With an increasing emphasis on the development of smart city infrastructures, greater emphasis will be placed on the devices that can enable greater efficiencies, such as outdoor sensor devices. Sensor devices that can detect the flow and position of traffic and/or pedestrians have the potential to increase energy efficiency, since the detection and elimination of traffic jams, for example, can help reduce the use of transportation fuels. Numerous other advantages are possible in the development of smart city infrastructures. There continues to be a need for the implementation and deployment of sensor devices that are easy to maintain in the field.
During installations of optical sensors (such as cameras) onto outdoor lighting fixtures, the sensors may be located within an external housing in order to reliably and robustly facilitate handling, cosmetic, and environmental issues. Doing this, however, makes the adjustment of accurately orienting the sensors difficult once the system that includes the housing and sensor is installed.
For example, because a camera may be sealed within the housing in order to protect and/or hide the camera, correcting or changing the orientation of the camera (where the orientation can define the field of view of the camera) can require considerable time and effort as the housing may need to be repeatedly opened to adjust and potentially re-adjust the orientation of the camera. Orienting cameras during commissioning of camera systems can take up to an hour per system of manual labor, which represents a significant cost. This length of time is due to having to open and partially disassemble the housing after the system is installed on a fixture.
The subject matter described herein will be better understood from reading the following description of non-limiting embodiments, with reference to the attached drawings, wherein below:
The inventive subject matter described herein provides an apparatus and method to adjust orientations of fixture mounted optical sensors (such as cameras) with both an environmentally sealed adjustment as well as a visual indicator that indicates the orientations of the sensors. The sensor may be disposed inside a housing to protect the sensor from environmental conditions, tampering, vandalism, theft, etc., but still be moveable relative to and within the housing to change the orientation (e.g., field of view of the sensor) from outside of the housing and provide a visual indication that represents the orientation of the sensor and that is visible from outside of the housing. In one example, this visual indication may be visible to an average human without assistance from one or more other devices (e.g., without assistance from magnifying devices, x-ray systems, etc.).
One or more optical sensors 108 are disposed inside the housing 102. The optical sensors 108 may represent cameras that obtain optic data, such as images and/or videos. The sensors 108 can be disposed inside the housing 102 and positioned within the housing 102 such that a field of view of the sensors 108 includes space outside of the housing 102. The field of view of a sensor 108 can include the area that is captured or represented in the optic data generated by the sensor 108. The sensors 108 may be located inside the housing 102 such that the sensors 108 are not accessible from outside of the housing 102. For example, the sensors 108 may not be touched or otherwise reached without opening the housing 102, breaking the housing 102, or otherwise interrupting the seal provided by the housing 102. As shown in
As shown in
While the orientation indicator apparatus 200 is illustrated as a solid body that moves to indicate the different orientations of the sensor 108, optionally, the apparatus 200 may indicate the orientations in another manner. For example, the apparatus 200 may be a sensor that detects movement or the orientation of the sensor 108 and visually display the orientation of the sensor 108 on an electronic display or light. While the apparatus 200 includes letters as the indicia 202, alternatively, the apparatus 200 can include other indicia to indicate the orientation. For example, numbers, degrees, radians, etc. can be used as the indicia 202.
The movement apparatus 400 includes a pivot plate 402 to which the sensor 108 is coupled. As shown in
A tilt adjustment screw 406 is elongated from a top end 408 to an opposite bottom end 502 (shown in
The bottom end 502 of the adjustment screw 406 extends through an opening in the housing 102 such that the bottom end 502 is accessible outside of the housing 102. An operator may use a tool, such as an Allen wrench or hex key, screw driver, or other tool, to rotate the adjustment screw 406 from outside of the housing 102. The coupling of the adjustment screw 406 to the adjustment arm 410 prevents the rotation of the adjustment screw 406 from moving into or out of the housing 102.
The adjustment screw 406 extends through an opening 418 in the plate 402. Alternatively, the adjustment screw 406 may be coupled with the plate 402, such as by passing through a threaded opening in the plate 402 that engages the screw 406. A tilt adjustment nut 504 (shown in
For example, an operator can rotate the bottom end 502 of the adjustment screw 406 in a clockwise direction to cause the adjustment nut 504 to move downward in the perspectives of
As another example, the operator can rotate the bottom end 502 of the adjustment screw 406 in a counter-clockwise direction to cause the adjustment nut 504 to move upward in the perspectives of
In one embodiment, a pressure spring 420 is coupled with the angled bracket 412 and the pivot plate 402. This spring 420 extends from the angled bracket 412 to the pivot plate 402 to provide an opposing force against the adjustment nut 504. The spring 420 generates the force to press the pivot plate 402 against the nut 504 such that movement of the nut 504 in the opposite directions along the length of the adjustment screw 406 results in movement of the pivot plate 402, as described above. The spring 420 can remove backlash in the apparatus 400 and maintain force on the apparatus 400 to ensure that the sensor 108 remains aligned or in the same orientation until the adjustment screw 406 is actuated.
