IMAGE VIEWING METHOD FOR DISPLAYING PORTION OF SELECTED IMAGE BASED ON USER INTERACTION INPUT AND RELATED IMAGE VIEWING SYSTEM AND MACHINE READABLE MEDIUM

• US 20140075382A1
• Filed: 05/08/2013
• Published: 03/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xueshan Technologies Inc. (Wi-LAN Inc.)
• Original Assignee: MediaTek, Inc.
• Inventors: Cheng, Chia-Ming
• Granted Patent: US 9,690,458 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/810
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04815 Interaction with a metaphor-based environment or interaction object displayed as three-dimensional, e.g. changing the user viewpoint with respect to the environment or object
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence

Abstract

An image viewing method includes: determining at least a first partial image corresponding to a portion of a first image directly selected from a plurality of images, and driving a display apparatus according to the first partial image; in accordance with a user interaction input, determining a second partial image corresponding to a portion of a second image directly selected from the images; and driving the display apparatus according to at least the second partial image. In one implementation, the first image and the second image are spatially correlated, and a field of view (FOV) of each of the first image and the second image is larger than an FOV of the display apparatus.

Claims

1. An image viewing method, comprising:

determining at least a first partial image corresponding to a portion of a first image directly selected from a plurality of images, and driving a display apparatus according to the first partial image;

in accordance with a user interaction input, determining a second partial image corresponding to a portion of a second image directly selected from the images; and

driving the display apparatus according to at least the second partial image;

wherein the first image and the second image are spatially correlated, and a field of view (FOV) of each of the first image and the second image is larger than an FOV of the display apparatus.

2. The image viewing method of claim 1, wherein when the first image is an image initially selected from the images, the first image is determined automatically without user intervention.

3. The image viewing method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the second partial image comprises:

finding a plurality of candidate images from the images, wherein the first image and the candidate images are spatially correlated, and each of the candidate images has a candidate portion corresponding to the user interaction input; and

referring to positions of candidate portions of the candidate images to select one of the candidate images as the second image.

4. The image viewing method of claim 3, wherein a candidate image with a candidate portion closest to an image center is selected as the second image.

5. The image viewing method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the second partial image comprises:

finding a plurality of candidate images from the images, wherein the first image and the candidate images are spatially correlated, and each of the candidate images has a candidate portion corresponding to the user interaction input; and

referring to differences between the portion of the first image and candidate portions of the candidate images to select one of the candidate images as the second image.

6. The image viewing method of claim 5, wherein a candidate image with a smallest difference between a candidate portion and the portion of the first image is selected as the second image.

7. The image viewing method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the second partial image comprises:

performing a local image warping operation upon the portion of the second image to generate a warped portion of the second image; and

determining the second partial image according to the warped portion of the second image.

8. The image viewing method of claim 7, further comprising:

performing a local image alignment analysis upon the images to obtain image alignment information;

wherein the local image warping operation is performed by referring to the image alignment information.

9. The image viewing method of claim 8, further comprising:

obtain motion information of the images by;

performing a three-dimensional (3D) motion analysis upon the images;

or

receiving an output of a motion sensor located at an image capture apparatus which generates the images;

wherein the local image alignment analysis is performed by referring to the motion information.

10. The image viewing method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating the images by performing a global image warping operation upon each of a plurality of input images.

11. The image viewing method of claim 10, further comprising:

performing a global image alignment analysis upon the images to obtain image alignment information;

wherein the global image warping operation is performed by referring to the image alignment information.

12. The image viewing method of claim 11, further comprising:

obtaining motion information of the images by;

performing a three-dimensional (3D) motion analysis upon the images;

or

receiving an output of a motion sensor located at an image capture apparatus which generates the images;

wherein the global image alignment analysis is performed by referring to the motion information.

