Whiteboard view camera
First Claim
1. A camera system for capturing images of a whiteboard comprising:
- a boom positioned above a whiteboard;
a single view camera mounted to the distal end of said boom and adjusted such that a tilt angle of a lens with respect to a sensor plane of the single view camera is zero so as to capture an in focus uniform resolution image of said entire whiteboard, wherein the in focus uniform resolution image of said entire whiteboard is captured by,inputting the parameters of the whiteboard comprising whiteboard width, whiteboard height, the height of the whiteboard as imaged by the single view camera, the horizontal distance between the whiteboard and the center of projection of the single view camera, the height of the image sensor, and vertical distance between the center of projection of the single view camera and the top of the whiteboard; and
setting a tilt angle of the image sensor with the vertical axis to be approximately parallel with respect to the plane of the whiteboard;
computing the focal length of the single view camera using the input parameters of the whiteboard and the set tilt angle so as to capture an in focus, uniform resolution image of the whiteboard.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A whiteboard view camera, which in one embodiment is mounted on a boom, which is fixed above the whiteboard. However, the whiteboard view camera can also be wall or table mounted. The whiteboard view camera differs from an ordinary camera by allowing the lens to tilt with respect to the sensor plane, and shift with respect to the central ray. When the tilt angle α is zero, then the resolution of whiteboard is uniform (e.g., the top and bottom of the whiteboard have the same resolution). In addition, the focus plane is equal to the whiteboard plane, so depth of field issues are not a problem (e.g., a large aperture can be used). Hence, no image noise is introduced. A key contribution of the whiteboard view camera configuration according to the invention is the use of a view camera to capture whiteboard images at uniform resolutions. One embodiment of the whiteboard view camera employs a microphone array of the invention and uses a computer to optimize the image data and audio signals.
-
Citations
24 Claims
-
1. A camera system for capturing images of a whiteboard comprising:
-
a boom positioned above a whiteboard; a single view camera mounted to the distal end of said boom and adjusted such that a tilt angle of a lens with respect to a sensor plane of the single view camera is zero so as to capture an in focus uniform resolution image of said entire whiteboard, wherein the in focus uniform resolution image of said entire whiteboard is captured by, inputting the parameters of the whiteboard comprising whiteboard width, whiteboard height, the height of the whiteboard as imaged by the single view camera, the horizontal distance between the whiteboard and the center of projection of the single view camera, the height of the image sensor, and vertical distance between the center of projection of the single view camera and the top of the whiteboard; and setting a tilt angle of the image sensor with the vertical axis to be approximately parallel with respect to the plane of the whiteboard; computing the focal length of the single view camera using the input parameters of the whiteboard and the set tilt angle so as to capture an in focus, uniform resolution image of the whiteboard. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. A process of capturing images of a whiteboard, comprising the following process actions:
-
positioning a single view camera above a whiteboard at the end of a boom so as to capture images of a desired portion of the whiteboard; adjusting the single view camera such that the tilt angle of the lens with respect to the sensor plane of the camera is zero before capturing said images to provide uniform resolution in-focus images of said whiteboard, wherein adjusting the single view camera comprises, computing the focal length that will provide said uniform resolution and in-focus images of the whiteboard, wherein computing the focal length comprises; inputting the whiteboard width, whiteboard height, the height of the whiteboard as imaged by the single view camera Hwb, the horizontal distance D between the whiteboard and the center of projection of the single view camera (C), the height of the image sensor Hs, and vertical distance between C and the top of the whiteboard Hc; setting a tilt angle α
of the image sensor with the vertical axis to be approximately parallel with respect to the plane of the whiteboard; andcomputing the focal length as
f=Hscsc(θ
)sin(90+α
−
θ
−
tan−
1(Hc/D))
wherein
θ
=90−
(tan−
1(Hc/D)+tan−
1(D/(Hwb+Hc)));and automatically setting the single view camera'"'"'s focal length to the computed focal length. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for viewing or recording images of a whiteboard using a view camera positioned to have a view of a whiteboard and adjusted such that the tilt angle of the lens with respect to the sensor plane of the camera is zero so as to capture an in focus, uniform resolution image of the whiteboard, said computer executable instructions comprising:
-
inputting the parameters of the whiteboard comprising whiteboard width, whiteboard height, the height of the whiteboard as imaged by the camera, the horizontal distance between the whiteboard and the center of projection of the camera, the height of the image sensor, and vertical distance between the center of projection of the camera and the top of the whiteboard; and setting a tilt angle of the image sensor with the vertical axis to be approximately parallel with respect to the plane of the whiteboard; computing the focal length of the camera using the input parameters of the whiteboard and the set tilt angle so as to capture an in focus, uniform resolution image of the whiteboard. - View Dependent Claims (19)
-
-
20. A process of capturing images of a whiteboard from multiple vantage points, comprising the following process actions:
-
positioning more than one single view camera above a whiteboard and at a fixed distance from a whiteboard so as to view the whiteboard; and adjusting each of said single view cameras so that the tilt angle of the lens with respect to the sensor plane of the single view camera is zero in order to capture a uniform resolution, in-focus images of said entire whiteboard, wherein adjusting each of said single view cameras further comprises for each single view camera; inputting the parameters of the whiteboard comprising whiteboard width, whiteboard height, the height of the whiteboard as imaged by the single view camera, the horizontal distance between the whiteboard and the center of projection of the single view camera, the height of the image sensor, and vertical distance between the center of projection of the single view camera and the top of the whiteboard; and setting a tilt angle of the image sensor with the vertical axis to be approximately parallel with respect to the plane of the whiteboard; computing the focal length of the camera using the input parameters of the whiteboard and the set tilt angle so as to capture an in focus, uniform resolution image of the whiteboard. - View Dependent Claims (21)
-
-
22. A camera system for capturing images of a whiteboard comprising:
-
a single view camera positioned on the end of a boom mounted above a whiteboard and adjusted such that the tilt angle of the lens with respect to the sensor plane of the camera is zero so as to capture an in-focus uniform resolution image of a whiteboard, wherein the in focus uniform resolution image of said entire whiteboard is captured by, inputting the parameters of the whiteboard comprising whiteboard width, whiteboard height, the height of the whiteboard as imaged by the camera, the horizontal distance between the whiteboard and the center of projection of the single view camera, the height of the image sensor, and vertical distance between the center of projection of the single view camera and the to of the whiteboard; and setting a tilt angle of the image sensor with the vertical axis to be approximately parallel with respect to the plane of the whiteboard; computing the focal length of the single view camera using the input parameters of the whiteboard and the set tilt angle so as to capture an in focus, uniform resolution image of the whiteboard. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
-
Specification