METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING IMAGES OF A VIRTUAL WORLD SCENE AND METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROCESSING THE SAME

• US 20110227938A1
• Filed: 03/17/2011
• Published: 09/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Zhu, Zi Yu, Wang, Yi Min, Li, Qi Cheng, Wang, Jian, Lan, Dong Jun
• Granted Patent: US 8,854,391 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/581
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/005 General purpose rendering architectures
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/20 Perspective computation

Abstract

A method and systems for providing and processing images of a virtual world scene. The method includes: rendering the scene of the virtual world to generate a plurality of rendering results, generating at least one image stream based on at least part of the plurality of rendering results, and sending the at least one image stream to the client. The system for providing the images includes: rendering means to generate a plurality of rendering results; image stream generation means for generating at least one image stream; and sending means for sending said at least one image stream to a client. After providing the images, the images are processed by receiving means for receiving, at a client, two image streams and merging means for merging the two image streams into a single image stream for playing.

Claims

1. A method of providing images of a virtual world scene, comprising:

rendering said virtual world scene to generate a plurality of rendering results;

generating at least one image stream based on at least a part of said plurality of rendering results; and

sending said at least one image stream to a client.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the rendering step comprises:

rendering the scene of the virtual world in the virtual world from a location and observation angle corresponding to a client'"'"'s corresponding avatar to generate said plurality of rendering results.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the rendering step comprises:

rendering the scene of the virtual world in the virtual world from at least one fixed observation angle to generate said plurality of rendering results.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein said at least one fixed observation angle comprises a plurality of fixed observation angles, and said plurality of fixed observation angles are preset to be directed toward the scene from a plurality of points distributed in a peripheral space of the scene.

5. The method according to claim 3, further comprising the step of selecting, from a plurality of fixed observation angles, at least one fixed observation angle that best approximates at least one observation angle associated with a client'"'"'s corresponding avatar, so as to take rendering results generated from said at least one fixed observation angle as part of said plurality of rendering results.

6. The method according to claim 3, wherein the rendering step further comprises:

rendering the virtual world scene at different projection depths, and the method further comprises;

selecting a second rendering result from said plurality of rendering results as the part of said rendering results wherein said second rendering result (i) is based on the location of a client'"'"'s corresponding avatar in the virtual world and (ii) has projection depth according to the location.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the rendering the scene step further comprises:

rendering scene changes corresponding to the different projection depths.

8. The method according to claim 1 wherein the generating image stream step generates at least two image streams and the method further comprises:

merging said at least two image streams into a single image stream for playing.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the merging step further comprises:

synchronizing said at least two image streams in time;

converting said at least two image frames into at least two converted image frames adapted to an observation angle of a client'"'"'s corresponding avatar in the virtual world; and

combining said at least two converted image frames into a play image frame in said single image stream.

10. The method according to claim 8, wherein said at least two image streams are generated in the virtual world based in part on a plurality of rendering results obtained by rendering said virtual world scene from at least one fixed observation angle.

20. A computer readable storage medium tangibly embodying a computer readable program code having computer readable instructions which, when implemented, cause a computer to carry out the steps of the method of claim 1.

11. A system for providing images of a virtual world scene, comprising:

rendering means for rendering said virtual world scene to generate a plurality of rendering results;

image stream generation means for generating at least one image stream based on at least a part of said rendering results; and

sending means for sending said at least one image stream to a client.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the rendering means is configured to render, in the virtual world, said virtual world scene from a location and observation angle of client'"'"'s corresponding avatar to generate said plurality of rendering results.

13. The system according to claim 11, wherein the rendering means is configured to render, in the virtual world, the virtual world scene from at least one fixed observation angle to generate said plurality of rendering results.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein said at least one fixed observation angle comprises a plurality of fixed observation angles, and said plurality of fixed observation angles are preset to be directed toward said virtual scene from a plurality of points distributed in a peripheral space of said virtual world scene.

15. The system according to claim 13, further comprising:

observation angle selection means for selecting, from a plurality of fixed observation angles, at least one fixed observation angle that best approximates an observation angle of a client'"'"'s corresponding avatar possible, so as to take said rendering results generated from said at least one fixed observation angle as part of said plurality of rendering results.

16. The system according to claim 13, wherein said rendering means is further configured to render said scene at different projection depths;

and the system further comprises;

rendering result selection means for selecting a second rendering result from said plurality of rendering results wherein said second rendering result (i) is based on the location of a client'"'"'s corresponding avatar in the virtual world and (ii) has projection depth according to said location.

17. A system for processing images of a virtual world scene, comprising:

rendering means for rendering said virtual world to generate a plurality of rendering results;

image stream generation means for generating at least two images streams based on at least a part of said rendering results;

sending means for sending said at least two image streams to a client;

receiving means for receiving, at a client, said at least two image streams; and

merging means for merging said at least two image streams into a single image stream for playing.

18. The system according to claim 17, wherein said merging means comprises:

conversion means for converting at least two image frames that are synchronized in time in said at least two image streams into at least two converted image frames adapted to an observation angle of a client'"'"'s corresponding avatar in the virtual world; and

combination means for combining said at least two converted image frames into a play image frame in said single image stream.

19. The system according to claim 17, wherein said at least two image streams are generated in said virtual world based on a part of a plurality of rendering results obtained by rendering said scene of the virtual world from at least one fixed observation angle.