Connected camera system

• US 10,686,984 B1
• Filed: 02/16/2016
• Issued: 06/16/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Waylens, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Waylens, Inc.
• Inventors: Schmidt, Michael Frank, Shen, Dawei, Zhang, Haowei, Gordon, Stephen E., Johnson, Shelby Lee
• Primary Examiner(s): Adams, Eileen M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tekle, Daniel T
• Application Number:
  US15/044,404
• Time in Patent Office: 1,582 Days
• Field of Search: 348 36
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/031 Electronic editing of digitised analogue information signals, e.g. audio or video signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/51 Housings
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/57 Mechanical or electrical details of cameras or camera modules specially adapted for being embedded in other devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/58 Means for changing the camera field of view without moving the camera body, e.g. nutating or panning of optics or image sensors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/633 for displaying additional information relating to control or operation 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 23/698 for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/2625 for obtaining an image which is composed of images from a temporal image sequence, e.g. for a stroboscopic effect sequence generated by event triggered capturing H04N7/188

Abstract

A connected camera system and computer-implemented method for processing visual data. The camera system and method provides control data to a mobile application of a mobile device. The camera system and method transmits the control data from the mobile device (via a cloud service) to a camera device. The camera device configured with a camera housing comprising a camera sensor that captures visual data (e.g., image or video data) in view of a lens. The camera device further configured with a processor coupled to a motor for rotating a shaft. The camera system and method receive the control data, and based on the control data, the processor controls the motor to rotate the shaft. The rotating of the shaft, in turn, rotates the camera housing, such that the camera sensor captures the visual data in view of the lens through a 360-degree plane of rotation. In some embodiments, the camera system and method further displays the visual data on a display coupled to the processor, such that the processor presents the captured visual data on the display through the 360-degree plane of rotation. In other embodiments, the camera system and method streams the captured visual data, via the cloud service, to the mobile device for viewing and editing.

Claims

1. A connected camera system for processing visual data, the system comprising:

a camera device configured with a camera housing, the camera housing comprising a camera sensor that captures the visual data in view of a lens;

the camera device further configured with a processor capable of implementing mobile applications a mobile device configured with a mobile application for generating control data for the camera device and wirelessly transmitting the control data to the camera device; and

the camera configured to receive the control data, and, based on the received control data capture the visual data in view of the lens, the camera wirelessly transmitting visual data captured from the camera sensor directly to the mobile device, the mobile device configured to receive the captured visual data, edit the captured visual data, and forward the captured visual data or an edited version thereof to a cloud service located remotely from the mobile device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the visual data comprises at least one of image or video.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the camera device is further configured with a motor for rotating a shaft and camera housing and the processor is further coupled to one or more sensors, wherein the processor rotates the shaft based on conditions detected by the one or more sensors.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the sensors include at least one of a GPS, accelerometer, automotive on board diagnostic connections (ODB II), G force sensor, and altimeter.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further coupled to a display, such that the processor presents the captured visual data on the display.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the control data is provided from a remote control device.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to stream the captured visual data to the mobile device.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the mobile device provides context-aware viewing of the streamed captured data.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the mobile application bookmarks, highlights, and edits at least one of the captured data presented on the display or the streamed captured visual data at the mobile device.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the cloud service provides at least one of smart time-lapse view generation or smart highlight video generation for editing the captured data.

11. A method for processing visual data, the method comprising:

providing control data to a mobile application of a mobile device;

wirelessly transmitting, from the mobile device, the control data to a camera device;

processing the received control data at the camera device, wherein the control data controls camera device such that a camera sensor captures visual data in view of a lens;

wirelessly transmitting captured visual data from the camera device directly to the mobile device;

editing the captured visual data in the mobile device; and

forwarding the captured visual data or an edited version thereof to a cloud service located remotely from the mobile device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the visual data comprises at least one of image or video.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising rotating the camera housing based on conditions detected by one or more sensors.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the sensors include at least one of a GPS, accelerometer, automotive on board diagnostic connections (ODB II), G force sensor, and altimeter.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising displaying the captured visual data on a display.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the control data is provided from a remote control device.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising streaming the captured visual data to the mobile device.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein context-aware viewing is applied to the streamed captured data.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising bookmarking, highlighting, and editing at least one of the displayed captured data and the streamed captured visual data at the mobile device.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising providing, at the cloud service, at least one of smart time-lapse view generation or smart highlight video generation for editing the captured data.