95 results about "Pan tilt zoom" patented technology

Position information of equipment at an event, such as a ball, one or more players, or other items in a game or sporting event, is used in selecting camera, camera shot type, camera angle, audio signals, and / or other output data for providing a multimedia presentation of the event to a viewer. The position information is used to determine the desired viewer perspective. A network of feedback robotically controlled Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ), manually controlled cameras and stationary cameras work together with interpolation techniques to create a 2D video signal. The position information may also be used to access gaming rules and assist officiating of the event. The position information may be obtained through a transceiver(s), accelerometer(s), transponder(s), and / or RADAR detectable element(s) fitted into the ball, apparel or equipment of players, the players themselves, or other playing equipment associated with the game or sporting event. Other positioning methods that can be used include infrared video-based tracking systems, SONAR positioning system(s), LIDAR positioning systems, and digital signal processing (DSP) image processing techniques such as triangulation.

A system and method for enabling real-time off-site video image storage is disclosed. An off-site storage site is coupled to camera servers at client sites via a private network. Each camera server is further coupled to one or more surveillance cameras. Video images captured by cameras located at the client sites are forwarded to an off-site server via a camera server. Video images received by the off-site server are produced for live viewing and / or archived in an image database. Users can retrieve live or archived video images through a client workstation that communicates with the off-site server over the public Internet. Retrieval of video images is based on a web-browser interface. Live viewing of video images is supplemented by real-time camera control functions that alter the pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) position of the camera producing the live images. Commands for controlling the PTZ camera are encoded by the client workstation and transmitted to the off-site server. The off-site server converts the camera control codes into control strings that are recognizable by the particular camera.

A system and method for assuring a high resolution image of an object, such as the face of a person, passing through a targeted space are provided. Both stationary and active or pan-tilt-zoom cameras are utilized. The at least one stationary camera acts as a trigger point such that when a person passes through a predefined targeted area of the at least one stationary camera, the system is triggered for object imaging and tracking. Upon the occurrence of a triggering event in the system, the system predicts the motion and position of the person. Based on this predicted position of the person, an active camera that is capable of obtaining an image of the predicted position is selected and may be controlled to focus its image capture area on the predicted position of the person. After the active camera control and image capture processes, the system evaluates the quality of the captured face images and reports the result to the security agents and interacts with the user.

A system and method for assuring a high resolution image of an object, such as the face of a person, passing through a targeted space are provided. Both stationary and active or pan-tilt-zoom cameras are utilized. The at least one stationary camera acts as a trigger point such that when a person passes through a predefined targeted area of the at least one stationary camera, the system is triggered for object imaging and tracking. Upon the occurrence of a triggering event in the system, the system predicts the motion and position of the person. Based on this predicted position of the person, an active camera that is capable of obtaining an image of the predicted position is selected and may be controlled to focus its image capture area on the predicted position of the person. After the active camera control and image capture processes, the system evaluates the quality of the captured face images and reports the result to the security agents and interacts with the user.

This invention relates to video cameras and, more specifically, to a high-resolution day / night video camera with a long lens, fast optics and pan / tilt / zoom electronics, coupled with a diode-pumped solid state laser illuminator for long range low light illumination. Potential applications include ports, borders, pipelines, power stations, communication transmitters and prisons.

A user interface and software system and architecture enables linking medical record information and patient location to a camera associated with that location when a particular patient is selected by a clinician using a health information system. The image of the patient as recorded by an in-room camera is displayed within a picture-in-picture display on a large plasma screen located at a command station, for example. The image may be controlled by a remote camera controller employing a Web-based user interface that allows a user to implement a pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera controller via mouse control, for example. Information relating to patient location is used to remotely control, via Web-based application, the selection of the appropriate camera and the type of display in which to show the image. The user interface associated with this architecture provides an efficient and intuitive means of selecting specific images and specific display styles. The system operates in a parent-child relationship in which information associated with a parent application (HIS, for instance) is passed to the application architecture, thereby providing a direct, error-free and positive link to the application.

