System that conserves power of a battery-powered streaming video camera

• US 9,485,425 B1
• Filed: 08/20/2014
• Issued: 11/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/20/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pet Time Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Pet Time Incorporated
• Inventors: Swift, Stephen Edwin
• Primary Examiner(s): Lam, Hung
• Application Number:
  US14/464,176
• Time in Patent Office: 804 Days
• Field of Search: 348/114, 348/211.99, 348/211.8, 348/208.16, 348/231.4, 348/333.13, 348/372
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/651 for reducing power consumption by affecting camera operations, e.g. sleep mode, hibernation mode or power off of selective parts of the camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/66 Remote control of cameras or camera parts, e.g. by remote control devices
• 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 23/80 Camera processing pipelines; Components thereof
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8042 involving data reduction

Abstract

A system for conserving power of a battery powered accelerometer controlled Wi-Fi streaming video camera is disclosed. The system conserves power by allowing for Wi-Fi and video streaming to be turned on only during certain events and for video quality to be adjusted based on battery life. Some embodiments of the systems allow for a real time point of view streaming video device to be connected to a subject without having to constantly be connected via Wi-Fi. The system also allows for video quality to be adjusted both manually and automatically to maximize battery life.

Claims

1. A system that conserves battery power in a real time streaming video device, the system comprising:

a battery that provides power to the real time streaming video device;

a camera configured to capture sequences of video images;

an image processing module that is configured to adjust the quality of the video images based on one or more of a streaming bit rate, resolution, frame rate, or compression to transmit the captured sequences of video images;

a wireless module that establishes a Wi-Fi network connection over which to stream the captured sequences of video images;

an accelerometer sensor that detects movements of the real time streaming video device; and

a processing unit programmed to;

monitor the accelerometer sensor for an event condition as a result of detected movement;

monitor the internal clock for an event condition as a result of a timed event condition;

send a push message to a remote user in response to a detected event condition, the push notification requesting the remote user to provide an instruction related to real time power usage of the system;

receive the remote instruction from the user;

activate the camera and the image processing module based on the remote instruction received from the user; and

adjust processing of video received from the camera based on a power level of the battery.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a microphone that receives audio that can be adjusted for different streaming bit rates.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the processing unit is further programmed to combine the received audio with the captured sequences of video images.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising an audio speaker that provides audio from a remote user to a subject.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein battery power is conserved by powering up only when at least one event condition in a set of event conditions is detected.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the event condition is one of a first event condition that is powered up when the accelerometer vibrates for amount of time predefined by the remote user and a second event condition that is powered up when the internal clock reaches one or more predefined times set by the remote user throughout a day.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein powering up comprises turning the wireless module on to establish a Wi-Fi connection.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the push message sent to the remote user in response to the detected event condition requests that the remote user provide a selective instruction comprising one or more of an instruction to control the wireless streaming video device to stream video captured from a subject'"'"'s point of view, an instruction to maintain an exclusive Wi-Fi only mode of power consumption, another instruction to control the real time streaming video device to stream video, an instruction to do not disturb the remote user for a predefined amount of time, or an instruction to completely power off the wireless streaming video device until the next event condition is triggered.

9. The system of claim 1 further comprising a remote computing device that can connect to the processing unit via the wireless module to program a set of event conditions.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the programmed set of event conditions are saved while Wi-Fi connectivity is established prior to powering off the real time streaming video device.