Technique for automatically tracking an object by a camera based on identification of an object

1. A method for determining when to track an object in field of view of a robotically controlled camera, comprising:

receiving an operator defined region of interest inside of the field of view of the camera, wherein no tracking will occur outside of the region of interest;

when the object lies within the region of interest, determining if the object matches a reference object; and

determining to automatically track the object to maintain the object in a fixed relationship relative to a location in the camera field of view when it is determined that the object lying within the region of interest matches a reference object, and when the object has moved more than a threshold distance from the location.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein determining a match between the object and reference object includes:

comparing at least one characteristic of the object to at least one corresponding characteristic of the reference object.

3. The method according to claim 1 , further including:

displacing the camera to a pre-set position when the camera pre-set position and location of the object do not lie within a threshold distance from each other.

4. The method according to claim 3 further comprising:

ceasing camera movement when the camera pre-set position lies within a tolerance radius of the actual object position.

5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

determining if the image remains stable for a selected interval; and

determining to automatically track the object when both that the object lying within the region of interest matches a reference object and when the image of the object has remained stable for the selected interval.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein determining whether the object remains stable further comprises:

detecting whether the object has moved during a prescribed interval.

7. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

wherein the threshold distance is set by receiving at least one offset from a center position of the object;

maintaining the object in a particular perspective based on the received offsets.

8. The method according to claim 7 , further comprising:

receiving a modification of the at least one offset.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the offset is received via dragging a representative line on a screen to adjust the offset.

10. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising maintaining the object in a position offset from the center of the camera.

11. An apparatus for determining when to track an object comprising:

a processor configured to:

receive an operator defined region of interest inside of the field of view of the camera, wherein no tracking will occur outside of the region of interest;

when the object lies within the region of interest, determine if the object lying within the region of interest matches a reference object;

detect if the object has moved more than a threshold distance from the pre-set location; and

determine to automatically track the object when the object lying in the region of interest is determined to match the reference object, to maintain the object in a fixed relationship relative to a pre-set location in the camera field of view if the object has moved more than a threshold distance from the pre-set location.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine the match between the object and the reference object by comparing at least one characteristic of the object to at least one corresponding characteristic of the reference object.

13. The apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine whether the object remains stable for a selected interval; and

determine to automatically track the object when both the object lying in the region of interest is determined to match the reference object and when the image is determined to remain stable for the selected interval, wherein determining whether the object remains stable further comprises detecting whether the object has moved during a prescribed interval.

14. The apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to control a robotic camera pedestal to displace the camera to a pre-set position when the camera pre-set position and location of the object do not lie within a threshold distance from each other.

15. The apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the processor is further configured to cease camera movement when the camera pre-set position lies within a tolerance radius of the actual object position.

16. An apparatus for determining when to track an object comprising:

a camera for acquiring an image of the object;

a robotic camera pedestal; and

a processor for controlling the robotic camera pedestal in accordance with the camera image by:

receiving an operator defined region of interest inside of the field of view of the camera, wherein no tracking will occur outside of the region of interest,

when the object lies within the region of interest, determining if the object lying within the region of interest matches a reference object, and

determining to displace the camera to track the image when it is determined that the object lying within the region of interest matches a reference object and when the object is determined to have moved more than a threshold distance from the pre-set location.

17. The apparatus according to claim 16 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine the match between the object and the reference object by comparing at least one characteristic of the object to at least one corresponding characteristic of the reference object.

18. The apparatus according to claim 16 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether the object has remained stable during a prescribed interval, and determine:

to track the object only when the object has remained stable for the prescribed interval.

19. The apparatus according to claim 16 , wherein the displacement of the camera includes displacing the camera to a pre-set position when the camera pre-set position and location of the object do not lie within a threshold distance from each other.

20. The apparatus according to claim 19 , wherein the processor is further configured to cease camera movement when the camera pre-set position lies within a tolerance radius of the actual object position.