U.S. patent application number 16/460394 was filed with the patent office on 2019-10-24 for vehicle camera peripheral.
The applicant listed for this patent is Light Wave Technology Inc.. Invention is credited to Feng DU, Jack WISNIA.
Application Number | 20190327452 16/460394 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 60041270 |
Filed Date | 2019-10-24 |
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United States Patent
Application |
20190327452 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
WISNIA; Jack ; et
al. |
October 24, 2019 |
VEHICLE CAMERA PERIPHERAL
Abstract
A vehicle camera peripheral. It has a frame having a surface for
supporting a license plate, at least one compartment for containing
a battery and a circuit board having a wireless transmitter and
video transmission circuitry, the compartment provided in the frame
and positioned behind the license plate supporting surface, a
camera mounted to the frame and connected to the circuit board, and
a mounting for connecting the frame to existing license plate
fastening devices of a vehicle.
Inventors: |
WISNIA; Jack; (Dollard-Des
Ormeaux, CA) ; DU; Feng; (Kirkland, CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Light Wave Technology Inc. |
St-Laurent |
|
CA |
|
|
Family ID: |
60041270 |
Appl. No.: |
16/460394 |
Filed: |
July 2, 2019 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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15746125 |
Jan 19, 2018 |
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PCT/CA2017/050285 |
Mar 2, 2017 |
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16460394 |
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PCT/CA2016/050710 |
Jun 17, 2016 |
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15746125 |
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PCT/CA2016/050809 |
Jul 11, 2016 |
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PCT/CA2016/050710 |
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62323031 |
Apr 15, 2016 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B60R 13/105 20130101;
H04M 2250/52 20130101; H04W 4/80 20180201; H04L 67/12 20130101;
H04M 1/7253 20130101; H04N 5/232 20130101; H04N 5/23293 20130101;
H04M 1/6091 20130101; H04W 4/48 20180201; H04L 65/602 20130101;
B60R 11/04 20130101; H04N 5/23203 20130101; H04L 65/4069 20130101;
B60R 2300/406 20130101; B60R 2011/004 20130101; H04N 5/23241
20130101; H04N 7/183 20130101 |
International
Class: |
H04N 7/18 20060101
H04N007/18; H04L 29/06 20060101 H04L029/06; H04W 4/80 20060101
H04W004/80; B60R 13/10 20060101 B60R013/10; B60R 11/04 20060101
B60R011/04; H04N 5/232 20060101 H04N005/232; H04M 1/725 20060101
H04M001/725 |
Claims
1-10. (canceled)
11. A vehicle camera peripheral system configured to connect with a
display device to display on said display device images received
from said vehicle camera peripheral system, comprising: a
peripheral unit comprising: a camera for producing a stream of
images; a peripheral unit interface configured to establish a
wireless connection with said display device, and to transmit said
stream of images produced by said camera to said display device via
said wireless connection once said peripheral unit is activated;
and a mounting for securing said peripheral unit to a vehicle; and
a gear shift signaling device for detecting the shifting of a gear
stick of a vehicle from a first position to a second position, said
gear shift signaling device comprising: a property change generator
that is adapted to produce a property change when said gear stick
is shifted to said second position; and a detector configured to
detect said property change; wherein said gear shift signaling
device transmits a signal to one of said peripheral unit and said
display device, upon said detector detecting said property change,
that causes said stream of images to be transmitted from said
peripheral unit interface to said display device.
12. The camera peripheral system of claim 11, wherein said
peripheral unit further comprises a battery for powering said
camera when said peripheral unit is activated.
13-23. (canceled)
24. The camera peripheral system of claim 11, wherein said
peripheral unit interface is a Bluetooth interface.
25-26. (canceled)
27. The camera peripheral system of claim 11, comprising a rear
license plate mounting, wherein said camera is a rear-view
camera.
28. (canceled)
29. The camera peripheral system of claim 11, wherein said property
change generator comprises a magnet and a magnetic strip, and said
detector is a magnetic field sensor adapted to detect a change in a
magnetic field caused by said magnet and said magnetic strip when
said magnet and said magnetic strip are placed in proximity as a
result of said gear stick shifting to said second position.
30. The camera peripheral system of claim 11, wherein said property
change generator comprises a reflective surface and a light source,
and said detector is a light sensor adapted to detect light
produced by said light source, reflected off said reflective
surface, when said reflective surface and said light source are
placed in proximity so that light produced by said light source may
reflect off said reflective surface as a result of a said gear
stick shifting to said second position.
31. (canceled)
32. A vehicle camera peripheral comprising: a frame having a
surface for supporting a license plate; at least one compartment
for containing a battery and a circuit board having a wireless
transmitter and video transmission circuitry, wherein at least one
of said at least one compartment provided in said frame and
positioned behind said license plate supporting surface; a camera
mounted to said frame and connected to said circuit board; and a
mounting for connecting said frame to existing license plate
fastening devices of a vehicle, wherein said wireless transmitter
is configured to transmit wirelessly to a display device a stream
of image data produced by said camera.
33. The vehicle camera peripheral as defined in claim 32, wherein
said mounting is adjustable for connecting said frame at a selected
one of a plurality of vertical offset positions.
34-36. (canceled)
37. The camera peripheral system of claim 11, wherein said second
position corresponds to said gear stick being placed in a reverse
position.
38. A vehicle camera peripheral comprising: a frame having a
surface for supporting a license plate; at least one compartment
for containing a battery and a circuit board having a wireless
transmitter and video transmission circuitry; a camera mounted to
said frame and connected to said circuit board; and a mounting for
connecting said frame to existing license plate fastening devices
of a vehicle, wherein said mounting is adjustable for connecting
said frame at a selected one of a plurality of vertical offset
positions, wherein said wireless transmitter is configured to
transmit wirelessly to a display device a stream of image data
produced by said camera.
39. A vehicle camera peripheral system configured to connect with a
handheld device to display on said display device, by running a
camera viewing application program on said handheld device, images
received form said vehicle camera peripheral system, comprising: a
peripheral unit comprising: a camera for producing a stream of
images; a peripheral unit interface configured to establish a first
wireless connection with said display device, and to transmit said
stream of images produced by said camera to said display device via
said first wireless connection once said peripheral unit is
activated; and a mounting for securing said peripheral unit to a
vehicle; and an activation unit configured to transmit, upon
receiving specific external input, an activation signal to at least
one of said peripheral unit and said display device for causing
said peripheral unit to transmit said stream of images to said
display device; wherein said peripheral unit is activated upon
receiving one of: said activation signal from said activation unit;
and an activation signal from said display device.
40. The camera peripheral system of claim 39, wherein said
activation unit is configured to receive as said specific external
input a power signal taken from a back-up lamp of a vehicle when
said back-up lamp is turned on.
41. The camera peripheral system of claim 39, wherein said
activation unit has a button and is configured to receive the
pressing of said button as said specific external input.
42. The camera peripheral system of claim 39, wherein said
peripheral unit interface is a Bluetooth interface.
43. The camera peripheral system of claim 39, comprising a rear
license plate mounting, wherein said camera is a rear-view
camera.
44. The camera peripheral system of claim 39, wherein said
activation unit further comprises a gear shift signaling device for
detecting the shifting of a gear stick of a vehicle from a first
position to a second position, said gear shift signaling device
comprising: a property change generator that is adapted to produce
a property change when said gear stick is shifted to said second
position; and a detector configured to detect said property change;
wherein said activation unit receives as said specific external
input an indication of said property change from said gear shift
signaling device.
45. The camera peripheral system of claim 44, wherein said property
change generator comprises a magnet and a magnetic strip, and said
detector is a magnetic field sensor adapted to detect a change in a
magnetic field caused by said magnet and said magnetic strip when
said magnet and said magnetic strip are placed in proximity as a
result of said gear stick shifting to said second position.
46. The camera peripheral system of claim 44, wherein said property
change generator comprises a reflective surface and a light source,
and said detector is a light sensor adapted to detect light
produced by said light source, reflected off said reflective
surface, when said reflective surface and said light source are
placed in proximity so that light produced by said light source may
reflect off said reflective surface as a result of a said gear
stick shifting to said second position.
Description
[0001] This application claims priority of U.S. provisional patent
application 62/323,031 filed Apr. 15, 2016, of PCT/CA2016/050710
filed Jun. 17, 2016, and of PCT/CA2016/050809 filed on Jul. 11,
2016.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] The present application relates to a vehicle camera
peripheral system, such as a rear view camera for automobiles,
trucks or buses. The present application also relates to such
peripheral systems that use a smartphone as the video display
device.
BACKGROUND
[0003] Vehicle cameras are commonly used for viewing an area
immediately behind a rear bumper to see what might be behind the
vehicle when backing up for parking. The after-market camera
component is typically mounted to a license plate mounting of the
vehicle. Vehicle cameras can also be useful for school buses to see
if a child or object is in front of the bus or near the rear wheels
of the bus. Similar uses can exist for semi-trailers, heavy trucks,
snow removal equipment, etc. where the driver or operator needs
improved vision around the vehicle.
[0004] Smartphones can have excellent computing capabilities and
can be useful as a user interface for a variety of peripherals or
uses. One example is an automotive rear view camera application. A
wireless camera can be mounted at a rear of a vehicle to transmit
images to a smartphone having a wireless data interface to provide
a display of the images to the driver. Such cameras are useful for
guiding a driver to back up a vehicle. Such rear view automotive
cameras are typically wired into electrical power of the vehicle,
this requires a modification that normally involves a professional
installer. The requirement for professional installation can be a
disincentive for consumers to purchase vehicle camera
peripherals.
[0005] When a rear view camera is powered by a vehicle's backup
lamp power, then the camera is powered only when a vehicle is in
reverse. While this involves a wired installation, this resolves
the issue of triggering of the camera to operate when needed. Other
wired installations have the camera always transmit the video,
while the display device is controlled to be on or off.
[0006] When using a smartphone as the display device, the
smartphone needs to be placed in a state in which it is able to run
software to display the video. In known systems, this involves
typically a user selecting the app and running it in the
foreground.
[0007] The camera peripheral also needs to be triggered to operate
if it is desired for it to be normally in a low power or off state
except when the camera needs to be viewed.
