Apple patent is for a scene camera implemented in a vehicle

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To be honest, I’m not sure if a newly granted Apple patent (number 10,375,357) involves the rumored “Apple Car” or simply involves the use of iPhones in current vehicles. The patent is for a “method and system for providing at least one image captured by a scene camera of a vehicle.”

Vehicle camera big.png

In the patent filing, Apple lists such applications as:

  • An omnidirectional camera that can be used to record an event happening around a police vehicle. The system and method include an omnidirectional camera and a digital processor that processes the images taken by the camera. The direction of the signal generated by the microphone determines the region of interest. 

  • A vehicle-mounted image record system for encouraging safe driving of a vehicle by recording images of the surface of the road and part of the vehicle. The system includes one or more cameras mounted on the vehicle and a recording device that records the images captured by the cameras. In the event of an accident the recorded images can be used as proof of safe driving. 

  • An in-car video system where a wireless microphone is configured with bi-directional communications capability. When an RF activation signal is received, the wireless microphone is automatically switched on to capture an audio soundtrack that accompanies the images captured by the car-mounted video camera. A wireless microphone controller mounted in the car transmits the RF activation signal to the wireless microphone. When the video recording device starts recording, the wireless microphone controller transmits the RF activation signal. 

  • Finally, and this is, to me, the weirdest application, use of a camera and accompanying app that allows a user, upon seeing a particular outfit or style the user is interested in on a real person or magazine, to take a photograph of the outfit. By using image recognition the application can find that piece of clothing the user is looking at and a number of similar fashions. For employing this, the user is required to focus the camera of his/her mobile phone on the object of interest. 

    Here’s Apple’s summary of the patent: “The present disclosure relates to a method of providing at least one image of at least one real object captured by at least one scene camera of a plurality of scene cameras mounted on a vehicle. The method includes: providing camera poses of respective scene cameras of the plurality of scene cameras relative to a reference coordinate system associated with the vehicle, providing user attention data related to a user captured by an information capturing device, providing at least one attention direction relative to the reference coordinate system from the user attention data, determining at least one of the scene cameras among the plurality of scene cameras according to the at least one attention direction and the respective camera pose of the at least one of the scene cameras, and providing at least one image of at least one real object captured by the at least one of the scene cameras.”

Of course, Apple files for — and is granted — lots of patents by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Many are for inventions that never see the light of day. However, you never can tell which ones will materialize in a real product.