Mechanical pan, tilt and zoom in a webcam

Abstract

A system and method for mechanically panning, tilting, and/or zooming a webcam to track a user's face. In one embodiment, such movement is controlled by kernel software in a host to which the webcam sends video data. In this way, a driver in the host kernel handles the face tracking, transparent to the application programs that would access the video. In an alternate embodiment, such movement is controlled by firmware in the webcam itself The video and control signals are sent over the same standard cable, such as a USB bus. In one embodiment, the video is supplied to an instant messaging application. The use of a standard bus (e.g., USB) and the offloading of the face tracking to the webcam and driver allows easy use by the instant messaging application.

1 . A system for mechanically moving an optical module in a webcam by tracking a user's face, the system comprising:
 an optical module for capturing image data;   a machine vision module coupled to the optical module, for identifying the location of the user's face based on the captured image data;   a movement controlling module coupled to the machine vision module for for deciding whether to move the optical module; and   a mechanical module coupled to the movement controlling module, for moving the optical module based on the decision of the movement controlling module.