[0008] With the Google Android.RTM. operating system, a program or
app can be given by the user special permission to run in the
background, such that when video is transmitted from a camera to
the smartphone the latter can respond by displaying the video. With
the current Apple iOS.RTM. operating system, an app cannot be given
permission to run continuously in the background. Furthermore, a
background app in iOS cannot use the display for presenting the
camera video. iOS.RTM. devices represent a significant portion of
mobile computing devices in use that are suitable to display camera
video, and thus it is a problem that user input is required with
iOS.RTM. devices to allow camera video to be displayed when it is
time to display the video.
SUMMARY
[0009] Applicant has developed a number of improvements in a
vehicle camera peripheral that is to be used with a smartphone for
displaying the camera video. In this application, "smartphone" is
intended to mean a mobile computing device that includes mobile
telephones, handheld computers and tablet computers.
[0010] In one improvement, the vehicle camera peripheral is battery
powered so that installation does not involve wiring and can be
easily done by a consumer. In these embodiments, the camera
peripheral may use Bluetooth classic for wireless transmission of
video to the smartphone. Bluetooth BLE may be used to communicate
with the smartphone, prompting the smartphone to run an application
program to verify if any user activation input has been registered
by or provided to the smartphone.
[0011] BLE should be understood herein to mean the current
Bluetooth low energy standard, but without limitation thereto,
since any suitable Bluetooth or non-Bluetooth wireless protocol can
be used.
[0012] The BLE component can be powered by the battery continuously
while the camera and video transmission circuitry is only powered
when needed. The BLE component can control power supplied to the
camera and video transmission circuitry. In this improvement, a
separate wireless activation unit is provided with the vehicle
camera peripheral, and the function of the activation unit is to
send a wireless signal that will cause the BLE component of the
vehicle camera peripheral to power up the camera and video
transmission circuitry. The activation unit can transmit a signal
directly to the BLE component of the peripheral, or it can transmit
a signal to the smartphone so that it in turn can transmit a signal
directly to the BLE component of the peripheral. The activation
unit may establish a first wireless connection with the peripheral,
and the peripheral may establish a second distinct wireless
connection (e.g. Bluetooth connection) with the smartphone. In some
examples, the activation unit may instead communicate via radio
frequency signals with the peripheral (e.g. over a 915 MHz
transmission channel), where the activation signal may be a radio
signal.
[0013] The activation unit can be mounted to the vehicle using an
adhesive mount, bracket, clip or the like so that a user can
trigger the wireless signal using a button press. The activation
unit can be mounted to a vehicle gear shift to detect putting the
vehicle into reverse. The activation unit can be connected so that
it senses the vehicle's powering of the backup lamps. Such an
activation unit can be essentially a battery powered BLE component
that is configured to send a signal when its button is pressed or
it otherwise detects a need for triggering the camera function. In
the case of a transport trailer or school bus, the activation unit
could trigger from different lamps circuits, such as turn signals
or passenger door lights.
[0014] By providing an activation unit, triggering of the vehicle
camera to operate is made efficient for the operator since it does
not involve calling up an app on the smartphone, and because the
vehicle camera peripheral can have its camera and video
transmission functions triggered by the activation unit, the
peripheral can be efficiently powered using batteries and thus
avoid a wired installation.
[0015] The activation unit can also comprise an app running in the
smartphone that detects user input. For example, Applicant has
found that the app can read data from a smartphone's proximity
sensor indicating a hand position near the proximity sensor,
interpreted as a signal to activate the peripheral. Moreover,
Applicant has found that the reading of a smartphone's
accelerometer data can detect finger taps against the smartphone
body that can be discriminated from vehicle vibrations and
movements or screen touches.
[0016] In the case of an operating system that restricts the
ability of an app to run in the background, such as the iOS.RTM.
operating system, the background app can be activated by BLE
messages. iOS.RTM. allows a background app to request the operating
system to allow it to run when a message is received from a
connected BLE device. The peripheral can then be used to send BLE
messages on a regular basis to the smartphone so that the
smartphone operating system maintains the background app running.
The background app can then detect user input and respond to it by
sending a message that would cause the camera peripheral to begin
operation.
[0017] In the case of an operating system that restricts the
ability of an app running in the background from displaying video,
Applicant has also discovered that a BLE keyboard connection can be
used to send keyboard commands either from the camera peripheral or
from an external activation unit to the smartphone to cause a video
display app to run in the foreground. While the Android.RTM.
operating system can allow a background app to move into the
foreground, display video while in the background, or to display
video on the lock screen of the device, the iOS.RTM. operating
system requires the smartphone to be unlocked and for the app
providing the video display to be running in the foreground. Such
keyboard commands can be used to place the smartphone in a state
ready to display the video with no or very little user interaction.
For example, the current iOS.RTM. version causes a dialog box to
appear to require user screen touch input when a wireless keyboard
command attempts to change the foreground app. Thus, a single touch
by a user on the screen of the iOS device can allow wireless
keyboard commands to cause the smartphone to begin displaying
camera video.
[0018] Applicant has discovered that a battery powered camera can
be powered off with only a Bluetooth bridge left active with the
viewing device controlling the power state of the camera unit to
turn on using user input from a separate battery-powered activation
unit. In the case of a vehicle camera, the activation unit is
located within the easy control reach of the driver of the vehicle,
and allows the driver to control the vehicle camera while
driving.
[0019] In some embodiments, a separate activation unit is provided
that is paired with the smartphone for issuing Bluetooth keyboard
commands so as to cause the smartphone to go into a desired state.
When this activation unit is used with a Bluetooth peripheral, such
as a camera, the activation unit or the smartphone can cause the
camera unit to wake up by Bluetooth communication in the case that
the camera unit was in a sleep mode. The configuration of the
Bluetooth keyboard commands in the peripheral device that sends
them to the smartphone to cause the desired app to be called up can
be done using a utility that is part of the desired app itself that
works with the peripheral or using a separate configuration app on
the same smartphone. Alternatively, a separate programming
mechanism can be used to set the commands.
[0020] In some embodiments, the peripheral device can be powered by
a controllable power source. In the case of a rear view camera,
power can conveniently be taken from the back up lights and
controlled by the gear shifter being put into reverse gear. The
placing of the gear shift lever into reverse powers up the camera
unit, and the camera unit can send Bluetooth HID commands (normally
for iOS devices) or other commands such as custom commands
(normally for Android devices) to the smartphone to cause the
camera app to be called up.
[0021] In accordance with one broad aspect of some embodiments,
there is provided an automobile rear view camera device having a
wireless module, a consumer control key sequence memory and
interface unit connected to said wireless module and configured to
store consumer control key codes (or descriptors), a consumer
control key transmission module configured for automatically
transmitting at least one consumer control key code or descriptor
from said consumer control key sequence memory on powering on of
said device using said Bluetooth module, a rear view camera, and a
video transmission module connected to the camera and the wireless
module for transmitting images from the camera. The consumer
control key sequence interface unit may also be configured to
receive keyboard command configuration data from the smartphone,
for configuring the keyboard commands that are stored in computer
readable memory. For instance, the keyboard command configuration
data may provide the keyboard command configuration data specific
to a designated unlocking sequence for a smartphone, updating the
unlocking keyboard command configuration data as the unlocking
sequence changes.
[0022] In accordance with another broad aspect of some embodiments,
there is provided a handheld computer having a wireless data module
for communicating with an automobile rear view camera device, an
operating system based consumer control key module for interpreting
a consumer control key code or descriptor received from the device
by the wireless data module to generate operating system control
commands, an operating system app launch module responsive to the
control commands for launching a rear view camera application
program stored in a memory on the handheld computer, a consumer
control key descriptor set up module associated with the rear view
camera application program for transmitting consumer control key
data to the camera device using the wireless module, a camera
viewer associated with the rear view camera application program for
displaying images received from the camera device through the
wireless module.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0023] The invention will be better understood by way of the
following detailed description of embodiments of the invention with
reference to the appended drawings, in which:
[0024] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a rear view camera
system paired with a smartphone, where the rear view camera system
and the smartphone share a Bluetooth connection, and the rear view
camera system is activated as a result of user input received by
the smartphone.
[0025] FIG. 2A is a block diagram illustrating a rear view camera
system incorporating both an activation unit for waking up a
battery powered camera peripheral and the use of Bluetooth keyboard
commands for causing the smartphone to present the rear view camera
app to show video frames from the camera peripheral received over
Bluetooth;
[0026] FIG. 2B is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary rear
view camera system incorporating an activation unit sending a
wireless activation signal to the peripheral over a first wireless
connection, and the peripheral, once woken up, sending over a
second wireless Bluetooth connection Bluetooth keyboard commands
for causing the smartphone to present the rear view camera app to
show video frames from the camera peripheral received over
Bluetooth;
[0027] FIG. 2C is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary rear
view camera system incorporating an activation unit sending an RF
signal as an activation signal to the peripheral, and the
peripheral, once woken up, sending over a second wireless Bluetooth
connection Bluetooth keyboard commands for causing the smartphone
to present the rear view camera app to show video frames from the
camera peripheral received over Bluetooth;
[0028] FIG. 2D is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary rear
view camera system where the peripheral has a connection controller
module and the smartphone shares both a Bluetooth connection and
WiFi connection with the peripheral.
[0029] FIG. 3 is a flowchart diagram showing an exemplary method of
activating a peripheral system and launching a viewing application
program on a smartphone using user input received by the
smartphone.
