211 results about "Spherical image" patented technology

A method and apparatus for capture of a spherical image is disclosed. The present invention includes at least one camera having a lens with at least a 180° field-of-view for capturing a hemispherical image. In a first embodiment, a second hemispherical image is created corresponding to a mirror image of the hemispherical image captured by the camera. In a second embodiment, two back-to-back cameras capture first and second hemispherical images, respectively. In both embodiments, a converter combines the two images along their outside edges to form a single, spherical image. Finally, the converter stores the complete spherical image for later retrieval and perspective corrected viewing.

A camera holding assembly that is configured to hold a plurality of cameras in a predetermined orientation includes a support having a plurality of receptacles. Each of the receptacles include at least one feature enabling a camera to be releasably retained therein as well as at least one and preferably at least three attachment features configured for enabling the camera holding assembly to be secured to another object. The receptacles are oriented about the support so that each camera, when loaded into the defined receptacles, is aimed in a different angular orientation. Images obtained from each retained camera can be stitched to create either a composite 360 degree×180 degree full spherical image or a composite 360 degree composite image of a scene of interest.

A method for collecting, organizing, presenting, and using data relative to the scene of an emergency situation is disclosed. The method uses a Responder Assets Management System (RAMS) composed of four modules including information, logistics, operations, and planning. The information module makes general information immediately available to responders. The logistics module assists in managing equipment resources during a contingency and includes an equipment manager interface for managing equipment used to respond to an emergency situation. The operations module supports daily operations responsibilities and scales to handle significant emergencies and includes at least one of a situational awareness interface, a response options generator (ROG) interface, an operations manager interface, a messenger interface and a status board interface. The situational awareness interface is designed for emergency and crisis response managers to provide enhanced, community-wide situational awareness using full immersion, spherical images, Geographic Information System (GIS) maps, site and floor plans, and a database interface to provide virtual walk-through, pre-incident plans, for contingency planning, training visualization, and operational support. The ROG interface provides automated response and resource estimates to decision-makers in command posts and on-site in developing a response to significant, unplanned events. The operations manager interface is used by a remote headquarters to monitor an on-going operation. The messenger interface is a pre-formatted, topic oriented messaging system that supports both informational messages and messages that automatically update system data and displays. The status board interface is a situation display of key situational awareness data. The planning module assists users in planning for critical events.

The present invention provides a novel imaging system for obtaining full stereoscopic spherical images of the visual environment surrounding a viewer, 360 degrees both horizontally and vertically. Displaying the images obtained by the present system, by means suitable for stereoscopic displaying, gives the viewers the ability to look everywhere around them, as well as up and down, while having stereoscopic depth perception of the displayed images. The system according to the present invention comprises an array of cameras, wherein the lenses of said cameras are situated on a curved surface, pointing out from common centers of said curved surface. The captured images of said system are arranged and processed to create sets of stereoscopic image pairs, wherein one image of each pair is designated for the observer's right eye and the second image for his left eye, thus creating a three dimensional perception.

A method that enables creation of a 3D virtual reality environment from a series of 2D images of a scene. Embodiments map 2D images onto a sphere to create a composite spherical image, divide the composite image into regions, and add depth information to the regions. Depth information may be generated by mapping regions onto flat or curved surfaces, and positioning these surfaces in 3D space. Some embodiments enable inserting, removing, or extending objects in the scene, adding or modifying depth information as needed. The final composite image and depth information are projected back onto one or more spheres, and then projected onto left and right eye image planes to form a 3D stereoscopic image for a viewer of the virtual reality environment. Embodiments enable 3D images to be generated dynamically for the viewer in response to changes in the viewer's position and orientation in the virtual reality environment.

The present invention provides a novel imaging system for obtaining full stereoscopic spherical images of the visual environment surrounding a viewer, 360 degree both horizontally and vertically. Displaying the images obtained by the present system, by means suitable for stereoscopic displaying, gives the viewers the ability to look everywhere around them, as well as up and down, while having stereoscopic depth perception of the images displayed images. The system according to the present invention comprises an array of cameras, wherein the lenses of said cameras are situated on a curved surface, pointing out from common centers of said curved surface. The captured images of said system are arranged and processed to create sets of stereoscopic image pairs, wherein one image of each pair is designated for the observer right eye and the second image to his left eye, thus creating a three dimensional perception.