In the example shown in
Rotation of the adjustment screw 406 in the clockwise direction causes the adjustment nut 504 to move downward along the adjustment screw 406 and cause the plate 402 to pivot downward. This pivoting motion of the plate 402 causes the indicator apparatus 200 to pivot upward relative to the indicator plate 206 and, as a result, move the D and E indicia 202 closer to or aligned with the indicator plate 206 and the A, B, and C indicia 202 to move farther from and above the indicator plate 206. As shown in
A method for indicating an orientation of a directional sensor (such as a camera) such that the indication of the orientation is externally viewable relative to a housing in which the sensor is disposed includes moving the sensor within the housing responsive to external actuation of a movement apparatus. For example, an adjustment screw may be rotated to change an orientation of the sensor within the housing. Alternatively, the orientation of the sensor may be remotely controlled, such as by using a remote control device and a motor that wirelessly communicates with the remote control device. In response to moving the sensor, an orientation indictor apparatus may visually represent the orientation of the sensor to an operator or other viewer that is external to the housing. For example, a body having indicia that represent different orientations of the sensor may move inside the housing and be visible through a window such that the orientation of the sensor may be determined from outside of the housing. As another example, an electronic display may present the orientation of the sensor.
One embodiment of the inventive subject matter described herein provides apparatuses and methods for adjusting the alignment of fixture mounted cameras. The adjustment may be an environmentally sealed adjustment that also provides a visual indicator to the manufacturing or installation personnel indicating the pointing position of the camera. Being able to adjust the pointing of a camera without first having to disassemble or open the housing can be a major cost savings when it comes to installing the camera unit in the field. Orienting a camera during commissioning of a camera system can take upward of an hour per unit or more, which represents a significant cost. This time is due mostly to having to open and partially disassemble the camera system once installed on the fixture. The inventive subject matter described herein allows for the installer to rapidly adjust the tilt of the camera to a selected position without having to open the housing of the camera system, thereby significantly reducing the time needed to orient the camera.
Additionally, many camera systems can be placed at the same position or orientation due to the wide similarity of installation situations. The orientation indicator apparatuses described herein allow for direct viewing of the final position of a camera by an assembler or by a field installer. The cameras for several systems can easily be set to the same orientation (e.g., position “B”) without having to repeatedly adjust the cameras and check the images or videos obtained by the cameras.
During a field installation of a large number of camera systems, it can be difficult to pre-determine the final camera position prior to installation. An installer can commission a first camera system empirically, using the movement apparatus and orientation indicator apparatus, and observing the output video to select a position of the camera. Having once selected the position, the installer can then read the position from the indicator apparatus and set other camera systems to the same orientation, thereby saving a large amount of time. The final positions of the cameras can be noted in an installation database as another piece of information recorded during installation. If the sensor or camera system should have to be removed, it is possible to rapidly set the new sensor or camera systems to the positions of the previous systems, and thereby allowing the field commissioned values for target areas, exclusion zones, etc., to remain valid.
Unless defined otherwise, technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as is commonly understood by one having ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. The terms “first”, “second”, and the like, as used herein, do not denote any order, quantity, or importance, but rather are employed to distinguish one element from another. Also, the terms “a” and “an” do not denote a limitation of quantity, but rather denote the presence of at least one of the referenced items. The use of “including,” “comprising” or “having” and variations thereof herein, are meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof, as well as additional items. The terms “connected” and “coupled” are not restricted to physical or mechanical connections or couplings, and can include electrical and optical connections or couplings, whether direct or indirect.
Furthermore, the skilled artisan will recognize the interchangeability of various features from different embodiments. The various features described, as well as other known equivalents for each feature, can be mixed and matched by one of ordinary skill in this art, to construct additional systems and techniques in accordance with principles of this disclosure.
In describing alternate embodiments of the apparatus, specific terminology is employed for the sake of clarity. The invention, however, is not intended to be limited to the specific terminology so selected. Thus, it is to be understood that each specific element includes all technical equivalents that operate in a similar manner to accomplish similar functions.
It is noted that various non-limiting embodiments described herein, may be used separately, combined, or selectively combined for specific applications.
Further, some of the various features of the above non-limiting embodiments may be used to advantage, without the corresponding use of other described features. The foregoing description should therefore be considered as merely illustrative of the principles, teachings and exemplary embodiments of this invention, and not in limitation thereof.
The limitations of the following claims are not written in means-plus-function format and are not intended to be interpreted based on 35 U.S.C. §112(f), unless and until such claim limitations expressly use the phrase “means for” followed by a statement of function void of further structure.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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