Patent Publication Number: US-2022224819-A1

Title: Sensing module

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates generally to a sensing module that can work continuously and has low energy consumption. 
     2. Description of Related Arts 
     With the increasing popularity of surveillance systems, surveillance cameras are widely used in various fields to protect social security. Taking vehicle parking monitoring as an example, in the current increasingly complex parking environment, vehicle damage often occurs. Therefore, vehicle safety has become a problem that car owners are more concerned about. Installing monitoring systems in parking lots and garages is the most common solution. But the vehicle is not always parked in a monitored environment. If it is parked on the side of a road or outdoors where no surveillance is installed, the safety of the vehicle is difficult to guarantee. In addition, it is more troublesome to obtain public monitoring. At this time, a parking monitoring device is needed to assist in completing the monitoring tasks of the vehicle, so as to protect the legitimate rights and interests of the vehicle owner. 
     A car may have a feature that allows monitoring of suspicious activities around the car when parked and locked in specified locations. When suspicious motion is detected, the car will react depending on the severity of the threat. Although the traditional monitoring mode can meet some monitoring needs, its work efficiency is limited. During continuous monitoring, a lot of meaningless videos will be recorded; for some important videos covered, a lot of power is consumed, and the camera has been working continuously to an extent affecting its service life. 
     An improved sensing module is desired. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A main object of the present invention is to provide a sensing module that can work continuously and has low energy consumption. 
     To achieve the above-mentioned object, a sensing module comprises: a circuit board; a light emitter installed on the circuit board for continuously emitting light waves; a photoelectric converter for converting emitted light waves into electrical signals; a camera; and a controller capable of controlling operation of the camera upon detecting that a foreign object is approaching so that light wave is reflected upon the photoelectric converter to stimulate the controller to start the camera to shoot the foreign object. 
     Compared to prior art, the sensing module senses whether there is a foreign object approaching through the photoelectric converter, and when a foreign object approaches, the controller is then stimulated to start the camera to shoot the foreign object, so that it can continuously and effectively monitor the surrounding environment, and the work energy consumption is lower. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a sensing module of the first embodiment in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is another perspective view of the sensing module in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is an exploded view of the sensing module in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is another exploded view of the sensing module in  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a further exploded view of the sensing module in  FIG. 4 ; 
         FIG. 6  is a cross-sectional view along line  6 - 6  of the sensing module in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 7  is a cross-sectional view along line  7 - 7  of the sensing module in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 8  is a perspective view of a sensing module of the second embodiment in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 9  is another perspective view of the sensing module in  FIG. 8 ; 
         FIG. 10  is another perspective view of the sensing module in  FIG. 9 ; and 
         FIG. 11  is a cross-sectional view taken along line  11 - 11  of the electrical connector in  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1-7 , the first embodiment of a sensing module  100  in accordance with the present invention is shown. The sensing module  100  can be applied in a parking monitoring system of a vehicle. The sensing module  100  includes a circuit board  10 , a light emitter  20  arranged on the circuit board  10 , and a photoelectric converter  30  arranged on the circuit board  10 , a camera  40  arranged on the circuit board  10 , and a controller  50  arranged on the circuit board  10 . The light emitter  20  can continuously emits light waves. The photoelectric converter  30  can convert light waves into electrical signals. The controller  50  can control the camera  40  to operate. 
