Abstract:
An embodiment of the invention is a camera having a housing, a camera lens disposed at an end of the housing, a box camera mounting part provided on the housing to mount the camera in a box camera configuration, and a dome camera mounting part provided at a front end of the housing to mount the camera in a dome camera configuration. Providing the box and dome camera mounting parts on the housing of the camera enables mounting of the camera in box and dome camera configurations, and allows the user to delay the decision of choosing which configuration, thereby reducing the complexity of engineering design and installation. Furthermore, inclusion of both mounting parts facilitates purchasing and stocking only one configuration of camera, thereby simplifying management of the stocked parts and reducing costs.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION(S) 
     This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 or 365 to China, Application No. 201210248743.1, filed Jul. 18, 2012. The entire teachings of the above application are incorporated herein by reference. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invent relates to a camera, and more particularly to a camera which can be mounted in box and dome camera configurations. 
     Cameras, also referred as camera lenses, are widely used in the area of field monitoring, video recording, conducting surveillance and video recording of traffic conditions, production status, and status of a particular area. 
     Currently, cameras are generally utilized in two configurations, namely, the box camera configuration and the dome camera configuration. In the box camera configuration, a camera is substantially housed in a columnar housing with a lens extending out from the front end of the housing, and the housing of the camera is mounted on, for example, a wall or a traffic signal mount by using a mounting bracket, the lens being positioned at a particular viewing angle. In addition, under desired circumstances, said bracket may have a function of panning or tilting, or both, to adjust the viewing angle of the camera. Such a configuration is commonly seen in the outdoor mounting of cameras. In the dome camera configuration, a camera is generally suspended and mounted onto the ceiling, the entirety of which is covered by a hemispherical transparent dome, and outer images can be captured by a lens of the camera through the hemispherical transparent dome. This lens is generally supported by a gimbal member, and the viewing angle is controlled by an appropriate control mechanism. The camera in dome camera configuration has relatively nice looking and occupies a relatively small volume; therefore, dome camera configurations are commonly used indoors or in an elevator. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Embodiments of the present invention provide a camera that can be easily accomplish box and dome camera mounting configurations, thus facilitating management of stocked parts of customers and engineering design. 
     According to one embodiment of the present invention, a camera is provided, comprising a housing having a front end and a lens disposed at an end of the housing, wherein a box camera mounting part is provided on the housing of the camera to enable the camera to be mounted in a box camera configuration, and a dome camera mounting part is provided at the front end of the housing of the camera where the camera lens is disposed to enable the camera to be mounted in a dome camera configuration. 
     In an example embodiment of the present invention, providing the box and dome camera mounting parts on the housing of the camera enables the camera to be mounted in box and dome camera configurations and allows the customer to delay the decision of choosing which configuration, thereby improving the flexibility of engineering design and installation. Furthermore, as the camera is provided in box and dome camera configurations, it is possible to only purchase and stock one configuration of cameras, which simplifies management of the stocked parts and thus reduces costs. 
     In a preferred embodiment, the camera lens is mounted such that it may rotate in at least one direction relative to the housing. Therefore, it is easily to adjust the pointing direction of said camera lens. 
     In another preferred embodiment, the camera lens comprises a spherical casing having a front end, a camera lens module fixed at the front end of the spherical casing, and a circular arched containing part provided at the end of the housing where the camera lens is disposed, and the spherical casing is slidably contained in the circular arched containing part. 
     In one embodiment, a damper, preferably a spring plate, is disposed between the housing and the containing part, which allows the spherical casing to remain at a desired position. 
     In another embodiment, box camera mounting part is provided on one side surface of the housing of the camera or on an end surface of the housing of the camera opposite the end where the camera lens is disposed. 
     In some embodiments, the camera may be mounted in the box camera configuration by a standard bracket configured to support the camera in the box camera configuration, the standard bracket includes at least one joint to adjust the pointing direction of the camera when in the box camera mounting configuration. 
