METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ON-SCREEN CAMERA CONTROL IN VIDEO-CONFERENCE EQUIPMENT

摘要

A video conferencing system in which a participant may change the camera position or zoom by using a pointing device, such as a mouse, to position a cursor on the video display screen. In one embodiment, the user can control the panning and tilting of the camera by positioning the cursor on one of four arrowheads located on the four edges of the video display screen. The arrowheads are outlines, transparent inside the lines, overlaid onto the video conference image. When a user moves the cursor into a predefined active area surrounding the arrowheads, the entire arrowhead changes to an appearance (e.g. bright color) to indicate that it is active. Once the cursor is in the active area, the user can press a button on the pointing device to move the camera in the desired direction. If the user holds down the button, the camera continues to move in the chosen direction. If the user clicks the button, the camera moves in short increments in the chosen direction. This clicking method allows the user to make small adjustments in the camera's position, whereas holding down the button on the pointing device enables the user to make larger changes in camera position quickly and efficiently. Using this technique of camera control, a participant in a video conference can point the cursor at the top arrow to move the camera up, the bottom arrow to move the camera down, and so on.