Patent Publication Number: US-2022224805-A1

Title: Camera adaptor

Description:
PRIORITY INFORMATION 
     The present application claims the benefit of U.S. Patent Provisional Application No. 63/136,084, filed Jan. 11, 2021, the contents of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present technology pertains to an adaptor for Internet protocol (IP) cameras and more specifically to a new adapter configured on a printed circuit board that provides combined functionality for an IP camera to be mounted on a wall or ceiling without additional components or configuration. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Often functionality associated with an IP camera mounted on a wall or ceiling can include a speaker, lights and a microphone. To enable these features in connection with an IP camera, a company will typically need to provide power, obtain the different hardware components such as a microphone and lights, and configure the power and system in a junction box. For example, a company might need to provide a 120 Volt AC power feed to the junction box to power the components, and will likely put together the system manually to include the various hardware components that are desired. The junction box may include a speaker and an LED light and is often configured separate from the IP camera to which it will connect. The various components that might be desired to include in the junction box would have to be soldered together to work. This can lead to a complicated and expensive process, particularly in terms of manual labor time to put the overall system together. 
     SUMMARY 
     This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This summary is not intended to identify key features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. 
     In order to address the issues raised above in terms of how to provide various components such as a microphone, speakers, and lighting associated with an IP camera, the present disclosure introduces a new camera adapter that is configured to enable or provide one or more of a microphone capability, a speaker capability, and/or a lighting capability to any IP camera that is to be mounted. The solution includes a new printed circuit board that includes the necessary components to enable power, speakers, lights, and a microphone to easily be connected to a mounted IP camera. The system could also work for a table-based or portable IP camera as well. Typically, the IP camera will have video outputs and audio inputs and outputs that need to be connected to a system for operation. 
     Through a Power over Ethernet (PoE) protocol, the adapter (circuit board) and the IP camera will be powered. Any IP camera with digital input/output and audio input/output can be attached to the adapter. The camera adapter can be configured as part of a mounting structure that can be mounted on a wall or ceiling. The present disclosure addresses the issues above by providing a new circuit board structure that integrates strobe lights, power via the PoE protocol, a microphone and a speaker. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       In order to describe the manner in which the above-recited issues can be addressed, a more particular description of the principles briefly described above will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof that are illustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only exemplary embodiments of the disclosure and are not therefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the principles herein are described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings in which: 
         FIG. 1  depicts a not-to-scale schematic view of a simple example of a camera adapter and the various components contained within the camera adapter; 
         FIG. 2  depicts the general block diagram of a circuit board of the camera adapter; 
         FIG. 3A  illustrates the camera adapter mounted to a ceiling; 
         FIG. 3B  illustrates the camera adapter mounted to a wall; 
         FIG. 3C  illustrates a camera adapter having a camera attached; 
         FIG. 4  illustrates an example method according to an aspect of the present disclosure; and 
         FIG. 5  illustrates a computer system that can be implemented with other aspects of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS 
     Various example embodiments of the disclosure are discussed in detail below. While specific implementations are discussed, it should be understood that this description is for illustration purposes only. A person skilled in the relevant art will recognize that other components and configurations may be used without parting from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Thus, the following description and drawings are illustrative and are not to be construed as limiting. Numerous specific details are described to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosure. However, in certain instances, well-known or conventional details are not described in order to avoid obscuring the description. References to one or an embodiment in the present disclosure can be references to the same embodiment or any embodiment; and, such references mean at least one of the example embodiments. 
     Reference to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the disclosure. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative example embodiments mutually exclusive of other example embodiments. Moreover, various features are described which may be exhibited by some example embodiments and not by others. Any feature of one example can be integrated with or used with any other feature of any other example. 
     The terms used in this specification generally have their ordinary meanings in the art, within the context of the disclosure, and in the specific context where each term is used. Alternative language and synonyms may be used for any one or more of the terms discussed herein, and no special significance should be placed upon whether or not a term is elaborated or discussed herein. In some cases, synonyms for certain terms are provided. A recital of one or more synonyms does not exclude the use of other synonyms. The use of examples anywhere in this specification including examples of any terms discussed herein is illustrative only, and is not intended to further limit the scope and meaning of the disclosure or of any example term. Likewise, the disclosure is not limited to various example embodiments given in this specification. 
