US 5,121,200 · Granted 1992-06-09
The Hidden Camera System That Protects Your Car's Blind Spots
Imagine a camera mounted on your car that can pop out when you need it and hide away when you don't—protecting itself from rain, snow, and thieves. This 1992 invention combines a motorized camera that extends and retracts with a display screen inside your car, giving drivers a better view of what's happening around their vehicle.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a motorized camera system for vehicles that can physically extend outward for monitoring and retract inward for protection and concealment. What's protected here is the specific combination of a monitoring camera, a display unit, a motorized mechanism for extending and hiding the camera, and an auxiliary rear-view mirror component designed to work together as an integrated safety system.
Why it matters
This patent represents an early approach to solving a real safety problem: how to add camera monitoring to vehicles without leaving sensitive equipment exposed to theft or weather damage. By 1992, this kind of retractable camera system was innovative—it anticipated modern backup cameras and parking-assist systems by decades, though with mechanical complexity that digital solutions would later simplify.
Real-world use
When you're reversing your car or need to see around a blind corner, the camera extends automatically, and you view the feed on a dashboard screen; when you park and lock up, the camera retracts into the vehicle body to stay safe.
Original USPTO abstract
A travelling monitoring system for motor vehicles on which a monitoring camera is mounted is disclosed herein. The system includes a monitoring part, a display part, and a part for protruding and hiding the camera. The camera is designed to be protected from the bad weather of snow or rain and the possibility of the burglary by the adaptation of the part for protruding and hiding therefor. The system also includes an auxiliary rear-view mirror part provided against the extraordinary condition.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 5,121,200
- Filing date
- 1990-07-06
- Grant date
- 1992-06-09
- Assignee
- Choi Seung Lyul
- Inventor(s)
- CHOI; SEUNG-LYUL
- CPC class
- H04N7/185
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