A full-automatic sunshade based on sun orientation and shadow recognition and a use method thereof

Abstract

The application relates to the technical field of automatic sunshade of sunshades, and proposes a full-automatic sunshade based on sun azimuth and shadow identification and a use method thereof, which comprises a handle and a supporting handle, a connecting seat is fixedly installed on the handle, a fixing seat is fixedly installed on the connecting seat, a supporting seat is fixedly installed on the supporting handle, and the connecting seat, the fixing seat and the supporting seat are all triangular prism structures. Through the multi-sensor fusion technology of a gyroscope, an illumination sensor and a camera, in combination with a real-time control system, the sunshade can continuously keep the sunshade surface shadow coinciding with the human body without manual change of the handle direction, the sunshade precision is remarkably improved, the problem that a local body is directly irradiated by sunlight is effectively avoided, and the automatic adjustment of the sunshade surface direction is realized.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of automatic sunshade technology, specifically to a fully automatic sunshade based on sun position and shadow recognition, and its usage method. Background Technology

[0002] As a time-honored household item, the parasol has been used since ancient times to shield from sunlight and rain. Its basic structure consists of an umbrella canopy, ribs, and handle, relying on manual operation for opening, closing, and directional adjustment. With social progress and technological development, the function of parasols has evolved from simple physical protection to intelligent and automated features. Especially in outdoor activities, leisure, and sun protection scenarios, users have higher demands for the precision and convenience of sun protection. However, traditional parasols rely on users manually adjusting the canopy's direction to adapt to the sun's movement. This method is not only time-consuming and laborious but also makes it difficult to maintain optimal sun protection. When the sun's altitude angle changes with time and season, users need to frequently rotate the handle; otherwise, parts of the body may be exposed to sunlight, resulting in poor sun protection and even sunburn or discomfort.

[0003] In existing technologies, the development of automatic sun umbrellas can be broadly divided into two categories: one is automatic opening and closing devices based on simple sensors, and the other is intelligent systems that adjust the umbrella's direction using the principle of light tracking. The first type of technology is commonly found in commercially available automatic umbrella products. Its core is to detect ambient light intensity using a light sensor. When the light intensity exceeds a threshold, a motor drives the umbrella to automatically open or close. For example, some outdoor sun umbrellas use photoresistors or photodiode arrays combined with microcontrollers to achieve basic automated control of the umbrella surface. This type of technology improves convenience to some extent, avoiding the inconvenience of manual opening and closing. However, its function is limited to the opening and closing of the umbrella surface and cannot dynamically adjust the umbrella's direction to track the sun's position. Therefore, users still need to manually adjust the umbrella's direction to ensure that the shade covers their body, and its effectiveness is limited in scenarios where the sun's position changes frequently (such as afternoon oblique sunlight).

[0004] The second type of technology further introduces a light-tracking mechanism, using angle sensors, geomagnetic sensors, or GPS positioning to sense the angle of sunlight and adjust the umbrella's direction accordingly. These systems typically include sensor modules, control units, and actuators (such as servos or stepper motors). Their principle is based on calculating the sun's azimuth and altitude angles, driving the umbrella to tilt in the opposite direction of the sun. For example, some smart sun umbrellas use geomagnetic sensors to determine the geographic North Pole, combine this with time information to estimate the sun's position, and then adjust the umbrella's tilt via a motor. While this approach can achieve basic automatic shading under ideal conditions (such as clear, cloudless weather), it has significant drawbacks: First, the sensors are often single-point or of a single type, relying solely on light intensity or angle data, making them unable to handle complex lighting environments (such as cloud cover, tree shade, or interference from multiple light sources caused by building reflections), leading to misjudgments. Second, the system lacks awareness of the user's actual shading status, mechanically following the calculated sun direction while ignoring the crucial indicator of shadow overlap with the user's position, resulting in a mismatch between the shading area and the user's location.

