Virtual positioning media control system

• US 6,529,853 B1
• Filed: 01/03/2000
• Issued: 03/04/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Acoustic Positioning Research Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Acoustic Positioning Research Incorporated
• Inventors: Bauer, Will N.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoff, Marc S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): West, Jeffrey R
• Application Number:
  US09/462,059
• Time in Patent Office: 1,156 Days
• Field of Search: 702/150, 702/151, 702/152, 702/153, 702/94, 702/95, 352/174, 352/178, 352/85, 382/107, 382/154, 382/276, 382/103, 362/3, 362/285, 362/257, 348/169, 348/172, 348/170, 348/208.14, 348/171, 348/211.7
• US Class Current: 702/152
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/222 Studio circuitry; Studio devices; Studio equipment cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors, or control thereof H04N23/00

Abstract

A control system for variably operable devices, such as spotlight systems (16) to follow the movements of a performer (12) over an area, derives control data from a tracking head (14) which follows the movements of the performer (12). The tracking head (14) may be operated manually to follow the performer. A frame of reference (10) is set up over the area (10A), the frame of reference including at least four calibration points (1, 2, 3, 4), any three of which are not collinear. The frame of reference (10) also includes a reference point of origin (C). Prom the X, Y, and Z coordinates of the tracking head with respect to the calibration points and from the pan and tilt angles of the tracking head, control commands for the variably operable apparatus are computed in real time.

Claims

1. A control system for variably operable apparatus in response to movement of an object over a large area characterized in that it comprises:

a fixed frame of reference (10) for said large area (10A), comprising at least four calibration points (1,2,3,4) any three of which are not collinear;

a further reference point of origin establishing X, Y and Z coordinates of each of said calibration points, the X, Y and Z coordinates being calculable;

a tracking head, having pan and tilt controls for tracking the movement of an object in the large area and measuring pan and tilt angles of the tracking head for each of said calibration points;

a variably operable system and means to establish control positions of the variably operable system for each of said calibration points;

computer means to calculate in real time from said X, Y and Z coordinates and from said pan and tilt angles, a series of pan and tilt angles for the variably operable system, a series of the X, Y, Z position and/or the pan, tilt and rotation angle offsets of the tracking head and the variably operable system; and

means to set in real time the variably operable system into conformity with calculated pan and tilt angle offsets therefor.

2. A control system as claimed in claim 1 in which the variably operable system is a system selected from lighting systems, computer controllable cameras, music systems, sound effect systems and computer controllable video projectors.

3. A control system as claimed in claim 2 in which said variably operable system comprises a plurality of lamps.

4. A control system as claimed in claim 3 in which said means to establish control positions of said variably operable system includes means to independently operate each lamp.

5. A control system as claimed in claim 1 in which said pan and tilt controls for measuring pan and tilt angles of the tracking head are capable of 100-15000 measurements per second.

6. A method of controlling variably operable apparatus in response to movement of an object over a large area characterized in that it comprises:

establishing a fixed frame of reference for said large area, comprising at least four calibration points any three of which are not collinear;

establishing a further reference point of origin establishing X, Y and Z coordinates of each of said calibration points and calculating the X, Y and Z coordinates;

tracking the movement of an object in the large area using a tracking head, having pan and tilt controls and measuring pan and tilt angles of the tracking head for each of said calibration points;

establishing control positions of the variably operable system for each of said calibration points;

calculating in real time using computer means and algorithms, from said X, Y and Z coordinates and from said pan and tilt angles, a series of pan and tilt angles for the variably operable system, and a series of the X, Y, Z positions and of the pan, tilt and rotation angle offsets of the tracking head and the variably operable system; and

setting in real time the variably operable system into conformity with calculated pan and tilt angle offsets therefor.

7. A method as claimed in claim 6 in which the variably operable system is a system selected from lighting systems, computer controllable cameras, music systems, sound effects systems and computer controllable video projectors.

8. A method as claimed in claim 7 in which said variably operable system comprises a plurality of lamps.

9. A method as claimed in claim 8 in which said means to establish control positions of said variably operable system includes means to independently operate each lamp.

10. A method as claimed in claim 6 in which 100-15000 measurements of pan and tilt angles of the tracking head are made each second.

11. A control system for a variably operable apparatus responsive to movement of an object over a large area, comprising:

a fixed frame of reference relative to said large area;

a tracking head at a known position and orientation relative to said frame of reference, said tracking head being pan and tilt rotatable relative to said frame of reference for line-of-sight tracking of the object as it moves over the large area, said tracking head having sensors for measuring pan and tilt angles of said tracking head;

a variably operable system at a known position and orientation relative to said frame of reference and remote from said tracking head;

computer means coupled to said sensors for determining the position of the object relative to said frame of reference based upon said pan and tilt angles and for calculating in real-time a control setting in response to the position of the object; and

control means coupled to said computer means and said variably operable system, for controlling, in real-time, said variably operable system in response to the calculated control setting.