     Without intent to limit the scope of the disclosure, examples of instruments, apparatus, methods and their related results according to the example embodiments of the present disclosure are given below. Note that titles or subtitles may be used in the examples for convenience of a reader, which in no way should limit the scope of the disclosure. Unless otherwise defined, technical and scientific terms used herein have the meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure pertains. In the case of conflict, the present document, including definitions will control. 
     Additional features and advantages of the disclosure will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or can be learned by practice of the herein disclosed principles. The features and advantages of the disclosure can be realized and obtained by means of the instruments and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. These and other features of the disclosure will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims, or can be learned by the practice of the principles set forth herein. 
     For clarity of explanation, in some instances the present technology may be presented as including individual functional blocks representing devices, device components, steps or routines in a method embodied in software, or combinations of hardware and software. 
     In the drawings, some structural or method features may be shown in specific arrangements and/or orderings. However, it should be appreciated that such specific arrangements and/or orderings may not be required. Rather, in some embodiments, such features may be arranged in a different manner and/or order than shown in the illustrative figures. Additionally, the inclusion of a structural or method feature in a particular figure is not meant to imply that such feature is required in all embodiments and, in some embodiments, it may not be included or may be combined with other features. 
     While the concepts of the present disclosure are susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described herein in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intent to limit the concepts of the present disclosure to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives consistent with the present disclosure and the appended claims. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a system  100  according to an aspect of this disclosure. The system  100  includes a system  100  having a camera mount  102 , a case  106 , a light  132 , and a circuit board  108  contained within the case  106 . The circuit board  106  includes an amplifier  138 , a microphone bridge  140 , a relay control for controlling the light  132 , and a network interface controller  122  for receiving network access and power  126  via a Power over Ethernet (PoE) protocol connection. An aspect of this disclosure is a new circuit board  108  that integrates these various components that previously were only available separately. The amplifier  138  can be a 20 Watt mono or stereo amplifier, for example. A circuit  122  can be configured on the circuit board  108 . The circuit  122  can be configured to break out the power received from the PoE connection  126  to power the light  132  and the amplifier  138  as well as powering a camera  104  connected to the camera mount  102 . 
     The system does not contain any other power connection other than the PoE connection  126 . A bus  128 / 130  can cause power and network access (such as via the TCP/IP protocol) to flow to network interface controller output  124  and to the other components such as the light  132 , an audio output circuit  134 , the amplifier  138  and the terminal bridge  140  for a microphone  142 . The circuit board  108  can be configured to pass the PoE power from the network  144  through the circuit board  108  to the camera  104 . Various connectors  114 ,  116 ,  118 ,  120  can be provided to enable the various audio, video, lighting, microphone  142  and speaker connections for connection to a speaker  136 . The microphone  142  can be a separate microphone from the camera  104  or may be configured as part of the camera  104  structure that is mounted on the camera adapter  102 . 
     Features  110 ,  112  represent electrical components on the circuit board  108 , which electrical components can include any components disclosed herein. In one aspect, the system disclosed herein enables the circuit board  108  with its various components to be mounted between the IP camera  104  and the other structures, such as a case, that can be used to mount the system to a wall or ceiling. The system integrates the lights, speakers and microphone functionality into a single camera adapter  102  rather than requiring people to source individually the various components. 
     The disclosed adapter will enable the system to plug into an Ethernet connection that has Power over Ethernet (PoE). For example, IEEE 802.3af-2003 is an industry standard that provides up to 15.4 W of DC power to each port. IEEE 802.3at-2009 is an updated or “plus” standard that provides up to 25.5 W of power for Type 2 devices. In one example, where PoE plus is used, the circuit  122  may break off say 10-12 W of power for the circuit board  108  to power the lights  132  and the amplifier  138 . 