[0005] Specifically, existing technologies are mostly based on single-point light sensing or mechanical light-tracking principles, lacking comprehensive perception and intelligent judgment of the geometric relationship of the sun's orientation and the user's light exposure status, making it difficult to achieve truly dynamic automatic sunshade control. Summary of the Invention

[0006] To address the shortcomings of existing technologies, this invention provides a fully automatic sunshade umbrella based on sun position and shadow recognition, and its usage method, which solves the problem that the system cannot accurately adjust the umbrella angle when the sun's altitude angle changes or the ambient light is complex.

[0007] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention provides the following technical solution: A fully automatic sunshade umbrella based on sun position and shadow recognition includes an umbrella handle and a support handle. A connecting seat is fixedly installed on the umbrella handle, a fixing seat is fixedly installed on the connecting seat, and a support seat is fixedly installed on the support handle. The connecting seat, the fixing seat, and the support seat are all triangular prism structures. The connecting seat is equipped with three sets of adjustment mechanisms to adjust the shading angle of the sunshade umbrella.

[0008] Preferably, each set of adjustment mechanisms includes a servo motor fixedly mounted on a fixed base, and a drive shaft is rotatably mounted on the output end of the servo motor.

[0009] Preferably, each set of adjustment mechanisms further includes a universal joint fixedly installed on a support base, and the other end of the universal joint is fixedly connected to a drive shaft. A camera is fixedly installed on the connecting base, and a gyroscope is installed on the connecting base.

[0010] Preferably, the support handle is equipped with umbrella ribs, the umbrella ribs are equipped with light sensors, and the umbrella surface is equipped with the umbrella ribs.

[0011] A method for using a fully automatic sunshade umbrella based on sun position and shadow recognition, the method comprising the following steps: Step 1: The user turns on the automatic sunshade function, and the system performs a power-on self-test on the gyroscope, light sensor, and camera; Step 2: The gyroscope determines the current position and pitch angle of the umbrella, and the light sensor collects the light intensity from different directions to determine the direction of the strongest light. Step 3: The camera detects the overlap between the person's shadow and the umbrella's shadow; Step 4: Weighted fusion of data from the gyroscope, light sensor, and camera is used to control the servo motor to rotate and drive the adjustment mechanism to tilt the umbrella surface; Step 5: Perform closed-loop verification on the camera to check if the shadow overlap rate is greater than 90%.

[0012] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the present invention are: 1. This invention utilizes multi-sensor fusion technology of gyroscope, light sensor and camera, combined with a real-time control system, to continuously maintain the shadow of the umbrella surface and the body of the user without the user having to manually change the direction of the umbrella. This significantly improves the accuracy of sunshade, effectively avoids the problem of localized areas of the body being directly exposed to sunlight, and achieves automatic adjustment of the umbrella surface direction.

[0013] 2. This invention combines shadow detection with human body recognition. By using a camera to calculate the overlap rate between the human body and the shadow area of ​​the umbrella in real time, the shading effect can be directly judged. After the umbrella is adjusted, the camera will detect the shadow overlap rate again, which significantly improves the accuracy and reliability of shading control.

[0014] 3. This invention uses an adjustment mechanism connected to three fulcrums on the umbrella surface to change the relative height of the fulcrums. When the three servo motors rotate at different angles, they will drive the drive shaft and universal joint to rotate. The plane formed by the three fulcrums will tilt, thereby driving the umbrella surface to tilt in any direction to achieve precise sun shading. This structure not only allows for continuous and smooth angle adjustment, achieving higher sun shading efficiency, but also maintains the stability of the umbrella body, making it suitable for handheld use. Attached Figure Description

[0015] The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of this application and form part of this application, illustrate exemplary embodiments and are used to explain this application, but do not constitute an undue limitation of this application. In the drawings: Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the present invention from a first-view perspective; Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the present invention from a second perspective; Figure 3 For the present invention Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the enlarged portion at point A; Figure 4 This is a flowchart of the program execution of the present invention; Figure 5 This is a system architecture diagram of the present invention.

