level wind assembly.

16. The aerial camera system of claim 1 further comprising a two axis gimbal assembly having two computer-controlled leveling motors for keeping said camera head level as said gimbal assembly moves.

17. The aerial camera system of claim 16 wherein said camera head further comprises two spinning mass gyroscopes mounted on said camera head such that the X-axis and the Y-axis each have one of said spinning mass gyroscopes, and wherein said camera head further comprises a solid state gyroscope for providing X-axis, Y-axis and Z-axis rotational angle information.

18. The aerial camera system of claim 17 wherein said camera head further comprises:

an upper camera assembly having a weight plate, a gyro plate having said spinning mass gyroscopes mounted thereon, an electronics plate of said solid state gyroscope, a series of motor controllers and data converters mounted thereon, and a main platform having a pan motor and an array of power supplies mounted thereon; and

a lower camera assembly having a pan support tube, a tilt support tube and a camera bracket assembly, wherein said pan support tube is rotatably coupled to said pan motor, wherein said pan support tube is pivotally coupled to said tilt support tube, and wherein tilt support tube is rotatably coupled to said camera bracket assembly.

19. The aerial camera system of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of main system sheaves in communication with said main cables and a center system sheave in communication with said safety reel cable, and wherein each of said main system sheaves includes a reflective surface.

20. The aerial camera system of claim 1 wherein each of said main reels and said camera interface/safety reel comprises:

a portable frame supported on a plurality of casters;

a motor secured to said frame, said motor having a drive shaft coupled to a drive sprocket, a drive belt coupled to said drive sprocket and a main sprocket; and

a drum having a central axle, said central axle coupled to said main sprocket, and said central axle coupled to a brake.