Camera Housing for a Square-Profile Camera

Abstract

A housing for a camera includes a housing body having four adjacent walls forming a band. The camera is compressibly secured within the band, each wall in an adjacent pair of walls is coupled via a rounded corner, and an opening is defined in one wall of the housing body. The opening is configured to allow a user of the camera to access a user interface of the camera when the camera is secured into the housing body. The housing includes a latching mechanism coupling two adjacent walls of the housing body and a mounting mechanism extending from a wall of the housing body and configured to secure the housing to a reciprocal mounting mechanism.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A housing for a camera, comprising:
 a housing body including a top wall, a left wall, a right wall, and a bottom wall, wherein each wall in an adjacent pair of walls is coupled via a rounded corner, and wherein the housing body defines an opening in the top wall configured to align with an interface of the camera when the housing body secures the camera;   a mounting mechanism extending from the bottom wall of the housing body and configured to secure the housing to a reciprocal mounting mechanism; and   a latching mechanism configured to secure the camera within the housing body in a closed configuration and to allow for insertion or removal of the camera into or from the housing body in an open configuration, wherein two adjacent walls of the housing body are deflected in the open configuration and abutting in the closed configuration.   
     
     
         2 . The housing of  claim 1 , wherein each wall in an opposing pair of walls is of substantially equal length. 
     
     
         3 . The housing of  claim 1 , wherein the mounting mechanism includes a pair of protrusions extending from the bottom wall of the housing body. 
     
     
         4 . The housing of  claim 3 , wherein each protrusion of the pair of protrusions includes a hole. 
     
     
         5 . The housing of  claim 3 , wherein the reciprocal mounting mechanism includes reciprocal protrusions that interlock with the protrusions of the mounting mechanism. 
     
     
         6 . The housing of  claim 5 , wherein the reciprocal protrusions each include reciprocal holes that align with the holes of the protrusions such that a screw can be inserted through the interlocking protrusions and reciprocal protrusions, coupling the mounting mechanism to the reciprocal mounting mechanism. 
     
     
         7 . The housing of  claim 1 , wherein the latching mechanism comprises a hinge mechanism. 
     
     
         8 . The housing of  claim 7 , wherein an exterior of the hinge mechanism is smooth and featureless such that the latching mechanism does not catch on other objects in a surrounding environment. 
     
     
         9 . The housing of  claim 7 , wherein the latching mechanism is unlocked by lifting and rotating a portion of the hinge mechanism to move between the closed configuration and the open configuration. 
     
     
         10 . The housing of  claim 1 , wherein the interface comprises at least one of a button, a knob, a switch, a dial, a touchscreen, a light, or a speaker. 
     
     
         11 . The housing of  claim 1 , wherein the top wall, the left wall, the right wall, and the bottom wall are of substantially rectangular cross-section. 
     
     
         12 . A housing for a camera, comprising:
 four adjacent walls forming a band,
 wherein the camera is compressibly secured within the band, 
 wherein each wall in an adjacent pair of walls is coupled via a rounded corner, 
 wherein an opening is defined in a first wall of the band, and 
 wherein the opening is configured to allow a user of the camera to access a user interface of the camera when the camera is secured into the band; 
   a latching mechanism coupling two adjacent walls of the band; and   a mounting mechanism extending from a second wall of the band and configured to secure the housing to a reciprocal mounting mechanism.   
     
     
         13 . The housing of  claim 12 , wherein the first wall is a top wall and the second wall is a bottom wall. 
     
     
         14 . The housing of  claim 12 , wherein the band has a substantially rectangular cross-section and is configured to surroundingly capture the camera when the camera is compressibly secured within the housing. 
     
     
         15 . The housing of  claim 12 , wherein the latching mechanism is configured to allow for insertion or removal of the camera in an open position. 
     
     
         16 . The housing of  claim 15 , wherein the latching mechanism in configured to cause the two adjacent walls of the band to flexibly deflect, thereby allowing for insertion or removal of the camera into or from the band when the latching mechanism is configured in the open position. 
     
     
         17 . The housing of  claim 15 , wherein the latching mechanism is configured to compressibly secure the camera within the band in a closed position. 
     
     
         18 . The housing of  claim 17 , wherein the latching mechanism is configured to cause the two adjacent walls of the band to abut, thereby securing the camera within the band when the latching mechanism is configured in the closed position. 
     
     
         19 . A housing for a camera, comprising:
 four adjacent walls forming a band,
 wherein the band has a substantially rectangular cross-section, 
 wherein the camera is compressibly secured within the band, 
 wherein each wall in an adjacent pair of walls is coupled via a rounded corner, 
 wherein an opening is defined in a top wall of the band, and 
 wherein the opening is configured to allow a user of the camera to access a user interface of the camera when the camera is secured into the band; 
   a mounting mechanism extending from a bottom wall of the band, wherein the mounting mechanism is configured to secure the housing to a reciprocal mounting mechanism; and   a latching mechanism coupling two adjacent walls of the band,
 wherein the latching mechanism secures the camera within the band in a closed configuration and allows insertion or removal of the camera into or from the band in an open configuration, and 
 wherein the two adjacent walls coupled by the latching mechanism abut in the closed configuration and are deflected from each other in the open configuration. 
   
     
     
         20 . The housing of  claim 19 , wherein the latching mechanism comprises a hinge mechanism, and wherein the latching mechanism is unlocked by lifting and rotating a portion of the hinge mechanism to move the latching mechanism between the closed configuration and the open configuration.