Patent Publication Number: US-2023164407-A1

Title: Sheltering mechanism and surveillance camera

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a sheltering mechanism and a surveillance camera, and more particularly, to a sheltering mechanism of providing waterproof and dustproof functions in camera rotation and a related surveillance camera. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     A conventional surveillance camera disposes the camera lens inside the case to capture the surveillance image within the specific range. The hole is formed on the case, and the fixed rod of the surveillance camera passes through the hole to connect with the wall or the ceiling. For adjusting the capturing angle of the camera lens, rotation of the camera lens drives the case to move relative to the fixed rod along the hole, so as to move the surveillance camera to the specific capturing angle relative to the wall or the ceiling. The conventional surveillance camera is often disposed on outdoor spaces, and the movable cover is disposed on the case to shelter the hole, thereby preventing water or dust from falling into the case. The case is designed into the spherical shell for an appearance demand, and the movable cover is also designed as an arc-shaped structure similar to the curve of the spherical shell for sealing the arc-shaped hole of the spherical shell. However, a gap size between the arc-shaped cover and the spherical shell is varied with angle change in the rotation of the conventional surveillance camera, and the water or dust easily falls into the spherical shell when the gap becomes larger. Therefore, design of a shelter cover of providing waterproof and dustproof functions when the spherical shell is rotated and a related surveillance camera is an important issue in the related mechanical design industry. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides a sheltering mechanism of providing waterproof and dustproof functions in camera rotation and a related surveillance camera for solving above drawbacks. 
     According to the claimed invention, a sheltering mechanism includes a sheltering component and a resilient component. The sheltering component is slidably disposed on a casing and adapted to shelter an opening formed on the casing. The resilient component is disposed around the opening. The resilient component includes a base portion, a bridging portion and a contacting portion. The base portion surrounds the opening and is fixed onto the casing. The bridging portion is connected to the base portion and stretches outwardly from the base portion. The contacting portion is disposed on an end of the bridging portion opposite to the base portion. The bridging portion pushes the contacting portion and contacts against the sheltering component in a detachable manner for sealing a gap between the casing and the sheltering component. 
     According to the claimed invention, a surveillance camera includes an image receiver and a sheltering mechanism. The image receiver is disposed on a fixed rod and adapted receive an image. The sheltering mechanism includes a sheltering component and a resilient component. The sheltering component is slidably disposed on a casing and adapted to shelter an opening formed on the casing. The resilient component is disposed around the opening. The resilient component includes a base portion, a bridging portion and a contacting portion. The base portion surrounds the opening and is fixed onto the casing. The bridging portion is connected to the base portion and stretches outwardly from the base portion. The contacting portion is disposed on an end of the bridging portion opposite to the base portion. The bridging portion pushes the contacting portion and contacts against the sheltering component in a detachable manner for sealing a gap between the casing and the sheltering component. The image receiver is accommodated inside the casing, and the fixed rod passes through the opening on the casing. 
     The sheltering mechanism of the present invention can dispose the resilient component with specific design between the sheltering component and the casing. The base portion of the resilient component can attach the whole resilient component stably to the casing. The bridging portion of the resilient component can provide sufficient supporting strengthen and be cooperated with the supporting portion to contact the contacting portion tightly against the sheltering component. The sunken portion of the resilient component can be used to control the supporting force of the supporting portion, so as to ensure that the bridging portion and the supporting portion can stably hold the contacting portion, and the slip factor of the contacting portion relative to the sheltering component cannot be decreased due to the excessive supporting force. In the present invention, the opening can be designed as the long arc-typed opening in accordance with the spherical shell, and the type of the sheltering component can be designed as the related arc-typed shelter. When the fixed rod is moved inside the opening on the casing, the gap between the sheltering component and the casing may be varied with rotation of the surveillance camera; the resilient component of the present invention can utilize the bridging portion to increase the height of the contacting portion relative to the base portion. The bridging portion and the supporting portion can provide the sufficient resilient recovering force, and be bent or deformed with different amplitudes in accordance with different rotation angle of the surveillance camera, so that the contacting portion can contact against the sheltering component to achieve functions of waterproof sealing and scraping off water marks. 