[0016] In the diagram: 1. Umbrella handle; 11. Support handle; 12. Connecting seat; 13. Fixing seat; 14. Support seat; 2. Adjustment mechanism; 21. Servo motor; 22. Drive shaft; 23. Universal joint; 24. Camera; 3. Umbrella ribs; 31. Light sensor; 32. Umbrella canopy. Detailed Implementation

[0017] The following will describe in detail the implementation of this application with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments, so that the implementation process of how this application uses technical means to solve technical problems and achieve technical effects can be fully understood and implemented accordingly.

[0018] Because the system cannot accurately adjust the umbrella angle when the solar altitude angle changes or the ambient light is complex, in order to solve this problem, refer to Figures 1-5 This embodiment proposes a fully automatic sunshade umbrella based on solar orientation and shadow recognition, including an umbrella handle 1 and a support handle 11. A battery is installed in the umbrella handle 1 to power the device on it. A connecting seat 12 is fixedly installed on the umbrella handle 1, and a fixing seat 13 is fixedly installed on the connecting seat 12. A support seat 14 is fixedly installed on the support handle 11. The connecting seat 12, the fixing seat 13, and the support seat 14 are all triangular prism structures. A central processing unit (CPU) is installed on the connecting seat 12 for data acquisition, preprocessing, sensor data fusion, visual reasoning, decision making, and motor control command issuance. It is also equipped with software for multi-sensor data acquisition, data fusion, visual recognition, and control decision-making. Three sets of adjustment mechanisms 2 are installed on the connecting seat 12 to adjust the sunshade angle of the sunshade umbrella.

[0019] Based on device time, geographic location information (optionally GPS or obtained via mobile phone pairing), and solar azimuth angle, the solar direction is estimated. This estimate serves as a priori constraint and is jointly corrected with the measurement results from the light sensor. Weighted fusion or filtering (such as Extended Kalman Filter, EKF) is used to fuse information from the IMU, light sensor, and camera 24, outputting the current umbrella's direction relative to the sun and its attitude. Visual recognition includes human or facial recognition (using lightweight neural networks or traditional Haar / HOG+SVM), shadow detection and segmentation (based on color space transformation, thresholding, or deep learning-based semantic segmentation), and then outputting the user's position (relative to the umbrella handle 1 coordinate system), shadow polygon overlap rate with the human shadow, and determining whether adjustments are needed based on the fused information. If the overlap rate between the shadow and the person's shadow is ≥90% (threshold adjustable), the shading is deemed satisfactory, and the current posture is maintained. If the overlap rate is <90% and the light sensor detects a deviation of more than θ angle between the direction of sunlight and the center of the umbrella, the minimum adjustment amount Δ (orientation and pitch of the umbrella 32) is calculated to increase the overlap rate. Considering smoothness constraints and motor speed limitations, a smooth trajectory (such as a damped first-order / second-order control curve) is output to the motor controller. When excessive wind speed is detected (which can be judged by high-frequency vibration of the IMU) or the battery level is lower than the set threshold, the protection mode is entered.

