Abstract:
A housing including an enclosure and a backup battery system is provided wherein the backup battery system may be disposed within the enclosure. The enclosure may also be locked such that unauthorized personnel may not tamper with the camera&#39;s operation. More particularly, the camera may be typically powered via a 110 VAC wall outlet. If the camera&#39;s normal power is interrupted, a battery of the backup battery system contained within the enclosure may route power to the camera such that the camera continues to capture images even though the power which normally operates the camera is interrupted.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application claims the benefits of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/555,780 filed Mar. 24, 2004, the substance of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     STATEMENT RE: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH/DEVELOPMENT  
       [0002]     Not Applicable  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     The present invention relates generally to back up power for a surveillance camera.  
         [0004]     Surveillance camera systems are widely used for safety, security and information gathering. For example, surveillance camera systems may be installed at casinos, parking structures and buildings to provide personal safety, security of the grounds and/or to gather information, particularly related to illegal activity. However, in each of these situations, the surveillance system&#39;s cameras are vulnerable to tampering due to the wired power connection. For example, robbers, thieves and vandals may intentionally interrupt power to the system&#39;s camera such that the system&#39;s camera is inoperative while the surveyed area is being robbed or vandalized. Alternatively, earthquakes, power shortages or other unforeseen events may interrupt power to the camera resulting in lost surveillance.  
         [0005]     Further, even short periods of disruption in power may result in lengthy gaps in surveillance. Many cameras used in the field are digital and include on-board computerized, electronic servers. Even if power to the camera is immediately reestablished, the surveillance system may still be inoperable for a period of time because the camera must be reinitiated or rebooted.  
         [0006]     Known surveillance systems have included external uninterruptible power supplies. However, unauthorized personnel or nepharious actors may simply terminate the camera&#39;s power connection between the external uninterruptible power supply to disrupt the power to the camera to disable the surveillance camera.  
         [0007]     Accordingly, there is a need for an improved system of providing secure back up power to the camera.  
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0008]     The deficiencies in the known art identified above as well as other deficiencies are addressed by the present invention illustrated herein. By way of example and not limitation, in an aspect of the present invention, a camera may be disposed within an enclosure along with a backup battery system. The backup battery system may provide an alternate source of power to the camera (e.g., electronic component(s)) disposed within the housing in the event the camera&#39;s normal power source is interrupted. For example, the alternate source may power the camera only when the camera&#39;s normal source of power (e.g., wall outlet) is interrupted such as by unauthorized personnel or a natural cause (e.g., earthquake). Hence, the enclosure and the backup battery system provide a self sufficient and secure unit that powers the camera even when the camera&#39;s normal power supply is interrupted.  
         [0009]     Furthermore, the enclosure may be tamper proof in that unauthorized personnel will find it difficult to penetrate the enclosure to tamper with the camera, backup battery system or other electronics within the enclosure. For example, the enclosure may be fabricated from a non-transparent upper dome and a semi-transparent or transparent lower dome which are attachable to each other and may be locked onto each other via a pad lock. Accordingly, unauthorized personnel may not tamper with the backup battery system, the camera or any electronic component within the enclosure. Further, because the battery backup is located within the enclosure, it may not be apparent to a vandal that the camera will still operate after the primary power link is terminated.  
         [0010]     Additionally, a wireless data transmitter may also be contained within the enclosure such that the images captured by the camera may be transmitted to an on site location or an off site location. This enables images to be captured and transmitted to an on-site location or off site location even if there are no attached wires or the enclosure is removed from its mounted position. For example, if the enclosure with the camera, backup battery system and the wireless data transmitter enclosed therein was mounted to a wall, then even if the enclosure was removed from the wall, provided there is no damage to the camera, the camera would still be capable of transmitting images to the on site location or the off site location.  