     The IEEE 802.3bu-2016 amendment introduced single-pair Power over Data Lines (PoDL) for the single-pair Ethernet standards 100BASE-T1 and 1000BASE-T1 intended for automotive and industrial applications. On the two-pair or four-pair standards, power is transmitted only between pairs, so that within each pair there is no voltage present other than that representing the transmitted data. With single-pair Ethernet, power is transmitted in parallel to the data. PoDL defines 10 power classes, ranging from 0.5 to 50 W (at PD). 
     IEEE 802.3bt 4PPoE was introduced in September 2018. This standard introduces two additional power types: up to 51 W delivered power (Type 3) and up to 71.3 W delivered power (Type 4). Each pair of twisted pairs needs to handle a current of up to 600 mA (Type 3) or 960 mA (Type 4). Additionally, support for 2.5GBASE-T, 5GBASE-T and 10GBASE-T is included. The present disclosure can incorporate any of these PoE standards or future developed standards as well. The preferred standard for this disclosure is the IEEE 802.3at-2009, the PoE “plus” version. 
     Once installed, the camera  104  can communicate with a network server  144  via the Ethernet connection. A wireless connection can also be used between the camera adapter  102  and the network server  144 . Thus, WiFi, cellular or any other type of wireless protocol could also be incorporated into the circuit board  108  for providing wireless connectivity. 
     The camera  104  can include a digital output signal that provides high or low signal and a digital input signal that receives a high or low voltage. The camera  104  can also include an audio output through terminal strip or a 3.5 mm jack and a microphone input. DC power plugs and CATS PoE connections are also often provided with the camera  104 . The disclosed system  100  is an accessory to an IP camera that can enable a simple and easy mounting and use of the IP camera  104  for wall or ceiling mount scenarios. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates an example block diagram  200  of the circuit board  108  and can include one or more speaker connections  202 ,  204 ,  206 ,  208  for connecting to a speaker  136 , a microphone bridge  210  (similar to bridge  140 ) for connecting to a microphone  142 , a relay  214  for connecting to the light  136 , and an audio input component and an audio grounding component  218 , a relay and relay ground component  218  and a microphone input and microphone ground component  220 . Each relay  214 / 218  can receive a digital or analog signal that can trip the relay to perform the associated function such as turning on the light  136  or some other function. An RJ45 input PoE connection  212  is shown as well as an RJ45 PoE output  222 . Mounting holes  224 ,  226  are shown by way for example for mounting the circuit board  200  in the camera adapter  102 . An RJ45 input is a “registered jack” (RJ) that is used as a common interface for Internet connectivity. Other interfaces may be used as well and the RJ45 input is provided as an example. The connections  202 ,  204 ,  206 ,  208  can be JST (Japan Solderless Terminal) connections known to those of skill in the art. The microphone connection  210  can also include a JST connection. 
       FIG. 3A  illustrates a ceiling mount camera adapter  300 . The ceiling mount camera adapter  300  can include a case  302 , openings  312  for a microphone or a speaker component (not shown, but configured inside the case  302 ) and an opening for a light  304  or lights. The case can be made from aluminum, plastic or some other material. A securing component  314  can be used to secure the ceiling mount camera adapter  300  to a ceiling  306 . Note that the general shape of the case  302  in this example is cylindrical generally but with various flat sides and with a tapering of the shape from a broad base at the ceiling  306  to a smaller diameter nearer the mounted camera  310 . A secondary case  308  can be provided around the circuit board (not shown, but illustrated in  FIG. 1 ). This overall structure can be used to simplify the application of cameras in areas such as homes or businesses. By combining the various components onto a single circuit board, and by utilizing the PoE capability of the system, only a PoE network connection needs to be provided to the ceiling mount camera adapter  300  for both power and connectivity. In this respect, the new system simplifies the process and a user only needs to obtain an IP camera that will match the mounting configuration of the ceiling mount camera adapter  300 . 
