Point-of-view integrated video system having tagging and loop mode features

• US 8,964,014 B2
• Filed: 01/09/2008
• Issued: 02/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/10/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Extreme Technologies LLC (Superior Drilling Products, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: V.I.O., Inc. (Superior Drilling Products, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ollila, David J., Mattson, Craig L.
• Primary Examiner(s): DENNISON, JERRY B
• Application Number:
  US11/971,608
• Publication Number:
  US 20080170130A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,603 Days
• Field of Search: 348/61, 348/143
• US Class Current: 348/61
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/50 Constructional details
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/51 Housings
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/661 Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/772 the recording apparatus and the television camera being placed in the same enclosure
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/907 using static stores, e.g. storage tubes or semiconductor memories H04N5/91 takes precedence

Abstract

The present invention provides a point of view video system comprising: a camera for receiving an image and for generating a video signal; a portable video image recording module including: a display; one or more user activators; a communication interface for signally communicating with the camera that is remote from the recording module; a power source; a speaker; a processing device in signaling communication with the display, the one or more user activators, the speaker, and the communication interface for processing data; and a sealed housing for containing the recording module, the sealed housing being separable from the camera.

Claims

1. A point of view video system comprising:

a. a camera for receiving an image and for generating a video signal;

b. a portable video image recording module including;

i) a display;

ii) one or more user activators;

iii) a communication interface for signally communicating with the camera that is remote from the recording module;

iv) a power source;

v) a speaker;

vi) an electronic storage medium;

vii) a processing device in signaling communication with the display, the one or more user activators, the speaker, and the communication interface for processing data and the electronic storage medium, wherein the one or more user activators include an activator for recording and a second user activator for stopping recording; and

c. a sealed housing for containing the recording module, the sealed housing;

i) being separate from the camera;

ii) including a generally common forward surface with which the display device and the one or more user activator are generally coextensive, and a curved rearward surface; and

iii) including a removable cover located at an end of the sealed housing that allows access to one or more I/O ports, a storage medium, the power source, or any combination thereof, wherein the removable cover includes a locking mechanism for attaching to the sealed housing;

d. a remote control having a first user activator for recording a video, tagging a video, or both and a second user activator for stopping recording;

e. a microphone, a light, or both; and

f. a cable connecting the sealed housing with the camera;

wherein the system stores video files or images in the form of data files on the electronic storage medium.

3. A method for selectively storing one or more intervals of recorded video comprising the steps of:

providing a point of view video system according to claim 1;

setting a record time interval, which defines a length of time of a recorded video that is retained or protected from automatic deletion upon activation of a tagging activator of the portable video image recording module;

automatically deleting one or more data files that have not been protected by the tagging activator,

recording a series of videos that include a video signal, an audio signal, or both;

activating the tagging activator of the portable video image recording module during a recording step thereby retaining at least one tagged event with a pre-set length from the series of videos.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing device comprises one or more separate processors, one or more integrated processors having several combined processors, or both, and

wherein the processing device controls one or more components of the point of view video system upon activation of the one or more user activators of the portable video image recording module, the remote control, or both.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the one or more user activators of the recording module are located between the display and a speaker grille, the remote control is wireless such that the remote control is not tethered to the recording module, and the processing device is included on a main circuit board.

9. The method according to claim 3, including the step of accessing the at least one tagged event during playback of a recorded video through a video playback software in a portable video image recording module,

wherein the video playback software includes a video timeline bar, and

wherein the video timeline bar includes at least one locatable mark representing the at least one tagged event.

2. A method for selectively creating one or more locatable marks during playback of a recorded video comprising the steps of:

providing an image recording module for recording a video;

recording a video that includes a video signal, an audio signal, or both as a result of using a user activator;

recording the video not as a single data file but as a series of clips of a pre-set length so that when a clip reaches the pre-set length, the clip is saved as a completed data file and recording in a new data file begins;

activating a tagging activator at a time frame during recording step thereby retaining the current data file that includes a tag, and/or retaining one or more data files that are in close proximity to the tag with regard to time, wherein the one or more data files are recorded data files if the tag is at an beginning of a clip, or data files that will be recorded in the future if the tag is at an end of a clip

automatically deleting data files that are not within close proximity of a tag;

storing the current data file and/or the one or more data files on the electronic storage medium of the image recording module;

accessing the recorded video using a video playback program that includes a video timeline bar configured for showing a representation of the video progress with respect to time;