         [0011]     The housing may further contain additional electronic components such as an on/off indicator light, circuit relay, power loss circuit, alarm trigger circuit and rocker switch. These electronic components may be useful for providing status of the backup battery system and camera. In particular, the circuit relay may be connected to the output of the switching power supply. When such output is charged, the circuit relay may hold open a power loss circuit and an alarm trigger circuit. In this state, the on/off indicator light, power loss circuit and the alarm trigger indicates that the backup battery system is operating in a normal fashion and that the power normally supplied to the camera (by way of example and not limitation, electrical wall outlet) is operating in a normal fashion. In contrast, when such output is not charged, the circuit relay may close the power loss circuit and the alarm trigger circuit such that they are connected to the battery of the backup battery system. Accordingly, the power loss circuit may sound a buzzer and emit an indicator light. Also, the alarm trigger circuit may send a signal to the camera to send a message to security or maintenance personnel indicating that the supplied power is not being supplied to the backup battery system in a normal fashion. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]     Features of the present invention will become more apparent upon reference to the drawings wherein:  
         [0013]      FIG. 1  is a cross sectional perspective view of a backup battery system disposed within a wall mountable camera housing;  
         [0014]      FIG. 2  is an electrical circuit diagram illustrating the circuit of the backup battery system integrated into the camera circuit;  
         [0015]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view of a camera including a backup battery system disposed within a horizontal surface mounted housing; and  
         [0016]      FIG. 4  is a top view of the lower half of the housing components as shown in  FIG. 3 . 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0017]     The detailed description as set forth below in connection with the appended drawings is intended as a description of the embodiments of the present invention, and does not represent the only embodiment(s) of the present invention. It is understood that various modifications to the invention may be comprised by different embodiments and are also encompassed within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Further, the drawings referred to herein are for the purposes of illustrating various embodiments of the present invention and not for the purpose of limiting the same.  
         [0018]      FIG. 1  illustrates a cross sectional view of a wall mountable camera housing  10  containing a backup battery system  12 . It is also contemplated within the scope of the invention that the camera housing  10  and battery backup systems  12  of the present invention may be a horizontal surface mountable camera housing  14 , as shown in  FIG. 3 , or in other configurations.  
         [0019]     The housing  10  may comprise an upper enclosure or an upper dome  16  and a lower enclosure or a lower dome  18  (shown in phantom). The upper enclosure or the upper dome  16  may be attached to a wall mount  20 . The wall mount  20  may include an arm  22  and a base plate  24 . The base plate  24  may be connected to the wall  26 , and the arm  22  may be connected to both the base plate  24  and the upper enclosure  16  such that the housing  10  is adjacently suspended to the wall  26 . The base plate  24  may have four holes  28   a, b, c, d  which allow the housing  10  to be permanently attached to the wall  26  via a set of wall screws. The base plate  24  may also be attached to the arm  22 . In particular, the base plate  24  and the arm  22  may be connected to each other via welding or the like. Likewise, the arm  22  may be connected to the upper enclosure  16  via welding or the like. Hence, the housing  10  may be suspended adjacent the wall  26 .  
         [0020]     The upper and lower enclosures  16 ,  18  when attached to each other may define an internal cavity which may contain both a camera  30  (in phantom) and the backup battery system  12  as well as other electronic components. The battery backup system  12  provides power to the camera  30  in the event that the power which is normally supplied to the camera  30  is interrupted. Accordingly, the camera  30  is still operational to survey an area even though the normal power to the camera  30  is interrupted.  
         [0021]     Moreover, the upper enclosure  16  and the lower enclosure  18  may be locked to each other. The upper enclosure  16 , once attached to the lower enclosure  18 , may only be removed from the lower enclosure  18  via a key or other removal mechanism. As such, only maintenance personal or authorized personnel may access the camera  30  and the backup battery system  12  disposed within the upper and lower enclosures  16 ,  18 .  
         [0022]     Furthermore, the lower enclosure  18  may be sealed to the upper enclosure  16  forming a water-proof and element proof enclosure to avoid exposure of the components to the deleterious effects of the weather and environment. For example, the upper enclosure  18  may have a semi-spherical configuration with a shroud  32  (see  FIG. 1 ) about its lower portion. The shroud  32  may have an opening larger than an opening of the lower enclosure  18  such that the shroud  32  overlaps the lower enclosure opening. In this way, rain water which may fall onto the upper enclosure  16  may cascade off of the housing  10  to prevent water from entering the housing  10 . Furthermore, the interface between the upper enclosure  16  and the lower enclosure  18  may be fitted with a rubber seal gasket or chemical sealant to prevent water from seeping into the housing  10 . This further adds to the operational stability of the camera  30  by preventing water and other environmental elements from entering the internal cavity possibly damaging the electronics of the camera  30  and the battery backup system  12 .  
         [0023]     The upper enclosure  16  may be fabricated from a non-transparent rigid material, whereas, the lower enclosure  18  may be fabricated from a semi-transparent rigid material such that the camera  30  is able to view the external environment through the housing  10  but people are not able to look into the housing. By this way, the camera direction cannot be observed by unauthorized personnel, thieves and the like to avoid detection.  
