CAMERA APPARATUS AND METHOD

• US 20160142684A1
• Filed: 06/24/2015
• Published: 05/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2014
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Robert Gruder
• Original Assignee: Robert Gruder
• Inventors: Gruder, Robert
• Application Number:
  US14/749,137
• Publication Number:
  US 20160142684A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/50 Constructional details
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/51 Housings
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/60 Control of cameras or camera modules
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/77 between a recording apparatus and a television camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/772 the recording apparatus and the television camera being placed in the same enclosure

Abstract

A camera apparatus and method is disclosed. The camera apparatus includes an image sensor operable to generate image data; a storage device operable to store the image data from the image sensor; and a controller operably connected to the image sensor and the storage device. The controller is programmed to receive the image data and transfer the image data to the storage device in a recording loop of a predetermined duration. The controller is programmed to respond to a privacy command received from a user during the recording loop by pausing the transfer of image data to the storage device for a predetermined pause interval.

Claims

1. A body camera apparatus, comprising:

an image sensor operable to generate image data;

a storage device operable to store the image data from the image sensor;

a controller operably connected to the image sensor and the storage device, the controller programmed to receive the image data and transfer the image data to the storage device in a recording loop of a predetermined duration;

wherein the controller is programmed to respond to a privacy command received from a user during the recording loop by pausing the transfer of image data to the storage device for a predetermined pause interval.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the controller is programmed to automatically resume the transfer of image data to the storage device after expiration of the pause interval.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the controller is programmed to respond to a save command received from a user during the recording loop by archiving the image data in the recording loop in the storage device, and starting a new recording loop.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the controller is programmed to respond to a power off command received from a user during the recording loop by archiving the image data in the recording loop in the storage device, prior to shutting off power to the apparatus.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the image sensor is sensitive to visible light and/or infrared light.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 further including at least one illuminating device.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 further including a display for playing back recorded image data.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 further including at least one microphone coupled to the controller and storage device for recording audio data.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 further including a speaker for playing back recorded audio data.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 further including at least one switch connected to the controller for inputting a user command to the controller.

11. A method of recording image data using a camera apparatus, comprising:

using an image sensor to generate image data;

transferring the image data to a storage device in a recording loop of a predetermined duration;

in response to a user save command, archiving the image data in the recording loop, and starting a new recording loop.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising, in response to additional user save commands, repeating the steps of archiving image data and starting new recording loops.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

in response to a user privacy command, pausing the transfer of image data to the storage device for a predetermined pause interval;

at the expiration of the pause interval, resuming the transfer of image data.

14. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

in response to a power off command received from a user during one of the recording loops, archiving the image data in the current recording loop in the storage device, prior to shutting off power to the image sensor.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein the image data is stored as a series of files, each file having a unique sequence identifier associated therewith.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the unique sequence identifiers are incremented each time a save command is received from a user.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the unique sequence identifiers are not incremented each time a privacy command is received from a user.

18. A method of recording video using a camera apparatus, comprising:

using an image sensor to generate image data;

transferring the image data to a storage device in a recording loop of a predetermined duration;

in response to a user save command, archiving the image data in the recording loop, and transferring image data from the image sensor to the storage device in a continuous recording.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising in response to a subsequent save command, stopping the continuous recording, archiving the continuous recording and starting a new recording loop.

20. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

in response to a user privacy command, pausing the transfer of image data to the storage device for a predetermined pause interval;

at the expiration of the pause interval, resuming the transfer of image data.

21. The method of claim 20 further comprising ignoring any privacy commands received from a user during the continuous recording.