Method and apparatus for user control by deriving next states of a process from a current state and by providing a visual presentation of the derived next states

A method for controlling a process, comprising the steps of:

• (a) presenting a presentation of a current state of a process;
• (b) deriving, from the current state of the process, one or more alternative states;
• (c) presenting a representation of the one or more derived alternative states;
• and
• in response to a selection of one of the representations of the one or more derived alternative states,
• (d) controlling the process to assume a new current state that corresponds to the derived alternative state that is associated with the selected representation, wherein the process controls the positioning of a camera along or about one or more axes.

A method for controlling a process, comprising the steps of:

• (a) presenting a representation of a current state of a process;
• (b) deriving, from the current state of the process, one or more alternative states;
• (c) presenting a representation of the one or more derived alternative states;
• and
• in response to a selection of one of the representations of the one or more derived alternative states,
• (d) controlling the process to assume a new current state that corresponds to the derived alternative state that is associated with the selected representation, wherein the representation of the current state of the process is an image obtained by a camera at a current location, and wherein the representations of the one or more derived alternative states are each an image that would be obtained by the camera if the camera were translated, from the current position, about or along an axis.

A method for controlling a camera, comprising the steps of:

• (a) presenting with a display means a representation of a current image obtained by the camera;
• (b) deriving, from the current image, one or more alternative images that would be obtained by the camera if the camera were translated about or along an axis;
• (c) presenting with the display means a representation of the one or more derived alternative images;
• and
• in response to a user selecting one of the representations of the one or more derived alternative images,
• (d) translating the camera to a position where the camera obtains a new current image that corresponds to the derived alternative image that is associated with the selected representation.

A user interface for a process control system, comprising:

• means for deriving in accordance with a predetermined transformation, from a current state of the process, one or more alternative states each representing a possible future state of the process that may be entered directly or indirectly from the current state, wherein each of the one or more derived alternative states of the process is not predetermined but is instead made manifest only as a result of an operation of said means for deriving;
• means for presenting a representation of the current state of the process and for presenting a representation of the one or more derived alternative states;
• and
• control means, responsive to a user selecting one of the representations of the one or more derived alternative states, for controlling the process to assume a new current state that corresponds to the derived alternative state that is associated with the selected representation.

A user interface comprising:

• process model means for predicting in accordance with a predetermined transformation one or more allowable future states of a process from a current state of the process, each of the predicted one or more future states, representing a future state of the process that may be entered directly or indirectly from the current state, wherein each of the predicted one or more future states of the process is not predetermined but is instead made manifest only as a result of an operation of said process model means;
• display processing means, having an input coupled to an output of said process model means, for deriving, for each of the predicted allowable future states, a representation of said predicted allowable future state, said display processing means having an output coupled to display means for displaying each of said derived representations in conjunction with a representation of the current state of the process;
• and
• control means, having a first input coupled to an output of said process model means and a second input coupled to a means whereby a user selects one of said derived representations of one of said predicted allowable future states, for controlling the process to enter a new current state that corresponds to the selected derived representation.

A user interface for use with a video image capture means, comprising:

• display means having a display screen, said display screen displaying in a first region a representation of a captured video signal, said display screen displaying in a second region a transformed representation of said captured video signal;
• video image transform means, having an input for receiving the captured video signal, for generating said transformed representation from the captured video signal, the transformed representation being generated to represent a video image that would be obtained from a predetermined allowable future state of the video image capture means;
• and
• means for specifying to said user interface either the first region or the second region so as to select the representation of the captured video signal, or to cause the video image capture means to enter the predetermined allowable future state, respectively.

A method for controlling a process, comprising the steps of:

• (a) presenting a representation of a current state of a process;
• (b) deriving, from the current state of the process, one or more alternative states, wherein each of the one or more derived alternative states of the process is not predetermined but is instead made manifest only as a result of executing the step of deriving;
• (c) presenting a representation of the one or more derived alternative states;
• and
• in response to a selection of one of the representations of the one or more derived alternative states,
• (d) controlling the process to assume a new current state that corresponds to the derived alternative state that is associated with the selected representation, wherein the process controls the movement of one or more physical objects within a space defined by a coordinate system.

A method for controlling a process, comprising the steps of:

• (a) presenting a representation of a current state of a process;
• (b) deriving, from the current state of the process, one or more alternative states, wherein each of the one or more derived alternative states of the process is not predetermined but is instead made manifest only as a result of executing the step of deriving;
• (c) presenting a representation of the one or more derived alternative states;
• and
• in response to a selection of one of the representations of the one or more derived alternative states,
• (d) controlling the process to assume a new current state that corresponds to the derived alternative state that is associated with the selected representation, wherein the process controls the orientation of one or more physical objects within a space defined by a coordinate system.