GENERATING AND DISPLAYING TOP-DOWN MAPS OF RECONSTRUCTED 3-D SCENES

• US 20110187704A1
• Filed: 02/04/2010
• Published: 08/04/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Dughi, Jonathan Robert, Ramos, Gonzalo Alberto, Gedye, David Maxwell, Ofek, Eyal, Chen, Billy
• Application Number:
  US12/699,902
• Publication Number:
  US 20110187704A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/419
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/00 3D [Three Dimensional] image rendering
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/00 Three dimensional [3D] modelling, e.g. data description of 3D objects
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/05 Geographic models
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/00 Manipulating 3D models or images for computer graphics

Abstract

Technologies are described herein for generating and displaying top-down maps of reconstructed structures to improve navigation of photographs within a 3-D scene. A 3-D point cloud is computed from a collection of photographs of the scene. A top-down map is generated from the 3-D point cloud by projecting the points in the point cloud into a two-dimensional plane. The points in the projection may be filtered and/or enhanced to enhance the display of the top-down map. Finally, the top-down map is displayed to the user in conjunction with or as an alternative to the photographs from the reconstructed structure or scene.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage medium containing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more computers, cause the computers to:

generate a top-down map from a 3-D point cloud computed from a collection of digital photographs by projecting points of the 3-D point cloud onto a horizontal two-dimensional plane; and

display the top-down map to a user of the computers.

2. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein generating the top-down map from the 3-D point cloud further comprises filtering the points of the 3-D point cloud included in the top-down map.

3. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein generating the top-down map from the 3-D point cloud further comprises enhancing the top-down map to emphasize walls or edges.

4. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the top-down map is displayed in a split-screen view in conjunction with a local-navigation display regarding the collection of digital photographs.

5. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein displaying the top-down map further comprises displaying one or more reconstruction elements overlaid on the top-down map.

6. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the one or more reconstruction elements comprise one or more of camera poses, panoramas, objects, thumbnail images, and view frusta.

7. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein a thumbnail image generated from a photograph in the collection of digital photographs and an associated view frustum are displayed overlaid on the top-down map in response to a user moving a selection control in proximity to one or more points in the top-down map that correspond to features visible in the photograph.

8. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein a plurality of top-down maps corresponding to a plurality of separate 3-D points clouds generated from the collection of digital photographs are displayed together.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein generating the top-down map from the 3-D point cloud further comprises identifying one or more semantic areas within the top-down map based on a type of object identified in the 3-D point cloud.

10. A computer-implemented method for generating and displaying a top-down map of a structure or scene reconstructed from a collection of digital photographs, the method comprising:

generating the top-down map from a 3-D point cloud computed from the collection of digital photographs by projecting points of the 3-D point cloud onto a horizontal two-dimensional plane; and

displaying the top-down map to a user of the computer.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein generating the top-down map from the 3-D point cloud further comprises filtering the points of the 3-D point cloud included in the top-down map.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein generating the top-down map from the 3-D point cloud further comprises enhancing the top-down map to emphasize walls or edges.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein displaying the top-down map further comprises displaying one or more reconstruction elements overlaid on the top-down map.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more reconstruction elements comprise one or more of camera poses, panoramas, objects, thumbnail images, and view frusta.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein a thumbnail image generated from a photograph in the collection of digital photographs and an associated view frustum are displayed overlaid on the top-down map in response to a user of the computer moving a selection control in proximity to one or more points in the top-down map that correspond to features visible in the photograph.

16. A system for generating and displaying a top-down map of a structure or scene reconstructed from a collection of digital photographs, the system comprising:

a visualization service executing on a server computer and configured to;

generate the top-down map from a 3-D point cloud computed from the collection of digital photographs by projecting points in the 3-D point cloud onto a horizontal two-dimensional plane,

filter and enhance the points in the projection to enhance the display of the top-down map, and

send the top-down map to a user computer as part of a visual reconstruction; and

a visualization client executing on the user computer and configured to receive the visual reconstruction and display the top-down map on a display device connected to the user computer.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the visualization client is configured to display the top-down map in a split-screen view in conjunction with a local-navigation display of the visual reconstruction.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the visual reconstruction further comprises one or more reconstruction elements and the visualization client is further configured to display the one or more reconstruction elements overlaid on the top-down map.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the visualization client is further configured to display a thumbnail image generated from a photograph in the collection of digital photographs and an associated view frustum overlaid on the top-down map in response to a user moving a selection control in proximity to one or more points in the top-down map that correspond to features visible in the photograph.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the visualization client is further configured to display a plurality of top-down maps corresponding to a plurality of separate but related visual reconstructions together on the display device.