/Patent Tracker
GooglePatent applicationCameras & imagingInterest 7/10

Google patents camera that snaps photos when it hears or sees specific things

Google has filed a patent for a system where a voice assistant controls a camera based on user-set rules. The system uses machine learning to watch video and listen to audio, and only saves a photo or video if it detects a specific event, such as a person or sound. It can also adjust the camera's focus or zoom before taking the final picture.

Why it mattersThis could make security cameras or phone cameras more useful by letting them record only interesting moments, saving storage space and battery life without the user needing to watch the screen.

In the filing’s own words

Implementations set forth herein relate to an automated assistant that can control a camera according to one or more conditions specified by a user. A condition can be satisfied when, for example, the automated assistant detects a particular environment feature is apparent. In this way, the user can rely on the automated assistant to identify and capture certain moments without necessarily requiring the user to constantly monitor a viewing window of the camera. In some implementations, a condition for the automated assistant to capture media data can be based on application data and/or other contextual data that is associated with the automated assistant. For instance, a relationship between content in a camera viewing window and other content of an application interface can be a condition upon which the automated assistant captures certain media data using a camera.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A method implemented by one or more processors, comprising: receiving natural language input, wherein the natural language input is generated based on input from a user and includes instructions to operate a camera in response to detection of one or more conditions; determining, based on processing, using one or more machine learning models, initial image data that is captured by the camera and/or audio data that is captured by one or more microphones and stored in temporary storage, whether one or more of the conditions are detected in the image data and/or the audio data; and causing, in response to determining that one or more of the conditions are detected in the image data and/or the audio data, additional image data to be captured after adjusting a focal point and/or a zoom setting of the camera; and causing, in response to causing the additional image data to be captured, the additional image data and/or at least a portion of the initial image data to be persistently stored.

Facts

Company
Google (GOOGLE LLC)
Official title
CONDITIONAL CAMERA CONTROL VIA AUTOMATED ASSISTANT COMMANDS
Publication number
US20260292332A1
Application number
19686094
Filed
May 22, 2026
Published
Sep 24, 2026
Inventors
17
Claims
20

Classified under

H04N 23/64 Electricity & electronicsG06N 20/00 Physics & computingG10L 15/22 Physics & computingG10L 25/51 Physics & computingH04N 5/9201 Electricity & electronicsH04N 23/61 Electricity & electronics
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

More from Google in Cameras & imaging

Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.