DUAL LENS CAMERA UNIT

• US 20150063776A1
• Filed: 10/17/2014
• Published: 03/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Digital Ally Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Digital Ally Incorporated
• Inventors: Ross, Stanton E., Han, Peng
• Granted Patent: US 10,075,681 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 386/223
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19645 Multiple cameras, each having view on one of a plurality of scenes, e.g. multiple cameras for multi-room surveillance or for tracking an object by view hand-over
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 15/026 by using processor, e.g. microcomputer
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/765 Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/772 the recording apparatus and the television camera being placed in the same enclosure
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/188 Capturing isolated or intermittent images triggered by the occurrence of a predetermined event, e.g. an object reaching a predetermined position signal generation from motion picture films H04N5/253

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention relate to a portable digital video system sized to be worn on the user'"'"'s body and equipped with a plurality of lens assemblies for recording video in a plurality of directions. In one embodiment, the invention includes a camera unit comprising a first lens assembly, a second lens assembly, a first housing containing the first lens assembly and the second lens assembly, a battery unit, a first storage memory, controller circuitry operable to receive video data from the first lens assembly and the second lens assembly and store the video data in the first storage memory, and a second housing containing the battery unit and attached via a cable to the first housing unit. In some embodiments, the system is equipped with both volatile and non-volatile memory for continuous recording with permanent storage of key video segments.

Claims

1. A camera unit comprising:

a first lens assembly having a first optical axis;

a second lens assembly having a second optical axis;

a lens housing containing the first lens assembly and the second lens assembly;

a battery unit;

a first storage memory;

a second storage memory;

controller circuitry operable to receive video data from the first lens assembly and the second lens assembly and store the video data in the first storage memory; and

a battery housing containing the battery unit and attached via a cable to the first housing unit.

2. The camera unit of claim 1, wherein the controller circuitry and first storage memory are located in the battery housing unit.

3. The camera unit of claim 1, wherein the second lens assembly is rotatably mounted inside the lens housing unit such that the second optical axis can be adjusted relative to the first optical axis.

4. The camera unit of claim 1, further comprising an attached head-mounted display and wherein the controller circuitry is further operable to display video data on the head-mounted display.

5. The camera unit of claim 1, wherein the controller circuitry is further operable to receive a triggering signal and upon receiving the triggering signal, to transfer video data from the first storage memory to the second storage memory and to store video data from the first lens assembly and the second lens assembly in the second storage memory.

6. The camera unit of claim 5, wherein the triggering signal is received in response to a triggering event selected from the set consisting of a siren activation, a light bar activation, an accelerometer reading, a positional reading, a velocity reading, and a vehicle crash event.

7. The camera unit of claim 5, wherein the triggering signal is received in response to a triggering event selected from the set consisting of a gunshot detection and a holster event.

8. The camera unit of claim 5, wherein the triggering signal is received in response to a triggering event selected from the set consisting of a face detection event and a face recognition event.

9. The camera unit of claim 1, further comprising an RFID tag.

10. The camera unit of claim 1, wherein the lens housing has a miniaturized form factor.

11. A method of controlling the operation of a camera unit comprising the steps of:

storing imagery from a first lens assembly and a second lens assembly to a first storage memory, said first lens assembly and said second lens assembly being non-paraxial;

receiving a trigger signal in response to a trigger event;

transferring the imagery from the first storage memory to a second storage memory; and

in response to the trigger signal, storing further imagery from the first lens assembly and the second lens assembly to the second storage memory.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the triggering event selected from the set consisting of a siren activation, a light bar activation, an accelerometer reading, a positional reading, a velocity reading, and a vehicle crash event.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the triggering event selected from the set consisting of a gunshot detection event and a holster event.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the triggering event selected from the set consisting of a face detection event and a face recognition event.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of storing an identifier associated with the camera unit with the imagery from the first lens assembly and the second lens assembly.

16. A dual-lens camera apparatus, comprising:

a lens housing including a plurality of non-paraxial lens assemblies;

a battery housing connected by a cable to the lens housing and providing power thereto;

a volatile memory; and

a non-volatile memory.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the non-volatile memory is located in the battery housing.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising a head-mounted display operable to display imagery from at least one of the plurality of lens assemblies.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising a head mount assembly attachable to the lens housing.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising at least one supplementary sensor providing non-audiovisual data.