[0030] FIG. 4 is a flow diagram showing the steps involved in one
embodiment of adjusting a video compression rate after an
assessment of the available bandwidth of a wireless channel used
for the video transmission;
[0031] FIG. 5 is a flow diagram showing the steps involved in an
embodiment of setting vehicle camera grid lines;
[0032] FIG. 6 is a flow diagram showing the steps involved in
controlling a computing device using a stored sequence of keyboard
commands according to one embodiment;
[0033] FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a rear view camera
system connected to 12V DC from the reverse lamp circuit
incorporating the use of Bluetooth keyboard commands for causing
the smartphone to present the rear view camera app to show video
frames from the camera peripheral received over Bluetooth;
[0034] FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a rear view camera
system wirelessly connected with a gear shift signalling system
incorporating the use of Bluetooth keyboard commands for causing
the smartphone to present the rear view camera app to show video
frames from the camera peripheral received over Bluetooth;
[0035] FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a rear view camera
peripheral activated by a battery-powered, dashboard mounted
activation unit having multiple app launching buttons;
[0036] FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a rear view camera
peripheral activated by a battery-powered, dashboard mounted
activation unit that works with a GPS navigator unit that includes
a camera viewer program module;
[0037] FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a smartphone coupled with a
battery-powered rear-view camera peripheral according to another
embodiment;
[0038] FIG. 12 is an oblique view of an outer face of vehicle
license plate frame having a rear view camera mount;
[0039] FIG. 13 is an oblique view of an inward face of the frame of
FIG. 12 showing a battery compartment, a circuit board compartment,
and vehicle mounting bracket;
[0040] FIG. 14 is an exploded view of a camera, circuit board with
the microprocessor and Bluetooth components corresponding to FIG.
1, circuit board compartment cover, battery and battery compartment
cover for the embodiment of FIGS. 12 and 13;
[0041] FIG. 15 is an oblique view of a wireless, battery-powered
activation unit that can activate a smartphone through Bluetooth
keyboard commands and/or a battery-powered peripheral normally in a
sleep mode;
[0042] FIG. 16A is an oblique view of the rear-view camera and
license plate mounting of FIG. 12 from the outer or front side;
[0043] FIG. 16B is a front plan view of the rear-view camera and
license plate mounting of FIG. 12;
[0044] FIG. 16C is a top plan view of the rear-view camera and
license plate mounting of FIG. 12;
[0045] FIG. 16D is a bottom plan view of the rear-view camera and
license plate mounting of FIG. 12;
[0046] FIG. 16E is a right side plan view of the rear-view camera
and license plate mounting of FIGS. 12; and
[0047] FIG. 16F is a left side plan view of the rear-view camera
and license plate mounting of FIG. 12.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0048] The present application teaches of a rear view camera system
connectable with a user's smartphone to view the images produced by
the camera. As the screen of the smartphone is used to view the
images from the camera, the user does not need to purchase or
obtain a separate screen device other than the smartphone to view
the images produced by the rear view camera. Moreover, the rear
view camera system may be activated with minimal or no user input
performed on the smartphone. Therefore, the present rear view
camera system offers a means for a user to easily view the images
produced by the rear-view camera without having to navigate through
the smartphone to, for instance, launch the viewing app (e.g.
unlocking the phone, searching for the viewing app, launching the
viewing app), undesirable when the user needs to back-up quickly or
to rapidly identify what is located being the vehicle. As such, the
present rear view camera system may be activated by a simple
double-tap performed by the user on the smartphone's frame,
pressing a button that is part of an activation unit, or placing
the gear shift in reverse, as is further described herein.
Certain Definitions
[0049] While in this description reference is made to Bluetooth
wireless transmission, it is to be understood that this is a
commonly used wireless transmission protocol. It will be
appreciated that any suitable wireless transmission protocol can be
applied to variant embodiments herein.
[0050] While in this description reference is made to iPhone, a
smartphone designed by Apple Inc. of California, it is intended
that the device 12 can be any electronic device, such as a laptop
or desktop computer, a smart phone or a tablet computer, such as an
iPhone, iPod touch, Android tablet or Android smart phone, GPS
unit, display and the like.
Peripheral Activated By User Input On Smartphone
[0051] Reference is now made to FIG. 1, illustrating an exemplary
rear view camera peripheral 14 connected to a smartphone 12. In the
example of FIG. 1, the exemplary smartphone 12 is one that runs on
an iOS device, such as the smartphones designed by Apple Inc.
However, it will be appreciated that the peripheral 14 may be used
with any other smartphone without departing from the present
teachings.
[0052] The peripheral 14 has a camera 28 for generating a stream of
images. Camera 28 may be digital or analog. The peripheral 14 also
has, optionally, a battery 75 and a power circuit 84. In some
examples, the peripheral 14 does not run on a battery, but may be,
for instance, wired in and powered by the back-up lights of the
vehicle. The peripheral 14 also has a Bluetooth transceiver 16b.
The battery 75 is connected to the power circuit 84 and, in some
embodiments, to the Bluetooth transceiver 16b. The peripheral 14
also has a controller 86. The peripheral 14 also has a codec 85,
for compressing, encoding and transmitting a stream of images
received from the camera 28.
Method Of Activating Peripheral And Running The Viewing App
[0053] Reference is now made to FIG. 3, illustrating an exemplary
method 200 of activating a peripheral 14 using user input performed
on the smartphone 12, the activation of the peripheral causing the
smartphone 12 to run a rear view camera application program 21 to
display images from the rear view camera 28.
[0054] The smartphone 12 first detects the Bluetooth transceiver
16b of the peripheral 14 when the smartphone 12 is in range of the
Bluetooth transceiver 16b at step 210. The Bluetooth transceiver
16b may be operating with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology.
Once the Bluetooth transceiver 16b is detected by the smartphone
12, using, for instance, geofencing between the smartphone 12 and
the Bluetooth transceiver 16b, the Bluetooth transceiver 16b is
paired with the smartphone 12 at step 220, establishing a wireless
Bluetooth connection between the smartphone 12, via its Bluetooth
interface 16a, and the Bluetooth transceiver 16b. In some
embodiments, the smartphone 12 may be placed in the vehicle on a
holder having a magnet. The magnetometer of the smartphone 12
(and/or its magnetic field sensors), as is known in the art,
detects the presence of the magnet, indicating that the smartphone
12 is positioned in the holder, likely ready to be used in the
vehicle. This additional information may be used as an indication
to start sending signals to the background application 82 to cause
it to wake up, as explained herein.
[0055] In some embodiments, once the Bluetooth transceiver 16b is
paired with the smartphone 12 (and/or the magnetometer of the
smartphone 12 picks up the magnet of the holder of the smartphone
12), the Bluetooth transceiver 16b starts sending signals (e.g.
pings) periodically to the smartphone 12, to its Bluetooth
interface 16a at step 230. In one embodiment, the Bluetooth
transceiver 16b sends a ping every second. The pings are received
by the Bluetooth interface 16a, transmitted to the iOS of the
smartphone 12 and processed by the iOS. The smartphone 12 has a
user input detection background application program 82 for
periodically verifying if the user has provided input that
corresponds to user input indicating the user's desire to activate
the peripheral 14. The activation user input may be defined by the
user or pre-configured when the background application 82 is added
to the smartphone 12. The background application program 82 may be
configured to verify user input data transmitted from a specific
sensor 83 of the smartphone 12 (or the background application 82 is
configured to retrieve the data from the sensor 83).
[0056] In some examples, the sensor 83 in question that is verified
by the background application program 82 may be the proximity
sensor of the smartphone 12. The proximity sensor, as is known in
the art, is able to detect the proximity of nearby objects without
any physical contact. The proximity sensor of the smartphone 12 is
used to detect when a user's face is near the smartphone 12 during
the call in order to avoid performing acts associated with
undesirable user taps of the display screen of the smartphone 12
during a call (such as one caused by an ear pressing the screen of
the smartphone 12). In some smartphones, the proximity sensor is
located at the top of the smartphone.
[0057] The proximity sensor may register when an object is in
proximity of the smartphone 12, such as a hand positioned over a
certain portion of the smartphone 12. If the proximity sensor is
located at the top of the smartphone 12, positioning a hand over
the top of the smartphone 12 is registered by the proximity sensor.
Therefore, after the background application program 82 is woken up
by a ping, it may be configured to verify if the proximity sensor
has detected as user input a hand near the proximity sensor, or a
sequence of an object coming in and out of range of the sensor,
such as a sequence consisting of a hand coming into range of the
proximity sensor, and then out of range, followed by the hand
coming back into range. It will be appreciated that any combination
of hand movements (or other movements of the body or of an object)
that can be detected by the proximity sensor may be used as
activation user input, then retrieved by or transmitted to the
background application 82.
[0058] In other examples, the sensor 83 may be an accelerometer of
the smartphone 12 as is known in the art, measuring changes in
velocity (e.g. vibrations) of the smartphone 12. As such, the user
input indicative of the user's desire to activate the peripheral 14
may be a double-tap of the frame of the smartphone 12, picked up by
the accelerometer. Preferably, the activation user input is
selected as one that can be distinguished from those used to
activate or function other common application programs found on the
smartphone 12. Moreover, it is important that the activation user
input is also sufficiently distinguishable from acceleration,
deceleration and other motions that a vehicle is subject to (e.g.
vibrations caused by hitting a speed bump), so that this input
resulting from driving the vehicle is not falsely picked up by the
accelerometer of the smartphone 12 as the activation user input.
For instance, it has been determined that the accelerometer of an
iPhone 6 can sufficiently distinguish the user input of a double
tap of its frame from the double tap of the top of its screen, or
the motions of the vehicle.
[0059] Moreover, the background application 82 may be configured to
declare that it supports a Core Bluetooth background execution mode
in its Information Property List (Info.plist) file. Therefore, in
some embodiments, as the background application 82 is declared as
being Bluetooth sensitive, once a ping is received by the
smartphone 12 from the Bluetooth transceiver 16b, the iOS wakes up
the background application 82 at step 240. The background
application 82 stays awake for a certain time following being woken
up, and verifies the user input data received from the
accelerometer. However, as the pings are sent periodically to wake
up the background application 82, each ping keeps, in some
embodiments, the background application 82 awake. The background
application 82 may include a detection algorithm for analyzing the
user input data in order to identify activation user input (e.g. by
logging in the user input data, comparing against the other forms
of user input registered by the smartphone 12 and the vibrations of
the vehicle when moving, and/or identifying if it is comparable to
the activation user input). In some embodiments, if the user input
data matches the activation user input, then the background
application 82 sends a trigger signal to the Bluetooth transceiver
at step 250. The trigger signal can be defined as, when the
activation user input is a double-tap on the frame of the
smartphone:
[0060] <Trigger>
[0061] <Source> double tap on the phone</Source>
[0062] </Trigger>
or it can be very a binary hex as 2 bytes, where the first byte
defines a command and the second the source of the commands, for
instance: 0.times.01--trigger 0.times.03--double tap on the
phone.
