Google Inc.

Amber Luttmann Volmering

Adam Scott Kilgore

Jason Evans Goulden

Mark Kraz

William Raeming Dong

Oliver Maximilian Mueller

Dietrich Ho

Mi Zhou

Kevin Edward Booth

Tyler Scott Wilson

Jason Rundle Rukes

Jeffrey Law

Daniel Patrick Foran

Guangxun Liao

Jacobi Colton Grillo

Bryan Macomber

Benjamin Zachary Niewood

Rafat E Mehdi

Minjung Kim

Samuel W Kortz

Rochus Emmanuel Jacob

Michael Brickner

Adina Roth

Shigefumi Honjo

Rochus Emanuel Jacob

Anurag Gupta

Andrew William Goldenson

Jeffrey Alan Boyd

Lawrence Chang

Cheng-Jung Lee

Marci Meingast

Jung Ook Hong

Adam Cutbill

Jeffrey Yu

The various implementations described herein include a video camera assembly that includes: (1) a housing; (2) an image sensor encased in the housing and configured to capture activity of the smart home environment; (3) a wireless radio configured to transmit video frames captured by the image sensor to an electronic device via a remote server; (4) at least one infrared transmitter configured to selectively illuminate the smart home environment; (5) one or more circuit boards encased in the housing, the one or more circuit boards including at least one processor mounted thereon; and (6) a heating component coupled to the image sensor, the heating component configured to continuously maintain the image sensor at a temperature above a threshold temperature while the image sensor is capturing the activity of the smart home environment.

Outdoor camera assembly

Camera

A light ring assembly for a smart-home device may include a plurality of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and a light guide, where the light guide may include a plurality of cutouts that receive the plurality of LEDs, and a plurality of transmissive sections between the plurality of cutouts where a thickness of the transmissive sections tapers as the transmissive sections extend away from the plurality of cutouts. The light ring assembly may also include an output surface that receives light emitted from the plurality of LEDs through the plurality of transmissive sections, where the output surface is substantially circular.

Smart-home device light rings with tapered sections for uniform output

A camera assembly includes an image sensor having a field of view corresponding to a scene, an infrared (IR) illuminator configured to selectively illuminate the scene, and a single-piece cover element positioned in front of the image sensor and the IR illuminator such that light from the IR illuminator is directed through the cover element along a first light path and light from the scene passes through the cover element along a second light path prior to entering the image sensor, the cover element including a first portion between the first light path and the second light path, the first portion being substantially opaque to IR and/or visible light.

Camera assembly having a single-piece cover element

Smart-home device light rings with scalloped transmissive sections for uniform output

Systems and techniques are provided for presence and directional motion detection. Signals may be received from a sensor positioned in a structure. An indication of directional motion may be generated based on the signals from the sensor. The indication of directional motion may be generated without using signals from additional sensors. A control signal for a device in the structure may be generated in response to the indication of directional motion. The control signal may be sent to the device in the structure to be implemented by the device.

Presence and directional motion detection

The various implementations described herein include methods, devices, and systems for illuminating and capturing scenes. In one aspect, a video camera assembly includes: (1) one or more processors configured to operate the video camera assembly in a day mode and in a night mode; (2) an image sensor having a field of view of a scene and configured to capture video of a first portion of the scene while in the day mode of operation and in the night mode of operation, the first portion corresponding to the field of view of the image sensor; (3) one or more infrared (IR) illuminators configured to provide illumination during the night mode of operation while the image sensor captures video; and (4) an IR reflector component configured to: (i) substantially restrict the illumination onto the first portion of the scene, and (ii) illuminate the first portion in a substantially uniform manner across the field of view of the image sensor.

Video camera assembly having an IR reflector

A light ring assembly for a smart-home device may include a plurality of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and a light guide, where the light guide may include a plurality of cutouts that receive the plurality of LEDs, and a plurality of transmissive sections between the plurality of cutouts. The light ring assembly may also include an output surface that receives light emitted from the plurality of LEDs through the plurality of transmissive sections, where the output surface is substantially circular. The light guide may also include a plurality of micro-lenses in the plurality of transmissive sections where a relative density of the micro-lenses increases as the transmissive sections extend away from the plurality of cutouts.

Smart-home device light rings with lens spacing for uniform output

Smart-home device light rings with tapered transmissive sections for uniform output

The various implementations described herein include methods, devices, and systems for illuminating and capturing scenes. In one aspect, a video camera assembly includes: (1) an image sensor having a field of view corresponding to a scene; (2) infrared illuminators to selectively illuminate the scene; and (3) a single-piece cover positioned in front of the image sensor and the illuminators such that light from the illuminators is directed through the cover and light from the scene passes through the cover prior to entering the image sensor, including: (a) a first portion corresponding to the image sensor and substantially transparent to visible light and IR light; (b) a second portion corresponding to the one or more IR illuminators and coated to be substantially transparent to IR light; and (c) a third portion between the first portion and the second portion and coated to be substantially opaque to IR and visible light.

This application is directed to a lens assembly configured to focus light on a sensor array of an optical device. The lens assembly comprises one or more optical lenses and an electrochromic layer positioned between the one or more optical lenses and the sensor array. The electrochromic layer has one or more optical properties that are responsive to voltage applied to the layer, including a first optical property related to optical transmissivity. The first optical property includes a first state, responsive to a first applied voltage, in which the layer is substantially opaque to a predefined band of IR wavelengths. The first optical property also includes a second state, responsive to a second applied voltage distinct from the first applied voltage, in which the layer is substantially transparent to the predefined band of IR wavelengths and visible wavelengths.

Electrochromic filtering in a camera

Growing community of inventors

Cupertino, CA, United States of America

Amber Luttmann Volmering