REMOTELY CONTROLLABLE CAMERA ON HEAD-MOUNT FOR THE BLIND

• US 20190020808A1
• Filed: 07/11/2017
• Published: 01/17/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2017
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Shintani, Peter, Candelore, Brant, Nejat, Mahyar
• Application Number:
  US15/646,790
• Publication Number:
  US 20190020808A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A42B 1/242 Means for mounting detecting, signalling or lighting devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 9/08 Devices or methods enabling eye-patients to replace direct visual perception by another kind of perception
• CPC Class Codes: F16M 13/04 for supporting on, or holding steady relative to, a person, e.g. by chains , e.g. rifle butt or pistol grip supports, supports attached to the chest or head apparatus or arrangements for taking photographs or for projecting or viewing them G03B
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 17/561 Support related camera accessories
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/62 Control of parameters via user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/63 by using electronic viewfinders
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/661 Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/69 Control of means for changing angle of the field of view, e.g. optical zoom objectives or electronic zooming
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/185 from a mobile camera, e.g. for remote control

Abstract

A camera on a head mount can be remotely controlled by a monitoring device to pan and tilt so that a remote monitor may gain a picture of the surroundings of a vision-impaired person wearing the head mount without pestering the person to move his head.

Claims

1. Assembly comprising:

a head-wearable support configured to be worn on a person'"'"'s head;

at least one camera;

at least one movable coupling connecting the camera to the support;

at least one wireless transceiver on the support to receive camera motion commands from a monitoring device and transmit images generated by the camera to the monitoring device; and

at least one processor on the support to receive images from the camera and send the images through the transceiver to the monitoring device, and to move the coupling to thereby move the camera according to commands received through the transceiver from the monitoring device.

2. The assembly of claim 1, wherein the coupling comprises at least one gimbal.

3. The assembly of claim 1, wherein the coupling is configured to pan the camera azimuthally and tilt the camera elevationally.

4. The assembly of claim 1, comprising at least one speaker communicating with the processor.

5. The assembly of claim 4, wherein the at least one speaker comprises left and right ear buds.

6. The assembly of claim 1, wherein the coupling is configured to pan the camera azimuthally.

7. The assembly of claim 1, wherein the coupling is configured to tilt the camera elevationally.

8. The assembly of claim 1, wherein the head-wearable support is configured as a cap for fitting over a person'"'"'s head.

9. A monitoring device for a camera on a head-wearable apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor;

at least one display for control by the processor; and

at least one storage with instructions executable by the processor to;

receive from the head-wearable apparatus at least one image generated by a camera on the head-wearable apparatus;

present on the display the at least one image; and

present on the display at least one user interface (UI) comprising at least one selector selectable to cause the processor to send a command to the head-wearable apparatus to move the camera.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the command is a pan command.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the command is a tilt command.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, comprising at least one microphone, wherein the instructions are executable to:

send voice signals from the at least one microphone to the head-wearable apparatus.

13. A method comprising:

receiving video information wirelessly from a head-wearable apparatus;

presenting video based on the video information on a display device remote from the head-wearable apparatus; and

presenting on the display device at least one selector invokable to move a camera on the head-wearable apparatus.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one selector is invokable to pan the camera.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one selector is invokable to tilt the camera.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one selector is invokable to pan and tilt the camera.

17. The method of claim 13, comprising:

receiving voice signals from a microphone of the display device; and

wirelessly transmitting the voice signals to the head-wearable apparatus.