[0063] In some embodiments, the trigger signal is sent to the
Bluetooth transceiver 16b via the Bluetooth interface 16a,
communicated through the Bluetooth connection established between
the smartphone 12 and the Bluetooth transceiver 16b.
[0064] In some embodiments, the background application 82 does not
identify if the user input corresponds to the activation user
input, instead sending all of the user input received from at least
one of the smartphone's sensors to the Bluetooth transceiver 16b
(e.g. in the form of a binary hex identifying the type of user
input). The Bluetooth transceiver 16b may have an analyzing
function for analyzing the user input data received and comparing
it with specific activation user input data (e.g. if the Bluetooth
transceiver 16b receives a binary hex, the binary hex is compared
to establish if it corresponds to that leading to the activation of
the peripheral 14).
[0065] In some embodiments, once the Bluetooth transceiver 16b
receives a trigger signal indicative of user input for activating
the peripheral 14, the Bluetooth transceiver 16b prompts the
activation of the other components of the peripheral 14 at step
260. In other embodiments, the activation of the other components
of the peripheral 14 may be activated following the wireless
transceiver 16b receiving an activation signal from an activation
unit as described herein (e.g. a button that is pressed by a user,
the activation unit sending a wireless activation signal to the
peripheral 14 upon the pressing of the button). For instance, the
Bluetooth transceiver 16b may signal the activation of the power
circuit 84, allowing power from the battery 75 to be sent to the
controller 86 and the rear view camera 28. Once the controller 86
is powered, the controller 86 retrieves and reads from non-volatile
memory 24 a sequence of keyboard commands at step 270. In the case
of the Apple iPhone.RTM., keyboard commands can be used to perform
actions that normally are associated with the device's touch screen
actions or buttons, as for example, the swipe action to initiate
unlocking a locked phone, the pressing of the home button, volume
control, etc. Likewise, running a desired app can be implemented by
using a keyboard command to initiate a search or find on the
smartphone, and then sending keystrokes of the name of the app on
the smartphone 12 will cause the desired app 21 to be found, with
another keystroke, such as ENTER. Modules 18 and 20 represent parts
of the smartphone 12 operating system that process wireless
keyboard commands and allow such commands to launch application
programs or apps. In the present example of method 200, the
sequence of keyboard commands may be those for unlocking the
smartphone, searching for an application program 21 for viewing the
images originating from the camera 28, and run the viewing
application program 21. In some embodiments, the sequence of
keyboard commands may be preceded by the sending of at least one
character to the smartphone 12 for lighting up the smartphone 12,
followed by the sequence of keyboard commands for unlocking the
smartphone 12 and running the viewing application program 21. In
other embodiments, the sequence of keyboard commands may be limited
to those for running the application program 21. For instance, the
sequence of keyboard commands, once received by the smartphone 12,
may be processed by the OS of the smartphone 12 to cause the
application program 21 to run and to present a notification window
appearing on the screen of the smartphone 12 when the smartphone 12
is locked. For example, in the case of an iOS device, such as the
iPhone 6, the user may swipe to the side the notification box
corresponding to app 21 and, by using the iOS device's fingerprint
security protocol, unlock the device by presenting the user's
fingerprint (or the user may type in the user's unlock code). Once
the smartphone 12 unlocked, app 21 begins to run and the display of
the smartphone 12 begins to show the images received from the
peripheral 14.
[0066] The controller 86 then transmits the sequence of keyboard
commands to the Bluetooth transceiver 16b. The Bluetooth
transceiver 16b transmits the sequence of keyboard commands via the
Bluetooth connection to the Bluetooth interface 16a of the
smartphone 12 at step 280. The data of the sequence of keyboard
commands are processed by modules 18 and 20, and the iOS carries
out these commands to, optionally unlock the phone, then search for
the viewing application program 21, and run the viewing application
program 21.
[0067] In the case where the peripheral 14 adheres to Apple's MFi
licensing program, the user may be required to select an "allow"
button that appears on the display of the smartphone 12 to run the
viewing application program 21. Touching the portion of the screen
corresponding to the "allow" button may allow the user to run the
viewing application program 21. In other embodiments, the pressing
of "allow" button may be performed using the AssistiveTouch.TM.
application program of the iOS.
[0068] The stream of image data generated by the rear view camera
28 may be optionally encoded and, in some examples, compressed, by
the codec 85 (e.g. at different compression rates depending on the
available bandwidth). The stream of image data may also be
transmitted to the smartphone 12 by the Bluetooth transceiver 16b
via the Bluetooth connection between the Bluetooth transceiver 16b
and the Bluetooth interface 16a.
[0069] The stream of images made be decoded by the smartphone's
codec 32, and displayed on the screen of the smartphone 12 using
the now active viewing application program 21. In some examples,
the background application 82 and the viewing application program
21 are part of the same program. In other examples, they are
separate programs.
[0070] The peripheral 14 is therefore fully operational with its
viewing application program 21 running on the smartphone 12 at step
290.
Turning On The Background Peripheral
[0071] The background application program 82 may be turned off on
the smartphone 12, requiring that it is turned on before use. In
some embodiments, the BLE-based Bluetooth transceiver 16b may
function as a beacon for the smartphone 12. Using geolocation, once
the smartphone 12 is in range of Bluetooth transceiver 16b, the
background application program 82, having a permission to use the
geolocation service, is turned on by the OS of the smartphone 12.
Once the smartphone 12 moves out of range of the Bluetooth
transceiver 16b, the OS of the smartphone 12 turns off the
background application program 82. In other examples, the user may
manually turn on the background application program 82 or manually
turn off the background application program 82, receiving, for
instance, a warning in the form of a message when the background
application program 82 is to be or has been turned off
Peripheral Components
[0072] Reference is made back to the exemplary peripheral of FIG.
1.
[0073] The camera 28 and the peripheral 14 can be mounted to the
rear license plate mounting of a vehicle. The battery 75 may be
contained in the mounting frame. The controller 26, the Bluetooth
transceiver 16b, the codec 85, the non-volatile memory 24 and the
power circuit 84 may be mounted on a single chip or circuit board
(or in some embodiments, on separate chips or circuit boards), and
the single chip or circuit board may also be contained within a
compartment of the mounting frame. The controller 26 may be a
microprocessor (such as a MSP430F5254RGCT) that includes
non-volatile memory 24 (including the configuration memory).
Non-volatile memory can also be provided using a component separate
from the microprocessor. Some models of microprocessors may include
a Bluetooth wireless transceiver 16b, while a separate component
for such a wireless transceiver (Bluetooth or otherwise) can be
provided using a separate IC component (for example, a BLE0202C2P
chip and/or a CC2564MODN chip). In some embodiments, the peripheral
14 may have two Bluetooth transceivers, one with BLE (Bluetooth Low
Energy) technology, and the other with Bluetooth Classic
technology. The BLE chip of the peripheral 14 may connect with the
BLE chip of the smartphone 12. However, once the peripheral 14 is
activated, then the smartphone 12, having its own Bluetooth Classic
chip, establishes a wireless connection with the Bluetooth Classic
chip of the peripheral 14. As the Bluetooth Classic chip 14
consumes more energy, but may have greater bandwidth that the
wireless connection established between BLE chips, in some
examples, it is active only when the peripheral 14 is activated or
when prompted to turn on. As such, the Bluetooth Classic connection
is used to transmit the stream of image data to the smartphone 12
from the peripheral 14 over its greater bandwidth connection. When
the peripheral 14 is shut off, so may the Bluetooth Classic chip
return to sleep mode, or shut off, to save power. Once the
Bluetooth Classic chip shut off, the BLE chip may remain active,
consuming less power, waiting for the smartphone 12 to send a
signal triggering a subsequent activation of the peripheral 14. In
other embodiments, the wireless transceiver 16b may be a Bluetooth
chip operating with low battery consumption and capable of
establishing a bandwidth connection comparable with that of
Bluetooth Classic technology (in these embodiments, the BLE chip
may always be active).
[0074] The peripheral 14 is woken up from a low-power sleep state
using the Bluetooth transceiver 16b. In some examples, the
Bluetooth transceiver 16b is a Bluetooth chip. In some embodiments,
the Bluetooth transceiver 16b is connected to the battery 75 (and
in some examples, connected to the battery 75 via the power circuit
84), and receives power from the battery 75. The Bluetooth
transceiver 16b may be a Bluetooth Low Energy Chip, integrating the
BLE wireless personal area network technology or Bluetooth
Smart.TM.. The Bluetooth transceiver 16b is also configured to send
a ping or signal to the smartphone 12, once the peripheral 14 is
paired with the smartphone 12. The Bluetooth transceiver 16b also
receives a trigger signal from the smartphone via the wireless
connection to activate the peripheral 14. Therefore, the Bluetooth
transceiver 16b may cause the power circuit 84 to allow power to
run from the battery 75 to the other components of the peripheral
14 (e.g. the rear view camera 28 and the controller 86). The
Bluetooth transceiver is also connected to the rear view camera 28
or to the codec 85 and receives a stream of image data (encoded or
decoded; compressed or uncompressed), from the rear view camera 28
or the codec 85. The Bluetooth transceiver 16b may then transmit
the image data over the wireless connection established with, for
instance, the smartphone's Bluetooth interface 16a, to the
smartphone 12 for viewing by the user on the smartphone's
screen.
[0075] In other embodiments, the wireless transceiver 16b may be a
wireless USB transceiver.
[0076] Consumer control key non-volatile memory and interface 24 is
computer readable memory that may store the keyboard commands for
at least one activation button, and instructions that are readable
and may be executed by the consumer control key transmission module
26 (e.g. memory may store one sequence of keyboard commands
associated with one task, or multiple sequences of keyboard
commands, each associated to at least one task such as unlocking
the smartphone 12, searching for the application program 21,
running the application program 21). The consumer control key
interface 24 may also be configured to receive wirelessly command
key configuration data from the smartphone 12. The command key
configuration data may provide information on the sequence of
keyboard commands to be stored. Therefore, the smartphone 12 may
send information to the peripheral 14 regarding the sequence of
keyboard commands to be used. Such may be practical, for instance,
when the password to unlock the smartphone 12 changes. The new
sequence of characters to unlock the smartphone 12 may be sent by
the smartphone 12 to the consumer control key non-volatile memory
and interface 24 in the form of command key configuration data, the
sequence of keyboard commands stored in consumer control key
non-volatile memory and interface 24 updated as a result.
