Camera system and photographing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10084977-B2
Application number	US-201615054212-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 26, 2016
Priority date	May 7, 2015
Publication date	Sep 25, 2018
Grant date	Sep 25, 2018

Abstract

A camera system includes a camera, a base configured to support the camera, a transparent cover that covers at least a portion of the camera and the base; a circular polarizer disposed between the camera and the transparent cover; and a controller configured to move at least one of the camera and the circular polarizer to arrange the camera to face the circular polarizer in a first surrounding environment, and move at least one of the camera and the circular polarizer to arrange the camera not to face the circular polarizer in a second surrounding environment.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A camera system comprising:
a camera;
a base configured to support the camera;
a transparent cover that covers at least a portion of the camera and the base;
a circular polarizer disposed between the camera and the transparent cover; and
a controller configured to move at least one of the camera and the circular polarizer to arrange the camera to face the circular polarizer in a first surrounding environment, and move at least one of the camera and the circular polarizer to arrange the camera not to face the circular polarizer in a second surrounding environment,
wherein the circular polarizer is attached to a support that is disposed between the transparent cover and the camera and comprises a transparent area.

2. The camera system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to determine that the camera is in the first surrounding environment when an image captured by the camera includes a beam spot, and determine that the camera is in the second surrounding environment when the beam spot does not exist in the captured image.

3. The camera system of claim 1 , further comprising a driver that is coupled to the base and configured to rotate the camera.

4. The camera system of claim 3 , wherein the driver comprises a panning driver configured to pan the camera in a horizontal plane of the base and a tilting driver configured to tile the camera in a vertical plane of the base.

5. The camera system of claim 3 , wherein the controller is further configured to control the driver to move the camera such that the camera faces or does not face the circular polarizer.

6. The camera system of claim 1 , wherein the circular polarizer comprises a polarizer and a wavelength phase retarder sequentially arranged in a direction from the transparent cover to the camera.

7. The camera system of claim 1 , wherein
the transparent cover is an outside cover of the camera system,
the camera system further comprises an inside cover disposed between the camera and the outside cover and coupled to the base to cover the camera, and
the support is supported by the inside cover.

8. The camera system of claim 7 , wherein
the support is movably supported by the inside cover, and
the controller is further configured to control the circular polarizer attached to the support to be positioned on a path of light incident upon the camera via the transparent cover.

9. A camera system comprising:
a camera;
a base configured to support the camera;
a transparent cover that covers at least a portion of the camera and the base;
a circular polarizer disposed between the camera and the transparent cover; and
a controller configured to move at least one of the camera and the circular polarizer to arrange the camera to face the circular polarizer in a first surrounding environment, and move at least one of the camera and the circular polarizer to arrange the camera not to face the circular polarizer in a second surrounding environment, wherein
the transparent cover comprises a hemispherical area and a cylindrical area extending from the hemispherical area, and
the camera system further comprises a light shielding member disposed between the cylindrical area and the camera to shield light.

10. A photographing method using a camera system including a camera, a base configured to support the camera, a transparent cover that covers at least a portion of the camera and the base, and a circular polarizer disposed between the camera and the transparent cover, the photographing method comprising:
determining whether an image captured by the camera includes a beam spot generated from light which is incident on to the camera system; and
controlling movement of at least one of the camera and the circular polarizer to arrange the camera to face the circular polarizer based on a result of the determining whether the captured image includes the beam spot,
wherein the determining comprises:
measuring an angle at which the light is incident upon the camera system;
determining that the camera is in a first surrounding environment where the beam spot is generated in response to the angle being within a predetermined range; and
determining that the camera is in a second surrounding environment where no beam spots are generated in response to the angle deviating from the predetermined range.

11. The photographing method of claim 10 , wherein the controlling comprises controlling at least one of the camera and the circular polarizer to arrange the camera to face the circular polarizer in response to the captured image being determined as including the beam spot.

12. The photographing method of claim 10 , wherein the controlling comprises controlling at least one of the camera and the circular polarizer to arrange the camera not to face the circular polarizer in response to the captured image being determined as not including the beam spot.

13. The photographing method of claim 10 , wherein the angle is about 10° to about 30°.

14. The photographing method of claim 10 , further comprising capturing an image by using the camera, after the controlling.

15. The photographing method of claim 14 , wherein the controlling comprises determining whether the beam spot is generated, via a determination as to whether the beam spot is included in the image captured in the capturing.

16. The photographing method of claim 10 , wherein the camera system further comprises a driver that is coupled to the base and rotates the camera with respect to the base.

17. The photographing method of claim 16 , wherein the controlling comprises controlling the driver to move the camera to face the circular polarizer.

18. The photographing method of claim 10 , wherein the circular polarizer comprises a polarizer and a wavelength phase retarder sequentially arranged in a direction from the transparent cover to the camera.

Assignees

• Hanwha Techwin Co Ltd

Inventors

• Cho Sehoon

Classifications

• G02B27/28 Primary

  for polarising (used in stereoscopes G02B30/25) · CPC title

• H04N23/75

  by influencing optical camera components · CPC title

• H04N23/66

  Remote control of cameras or camera parts, e.g. by remote control devices · CPC title

• H04N23/51

  Housings · CPC title

• H04N23/70 Primary

  Circuitry for compensating brightness variation in the scene · CPC title