Systems and methods for gesture-based control of equipment in video communication

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

obtaining, by a computing system, video data from a camera used in a video conferencing system;

providing on a screen, by the computing system, a user interface displaying the video data, wherein the screen is capable of receiving touch input, and wherein the user interface includes a view of the camera and a wide-angle view of a location associated with the camera, the wide-angle view captured by the camera periodically;

obtaining, by the computing system, a first touch input associated with a function of the camera, the first touch input received from the screen;

sending, by the computing system, an instruction for executing the function to the camera; and

updating, by the computing system, the user interface in response to the execution of the function of the camera.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the first touch input is a touch gesture associated with the function of the camera.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the camera is a pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the wide-angle view of the location is obtained by the camera based on one or more of: zooming out the camera in connection with a pan or zoom operation, gradually zooming out and zooming back in, or zooming out the camera and applying a digital zoom for the view of the camera.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the first touch input is a touch gesture for zooming in the camera, the function of the camera is a zoom in of the camera, and the updating the user interface includes indicating a perimeter around an area in the wide-angle view on which the camera is zoomed in.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the first touch input is a touch gesture for zooming in the camera, the function of the camera is a zoom in of the camera, and the updating the user interface includes displaying zoomed in video data of the camera.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the first touch input is a touch gesture for zooming in the camera, the function of the camera is a zoom in of the camera, and the method further comprises: automatically recognizing at least one of a face or an object in one or more positions associated with the first touch input; and zooming in the camera on the at least one of a face or an object.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the user interface includes a plurality of icons associated with control features of the video conferencing system.

9. A system comprising:

at least one hardware processor; and

a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to:

obtain video data from a camera used in a video conferencing system;

provide on a screen a user interface displaying the video data, wherein the screen is capable of receiving touch input, and wherein the user interface includes a view of the camera and a wide-angle view of a location associated with the camera, the wide-angle view captured by the camera periodically;

obtain a first touch input associated with a function of the camera, the first touch input received from the screen;

send an instruction for executing the function to the camera; and

update the user interface in response to the execution of the function the camera.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the first touch input is a touch gesture associated with the function of the camera.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the first touch input is a touch gesture for zooming in the camera, the function of the camera is a zoom in of the camera, and the update of the user interface includes indicating a perimeter around an area in the wide-angle view on which the camera is zoomed in.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the first touch input is a touch gesture for zooming in the camera, the function of the camera is a zoom in of the camera, and the update of the user interface includes displaying zoomed in video data of the camera.

13. A non-transitory computer readable medium including instructions that, when executed by at least one hardware processor of a computing system, cause the computing system to:

obtain video data from a camera used in a video conferencing system;

provide on a screen a user interface displaying the video data, wherein the screen is capable of receiving touch input, and wherein the user interface includes a view of the camera and a wide-angle view of a location associated with the camera, the wide-angle view captured by the camera periodically;

obtain a first touch input associated with a function of the camera, the first touch input received from the screen;

send an instruction for executing the function to the camera; and

update the user interface in response to the execution of the function of the camera.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the first touch input is a touch gesture associated with the function of the camera.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the first touch input is a touch gesture for zooming in the camera, the function of the camera is a zoom in of the camera, and the update of the user interface includes indicating a perimeter around an area in the wide-angle view on which the camera is zoomed in.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the first touch input is a touch gesture for zooming in the camera, the function of the camera is a zoom in of the camera, and the update of the user interface includes displaying zoomed in video data of the camera.