The present invention tracks a specified target object and provides an image in real time in a way that gives a viewer a sense of reality. The present invention connects, in order to produce a spherical image Q1, the images captured by cameras 13 that can move in a space and are arranged so as to take images of different directions such that the images captured by at least two or more image pickup elements are partially overlapped with one another, calculates a positional correlation between the spherical image Q1 and the target object specified from the images, and then arranges the target object substantially at the center of the spherical image Q1 in accordance with the positional correlation. This provides a tracking image that tracks and focuses on the target object out of the spherical image Q1.

A system, method, and computer-readable instructions for virtual real-time computer simulation of visual images of perspective scenes. A plurality of 2D spherical images are saved as a data set including 3D positional information of the 2D spherical images corresponding to a series of locations in a 3D terrain, wherein each 2D spherical image comprises a defined volume and has an adjacency relation with adjacent 2D spherical images in 3D Euclidean space. As the input for a current virtual position changes based on simulated movement of the observer in the 3D terrain, a processor updates the current 2D spherical image to an adjacent 2D spherical image as the current virtual position crosses into the adjacent 2D spherical image.

The invention relates to a three-dimensional panoramic image generation method. The method comprises the following steps of: shooting a plurality of local images of a panorama at a low angle and a high angle at a horizontal position opposite to a tripod head by using a wide-angle camera respectively; synthesizing a plane composite image from each shot local image; converting the plane composite image into a three-dimensional spherical image; and performing three-dimensional navigation on the three-dimensional spherical image. By the method, the overlap region of the local images can be increased, so that the image effect is smoother and the obtained three-dimensional panoramic image is more similar to a real scene when the local images are synthesized into the plane composite image. The invention also provides a three-dimensional panoramic image generation system.

A camera holding assembly that is configured to hold a plurality of cameras in a predetermined orientation includes a support having a plurality of receptacles. Each of the receptacles include at least one feature enabling a camera to be releasably retained therein as well as at least one and preferably at least three attachment features configured for enabling the camera holding assembly to be secured to another object. The receptacles are oriented about the support so that each camera, when loaded into the defined receptacles, is aimed in a different angular orientation. Images obtained from each retained camera can be stitched to create either a composite 360 degree×180 degree full spherical image or a composite 360 degree composite image of a scene of interest.

The invention discloses a method for generating an interactive dynamic panoramic image, which comprises the steps of converting each frame of image in a captured video to a latitude and longitude image through latitude and longitude mapping coordinates, further suturing into the panoramic image through optical reduction, then carrying out video coding, generating a panoramic video according to the time, converting each frame of the image in the panoramic video to a spherical image of a world coordinate system, carrying out view conversion and projection transformation, then carrying out synchronous playing with the time, and generating the interactive dynamic panoramic image. The interactive dynamic panoramic image can lead a user to view the dynamic panoramic image from different viewing angles, and the images adopting the conversion through spherical coordinates can lead the image distortion to be small, lead the images to be in line with the viewing effect of human eyes and increase the visual range of the dynamic panoramic image.

A multiscale telescopic imaging system is disclosed. The system includes an objective lens, having a wide field of view, which forms an intermediate image of a scene at a substantially spherical image surface. A plurality of microcameras in a microcamera array relay image portions of the intermediate image onto their respective focal-plane arrays, while simultaneously correcting at least one localized aberration in their respective image portions. The microcameras in the microcamera array are arranged such that the fields of view of adjacent microcameras overlap enabling field points of the intermediate image to be relayed by multiple microcameras. The microcamera array and objective lens are arranged such that light from the scene can reach the objective lens while mitigating deleterious effects such as obscuration and vignetting.

A mask region extraction unit extracts a region that is to be masked in a panoramic image. A mask processing unit generates the object image where the region to be masked in the panoramic image is masked. A positioning unit adjusts the direction of a spherical image to the shooting direction of the object image. A mapping processing unit maps the mask-processed object image and the spherical image onto a three-dimensional (3D) object space as textures. A 3D image generator generates a 3D panoramic image, when the 3D panoramic image is viewed in a specified line of sight in such a manner so as to regard the shooting location of the panoramic as a viewpoint position.

Hyper-hemispherical images may be combined to generate a rectangular projection of a spherical image having an equatorial stitch line along of a line of lowest distortion in the two images. First and second circular images are received representing respective hyper-hemispherical fields of view. A video processing device may project each circular image to a respective rectangular image by mapping an outer edge of the circular image to a first edge of the rectangular image and mapping a center point of the circular image to a second edge of the first rectangular image. The rectangular images may be stitched together along the edges corresponding to the outer edge of the original circular image.

