De-Warped Video PTZ Tracking for Static Camera Footage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Cameras that cannot mechanically pan, tilt, or zoom produce videos with a single static point of view, making it difficult to modify recorded video to incorporate dynamic PTZ changes, such as tracking objects or events of interest.
Innovation Solution
A user interface allows users to record PTZ changes on a de-warped pre-recorded video, capturing PTZ values and timestamps, which are then transmitted to a remote compute device to generate a PTZ-modified video by applying pixel-to-pixel transformations based on the recorded changes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a camera cannot mechanically pan, tilt, or zoom, then the camera structure is simple and reliable, but the video output has a single static point of view and cannot track objects or events of interest
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical pan-tilt-zoom mechanisms with digital image processing techniques. A fixed camera captures video, and software algorithms dynamically crop, scale, and reposition video frames to simulate PTZ movements. This substitution eliminates complex mechanical components while achieving the same functional effect of tracking objects and changing viewpoints in the recorded video.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a digital copy of the video signal and applies transformations to the copy rather than moving the physical camera. By generating a virtual representation of the scene with adjustable viewpoint parameters, the system achieves multiple viewpoints from a single fixed camera position, effectively copying the visual information and manipulating it digitally.
2Adaptability or versatility
If pre-recorded video is to be modified with PTZ changes, then the video can track objects dynamically, but the processing complexity and computational resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary actions by capturing the full-scene video at high resolution with a fixed camera, preserving all visual information. The PTZ effects are applied later during playback or post-processing, allowing flexible manipulation without requiring complex real-time processing during the original recording. This preliminary capture of complete information enables subsequent dynamic tracking through software.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary processing layer between the fixed camera and the final video output. This intermediary software module receives the raw video signal, applies PTZ transformations (cropping, scaling, panning), and generates the modified video output. This intermediary layer decouples the simple camera hardware from the complex video manipulation tasks, managing processing complexity in a dedicated software component.
Data Source
AI summary
A set of PTZ values associated with a video and a set of timestamps associated with the video are received. The set of PTZ values is generated (1) after a first command from a user to start recording PTZ changes, (2) before a second command from the user to stop recording the PTZ changes, and (3) based on sampling PTZ actions taken by the user, relative to the video, after the first command, and before the second command. Each PTZ value from the set of PTZ values has an associated timestamp from the set of timestamps that indicates a portion of the video from which that PTZ value was sampled. A modified video is generated based on the set of PTZ values and the set of timestamps.