In the examples where there the peripheral 14 has a battery 75, the
power circuit 84 is connected to the Bluetooth transceiver 16b and
allows power to flow from the battery 75 to the controller 86 and
to the camera 28 when a signal is sent by the Bluetooth transceiver
16b to activate the peripheral 14 (or activate the power circuit 84
that in turn activates the other components of the peripheral 14).
The power circuit 84 may be a power management integrated circuit.
The power circuit 84 may also cease the flow of power from the
battery 75 to the controller 86 and to the rear view camera 28 when
the power circuit 84 receives a signal from the Bluetooth
transceiver 16b to deactivate the power circuit 84 or deactivate
the peripheral 14.
[0077] In some embodiments, the peripheral 14 is wired directly to
back-up lamps, as described herein with respect to FIG. 7.
[0078] The codec 85 is a video codec as is known in the art for
encoding a stream of images received from said rear view camera 28.
The codec 85 may also compress the image data to reduce
transmission bandwidth. In some embodiments, the codec 85 may be
connected to the controller 86, where the controller 86 may vary
the compression rate of the image data, via the codec 85, as a
function of available bandwidth of the wireless channel established
between the Bluetooth transceiver 16b and Bluetooth interface 16a,
as explained herein. In some embodiments, the codec 85 may be part
of the rear view camera 28. In other embodiments, the codec 85 may
be separate from the rear view camera 28.
[0079] The battery 75 may be that as is known in the art. The
battery 75 may be rechargeable.
The Activation Unit +Peripheral Combination
[0080] In some embodiments, the activation of the peripheral may be
initiated by a signal received from an activation unit 15. In some
embodiments, the activation unit 15 may be separate from the
peripheral system. As described herein, the activation unit 15 may
be, for example, a dongle with a button that may be pushed by the
user to signal the activation of the peripheral 14. In other
embodiments, the activation unit 15 may be a device that sends a
signal when the gear stick is shifted to a certain position, or the
back-up lights turn on, as further described herein.
[0081] Reference is now made to FIG. 2A, illustrating an exemplary
peripheral camera system 10, with a peripheral 14 connected to an
activation unit 15. The wake-up signal is sent by the activation
unit 15 in the embodiment of FIG. 2A. Unit 15 can be a small
battery-powered button supported on a key-chain, dashboard of a
vehicle, visor, air vent, or any other suitable location that can
allow the user to press a button (or otherwise issue a command) to
cause the unit 15 to send a wireless signal to the interface 16b to
cause the peripheral 14 to wake up. Unit 15 can be a stand-alone
device or it can be integrated into a phone holder/case or tablet
holder/case.
[0082] The activation unit 15 may establish a first wireless
connection with the peripheral 14 that is not, in some examples, a
Bluetooth connection. As shown in FIG. 2B, the activation unit 15
connects with a wireless interface 17 of the peripheral 14. The
wireless interface 17 may be configured to establish a wireless
connection with the activation unit 15, and receive a wireless
activation signal from the activation unit 15. The peripheral 14
may establish a second distinct wireless connection with the
smartphone 12 (e.g. a Bluetooth connection). The activation unit 15
may send the activation signal, for causing the peripheral 14 to
turn on, to the wireless interface 17 across the wireless
connection. As shown in FIG. 2B, the Bluetooth interface 16b
establishes a Bluetooth connection with the Bluetooth interface 16a
of the smartphone 12. This Bluetooth connection may be used to
transmit the sequence of keyboard commands to the smartphone 12, or
the stream of images from the rear view camera 28 to be displayed
on the smartphone 12. In other embodiments, the activation unit 15
may establish a first wireless connection with the smartphone 12,
and a second wireless connection with the peripheral 14.
[0083] In some examples, as shown in FIG. 2C, the activation unit
15 may communicate via radio frequency signals with the peripheral
14 (e.g. over a 915 MHz transmission channel), where the activation
signal may be a radio signal. The peripheral 14 may have a RF
module 18 (having, e.g. a RF module or RF transceiver chip as is
known in the art) and the activation unit 15 may also have a RF
module as is known in the art communicating with RF module 18 of
the peripheral 14.
[0084] In the embodiment of FIG. 2A, the peripheral, once woken up,
sends Bluetooth keyboard commands to the smartphone 12 to cause the
latter to unlock (in the case that it was locked) and to run an app
21 associated with the rear view camera, including a viewer 34. The
peripheral 14 has a program module 26 that causes the transmission
of wireless keyboard commands previously stored in memory 26 to the
Bluetooth interface 16a of the phone 12. Once these commands are
sent, module 26 causes another module 30 of the peripheral 14 to
encode the video images from camera 28 for transmission to the
phone 12. The video encoding module 30 can comprise a hardware chip
or software within the microcontroller or computer system.
[0085] In the case that the peripheral 14 transmits the keyboard
commands to the smartphone 12, an HID keyboard is started using a
classic Bluetooth connection. Module 26 then sends a sequence of
keyboard commands stored in memory 24. In the case of an iPhone,
this can comprise the following steps: [0086] send a first
keystroke to light up the smartphone; [0087] send HID keyboard
command for unlock swipe [0088] send passcode 4 digits or long
passcode with ENTER [0089] in some examples, the Bluetooth keyboard
can be stopped so as to be able to use an assistive touch command
[0090] turn on the camera 28 in the peripheral 14 [0091] send iOS
launch command to launch app 21 [0092] in some examples, start iOS
assistive touch, start HID point device (Mouse service) and move
mouse pointer to the "OK" confirm position and press to actually
start camera APP; in other examples, launch the Spotlight Search
app, enter the keyboard commands corresponding to the name of the
image viewing application program, and launch the image viewing
application program. [0093] Once the app is fully launched, the
video streaming starts. In some examples, disable assistive touch
if it was activated to launch the viewing app.
[0094] An example of a command that simulates a press on touch
screen can be as follows:
TABLE-US-00001 Enable assistive touch /* HID map descriptor */
const unsigned char startHidMouseMessage[ ] = { /* param 1
HIDComponentIdentifier*/ 0x00,0x06, /* length */ 0x00,0x00, /* ID
*/ 0x00,0x00, /* param 2 vendorIdentifer */ 0x00,0x06, /* length */
0x00,0x01, /* ID */ 0x04,0x61, /* param 3 productIdentifier */
0x00,0x06, /* length */ 0x00,0x02, /* ID */ 0x00,0x00, /* param 4
HID report descriptor */ 0x00,0x36, /* length */ 0x00,0x04, /* ID
*/ 0x05 ,0x01, 0x09 ,0x02, 0xa1 ,0x01, 0x09 ,0x01, 0xa1 ,0x00, 0x05
,0x09, 0x19 ,0x01, 0x29 ,0x03, 0x15 ,0x00, 0x25 ,0x01, 0x95 ,0x03,
0x75 ,0x01, 0x81 ,0x02, 0x95 ,0x01, 0x75 ,0x05, 0x81 ,0x01, 0x05
,0x01, 0x09 ,0x30, 0x09 ,0x31, 0x15 ,0x81, 0x25 ,0x7f, 0x75 ,0x08,
0x95 ,0x02, 0x81 ,0x06, 0xc0 , 0xc0 };
ISPP_Send_Control_Message(BluetoothStackID,
SerialPortID,0x5400,0,NULL); //start assistivetouch
ISPP_Send_Control_Message(BluetoothStackID,
SerialPortID,0x6800,sizeof(startHidMouseMessage),(unsigned char
*)startHidMouseMessage); To simulate the screen press: unsigned
char mouseCmd[ ] = { /* param 1 HIDComponentIdentifier*/ 0x00,0x06,
/* length */ 0x00,0x00, /* ID */ 0x00,0x00, /* param 2
vendorIdentifer */ 0x00,0x07, /* length */ 0x00,0x01, /* ID */
0x01,0x00,0x00 }; ISPP_Send_Control_Message(BluetoothStackID,
SerialPortID,0x6802,sizeof(mouseCmd),mouseCmd);
[0095] The memory 24 may store one sequence of keyboard commands
associated with one task, or multiple sequences of keyboard
commands, each associated to at least one task, such as, unlocking
the smartphone 12, searching for the application program 21,
running the application program 21.
[0096] In other examples, the keyboard commands do not need to
include those for unlocking the smartphone 12. For instance, the
sequence of keyboard commands may be limited to those necessary to
run the application program 21. Once the smartphone 12 receives the
sequence of keyboard commands, the sequence may be processed by the
OS of the smartphone 12 to cause the application program 21 to run
and to present a notification window appearing on the screen of the
smartphone 12 when the smartphone 12 is locked. For example, in the
case of an iOS device, such as the iPhone 6, the user may swipe to
the side the notification box corresponding to app 21 and, by using
the iOS device's fingerprint security protocol, unlock the device
by presenting the user's fingerprint (or the user may type in the
user's unlock code). Once the smartphone 12 unlocked, app 21 begins
to run and the display of the smartphone 12 begins to show the
images received from the peripheral 14.
[0097] It will be understood that the sequence of keyboard commands
used to cause the smartphone to perform certain tasks, such as its
unlocking or running a designated application, depends on the
platform of the smartphone. The sequence of keyboard commands also
depends upon the task to be carried out. Therefore, a skilled
person will readily understand that a desired sequence of keyboard
commands for a specific platform may be determined using basic
trial and observation, where the effect of receiving a specific
sequence of keyboard commands by the smartphone is monitored for
the desired action.
[0098] While the video transmission in FIG. 2A is done using the
same Bluetooth interface 16b as is used for the wireless keyboard
interface, a separate wireless transmission link could be used. For
example, it is possible to use an IEEE 802.11 (i.e. WiFi) link or a
wireless USB or WUSB link to transmit the video data. This would
require connecting the smartphone 12 to a corresponding WiFi link
bridge of the peripheral 14. Keyboard commands from peripheral 14
can be used to cause the smartphone to establish a WiFi connection
to a WiFi module of the peripheral 14. This option can provide
greater bandwidth than Bluetooth, however, causing the smartphone
12 to make the new WiFi connection can cause the smartphone 12 to
drop an existing WiFi connection and can require a few seconds to
establish. Applicant has found the use of WiFi to be acceptable in
some circumstances, however, Bluetooth communication has been found
to be faster to start and to have sufficient bandwidth for the rear
view camera application.
