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:
May. 01, 2012
Filed:
Jan. 30, 2007
Yasuyuki Michimoto, Ishikawa, JP;
Satoru Ooyabu, Kanagawa, JP;
Yasuyuki Michimoto, Ishikawa, JP;
Satoru Ooyabu, Kanagawa, JP;
Panasonic Corporation, Osaka, JP;
Abstract
An automatic tracking apparatus is provided, which is capable of solving a failure occurred in an automatic tracking operation in connection with a zooming operation, and capable of tracking an object in a stable manner, while a zooming-up operation, or a zooming-down operation is carried out in a high speed. The automatic tracking apparatus is equipped with: a first object detecting unitfor detecting an object from an image photographed by a camera and inputted; a first zooming control unitfor changing zooming magnification of the camera in such a case that a dimension of the detected object is smaller than a predetermined dimension on the image; a second object detecting unitfor detecting the object from an image again photographed by the camera after the zooming magnification has been changed; a template matching unitfor comparing the object detected by the second object detecting unit with the image photographed by the camera so as to specify a position of the object and to track the object on the image; and a second zooming control unitfor controlling the zooming magnification of the camera in such a manner that a dimension of the object to be tracked becomes a predetermined dimension on an image which is photographed by the camera.