[0020] Each adjustment mechanism 2 includes a servo motor 21 fixedly mounted on a fixed base 13, with a drive shaft 22 rotatably mounted on the output end of the servo motor 21. Each adjustment mechanism 2 also includes a universal joint 23 fixedly mounted on a support base 14, with the other end of the universal joint 23 fixedly connected to the drive shaft 22. A camera 24 is fixedly mounted on a connecting base 12. The miniature RGB camera 24 is installed near the umbrella handle 1 to collect real-time images of the area under and around the umbrella. The images are used for human detection, shadow segmentation and shape analysis, and environmental feature recognition. The visual resolution and frame rate can be optimized according to power consumption requirements (e.g., in low-power mode). (Frame rate reduction or triggering full-frame processing only when necessary) A gyroscope is installed on the connector 12 to measure the angular velocity and attitude of the umbrella handle 1 and the umbrella surface 32 in real time, providing a benchmark for umbrella attitude estimation and control stability. It is preferable to integrate the data fusion of the accelerometer and the gyroscope to obtain a smooth and reliable attitude estimation. The support handle 11 is equipped with umbrella ribs 3, and the umbrella ribs 3 are equipped with light sensors 31, which are distributed at the top or edge of the umbrella to collect light intensity information from multiple directions, so as to quickly determine the direction of the main sun and the distribution of ambient light. The light sensors provide rapid initial screening and serve as trigger or supplementary information for the vision module. The umbrella ribs 3 are equipped with the umbrella canopy 32. After the system starts up, it enters standby mode. When the user turns on the automatic sunshade function, the system performs a power-on self-test on the gyroscope, light sensor, and camera 24, including zero-bias calibration, sensor connection check, and preliminary ambient light determination. At the same time, it initializes the reference attitude of the umbrella canopy 32, the initial position of the motor, and control parameters to provide an accurate reference for subsequent calculations. The system collects the attitude data of the umbrella body in real time through the gyroscope and accelerometer to calculate the current pitch angle and azimuth angle of the umbrella canopy 32, which is used to identify the degree of umbrella tilt, hand-held offset trend, and external disturbances (such as swaying caused by wind). The distributed light sensor array 31 synchronously collects light intensity data from different spatial directions. By comparing the outputs of each sensor, the system can quickly estimate the approximate direction of sunlight or strong light in the current environment. Based on the light intensity variation law and combined with umbrella posture compensation, the central processing unit analyzes and fits the light signal to determine the main direction parameters of sunlight (including incident angle and azimuth angle). The camera 24 collects images in front and identifies the user's body outline and the shadow range of the umbrella surface 32 through human detection and shadow area segmentation algorithms, and calculates the overlap rate between the two.

[0021] Three servo motors 21 are arranged at equal intervals (120° apart) along the circumferential direction of the central axis of the umbrella handle 1, forming a symmetrical structure around the handle 1. Each servo motor 21 is connected to three fulcrums of the umbrella surface 32 via an adjustment mechanism 2 to change the relative height of the fulcrums. When the three servo motors 21 rotate at different angles, they drive the drive shaft 22 and universal joint 23 to rotate, causing the plane formed by the three fulcrums to tilt, thereby driving the umbrella surface 32 to tilt in any direction to achieve precise sun-following shading. The strokes of the three adjustment mechanisms 2 are independent of each other, and the rotation angle of the servo motor 21 is related to the fulcrum of the umbrella surface 32. The point displacement exhibits a linear relationship. To ensure control accuracy, each servo motor 21 is equipped with a position sensor or encoder for real-time feedback of the fulcrum height information of the umbrella surface 32, forming a closed-loop control. Based on the solar azimuth angle, pitch angle, and user shading status detected by the camera 24 and the light sensor 31, the target direction and angle in which the umbrella surface 32 should tilt are calculated and converted into the target rotation amount of the three servo motors 21. The central processing unit controls each servo motor 21 to adjust the fulcrum height according to the calculation results, thereby achieving automatic tilting of the umbrella surface 32 along the specified direction. When the solar azimuth changes or the light sensor... When the device 31 and camera 24 detect a weakening of the shading effect, the system automatically recalculates and adjusts the posture of the umbrella surface 32 to ensure the user remains within the shade coverage area of ​​the umbrella surface 32. The overlap rate reflects whether the user is in an effective shading area and is the core visual basis for adjusting the umbrella surface 32. The central processing unit fuses the posture angle information, illumination direction information, and visual overlap rate. When the light is sufficient and the visual recognition confidence is high, the weight of the visual data is increased. When strong reflections, obstructions, or insufficient light cause a decrease in visual confidence, the weight of the light sensor and gyroscope is increased. The fused result... The central processing unit is used to determine the target tilt angle and adjustment direction of the umbrella surface 32. Based on the fused target angle, the central processing unit calculates the target rotation angle or target displacement of the three servo motors 21 and issues control commands. The three servo motors 21 are symmetrically distributed at three points above the umbrella handle 1. The umbrella surface 32 is tilted in any direction through the adjustment mechanism 2 of the transmission shaft 22, so that the umbrella surface 32 tilts in the opposite direction of the sun, thereby expanding the area where the shadow falls and the human body overlap. After the umbrella surface 32 is adjusted, the camera 24 collects images again and recalculates the overlap rate between the human shadow and the shadow of the umbrella surface 32. If the overlap rate is ≥ 90%, it means that the sunshade effect meets the requirements, and the system maintains the current posture. If the overlap rate is lower than the threshold, the system continues to make fine adjustments until the sunshade conditions are met. When the system judges that the sunshade effect is stable and the target conditions are met, the process enters the stage end state. The system continues to monitor, but no longer performs unnecessary actions, and enters the standby monitoring cycle until the control process is triggered again by changes in light or posture.

