Patent US9058706

Motor vehicle camera and monitoring system
[+] Show Details

US9058706

1. A camera apparatus for monitoring of a vehicle, the camera apparatus comprising: (6) (6)

an external housing having a front side, a back side, and a base for mounting the apparatus on the vehicle;

a camera module including a camera lens, the camera module capturing video data;

a lighting component including a plurality of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and having infra-red (IR) capabilities to provide a night vision mode;

a dimmer switch controlling a brightness of the lighting component;

a transmission medium coupled to the camera module to transmit the video data as a live video stream to an external device; and

a mirror trigger that includes at least one threaded sealed hole and a screw-magnet, wherein the mirror trigger activates and deactivates a mirror function of the camera module.

2. The camera apparatus of claim 1, wherein the external housing is made of an alloy material. (0)

3. The camera apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a camera cover being fitted on a first opening on the front side of the external housing, wherein the camera lens and the lighting component faces the camera cover. (0)

4. The camera apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus has an IP69K rating. (0)

5. The camera apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of sensors, wherein one of the plurality of sensors is a ambient light sensor. (2) (0)

6. The camera apparatus of claim 5, wherein when the ambient light sensor detects a high light level consistent with daytime, the lighting component is automatically deactivated. (0)

7. The camera apparatus of claim 5, wherein when the ambient light sensor detects a low light level consistent with nighttime, the lighting component is automatically activated and the night vision mode is automatically activated. (1) (0)

11. The camera apparatus of claim 1, wherein the dimmer switch is located on the back side of the external housing. (0)

12. The camera apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a microphone being located on the back side or the underside of the external housing. (0)

13. A system for monitoring of a plurality of vehicles, the system comprising: (7) (2)

a plurality of cameras, wherein each of the cameras includes: an external housing having a front side and a back side, the external housing being made of an alloy material,

a camera module including a camera lens, the camera module capturing video data,

a lighting component including a plurality of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and having infra-red (IR) capabilities to provide a night vision mode,

a dimmer switch controlling a brightness of the lighting component, and

a transmission medium coupled to the camera module to transmit the video data as a live video stream; and

the network device including: a communication interface coupled to the transmission medium of each of the cameras to receive the live video stream from each of the cameras, and

coupled to a cloud storage to transmit the live video stream to the cloud storage, and

a recording unit to record the live video stream,

wherein the cloud storage is accessed by at least one client device coupled to receive the live video stream, and wherein the cloud storage is accessed by the at least one client device to receive, upon request, video data corresponding to a time and a date from the cloud storage.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein each of the cameras have an IP69K rating. (0)

15. The system of claim 13, wherein each of the cameras further comprises a plurality of sensors, wherein one of the plurality of sensors is a ambient light sensor. (2) (0)

16. The system of claim 15, wherein when the ambient light sensor detects a high light level consistent with daytime, the lighting component is automatically deactivated. (0)

17. The system of claim 15, wherein when the ambient light sensor detects a low light level consistent with nighttime, the lighting component is automatically activated and the night vision mode is automatically activated. (1) (0)

20. The system of claim 13, wherein the dimmer switch is located on the back side of the external housing. (0)

21. The system of claim 13, wherein each of the cameras further comprises a microphone being located on the back side or the underside of the external housing. (0)

22. The system of claim 13, wherein the communication interface of the network device includes a wireless interface that is used to transmit the live video stream to the cloud storage. (0)

23. The system of claim 13, wherein the communication interface of the network device includes a mobile communication interface that is used to transmit the live video stream to the cloud storage, wherein the mobile communication interface communicates with a mobile telecommunication network including at least one of 3G and 4G. (0)

24. The system of claim 13, wherein the network device further comprises an input sensing unit that senses inputs of the communication interface to determine if the cameras are coupled to the inputs. (1) (0)

26. A system for monitoring of a plurality of vehicles, the system comprising: (1) (2)

a plurality of cameras, wherein each of the cameras includes: an external housing having a front side and a back side, the external housing being made of an alloy material,

a camera module including a camera lens, the camera module capturing video data,

a lighting component including a plurality of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and having infra-red (IR) capabilities to provide a night vision mode,

a dimmer switch controlling a brightness of the lighting component, and

a transmission medium coupled to the camera module to transmit the video data as a live video stream; and

the network device including: a communication interface coupled to the transmission medium of each of the cameras to receive the live video stream from each of the cameras, and coupled to a cloud storage to transmit the live video stream to the cloud storage, and

a recording unit to record the live video stream, wherein the network device is further coupled to the plurality of vehicles on which the plurality of cameras are mounted, respectively, and the network device further receives data from a plurality of vehicle sensors included on the vehicles.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the plurality of vehicle sensors include at least one of: temperature sensors, speed sensors, door status sensors, engine loading sensors, water data sensors, and oil data sensors. (0)

28. A system for monitoring of a plurality of vehicles, the system comprising: (1) (2)

a plurality of cameras, wherein each of the cameras includes: an external housing having a front side and a back side, the external housing being made of an alloy material,

a camera module including a camera lens, the camera module capturing video data,

a lighting component including a plurality of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and having infra-red (IR) capabilities to provide a night vision mode,

a dimmer switch controlling a brightness of the lighting component, and

a transmission medium coupled to the camera module to transmit the video data as a live video stream; and

a location tracking unit that receives the location of the network device, and

a recording unit to record the live video stream, wherein the recording unit included in the network device records the location of the network device in association with the live video stream, and the communication interface transmits the location of the network device with the live data stream to the cloud storage.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the cloud storage is accessed by at least one client device to receive the location of the network device and the live data stream, wherein the at least one client device displays the live data stream with the corresponding location of the network device on a map. (0)

View Abstract and Specification Size

PDF with Images and Document Face >

Full Text Publication >

Patent US9058706

Motor vehicle camera and monitoring system

Patent Matrix® Search