Outdoor camera assembly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11277546-B2
Application number	US-202017135891-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 28, 2020
Priority date	Sep 19, 2017
Publication date	Mar 15, 2022
Grant date	Mar 15, 2022

Abstract

The various implementations described herein include a video camera assembly that includes: (1) a housing; (2) an image sensor encased in the housing and configured to capture activity of the smart home environment; (3) a wireless radio configured to transmit video frames captured by the image sensor to an electronic device via a remote server; (4) at least one infrared transmitter configured to selectively illuminate the smart home environment; (5) one or more circuit boards encased in the housing, the one or more circuit boards including at least one processor mounted thereon; and (6) a heating component coupled to the image sensor, the heating component configured to continuously maintain the image sensor at a temperature above a threshold temperature while the image sensor is capturing the activity of the smart home environment.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A camera assembly comprising:
a housing having a front face and a body that has a front opening and is physically connected to the front face at the front opening, wherein:
the body has a central axis extending from a center of the front opening to a center of a rear portion of the body, a plane of the front opening being perpendicular to the central axis;
the front face is at least partially concave and defines a front plane at its periphery, the front face including: an inner section located at a center of the front face, an outer section located proximate to the periphery, and a middle section located between the inner section and the outer section, at least a portion of the inner section being transparent to visible light, at least a portion of the outer section being at least partially transparent to visible light, and at least a portion of the middle section being not transparent to visible light;
the housing includes one or more holes; and
the housing and the front face enclose:
an image sensor connected behind the inner section of the front face and arranged along the central axis of the housing; and
one or more infrared (IR) illuminators located behind the front face and at a distance from the central axis of the housing to selectively project IR light outside of the camera assembly via the middle section of the front face.

2. The camera assembly of claim 1 , wherein the body includes a rounded body having a circular cross section, the circular cross section of the rounded body having a radius that decreases from the front opening to the rear portion of the rounded body, the rounded body being substantially symmetric with respect to the central axis.

3. The camera assembly of claim 1 , further comprising:
a base connected to the rear portion of the body, the base including: a support portion, a stem extending from a center region of the support portion, and a ball rigidly fixed onto an end of the stem.

4. The camera assembly of claim 3 , wherein:
the support portion of the base has a circular footprint with a radius that is smaller than a circular cross section of the front opening of the housing and a height that is smaller than the radius of the circular footprint;
the ball has a diameter larger than a diameter of the stem;
the stem extends along a stem axis from the support portion into the rear portion of the body of the housing with the ball, at least a portion of the stem and the ball being physically coupled with the rear portion of the body; and
the housing has at least two degrees of freedom relative to the base, the at least two degrees of freedom including a first degree of freedom allowing for tilt between the housing and the stem by an angle formed between the central axis of the housing and the stem axis of the stem and a second degree of freedom allowing for rotation of the housing about an axis corresponding to the angle.

5. The camera assembly of claim 3 , wherein the support portion of the base includes a first arm and a release mechanism that are connected to each other and configured to releasably connect the base to a mounting plate.

6. The camera assembly of claim 5 , further comprising:
the mounting plate, wherein:
the mounting plate has at least one projection interlocking with the first arm of the base;
the release mechanism of the base is configured to cause movement of the first arm to disengage the first arm from the at least one projection to enable detachment of the base from the mounting plate; and
the first arm and the at least one projection are concealed by the base and the mounting plate when the base is coupled to the mounting plate.

7. The camera assembly of claim 3 , wherein:
the rear portion of the body includes a collar disposed around at least a portion of the stem of the base; and
the stem extends along a stem axis from the support portion into the rear portion of the body.

8. The camera assembly of claim 7 , wherein the collar abuts against a bearing surface of the ball of the base via one or more friction surfaces while still allowing for rotation of the housing with respect to the base in accordance with a second degree of freedom.

9. The camera assembly of claim 1 , further comprising:
a heating component thermally coupled to the image sensor, the heating component configured to heat the image sensor.

10. The camera assembly of claim 9 , wherein the heating component is attached to a sensor heatsink coupled to the image sensor, is affixed to an image sensor board associated with the image sensor, or is disposed directly in contact with the image sensor.

11. The camera assembly of claim 9 , further comprising:
a temperature sensor thermally coupled to the image sensor; and
control circuitry communicatively coupled to the temperature sensor and the heating component and configured to maintain the image sensor at a temperature above a threshold temperature while the image sensor is capturing images or video.

12. The camera assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of thermally-insulating components separating one or more circuit boards and a wireless radio from the image sensor, the plurality of thermally-insulating components comprising at least one of one or more plastic components or one or more air gaps.

13. The camera assembly of claim 1 , further comprising one or more electronic components that include one or more of:
one or more circuit boards encased in the housing, at least one of the one or more circuit boards including at least one processor mounted thereon;
a wireless radio;
a system-on-a-chip (SoC);
a power conversion assembly;
one or more antennas; and
a communications board.

14. The camera assembly of claim 13 , wherein:
the one or more electronic components include the one or more circuit boards;
the one or more circuit boards include a plurality of circuit boards;
the one or more antennas comprise at least two antennas coupled to a circuit board of the plurality of circuit boards via an antenna ring; and
another circuit board of the plurality of circuit boards is coupled to the antenna ring to reduce interference between antennas of the one or more antennas.

15. The camera assembly of claim 13 , further comprising:
a plurality of thermally-conductive components coupled to the image sensor or a subset of the one or more electronic components.

16. The camera assembly of claim 1 , further comprising an illuminator assembly connected behind the front face, enclosed in the housing, and including one or more visible light illuminators to generate a light ring that is visible from outside of the camera assembly.

17. The camera assembly of claim 1 , further comprising:
one or more toroidal lenses.

18. The camera assembly of claim 1 , wherein:
the one or more holes include one or more microphone holes;
the housing and the front face enclose one or more microphones;
at least one of the microphone holes is arranged through the front face; and
the camera assembly further comprises:
one or more membranes separating the one or more microphones from the one or more microphone holes.

19. The camera assembly of claim 1 , wherein:
the one or more holes include one or more speaker holes;
the housing and the front face enclose one or more speakers;
the one or more speaker holes being arranged through the body of the housing and facing substantially away from the front plane of the front face at an angle relative to the central axis of the body; and
the camera assembly further comprisin

Assignees

• Google Llc

Inventors

• Rukes Jason
• Wilson Tyler
• Volmering Amber
• Dong William
• Law Jeffrey
• Goulden Jason
• Liao Guangxun
• Booth Kevin Edward
• Ho Dietrich
• Foran Daniel Patrick
• Mueller Oliver
• Kraz Mark

Classifications

• G03B17/55 Primary

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

• H04N23/52

  Elements optimising image sensor operation, e.g. for electromagnetic interference [EMI] protection or temperature control by heat transfer or cooling elements · CPC title

• H04N23/51 Primary

  Housings · CPC title

• H04N23/20

  for generating image signals from infrared radiation only · CPC title

• G03B2206/00

  Systems for exchange of information between different pieces of apparatus, e.g. for exchanging trimming information, for photo finishing · CPC title