Automated activation and/or charging of cameras and/or autonomous vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10594928-B2
Application number	US-201715479704-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 5, 2017
Priority date	May 3, 2016
Publication date	Mar 17, 2020
Grant date	Mar 17, 2020

Abstract

A body camera can include: a camera configured to capture images; and a sensor module programmed to: sense a strength of a field within an emergency vehicle; activate the camera when the strength of the field falls below a certain threshold; and deactivate the camera when the strength of the field exceeds the threshold. The body camera can include a receiver configured to wirelessly receive power from an energy source within the emergency vehicle. An autonomous vehicle can also be carried by the emergency vehicle, with the autonomous vehicle being configured to be automatically activated and/or charged.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An assembly, comprising:
an emergency vehicle including
a controller to emit a field within an interior of the emergency vehicle; and
a body camera configured to be worn by an occupant of the emergency vehicle and including
a camera configured to capture images, the camera including a sensor to sense a strength of the field within an emergency vehicle and to:
activate the camera when the strength of the field falls below a certain threshold; and
deactivate the camera when the strength of the field exceeds the threshold.

2. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein the strength of the field decreases as a distance between the body camera and the emergency vehicle increases.

3. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein the field is a radio frequency signal generated by the controller in the emergency vehicle.

4. The assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a receiver configured to wirelessly receive power from an energy source within the emergency vehicle.

5. The assembly of claim 4 , wherein the receiver is a body camera magnetic resonator configured to wirelessly receive power from a field generated within the emergency vehicle.

6. The assembly of claim 5 , wherein the body camera magnetic resonator is positioned so that the power is received when a user is positioned in the emergency vehicle.

7. The assembly of claim 6 , wherein the body camera magnetic resonator is positioned so that the power is received from a magnetic resonator positioned in a seat of the emergency vehicle.

8. The assembly of claim 1 , further comprising an autonomous vehicle carried by the emergency vehicle, wherein the autonomous vehicle captures images.

9. The assembly of claim 8 , wherein the autonomous vehicle is a drone.

10. The assembly of claim 8 , wherein the autonomous vehicle is automatically activated.

11. The assembly of claim 10 , wherein the autonomous vehicle is automatically activated based upon the strength of the field.

12. The assembly of claim 11 , wherein the autonomous vehicle is automatically activated when the strength of the field falls below a threshold and the emergency vehicle is stopped.

13. An assembly, comprising:
an emergency vehicle including:
a controller to emit a field within an interior of the emergency vehicle; and
a magnetic resonator positioned within a set distance of the emergency vehicle to emit power; and

a body camera configured to be worn by an occupant of the emergency vehicle, the body camera including:
a camera configured to capture images, the camera including a sensor to sense a strength of the field within the emergency vehicle and to:
activate the camera when the strength of the field falls below a certain threshold; and
deactivate the camera when the strength of the field exceeds the threshold,
wherein the strength of the field decreases as a distance between the body camera and the emergency vehicle increases; and
a magnetic resonator receiver configured to wirelessly receive the power emitted from the magnetic resonator within the emergency vehicle to charge the body camera.

Assignees

• Fed Signal Corp

Inventors

• Swaminathan Vishnu
• Jablonsky David Joseph
• Rohrbaugh Scott Thomas

Classifications

• B60L53/00

  Methods of charging batteries, specially adapted for electric vehicles; Charging stations or on-board charging equipment therefor; Exchange of energy storage elements in electric vehicles · CPC title

• H04W52/0251

  using monitoring of local events, e.g. events related to user activity · CPC title

• H04N7/188

  Capturing isolated or intermittent images triggered by the occurrence of a predetermined event, e.g. an object reaching a predetermined position (signal generation from motion picture films H04N5/253) · CPC title

• H02J50/10

  using inductive coupling · CPC title

• B64C2201/042

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic