Remotely controlled vehicle containing a television camera

• US 5,481,257 A
• Filed: 05/24/1994
• Issued: 01/02/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/1987
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Curtis M. Brubaker
• Original Assignee: Curtis M. Brubaker
• Inventors: Brubaker, Curtis M., Wykes, Harry B., Pierce, Harold D., Post, Lawrence H., Dixon, Robert C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Yusko, Donald J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Holloway, III, Edwin C.
• Application Number:
  US08/248,542
• Time in Patent Office: 588 Days
• Field of Search: 340/825.69, 340/825.72, 348/143, 348/148, 348/114, 348/118, 348/121, 348/122, 318/16, 434/69, 434/63, 273/86 R, 455/352, 359/142, 359/714, 446/454, 446/456, 370/18, 375/87
• US Class Current: 340/12.55
• CPC Class Codes: A63H 30/04 using wireless transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/185 from a mobile camera, e.g. for remote control

Abstract

A radio control toy incorporating a module containing a compact television camera, radio frequency transmitter and radio control receiver is described. The camera incorporates a lens system designed to record point of view impressions from the toy and a microphone to provide impressions of the audio environment for transmission by the radio frequency transmitter to a remote television module. The television module incorporates means to receive the video and audio transmissions from the camera and reproduce them via a television system and audio speaker associated with the television module. A control module allows an operator, viewing the television screen and hearing the audio sounds reproduced, to operate a set of controls associated with a control module and control signals derived from the position of the controls are transmitted by a radio control transmitter in the television module to the radio control receiver in the camera module. The camera module may be used in a variety of mobile toys thus providing the operator with a pleasurable simulation of the point of view associated with much larger environments or full scale vehicles.

Claims

1. A method of operating a vehicle from a remote location wherein the vehicle is of a scale size that is too small to accommodate a human operator, the method comprising the following steps:

providing a real-time video camera view of an environment in the vicinity of said vehicle, the view being of a wide angle and having relatively high resolution in the center of the field of view to provide a wide angle image having a high depth of field and being relatively distorted at large angles from the center of the field of view to provide less detail at the periphery of said wide angle image;

converting said wide angle image to corresponding electrical image signals;

transmitting said electrical image signals to a display location remote from said vehicle;

receiving said electrical image signals and displaying said wide angle image, including portions of the image which are relatively distorted at large angles from the center of the field of view, of the environment in the vicinity of said vehicle at said display location to provide a visual perception of operation of the vehicle in the environment;

generating control signals at a remote control location for controlling the operation of said vehicle;

transmitting said control signals to said vehicle;

receiving said control signals at said vehicle; and

operating motion control mechanisms associated with said vehicle in response to received control signals to maneuver the vehicle from the remote control location.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of operating motion control mechanisms includes operating propulsion control mechanisms which cause said vehicle to move at an operating speed in the environment and wherein the visual perception of operation of the vehicle is at a speed significantly greater than said operating speed.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein vibrations are induced in said vehicle as it moves in the environment and wherein the visual perception of operation of the vehicle significantly reduces such vibrations at the display location.

4. A method of maneuvering a vehicle, comprising the following steps:

generating a video signal of a field of view by use of a television camera in the vehicle, said television camera having a wide-angle, short focal-length lens system for providing a real-time video camera view of an environment in the vicinity of the vehicle, the view being of a wide angle and having relatively high resolution in the center of the field of view to provide a wide angle image having a high depth of field and for distorting a field of view by visually increasing the apparent size and scope of said environment and accelerating an apparent angular speed of movement of objects in the periphery of the field of view, said wide angle image being relatively distorted at large angles from the center of the field of view to provide less detail at the periphery of said wide angle image;

transmitting said video signal to a remote location;

receiving said video signal;

reproducing said wide angle image of said distorted field of view, including relatively distorted portions at large angles from the center of the field of view, on a display;

generating control commands in response to said wide angle image;

encoding said commands for transmission as encoded signals;

transmitting said encoded signals to a receiver at said vehicle;

decoding said transmissions in said receiver; and

maneuvering said vehicle in response to said transmissions.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising the steps of:

detecting sounds in the environment of said vehicle;

transmitting electronic signals corresponding to said sounds to said remote location; and

reproducing said sounds from said electronic signals.

6. A method of manipulating a video camera from a remote location by a vehicle which is of a scale size that is too small to accommodate a human operator, the method comprising the following steps:

providing a real-time video camera view of an environment in the vicinity of the vehicle, the view being of a wide angle and having relatively high resolution in the center of the field of view to provide a wide angle image having a high depth of field and being relatively distorted at large angles from the center of the field of view to provide less detail at the periphery of said wide angle image;

converting said wide angle image to corresponding electrical image signals;

transmitting said electrical image signals to a display location remote from the vehicle;

receiving said electrical image signals and displaying said wide angle image, including portions of the image which are relatively distorted at large angles from the center of the field of view, of the environment in the vicinity of the vehicle at said display location to provide a visual perception of moving through the environment;

generating control signals at a remote control location for controlling the operation of the vehicle;

transmitting said control signals to the vehicle;

receiving said control signals at the vehicle; and

operating motion control mechanisms associated with the vehicle in response to received control signals.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the step of operating movement control mechanisms includes operating propulsion control mechanisms which cause the vehicle to move at an operating speed in the environment and wherein the visual perception of operation of the vehicle is at a speed significantly greater than the operating speed thereof.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein vibrations are induced in the vehicle as it moves in the environment and wherein the visual perception of operation of the vehicle significantly reduces such vibrations at the display location.