Imaging Device Light Shield Automatic Shutter Control
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing surveillance cameras require external triggers or environmental sensors to detect the timing for opening the shutter, complicating the camera's structure.
Innovation Solution
An imaging device with a light shield that can be moved between open and closed positions based on changes in output from an imaging element receiving diffused light through auxiliary openings, allowing for automatic switching between imaging states without external triggers or sensors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If external triggers or environmental sensors are installed to detect the timing to open the shutter, then the shutter can be controlled to open at the correct timing, but the structure of the camera becomes complicated
Solution Approach 1:
The imaging element serves dual purposes: it both captures images and detects the timing for opening the shutter by receiving diffused light through auxiliary openings. This self-service approach eliminates the need for separate sensors or external triggers, resolving the contradiction between reliable shutter control and simple camera structure
Solution Approach 2:
The imaging element performs multiple functions: primary image capture through the lens and auxiliary shutter timing detection through the auxiliary openings. This multi-functionality allows the system to achieve accurate shutter control without adding separate detection components, thus maintaining structural simplicity
2Object-affected harmful factors
If a light shield is used to cover the lens for privacy protection, then privacy can be protected when not in use, but the lens becomes viewable when the light shield is opened
Solution Approach 1:
Diffused light acting as an intermediary signal indicates when the light shield should be opened. The imaging element detects this diffused light through auxiliary openings, providing a non-intrusive signal that triggers the light shield opening without requiring direct viewing or manual intervention, thus balancing privacy protection with operational ease
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution simplifies the camera's structure by eliminating the need for external triggers or sensors, while ensuring privacy protection by making the lens unviewable when closed.
Implementation Method 1
an imaging element that receives subject light, an optical member that guides the subject light traveling through a first opening in a housing to the imaging element, a light shield between the first opening and the optical member
Implementation Method 2
an auxiliary opening outside a viewing range of the optical member to allow the subject light to travel through
Data Source
AI summary
An imaging device includes an imaging element, a lens that guides subject light traveling through a first opening to the imaging element, a blade between the first opening and the lens and at a first position or at a second position, an actuator that moves the blade in a first direction intersecting with an optical axis of the lens, an auxiliary opening outside a viewing range of the lens to allow the subject light to travel through, and a controller that controls driving of the actuator to move the blade at the first position to the second position based on a change in an output from the imaging element receiving diffused light traveling through the auxiliary opening and reflected from inside a housing when the blade is at the first position.