Apparatus and systems, as well as methods and articles, may operate to store portions of a spherical image in a storage medium as a pair of triangles included in a convex quadrilateral. The triangles may form a portion of one or more substantially uniformly tessellated spherical surfaces.

The invention discloses a method and device for recognizing traffic signs. According to a detailed implementation mode, the method includes the steps that feature values, obtained through a preset feature algorithm, of scanned window images obtained through panorama spherical image division at a preset integral channel are obtained; according to the feature values of the scanned window images and a pre-trained detection classifier model, the scanned window images are detected to obtain traffic sign window images to be confirmed, wherein the pre-trained detection classifier model is obtained according to samples of the scanned window images and the feature values of the scanned window images through training; according to a pre-trained convolution neural network mode, the traffic sign window images to be confirmed are recognized, so that the categories of the traffic signs are obtained, wherein the pre-trained convolution neural network model is obtained through training according to samples of the determined traffic sign window images and the categories of the traffic signs. The accuracy of detecting and recognizing the traffic signs in panorama images is improved, and meanwhile the efficiency of updating road network data is improved.

Systems and methods for providing panoramic image and / or video content using spatially selective encoding and / or decoding. Panoramic content may include stitched spherical (360-degree) images and / or VR video. In some implementations, selective encoding functionality may be embodied in a spherical image capture device that may include two lenses configured to capture pairs of hemispherical images. Encoded source images may be decoded and stitched in order to obtain a combined image characterized by a greater field of view as compared to source images. The stitched image may be encoded using a selective encoding methodology including: partitioning a stitched image into multiple portions, determining if a portion is to be re-encoded. If the image portion is to be re-encoded, re-encoding the image portion. If an image portion is not to be re-encoded, copying previously encoded image portion in lieu of encoding.

The invention relates to a quaternion-based panoramic image stabilizing method which is characterized in that the method comprises the following specific steps: 1) single-camera model sphere establishment; 2) angle-based stereographic projection method; 3) multi-sphere model fusion method; 4) quaternion-based panoramic spherical surface image stabilizing method; and 5) panoramic sphere expansion method. A plurality of sphere models are subjected to normalization, and spherical surfaces of the plurality of sphere models are fused to form a single-frame panoramic sphere model of a multi-camera imaging system; the front and back panoramic spherical surface images are subjected to feature point matching; pose relation between the two panoramic spheres is calculated through a quaternion method, and then, the spherical surface images are subjected to conversion according to the obtained pose relation; and finally, information on the panoramic spherical surfaces is reduced to a plane image, and thus the image stabilizing effect is achieved. The method can effectively solve the problem that the overall pose transformation cannot be accurately positioned due to different pose change of each camera in a panoramic camera system.

Methods and apparatus of processing omnidirectional images are disclosed. According to one method, a current set of omnidirectional images converted from each spherical image in a 360-degree panoramic video sequence using a selected projection format is received, where the selected projection format belongs to a projection format group comprising a cubicface format, and the current set of omnidirectional images with the cubicface format consists of six cubic faces. If the selected projection format corresponds to the cubicface format, one or more mapping syntax elements to map the current set of omnidirectional images into a current cubemap image are signaled. The coded data are then provided in a bitstream including said one or more mapping syntax elements for the current set of omnidirectional images.

A system receives an encoded image representative of the 2D projection of a cubic image, the encoded image generated from two overlapping hemispherical images separated along a longitudinal plane of a sphere. The system decodes the encoded image to produce a decoded 2D projection of the cubic image, and perform a stitching operation to portions of the decoded 2D projection representative of overlapping portions of the hemispherical images to produce stitched overlapping portions. The system combine the stitched overlapping portions with portions of the decoded 2D projection representative of the non-overlapping portions of the hemispherical images to produce a stitched 2D projection of the cubic image, and encode the stitched 2D projection of the cubic image to produce an encoded cubic projection of the stitched hemispherical images.

The invention discloses a panorama video posture calibrating method.The method comprises the steps that a panorama video image is acquired, a spherical image is generated and displayed, initial posture information and target posture information are acquired, the target posture definite position is set, and the top point or lowest point of the panorama spherical image and the position over or under a scene are adopted as set targets to acquire posture angle information, and a deviation angle is recorded; the current posture angle is corrected through the deviation angle obtained through the real-time panorama spherical image, and displayed.When panorama image acquiring equipment is mounted and used, the mounting position and posture do not need to be considered, the equipment can be used without obstacles, no additional posture sensor is needed, economical, efficient and fast posture calibration can be achieved, the panorama image acquiring equipment mounted at different positions can carry out displaying with the correct posture view angle, and especially in the field of security and protection monitoring, the method has better visuality, the interface is more friendly, and higher practicality is achieved.

