Driver view adapter for forward looking camera
First Claim
1. A camera unit that facilitates concurrently monitoring a driver of a vehicle and an area in front of the vehicle, comprising:
- a forward-looking camera that monitors the area in front of a vehicle on which the camera is mounted;
a rearward-facing mirror assembly coupled to the camera, wherein the mirror assembly is within a field of view of the camera and reflects an image of the driver into the camera;
wherein the camera is facing a first direction and the mirror is facing a second direction;
wherein the mirror assembly is positioned within an inactive portion of the field of view of the camera such that the mirror assembly does not impede video processing of forward elements in front of the vehicle.
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Accused Products
Abstract
When monitoring the forward area in front of a vehicle, video of the forward area and the driver of the vehicle is concurrently captured by a single forward facing camera with a rearward facing mirror assembly reflects an image of the driver, who is positioned behind the forward facing camera, into the forward facing field of view of the camera. The mirror assembly is positioned in an inactive portion of the field of view of the camera so that the reflected image of the driver appears in the inactive portion of the field of view in the captured video. In this manner, synchronized video of the forward area in the driver is generated without requiring computationally expensive post processing.
27 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A camera unit that facilitates concurrently monitoring a driver of a vehicle and an area in front of the vehicle, comprising:
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a forward-looking camera that monitors the area in front of a vehicle on which the camera is mounted; a rearward-facing mirror assembly coupled to the camera, wherein the mirror assembly is within a field of view of the camera and reflects an image of the driver into the camera; wherein the camera is facing a first direction and the mirror is facing a second direction; wherein the mirror assembly is positioned within an inactive portion of the field of view of the camera such that the mirror assembly does not impede video processing of forward elements in front of the vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method of concurrently capturing video of a driver of a vehicle and an area in front of the vehicle via a single forward-facing camera, comprising:
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monitoring an area in front of a vehicle on which the camera is mounted; concurrently capturing video of the area in front of the vehicle and of the driver of the vehicle via a rearward-facing mirror assembly positioned within a field of view of the camera and which reflects an image of the driver into the camera; wherein the camera is positioned in front of and facing away from a driver'"'"'s seat; wherein the mirror assembly is positioned within an inactive portion of the field of view of the camera such that the mirror assembly does not impede a forward camera view in front of the vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A vehicular video recording system that facilitates concurrently monitoring a driver of a vehicle and an area in front of the vehicle, comprising:
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a forward-looking camera that monitors the area in front of a vehicle on which the camera is mounted; and a rearward-facing mirror assembly coupled to the camera, wherein the mirror assembly is within a field of view of the camera and reflects an image of the driver into the camera; wherein the mirror assembly is manually adjustable for positioning within inactive portion of the field of view of the camera. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19)
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20. An apparatus for concurrently capturing video of a driver of a vehicle and an area in front of the vehicle via a single forward-facing camera, comprising:
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monitoring means for monitoring an area in front of a vehicle on which the monitoring means is mounted; reflecting means for reflecting an image of the driver into the monitoring means and positioned within a field of view of the monitoring means; processing means for detecting a trigger event that causes the monitoring means to at least one of; begin recording video for a predetermined time period; and store to memory buffered data recorded for a predetermined time period before the trigger event; wherein the monitoring means concurrently captures video of the area in front of the vehicle and of the driver of the vehicle via the reflecting means; wherein the monitoring means is forward-facing and is positioned in front of a driver'"'"'s seat; and wherein the reflecting means is positioned within inactive portion of the field of view of the monitoring means.
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Specification