Wireless and CCTV megapixel digital camera for surveillance and unmanned air vehicles

• US 8,223,213 B2
• Filed: 12/06/2006
• Issued: 07/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Wireless Avionics
• Original Assignee: Wireless Avionics
• Inventors: Wallach, Alon
• Primary Examiner(s): HO, TUAN V
• Application Number:
  US11/634,181
• Publication Number:
  US 20080002045A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,050 Days
• Field of Search: 348/207.1, 348/207.9, 348/207.11, 3482111-2114, 348/348, 348/359, 348/211.6, 725/105, 725/109, 725/110
• US Class Current: 348/211.4
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/185 from a mobile camera, e.g. for remote control

Abstract

A system for Unmanned Air Vehicles and security applications that enables the use of a megapixels commercial digital camera with high resolution stills picturing capability, integrated with a camera control interface unit, long range wireless analog video link or CCTV link having 5 MHz bandwidth, but still able to transmit the high resolution pictures in full, by breaking the megapixels stored picture of the digital camera to a multitude of “subpictures”, each limited in resolution and 5 Mhz bandwidth.

The wireless received analog video “subpictures” stream feed a P.C with frame grabber and software that reconstruct the complete megapixels picture.

Claims

1. A system for conveying high resolution megapixels pictures from a megapixels digital camera to a video receiver over a analog video link, which comprises:

said megapixels camera for capturing at least one stills megapixels picture, said camera is provided with a standard analog video output;

a controller for (a) dividing within said camera each captured megapixels picture to a plurality of subpictures, each said subpicture maintaining the same resolution as said captured high resolution picture;

(b) controlling the camera to serially output said high resolution subpictures in a standard video format via said analog output to a analog video link; and

a PC or computing device for receiving said sequence of subpictures in said standard video format from said analog video link, and reconstructing from said sequence of subpictures said originally captured high resolution megapixels picture.

2. A system according to claim 1 wherein said digital camera comprises a digital CCD or CMOS picture sensor.

3. A system according to claim 1 wherein said standard video format is a slow scan megapixel analog scan.

4. A system according to claim 1 wherein said ID is not present, but rather the PC or computing device extracts the ID using a relatively long intermission between the end of one series of subpictures

and the next series of subpictures, as a means to reset an ID counter.

5. A system according to claim 1, wherein the video link or cable is replaced by a digital or internet video link with limited bandwidth.

6. A system according to claim 1, wherein said standard camera analog video output is a standard analog A/V video out.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein each of said subpictures in said sequence is uniquely ID marked, either by some overlay contents or addition to each subpicture, an insert in its VBI (Vertical Blank Interval), in the audio channel of the video link or video cable, or in an auxiliary data channel, said ID is used to assist in reconstructing said high resolution picture.

8. A system according to claim 7 wherein said PC or computing, device shows all or part of the reconstructed picture on a VGA or another computer screen in said high resolution of said originally captured picture.

9. A system according to claim 8 wherein said analog video link is a cable link or a wireless link.