       FIG. 3B  illustrates a wall mount camera adapter  320  configured to mount on a wall  328 . In this example, the case  322  is shaped in a similar manner to the ceiling mount camera adapter  300  of  FIG. 3A  except that a side of the case  322  is flat to be complementary to a wall shape. Openings  326  are shown for a microphone or speaker capability and the lights  324  are shown as well. Not shown in  FIG. 3B  is a case component similar to case  308  in  FIG. 3A . A similar mounting structure can be provided at the bottom surface of the case  322  of  FIG. 3B  for mounting a camera. The light  132  further can include at least one blue light and at least one red light. The light  304 ,  324  can be configured in an opening in the case  302 / 322 . In one aspect, the light  304 ,  324  can include an integrated rope light or a light pipe and can be configured in any position or location on the case  302 / 322 . 
     The circuit  122  may further be configured to power the circuit board  108  and the relay control  216  for controlling the light  132 . The circuit board  108  can contains an IP connection that connects the circuit board  108  to the camera  104 . 
     One benefit of this approach is that a wall connection or a ceiling connection to which the system mounts only needs to contain the PoE connection to provide network/power capability to the camera adapter  102  and no other power connection. This can simplify the hardware or connectivity needed to enable the use of an IP camera  104  at a location. 
       FIG. 3C  illustrates another example of a wall mount camera adapter  340  with an attachment flange  344 , a cover  342 , a case  322  with openings  326  and lights  324 . A camera case  308  is shown in connection with a camera  310 . In one example, the circuit board  108  is configured within the case  308  with connectors  114 ,  116 ,  118 ,  120  used for connecting to the camera  104  or various other components such as the light  132 , the speaker  136  and the microphone  142 . 
     In one example, a camera adapter  310 / 320  can include a case  302 / 322 . A first side of the case can have a camera mount for receiving a camera and a second side of the case can have a surface mount  314 / 344  for mounting the camera adapter to a surface. The surface can be a wall or a ceiling or some other surface as well. The surface does not have to be flat but can be any shape. Generally, the surface will be complementary a configuration of the second side of the case. The camera adapter  310 / 320  can further include a circuit board  108  mounted within the case  302 / 322 . The circuit board  108  can include at least a network interface controller  122  for connecting to a network  144  having PoE capability, a relay controller for a light  132 , an amplifier  138 , and a microphone bridge  140 . A third side of the case  302 / 322  can be configured to contain the light  132  to be visible to a user. 
       FIG. 4  illustrates a method aspect of this disclosure. An example method can include receiving power via a circuit board configured in an adapter, the adapter configured to receive a camera on a first side of the adapter and attach to a surface on a second side of the adapter, wherein the circuit board comprises a network interface controller for connecting to a network, the network interface controller comprising a Power over Ethernet (PoE) component that receives power from the network ( 402 ), breaking out the power received via the PoE component between the camera and the circuit board to yield camera power and circuit board power ( 404 ) and powering, via the circuit board power, at least one of a light, a relay, and amplifier and a speaker ( 406 ). 
     The method can further include powering, via the camera power, the camera attached to the adapter ( 408 ), receiving, at the adapter, video images from the camera ( 410 ) and transmitting, from the adapter, the video images from the camera to the network ( 412 ). The surface can include a wall or a ceiling. Other non-flat surfaces can be used as well. In one aspect, the second side of the adapter can be configured to receive power for the camera and circuit board only from the PoE component. The network interface controller can use a CATS/6 cable for connecting to the network. 
     The system may also have a completely different shape from what is disclosed in the figures. For example, another system may be shaped more like a donut, or it might be spherical, and can be made from a material other than aluminum to be more translucent with LED light pipe configured with it. No matter what the shape of the case is for the camera adapter, the circuit functionality described above will still be present. 
