Google Inc.

Apple Inc.

Jason Rundle Rukes

Jason Evans Goulden

William Raeming Dong

Mark Kraz

Oliver Maximilian Mueller

Dietrich Ho

Amber Luttmann Volmering

Kevin Edward Booth

Tyler Scott Wilson

Jeffrey Law

Daniel Patrick Foran

Guangxun Liao

David Hendler Sloo

Jesse William Boettcher

Sophie Le Guen

Ted Stephen Boda

E-Cheng Chang

Koji Gardiner

Kunal Kishore Bajaj

Andrii Korchak

E-Chang Chang

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

A method performed at a computer system includes: obtaining door lock activation data for a door of a dwelling of the user; obtaining current occupancy data for the dwelling; setting a configuration of a controller for the dwelling, based at least in part on the door lock activation data for the door and the current occupancy data for the dwelling; the first configuration including for each sensor in a set of sensors coupled to the controller, disabling the sensor or disabling alerts from the sensor.

Configuring a smart home controller

Temperature-controlled camera assembly

A smoke detector includes an illuminator, a light sensor, a memory, and a microprocessor. The illuminator is configured to emit a first electromagnetic signal having a first center wavelength and a second electromagnetic signal having a second center wavelength. The light sensor is configured to generate (a) a first clean-air voltage in response to receiving the first electromagnetic signal and (b) a second clean-air voltage in response to receiving the second electromagnetic signal. The memory stores non-transitory computer-readable instructions. The microprocessor is adapted to execute the instructions to: (i) determine a first signal drift value from the first clean-air voltage and a first reference voltage, (ii) determine a second signal drift value from the second clean-air voltage and a second reference voltage, and (iii) determine the operational state from both the first signal drift value and the second signal drift value.

Smoke detector and method for determining failure thereof

A method performed at a computer system includes: obtaining current location data for a user; obtaining door lock activation data for a door of a dwelling of the user; obtaining current occupancy data for the dwelling; setting a configuration of a controller for the dwelling, based at least in part on two or more of: the current location data for the user, the door lock activation data for the door, or the current occupancy data for the dwelling; the first configuration including for each sensor in a set of sensors coupled to the controller, disabling the sensor or disabling alerts from the sensor.

A method performed at a computer system includes: receiving current location data for a user; receiving door lock activation data for a door of a dwelling of the user; receiving current occupancy data for the dwelling; determining a configuration of a controller for the dwelling, based at least in part on the received current location data for the user, the received door lock activation data for the door, and the received current occupancy data for the dwelling; if the door was locked from inside the dwelling and the user is present in the dwelling, setting or sending instructions to set a configuration of the controller to a first configuration; and, if the door was locked from outside the dwelling and the user is not present in the dwelling, setting or sending instructions to set the configuration of the controller to a second configuration, distinct from the first configuration.

A portable electronic device includes a camera and a display switchable between a portrait mode and a landscape mode in response to an inertial sensor. When it is determined that the display mode should be switched in response to movement of the device, a feature of a user of the device, such as the user's face, is imaged with the camera. If the imaged feature changes orientation with respect to the display by less than a threshold amount, then the switch in display mode is disabled and the display remains in its current mode. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.

Camera-based orientation fix from portrait to landscape

The sharpness sweep of a camera lens is performed while capturing several digital images of an object through the lens. The lens is swept in accordance with a range of distance-representing values. The images are analyzed to calculate a respective sharpness variable for each of several different regions of interest. For each region of interest, a peak value of the sharpness variable is found, as well as the distance-representing value associated with the peak. The pixel coordinates of each region of interest are converted into a pair of distance coordinates, which become part of a triple that is created for the region of interest and that also includes the associated distance-representing value. A surface to fit the triples is estimated, and a measure of the optical characteristic is computed using the estimated surface. Optical characteristics that may be estimated in this manner include tilt and curvature of field. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.

Estimating optical characteristics of a camera component using sharpness sweep data

An automated image capture mode of a camera in an electronic device insures that a particular subject appears in the captured image. An image of the particular subject, which may be the photographer, is initially captured. Subsequently, another image capture is automatically triggered when the same subject is detected within the camera's field of view. In one embodiment, a motion sensor within the device may be employed to begin a search for the subject, when the camera is subjected to a sudden movement. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.

Growing community of inventors

San Francisco, CA, United States of America

Jason Rundle Rukes