12. The control system as claimed in claim 11, wherein said control setting includes pan and tilt settings for said variably operable system.

13. The control system as claimed in claim 12, wherein said control means includes actuators coupled to said variably operable system for controlling the pan and tilt of said variably operable system in response to the pan and tilt settings.

14. The control system as claimed in claim 13, wherein said computer means calculates said pan and tilt settings so as to direct the variably operable system at the position of the object.

15. The control system as claimed in claim 14, wherein said variably operable system is a lighting system.

16. The control system as claimed in claim 11, wherein said control setting includes a setting for a parameter selected from the group consisting of pan, tilt, volume, frequency, phase, colour, timbre, amplitude and intensity.

17. The control system as claimed in claim 11, wherein said variably operable system includes a plurality of independently controllable sub-systems, wherein said computer means calculates a separate control setting for each of the sub-systems, and wherein said control means includes a separate control means for each of the sub-systems.

18. The control system as claimed in claim 17, wherein said variably operable system includes a lighting system and each sub-system includes a lamp.

19. The control system as claimed in claim 18, wherein said separate control setings include pan and tilt settings.

20. The control system as claimed in claim 17, wherein said variably operable system includes a sound system and each sub-system includes a speaker.

21. The control system as claimed in claim 11, wherein said frame of reference includes at least four calibration points any three of which are not collinear.

22. The control system as claimed in claim 21, wherein said frame of reference is coplanar with said large area.

23. The control system as claimed in claim 11, wherein said variably operable system is selected from lighting systems, camera systems, music systems, sound effect systems, and projector systems.

24. A method of controlling a variably operable apparatus in response to movement of an object over a large area, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) establishing a frame of reference relative to the large area;

(b) tracking, by line-of-sight, the movement of the object using a tracking head at a known position and orientation relative to the frame of reference, the tracking head being pan and tilt rotatable relative to the frame of reference and having sensors for measuring pan and tilt angles of the tracking head;

(c) determining the position of the object relative to the frame of reference in response to the measurements of the sensors;

(d) calculating in real-time a control setting for a variably operable system in response to the position of the object, the variably operable system being at a known position and orientation relative to the frame of reference; and

(e) controlling, in real-time, the variably operable system in response to the calculated control setting.

25. The method as claimed in claim 24, wherein said step of determining includes a step of triangulating the position of the object based upon the known position and orientation of the tracking head and the measurements of the pan and tilt sensors as the tracking head tracks the object.

26. The method as claimed in claim 25, wherein said control setting includes pan and tilt settings and said step of calculating includes triangulating the pan and tilt settings to direct the variably operable system at the position of the object.

27. The method as claimed in claim 26, wherein said variably operable system is a lighting system.

28. The method as claimed in claim 24, wherein said control setting includes pan and tilt settings and said step of controlling includes a step of controlling the pan and tilt orientation of said variably operable system to implement the pan and tilt settings.

29. The method as claimed in claim 28, wherein said variably operable system is a lighting system.

30. The method as claimed in claim 24, wherein the control setting includes a setting for a parameter selected from the group consisting of pan, tilt, volume, frequency, phase, colour, timbre, amplitude and intensity.

31. The method as claimed in claim 24, wherein said variably operable system is selected from lighting systems, camera systems, music systems, sound effect systems, and projector systems.

32. The method as claimed in claim 24, wherein the variably operable system includes a plurality of independently controllable sub-systems, wherein the step of calculating includes calculating a separate control setting for each of the sub-systems, and wherein the step of controlling includes includes independently controlling each of the sub-systems in response to its separate control setting.

33. The method as claimed in claim 32, wherein said variably operable system includes a lighting system and each sub-system includes a lamp.

34. The method as claimed in claim 24, wherein said step of establishing a frame of reference includes defining at least four calibration points any three of which are not collinear.

35. The method as claimed in claim 34, wherein said frame of reference is coplanar with said large area.

36. The method as claimed in claim 34, wherein said step of establishing a frame of reference further includes a step of defining a point of origin and calculating position coordinates for each of the at least four calibration points.

37. The method as claimed in claim 36, further including a step of calculating the known position of the tracking head including directing the tracking head at each of the at least for calibration points, reading the pan and tilt angles of the tracking head using the sensors when directed at each of the calibration points, and calculating the position of the tracking head based upon the pan and tilt readings and the coordinates of the calibration points.