accessing the information included in the current data file and/or the one or more data files for playback of the recorded video;

wherein the video playback program creates at least one locatable mark in the video timeline bar that corresponds to the time frame of an activating step; and

wherein the at least one locatable mark is available for direct access to the recorded video that was recorded at the time frame of the activating step.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein at least one stored data file is retained and protected from automatic deletion because a tagged portion of a following data file has a tag that occurred near a beginning of the at least one stored data file, and/or wherein at least one stored data file is retained and protected from automatic deletion because a previous data file has a tag that occurred near an end of the at least one stored data file so that one or more data files that are close to a tag with respect to time may be retained even when the tagging activator was not activated during recording of the one or more data files.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein during the recording step, the video is continually recorded until the storage medium is full of one or more of the at least one stored tagged portion of the recorded video in the form of data files stored on the storage medium or the user stops the recording.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the data files comprise one or more files in a format selected from WMV, AVI, MPEG, MOV, WMA, MP3, MP4, WOV, or a combination thereof.

10. A method for saving important data from a recorded video comprising steps of:

recording a series of video clips by a portable video image recording module, each video clip having a pre-set length,

storing the series of video clips in an electronic storage medium in a portable video image recording module,

retaining at least one clip within the series of video clips by tagging important data within the series of video clips;

storing a tagged data on the portable video image recording module;

automatically deleting one or more video clips in the series of video clips without tags,

tagging of multiple video clips in the series of video clips,

repeatedly tagging one or more video clips in the series of video clips, or a combination thereof;

setting a record time interval of each video in the series of video clips to be five minutes,

storing a series of five-minute-long video clips,

retaining a tagged video by activating a user activator of the portable video image recording module, of a remote control, or both after recording a video for more than five minutes, wherein the tagged video includes last five minutes of the previously stored series of video clips.

11. The method of claim 10 including a step of recording a video captured by a camera and recording audio captured by a microphone.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the tagged data includes information describing a video clip within the series of video clips, the information comprising a tagged video identifier which identifies a corresponding video clip within the series of video clips, a time identifier that identifies a time interval between one or more known points in a video clip within the series of video clips, or both.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the time interval is an interval between a start of the video clip within the series of clips to a tagging activation, between a first tagging activation and a second tagging activation, between a first or second tagging activation to an end of the video clip within the series of clips, or a combination thereof.

14. The system according to claim 10 including a step of storing more than one video clip in the portable video image recording module by activating a tagging activator near a beginning or near an end of the pre-set length of a video clip which is being recorded.

15. The method of claim 14 including steps of:

setting a length of each video clip in a series of video clips to be recorded, wherein the length can be divided in portions,

storing a current video clip and a previous video clip by activating a tagging activator of the portable video image recording module during a first portion of the current video clip, storing a current video clip only by activating a tagging activator during a second portion of the current video clip, or storing a current video clip and the following video clip by activating a tagging activator during a third portion of the current video clip.

16. The method of claim 14 including steps of:

setting a length of each video clip within the series of video clips to be recorded to 3 minutes,

storing a current video clip and a previous video clip by activating a tagging activator of the portable video image recording module during a first minute of the current video clip, storing a current video clip only by activating a tagging activator during a second minute of the current video clip, or storing a current video clip and the following video clip by activating a tagging activator during a third minute of the current video clip.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein a length of each video clip in a series of video clips is set to a period greater than about one hour.

18. The method of claim 10 further including steps of:

selecting continuous recording of video clips to be saved by pushing one or more user activators on the portable video image recording module,

retaining at least one separate data file by tagging important data within the series of video clips by activating one or more other user activators on a portable video image recording module,

managing the tagged data on a portable video image recording module by organizing one or more videos, editing the one or more videos, sharing the one or more videos, or a combination thereof.

19. The method of claim 10, wherein the tagged video also includes five minutes immediately following the last five minutes of the previously stored series of video clips.

20. A method of claim 10, wherein the portable video image recording module comprises:

i) a display;

ii) one or more user activators;

iii) a communication interface for signally communicating with the camera that is remote from the recording module;

iv) a power source;

v) a speaker;

vi) the electronic storage medium;

vii) a processing device in signaling communication with the display, the one or more user activators, the speaker, and the communication interface for processing data and the electronic storage medium, wherein the one or more user activators include an activator for recording and a second user activator for stopping recording.