     In some embodiments, the camera further comprises a front cover for covering the end where the camera lens of the camera is disposed when in box camera mounting configuration. The box cover is preferably disposed on the housing of the camera by fitting with said dome camera mounting part on the housing of said camera. 
     In some embodiments, front cover prevents the camera lens from contaminating by dust, rain, etc. In addition, providing the dome camera mounting part as a coupling part for mounting the front cover enables the dome camera mounting part to have multiple functions and simplifies design of the housing. 
     In some embodiments, the camera also comprises a dome camera mounting ring configured to fit into a hole formed in a ceiling of a room in a premises and the dome camera mounting ring is further configured to be coupled to the box camera mounting part to mount the camera in the box camera mounting configuration. 
     In some embodiments, the dome camera mounting ring comprises a cylindrical body having first and second ends, a flange provided at the first end of the cylindrical body, and a mounting clamp provided at the second end of cylindrical body, the dome camera mounting ring being configured to be mated to the hole in the ceiling, with a material of the ceiling being clamped between the flange and the mounting clamp. 
     In some embodiments, a mounting ring mounting part is provided inside the cylindrical body of the dome camera mounting ring, the mounting ring mounting part comprising a connecting part for fitting with the box camera mounting part of the housing to enable connecting with the dome camera mounting part when the camera is vertically inserted into the mounting ring mounting part such that the camera lens protrudes downwards from the ceiling. Preferably, the connecting part of the mounting ring mounting part comprises elastic fasteners. 
     In another embodiment, the camera lens of the camera protrudes from the ceiling by inserting the camera into the mounting ring mounting part of the dome camera mounting ring, thus completing the dome camera mounting configuration. 
     In yet another embodiment, The camera further comprises a dome cover which may be coupled to the dome camera mounting ring, and includes a hemispherical transparent part and a flange surrounding the transparent part. By coupling the dome cover to the dome camera mounting ring, it is possible to cover and protect the camera lens of said camera. 
     In an example embodiment, the flange of the dome cover and the flange of the dome camera mounting ring are connected to each other by a magnetic force such that the dome cover is coupled onto the dome camera mounting ring. 
     Other features of the present invention are given in the following detailed description. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The foregoing will be apparent from the following more particular description of example embodiments of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters refer to the same parts throughout the different views. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating embodiments of the present invention. 
         FIG. 1  shows a perspective view of a camera according to the invention; 
         FIG. 2  shows a cross sectional view of the camera of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  shows a perspective view of a camera in box camera mounting configuration; 
         FIGS. 4A and 4B  show a schematic view of the camera of  FIG. 1  in two types of the box camera mounting configuration; 
         FIG. 5  shows a schematic view of the camera of  FIG. 1  in dome camera mounting configuration; 
         FIG. 6  shows cross sectional view of  FIG. 5 ; and 
         FIG. 7  shows a dome camera mounting ring of the camera in a dome camera mounting configuration. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     A description of example embodiments of the invention follows. 
     Cameras in box and dome camera mounting configurations of prior art are designed or produced separately and do not have parts in common, so customers must decide which configuration of cameras to use at the beginning of an engineering design phase since the configuration cannot be changed afterwards. This causes loss of flexibility in the engineering design and installation. Further, customers have to maintain stocked parts for two configurations of cameras where cameras are used in both the box camera configuration and dome camera configuration, resulting in increased management of stocked parts and cost of use. 
     Referring now to the drawings, example embodiments are described below in detail. 
     First, referring to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 ,  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2  show a perspective view and a cross sectional view of the preferred embodiments according to the invention. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , a camera  100  comprises a housing  110  in the shape of a substantial triangular prism, and a camera lens  120  is disposed at an end (referred below as a front end) of the housing  110 . The camera lens  120  comprises a spherical casing  121  and a camera lens module  122  fixed at the front end of the spherical casing  121 . As shown in the drawing, a circular arched containing part  111  is projectively provided at the front end of the housing  110  of the camera, and the spherical casing  121  containing the camera lens module  122  is slidably contained in the circular arched containing part  11 , thereby enabling the pointing direction of the camera lens  120  to be adjustable. It should be understood that the housing  110  is not limited to a triangular prism, and can be a cylinder, an elliptical cylinder, or a tetragonal prism, etc. 