An automated camera management system and method for capturing presentations using videography rules. The system and method use technology components and aesthetic components represented by the videography rules to capture a presentation. In general, the automated camera management method captures a presentation using videography rules to determine camera positioning, camera movement, and switching or transition between cameras. The videography rules depend on the type of presentation room and the number of audio-visual camera units used to capture the presentation. The automated camera management system of the invention uses the above method to capture a presentation in a presentation room. The system includes a least one audio-visual (A-V) camera unit for capturing and tracking a subject based on vision or sound. The (A-V) camera unit includes any combination of the following components: (1) a pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera; (2) a fixed camera; and (3) a microphone array.

The present invention describes systems and methods of incorporating detailed snapshots of targeted areas of interest into a video or digitized recording of the overall scene including metadata to link the snapshots to the time and location in the overall scene from which the snapshot was acquired. A single fixed high-resolution scene camera or a fixed standard resolution scene camera of analog or IP connected type is used, co-located with at least one pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera or by using the same scene camera in a mode where less than full resolution of the scene camera is used for video but snapshots of areas are captured by the same camera where higher resolution thereof is used for snapshots than for video. The area of interest is selected by the object-tracking feature of an intelligent video system, operated without human intervention, by electronically-implemented identification of the existence of area-specific subjects or targets of interest in the scene image field.

An apparatus and a method is provided for enhancing a digital image comprised of pixels by adaptively sharpening the pixels and clipping the numerical values of the sharpened edge pixels so as to fall between the smallest unsharpened numerical value and the greatest unsharpened numerical value, respectively, of the pixels located within a neighborhood of the pixels. Pixels which are located on an edge are sharpened in the direction perpendicular to the edge. The threshold value used to ascertain the presence of an edge and sharpening parameter used to control the degree of sharpening can be adaptively controlled by the zoom ratio. The apparatus of the invention is particularly suited for an electronic set-top video camera.

The present invention is a videoimaging system with boom-mounted pan-tilt-zoom video camera in which the camera core is mounted on a remotely-controlled rotate-pan-tilt mount for three-axis rotation about three mutually orthogonal axes, a vertical yaw axis, a horizontal roll axis, and a horizontal pitch axis, all three axes intersecting at a common point. Rotation of the camera core about the yaw axis varies the azimuth (compass bearing) of the pointing direction of the camera, rotation about the roll axis varies the angular orientation of the field of view, and rotation about the pitch axis varies the altitude (angle of elevation) of the pointing direction. The camera and lighting unit disclosed herein provides a remote control zoom and improved pan-tilt mechanism for videoimaging, videoconferencing, production, lighting and recording.

The present invention describes systems and methods of incorporating detailed snapshots of targeted areas of interest into a video or digitized recording of the overall scene including metadata to link the snapshots to the time and location in the overall scene from which the snapshot was acquired. A single fixed high-resolution scene camera or a fixed standard resolution scene camera of analog or IP connected type is used, co-located with at least one pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera or by using the same scene camera in a mode where less than full resolution of the scene camera is used for video but snapshots of areas are captured by the same camera where higher resolution thereof is used for snapshots than for video. The area of interest is selected by the object-tracking feature of an intelligent video system, operated without human intervention, by electronically-implemented identification of the existence of area-specific subjects or targets of interest in the scene image field.

The invention relates to an orthophoto pan-tilt-zoom of an unmanned plane. A camera is controlled by a control device of the pan-tilt-zoom and is led to keep the optical axis thereof to be vertical with the ground in the flying process, thus improving mapping precision and greatly reducing flying operation time. The orthophoto pan-tilt-zoom of the unmanned plane is assembled at the bottom part of the unmanned plane; the camera is arranged on a base of the pan-tilt-zoom; the base is connected with an X-axis control group and a Y-axis control group of the pan-tilt-zoom; the X-axis control group and the Y-axis control group are respectively comprise a gyro, an electronic speed regulator and a server which are connected in sequence; and the gyro is connected with a remote-control receiver and a power supply in sequence; when the unmanned plane flies, the incidence angle of optical axis of the camera to the ground generates deviation, at the time, the gyro detects deviation rate of the camera and outputs corresponding signals to the electronic speed regulator; the electronic speed regulator controls the server to make corresponding rotation to output opposite moment so as to damp the generation and continuity of deviation of the camera and lead the camera to restore the state vertical to the ground naturally by the center of gravity of the camera.

