The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 29, 2011
Filed:
Oct. 01, 2004
Paul Mcalpine, Fremont, CA (US);
Olivier Lechnenne, Fremont, CA (US);
Venkatesh Tumati Krishnan, San Jose, CA (US);
Patrick Miauton, Mountain View, CA (US);
Remy Zimmermann, Belmont, CA (US);
Yuh-lin Chang, Fremont, CA (US);
Paul McAlpine, Fremont, CA (US);
Olivier Lechnenne, Fremont, CA (US);
Venkatesh Tumati Krishnan, San Jose, CA (US);
Patrick Miauton, Mountain View, CA (US);
Remy Zimmermann, Belmont, CA (US);
Yuh-Lin Chang, Fremont, CA (US);
Logitech Europe S.A., , CH;
Abstract
A system and method for mechanically panning, tilting, and/or zooming a webcam to track a user's face. In one embodiment, such movement is controlled by kernel software in a host to which the webcam sends video data. In this way, a driver in the host kernel handles the face tracking, transparent to the application programs that would access the video. In an alternate embodiment, such movement is controlled by firmware in the webcam itself. The video and control signals are sent over the same standard cable, such as a USB bus. In one embodiment, the video is supplied to an instant messaging application. The use of a standard bus (e.g., USB) and the offloading of the face tracking to the webcam and driver allows easy use by the instant messaging application.