Magnetically mounted camera assembly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10761408-B2
Application number	US-201916565756-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 10, 2019
Priority date	Jul 7, 2016
Publication date	Sep 1, 2020
Grant date	Sep 1, 2020

Abstract

This application is directed to a camera assembly that includes a camera module and a magnet mount for physically receiving the camera module. The camera module includes a housing having an exterior rear surface of a first shape and a magnetic plate attached to a rear portion of the housing. The magnet mount includes a receiving surface of a second shape and a magnetic material covered by the receiving surface. The second shape of the receiving surface is substantially complementary to the first shape of the exterior rear surface of the housing of the camera module, and the receiving surface is configured to engage the exterior rear surface of the housing of the camera module. The magnetic material of the magnet mount magnetically couples to the magnetic plate of the camera module.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A camera assembly, comprising:
a camera module including:
a housing having an exterior rear surface of a first shape; and
a generally curved magnetic plate attached to a rear portion of the housing; and

a magnet mount for physically receiving the camera module, the magnet mount including:
a receiving surface having a second shape that is substantially complementary to the first shape of the exterior rear surface of the housing of the camera module, the receiving surface being configured to engage the exterior rear surface of the housing of the camera module; and
a magnetic material covered by the receiving surface, the magnetic material magnetically coupling to the magnetic plate of the camera module.

2. The camera assembly of claim 1 , wherein the magnetic plate is enclosed inside the housing of the camera module, and conformingly attached to an interior rear surface that is opposite to the exterior rear surface of the housing.

3. The camera assembly of claim 1 , wherein the camera module further includes a stopping structure, and when the camera module is magnetically coupled to the magnet mount an adjustable union between the magnet mount and the camera module is formed permitting adjustment of an angle of orientation of the camera module with respect to the magnet mount, the angle of orientation being limited by the stopping structure of the camera module.

4. The camera assembly of claim 3 , wherein the stopping structure of the camera module includes one or more physical stops disposed on the exterior rear surface of the housing of the camera module.

5. The camera assembly of claim 3 , wherein the stopping structure of the camera module includes the magnetic material, and the angle of orientation of the camera module is limited by physical dimensions of the magnetic plate of the camera module.

6. The camera assembly of claim 3 , wherein:
the magnetic material of the magnet mount includes a first magnet part that is disposed in proximity to the receiving surface of the magnet mount and configured to attract the magnetic plate of the camera module;
the stopping structure of the camera module further includes one or more magnetic parts disposed on an interior surface of the housing and adjacent to the magnetic plate; and
the one or more magnetic parts of the camera module and the first magnet part are configured to repel each other, thereby limiting the angle of orientation.

7. The camera assembly of claim 1 , wherein the magnet mount includes a first surface opposing the receiving surface, and the first surface is configured to attach to a mounting surface directly or indirectly.

8. The camera assembly of claim 7 , further comprising:
a mounting structure configured to be attached and fixed onto the mounting surface, wherein the first surface of the magnet mount is configured to attach to the mounting surface indirectly via the mounting structure.

9. The camera assembly of claim 8 , wherein:
when the camera assembly is mounted onto the mounting surface, the magnet mount magnetically attaches onto the mounting structure with a first attraction force and the camera module magnetically couples to the magnet mount with a second attraction force that is substantially smaller from the first attraction force; and
the magnetic material of the magnet mount includes two magnetic parts that are respectively disposed in proximity to the first surface and receiving surface and enable the first and second attraction forces.

10. A camera assembly, comprising:
a camera module including:
a housing having an exterior rear surface of a first shape; and
a magnetic plate attached to a rear portion of the housing; and

a magnet mount for physically receiving the camera module, the magnet mount including:
a receiving surface having a second shape that is substantially complementary to the first shape of the exterior rear surface of the housing of the camera module, the receiving surface being configured to engage the exterior rear surface of the housing of the camera module; and
a magnetic material covered by the receiving surface, the magnetic material magnetically coupling to the magnetic plate of the camera module;

wherein the magnetic plate of the camera module has an area that is substantially greater than that of a cross section of the magnetic material included in the magnet mount.

11. The camera assembly of claim 1 , wherein the magnetic material of the magnet mount is at least partially made of a high-performance permanent magnet and the magnetic plate of the camera module is made of one of an electromagnet and a permanent magnet.

12. A camera assembly, comprising:
a camera module including:
a housing having an exterior rear surface of a first shape; and
a first magnetic material; and

a mount for physically receiving the camera module, the mount having a receiving surface having a second shape that is substantially complementary to the first shape of the exterior rear surface of the housing of the camera module, the mount having a second magnetic material;
wherein the first magnetic material of the camera module has a rear surface area that is substantially greater than an area of a cross section of the second magnetic material included in the mount, the cross section of the second magnetic material facing the camera module.

13. The camera assembly of claim 12 , wherein the first shape is substantially convex and the second shape is substantially concave.

14. The camera assembly of claim 12 , wherein the camera module has an unlimited range of rotation with respect to a central axis of the camera module.

15. The camera assembly of claim 12 , wherein the first magnetic material includes a magnetic plate physically coupled to a rear portion of the housing, and the second magnetic material includes a magnet that magnetically couples to the magnetic plate.

16. The camera assembly of claim 15 , wherein the magnetic plate of the camera module has a symmetric shape.

17. The camera assembly of claim 12 , wherein the second shape is substantially concave, and wherein the mount further includes a friction pad that is embedded on the receiving surface, and the friction pad has a substantially concave shape and protrudes beyond the receiving surface by a predefined height.

18. The camera assembly of claim 17 , wherein the friction pad is made of rubber that introduces friction between the receiving surface of the mount and the exterior rear surface of the camera module, thereby maintaining stability of the camera module when it is mounted on a mounting surface via the mount.

19. The camera assembly of claim 17 , wherein the friction pad is configured to come into contact with the exterior rear surface of the housing of the camera module at least via a peripheral edge of the friction pad.

20. The camera assembly of claim 12 , further comprising:
a plurality of electronic components arranged at a front portion of the housing; and
a heat sink arranged in a rear portion of the housing and located between the plurality of electronic components and the first magnetic material of the housing;
wherein the heat sink is made of thermally conductive material, and is thermally coupled to the plurality of electronic components and the first magnetic material; and
wherein the first magnetic material is thermally coupled between the heat sink and a rear surface of the housing.

Assignees

• Google Llc

Inventors

• Goulden Jason Evans
• Shih Poll

Classifications

• H04N23/51

  Housings · CPC title

• H04N23/54

  Mounting of pick-up tubes, electronic image sensors, deviation or focusing coils · CPC title

• H04N23/55

  Optical parts specially adapted for electronic image sensors; Mounting thereof · CPC title

• H04N23/66

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

• G03B17/55 Primary

  with provision for heating or cooling, e.g. in aircraft · CPC title