External Camera Mount Structure for Reflection-Free Vehicle Imaging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems for capturing high-quality vehicle images for online sales are labor-intensive, time-consuming, and costly, and they struggle with unwanted reflections, making it difficult to discern surface imperfections, while also failing to meet the high throughput required for high-volume vehicle sales.
Innovation Solution
A camera mount system for photographic booths, featuring an adjustable base, enclosure box, and automated shutter flap, which allows for precise positioning, easy camera replacement, and controlled reflections, enabling rapid image capture from multiple angles using a circular domed structure with subtractive lighting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a photographer manually moves around the vehicle to take pictures, then high quality images can be captured, but the process becomes labor intensive and time consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the image capture function into multiple fixed cameras positioned at different locations around the vehicle, each capturing images from its specific viewpoint. This eliminates the need for a single photographer to move around the vehicle while maintaining comprehensive image coverage from multiple angles.
Solution Approach 2:
The manual mechanical process of a photographer physically moving around the vehicle is replaced with an automated optical system consisting of multiple fixed cameras and a controlled lighting system. The mechanical movement is substituted with electronic image capture and digital processing.
2Measurement precision
If studio lighting is used to create high quality images, then surface imperfections can be discerned, but the setup is costly and not amenable to high throughput
Solution Approach 1:
The lighting system uses intermittent or periodic illumination cycles, where lights are activated in sequences to illuminate different portions of the vehicle at different times. This allows multiple vehicles to be processed in succession through the same booth, achieving high throughput while maintaining the ability to detect surface imperfections during each illumination cycle.
Solution Approach 2:
The system controls lighting parameters such as intensity, duration, and spectral characteristics to optimize both surface defect detection and processing speed. By adjusting these parameters dynamically, the system can achieve high-quality imaging without the need for expensive permanent studio setups.
3Adaptability or versatility
If cameras are mounted within the photographic booth walls, then images can be captured from multiple angles, but the cameras create unwanted reflections in the vehicle surfaces
Solution Approach 1:
The harmful element (cameras) is extracted from the interior of the photographic booth and repositioned to the exterior. The cameras are mounted on the outer surface of the booth walls, looking inward through openings, which eliminates their appearance in vehicle reflections while maintaining their ability to capture images from multiple angles.
Solution Approach 2:
The booth wall structure serves as an intermediary medium between the cameras and the vehicle. The cameras are positioned outside the booth, and the wall with controlled openings acts as a mediator that allows light from the vehicle to reach the cameras while preventing the cameras themselves from being visible in the vehicle's reflective surfaces.
4Productivity
If multiple cameras are used to capture images rapidly, then throughput increases, but the system complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
Each camera in the system is designed to be multi-functional, capable of capturing images from its fixed position at multiple angles. The cameras share common mounting structures, lighting systems, and control mechanisms, reducing overall system complexity despite the increased number of cameras. The system achieves high throughput through coordinated operation of these universal components.
Data Source
AI summary
A camera mount is provided for photographing vehicles in photo booths. The mount has an adjustable base that supports a camera and provides a range of camera angles, positions, and tilts as needed. The base is attached to an enclosure box of the mount, and the enclosure box attaches to a frame that affixes to an exterior portion of a wall of the photo booth and keeps the camera plumb and square. The mount allows for quick camera replacement without having to aim the camera.