A service system includes a mobile terminal and an information processing device capable of communication via a network. The mobile terminal includes a first transmission unit that transmits spherical images taken in respective imaging locations and positional information about the imaging locations to the information processing device. The information processing device includes a reception unit that receives the spherical images transmitted by the first transmission unit; a map data obtaining unit that obtains map data from a map data storage, the map data including the imaging locations of the spherical images; a path information creation unit that creates information about a path made by connecting the imaging locations in the map data obtained by the map data obtaining unit; and a content providing unit that makes content available for a request through the network, the content including the map data, the information about the path, and the spherical images.

Method for producing a rotation-compensated image sequence allowing simplified reconstruction of the translation of a camera by real time rotation compensation of images recorded sequentially by an electronic camera randomly displaced in a scene and provided with a rotation sensor resulting from an association of color and / or brightness values of the pixels of a camera pixel field indicated by rectangular coordinates.

A method that enables creation of a 3D virtual reality environment from a series of 2D images of a scene. Embodiments map 2D images onto a sphere to create a composite spherical image, divide the composite image into regions, and add depth information to the regions. Depth information may be generated by mapping regions onto flat or curved surfaces, and positioning these surfaces in 3D space. Some embodiments enable inserting, removing, or extending objects in the scene, adding or modifying depth information as needed. The final composite image and depth information are projected back onto one or more spheres, and then projected onto left and right eye image planes to form a 3D stereoscopic image for a viewer of the virtual reality environment. Embodiments enable 3D images to be generated dynamically for the viewer in response to changes in the viewer's position and orientation in the virtual reality environment.

An information processing apparatus includes circuitry to register at least a first viewpoint and a second viewpoint designated next to the first viewpoint as viewpoints in a full-view spherical image with an order designated by a user, set a transition path of the viewpoints from the first viewpoint to the second viewpoint by interpolating between the first viewpoint and the second viewpoint in the full-view spherical image, generate a first partial image having a center that matches the first viewpoint, and a second partial image having a center that matches the second viewpoint, and play animation by sequentially displaying the first partial image and the second partial image with the order designated by the user while transiting the viewpoints from the first viewpoint to the second viewpoint along the set transition path.

A system captures a first hemispherical image and a second hemispherical image, each hemispherical image including an overlap portion, the overlap potions capturing a same field of view, the two hemispherical images collectively comprising a spherical FOV and separated along a longitudinal plane. The system maps a modified first hemispherical image to a first portion of the 2D projection of a cubic image, the modified first hemispherical image including a non-overlap portion of the first hemispherical image, and maps a modified second hemispherical image to a second portion of the 2D projection of the cubic image, the modified second hemispherical image also including a non-overlap portion. The system maps the overlap portions of the first hemispherical image and the second hemispherical image to the 2D projection of the cubic image, and encodes the 2D projection of the cubic image to generate an encoded image representative of the spherical FOV.

A method and apparatus for capture of a spherical image is disclosed. The present invention includes at least one camera having a lens with at least a 180° field-of-view for capturing a hemispherical image. In a first embodiment, a second hemispherical image is created corresponding to a mirror image of the hemispherical image captured by the camera. In a second embodiment, two back-to-back cameras capture first and second hemispherical images, respectively. In both embodiments, a converter combines the two images along their outside edges to form a single, spherical image. Finally, the converter stores the complete spherical image for later retrieval and perspective corrected viewing.

An imaging system includes an imaging unit configured to capture a plurality of fisheye images; an arranged image generating unit configured to generate an arranged image in which the plurality of fisheye images are arranged; a thumbnail image generating unit configured to generate a thumbnail image that includes at least a part of a spherical image, the spherical image being generated based on the plurality of fisheye images; and an output unit configured to output output data that includes the arranged image and the thumbnail image.

The invention relates to a method for producing digit spherical movie, wherein the romance plane with N romance lens are connected to form one romance surface whose one perspective point is at the center; then building another cylinder romance surface to be rotated for alpha degrees; then building M connected seamless cylinder romance surfaces, to form one spherical romance surface whose perspective point is at the center and formed by N*M romance lens; using said N*M romance lens to romance the three-dimension field to generate relative N*M images; then building N*M geometrical surfaces consistent with N*M romance planes, then using pattern projection to project the image to the geometrical planes to form one spherical image; then using secondary romance lens to process secondary romance to generate the spherical movie.