[0099] In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 2D, the peripheral 14
may share a WiFi connection with the smartphone 12 in addition to
the Bluetooth connection established between the smartphone 12 and
the peripheral 14. The Bluetooth connection is established between
the Bluetooth interface 16a of the smartphone 12 and the Bluetooth
interface 16b of the peripheral 14. The smartphone 12 and the
peripheral 14 share a common WiFi connection, where both wireless
network interface 91a of the smartphone and the wireless network
interface 91b of the peripheral 14 connect to a common WiFi
connection (e.g. the building's WiFi connection when the vehicle is
in or in proximity of the building; a wireless network connection;
or a wireless wide area network).
[0100] In some embodiments, the smartphone 12 has a channel
bandwidth estimation app 92 configured to estimate the connectivity
and/or the available bandwidth over the WiFi connection between the
smartphone 12 and the peripheral 14. In some examples, channel
bandwidth estimation app 92 may also estimate the available
bandwidth over the Bluetooth interface 16a for sending signals to
the peripheral 14 to adjust, for instance the FPS or compression
ratio of the stream of image data. The channel bandwidth estimation
app 92 estimates the available bandwidth over the WiFi connection
by communicating with the wireless network interface 91a. The
channel bandwidth estimation app 92 detects if the bandwidth of the
WiFi connection drops under a desired level, and/or if the WiFi
connection is lost altogether. If so, the channel bandwidth
estimation app 92 may send, via the Bluetooth interface 16a (or, if
the WiFi connection is of limited bandwidth, but still active, via
the wireless network interface 91a), a signal to the Bluetooth
interface 16b (or wireless network interface 91b). This signal is
relayed to the connection controller module 31. The connection
controller module 31 (e.g. module 31 may be software stored in the
memory of peripheral 14, carried out by a processor of the
peripheral 14) receives the signal and instructs the video
compression and transmission module 30 to switch the sending of the
stream of image data from the wireless network interface 91b (over
WiFi) to the Bluetooth Interface 16b (over Bluetooth).
[0101] Similarly, when the WiFi connection is re-established or
when the available bandwidth of the WiFi connection increases, as
determined by the channel bandwidth estimation app 92, the channel
bandwidth estimation app 92 may send a signal to the peripheral 14
to switch the streaming of image data to the WiFi connection. The
connection controller module 31 receives this signal and instructs
the video compression and transmission module 30 to transmit the
stream of image data to the wireless network interface 91b (to send
via the WiFi connection), and not the Bluetooth interface 16b.
[0102] In some embodiments, the smartphone 12 may not have a
channel bandwidth estimation app 92. In these embodiments, the
analysis of WiFi connectivity and available bandwidth may be done
by the connection controller module 31. The connection controller
module 31 may then signal the video compression and transmission
module 30 to switch between transmitting the stream of image data
to the Bluetooth interface 16b or the wireless network interface
91b depending upon the WiFi connectivity and/or the available
bandwidth over the WiFi connection.
[0103] It will be understood that because the WiFi connection may
provide greater bandwidth than the Bluetooth connection, a switch
of the streaming of image data from the WiFi connection to the
Bluetooth connection, such as when the WiFi connection is lost, may
require adjusting the frame rate and/or the compression ratio of
the stream of image data. For instance, the stream of image data
may be at 30 FPS when streaming over the WiFi connection, but may
drop to 16 FPS, including, in some cases, a change in the
compression ratio of the stream of image data, when switched to the
Bluetooth connection. In some examples, if the available bandwidth
of the Bluetooth connection drops, the video compression and
transmission module 30 (receiving instructions from the connection
controller module 31) adjusts instead the compression ratio so that
the frame rate does not drop below a certain level which would lead
to a choppy video (i.e. the video is no longer fluid), The varying
of the compression ratio allows to compensate for the reduced
available bandwidth while maintaining a fluid video (e.g. over 16
FPS).
[0104] Furthermore, the bandwidth available over the wireless
communications link can be assessed and the video transmission rate
can be adjusted according to the assessed bandwidth by setting a
compression ratio in module 30, for example a TW9900 chip with an
OV780 chip that can provide a variable compression ratio. The
available bandwidth can be assessed, for example, by sending a
block of data from peripheral 14 to app 21 and measuring the time
required for the block of data to be transmitted. The peripheral 14
can then adjust the compression and/or the frame rate accordingly.
Applicant has found that the quality of viewing is greatly improved
to use a frame rate and/or a compression rate that the channel can
handle without dropping frames rather than using a lower
compression rate or a frame rate that then involves some frame
drops. For instance, when the peripheral 14 is used for assisting a
driver with backing up the driver's vehicle, the video feed
received by the driver is as close as possible to real-time (e.g.
no buffering) for allowing the driver to promptly react as he or
she is operating the vehicle as a function of the received image
feed. If the driver receives an intermittent video as a result of
dropped frames, due, for example, to limited available bandwidth,
the driver may be missing important information, such as the
presence on an obstacle behind the vehicle (e.g. a child) and may
not have received the visual information in time to avoid the
obstacle.
[0105] To ensure the Bluetooth streamed video's latency
performance, the following can be performed. The Bluetooth radio's
usage of the smartphone can be monitored in real-time. This can be
done with the help of app 21 in communication with peripheral 14.
It is determined if a phone call is in progress at device 12 and if
the audio route is to Bluetooth hands-free. If Smartphone's 12
Bluetooth radio is in use, then the H264 video's compression ratio
in module 30 is dynamically adjusted to reduce the bit rate of the
video so that video's latency performance is assured. Then, app 21
monitors the video streaming bit rate in real-time, as smartphone
12 knows the video's source bit rate, if the streaming bit rate is
lower than the source bit rate (consistently for a predefined
period of time), the app 21 can decide that the lower streaming bit
rate is due to interference of surrounding environment and increase
the H264 video's compression ratio by sending a command to
peripheral 14 to reduce video source bit rate in module 30.
[0106] It is also possible to cause the smartphone 12 to stop using
the wireless channel for the telephone call audio by causing the
smartphone to change the audio output of the smartphone from, for
example, Bluetooth to the smartphone's own built-in speaker. The
app 21 may or may not be able to issue such a command to the
operating system of the smartphone 12, and in the case that it
cannot, suitable wireless keyboard commands can be issued from
module 26 to cause the audio streaming usage of the wireless
channel to be stopped so that more bandwidth is available for the
video data. When video transmission is over, the user can restore
telephone call streaming over the wireless channel, or the app 21
or module 26 can perform the restoration.
[0107] The steps involved in adjusting the frame rate or
compression rate in the video encoding are illustrated in FIG.
4.
[0108] In the embodiment of FIG. 2A, the smartphone 12 has a video
codec 32 that is shown as part of the operating system of the hand
held computer or smartphone. Alternatively, the video codec 32
could be provided in software within the app 21. Decoded video
frames from module 32 are then displayed on the display viewer 34.
While it is preferable to transmit encoded and compressed video,
uncompressed images can also be transmitted, possibly at a lower
resolution or frame rate.
[0109] When a driver is finished using the peripheral 14, the user
can switch apps using the interface controls of the smartphone 12
or alternatively the unit 15 can be used to signal closing or
stopping of the peripheral 14. Unit 15 can make use of a separate
key or an interpretation of a same key (subsequent press, held-down
press, or a double tap) to issue shutdown commands to either the
peripheral 14 or the smartphone 12, or to both. The shutdown
command to the phone 12 can involve Bluetooth keyboard commands to
be sent directly or via peripheral 14 to interface 16a to cause the
peripheral 14 app 21 to close and then, preferably as configured by
the user, the smartphone 12 can turn its screen off, lock, go to a
home screen, go to a GPS navigator app, etc. This can save the user
from having to manipulate the smartphone 12, following a backing up
action of the vehicle and normally an immediate action of
continuing to drive forward.
[0110] Because the camera 28 can be an after-market device, the
position of the camera, its tilt angle and the vehicle width are
not known until installation. In some embodiments, rear view camera
grid lines can be used to estimate the distance and the width of
the vehicle when using the camera image for backing up. Such grid
lines are known, and in the case of grid lines to guide backing up
into a parking space, the lines appear as curved lines that should
follow the image of the parking space's parallel lines with
transverse curved lines showing distance from the vehicle bumper to
the end of the space. Producing an overlay of grid lines using an
analog video camera is complicated, and in some embodiments, grid
line display is achieved in app 22 rather than in the peripheral
14. The app 22 can be provided with a settings mode that gives the
user the ability to adjust the grid lines. Because the smartphone
12 is wirelessly receiving the images, the user can exit the
vehicle and stand in the camera's field of view to be on the grid
lines seen using app 22. FIG. 5 illustrates the step involved in
configuring the grid lines. The user can then use the interface of
the app to set the position of each of the side or width lines to
take into consideration camera position (particularly when the
license plate is to one side of the rear of the vehicle) and the
vehicle width, and to set the position of the transverse distance
line or lines. These calibration settings can be stored in the app
22 or they can be stored in the peripheral 14 so that they can be
retrieved and used with the smartphone app 22 of other users.
[0111] FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment similar to that of FIG. 2A
in which activation of the peripheral comes from a different
mechanism than the activation unit 15. In FIG. 7, the rear view
camera peripheral 14 is turned on by being powered from the 12V DC
power taken from the vehicle's reverse indicator lights. An
installer finds the power cables connected to the back up or
reverse indicator lamps, and splices in a power cable that feeds
the peripheral 14. Since power is provided to the reverse indicator
lamps by a switch associated with the gear shift mechanism, the
peripheral is selectively powered only when the vehicle is in
reverse gear.
[0112] When the peripheral 14 is battery-powered, installation in
the case of a vehicle can be simplified because a power cable is
not required to pass from an inside of the vehicle to an outside.
