Patent Publication Number: US-6704044-B1

Title: Completely integrated baseball cap camera

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates generally to image sensors, and in particular, relates to a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor forming part of a camera unit that can be mounted onto headgear, such as a baseball cap. 
     2. Background Information 
     Sports video information of real-time events is a major part of modern-day America. Camera operators who photograph a sporting event and its live action are removed from participating directly on the field. Allowing a camera operator to physically interject onto the actual field of play creates a potential for camera operator or player injury, and interferes with the normal play of the sporting event. 
     Current systems for capturing video and still images of sporting events typically include video cameras positioned in various locations within the sporting arena, with the camera operators capturing video and still images from around the periphery of the sporting event (e.g., outside of the actual playing field). 
     However, placement of these cameras outside of the actual playing field has certain disadvantages. For instance, in order to get the “best” views of particular instances in the game, multiple cameras need to be positioned along the periphery, so that the best angle or “shot” can be chosen from among the different cameras. This is cumbersome and expensive because of the extra equipment and set-up that are needed, and because of the high level of coordination required between camera operators, directors, technicians, etc. 
     Additionally, even though there may be multiple angles available from the cameras positioned around the periphery of the playing field, the “best” shot is sometimes simply not available. The camera with the best angle may be too far from the play, or spectators might obstruct the camera&#39;s view of the play, by players standing along the sideline, or by physical objects. 
     Furthermore, the cameras around the periphery of the playing field may be mounted on a fixed platform, and are therefore not portable to follow the players as they move up and down the field. If the cameras have to be mobile, then they are often carried on the shoulder of the camera operator walking along the sideline, or they are mounted on a moving stand or vehicle that moves along the sideline. Because of the weight and bulkiness of these conventional cameras and of their mounts/platforms, moving a camera to follow the action is difficult to perform with satisfactorily high quality results. 
     Accordingly, there is a need to improve on the capturing of real-time video or still images of sporting events. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Non-limiting and non-exhaustive embodiments of the present invention will be described in the following figures, wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the various views unless otherwise specified. 
     FIG. 1 shows a baseball cap camera system according to an embodiment of the invention that includes a camera unit mounted on a baseball cap. 
     FIG. 2 shows a front view of an embodiment of the cap-mounted camera unit of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 3 is a side view illustrating a mounting method for the baseball cap camera unit of FIGS. 1-2. 
     FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing components of the baseball cap camera unit of FIGS. 1-3. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS 
     Embodiments of an integrated baseball cap camera and associated baseball cap camera system are described in detail herein. In the following description, numerous specific details are provided, such as the components of a baseball cap in FIGS. 1-3, to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the invention. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that the invention can be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, etc. In other instances, well-known structures or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of various embodiments of the invention. 
     Reference throughout this specification 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 present invention. Thus, the appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. 
     As discussed above, existing camera systems suffer from the disadvantages of being bulky and inconvenient to position for best camera angles. An embodiment of the invention addresses these disadvantages by physically attaching an unobtrusive camera unit of sufficiently small size and weight that is capable of broadcasting real-time video or still image data from a cap. In one embodiment, the camera unit includes a small complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) camera sensor mounted directly on the front of a cap, such as a baseball cap. Embodiments of the invention provide certain advantages, including minimizing size and weight, while still allowing video or still image capture to occur directly from a point of view that is close to that of the actual viewpoint of the wearer. 
     For simplicity of explanation, an embodiment of the invention will be described herein in the context of a camera unit mounted on a baseball cap. It is to be appreciated, however, that other embodiments of the invention may provide camera units mounted on other types of headgear/headwear that are not necessarily used for baseball and/or during sports. Examples include caps worn by umpires/referees, or caps worn for everyday use or for industrial settings where heads need to be covered or where a brim is needed to shield the wearer&#39;s eyes from bright light. Other examples include ski caps, bonnets, hats, headbands, police/military caps, etc. Accordingly, the invention is not necessarily limited by the specific type of headgear utilized. 
     Referring first to FIG. 1, shown generally at  10  is a baseball cap camera system according to an embodiment of the invention. The system  10  includes a cap  12 , which is in the general shape of a “baseball” cap in the illustrated embodiment. The cap  12  has a main body  14  to cover the head of the wearer. The cap  12  has a brim  18 , typically made of a more rigid material than the main body  14 . The brim  18  functions to shield the face and/or eyes of the wearer from bright light or airborne particles, thereby providing the wearer with an unobstructed field of view (FOV). The brim  18  is mounted to the main body  14  by being sewn onto the main body  14 . 
