Wearable camera

• US 9,661,283 B2
• Filed: 11/09/2015
• Issued: 05/23/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: I-Pro Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Tagawa, Haruo, Tanabiki, Ryoko, Yamaguchi, Kazuhiko, Yokomitsu, Yasushi
• Primary Examiner(s): Rahaman, Mohammed
• Application Number:
  US14/936,230
• Publication Number:
  US 20160191862A1
• Time in Patent Office: 561 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/10 Terrestrial scenes scenes under surveillance with static cameras G06V20/52; scenes perceived from the exterior of a vehicle G06V20/56; scenes perceived from the interior of a vehicle G06V20/59
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/41 Higher-level, semantic clustering, classification or understanding of video scenes, e.g. detection, labelling or Markovian modelling of sport events or news items segmenting video sequences G06V20/49
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2213/001 Constructional or mechanical details
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/65 Control of camera operation in relation to power supply
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/661 Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet
• 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 5/907 using static stores, e.g. storage tubes or semiconductor memories H04N5/91 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/185 from a mobile camera, e.g. for remote control
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8205 involving the multiplexing of an additional signal and the colour video signal

Abstract

A capture, a storage that stores data of a video image captured by the capture, an attribute information assigning switch that inputs an operation of assigning attribute information related to the data of a video image, and an attribute selecting switch that inputs an operation of selecting the attribute information are included. When there is an input from the attribute information assigning switch, the attribute information associated with a setting state of the attribute selecting switch is stored in the storage by being assigned to data of a video image.

Claims

1. A wearable camera, the camera comprising:

an image sensor, which in operation, captures a video image of a scene;

a data storage, which in operation, stores data of video images captured by the image sensor, attribute information and meta-information selected from at least one of event identification, time information, camera identification, user identification and GPS information, the attribute information being different from the event identification, the time information, the camera identification, the user identification and the GPS information;

an attribute selecting switch, which in operation, selects one among a plurality of pieces of attribute information, the pieces of attribute information being classification information identifying circumstances of a scene of an incident attended by a police officer and captured as video images by the image sensor; and

an attribute information assigning switch, which in operation, causes the one among a plurality of pieces of attribute information selected by operation of the attribute selecting switch to be assigned to data of video images captured by the image sensor,

wherein in response to operation of the attribute information assigning switch performed between a start of capturing a video image and a start of a next capturing of a video image, the attribute information selected by operation of the attribute selecting switch is associated with the data of the video image which was currently being captured when the operation of the attribute information assigning switch was performed or the data of the video image which was captured before the start of the next capturing of a video image, and

wherein operation of the attribute information assigning switch, after start of the next capturing of video images by the wearable camera, does not result in attribute information selected by operation of the attribute selecting switch being associated with the data of video images captured before the start of the next capturing of video images by the wearable camera.

2. The wearable camera of claim 1, further comprising:

a data storage, which in operation, stores second data of a video image which is captured by another camera,

wherein operation of the attribute selecting switch and the attribute information assigning switch assigns set attribute information to the second data of a video image captured by the another camera.

3. The wearable camera of claim 1,

wherein the classification information indicates a traffic accident, drunken driving, or speeding.

4. The wearable camera of claim 1,

wherein the attribute selecting switch is a slide-type switch.

5. The wearable camera of claim 1,

wherein the attribute information assigning switch is a push button-type switch.

6. The wearable camera of claim 1,

wherein the attribute selecting switch and the attribute information assigning switch are disposed on a side face of the wearable camera.

7. The wearable camera of claim 6,

wherein the attribute selecting switch and the attribute information assigning switch are disposed on the same side face.

8. A video recording method for a wearable camera that can be mounted on a user, the method comprising:

causing the wearable camera to capture video images of a scene;

storing data of the video images captured by the wearable camera, attribute information and meta-information selected from at least one of event identification, time information, camera identification, user identification and GPS information, the attribute information being different from the event identification, the time information, the camera identification, the user identification and the GPS information;

selecting one among a plurality of pieces of attribute information by operation of an attribute selecting switch, the plurality of pieces of attribute information being classification information identifying circumstances of a scene of an incident attended by a police officer and captured as video images by the wearable camera; and

operating an attribute information assigning switch between a start of capturing the video images by the wearable camera and a start of a next capturing of video images by the wearable camera, operation of the attribute information assigning switch between a start of capturing the video images by the wearable camera and a start of a next capturing of video images by the wearable camera causing the attribute information selected by operation of the attribute selecting switch to be associated with the data of the video images being captured when the operation of the attribute information assigning switch is performed or the data of the video images captured before the start of the next capturing of video images,

wherein operation of the attribute information assigning switch, after start of the next capturing of video images by the wearable camera, does not result in attribute information selected by operation of the attribute selecting switch being associated with the data of video images captured before the start of the next capturing of video images by the wearable camera.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising storing second data of a video image captured by another camera and assigning set attribute information to the second data of a video image captured by the another camera.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the classification information indicates a traffic accident, drunken driving, or speeding.