AUTOMATIC CAMERA ADJUSTMENT TO FOLLOW A TARGET

1 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving digital image information from a digital camera having an adjustable field of view of an environment;

computer-analyzing the image information to recognize a plurality of candidate targets that are followable within the environment;

displaying via a display device an image of the environment with each of the plurality of candidate targets visually indicated as followable within the environment;

computer-recognizing user selection of a candidate target to be followed in the image environment;

computer-adjusting the field of view of the camera to follow the user-selected candidate target; and

displaying via the display device video with the computer-adjusted field of view following the user-selected candidate target.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein computer-recognizing user-selection of a candidate target comprises recognizing a user input from a local user.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein computer-recognizing user-selection of a candidate target comprises recognizing a user input from a remote user.

4 . (canceled)

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein displaying the image of the environment with each of the plurality of candidate targets visually indicated as followable within the environment comprises displaying an image of the environment with a plurality of highlighted candidate targets.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein computer-recognizing user-selection of a candidate target comprises recognizing a user touch input to the display device at one of the highlighted candidate targets.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein displaying via a display device an image of the environment with each of the plurality of candidate targets visually indicated as followable within the environment comprises sending image information with the plurality of candidate targets to a remote display device via a network.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein computer-recognizing user-selection of a candidate target comprises one or more of computer-recognizing a voice command via one or more microphones and computer-recognizing a gesture performed by a user via the camera.

9 . (canceled)

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the candidate target is a first candidate target, and further comprising:

recognizing user selection of a second candidate target to be followed in the image environment; and

adjusting the field of view of the camera to follow both the first candidate target and the second candidate target.

11 . On a computing device, a method for following a human subject, comprising:

receiving digital image information of an environment including one or more human subjects from a digital camera having an adjustable field of view of the environment;

receiving user input selecting a human subject of the one or more human subjects;

computer-analyzing the image information to identify the selected human subject;

computer-adjusting the field of view of the camera to follow the selected human subject until the human subject exits a field of view adjustment range of the camera;

displaying via a display device video with the computer-adjusted field of view following the selected human subject;

responsive to a human subject coming into the field of view of the camera, computer-adjusting the field of view of the camera to follow the human subject if the human subject is the identified human subject.

12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising computer analyzing the image information to recognize the one or more human subjects within the environment, and displaying via the display device image information with the one or more human subjects.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein computer analyzing the image information to recognize the one or more human subjects comprises performing a face-recognition analysis on the image information.

14 . The method of claim 12 , wherein receiving user input selecting a human subject of the one or more human subjects comprises receiving a user touch input to the display device at one of the human subjects.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the display device is located remotely from the computing device and the digital camera.

16 . The method of claim 11 , wherein receiving user input selecting a human subject of the one or more human subjects comprises receiving a voice command via one or more microphones operatively coupled to the computing device.

17 . The method of claim 11 , wherein receiving user input selecting a human subject of the one or more human subjects comprises receiving video from a camera and recognizing a user gesture in the video.

18 . On a computing device, a method, comprising:

receiving digital image information from a digital camera having an adjustable field of view of an environment;

computer-recognizing user selection of a target to be followed in the environment;

computer-adjusting the field of view of the camera to follow the user-selected target; and

displaying via a display device video with the computer-adjusted field of view following the user-selected target.

19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein computer-adjusting the field of view of the camera includes automatically moving a lens of the camera.

20 . The method of claim 18 , wherein computer-adjusting the field of view of the camera includes digitally cropping an image from the camera.

21 . The method of claim 1 , wherein displaying via a display device an image of the environment with each of the plurality of candidate targets visually indicated as followable within the environment comprises displaying an image of the environment with each of the plurality of candidate targets tagged with a respective identity determined based on the computer-analyzing of the image information.

22 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising responsive to the human subject exiting the field of view adjustment range of the camera, reverting to a default field of view of the camera.