Camera systems adapted for installation in a vehicle
AssigneeAmazon Technologies, Inc.
InventorsBrian Gatti, Danylo Dorofeyev, Aaron Harpole, Eugene Lee, Jonathan Thomas Little
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A camera system for vehicles captures panoramic video, has a unique identifier, and has an image processor that compresses the video and detects events. It transmits compressed video with one or more of a timestamp, a unique identifier, a location, and event flags through a network (e.g., cellular) to a server. A GPS device (or the like) may be adapted to determine location. Particular embodiments process the video to detect events, and, upon detecting these events, transmit video at a high data rate while using a low data rate at other times.
Claims19
A camera system adapted for installation in a vehicle, comprising:
- an electronic camera;
- non-volatile memory;
- a unique identifier stored in the non-volatile memory;
- a vehicle operation detector;
- computer-readable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the camera system to:
- configure the electronic camera in a panoramic-view mode and capture panoramic video when the vehicle operation detector indicates the vehicle is off;
- and
- configure the electronic camera in one of a windshield-view mode or a rear-view mode when the vehicle operation detector indicates the vehicle is on;
- cause a digital image processing subsystem to:
- receive the panoramic video,
- compress the panoramic video into compressed video,
- identify at least one event in the panoramic video, and
- tag the compressed video with an event flag throughout a timeout period of occurrence of the at least one event;
- and
- cause a digital radio subsystem communicatively coupled with the image processing subsystem to transmit the compressed video and the unique identifier to a network-accessible server at a first data rate during the timeout period and at a second data rate outside the timeout period, the first data rate being higher than the second data rate;
- and
- a power system comprising a battery and a charger, the power system electrically coupled to provide power to the electronic camera, the digital image processing subsystem, and the digital radio subsystem.
A camera system adapted for installation in a vehicle, comprising:
- a motion detector;
- an accelerometer;
- a camera having a field of view;
- a vehicle operation detector;
- and
- computer-readable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the camera system to:
- configure the camera into a panoramic-view mode and capture panoramic video when the vehicle operation detector indicates the vehicle is off;
- configure the electronic camera into one of a windshield-view mode or a rear-view mode when the vehicle operation detector indicates the vehicle is on;
- detect, using the motion detector, motion;
- detect, using the accelerometer, vibration of the vehicle;
- and
- control the camera to capture video based on a triggering event including one or both of detection of the motion or detection of the vibration.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.