SURVEILLANCE CAMERA HAVING INTEGRATED ASSEMBLY FEATURES

• US 20160086461A1
• Filed: 04/21/2014
• Published: 03/24/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pelco (Schneider Electric SE)
• Original Assignee: Pelco (Schneider Electric SE)
• Inventors: Boswell, Richard Todd, Geng, Junwei, Millar, Greg Max, Wong, Vincent
• Granted Patent: US 10,573,142 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19619 Details of casing
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1963 Arrangements allowing camera rotation to change view, e.g. pivoting camera, pan-tilt and zoom [PTZ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/50 Constructional details
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/661 Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 for receiving images from a single remote source

Abstract

A surveillance camera system having a specialized camera assembly with a fixed-angle lens is provided in a housing designed to reduce the size and weight of the camera assembly and reduce the identifiability of the system as a surveillance camera. The camera assembly can include an integrated ball joint assembly to support the camera assembly at arbitrary angles. The ball joint can further provide a standard threaded mating component to secure the camera assembly. The surveillance camera system can employ a recessed housing partially shrouding the camera assembly in a ceiling installation and further reducing the observability of the camera assembly without obstructing the camera lens. Installed in the recessed housing with an integrated ball joint, the camera assembly retains pan and tilt adjustments common to current recessed dome surveillance cameras. The camera assembly supports attachment of a customizable front cover further obscuring the camera assembly.

Claims

1. A surveillance camera comprising:

a camera assembly; and

a rotary joint assembly integrated into a housing of the camera assembly, said rotary joint assembly enabling rotation of the camera assembly about an axis of the rotary joint assembly, said rotary joint assembly including a first mating component adapted to couple to a standard-size threaded second mating component, said rotary joint assembly configured to self-support the camera assembly in arbitrary orientations relative to an orientation of the second mating component.

2. The surveillance camera of claim 1, wherein the rotary joint assembly is a ball and socket joint assembly.

3. The surveillance camera of claim 1, wherein the housing of the camera assembly has a profile with a length, width, and depth, and wherein the camera assembly has a center of gravity located between a first end and a second end of the length of the camera assembly, and further wherein the rotary joint assembly is integrated into the housing at the first end of the housing.

4. The surveillance camera of claim 1, wherein said first mating component includes a mating feature configured to prevent rotation of the first mating component with respect to a second mating component when mated to the second mating component.

5. The surveillance camera of claim 1, wherein said camera assembly comprises:

a camera sensor having a camera lens with a viewing angle; and

wherein said rotary joint assembly is located at a first end of said camera assembly, said viewing angle being in a direction angularly outward from a second end of said camera assembly, the first and second ends being laterally opposed from each other.

6. The surveillance camera of claim 5, wherein said camera lens is angled approximately 68-74 degrees relative to parallel of a face of the camera assembly spanning between the first and second ends of said camera assembly.

7. The surveillance camera of claim 5, wherein the camera sensor has a resolution of at least 640×

480 pixels.

8. The surveillance camera of claim 1, said camera assembly further comprising:

a light emitting diode (LED) connected to said circuit board assembly, said LED configured to be visible, when illuminated, by an observer through a continuous portion of a front panel of said camera assembly.

9. The surveillance camera of claim 1, wherein said camera assembly includes a camera sensor and an interface to send representations of images captured by the camera sensor, the interface being a wireless interface or a wired interlace.

10. The surveillance camera of claim 1, further comprising:

domeless recessed housing assembly with the second mating component, said recessed housing assembly configured to support said camera assembly in a ceiling hole and at least partially surrounding said camera assembly without obstructing a field of view of a lens of the camera assembly when said camera assembly is installed into the recessed housing assembly.

11. The surveillance camera of claim 10, wherein the camera assembly, in a majority, is within the domeless recessed housing assembly in an installed state, the viewing angle of the lens being angularly downward with the camera assembly in a vertical orientation within the domeless recessed housing assembly.

12. The surveillance camera comprising of claim 1, further comprising:

an L-bracket configured to secure said first mating component of said rotary joint assembly to said L-bracket through use of said second mating component, said L-bracket further configured to attach securely to a support surface through use of a fastener.

13. A surveillance camera, comprising:

a camera assembly including a housing and a fixed-angle camera lens, the fixed-angle camera lens defines of a viewing, angle, non-perpendicular to a face of the housing associated with the camera lens.

14. The surveillance camera of claim 13 wherein the fixed-angle camera lens is angled at a direction non-perpendicular to approximately 68-74 degrees relative to parallel of a major plane of said camera assembly.

15. The surveillance camera of claim 13 wherein faces of target people are visible within a field of view of the fixed-angle camera lens between 6 and 37 feet from a wall to which the camera assembly is mounted in parallel arrangement against an assembly face on an opposite side of the camera assembly from an assembly face from which the lens views the target people.

16. A surveillance camera, comprising:

a camera assembly including a housing having a front panel with a port for a camera lens; and

a light emitting diode (LED), the LED being visible, when illuminated, through a thickness of a continuous material at the LED composing the front panel of said camera assembly.

17. The surveillance camera of claim 16 wherein the front panel is removable.

18. The surveillance camera of claim 16 wherein the front panel matches a color of an adjacent wall or surface.

19. The surveillance camera of claim 16 wherein the front panel matches a texture of an adjacent wall or surface.

20. A surveillance camera, comprising:

a camera assembly; and

a domeless recessed housing assembly, said domeless recessed housing assembly configured to support said camera assembly in a ceiling hole, and, in an installed state, the camera assembly, in a majority, being within the domeless recessed housing assembly, the camera assembly having a lens with a viewing angle being angularly downward with the camera assembly in a vertical orientation within the domeless recessed housing assembly.

21. A surveillance camera, comprising:

a camera assembly having a front side and a reverse side, the front side defining a port for a camera lens for capturing images of a scene, the front side including a status indicator operable to be illuminated; and

a cover configured to attach to the camera assembly across at least a portion of at least the front side, the cover providing a port for the camera lens to view the scene unobstructed, the cover obscuring viewing of the status indicator during periods of non-illumination and enabling viewing of the status indicator during periods of illumination.

22. The surveillance camera of claim 21 wherein a degree of visibility by an observer of the status indicator during illumination is a function of thickness of the cover at the status indicator between the status indicator and the observer.