CAMERA ACTIVITY SYSTEM

• US 20140375807A1
• Filed: 06/25/2013
• Published: 12/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: ZF Friedrichshafen AG (Zeppelin - Stiftung der Stadt Friedrichshafen)
• Original Assignee: ZF Friedrichshafen AG (Zeppelin - Stiftung der Stadt Friedrichshafen)
• Inventors: Muetzel, Ronald, Roesch, Thomas
• Application Number:
  US13/926,285
• Publication Number:
  US 20140375807A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/148
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0866 the electronic data carrier being a digital video recorder in combination with video camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/661 Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast

Abstract

A vehicle may be equipped with one or more cameras, each of which may be connected to a storage medium. In turn, the storage medium may be connected to a transmitter that may be used to transmit images (still or video) to a remote server. Image capture may be triggered by various occurrences, events, or signals. An input device, including but not limited to, a button, switch, or voice-activated interface, may be used to trigger image capture.

Claims

1. A vehicle camera system comprising:

a camera;

a storage medium in communication with the camera;

an input mounted in a passenger compartment of the vehicle;

a sensor in the vehicle;

a locator in the vehicle;

a controller configured to trigger storage of an image generated by the camera in the storage medium based on signals received from the input, sensor, or locator; and

a transceiver in communication with the storage medium, the transceiver configured to transmit images captured by the camera.

2. The vehicle camera system of claim 1 wherein the trigger is a first trigger, and further comprising a second trigger mounted in the passenger compartment of the vehicle, the trigger in communication with the transceiver, the trigger configured to signal the transceiver to transmit an image generated by the camera.

3. The vehicle camera system of claim 1 further comprising a device configured to tag an image generated by the camera with a date, a time, and a location that the image was generated.

4. The vehicle camera system of claim 3 further comprising a receiver configured to receive the location in GPS coordinates.

5. The vehicle camera system of claim 1 further comprising an audio recorder, the audio recorder configured to record audio and tag an image generated by the camera with the audio.

6. The vehicle camera system of claim 1 wherein the trigger is voice-activated.

7. The vehicle camera system of claim 1 wherein the trigger is activated by a braking system of the vehicle.

8. The vehicle camera system of claim 7 wherein the braking system activates the trigger when the brakes of the vehicle are applied for a predetermined duration and at a predetermined amount.

9. The vehicle camera system of claim 1 wherein the trigger is activated when the vehicle crosses a geofence.

10. The vehicle camera system of claim 1 wherein the storage medium is configured to store an image generated by the camera at a predetermined amount of time before the trigger is activated.

11. The vehicle camera system of claim 10 wherein the storage medium is configured to store an image generated by the camera 60 seconds before the trigger is activated.

12. The vehicle camera system of claim 1 wherein the trigger is activated when the vehicle arrives within a predetermined proximity of particular GPS coordinates.

13. The vehicle camera system of claim 12 wherein the particular GPS coordinates are predetermined or dynamic.

14. The vehicle camera system of claim 12 wherein the camera is configured to generated a series of consecutive images, and the storage medium is configure to store the series of consecutive images as digital video.

15. A vehicle camera system comprising:

a plurality of cameras;

a storage medium in communication with the plurality of cameras;

a plurality of inputs mounted in a passenger compartment of the vehicle, each input of the plurality of inputs uniquely associated with one camera of the plurality of cameras;

a sensor in the vehicle;

a locator in the vehicle;

a controller configured to trigger storage of an image generated by the camera in the storage medium based on signals received from one input of the plurality of inputs, the sensor, or the locator; and

a transceiver in communication with the storage medium, the transceiver configured to transmit images captured by the cameras to a server,

wherein the images are displayed on a website that is enabled to access the server.

16. The vehicle camera system of claim 15 wherein the plurality of triggers are activated by a push-button.

17. The vehicle camera system of claim 15 further comprising an indicator that is activated when the vehicle arrives within a predetermined proximity of GPS coordinates.

18. A method for generating images from a vehicle comprising:

generating an image;

receiving a trigger signal;

storing the image upon receiving the trigger signal;

tagging the image with a date and time of the image'"'"'s generation and a location of the vehicle; and

transmitting images captured by the camera, generating the trigger signal based on one of the following;

generating the trigger signal when an input mounted in a passenger compartment of the vehicle is activated;

generating the trigger signal when an accident is detected; and

generating the trigger signal from a controller in communication with a GPS receiver.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the step of generating the image comprises generating the image at a predetermined amount of time before the step of receiving the trigger signal.

20. The method of license plate recognition of claim 18, wherein the step of generating an image further comprises generating a series of images that comprises digital video.