The invention discloses a method capable of amplifying and tracking a goal in a master-slave mode between a fixed camera and a pan tilt zoom (PTZ) camera and relates to the field of video surveillance. The method capable of amplifying and tracking the goal in the master-slave mode between the fixed camera and the PTZ camera achieves that the goal in an image is quickly amplified and tracked in the master-slave mode. The method includes the steps of building matching relation between view of the wide angle fixed camera and view of the PTZ camera, thereby converting a goal image coordinate found in the fixed camera to a corresponding PTZ control command, controlling PTZ to automatically aiming at the goal to appropriately zoom, and driving PTZ camera by a tracking result of the fixed camera to keep tracking to the goal. The method capable of amplifying and tracking the goal in the master-slave mode between the fixed camera and the PTZ camera has the advantages of being capable of achieving 'what you see is what you get' due to the fact that the goal is directly clicked and selected through the fixed camera with the wide view angle, fast in response speed of a user, simple and convenient, good in user experience, capable of avoiding difficulties in dynamic tracking to form a reliable solution by adopting the mature static camera goal tracking technology and matching with fixed PTZ camera coordinate mapping steps with high reliability.

The invention relates to an intelligent moving mechanical arm control system. A traditional control system has poor hierarchy, structural property and remote operability. A portable computer in the invention is in signal connection with an embedded industrial computer; a laser sensor, a global positioning system, a three-dimensional digital compass, a USB / CAN bus, an image acquisition card, a wireless video camera and a network switch are in signal connection with the embedded industrial computer respectively; a pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera is in signal connection with the image acquisition card; a wireless access node is in signal connection with the network switch; an independent navigation trolley controller, an arm region controller and an arm joint module are in signal connection with the USB / CAN bus respectively; and a gyroscope, an ultrasonic sensor, a collision switch and left and right wheel motor servo drivers are in signal connection with the independent navigation trolley controller respectively. The system can perform remote control on the independent moving trolley and the modularized mechanical arm respectively, has distinct hierarchy and reduces the expenditure of an upper computer.

A camera system and method for operating that system. The camera system comprises a stationary camera having a wide angle view, a remotely controllable camera having a relatively smaller angle view for providing images in substantially full resolution, and a processor. The processor monitors the wide angle view of the stationary camera, receives information concerning a selected desired subject within the wide angle view, generates an electronic pan-tilt-zoom view of the selected desired subject based on the wide angle view of the stationary camera, controls the remotely controllable camera for providing a view that overlaps the electronic pan-tilt-zoom view of the desired subject, and processes the electronic pan-tilt-zoom view of the desired subject in accordance with the resolution of the remotely controllable camera.

The invention provides a master-slave tracking method for a binocular PTZ (Pan-Tilt-Zoom) visual system and a system applying the method. The master-slave tracking method comprises the following steps of: respectively calibrating two PTZ cameras, thereby obtaining camera coordinate system models; establishing a spherical coordinate system, enabling longitude values of corresponding points on two PTZ camera coordinate systems to keep consistent on the spherical coordinate system, expressing visual angle differences by using latitude differences, and respectively obtaining transformation matrixes from the two PTZ camera coordinate systems; and deciding on a master camera and a slave camera, selecting a tracking object from observation images of the master camera, and enabling the master camera to estimate PTZ parameters (Pts, Tts and Zts) of the slave camera at any PTZ parameters (PM, TM and ZM); and outputting a high-resolution panoramagram. The master-slave tracking method provided by the invention can realize the monitoring on wide-range scenes and can reduce hardware overhead. According to the master-slave tracking system provided by the invention, the two PTZ cameras are of a symmetrical design, the positions of the two PTZ cameras can be exchanged according to different tasks, the flexibility is strong, and the subsequent information fusion is favored.