     The light emitter  20  can continuously emit light waves of a preset specific power. The light wave emitted by the light emitter  20  is laser or other suitable light. The light emitter  20  uses a short-distance laser to perform contour scanning of the approaching foreign objects. Specifically, in the present invention, the wavelength range of the light wave emitted by the light emitter  20  is between 650 nm and 1650 nm, covers the wavelengths of visible light and invisible light. Specifically, in this embodiment, the sensing module  100  can sense foreign objects within approximately 3 meters near the vehicle, when a foreign object approaches, the light waves will be reflected to the photoelectric converter  30 , the photoelectric converter  30  can not only detect changes in the surrounding environment of the vehicle according to the received reflected light waves, but also detect the shape of the approaching foreign objects and the distance of the approaching foreign objects based on the light waves reflected to the photoelectric converter  30 , and Send an alarm to remind the owner of the vehicle. The working power of the light emitter  20  is less than the working power of the camera  40 . The working power of the camera  40  is at least 20 times the working power of the light emitter  20 . Specifically, the working power of the light emitter  20  is about tens of milliwatts. The working power of the camera  40  is about a few watts. The camera  40  can support  1 K and above shooting. The camera  40  can support  4 K or  8 K shooting. The light emitter  20  continuously emits light waves. When a foreign object approaches the vehicle, light waves will be reflected to the photoelectric converter  30  to activate the controller  50  to control the camera  40  to shoot the foreign object. The length of the sensing module  100  is approximately 33 mm, the width is approximately 10 mm, and the height is approximately 4 mm. The size of the sensing module  100  is small and requires a small installation space. Multiple sensing modules  100  can be installed on the vehicle to monitor changes in the surrounding environment of the vehicle in an all-round way. 
     The sensing module  100  further includes a second controller (not shown) for controlling the operation of the light emitter  20 . The second controller constantly controls the light emitter  20 . The second controller can adjust the strength of the light wave emitted by the light emitter  20  according to the change of the working environment and the working temperature. The second controller can be integrated with the controller  50  as a whole. 
     The sensing module  100  further includes a converter  60 , an optical fiber  70  connected to the converter  60 , and a fixing member  71  for fixing the optical fiber  70 . The fixing member  71  fixes the optical fiber  70  into a whole. The optical fiber  70  is integrated with the converter  60 . The converter  60  converts the content captured by the camera  40  into an optical signal and transmits it through the optical fiber  70 . The optical fiber  70  can transmit information to the USB flash memory of the vehicle or the mobile phone of the vehicle owner. 
     The sensing module  100  further includes a light-transmitting member  80 . The light-transmitting member  80  covers the light emitter  20 , the photoelectric converter  30 , the camera  40  and the controller  50 . The light-transmitting member  80  is provided with a spherical lens to realize light collection or astigmatism. The light-transmitting member  80  has good light-transmitting properties, and the light-transmitting member  80  does not hinder the transmission and reception of the light waves, and the shooting of the camera  40 . The light-transmitting member  80  may also partially cover the light emitter  20 , the photoelectric converter  30 , the camera  40 , and the controller  50 , the part that needs to transmit light or receive light waves is not covered by the light-transmitting member  80 , and the light waves propagate directly through the air, or does not require light-transmitting member  80 . 
     In the sensing module  100  of the present invention, the converter  60  is integrated with the camera  40 . The content captured by the camera  40  can be directly converted into an optical signal by the converter  60 , and then transmitted through the optical fiber  70 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 8-11 , the second embodiment of a sensing module  100 ′ in accordance with the present invention is shown. Compared with the first embodiment, in this embodiment, the converter  60 ′ is integrated with the light emitter  20 ′, the content captured by the camera  40 ′ is transmitted to the converter  60 ′ through the circuit board  10 ′, and then converted into an optical signal and transmitted through the optical fiber  70 ′. In this embodiment, the sensing module  100 ′ further includes a first optical connector  90  and a second optical connector  95  mated with the first optical connection  90 . The optical fiber  70 ′ is connected to the converter  60 ′ through the first optical connector  90  and the second optical connector  95 . In other embodiments, it may also be that the converter  60  is integrated with the camera  40  and the light emitter  20 . 
     The sensing module  100  of the present invention can also be used in other fields, such as houses, community entrances, parking lot entrances and exits, or other places that need to be monitored. 
     The sensing module of the present invention uses a light transmitter with low working power to continuously emit light waves to detect if there is a foreign object approaching. When there is no foreign object approaching, the light emitter with low working power will work without enabling the camera to work. When there is a foreign object approaching, the camera will work. The sensing module of the present invention is used in combination with the camera and the low-power optical transmitter, which can continuously and effectively detect changes in the surrounding environment, has low working energy consumption, long service life of the camera, and can save external storage space.