Patent ID: 7876359

Claim:
A method for stabilizing an image of an object being taken from a video camera, the video camera being moved by a transport mechanism and being controlled by a line-of-sight controller, the line-of-sight controller having an orientation and an angular velocity, the method comprising: receiving a plurality of images of the object; and for each of the plurality of received images, receiving a distance from the video camera to the object, determining a difference between the location of the object within the image and the location of the object within a previously captured image, calculating an inter-frame stabilization adjustment based on the distance to the object and the difference between the location of the object within the image and the location of the object within a previously captured image, the inter-frame stabilization adjustment for adjusting the position of a display area of the received images, adjusting the position of the display area of the received images based on the inter-frame stabilization adjustment, wherein the received images are larger than the display area and the adjusting moves the display area relative to the received images, and controlling the line-of-sight controller at least in part by, calculating a line-of-sight adjustment for the line-of-sight controller based on the inter-frame stabilization adjustment, adjusting the orientation of the line-of-sight controller based on the calculated line-of-sight adjustment, calculating an angular velocity for the line-of-sight controller based on the inter-frame stabilization adjustment, and setting the angular velocity of the line-of-sight controller to the calculated angular velocity.