Motion detector camera

Abstract

A motion detector camera including a housing having a mounting member in a bottom surface for mounting the housing to a tripod, the housing having an film advance mechanism for automatically advancing a film of the camera after each exposure. The camera includes a wide angle lens attached to a front surface of the housing, a motion detector attached to a front surface of the housing, and a flash attached to the housing and having a range of at least 23 feet. The camera also includes a controller for controlling the flash and a shutter of the camera, wherein the controller receives a signal from the motion detector indicating a triggering event and the controller causes the flash to flash if necessary and causes the shutter to form an exposure on the film.

1 . An apparatus comprising: 
 a housing;    a camera within the housing;    a motion detector; and    a controller coupled to the motion detector and the camera, the controller having a test mode, wherein when the controller is in the test mode, a triggering signal received by the controller from the motion detector activates a test indicator and does not activate the camera.    
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the test indicator includes a light.  
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further including a flash exposed on a surface of the housing.  
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the test indicator includes an LED light that blinks when it is activated.  
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the controller includes an active mode, wherein when in the active mode, a triggering signal received by the controller from the motion detector activates the camera.  
     
     
         6 . A method comprising: 
 placing a motion detector camera into a test state;    activating a motion detector associated with the motion detector camera to send a triggering signal to a controller; and    the controller activating a test indicator on the motion detector camera.    
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein activating a test indicator includes causing a light to blink.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein activating the motion detector includes manually activating the motion detector.  
     
     
         9 . An apparatus comprising: 
 a housing;    a camera mechanism located within the housing;    a motion detector exposed on a surface of the housing;    a flash exposed on a surface of the housing and separated from the camera mechanism such that the flash and camera are not a separate stand-alone unit;    a controller coupled to the motion detector, the flash, and the camera mechanism; and    a test indicator coupled to the controller, wherein when the controller is put into a testing state, the controller activates the test indicator when the motion detector delivers a triggering signal but the controller does not cause the camera mechanism to take a picture.    
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein the test indicator includes a light exposed on a surface of the housing.  
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein the controller includes an active state, wherein when in the active state, the controller activates the camera mechanism in response to a triggering signal.  
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , further including an activity counter to indicate a number of pictures taken by the camera mechanism.  
     
     
         13 . An apparatus comprising: 
 a housing;    a camera mechanism located within the housing;    a motion detector exposed on a surface of the housing;    a flash exposed on a surface of the housing and separated from the camera mechanism such that the flash and camera mechanism are not a separate stand-alone unit; and    a controller for controlling the flash and the camera mechanism, wherein the controller includes a pause state, wherein when in the pause state the controller does not cause the camera mechanism to take any pictures in response to a triggering signal received by the controller from the motion detector.    
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein the pause state is a predetermined amount of time between 1 minute and 60 minutes.  
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 13 , further including an activity counter to indicate a number of pictures taken by the camera mechanism.  
     
     
         16 . An apparatus comprising: 
 a camera located within a housing;    a motion detector exposed on a surface of the housing;    a controller coupled to the motion detector to activate the camera when the motion detector delivers a triggering signal to the controller; and    a display to display a number of pictures taken by the camera.    
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 16 , wherein the display includes an LCD screen exposed on a surface of the housing.  
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 16 , wherein the camera further includes a power source located within the housing and the display also displays a level of power left in the power source.  
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 16 , further including a flash exposed on a surface of the housing and separated from the camera such that the flash and camera are not a separate stand-alone unit.