       FIG. 5  illustrates example computer device that can be used in connection with any of the systems or components disclosed herein. In this example,  FIG. 5  illustrates a computing system  500  including components in electrical communication with each other using a connection  505 , such as a bus. System  500  includes a processing unit (CPU or processor)  510  and a system connection  505  that couples various system components including the system memory  515 , such as read only memory (ROM)  520  and random access memory (RAM)  525 , to the processor  510 . The system  500  can include a cache of high-speed memory connected directly with, in close proximity to, or integrated as part of the processor  510 . The system  500  can copy data from the memory  515  and/or the storage device  530  to the cache  512  for quick access by the processor  510 . In this way, the cache can provide a performance boost that avoids processor  510  delays while waiting for data. These and other modules can control or be configured to control the processor  510  to perform various actions. Other system memory  515  may be available for use as well. The memory  515  can include multiple different types of memory with different performance characteristics. The processor  510  can include any general purpose processor and a hardware or software service, such as service  1 - 532 , service  2 - 534 , and service  3 - 536  stored in storage device  530 , configured to control the processor  510  as well as a special-purpose processor where software instructions are incorporated into the actual processor design. The processor  510  may be a completely self-contained computing system, containing multiple cores or processors, a bus, memory controller, cache, etc. A multi-core processor may be symmetric or asymmetric. 
     To enable user interaction with the device  500 , an input device  545  can represent any number of input mechanisms, such as a microphone for speech, a touch-sensitive screen for gesture or graphical input, keyboard, mouse, motion input, speech and so forth. An output device  535  can also be one or more of a number of output mechanisms known to those of skill in the art. In some instances, multimodal systems can enable a user to provide multiple types of input to communicate with the device  500 . The communications interface  540  can generally govern and manage the user input and system output. There is no restriction on operating on any particular hardware arrangement and therefore the basic features here may easily be substituted for improved hardware or firmware arrangements as they are developed. 
     Storage device  530  is a non-volatile memory and can be a hard disk or other types of computer readable media which can store data that are accessible by a computer, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, solid state memory devices, digital versatile disks, cartridges, random access memories (RAMs)  525 , read only memory (ROM)  520 , and hybrids thereof. 
     The storage device  530  can include services  532 ,  534 ,  536  for controlling the processor  510 . Other hardware or software modules are contemplated. The storage device  530  can be connected to the system connection  505 . In one aspect, a hardware module that performs a particular function can include the software component stored in a computer-readable medium in connection with the necessary hardware components, such as the processor  510 , connection  505 , output device  535 , and so forth, to carry out the function. 
     Methods according to the above-described examples can be implemented using computer-executable instructions that are stored or otherwise available from computer readable media. Such instructions can include, for example, instructions and data that cause or otherwise configure a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or special purpose processing device to perform a certain function or group of functions. Portions of computer resources used can be accessible over a network. The computer executable instructions may be, for example, binaries, intermediate format instructions such as assembly language, firmware, or source code. Examples of computer-readable media that may be used to store instructions, information used, and/or information created during methods according to described examples include magnetic or optical disks, flash memory, USB devices provided with non-volatile memory, networked storage devices, and so on. 
     Devices implementing methods according to these disclosures can include hardware, firmware and/or software, and can take any of a variety of form factors. Typical examples of such form factors include satellite components, gateways, user terminals, laptops, smart phones, small form factor personal computers, personal digital assistants, rackmount devices, standalone devices, and so on. Functionality described herein also can be embodied in peripherals or add-in cards. Such functionality can also be implemented on a circuit board among different chips or different processes executing in a single device, by way of further example. 
     The instructions, media for conveying such instructions, computing resources for executing them, and other structures for supporting such computing resources are means for providing the functions described in these disclosures. 
     Although a variety of examples and other information was used to explain aspects within the scope of the appended claims, no limitation of the claims should be implied based on particular features or arrangements in such examples, as one of ordinary skill would be able to use these examples to derive a wide variety of implementations. Further and although some subject matter may have been described in language specific to examples of structural features and/or method steps, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to these described features or acts. For example, such functionality can be distributed differently or performed in components other than those identified herein. Rather, the described features and steps are disclosed as examples of components of systems and methods within the scope of the appended claims. 
     Claim language reciting “at least one of” refers to at least one of a set and indicates that one member of the set or multiple members of the set satisfy the claim. For example, claim language reciting “at least one of A and B” means A, B, or A and B.