     In an embodiment of the invention, a completely integrated camera unit  22  (or “module”) is mounted onto the cap  12 . The camera unit  22  is of small size and weight, and can be mounted on an upper surface of the brim  18  in front of the main body  14 . The camera unit  22  can be positioned towards the side portion of an upper surface of the brim  18  or it may be positioned at a substantially central portion of the upper surface of the brim  18 . These positions allow the camera unit  22  to have substantially the same FOV as the wearer of the cap  12 . The camera unit  22  can be retrofitted onto existing commercially available caps, or caps can be manufactured that include the camera unit  22 . Specific components of the camera unit  22  are described later below with reference to FIGS.  24 . 
     The camera unit  22  can be provided with a wireless communication link  24  to a remote station  26 . The communication link  24  can comprise a radio frequency signal, infrared signal, microwave signal, optical signal, or other suitable wireless signal. The communication link  24  allows video and/or still images captured by the camera unit  22  to be transmitted to the remote station  26  for subsequent processing or broadcast. The communication link  24  also allows the remote station  26  to control various settings of the camera unit  22 , as described below. The remote unit  26  can be any type of component or system remotely located from the camera unit  22 , and can include, for example, a hand-held device positioned along the sideline of a playing field, a media center located in a vehicle in a parking lot or in a press box, a stationary transceiver positioned at a vantage point in a stadium/arena, etc. 
     FIGS. 2 and 3 show front and side views, respectively, of the camera unit  22  mounted on the cap  12 . The camera unit  22  includes a housing  28  that houses various electronic and nonelectronic components of the camera unit  22 . The housing  28  can provide protective covering for electronic components of the camera unit  22 . The camera unit  22  can be attached to the brim  18  by a mounting mechanism  30  that can include a bolt, rivet, threaded screw, or other similar adjusting unit  32  drilled into the brim  18 . One end of the adjusting unit  32  is coupled to the housing  28 , and can include, at that end, a ball and socket assembly  34  to allow the position/angle of the camera unit  22  to be changed, thereby providing the camera unit  22  with the capability of changing its position (e.g., its “tilt” or rotational orientation) in order to optimize its FOV. 
     The camera unit  22  includes a lens unit  38 , behind which components such as color filters, an image sensor, associated electronic components, etc. can be located. An antenna unit  40  allows transmission/reception along the communication link  24 . In one embodiment, the antenna unit  40  is a free standing segment of metal, while in another embodiment the antenna unit  40  can include a metal lead that is attached along the interior or exterior surface of the cap  12 , or that is made integral with the main body  14 . In yet another embodiment, electronic wiring  42  (e.g., wiring used for power connections) can function as an antenna. 
     The camera unit  22  includes a power supply/unit that, in one embodiment, can use miniature-sized batteries of sufficient power that are mounted within or adjacent to the housing  28 . In another embodiment, a larger-sized battery  46  can be used by suitably connecting the battery  46  to the wiring  38 . The wiring  38  can be attached along the interior or exterior surface of the main body  14 , with the battery  46  being attached to the rear exterior surface of the main body  14 , or attached to some other convenient location on the wearer&#39;s body, such as on a utility belt. 
     FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing some of the components of the camera unit  22 , symbolically shown as being provided with power via a power unit that can comprise the wiring  38  and battery  46 , or from some other power supply. In one embodiment, the components of the camera unit  22  can be contained on a single chip. The camera unit  22  includes an image sensor  54 , which can be a single-chip color CMOS image sensor, such as those manufactured by Omnivision Technologies, Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., the assignee of the present invention. Such CMOS image sensors provide advantages over image sensors that use charge coupled devices (CCDs), in that CCD image sensors have large sizes and power consumption that are not well-suited for headgear-mounted camera units. The image sensor  54  includes a two-dimensional sensing array comprising a plurality of pixels (not shown), and associated electronics. 
     The image sensor  54  can include or can be coupled to a data, image, and signal processing unit  56 . The processing unit  56  can comprise timing circuitry, analog-to-digital converters, calibration circuitry, control circuitry, image processing circuitry (such as chromaticity and luminance signal processing circuitry), etc. In one embodiment, the processing unit  56  can include a video timing generator to generate SYNC and BLANK signals (useable for vertical blanking intervals) for a National Television Standards Committee (NTSC) video format. The SYNC and BLANK signals, along with processed image signals, can then be directed to a NTSC encoder that is controllable by hue and saturation controls. 
