VIRTUAL REALITY CAMERA

• US 20080118183A1
• Filed: 11/05/2007
• Published: 05/22/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/20/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cedar Lane Technologies Inc.
• Original Assignee: KWOK CHU & Shindler LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Teo, Patrick
• Granted Patent: US 7,733,368 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/293
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/698 for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/2621 Cameras specially adapted for the electronic generation of special effects during image pickup, e.g. digital cameras, camcorders, video cameras having integrated special effects capability
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/2624 for obtaining an image which is composed of whole input images, e.g. splitscreen
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/2628 Alteration of picture size, shape, position or orientation, e.g. zooming, rotation, rolling, perspective, translation

Abstract

A camera including a camera lens, acquisition circuitry receiving images via the camera lens, for acquiring a first field of view when the camera lens is in a first orientation and for acquiring a second field of view when the camera lens is in a second orientation, and a viewfinder displaying the second field of view when the camera lens is in the second orientation and displaying at least a portion of the first field of view at least partially composited with the second field of view.

Claims

1-37. -37. (canceled)

38. A method for converting an image stored in a buffer as a first plurality of color values at a plurality of pixel locations in a first coordinate system, to a corresponding image stored in the buffer as a second plurality of color values at the plurality of pixel locations in a second coordinate system, the second coordinate system being related to the first coordinate system by a non-linear transformation, comprising the steps of:

computing color values at pixel locations along an axis within the buffer, using the non-linear transformation;

storing the computed color values in the buffer at the pixel locations along the axis; and

repeating said computing and storing steps for subsequent axes within the buffer, parallel to the axis.

39. The method of claim 38 wherein said step of computing computes color values at pixel locations along the axis based on color values from among the first plurality of color values at pixel locations within a corresponding axis of the buffer.

40. The method of claim 38 wherein said step of computing comprises re-scaling at least one axis of the buffer.

41. The method of claim 38 wherein said step of repeating includes moving subsequent axes from right to left.

42. The method of claim 38 wherein said step of repeating includes moving subsequent axes from left to right.

43. The method of claim 41 further comprising the step of further repeating said computing and storing steps for subsequent axes within the buffer, parallel to said axis, said step of further repeating including moving subsequent axes from left to right until the color values at substantially all of the plurality of pixel locations have been converted.

44. The method of claim 42 further comprising the step of further repeating said computing and storing steps for subsequent axes within the buffer, parallel to said axis, said step of further repeating including moving subsequent axes from right to left until the color values at substantially all of the plurality of pixel locations have been converted.

45. The method of claim 38 wherein the first coordinate system is a rectilinear coordinate system and the second coordinate system is a cylindrical coordinate system.

46. The method of claim 38 wherein the first coordinate system is a cylindrical coordinate system and the second coordinate system is a rectilinear coordinate system.

47. The method of claim 38 wherein the first coordinate system is a rectilinear coordinate system and the second coordinate system is a spherical coordinate system.

48. The method of claim 38 wherein the first coordinate system is a spherical coordinate system and the second coordinate system is a rectilinear coordinate system.

49. The method of claim 38 further comprising the step of saving color values from among the first plurality of color values at pixel locations along the axis in an auxiliary buffer, and wherein said step of repeating also repeats said saving step.

50. The method of claim 49 wherein said step of repeating includes moving subsequent axes from right to left, and wherein said auxiliary buffer stores color values from among the first plurality of color values at pixel locations within the axis and within at least one additional axis parallel and to the right of the axis.

51. The method of claim 49 wherein said step of repeating includes moving subsequent axes from left to right, and wherein said auxiliary buffer stores color values from among the first plurality of color values at pixel locations within the axis and within at least one additional axis parallel and to the left of the axis.

52. The method of claim 50 further comprising the step of further repeating said saving, computing and storing steps for subsequent axes within the buffer, parallel to said axis, said further repeating step including moving subsequent axes from left to right until the color values at substantially all of the plurality of pixel locations have been converted, and wherein said auxiliary buffer stores color values from among the first plurality of color values at pixel locations within the axis and within at least one additional axis to the left of the axis.

53. The method of claim 51 further comprising the step of further repeating said saving, computing and storing steps for subsequent axes within the buffer, parallel to said axis, said further repeating step including moving subsequent axes from right to left until the color values at substantially all of the plurality of pixel locations have been converted, and wherein said auxiliary buffer stores color values from among the first plurality of color values at pixel locations within the axis and within at least one additional axis to the right of the axis.

54-110. -110. (canceled)

111. A method for combining a first frame and a second frame, comprising the steps of:

determining horizontal and vertical offsets for spatially aligning the first and second frames, comprising the step of summing absolute values of color differences between the first frame and the second frame at a multiplicity of pixel locations, based on trial values for horizontal and vertical offsets;

further determining brightness and contrast parameters for chromatically aligning the first and second frames; and

generating a panoramic image, comprising the step of compositing a portion of the second frame onto a portion of the first frame, based on the horizontal and vertical offsets and based on the brightness and contrast parameters.

112. The method of claim 111 wherein said summing step comprises the steps of:

computing partial sums of absolute values of color differences between the first frame and the second frame at pixel locations within horizontal lines, based on the trial values for horizontal and vertical offsets; and

accumulating the partial sums to form a complete sum of absolute values of color differences between the first frame and the second frame at a multiplicity of pixel locations.

113. The method of claim 112 further comprising the steps of:

repeating said steps of computing and accumulating for a multiplicity of trial values for horizontal and vertical offsets; and

selecting horizontal and vertical offsets from among the multiplicity of trial values for horizontal and vertical offsets, based on the respective complete sums.

114. The method of claim 113 wherein said selecting step selects horizontal and vertical offsets corresponding to a smallest local minimum value from among the complete sums.

115. The method of claim 111 further comprising the step of spatially aligning the first and second frames based on the horizontal and vertical offsets.

116. The method of claim 111 wherein said further determining step comprises the step of calculating means and variances of color values at a multiplicity of pixel locations within the first and second frames.

117. The method of claim 116 wherein said further determining step determines the brightness and contrast parameters in such a way that a mean and variance of color values at multiple pixel locations within the first frame are equal to the respective mean and variance of color values at corresponding multiple pixel locations within the second frame.

118. The method of claim 111 further comprising the step of chromatically aligning the first and second frames based on the brightness and contrast parameters.

119. The method of claim 111 wherein said compositing step comprises replacing color values at multiple pixel locations within the first frame with values that are weighted averages of color values in the first frame and color values in the second frame.

120. The method of claim 111 wherein at least one additional frame is combined with the first and second frames, the method further comprising the step of repeating said steps of determining, further determining and generating at least once for subsequent first and second frames from among the first and second and at least one additional frames.

121. The method of claim 120 further comprising the step of spatially aligning the at least one additional frame with another frame from among the first and second and at least one additional frames, based on the horizontal and vertical offsets.

122. The method of claim 120 further comprising the step of chromatically aligning the at least one additional frame with another frame from among the first and second and at least one additional frames, based on the brightness and contrast parameters.