Patent ID: 7512883

Claim:
An automated video production system for creating a composite video of a presentation in an arbitrary lecture room given a set of one or more camera inputs, comprising: a set of predefined user selectable abstracted objects which include one or more predefined virtual directors and one or more predefined virtual cameramen; a set of one or more physical cameras, each physical camera capable of capturing one or more views within the lecture room during a presentation; a graphical user interface for selecting a virtual director and one or more virtual cameramen from the set of abstracted objects for inclusion in a user scriptable set of videography rules; wherein the user scriptable set of videography rules includes a user selected assignment of one or more of the set of physical cameras to one or more of the selected virtual cameramen, said assignments being made via the graphical user interface, and wherein the user scriptable set of videography rules defines a layout of the arbitrary lecture room; wherein each of the virtual cameramen receives and processes an input video stream from its assigned physical camera, said processing of the input video stream being performed in accordance with predefined videography rules associated with each of the particular virtual cameramen; wherein the virtual director automatically and continuously interprets the set of user scriptable videography rules in real-time during the presentation for automatically ordering broadcast transitions to specific virtual cameramen in accordance with the set of videography rules; and selecting whichever of the virtual cameramen is ordered to a broadcast transition by the virtual director as each automatic transition order occurs, and providing the processed input video stream of the selected virtual cameramen as a current input to a continuous composite video stream of the presentation.