Systems and methods to control camera operations

• US 10,212,325 B2
• Filed: 02/17/2016
• Issued: 02/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AlpineReplay, Inc.
• Original Assignee: AlpineReplay, Inc.
• Inventors: Lokshin, David J., Lokshin, Anatole M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cutler, Albert H
• Application Number:
  US15/046,144
• Publication Number:
  US 20160241768A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,098 Days
• Field of Search: 348143-159, 34820711, 34821199-21114
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/66 Remote control of cameras or camera parts, e.g. by remote control devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/69 Control of means for changing angle of the field of view, e.g. optical zoom objectives or electronic zooming

Abstract

Systems and methods to control operations of a camera based on one or more sensors attached to one or more actors. Sensor data collected from the sensors is analyzed to identify a state of an actor. The state of the actor is used to determine an operation parameter of the camera, such as the zoom level of the camera and/or the direction of the camera, and control the operation of the camera. For example, an actor who is in a state about to perform an interesting action can be selected from a plurality of actors; and the direction and the zoom level of the camera can be adjusted to focus on the selected actor in capture one or more subsequent images.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a plurality of processing units associated with a plurality of actors participating in an activity, wherein each respective actor of the actors having one or more sensors in communication with a respective processing unit among the plurality of processing units, the respective processing unit configured to process sensor data from the one or more sensors to identify patterns in the sensor data used to identify a state of the respective actor, wherein the state comprises action performance characteristics of an athletic maneuver;

at least one interface to communicate with the processing units, receive from the processing units data identifying states of the actors determined from sensors attached to the actors, and communicate with a camera;

at least one microprocessor; and

a memory storing instructions configured to instruct the at least one microprocessor to;

select an actor from the plurality of actors based on the states of the actors in response to action performance characteristics of a current state of the actor matching with or predicting a predefined athletic maneuver; and

adjust, via the at least one interface, an operation parameter of the camera to focus on the actor selected from the plurality of actors, based on the data identifying the states of the actors matching with or predicting the predefined athletic maneuver.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions are further configured to instruct the at least one microprocessor to identify the actor of focus from the plurality of actors based on the states of the actors.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the operation parameter is one of:

a zoom level of the camera, and a direction of the camera.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the actor of focus is selected based at least in part on performances of the plurality of actors measured using the sensors attached to the actors.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the actor of focus is selected based at least in part on a prediction, based on the states of the actors, that the actor of focus is about to perform an action of interest.

6. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a computing device, sensor data from one or more sensors attached to an actor;

identifying patterns in the sensor data to determine, by the computing device, a current state of the actor, wherein the state comprises an action performance characteristic of an athletic maneuver;

selecting the actor from a plurality of actors in response to the action performance characteristic of the current state of the actor matching with or predicting a predefined athletic maneuver; and

controlling a camera to focus on the actor, selected from the plurality of actors based on the current state of the actor matching with or predicting the predefined athletic maneuver, as determined based on the sensor data.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the controlling of the camera includes:

determining an operation parameter of the camera; and

adjusting the camera based on the operation parameter.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the operation parameter includes a zoom level of the camera.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the operation parameter includes a direction of the camera.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the actor is a first actor;

and the method further comprises;

receiving, by the computing device, second sensor data from one or more sensors attached to a second actor;

determining, by the computing device, a state of the second actor based on the second sensor data;

comparing the state of the first actor and the state of the second actor; and

selecting an operation parameter for the camera based on the comparing of the state of the first actor and the state of the second actor.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the selecting of the operation parameter includes:

selecting the first actor from the plurality of actors including the first actor and the second actor, based on comparing the state of the first actor and the state of the second actor;

determining the operation parameter based on an identification of the first actor selected based on the comparing.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the operation parameter is selected to increase a percentage of an image of the first actor within an image captured by the camera.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the operation parameter is selected to reduce a percentage of an image of the second actor within the image captured by the camera.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the operation parameter is selected based on a location of the first actor.

15. The method of claim 6, wherein the one or more sensors are attached to a piece of athletic equipment of the actor.

16. The method of claim 6, wherein the one or more sensors include at least one of:

a GPS device, an inertial sensor, a magnetic sensor, and a pressure sensor.

17. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

causing the camera to capture one or more images based on the controlling of the camera.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

overlaying data derived from the sensor data on the one or more images.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

tagging the one or more images with information derived from the sensor data; and

storing the tagged images in a database, wherein the tagged images are retrievable via the tagged information.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving, by the computing device, sensor data from one or more sensors attached to an actor;

identifying patterns in the sensor data to determine, by the computing device, a current state of the actor, wherein the state comprises action performance characteristics of an athletic maneuver;

selecting the actor from a plurality of actors in response to the action performance characteristics of the current state of the actor matching with or predicting a predefined athletic maneuver; and

controlling a camera to focus on the actor, selected from the plurality of actors based on the current state of the actor matching with or predicting the predefined athletic maneuver, as determined based on the sensor data.

21. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a computing device, sensor data from one or more sensors attached to an actor;

processing, by the computing device, the sensor data to identify patterns in the sensor data indicative of a current state of the actor, wherein the state comprises an action performance characteristic of an athletic maneuver;

selecting the actor from a plurality of actors in response to the action performance characteristic of the current state of the actor matching with or predicting a predefined athletic maneuver; and

presenting, by the computing device, information on a user interface to cause a human operator to;

predict an action of the actor, and

control a camera based on the action predicted based on the information presented in the user interface.