[0022] In terms of control, the central processing unit calculates the target direction and angle for the umbrella surface 32 to tilt based on the sun's azimuth angle, pitch angle, and the user's shading status detected by the vision module, and converts this into the target rotation amount of the three servo motors 21. Based on this calculation, the central processing unit controls the three servo motors 21 to adjust their fulcrum heights, thereby achieving automatic tilting of the umbrella surface 32 along the specified direction. When the sun's azimuth changes or the vision module detects a weakening of the shading effect, the system automatically recalculates and adjusts the umbrella surface attitude to ensure the user remains within the shaded area. The derived formula is: three motors are equally spaced on a circle with radius r, with angles φi (i=1,2,3): φ1=0°, φ2=120°, φ3=240°. The heights of the umbrella canopy 32 at the three support points are respectively Zi; The relative displacement (offset from the neutral position L0) obtained by servo motor 21 is denoted as Li. Then Zi = Z0 + Li; The target canopy 32 is an approximate plane, and the desired tilt is determined by the tilt angle θ (pitch amplitude, in radians or degrees) and the tilt azimuth α (azimuth angle from the positive x-axis). After derivation, the target offset of each support point relative to the reference height (i.e., the linear displacement that the motor needs to achieve) can be obtained: Li = -r*tanθ*cos(α-φi). In the formula: r is the horizontal projected radius (mm) from the motor fulcrum to the center of the umbrella handle 1; θ is the tilt angle; α represents the tilt azimuth; φi represents the equidistant angle at which the motors are placed.

[0023] Working Principle: After system startup, the system enters standby mode. When the user activates the automatic sunshade function, the system performs power-on self-tests on the gyroscope, light sensor, and camera 24, including zero-bias calibration, sensor connection checks, and preliminary ambient light determination. Simultaneously, it initializes the reference attitude of the umbrella surface 32, the initial position of the motor, and control parameters to provide an accurate reference for subsequent calculations. The system collects the attitude data of the umbrella body in real time through the gyroscope and accelerometer, calculates the current pitch and azimuth angles of the umbrella surface 32, and uses this to identify the degree of umbrella tilt, hand-held offset trend, and external disturbances (such as swaying caused by wind). The distributed light sensor array 31 synchronously collects light intensity data from different spatial directions. By comparing the outputs of each sensor, the system can quickly estimate the approximate direction of sunlight or strong light in the current environment. Based on the light intensity variation law and combined with umbrella attitude compensation, the central processing unit analyzes and fits the light signal to determine the main direction parameters of sunlight (including the incident angle and azimuth angle). The camera 24 collects images in front and, through human detection and shadow area segmentation algorithms, identifies the user's body contour and the shadow range of the umbrella surface 32, and calculates the overlap rate between the two. The overlap rate reflects whether the user is in an effective shaded area and is the core visual basis for adjusting the umbrella surface 32. The central processing unit fuses attitude angle information, illumination direction information, and visual overlap rate. When the light is sufficient and the visual recognition confidence is high, the weight of visual data is increased. When strong reflection, obstruction, or insufficient light causes a decrease in visual confidence, the weight of the light sensor and gyroscope is increased. The fused result is used to determine the target tilt angle and adjustment direction of the umbrella surface 32. Based on the fused target angle, the central processing unit calculates the target rotation angle or target displacement of the three servo motors 21 and issues control commands. The three servo motors 21 are symmetrically distributed at three points above the umbrella handle 1. The three servo motors 21 drive the drive shaft 22 to rotate, so that the adjustment mechanism 2 can tilt the umbrella surface 32 in any direction, tilting the umbrella surface 32 towards the opposite direction of the sun, thereby expanding the area where the shadow falls and the user overlaps. After the umbrella surface 32 is adjusted, the camera 24 re-acquires images and recalculates the overlap rate between the user's shadow and the shadow of the umbrella surface 32. If the overlap rate is ≥ If the overlap rate is 90%, it indicates that the shading effect has met the requirements. The system maintains the current posture. If the overlap rate is lower than the threshold, the system continues to make fine adjustments until the shading conditions are met. When the system determines that the shading effect is stable and the target conditions are met, the process enters a phased end state. The system continues to monitor but no longer performs any unnecessary actions and enters a standby monitoring cycle until the control process is triggered again by changes in light intensity or posture.

