Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02314776 2000-07-31
CANADA
TITLE: Portable Video Surveillance Device
INVENTORS: BOCK, Hans
MORMILE, Giovanni
CA 02314776 2000-07-31
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates generally to hand held boom mounted video surveillance
cameras.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Remote video surveillance is an important law enforcement activity. In
situations
involving hostage takings, bomb threats or other criminal activity, law
enforcement officers may
be required to enter buildings where armed law breakers or explosive devices
may lurk. Due to
the dangers involved in such operations, remote video surveillance devices
have been introduced
to assist officers in this difficult task. Usually, these remote video
surveillance devices have
comprised video cameras mounted onto remotely operated robot vehicles. These
robot vehicles
have been successfully employed in numerous hostage taking and bomb threat
situations. Even
sophisticated video surveillance robots have their limitations however.
Firstly, remotely
operated video surveillance robots tend to be very expensive to purchase and
very difficult to
operate. Considerable time and expense is required to train operators in the
proper use of these
devices. Furthermore, do to their bulk and the ancillary equipment necessary
to operate them,
robotic video surveillance devices cannot be as quickly deployed as may be
required. Also, due
to the physical limitations of the robotic vehicles used in these systems,
this type of remote video
surveillance cannot be deployed in several situations where obstacles or tight
corners are
involved. In such situations, law enforcement officers have no choice but to
take the task in
hand and enter the building themselves; therefore, what is required is a
portable device which
assists officers in locating danger.
Attempts have been made provide law enforcement officers with portable viewing
aids to
assist them while entering dangerous buildings. Night vision goggles are one
example. These
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aids are quite limited in their application since they do not permit the
officers to see around
corners or obstacles. Boom mounted video cameras have been used in other
fields, most notably
the news and entertainment field, to allow camera crews to view around
obstacles, such as
crowds of people. United States patent no. 5,065,249 to Horn et al. discloses
one such device.
These boom mounted camera devices tend to be quite bulky and cumbersome to
use. Camera
movements, especially the panning movements, are motor controlled, rendering
these devices
both expensive to purchase and difficult to operate. Finally, since they do
not provide the user
with a quick means for positioning the camera, they are not suitable for the
fast pace situations
where taking a quick view is required.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention overcomes the limitations of the prior art by providing
a portable,
light and robust video surveillance device. The present video surveillance
device consists on
video camera and video monitor mounted to an elongated support boom having a
longitudinal
axis and opposed first and second ends. The video camera is pivotally mounted
towards the first
end of the boom by a mounting bracket. The mounting bracket positions the
camera in a right-
side-up orientation wherein the camera collects a right-side-up video image.
The bracket is
adapted to permit the camera to automatically pivot into the right-side-up
orientation when the
boom is moved. The device also has a video monitor operatively coupled to the
video camera
for displaying the video image collected by the camera. The video monitor is
mounted to the
boom at a position towards the second end of the boom.
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
These and other features of the invention will become more apparent from the
following
description in which reference is made to the appended drawings, wherein:
FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the invention;
FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of one end of the invention showing the video
camera;
FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of the video monitor portion of the invention;
FIGURE 4 is a perspective view of the invention showing the camera pointed in
a first
direction;
FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of the invention showing the camera pointed in
the
opposite direction to that shown in figure 4;
FIGURE 6 is a conceptual view showing a user using the video surveillance
device to
monitor events around a street corner;
FIGURE 7 is a conceptual view showing a user monitoring the events on a
rooftop using
the video surveillance device of the present invention;
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Referring firstly to Figure l, the video surveillance device made in
accordance with the
present invention is shown generally as item 10, and consists of elongated
boom 12 having a
first end 14 and a second end 16. A video camera 18 is mounted unto first end
14 and a video
monitor 20 is mounted towards second end 16 of boom 12. Counter-balance 22 is
releaseably
mounted to end 16 of boom 12. Video monitor 20 is operatively coupled to video
camera 18 via
cable 24. Counter-balance 22 is provided with re-chargeable batteries which
supplies electrical
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power to video monitor 20 and video camera 18. Video cameral8 is adapted to
gather a video
image and transmit it to video monitor 20, which in turn is adapted to display
the image on
video screen 26. Video camera 18 is pivotally mounted unto pivot arm 28 which
permits the
video camera to pivot relative to pivot arm 28 such that the video camera
always hangs beneath
pivot arm 28 and in front of the camera. Video camera 18 is also provided with
lamp 30 which
projects a beam of light in situations where additional illumination may be
required. Video
monitor 20 is mounted unto collar 32 which is in turn rotatably mounted unto
boom 12 such that
the boom may be rotated relative to collar 32.
