Patent ID: 8292522

Claim:
A method of placing a surveillance camera in a known reference orientation as a result of panning and tilting movements, the method including the steps of: coupling the camera to a fixed structure such that the camera may perform the panning movements about a first axis and may perform the tilting movements about a plurality of second axes, each of the second axes being substantially perpendicular to the first axis; fixedly attaching an optical emitter either to the fixed structure or to the camera; fixedly attaching an optical receiver to an other one of the fixed structure and the camera; and performing the tilting and panning movements with the camera until the emitter and receiver are in a predetermined position relative to each other as determined from a signal that is output by the receiver in response to receiving optical energy from the emitter, the performing step including: performing the tilting movements with the camera until a first local maximum in the output signal from the optical receiver is identified; moving the camera to a tilting position associated with the local maximum; performing the panning movements with the camera until a second local maximum in the output signal from the optical receiver is identified; moving the camera to a panning position associated with the second local maximum; and iteratively and alternately repeating the steps of performing tilting movements, moving the camera to the tilting position, performing panning movements, and moving the camera to the panning position until the local maximum in the output signal from the optical receiver is approximately equal to a maximum possible value.