         [0024]     As discussed above, the backup battery system  12  may be disposed within the housing  10  to prevent unauthorized personnel from tampering with these components. More particularly, the battery charger/power supply  34  and battery  36  may be disposed within the housing  10 . (see  FIG. 1 ). Additionally, the battery charger/power supply  34  and battery  36  may be attached to a rotating mount  38 . The rotating mount  38  may be disposed within the housing  10  but it is also contemplated within the scope of the present invention that the rotating mount  38  may be disposed externally adjacent the housing  10 . Despite whether the rotating mount  38  is disposed within the housing or externally adjacent the housing, the rotating mount  38  may rotate independent of the housing  10  such that rotation of the rotating mount  38  and camera  30  does not rotate the housing  10 . This serves the purpose of hiding the camera direction as it is being rotated throughout its field of surveillance.  
         [0025]     The backup battery system  12  may be disposed within the upper enclosure  16  of the housing  10 . More particularly, the battery charger/power supply  34  and battery  36  may be disposed in the upper enclosure  16  of the housing  10 . Also, the battery charger/power supply  34  may be disposed above the battery  36 . (see  FIG. 1 ). Further, a switching power supply  40  may be disposed within the upper enclosure  16  to drop the supplied power to the requirements of the battery charger/power supply  34 . In particular, the switching power supply  40  may step the voltage down to 24 VDC. In  FIG. 1 , the supplied power (e.g., electrical wall outlet of 110 VAC) is in electrical communication with the battery charger/power supply  34  via a channel within the arm  22 . Although the switching power supply  40  steps down the supplied power of 110 VAC to 24 VDC, it is also contemplated that the switching power supply  40  may transform the supplied power to other voltages, as needed by the backup battery system  12 . Also, it is contemplated within the scope of the present invention that the supplied power may be 24 VAC, 100 to 260 VAC, or other voltages as needed. For example, the supplied power may be power supplied by an electrical wall outlet in an European country or other country. However, for the purpose of clarity, the various aspects of the present invention discussed herein shall be discussed in relation to a supplied power of 110 VAC.  
         [0026]     The 24 VDC may additionally be stepped down to 12 VDC and delivered to the surveillance camera  30  via the battery charger/power supply  34 . Simultaneously, the 12 VDC may also be delivered to the battery  36  for trickle charging the battery as long as the supplied power is not interrupted. When the supplied power is interrupted, the battery may supply 12 VDC to the battery charger/power supply  34  which routes this current to the camera  30  allowing the camera  30  to continue its operation. Hence, even though the supplied power may be interrupted or tampered with, the surveillance camera  30  remains operational. The battery backup system  12  maybe constructed as shown in  FIG. 1 , but is not limited to that construction. The battery back up system  12  may comprise any known functional uninterruptible power supply configuration. U.S. Pat. No. 5,982,652 generally describes known uninterruptible power supply configurations, the substance of which is incorporated herein by reference.  
         [0027]     Referring to  FIG. 2 , the output of the switching power supply  40  (i.e., 24 VDC power) may also be connected to an on/off indicator light  42  and a circuit relay  44 . In particular, the on/off indicator light  42  may contain an indicator light such as a light emitting diode which remains illuminated as long as power flows from the switching power supply  40  in a regular manner. The on/off indicator light  42  remains illuminated as long as power flowing from the switching power supply  40  approximates 24 VDC.  
         [0028]     The circuit relay  44  may be an electromagnet which holds open an alarm trigger circuit  46  and a power loss circuit  48  as long as the supplied power flows from the switching power supply  40  in a regular manner. When the power from the switching power supply  40  flows in an irregular manner, the electromagnet of the circuit relay  44  may close the alarm trigger circuit  46  and the power loss circuit  48 . This in turn closes the circuit between the battery  36  and the alarm trigger circuit  46  and the circuit between the battery  36  and the power loss circuit  48 . When power is supplied to the power loss circuit  48 , the power loss circuit  48  which comprises a power loss buzzer  50  and a power loss indicator light  52  are activated. The buzzer  50  produces a sound and the indicator light  52  illuminates a light such as a red light. The sound and the light indicate that the power from the switching power supply  40  may be irregular so as to notify maintenance personnel or security that the supplied power may be interrupted or abnormal. The alarm trigger circuit  46 , when activated, may send current to an alarm input of the camera  30  causing the camera  30  to send a notification to the camera user (e.g., security or office management) to indicate that power from the switching power supply  40  or the supplied power may have been interrupted.  
