Computer vision system with a graphic user interface and remote camera control

An apparatus including the combination of a computer vision system with a graphical user interface comprised of:

• a camera;
• a display;
• an attitude determining means;
• a position determining means;
• a computer;
• and
• a graphical user interface,
• said camera having an optical axis and an image plane whereby an image of a scene being addressed by the computer vision system is formed in the image plane when the optical axis is pointed into the direction of the scene;
• said display having a planar image field with a normal direction associated therewith, the normal direction being aligned with the optical axis of said camera, or alternatively aligned with an angular offset;
• said attitude determining means having a reference direction colinear with the optical axis of said camera;
• said position determining means having a reference point co-located with the intersection of the planar image field and the reference direction of the attitude determining means;
• said computer being electronically coupled to said camera, said display, said attitude determining means, and said position determining means;
• said graphical user interface having a field region and a periphery bounding the field region, the field region being a fractional portion of the planar image field of the display.

An apparatus for generating graphical user interfaces comprising:

• an attitude determining means;
• a position determining means;
• a computer;
• a graphics generator;
• and
• a display,
• said computer being electronically coupled to said display, graphics generator, and attitude and position determining means,
• said graphics generator being responsive to said attitude and position determining means.

A method of displaying a graphical user interface in a computer vision system comprising the steps:

• addressing a scene with a computer vision system;
• forming an image of the scene;
• generating a graphical user interface;
• combining the image of the scene with the graphical user interface to form a composite image;
• and
• displaying the composite image in a display field.