     To maintain the camera lens  120  at a desired position, an appropriate damping means may be disposed between the housing  121  of the camera lens  120  and the containing part  111 , for example, a spring plate that can partially press the housing to the inner surface of the containing part. In addition, the camera lens  120  may be a conventional cameral lens  120  known in the art, including lenses and image acquisition devices that transform optical images to electrical signals, such as CCD or CMOS sensors, which are generally known in the art. 
     As shown in  FIG. 2 , a circuit board on which respective circuits, for example, the signal processing circuit are mounted, is provided inside the housing  110  to process collected signals. This circuit board may be configured as desired by skilled in the art, and therefore a detailed description is omitted. A radio transmission/reception module may, if needed, be further provided inside the housing  110  for sending image signals obtained by the camera lens to a corresponding receiver and/or receiving commands from the outside wirelessly. In addition, a respective driving mechanism and a transmission mechanism may be provided inside the housing  110  for automatically adjusting the pointing direction of the camera lens  120 . Electric motors, pinion and rack, etc, and corresponding control devices (circuits) may also be provided to control actions of the driving mechanism. These may be accomplished by those skilled in the art as needed. 
     A box camera mounting part (not shown) may be provided on one side surface of the housing  110  to fit with the box camera mounting bracket, as described later, mounting the camera in box camera configuration. Further, another box camera mounting part (not shown) may optionally be provided at the rear end of the housing  110  which is opposite the end where the camera lens is disposed, offering another choice for mounting the camera in box camera configuration. 
     The dome camera mounting part may be a plurality of recesses  112  provided at the edge of the front end of the housing  110  for coupling the dome camera mounting ring described later, thereby mounting the camera in dome camera configuration. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3  and  FIG. 4  now, the camera of the embodiment of the invention in the box camera mounting configuration is described. 
     The front cover  130  is provided at the front end of the camera  100  to be mounted in box camera configuration. The front cover  130  protects the camera  100  and, in particular, prevents the camera lens  120  from dust, rain, etc. The front cover  130  similarly has the shape of the triangular prism, corresponding to the shape of the housing, and the front end surface of the front cover is transparent or partially transparent. The front cover  130  may includes fasteners (not shown) which may be coupled to the dome camera mounting part  111  on the housing  110 . Alternatively, the front cover  130  may be connected to the front end of the camera by threaded connection, magnetic connection, rivet connecting and many other ways. The invention is not restricted in this aspect, and any connection means can be utilized as long as it is able to couple the front cover  130  to the housing  110  of the camera, however, in view of multiple functions of the camera, detachable connection means is often utilized, such as threaded connection, magnetic connection, etc. In order to enhance the sealing effect, a seal (not shown) may be sandwiched between the front cover  130  and the front end surface of the housing  110 . 
     As shown in  FIGS. 4A and 4B , the camera may be coupled to the standard box camera mounting bracket  200  using the box camera mounting part provided on the housing  110 . Such a box camera mounting bracket  200  may include one or more joints  210  enabling the orientation of each joint to be changed manually or automatically to adjust the pointing direction of the camera lens of the camera. In  FIG. 4 , the box camera mounting bracket  200  is coupled to the box camera mounting part provided on the side surface of the housing  110  to mount the camera on the wall or other surface; in  FIG. 4B , the box camera mounting bracket  200  is coupled to the box camera mounting part provided on the bottom surface of the housing  110  to mount the camera onto the ceiling. The box camera mounting bracket  200  may be connected to the box camera mounting part on the housing  110  by screws, rivets or other fasteners, which may be the same as those in prior art. The bracket  200  can be connected to the housing  110  via industrial standard threaded holes, which can be selected by those skilled in the art as needed. 
     Referring now in  FIG. 5  to  FIG. 7 , the camera of the embodiment of the invention in the dome camera mounting configuration is described. 