     These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG.  1    is a diagram of a surveillance camera according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG.  2    is an exploded diagram of the surveillance camera according to the embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG.  3    is a diagram of a resilient component in another view according to the embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG.  4    is a sectional view of a sheltering mechanism according to the embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Please refer to  FIG.  1    and  FIG.  2   .  FIG.  1    is a diagram of a surveillance camera  10  according to an embodiment of the present invention.  FIG.  2    is an exploded diagram of the surveillance camera  10  according to the embodiment of the present invention. The surveillance camera  10  can include a spherical shell  12 , an image receiver  14 , a fixed rod  16  and a sheltering mechanism  18 . The spherical shell  12  can have a first casing  20  and a second casing  22  used to accommodate the image receiver  14  and the fixed rod  16 . The image receiver  14  can be disposed on the fixed rod  16  and used to receive or capture a surveillance image. A part of the fixed rod  16  can pass through an opening  24  formed on the first casing  20 , and the opening  24  can be moved relative to the fixed rod  16  with rotation of the surveillance camera  10 . 
     The sheltering mechanism  18  can include a sheltering component  26 , a resilient component  28  and a bridging component  30 . The fixed rod  16  can pass through a hole  32  formed on the sheltering component  26 , and the sheltering component  26  can be disposed on the first casing  20  in a slidable manner for covering the opening  24 . The opening  24  can be surrounded by the resilient component  28 . The bridging component  30  can be assembled with the resilient component  28  and installed around the opening  24  of the first casing  20 . The bridging component  30  can be an optional element used to connect the resilient component  28  and the first casing  20 . For example, the first casing  20  can be an independent element, and the resilient component  28  may be adhered to the bridging component  30  and then the bridging component  30  can be fixed onto the first casing  20  via a latch or in a locking manner. In other possible embodiment, the resilient component  28  may be directly connected with the first casing  20 . 
     It should be mentioned that the opening  24  on the first casing  20  can be designed as a long arc-typed opening. The bridging component  30  can be designed as a type similar to the long arc-typed opening, and can include a first part  34  and a second part  36  respectively corresponding to a long side  241  and a short side  242  of the long arc-typed opening. A structural height of the first part  34  can be preferably greater than a structural height of the second part  36 , so that the sheltering component  26  can be fit in the opening  24  on the first casing  20  when the spherical shell  12  is rotated. 
     Pleases refer to  FIG.  3    and  FIG.  4   .  FIG.  3    is a diagram of the resilient component  28  in another view according to the embodiment of the present invention.  FIG.  4    is a sectional view of the sheltering mechanism  18  according to the embodiment of the present invention. The resilient component  28  can include a base portion  38 , a bridging portion  40 , a contacting portion  42 , a supporting portion  44  and a sunken portion  46 . The base portion  38  can be fixed onto the first casing  20  via the bridging component  30 , so that the base portion  38  may have a large contacting surface for increasing stability of connection to the first casing  20 . The bridging portion  40  can be connected to the base portion  38 , and further outwardly stretched from the base portion  38  to point toward the sheltering component  26 . The contacting portion  42  can be disposed on an end of the bridging portion  40  opposite to the base portion  38 . The contacting portion  42  can be held by the bridging portion  40  so as to tightly contact against the sheltering component  26 . 
     The bridging portion  40  can at least include a first section S 1  and a second section S 2 , respectively adjacent to the base portion  38  and the contacting portion  42 . A structural thickness of the first section  51  can be preferably greater than a structural thickness of the second section S 2 . When the resilient component  28  is pressed by the sheltering component  26 , the second section S 2  which has lower structural strength may be resiliently deformed for matching with a gap between the opening  24  and the sheltering component  26 . The first section  51  can have preferred structural strength and used to stably hold the contacting portion  42 , so as to ensure that the contacting portion  42  can contact against the sheltering component  26  and to tightly seal the gap between the first casing  20  and the sheltering component  26 . 