An apparatus for acquiring a face image using multiple cameras so as to identify a human being located at a remote site is disclosed. The apparatus for acquiring a face image using multiple cameras allows a PTZ camera to track an interest object from among objects detected / tracked by a fixed camera, and obtains an optimum face image for remote human identification from images generated by the PTZ camera. The apparatus for acquiring the face image using multiple cameras so as to identify a human located at a remote site includes a multi-camera control module for tracking an interest object being detected / tracked by a fixed camera through a Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) camera, and generating an image of the interest object; and a face-image acquisition module for acquiring a face image appropriate for identifying a face image of the remote human in the interest object image generated by the multi-camera control module.

The invention discloses a networking video monitoring system. The system comprises multiple pan-tilt-zoom cameras serving as video monitoring front-end devices and a main monitoring center provided with a main control device, wherein the main control device is connected with the multiple pan-tilt-zoom cameras, a monitoring processing unit installed on each pan-tilt-zoom camera is connected with a geographical location information acquiring unit, a level angle acquiring and setting unit, an elevation angle acquiring and setting unit, a ranging unit and a data storage unit, and the main control device of the main monitoring center is connected with the monitoring processing unit of each pan-tilt-zoom camera. Furthermore, the invention discloses a method for achieving real-time linkage monitoring of the networking video monitoring system. According to the method and system, real-time all-weather uninterrupted video monitoring can be conducted on any monitored object through the urban networking video monitoring system in time quickly, comprehensive and multi-angle shooting requirements of users can be met, and production and working safety of a monitored area is guaranteed.

Provided are vision watching system and method for a safety hat. The vision watching system includes: a receiver which receives an image signal of a watching zone of a camera; a processor which determines whether an object of the image signal is a person, based on a size and an outline of the object and determines whether the person wears a safety hat, based on at least one or more of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) values of a head part of the person and a Hue value of Hue, Saturation, Value (HSV) of the head part; and a transmitter which outputs a Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) control signal of the camera to obtain a thumbnail image of the person when determining the person who does not wear the safety hat.

This system provides a wide range of smooth and precisely controlled low and high speeds for pan-tilt-zoom surveillance cameras, in which a brushless motor is controlled by a Microcontroller in a low speed mode by sinusoidal synchronous commutation, in a high speed mode by block commutation, and in in a transition phase from the low speed mode to the high speed mode by modulating integrated pulse-width modulation (PWM) square waves with sine waves. PID and lookup table registers are used by a microcontroller for a smooth transition from high speed mode to low speed mode, and from low speed mode to high speed mode, phase locking a sine position during transitions, in order to give a surveillance camera an ability to quickly move from one target to another at up to 100 degrees per second yet track objects that are moving very slowly.

An information processing apparatus and method is disclosed wherein a detailed image of a moving body can be picked up accurately. A tracking object pan tilt zoom module reads out moving body information stored in a moving body tracking rank management database at predetermined intervals of time, and pan tilt movement of a zoom camera is controlled based on angle-of-view information as appearance information corresponding to an angle of view of a moving body having the highest priority rank. At this time, an additional tracking object pan tilt module reads out the latest moving body information of the moving body tracking rank management database at intervals of time sufficiently shorter than the predetermined intervals of time at which the tracking object pan tilt zoom process is repeated, and the pan tilt movement of the zoom camera is further controlled repetitively.

This application discloses a system and related methods (called Fast Track) to effortlessly navigate across multiple cameras, e.g. video surveillance cameras distributed in a facility. Fast Track simplifies the act of following a suspicious individual roaming in a facility, e.g. by eliminating the need for security operators to memorize camera placement and coverage, and to manually control pan-tilt-zoom (hereinafter “PTZ”) cameras, and by simplifying the process to reduce the risk of operator error. Combinations of novel scoring and control methods generally provide an automatic identification of optimal cameras and pre-emptive re-direction of PTZ cameras. Extensions to these methods enable two new capabilities: Cooperative PTZ Control (e.g. coordinating PTZs to cover a 3D map viewport optimally) and Self-Healing Perimeters, to automatically reassign and redirect multiple PTZ cameras to fill gaps in a security perimeter.

A method and apparatus acquires images of a scene with an omni-directional imager and a pan-tilt-zoom imager. A relationship between pixels in the input image and locations in the scene is expressed in terms of polar coordinates. An event is detected in the input images and the omni-directional pan-tilt-zoom camera is directed at the event in the scene using the relationship expressed in the polar coordinates.