     Other circuitry to generate composite video can be used. For example, circuitry of the camera unit  22  can be provided to generate Phase Alternating Line (PAL) or Systeme Electronique Couleur Avec Memoire (SECAM) video formats or to generate data in digital format. For the sake of simplicity, specific details of the image sensor  54  and of the processing unit  56  are not provided herein because such details would be known by those skilled in the art based on the discussion provided herein. Examples of suitable devices that can be used for the image sensor  54  and the processing unit  56  are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,901,257 and 6,035,077, assigned to Omnivision Technologies and incorporated herein by reference. 
     Images captured by the camera unit  22  via the image sensor  54  and subsequently processed by the processing unit  56 , are provided as signals to a transmit unit  58 . The transmit unit  58  can include the antenna unit  40  and other components known in the art (e.g., a modulator) to transmit signals representative of these images to the remote station  26 , via the communication link  24 . After receiving these signals transmitted from the transmit unit  58 , the remote station  26  can perform further processing (e.g., demodulation, filtering, enhancement, etc.), in order to re-transmit the signal or to save the signal in a storage medium (e.g., a video cassette, disk, compact disk, digital video disk, etc.). 
     The remote station  26  can further remotely control settings of the camera unit  22 , via control signals sent along the communication link  24 . Such control signals can include, for example, signals to turn the camera unit  22  on/off and signals to change parameters of the camera unit  22 , such as exposure, gain, white balance, color saturation, brightness, hue, etc. These control signals are sent from the remote station  26  and received by a receive unit  60 , which can include the antenna unit  40  and other components to process the received signals (e.g., a demodulator). The receive unit  60  can subsequently provide the control signals to a control unit  62  (or directly to the processing unit  56 ), so that the control signals can initiate change(s) in parameters of the camera unit  22 . In one embodiment, the transmit unit  58  and the receive unit  60  can be separate components, while in another embodiment, they can form part of a single transceiver unit. 
     In conclusion, an embodiment of the invention provides the camera unit  22  that utilizes existing physical characteristics of the cap  12 , thereby dramatically reducing the amount of changes that need to be done to the cap  12  for mounting. Because of the small size of the camera unit  22  and the manner in which it is mounted, the possibility of causing injury to the wearer or to other players so is reduced. In one embodiment, the camera unit  22  uses the existing brim  18  for the mounting foundation. The mounting mechanism  30  includes a ball and socket assembly  34  to allow the camera unit  22  to be adjusted for each individual wearer and to the variances in physical characteristics of individual caps  12 . The camera unit  22  comprises a fully integrated camera module of such small size and weight that minimizes intrusiveness to the wearer to the point that camera use is made feasible for modern-day sporting activities. 
     The above description of illustrated embodiments of the invention, including what is described in the Abstract, is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. While specific embodiments of, and examples for, the invention are described herein for illustrative purposes, various equivalent modifications are possible within the scope of the invention, as those skilled in the relevant art will recognize. 
     For example, while an embodiment has been described herein as including most or all of the components shown in FIG. 4 on a single chip, it is possible to provide other embodiments where such components need not be located on a single chip. In these other embodiments, such components can instead be separate elements coupled together and mounted on the housing  28 . 
     In other modifications, the camera unit  22  can be mounted on caps or hats other than baseball caps. In these other types of headgear, the camera unit  22  can also be mounted on bills/brims, or on other suitable structures, including on the exterior surface of the hats/caps themselves. Furthermore, while an embodiment has been described herein as having the camera unit  22  mounted onto the cap  12 , it is possible to provide other embodiments where the camera unit  22  is made an integral part of the cap  12 . Because of the small size of the components of the camera unit  22 , the camera unit  22  (or at least a portion thereof easily can be made integral with the structure of the main body  14  at the front region of the cap  12 . This may be done, for example, during the manufacturing or assembly process for the cap  12 . 
     These modifications can be made to the invention in light of the above detailed description. The terms used in the following claims should not be construed to limit the invention to the specific embodiments disclosed in the specification and the claims. Rather, the scope of the invention is to be determined entirely by the following claims, which are to be construed in accordance with established doctrines of claim interpretation.