     In the embodiment, the contacting portion  42  preferably can be hardened to increase a slip factor of the contacting portion  42  relative to the sheltering component  26 . Some slip layer (which is not marked in the figures) can be adhered to or coated on an inner surface of the sheltering component  26  facing the resilient component  28 , so as to increase the slip factor of the sheltering component  26  relative to the contacting portion  42 . The sheltering component  26  and the contacting portion  42  can be simultaneously or alternatively performed to the above-mentioned process for increasing the slip factor. In other possible embodiment, the slip layer may be adhered to or coated on the contacting portion  42  and the inner surface of the sheltering component  26  can be hardened, or the slip layer may be adhered to or coated on the sheltering component  26  and the contacting portion  42  both, or the sheltering component  26  and the contacting portion  42  may be both performed by the hardened process. Any possible physical process or chemical process of increasing slide smoothness between the sheltering component  26  and the resilient component  28  can belong to a design scope of the present invention. 
     Besides, the supporting portion  44  can be optionally disposed on an end of the contacting portion  42  opposite to the bridging portion  40 , and be stretched from the contacting portion  42  toward the first casing  20 . As shown in  FIG.  4   , an inner edge of the opening  24  on the first casing  20  can be located under the supporting portion  44 ; when the resilient component  28  is deformed due to downward pressure of the sheltering component  26 , the supporting portion  44  can contact against the casing  20  and used to hold the contacting portion  42  with the bridging portion  40 , so that the contacting portion  42  can tightly contact against the sheltering component  26 . When the sheltering component  26  is separated from the resilient component  28 , a resilient recovering force of the bridging portion  40  can upwardly push the contacting portion  42  and the supporting portion to separate the supporting portion  44  from the first casing  20 . 
     In one possible embodiment, an inner edge of the bridging component  30  can be stretched inwardly to align with the inner edge of the opening  24  on the first casing  20 , and the supporting portion  44  can contact against the bridging component  30  when the resilient component  28  is compressed. In another possible embodiment, the supporting portion  44  may be optionally removed when the inner edges of the opening  24  and the bridging component  30  align with a boundary between the base portion  38  and the bridging portion  40 . 
     The sunken portion  46  can be disposed between the contacting portion  42  and the supporting portion  44 . A structural thickness of the sunken portion  46  can be smaller than a structural thickness of the supporting portion  44 . The sunken portion  46  can be disposed inside or outside the supporting portion  44 . The sunken portion  46  can be an optional element used to control a supporting force provided by the supporting portion  44 . When the sunken portion  46  is formed on the supporting portion  44 , the supporting force of the supporting portion  44  can be reduced by comparing to the supporting force of the supporting portion  44  without the sunken portion  46 . In the present invention, the sunken portion  46  may be designed as a semicircular groove, and a type of the sunken portion  46  is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment and depends on an actual demand. 
     In conclusion, the sheltering mechanism of the present invention can dispose the resilient component with specific design between the sheltering component and the casing. The base portion of the resilient component can attach the whole resilient component stably to the casing. The bridging portion of the resilient component can provide sufficient supporting strengthen and be cooperated with the supporting portion to contact the contacting portion tightly against the sheltering component. The sunken portion of the resilient component can be used to control the supporting force of the supporting portion, so as to ensure that the bridging portion and the supporting portion can stably hold the contacting portion, and the slip factor of the contacting portion relative to the sheltering component cannot be decreased due to the excessive supporting force. In the present invention, the opening can be designed as the long arc-typed opening in accordance with the spherical shell, and the type of the sheltering component can be designed as the related arc-typed shelter. When the fixed rod is moved inside the opening on the casing, the gap between the sheltering component and the casing may be varied with rotation of the surveillance camera; the resilient component of the present invention can utilize the bridging portion to increase the height of the contacting portion relative to the base portion. The bridging portion and the supporting portion can provide the sufficient resilient recovering force, and be bent or deformed with different amplitudes in accordance with different rotation angle of the surveillance camera, so that the contacting portion can contact against the sheltering component to achieve functions of waterproof sealing and scraping off water marks. 
     Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.