The invention discloses a method, a device and a system of pan tilt zoom (PTZ) control of a video camera based on kinect. PTZ control of the video camera for security and protection monitoring can be achieved through human movements, complex operation interfaces are not required, and PTA control of the video camera is operated simply and conveniently through a video monitoring system. The method, the device and the system comprise that the human movements are caught through the kinect, human movement vector quantity data are input into behavior identification software, after corresponding data optimization, data conversion and behavior judgment, the human movements are converted into PTZ control commands of the monitoring video camera, the PTZ control commands include upward shift, downward shift, left shift, right shift, picture enlargement, picture shrink, preset position switchover, windshield wiper starting and the like, the control commands are sent to the video camera to conduct PTZ control, the video executes corresponding movements, and operation results are displayed in real time through real-time video frames.

A pan tilt zoom (PTZ) camera system implements a disc valve system to enhance the cooling of electronics. The disc valve system includes a static camera base and a rotating camera pan bearing. The static camera base has static base vent slots arranged along the perimeter of the static camera base. The rotating camera pan bearing includes at least one pan bearing vent slot that aligns with the static base vent slots. During rotation of the rotating camera pan bearing, the at least one pan bearing vent slot aligns with the static base vent slots enabling movement of air over electronics of the (PTZ) camera system.

Using image picking up device with functions of omnidirectional rotation and Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) tracks mobile object. After comparing current image picked up by the PTZ image picking up device with a previous image, processor defines mobile object in frame, based on the position of the mobile object, the method rotates the image picking up device to track the mobile object. When the mobile object enters into zooming range of the image picking up device, if the mobile object possesses too small or too large proportion in the frame, then the processor can adjust focus of the image picking up device to make the mobile object possess proper proportion in the frame in order to provide clear image with high resolution.

In one exemplary embodiment a method calibrates a pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera system. The PTZ camera system may include a PTZ camera. The method may perform at least one of the following steps: determining a radial distortion of the PTZ camera; determining a base focal length of the PTZ camera; determining a zoom and magnification profile of the PTZ camera; determining an actuation delay of the PTZ camera system; determining a pan position mode speed and / or a tilt position mode speed of the PTZ camera; determining a pan velocity profile and / or a tilt velocity profile of the PTZ camera; determining a zoom position profile and / or a zoom duration profile of the PTZ camera; determining a query delay of the PTZ camera system; and determining a minimum query interval of the PTZ camera system.

The disclosure provides an approach for mimicking human camera operation with an autonomous camera system. In one embodiment, camera planning is formulated as a supervised regression problem in which an automatic broadcasting application receives one video input captured by a human-operated camera and another video input captured by a stationary camera with a wider field of view. The automatic broadcasting application extracts feature vectors and pan-tilt-zoom states from the stationary camera and the human-operated camera, respectively, and learns a regressor which takes as input such feature vectors and outputs pan-tilt-zoom settings predictive of what the human camera operator would choose. The automatic broadcasting application may then apply the learned regressor on newly captured video to obtain planned pan-tilt-zoom settings and control an autonomous camera to achieve the planned settings to record videos which resemble the work of a human operator in similar situations.

A control system of a PTZ (Pan Tilt Zoom) photographic device is applied to a handheld device which is connected with the PTZ photographic device through a network. When a user selects to access the PTZ photographic device, the control system transmits an initialized signal to the PTZ photographic device to enable a lens of the PTZ photographic device to be adjusted to the initial position and receives and displays obtained initial images in a monitoring area through photographing of the PTZ photographic device. The control system converts tilt information of the handheld device to rotating information of the lens according to preset relevance and sends the rotating information to the PTZ photographic device so as to control the lens to rotate correspondingly and receives obtained current images in the monitoring area through re-photographing after rotation of the lens. When the user performs zoom adjustment on the current images displayed on a display screen, the control system converts an adjustment ratio of the current images to an adjustment ratio of a focus length of the lens according to the preset relevance and sends the adjustment ratio of the focus length of the lens to the PTZ photographic device so as to adjust the focus length of the lens. The invention further provides a control method of the PTZ photographic device.