Umbrella including integrated camera

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10819916-B2
Application number	US-201916370942-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 30, 2019
Priority date	May 9, 2016
Publication date	Oct 27, 2020
Grant date	Oct 27, 2020

Abstract

An intelligent umbrella includes a base assembly, a center support assembly having one or more arm support assemblies, and one or more arms coupled to the one or more arm support assemblies. The center support assembly is a tubular structure to house electrical and mechanical components. The umbrella includes a computing device, the computing device integrated inside the center support assembly. The computing device includes one or more memory devices, one or more processors and computer-readable instructions stored in the one or more memory devices and executable by the one or more processors. The intelligent umbrella includes a shading fabric. The intelligent umbrella includes a camera, the camera to capture images of an area in proximity to the intelligent shading umbrella, the camera integrated inside the center support assembly.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An intelligent umbrella, comprising:
a base assembly;
a center support assembly coupled to a base assembly, the center support assembly comprising one or more arm support assemblies, the center support assembly comprising a tubular structure to house electrical and mechanical components;
one or more blades or arms, coupled to the arm support assemblies;
a computing device, the computing device integrated inside the center support assembly, the computing device to comprise one or more memory devices, one or more processors and computer-readable instructions stored in the one or more memory devices and executable by the one or more processors;
a shading fabric, coupled to at least the one or more blades to provide shade to a user of the intelligent umbrella; and
a camera, the camera to capture images of an area in proximity to the intelligent shading umbrella, the camera integrated inside the center support assembly and is not in a separate enclosure from the center support assembly, wherein the captured images are the stored in the one or more memory devices.

2. The intelligent umbrella of claim 1 , the center support assembly to rotate about the base assembly while the base assembly remains stationary, the camera rotating with the center support assembly to capture images or video as the center support assembly rotates.

3. The intelligent umbrella of claim 1 , the computer-readable instructions executable by the one or more processors to activate the camera to capture images or video of an area around the intelligent umbrella.

4. The intelligent umbrella of claim 3 , further comprising a wireless communication transceiver, the computer-readable instructions further executable by the one or more processors to receive images or video from the camera and to communicate, via the wireless communication transceiver, the received images or videos to an external computing device.

5. The intelligent umbrella of claim 3 , further comprising an adjustment assembly to adjust an orientation of the camera.

6. The intelligent umbrella of claim 3 , further comprising an infrared detector, the infrared detector detecting movement of an object within the area around the intelligent shading umbrella, communicating a detection signal identifying movement detection, the computer-readable instructions executable by one or more processors to activate the camera to capture images of the area around the intelligent umbrella in response to the camera receiving the detection signal.

7. The intelligent umbrella of claim 3 , further comprising a motion detector, the motion detector to detect movement of an object within the area around the intelligent shading umbrella and to communicate a detection signal identifying movement detection, the computer-readable instructions executable by one or more processors to activate the camera to capture images of the area around the intelligent umbrella in response to the camera receiving the detection signal.

8. The intelligent umbrella of claim 3 , further comprising a proximity detector, the proximity detector to detect presence of an object within an area around the intelligent umbrella and to communicate a detection signal identifying presence of the object, the computer-readable instructions executable by one or more processors to activate the camera to capture images of the area around the intelligent umbrella in response to the camera receiving the detection signal.

9. The intelligent umbrella of claim 3 , further comprising one or more environmental sensors, the computer-readable instructions executable by the one or more processors to activate the one or more environmental sensors to capture sensor measurements and to receive the captured sensor measurements.

10. The intelligent umbrella of claim 9 , the computer-readable instructions executable by the one or more processors to identify out of range sensor measurements sensors and to communicate a signal to activate the camera, wherein the camera is activated in response to receiving a signal identifying out-of-range sensor measurements.

11. The intelligent umbrella of claim 3 , further comprising a lighting assembly, the computer-readable instructions executable by the one or more processors to further activate the lighting assembly.

12. The intelligent umbrella of claim 1 , further comprising an additional camera located at a different position from the camera.

13. The intelligent umbrella of claim 12 , the camera positioned at a first vertical height to capture images at a first vertical level and the additional camera positioned at a second vertical height to capture images at a second vertical level.

14. The intelligent umbrella of claim 13 , wherein the second vertical height is above the shading fabric and the additional camera to capture images of a sky.

15. The intelligent umbrella of claim 12 , further comprising a sensor module, the sensor module housing at least one of environmental sensors, a GPS transceiver, or a digital compass and housing the additional camera, the additional camera to capture elevated images above the shading fabric.

16. The intelligent umbrella of claim 12 , further comprising a hinging assembly and an additional hinging assembly, the hinging assembly and the additional hinging assembly to adjust an orientation of the camera and the additional camera, respectively.

17. The intelligent umbrella of claim 16 , the hinging assemblies causing the camera and the additional camera to move, wherein the camera and the additional camera are adjustable to different orientations.

Assignees

• Shadecraft Inc

Inventors

• Gharabegian Armen

Classifications

• H04N23/661

  Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet · CPC title

• H04N23/90 Primary

  Arrangement of cameras or camera modules, e.g. multiple cameras in TV studios or sports stadiums · CPC title

• H04N23/69

  Control of means for changing angle of the field of view, e.g. optical zoom objectives or electronic zooming · CPC title

• A45B3/04 Primary

  electrical · CPC title

• H04N23/62

  Control of parameters via user interfaces · CPC title