Window-Integrated Imaging Unit for Low-Visibility Surveillance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional monitoring cameras installed outdoors are easily visible and can alert the subject being monitored, leading to inadequate surveillance.
Innovation Solution
An imaging device is integrated within a building's window glass, capturing images from the interior side, with a fixing mechanism to secure the imaging unit to the glass, making it less noticeable from the outside.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the monitoring camera is installed outdoors in a visible location, then the surveillance coverage is improved, but the camera becomes easily visible to the person being monitored, leading to warning behavior and reduced surveillance effectiveness
Solution Approach 1:
The camera is merged with the window glass structure, integrating the imaging device into the building's existing architectural element. This combination allows the camera to function as a monitoring device while maintaining the aesthetic and functional appearance of the window glass, making it difficult to distinguish from the normal window structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The window glass serves as an intermediary medium between the camera and the external environment. By positioning the camera behind the glass and using the glass as a protective barrier and visual mask, the system achieves effective monitoring while reducing the camera's detectability from the outside.
2Measurement precision
If the camera is positioned to capture clear images of the exterior, then the imaging quality is improved, but the camera structure becomes more visible through the window glass
Solution Approach 1:
The window glass has different optical properties in different regions: the central area maintains high transparency for aesthetic purposes, while the peripheral or specific localized areas have reduced transparency or contain the camera components. This allows the camera to be positioned in locations that do not compromise the overall visual quality of the window while still achieving effective monitoring.
Solution Approach 2:
The camera is positioned in the third dimension (behind the glass plane) rather than on the surface, utilizing the depth dimension of the window structure. This spatial arrangement allows the camera to capture images through the glass while remaining concealed in the recessed space, separating the imaging function from the visible surface.
3Shape
If the camera housing is made transparent to maintain visibility through the window, then the aesthetic appearance is improved, but the structural protection and sealing for the camera components are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The camera housing is nested within the window glass structure, with the camera unit positioned inside a recessed cavity formed by the glass layers. This nested arrangement provides structural protection through the glass enclosure while maintaining the aesthetic transparency of the window, as the housing is concealed within the multi-layer glass construction rather than being mounted on the exterior surface.
Data Source
AI summary
To provide a hardly visible imaging device.An imaging device, which comprises an imaging unit installed inside a window glass of a building, capturing images of outside of the window glass through the window glass, anda fixing part fixing the imaging unit toward the window glass.