         [0029]     The circuit between the battery  36  and the camera  30  may be connected to a rocker switch  54 . The rocker switch  54  may have an on position and an off position. In the on position, power from the battery  36  may be routed to the camera  30  through the battery charger/power supply  34 . In contrast, in the off position, power flowing from the battery  36  to the camera  30  may be interrupted. The rocker switch  54  may be placed in the off position when the camera is moved from one site to another site. The rocker switch  54  disconnects the battery  36  from the camera  30  such that the camera is turned off while in transit and the alarm trigger circuit and the power loss circuit are not activated.  
         [0030]     In another aspect of the present invention, a horizontal surface mounted housing  14  may be provided, as shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 . The table top mounted housing  14  may be fabricated from two parts, namely, a base  56  and a cover  58 . The base  56 , as shown in  FIG. 3  may have a rectangular box configuration with an open top. The base  56  may also be fabricated from a substantially tamper proof material (e.g., steel) such that unauthorized personnel may not break into the housing  14 . The base  56  may further have a first end plate  60  and a second end plate  62  at a first end  64  and a second end  66  of the base  56 , respectively. The first end plate  60  may be fabricated from a semi transparent or a transparent material such that the camera  31  within the housing  14  can capture images through the semi transparent or transparent material. The second end plate  62  may have a configuration which mates or matches a distal end  68  of the cover  58 .  
         [0031]     The first end plate  60  may have a square top configuration. The top of the first end plate  60  may define a pivot axis about which the cover  58  may pivotally rotate. The cover  58  may have a concave configuration such that the cover  58  and the base  56  jointly form an inner cavity sized and configured to receive the camera  31  and the backup battery system  13  when the cover  58  mates with base  56 . When the cover  58  mates with the base  56 , they may encapsulate the backup battery system  13  and the camera  31  to prevent unauthorized personnel from tampering with these components  13 ,  31  to disable them. In particular, the base  56  and cover  58  may form a tamper proof container such that objects cannot be inserted into the housing  14  by unauthorized personnel.  
         [0032]     As shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 , the housing  14  may encapsulate the battery charger/power supply  35 , battery  37 , and surveillance camera  31 . In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 3 , two batteries  37   a ,  37   b  and the switching power supply  41  are contained within the housing  14 . The second battery  37   b  provides extra power to the camera  31  such that the camera  31  is operable for a longer time after the supplied power to the camera  31  is interrupted.  
         [0033]     A wireless data transmitter may also be connected to the cameras  30  or  31  and disposed within the housing. The wireless data transmitter may transmit images captured by the camera  30 ,  31  to an on site location or an off site location. For example, the wireless data transmitter may transmit the image data over a local area network to an on site location (e.g., security office) or over a wide area network to an off site location (e.g., police station). Also, the transmitted data may be received by a wireless data receiver and recorded on a storage medium. This wireless data transmitter may also be powered via the supplied power. However, it may be powered via the backup battery  36 ,  37   a  and  37   b  in case the supplied power is interrupted. As such, the images captured by the camera  30 , 31  may still be transmitted to an on site location or an off site location even though the housing  10 ,  14  is detached from the wall or desk. Also, the housing and camera system may have any on-board image capture and recording system.  
         [0034]     A data recorder may also be connected to the cameras  30  or  31  and disposed within the housing  10 ,  14 . The images captured by the camera  30  or  31  may be stored onto the data recorder then transmitted to the on site location or the off site location via the wireless data transmitter. Alternatively, the data recorder may record images captured by the camera  30  or  31  only when the supplied power to the camera  30  or  31  is interrupted. The backup battery  36 ,  37  may power the data recorder when the supplied power to the camera is interrupted. Accordingly, when the supplied power to the camera  30  or  31  is interrupted, the images captured by the camera  30  or  31  are recorded onto the data recorder located within the housing  10  or  14  until the supplied power is reestablished.  
         [0035]     A data recorder may also be connected to the cameras  30  or  31  and disposed within the housing  10 ,  14 . The images captured by the camera  30  or  31  may be stored onto the data recorder then transmitted to the on site location or the off site location via the wireless data transmitter. Alternatively, the data recorder may record images captured by the camera  30  or  31  only when the supplied power to the camera  30  or  31  is interrupted. The backup battery  36 ,  37  may power the data recorder when the supplied power to the camera is interrupted. Accordingly, when the supplied power to the camera  30  or  31  is interrupted, the images captured by the camera  30  or  31  are recorded onto the data recorder located within the housing  10  or  14  until the supplied power is reestablished.  
         [0036]     This description of the various embodiments of the present invention is presented to illustrate the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and other inventive concepts may be otherwise variously embodied and employed. The appended claims are intended to be construed to include such variations except insofar as limited by the prior art.