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U.S. INVENTOR GRANTED PATENT FOR THROWABLE BALL CAMERA
(Boston, MA — August 29, 2012) Boston-based inventor Steve Hollinger has been awarded U.S. Patent 8,237,787, “Ball with camera and trajectory control for reconnaissance or recreation.” Hollinger’s patent describes a throwable camera that employs an onboard position sensor to trigger image capture over the course of its airborne trajectory. “A camera thrown into the sky, spinning and spiraling, has a stunning view of its subjects and the world around it,” stated Hollinger. “With a high-speed camera and position sensors, subjects visible over this panoramic scene can be captured in-flight and made comprehensible with extraordinary clarity.” In operation, the position and orientation of a thrown ball camera over the arc of its trajectory can be used to determine the camera’s precise relationship to a subject of interest. Aware of its perspective, a ball camera can, for example, stitch together a stream of available image data to produce seamless fly-by video of the environment through which it passes. As an alternative to scanning along a scene as it passes by, a ball containing multiple cameras can maintain focus on a particular subject — a batter in a baseball game for example, to produce a smooth point-of-view video from the moment the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand. Consumer and industrial applications for ball camera technology include outdoor recreation, active point-of-view sports, reconnaissance, search-and-rescue, panoramic fly-by video, linear trajectory (e.g. projectile POV) capture and spherical panoramic fly-through video capture. Anticipating technology license and manufacture, Hollinger is developing “Squito,” a first-generation prototype ball camera. Resembling a tennis ball, Squito is designed to contain three cameras, an array of position sensors, a microcontroller and image processor. In operation, Squito will capture a spherical panoramic image at the apogee of its thrown trajectory and a slow-motion bird’s eye video of its pitcher, catcher and subjects along the trajectory. Hollinger’s non-provisional patent application, filed in 2010, benefits from priority dates of three provisional patent applications for ball cameras filed by the inventor in 2009. Hollinger has filed a continuation application with priority to the filing dates of related provisional and non-provisional applications to describe additional ball camera inventions, now patent-pending at the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office. The Squito's multi-camera housing is described in a non-provisional design patent application filed at USPTO, also pending. Hollinger’s awarded and pending ball camera patents are prosecuted by Kurt Rauschenbach Ph. D., www.rauschenbach.com. Background Steve Hollinger is a Boston-based artist and inventor. His company,
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