[0024] It should be noted that, in this document, the terms “comprising,” “including,” or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not expressly listed, or elements inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

[0025] Although embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes, modifications, substitutions and alterations can be made to these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A fully automatic sunshade based on sun position and shadow recognition, comprising a handle (1) and a support handle (11), characterized in that, A connecting seat (12) is fixedly installed on the umbrella handle (1), a fixing seat (13) is fixedly installed on the connecting seat (12), and a support seat (14) is fixedly installed on the support handle (11). The connecting seat (12), the fixing seat (13) and the support seat (14) are all triangular prism structures. The connecting seat (12) is equipped with three sets of adjustment mechanisms (2) for adjusting the shading angle of the sunshade umbrella.

2. The fully automatic sunshade umbrella based on sun position and shadow recognition according to claim 1, characterized in that, Each adjustment mechanism (2) includes a servo motor (21) fixedly mounted on a fixed base (13), and a drive shaft (22) is rotatably mounted on the output end of the servo motor (21).

3. The fully automatic sunshade umbrella based on sun position and shadow recognition according to claim 2, characterized in that, Each adjustment mechanism (2) further includes a universal joint (23) fixedly installed on the support base (14), and the other end of the universal joint (23) is fixedly connected to the drive shaft (22). A camera (24) is fixedly installed on the connecting base (12), and a gyroscope is installed on the connecting base (12).

4. The fully automatic sunshade umbrella based on sun position and shadow recognition according to claim 1, characterized in that, The support handle (11) is equipped with umbrella ribs (3), the umbrella ribs (3) are equipped with light sensors (31), and the umbrella surface (32) is equipped with umbrella ribs (3).

5. A method for using a fully automatic sunshade umbrella based on sun position and shadow recognition, characterized in that, The invention includes a fully automatic sunshade based on sun position and shadow recognition as described in any one of claims 1-4, and includes the following steps: Step 1: The user turns on the automatic sunshade function, and the system performs a power-on self-test on the gyroscope, light sensor (31) and camera (24); Step 2: The gyroscope determines the current position and pitch angle of the umbrella, and the light sensor (31) collects the light intensity in different directions to comprehensively determine the direction of the strongest light. Step 3: The camera (24) detects the overlap rate between the shadow of the person and the shadow of the umbrella surface (32); Step 4: The data from the gyroscope, light sensor (31) and camera (24) are weighted and fused to control the servo motor (21) to rotate and drive the adjustment mechanism (2) to tilt the umbrella surface (32); Step 5: The camera (24) performs closed-loop verification to check whether the shadow overlap rate is greater than 90%.

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