Boom 12 preferably consists of a telescoping boom arm whose length can be
adjusted by
simply twisting boom extension collars 34 and 36 as required. It will be
understood that any
manner of telescoping boom device can be used to form boom 12, provided it is
both strong and
relatively compact. When the device is not in use, extension 22 may be
decoupled from end 16
of boom 12 in order to shorten the length of the entire device. Preferably
extension 22 consists
of an elongated tubular member configured to contain a plurality of
rechargeable batteries. The
rechargeable batteries supply the entire device with electrical power. Since
rechargeable
batteries tend to be heavy, placing these rechargeable batteries in counter-
balance 22 actually
counter-balances the weight of boom 12. Extension 22 must be sufficiently long
in order to
house all of the rechargeable batteries necessary to power unit 10 for an
extended period of time.
By incorporating these batteries into extension 22, both their weight and
their size can be utilized
to not only counter-balance boom 12 but also to add additional length to the
overall unit, thereby
by making the unit more effective. When the unit is to be transported,
extension 22 may be
decoupled from end 16 to thereby shorten the length of the entire unit for
ease of transport.
Extension 22 is provided with recharging port 86 which permits the
rechargeable batteries in the
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extension to be recharged by plugging an appropriate battery re-charger into
the port.
Referring now to Figure 2, pivot arm 28 preferably consists of an L-shaped
member
having a first end 38 rigidly mounted to end 14 of boom 12 and a second
section 40 extending
perpendicular from first section 38. First section 38 is co-axle to elongated
axis 42 of boom 12.
S Video camera 18 is mounted to end 42 of second section 40 of pivot arm 28
via pivotal
attachment 44. Pivotal attachment 44 is configured such that elongated access
46 of video
camera 18 is parallel to second section 40 of pivot arm 28 and perpendicular
to elongated access
42 of boom 12. Pivotal attachment 44 and end 42 are configured such that
pivotal attachment 44
can pivot freely about end 42 with relatively little friction, thereby
permitting camera 18 to hang
downwardly from second section 40 of arm 28 regardless of how boom 12 is
positioned.
Video camera 18 has viewing lens 48 which is adapted to permit an image to be
projected
into the camera body S0. Camera body 50 contains various electronics
components necessary to
turn the image into an electronic signal which is sent through cable 24
projecting out rear end 52
of camera 18. Camera 18 is provided with lamp 30 which is adapted and
configured to project a
beam of light forward of lens 48. Lamp 30 may consist of a plurality of
individual lights 54.
Lights 54 may comprise LEDS or small incandescent lamps. Alternatively for
night vision
applications, lights 54 may comprise infrared LED'S.
Referring now to Figure 3, video monitor 20 consists of an electronic video
monitor
having a digital video screen 26, control buttons 56, first video output 58,
secondary video
output 60, housing 62, pivotal attachment member 64, and pivotal adjusting
knob 66. Housing
62 is attached to pivotal attachment member 64, which is in turn attached to
collar 32. Pivotal
attachment member 64 permits housing 62 to be tilted relative to boom 12
simply by turning
adjustment knob 66. Collar 32 is configured to be graspable by a user and
preferably has an
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outside surface covered by foam rubber or non-slip plastic. Collar 32 is
rotatably mounted unto
boom 12 such that the collar can rotate about central axis 42 of boom 12. End
16 of boom 12 is
provided with coupling mechanism 68 which is configured to mate with a
complimentary
coupling element found on end 70 of counter-balance 22.
Video monitor 20 is provided with a video signal via cable 24 which extends
through
boom 12. Video monitor 20 is also supplied with electrical power from
rechargeable batteries
which are found in counter-balance 22. Preferably counter balance 22 consists
of a series of
rechargeable batteries which when coupled to end 16 of boom 12, make
electrical contact with a
power cord (not shown) which is in turn operatively coupled to monitor 20.
Monitor 20 is
configured to convert the video signal received through cable 24 into a video
image on screen
26. First video output 58 is provided on video monitor 20 to permit a user to
couple video
monitor 20 to another video monitor (not shown). Secondary video output 60 is
also provided
on video monitor 20 to enable an additional video to be coupled to video
monitor 20. Secondary
video output 60 may also have an integral power jack to permit video monitor
20 to be operated
for extended periods of time.
