ORIENTATION CONTROL OF AN IMAGE SENSOR OF A PORTABLE DIGITAL VIDEO CAMERA
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Accused Products
Abstract
A camera accessory includes one or more kinematic sensor(s), such as accelerometer(s) and/or angular rate sensor(s), an actuator, and a coupling mechanism to adjust the orientation of a horizontal image plane of an image sensor of a digital video camera independent of the orientation of the camera housing of the digital video camera.
44 Citations
42 Claims
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1-25. -25. (canceled)
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26. A camera accessory, comprising:
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an accessory housing having an accessory mounting system for engaging a camera mounting system of a digital video camera, the digital video camera comprising an image sensor and a camera housing having a first orientation with respect to a scene; an angular rate sensor configured to sense orientation of the camera accessory; an accelerometer configured to sense acceleration of the camera accessory; an actuator; a control gear directly or indirectly coupled to the actuator and a frame gear, wherein the frame gear is coupled to the digital video camera; and a controller communicatively coupled to the angular rate sensor and the accelerometer, the controller configured to; receive orientation data from the angular rate sensor and acceleration data from the accelerometer, generate one or more control signals based at least in part on the orientation data and the acceleration data, and communicate the one or more control signals to the actuator, wherein the actuator induces a rotational movement of the control gear and the frame gear such that the image sensor of the digital video camera has a second orientation with respect to the scene that is different from the first orientation.
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27. A camera accessory, comprising:
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an accessory housing having an accessory mounting system operable for engaging a camera mounting system of a digital video camera, the digital video camera comprising an image sensor and a camera housing having a first orientation with respect to a scene; one or more kinematic sensors configured to sense at least one of orientation and movement of the digital video camera; a control gear coupled a frame gear, wherein the frame gear is coupled to the digital video camera; and an actuator directly or indirectly coupled to the control gear, the actuator configured to induce a rotational movement of the control gear and the frame gear such that the image sensor of the digital video camera has a second orientation with respect to the scene that is different from the first orientation. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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42. A method, comprising:
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receiving kinematic data of a camera accessory from a kinematic sensor coupled to the camera accessory, the camera accessory coupled to a digital video camera having a first orientation with respect to a scene; and causing an actuator to induce a rotational movement of an image sensor of the digital video camera coupled to the camera accessory in response to the at least one of orientation and movement of the camera accessory such that the image sensor has a second orientation with respect to the scene that is different from the first orientation.
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Specification