However, on/off control of the peripheral 14 using a vehicle
signal, such as the on/off state of the back-up indicator lights,
is convenient because the driver does not need to engage a separate
control for the camera. In an alternative embodiment, the
activation unit 15 is installed in the vehicle to be controlled by
a vehicle signal, such as the on/off state of the back-up indicator
lights. For example, an activation unit can be installed in a
compartment housing the rear brake/running/back-up indicator lights
and powered by the turning on of the back-up lights. In this way,
when the driver puts the vehicle into reverse, the activation unit
15 can cause the operation of the rear-view camera to start.
[0113] In some embodiments, as illustrated in FIG. 8, the
activation of the peripheral 14 may be the result of a signal that
it receives once a gear stick of the vehicle is placed in reverse.
For example, the peripheral 14 may be activated by receiving a
signal from an activation unit 15 acting as (or having) a gear
shift signaling device. The activation unit 15 detects when the
gear stick is shifted into a certain position, for instance, a
reverse position (indicating that the driver intends to back up the
vehicle), and sends a signal to the peripheral 14 that in turn
communicates with the smartphone 12 to turn on the APP 21
responsible for showing the images streamed from the rear view
camera 28.
[0114] The activation unit 15 of FIG. 8 has a property generator 71
for generating a change in a given property (e.g. a magnetic field,
change in light intensity), a sensor 73 adapted to pick up on a
specific property change, a wireless transmitter 72 responsive to
the sensor 73 picking up on a given property change, and an
attachment device for joining at least a portion of the activation
unit 15 to the shaft of the gear stick (or another portion of the
gear stick).
[0115] The wireless transmitter 72 may be one for establishing a
bandwidth limited connection, e.g. a wireless Bluetooth
transmitter. The wireless transmitter 72 may transmit, via a
Bluetooth connection, an activation signal to the peripheral 14 via
the Bluetooth interface 16b (or to its camera 28) once the sensor
picks up on a desired change in property. The wireless transmitter
72 is connected to the sensor 73, receiving a signal from the
sensor 73 once the sensor 73 picks up on a specific property
change. In some examples, the wireless transmitter 72 is a radio
frequency transmitter (e.g. a RF module) configured to send a
wireless RF activation signal to the peripheral 14 once a gear
shift to the desired position is detected.
[0116] The attachment device is attached to at least a portion of
the activation unit 15 and is adapted to attach to the gear stick.
For instance, the attachment device may be an adjustable clamp on
ring (e.g. a clamp ring), wrapping around the shaft of the gear
stick, to which at least a part of the activation unit 15 is
attached.
[0117] The property generator 71 may be composed of two parts. A
first part of the property generator is located in the car next to
the position of the gear stick when the gear stick is placed in
reverse. For instance, the first part of the property generator 71
may be fixed on the inner surface of the box that at least partly
encases the gear stick, the first part of the property generator 71
located at the position where the gear stick is located when moved
to the reverse position. A second part of the property generator 71
may be joined to the gear stick. When the gear stick shifts to the
reverse position, the first and second parts of the property
generator 71 align and/or are placed in proximity so as to create a
property change. For instance, the first part of the property
generator 71 may be a magnetic strip, and the second part of the
property generator 71 may be a magnet located on the activation
unit 15 joined to the gear stick. Therefore, the magnetic strip is
fixed, but the magnet joined to the gear stick shifts with the gear
stick. The magnetic strip and the magnet on the gear stick are
positioned in such a way that when the gear stick shifts into
reverse, the magnet attached to the gear stick moves next to the
magnetic strip, generating a magnetic field change (i.e. a property
change). In other examples, the first part of the property
generator 71 may be a reflective strip placed next to where the
gear stick would be in the reverse position, and the second part of
the property generator 71 may be a light source (or light emitter)
connected to the gear stick. The light emitted by the light source
is reflected by the reflective strip when the gear stick is
positioned in reverse. The above are but examples of a property
generator 71 and the skilled person will readily recognize that
other means for generating a property change when the gear is
shifted to a desired position may be used.
[0118] The sensor 73 is attached to the gear stick via the
attachment device and detects a change in a given property, the
change in property created by the property generator 71 when its
first and second parts are placed in proximity as a result of the
gear stick moving into reverse. For instance, the sensor 73 may be
one for detecting the creation or change in a magnetic field, such
as by detecting the variation in an output voltage (e.g. a Hall
effect sensor). In this example, where the first part of the
property generator 71 is a magnetic strip, and the second part of
the property generator 71 is a magnet, the magnetic field sensor 73
detects the magnetic field created when the magnet, attached to the
gear stick is moved next to magnetic strip. In another example, the
sensor 73 is a light sensor (e.g. a photo sensor), and the first
part of the property generator 71 is a reflective strip and the
second part of the property generator 71 is a light source attached
to the gear stick (via the attachment device). When the light
source is moved with the gear stick in proximity with the
reflective surface (the gear stick being in reverse), the light
emitted by the light source is reflected off the reflective strip
and detected by the light sensor 73. When the gear stick is in
another position than in reverse, the light is not reflected off
the reflective strip and the light sensor 73 does not detect light
(the property change). Once the sensor 73 picks up on the property
change, indicative of the gear stick being put into reverse, the
sensor 73 sends a signal to (or prompts) the wireless transmitter
72. In response, the wireless transmitter 72 sends an activation
signal via the wireless connection to the peripheral 14, the
peripheral 14 turning on its rear view camera 28 once it receives
the wireless activation signal from the wireless transmitter 72. In
some examples, the wireless transmitter 72 may send a wireless
signal to the smartphone 12 to turn on and open the camera APP 21
(e.g. keyboard commands to turn on the smartphone and run the
camera APP 21). In other examples, the smartphone 12 and the camera
APP 21 are turned on by the peripheral 14, receiving the keyboard
commands or activation signal from the peripheral 14, once the
peripheral 14 has received the activation signal from the
activation unit 15.
[0119] It will be appreciated that the activation unit 15 may send
out a signal to cause the peripheral 14 and/or smartphone 12 to
turn on when the gear stick is shifted into another position than
reverse (e.g. in "Drive"), such as when the peripheral's camera is
to turn on when the vehicle is, for instance, put into "Drive" (the
camera located as the front of the vehicle). Necessary adjustments
are made to the positioning of the components of the activation
unit 15 as a result, such as the location of the first part of the
property generator 71 (e.g. placing the first part of the property
generator 71 next to where the gear stick is positioned when in
"Drive").
[0120] The steps for the embodiment of the rear view camera video
start sequence can be as follows. The user can approach the vehicle
where peripheral 14 is paired with his or her phone 12. The
peripheral 14 detects phone 12, making a classic Bluetooth
connection, and MFi authentication is done. The phone 12 and
peripheral 14 are now connected. The Bluetooth connection between
them is maintained with minimum power consumption by maintaining
only the Bluetooth component powered while the camera and video
compression processor are off. The power requirements for
maintaining this Bluetooth connection are so low that conventional
batteries can power the unit 14 to remain wirelessly connected for
years at a time. Pressing a button on activation unit 15 can cause
it to turn on and connect to the peripheral 14. Peripheral 14
responds to the signal from unit 15 to cause the camera 28 and
video transmission 30 of peripheral 14 to turn on.
[0121] In some embodiments, peripheral 14 and activation unit 15
are paired at the factory. Interface 16b can be configured to be
always advertising. Activation unit 15 is normally off. When a
button is pushed on unit 15, power is supplied from its battery and
the
[0122] Bluetooth connection is made. In peripheral 14, when the
interface 16b is connected to the activation unit 15, interface 16b
turns on the remainder of the components in peripheral 14. Thus,
codec 30 and camera 28 turn on. When the vehicle driver wants to
use the rear view camera, the video button on unit 15 is pressed.
Unit 15 can be powered by a small button battery, and so can be
powered on by pressing its button. In some embodiments, this is the
only button. The Bluetooth module 16b of the rear view camera
peripheral unit 14 detects the button pressed. The module 16b now
powers up the peripheral components. In the case of a
microprocessor that can be woken up by an interrupt, module 16b
issues the interrupt. As a result, the camera 28 is powered and
video compression and transmission 30 are ready to be started.
Video compression can be handled in the microprocessor, or it can
be handled by a separate chip, for example a TW9900 chip with an
OV780 chip.
[0123] The peripheral 14, particularly in the case of a vehicle
rear view camera accessory, can be vulnerable to theft. To reduce
the ability for the peripheral 14 to be used by a thief, a master
phone 12 is designated. The peripheral 14 can thereafter only be
used by a smartphone 12 that is given permission by the master
phone 12. This can be done, in the example of an iPhone, by turning
on Bluetooth in the setting of the iPhone 12. In the example an
Android phone, the app 21 can be started. The peripheral device 14
can be turned on using a switch on the peripheral 14 or by using
unit 15. On the iPhone, a Bluetooth pairing request will appear,
and the user can complete the pair request. Using an Android
device, the pairing can be completed by the app 21. On the iPhone,
the app 21 can then be started. Video can then appear on screen. In
the app 21, the user provides the input required for the commands
to be stored in memory 24. For example, the user provides the
unlock code, and this code is send to peripheral 14 to be stored in
memory 24. The peripheral 14 is configured to recognize the
Bluetooth ID (an equivalent of a MAC address unique to the device)
of the phone being first paired and to refuse pairing with another
smartphone 12 unless given permission from the first paired
smartphone 12. Peripheral 14 stored the Bluetooth ID of the first
or master smartphone 12 in non-volatile memory, along with the ID's
of all authorized smartphones 12. If the master smartphone is lost,
a number of factory set backup single-use master codes are also
stored. The owner of the peripheral 14 can contact the manufacturer
with the peripheral's serial number to retrieve a backup code that,
when sent to the peripheral from app 21, will cause the peripheral
14 to replace the previous master smartphone Bluetooth ID with the
new one. The manufacturer can identify the registered owner of the
peripheral by the serial number and/or the owner's identification.
Once a one-time back up code is used, the used status is recorded
in the nonvolatile memory and is no longer useable.