Referring now to Figures 4 and S, video camera 18 is pivotally mounted to
pivot arm 28
via pivotal attachment member 44 such that the video camera can pivot freely
downward from
pivot arm 28. Together, pivot arm 28 and attachment member 44 form a mounting
bracket
which positions the camera in a right-side-up orientation such that it
collects a right-side-up
video image. If boom 12 is rotated 180 degrees from the position shown in
figure 4 to the
position shown in figure 5, camera 18 will rotate such that lens 48 will point
in the opposite
direction. However, since pivotal attachment member 44 permits camera 18 to
pivot freely
about pivot arm 28, camera 18 will automatically pivot down-wards such that it
hangs from
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pivot arm 28. As a result, the video image captured by camera 18 will always
remain in the
appropriate right-side-up orientation since camera 18 will still be hanging
below pivot arm 28.
As shown in Figure 4, video camera 18 is pointed to receive an image from one
side of
longitudinal access 42 of boom 12. When boom 12 is rotated 180 degrees into
the position
shown in Figure 5, camera 18 likewise rotates so that lens 48 is positioned in
the opposite
direction from the position shown in Figure 4; however, since the camera
automatically pivots
into the right-side-up orientation, the image collected by lens 48 likewise
remains in the same
right-side-up orientation.
The operation of the boom camera device will now be explained with reference
to Figure
6. When user 72 wishes to view events occurring around corner 74, the user
simply takes video
surveillance device 10 and extends boom 12 such that camera 18 is positioned
beyond corner
74. The length of boom 12 can be extended by extending boom arm 76. Boom arm
76 can be
secured tightly to the remainder of boom 12 simply by twisting boom extension
collars 34 and
36. With boom 12 adjusted to the appropriate length, camera 18 can be
positioned just beyond
corner 74 so that the image taken by camera 18 will be displayed on monitor
20. Operator 72
can tilt monitor 20 such that the operator can view the image clearly.
Operator 72 can rotate
boom 12 180 degrees and thereby rotate camera 18 to view down both sides of
alleyway 78 past
corner 74. Since video camera 18 is pivotally mounted to pivot arm 28, camera
18 will always
collect a right-side-up image, regardless of which direction the camera
points. Since video
monitor 20 is mounted to collar 32, which is in turn rotatably mounted to boom
12, operator 72
may quickly rotate boom 12 while maintaining video monitor 20 in the
appropriate position for
viewing. Counter balance 22 is rigidly mounted to end 16 of boom 12. By having
one hand on
counter-balance 22 and another hand on collar 32, operator 72 may easily
rotate boom 12 while
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maintaining video monitor 20 in an appropriate position for viewing. Since the
rechargeable
batteries contained in extension 22 are relatively heavy compared to hollow
boom 12, the entire
boom camera can be manipulated relatively easily by operator 72.
Referring now to Figure 7, if operator 72 wishes to take a view from a roof
top 84, then
he may simply extend boom extensions 76 to lengthen boom 12 in order to
position camera 18
as high up as possible. Prior to extending camera 18 over rooftop 84, operator
72 may connect a
secondary video cable 80 to monitor 20 at an appropriate video port and then
hook up video
cable 80 to a secondary monitor such as video display goggles 82. By attaching
secondary video
monitor 82 to video monitor 20, user 72 can grasp boom camera device 10 at the
end of counter
balance 22 in order to position camera 18 as high as possible. Again, since
camera 18 is
pivotally mounted to pivot arm 28, the camera will remain positioned in the
correct vertical
orientation in order to get a right side up image of events occurring on
rooftop 84.
In addition to viewing around corners and on rooftops, the video surveillance
device of
the present invention can be used by customs agents to look into extended cab
trailers, thereby
making it easier to inspect their contents. The boom camera device can also be
used to inspect
underneath cars, or even into large containers which are awkwardly positioned.
Again, since the
video camera is pivotally mounted at the end of the extendable boom, the video
camera will
always be positioned in the correct vertical orientation in order to gather an
appropriate right side
up image. Hence the video monitor will generally display a right side up image
which can be
more easily interpreted by the user.
The present invention is both light and robust, making it an ideal video
surveillance tool
for police raids, swat team operations or even bomb disposal. Since the video
camera can be
positioned be simply twisting or turning the boom, the device is suitable for
use in quick paced
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operations such as customs inspections, vehicle inspections and police work.
A specific embodiment of the present invention has been disclosed; however,
several
variations of the disclosed steps could be envisioned as within the scope of
this invention. It is
to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments
described above,
but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the following
claims.
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