Orienting the position of a sensor

An apparatus, comprising:

• a depth camera having one or more sensors, at least one of the one or more sensors is able to collect depth information and having a field of view;
• and
• logic coupled to the depth camera, the logic generates a depth image from the depth information;
• the logic determines one or more potential targets based on the depth image;
• the logic selects one of the potential targets as a candidate object to track with the sensor;
• the logic determines whether to re-orient the one or more sensors based on the present orientation of the one or more sensors and a position of the candidate object in the field of view;
• the logic re-orients the one or more sensors if it is determined to do so;
• and
• the logic repeats the generating depth information, the determining one or more potential targets, the selecting, the determining whether to re-orient the one or more sensors, and the re-orienting the one or more sensors until it is either determined that a current candidate object is properly within the field of view or that there are no potential targets.

A method of orienting a depth camera, the method comprising:

• a) generating a depth image from the depth camera having one or more sensors, the depth camera having a field of view;
• b) determining zero or more potential targets based on the depth image;
• c) determining whether to re-orient the field of view of the depth camera if zero potential targets were determined;
• d) re-orienting the field of view of the depth camera if it is determined to re-orient when zero potential targets were determined;
• e) selecting one of the potential targets as a candidate object to track with the one or more sensors;
• f) determining whether to re-orient the field of view of the depth camera based on the present orientation of the sensor and the candidate object;
• g) re-orienting the field of view of the depth camera if it is determined to do so;
• and
• repeating said a) through g) until it is determined that the field of view of the depth camera should not be re-oriented.