WICam Wireless iPhone Camera.doc

WICam: Wireless iPhone Camera This project uses the accelerometer and LCD of an iPhone to pan and tilt a webcam and display it on its screen Anthony Blatner amb1059@ Making an iPhone App Thomas Knack tak5633@ Webcam Selection Matthew Catanzaro mmc2910@ Webcam to iPhone Communication and Connection 1/04/2010 Risk Some webcams have pan and tilt functionality and wireless connection capability built in, so figuring out how to communicate with the pan and tilt mechanism and also the most easily accessed and fastest method of communication is required. If the pan and tilt function calls cannot be sent directly to the webcam, a computer might be needed to interface the commands to the webcam. If the connection is not fast enough, the streaming video frame rate might be too low. Making sure the delay between the tilting of the iPhone and the pan and tilt of the webcam is within acceptable limits could pose problems. If the delay is severe, a very large change in the design of the project could be required. Different methods of wireless communication must be investigated. Alternatives for webcam command sending iPhone to Webcam – It is ideal for the iPhone to send and receive data directly to and from the wireless webcam directly. This allows for minimum delay because there is no buffer or intermediate application in between. It also removes complexity so there are fewer places where an error could occur because there is no buffer or intermediate application in between. None of the webcams found with pan and tilt had the capability of this. iPhone to Computer Interface to Webcam – This is a guaranteed method of communication because all webcams come with computer interface software support. It adds delay because the commands have to go through this interface before they can reach the pan and tilt of the webcam. It also adds complexity, the data has to go through this interface so errors could occur in the iPhone to interface transmission or the interface to webcam t