Stopping the Peripheral
[0124] Stopping of the camera and app can be done either in
response to a timer or in response to a subsequent user input,
either from the unit 15 or on the smartphone app 21. For example,
the video can stop after a short period, such as 20 seconds, using
a timer, or the video can be stopped when the button of unit 15 is
pressed and video is being streamed. Peripheral 14 would shut down
all components except for the module 16b, so that the Bluetooth
connection is maintained between the peripheral and the activation
unit. The peripheral can also send a command to the app 21 that
streaming will stop, so that the app can manage the end of
streaming without an error. Alternatively, the app 21 can be used
to send a stop signal to the peripheral 14.
[0125] In some embodiments, app 21 may also be communicating with
the GPS application of the smartphone 12. App 21 may use the GPS
data of the GPS application to detect the speed of the vehicle.
Once the speed of the vehicle is detected by the GPS application as
being, for instance, over a certain amount (i.e. indicating that
the vehicle may no longer backing up), the GPS data, analyzed by
app 21, may cause app 21 to shut off, and may cause the smartphone
12 to send a wireless signal to the peripheral 14 to stop
streaming.
[0126] For security reasons, the HID keyboard interface is started
again at the peripheral 14, and a lock key command is sent to lock
the phone 12. Then the HID keyboard interface is stopped and the
peripheral 14 sleeps with the exception of its Bluetooth interface
16b.
[0127] The steps involved in activating the peripheral 14 and the
smartphone 12 to operate are illustrated in FIG. 6.
[0128] In the embodiment of FIG. 7 where the sleep mode is not
managed by interface 16b, the peripheral 14 can follow the above
sequence for sending the commands to wake up the phone 12 and to
cause the app 21 to open up, however, the commands and/or signals
related to waking up and sleeping the peripheral 14 are not
required.
[0129] The embodiment of FIG. 7 has the advantage over prior art
systems that the smartphone 12 can be off and locked, and then the
peripheral 14 can cause the smartphone 12 to be unlocked and to
open up the app 21 associated with the rear view camera peripheral
14 without the user needing to manipulate the phone 12.
[0130] In FIG. 9, the peripheral 14 can be woken up using the
activation unit 15 directly using Bluetooth communication from
interface 16c, or it can be woken up by the app 21a (through
interface 16a) that is called up by activation unit 15 in the
manner described above.
[0131] As illustrated, the keypad 27 can have four buttons (any
number can be provided as desired), with buttons labeled for
specific apps, such as the rear view camera, GPS navigator app,
mail app, a "phone home" button that launches the telephone to call
a specific number, etc. Configuration of the commands can be done
in module 22 whether in a stand-alone app or as part of the
peripheral app 21a.
[0132] In the embodiment of FIG. 10, a battery-powered rear view
camera peripheral 14 with battery 75 is coupled with an activation
unit 15, while the peripheral 14 is coupled with a dedicated GPS
navigator unit associated with the vehicle. As in embodiments
above, the activation unit 15 can be coupled with the peripheral's
Bluetooth interface 16b to cause it to wake up (as illustrated)
(or, in some examples, the activation unit 15 may use its RF
transmitter to send a radio frequency activation signal to the RF
module of the peripheral 14), or it can be coupled with the
interface 16a of the display unit 12' which in turn will send the
peripheral 14 a wake up command over interface 16b. When a GPS unit
is equipped with Bluetooth communications abilities 16a, this
embodiment requires additional software to provide the codec 32,
the view display and the mode switching between regular navigation
mode and camera display mode, but no additional hardware to provide
the rear view camera capability. The activation unit 15 of FIG. 10
may store a sequence of keyboard commands in memory 24, where
consumer control key transmission module 26 retrieves the sequence
of keyboard commands and sends it to display unit 12 (when, e.g.,
display unit 12 is a iOS based smartphone). The sequence of
keyboard commands may cause the display unit 12 to unlock and run
the viewing application program 21a.
[0133] Likewise, the embodiment of FIG. 10 could exclude the
activator 15 as a separate component, and allow controller 25
through user input to cause interface 16a to send a wake-up signal
to interface 16b of the peripheral 14.
[0134] In the embodiment of FIG. 11, the smartphone 12 is coupled
with the peripheral 14 using interfaces 16a and 16b, without
involving wireless keyboard commands to control the smartphone 12
to unlock and open up the app 21. In this embodiment, the user
unlocks the phone 12 and opens up the app 21. The app 21 then sends
the commands to the peripheral 14 that cause it to wake up and to
begin sending video.
Frame of Peripheral
[0135] FIG. 12 shows a frame 40 of a peripheral 14. The frame 40
has a surface for receiving a license plate 46 and includes holes
42 for mounting the plate 46 to the frame 40 using mounting bolts
44. It will be appreciated that any suitable mounting mechanism,
whether clips, bolts, transparent retainer cover, or the like can
be used. In the embodiment of FIG. 12, the camera 28 is mounted in
a fixed position, namely in the top left corner using a mounting
48. The camera 28 can be arranged to be located in a variable
position or in a different fixed position. In the embodiment of
FIG. 12, the mounting 48 has a slot into which the plate 46 fits so
that the camera 28 fits within the boundaries of the frame 40 of a
standard license plate 46. While the plate 46 shown has the
dimensions of a North American license plate, it will be
appreciated that the frame 40 can be adapted for the plate
dimensions of any jurisdiction or vehicle type. Frame 40 can be
relatively thin, and the embodiment of FIG. 12 is about 1 cm at the
top and expands to about 2 cm at the bottom to have a trapezoidal
shape and better accommodate the battery, however, different shapes
of battery can fit within a rectangular frame as well.
[0136] The vehicle side of the frame 40 is shown in FIG. 13 with
the components removed for clarity. The frame 40 is upside down in
the view, and the mounting holes 42 are at the bottom. The battery
compartment 50 and the circuit board compartment 52 are shown,
along with an inner side of the mounting 48. Cut outs 54 near the
mounting holes 42 are used for receiving a bracket 56. While a
frame 40 can be mounted to the vehicle using the vehicle's mounting
nuts for receiving bolts 44 that are a bit longer than usual (by
the added thickness of the frame 40), Applicant has found that some
vehicles have a plate mounting area that has obstructions, such as
trunk handles, spare tires or lights, and an adjustment in height
is useful. Furthermore, it is convenient, although optional, to use
the vehicle's original mounting bolts to mount the frame to the
vehicle and to use separate bolts to mount the plate to the frame
40. Therefore, bracket 56 is an example of a mechanism that allows
a vertical adjustment in position for frame 40. The vehicle's
original plate mounting bolts can be affixed through hole 58 with
the nut 57 positioned either above or below for a higher or a lower
position respectively. The bracket is then clamped to the vehicle
and the nut 57 is ready to receive bolt 44 through hole 42. Slots
54 prevents the brackets 56 from turning out of position should the
bolts attached to the vehicle become loose. This arrangement has
been found to avoid conflicts with the car body components in most
cases.
[0137] As shown in FIG. 14, the peripheral 14 can comprise a camera
28 held by a bracket 62 that allows for an adjustment of the camera
tilt. As illustrated, this can be provided by making screws 63
accessible from the vehicle side of the frame 40 where they can be
loosened to allow the camera 28 to be adjusted, and then the screws
63 are tightened so that the camera 28 is fixed in its tilt
position. The camera 28 is mounted in the mounting 48 with the
circular side members rotatable in sleeves in the mounting 48 and
the bracket 62 can have teeth engaging complementary teeth in the
side members of the housing of the camera 28 to ensure there is no
slippage of the camera in its mounting. Other suitable mechanisms
to set the tilt angle are possible, and the example given is but
one way of securely setting a tilt angle.
[0138] The camera 28 is connected to a circuit board 64 that
contains the hardware and software components of the peripheral 14,
and is to be received in compartment 52 (FIG. 13) and sealed using
cover 65 and gasket 66. Protection against the weather and road
contamination is important. A battery 68 is connected to the
circuit board 64 for power, and is to be received in compartment 50
and sealed using cover 69 and gasket 70. The battery 68 can provide
a service life of about two years. A smaller rechargeable or
replaceable battery can also be used.
[0139] While the embodiment of FIG. 12 is a frame 40 that
essentially matches the dimensions of the license plate 46 with
only the camera mount 48 overhanging the plate area, it can be
desirable to have either an enlarged frame 40 with a border region
along at least one side (for example the two vertical sides) to as
to accommodate one or more photovoltaic strips that can be used to
recharge the battery 68 using sunlight. Alternatively, solar panel
strips can be arranged within the plate area thus covering a border
region of the license plate 46.
[0140] While reference is made herein to a rear-view camera system,
it will be appreciated that a vehicle camera can be installed at
the sides or front of a vehicle. For example, a school bus can use
the license plate mount at the front of the bus to monitor an area
at the front of the bus without modifying the camera housing.
Triggering of the camera operation could be then done from other
signal sources, such as the bus stop lights. For side mountings of
a camera, a different housing would be used.
[0141] FIG. 15 shows a view of a stick-on activation unit 15 that
includes a single ON button 27 and a single OFF button 27'. Unit 15
can be powered using a standard button battery (e.g. a Lithium
CR2032 type battery) or alternatively, it can be powered from the
vehicle (or any other external power) using wire port 25. Unit 15
may include the Bluetooth transceiver chip or another wireless
transmitter. For instance, activation unit 15 may have a radio
frequency module for transmitting RF activation signals to the
peripheral 14. In the example where the unit 15 has a Bluetooth
transceiver, the Bluetooth transceiver is paired with the
peripheral 14 and maintains a low power connection at all times.
When the button 27 of unit 15 is pressed, a signal is sent to the
peripheral 14 that causes its Bluetooth component 16b to cause the
peripheral to wake up and to communicate with the smartphone 12 or
the dedicated GPS unit (or any other main computing device) 12'.
When the activation signal is an RF signal, pressing the button 27
causes the RF module of unit 15 to send an RF activation signal to
the peripheral 14 that is received by the RF module (e.g. RF
receiver chip) of the peripheral 14, causing the peripheral 14 to
wake up. The unit 15 and the peripheral 14 can remain in this sleep
mode with Bluetooth communication established for years without
recharging or changing batteries. In the case of button 27', the
signal sent to the peripheral indicates that the peripheral 14 is
to shut down.
[0142] While in the embodiment described above, the peripheral is a
rear view camera peripheral, it will be appreciated that other
types of peripherals can make use of the features described herein
(e.g. a front view camera).
* * * * *