     The camera in the dome camera mounting configuration is generally mounted on the ceiling of a room or a car of an elevator, etc. To this end, a hole with predetermined diameter on the ceiling needs to be formed in advance. To mount the camera in dome camera configuration to the hole in the ceiling  400 , a dome camera mounting ring  500  needs to be provided. Such a dome camera mounting ring  500  is shown in  FIG. 7 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 7 , the dome camera mounting ring  500  comprises a cylindrical body  501  having a flange  502  at one end thereof and a plurality of (two in the drawing) mounting clamps  503  at the other. The mounting clamps include a first element  5031  fixed on the cylindrical body  501 , a clamping piece  5033  hinged with the first element  5031  via a hinge shaft  5032  and a tensional spring  5034  provided about the hinge shaft  5032  to bias the clamping piece  5033  toward the first element  5031 . The outer diameter of cylindrical body  501  is substantially the same as the diameter of the hole formed on the ceiling  400 , such that the dome camera mounting ring  500  can be inserted into the hole of the ceiling thus the flange  502  abuts against the outer surface (i.e., the surface facing the bottom space) of the ceiling. Meanwhile, the clamping piece  5033  of the mounting clamp  503  is shifted to the first element  5031  by the action of the torsional spring, thereby abutting against the inner surface of the ceiling  400 , and in this way the dome camera mounting ring  500  may be clamped on the ceiling  400 , yet it is allowed to rotate around itself so as to adjust the viewing angle of the camera lens after mounting the camera into the dome camera mounting ring  500 . Although the case that the dome camera mounting ring  500  is fixed onto the ceiling  400  by the mounting clamp  503  has been described above, other fixing ways may also be employed, such as threaded connection, etc. 
     A mounting ring mounting part  504  is provided inside the cylindrical body  501  of the dome camera mounting ring  500 , which may be an annular wall substantially corresponding to the shape of the housing  110  of the camera, i.e., enclosing a space in the shape of a triangular prism, and a plurality of elastic fasteners  505  are projectively provided at the corresponding position of the annular wall, with the same number as that of the recesses formed at the edge of the front end of the housing  110  of the camera and located at corresponding positions, such that the elastic fasteners  505  can be inserted into the recesses  112  thereby fixing the camera into the dome camera mounting ring  500 . Therefore, as shown in  FIG. 6 , the camera  100  may be suspended in the hole of the ceiling  400 , by using the dome camera-mounting ring  500 , with only the camera lens protruding from the ceiling. 
     The outside of the camera lens  120  is covered by the dome cover  600 . The dome cover comprises the hemispherical transparent part  601  and the flange  602  around the transparent part  60 . The dome cover  600  can be fixed onto the dome camera mounting ring  500  by using the flange  602 , and thus covering the camera lens  120  to protect the camera lens  120 . The flange  602  may be coupled to the dome camera mounting ring  500  by e.g. providing a magnet on one of the flange  602  of the dome cover  600  and the flange  502  of the dome camera mounting ring  500  and including ferromagnetic material in the other. Furthermore, the invention is not limited to this; threaded connection, rivet connection, plastic hook connections and similar connections may be possible. 
     By the aforementioned steps, the camera can be mounted in dome camera configuration. 
     Therefore, the camera can be mounted in both box and dome camera configurations, which facilitates installation and use of the camera. 
     Although embodiments of the invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments, it should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the above mentioned embodiments and various modifications and changes can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, in order to mount the camera in dome camera configuration, the recesses  112  are provided at the edge of the front end of the camera so as to be coupled to the elastic fasteners  505  of the dome camera mounting ring  500 ; however, in practice, these recesses  112  can be omitted and the elastic fasteners  505  of the dome camera mounting ring  500  may be directly snapped onto the front edge of the housing, which may also accomplish the mounting of the camera in dome camera configuration. Therefore, the scope of the invention is defined only by appended claims and equivalents. 
     While this invention has been particularly shown and described with references to example embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention encompassed by the appended claims.