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US 6,650,360 B1Granted
Camera guidance system
AssigneeWells & Verne Investments Limited
InventorKarl Osen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A camera guidance system uses global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) and Inertial Measurement Units (IMU) to point a camera on a target.
Claims24
A camera guidance system allowing to acquire video signals, irrespective of conditions of visibility, contrast and background, of at least one target, by means of at least one camera, and to transmit such video signals to a receiver station, characterized in that it comprises
- a platform supporting said at least one camera, such camera being able to focus on the target, following its movement relative to the platform;
- at least one position determination means such as Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers is mounted on the target, and is able to determine the target's position in GNSS coordinate system,
- at least three position determination means such as Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers mounted on the platform to determine the position and attitude of said platform in GNSS coordinate system, said platform having a platform coordinate system fixed to it, and,
- the position of the target in platform coordinates is obtained by subtracting the platform's global position vector from the target's global position vector and projecting the resulting vector onto the platform coordinate system,
- the camera on the platform is pointable in a plurality of directions with respect to the platform coordinate system,
- processing means for computing positioning data and providing said data to said positionable camera to make the camera point at the target;
- means for transmitting the video signals to a receiver station;
- communication means between the said information, position determination and transmission means.
5 more elements
A camera guidance system for a camera tracking a target, the system comprising:
- a platform supporting the camera, said platform being movable into a plurality of positions for pointing the camera at the target;
- target position means for determining a position of the target, said target position means being mounted on the target and transmitting said position of the target away from the target;
- processing means for receiving said position of the target from said target position means, said processing means determining a relative target position of said target position means with respect to said platform, said processing means moving said platform to point the camera at the target based on said relative target position;
- platform position means at said platform for determining a position of said platform and transmitting said position of the platform to said procesing means, said processing means using said position of the target and said position of said platform to move said platform and point the camera at said target.
1 more element
A method for pointing a camera to a target, the method comprising the steps of:
- determining a position of the target, said determining of said position being performed at the target;
- transmitting said position of the target away from the target;
- determining a position of the camera, said determining of said position of said camera being performed at the target;
- calculating a relative position of the target relative to the camera based on said position of the target transmitted from the targets and on said position of said camera, said calculating occurring at a location spaced from the target;
- moving the camera based on said calculating to follow movement of said target.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.