METHOD FOR AUTOMATICALLY ADJUSTING THE PAN AND TILT OF A CONFERENCING SYSTEM CAMERA

A videoconferencing system which is easy to use. A camera unit (17) provides a picture which is displayed on the display screen of a monitor (21A, 21B). A controller (10) controls the operation of the camera and also causes a pointer or other indicator to be displayed on the display screen along with the picture. A user input device, such as a mouse (12) or a joystick (18), is connected to the controller. The mouse or joystick is used to position the pointer at a desired location on the picture or to designate an area of interest on the picture. The controller then causes the camera to pan and/or tilt in order to center the desired point or area of interest on the display screen, and to zoom, if appropriate, in order to fill the display screen with the desired area of interest. The range of operation of the camera is divided into a plurality of regions. The controller determines the selected region, that is, the region in which the selected picture occurs, and determines a focus setting for the camera based on the selected region. If a focus setting has not previously been determined for that region then the controller uses the focus setting for a parent region which encompasses the selected region.