13. The image viewing method of claim 1, wherein the first partial image and a third partial image corresponding to a portion of a third image directly selected from the images are displayed on the display apparatus for three-dimensional (3D) playback;

the image viewing method further comprises;

in accordance with the user interaction input, determining a fourth partial image corresponding to a portion of a fourth image directly selected from the images; and

the step of driving the display apparatus according to at least the second partial image comprises driving the display apparatus according to the second partial image and the fourth partial image for 3D playback, where the third image and the fourth image are spatially correlated, and an FOV of each of the third image and the fourth image is larger than the FOV of the display apparatus.

14. An image viewing system, comprising:

an output unit, arranged for driving a display apparatus according to a first partial image corresponding to a portion of a first image directly selected from a plurality of images;

a user input receiving unit, arranged for receiving a user interaction input;

an image selection unit, arranged for directly selecting a second image from the images according to the user interaction input;

an image cropping unit, arranged for determining a second partial image corresponding to a portion of the second image according to the user interaction input;

wherein the output unit is further arranged for driving the display apparatus according to at least the second partial image;

the first image and the second image are spatially correlated, and a field of view (FOV) of each of the first image and the second image is larger than an FOV of the display apparatus.

15. The image viewing system of claim 14, wherein when the first image is an image initially selected from the images, the first image is determined by the image selection unit automatically without user intervention.

16. The image viewing system of claim 14, wherein the image selection unit finds a plurality of candidate images from the images, where the first image and the candidate images are spatially correlated, and each of the candidate images has a candidate portion corresponding to the user interaction input;

and refers to positions of candidate portions of the candidate images to select one of the candidate images as the second image.

17. The image viewing system of claim 16, wherein a candidate image with a candidate portion closest to an image center is selected by the image selection unit as the second image.

18. The image viewing system of claim 14, wherein the image selection unit finds a plurality of candidate images from the images, where the first image and the candidate images are spatially correlated, and each of the candidate images has a candidate portion corresponding to the user interaction input;

and refers to differences between the portion of the first image and candidate portions of the candidate images to select one of the candidate images as the second image.

19. The image viewing system of claim 16, wherein a candidate image with a smallest difference between a candidate portion and the portion of the first image is selected by the image selection unit as the second image.

20. The image viewing system of claim 14, further comprising:

an image warping unit, arranged for performing a local image warping operation upon the portion of the second image to generate a warped portion of the second image;

wherein the image cropping unit determines the second partial image according to the warped portion of the second image.

21. The image viewing system of claim 20, further comprising:

an image alignment analysis unit, arranged for performing a local image alignment analysis upon the images to obtain image alignment information;

wherein the image warping unit performs the local image warping operation by referring to the image alignment information.

22. The image viewing system of claim 21, further comprising:

a motion information acquisition unit, arranged for obtaining motion information of the images by;

performing a three-dimensional (3D) motion analysis upon the images;

or

receiving an output of a motion sensor located at an image capture apparatus which generates the images;

wherein the image alignment analysis unit performs the local image alignment analysis by referring to the motion information.

23. The image viewing system of claim 14, further comprising:

an image warping unit, arranged for generating the images by performing a global image warping operation upon each of a plurality of input images.

24. The image viewing system of claim 23, further comprising:

an image alignment analysis unit, arranged for performing a global image alignment analysis upon the images to obtain image alignment information;

wherein the image warping unit performs the global image warping operation by referring to the image alignment information.

25. The image viewing system of claim 24, further comprising:

a motion information acquisition unit, arranged for obtaining motion information of the images by;

performing a three-dimensional (3D) motion analysis upon the images;

or

receiving an output of a motion sensor located at an image capture apparatus which generates the images;

wherein the image alignment analysis unit performs the global image alignment analysis by referring to the motion information.

26. The image viewing system of claim 14, wherein the first partial image and a third partial image corresponding to a portion of a third image directly selected from the images are displayed on the display apparatus for three-dimensional (3D) playback;

the image selection unit further directly selects a fourth image from the images according to the user interaction input;

the image cropping unit further determines a fourth partial image corresponding to a portion of the fourth image according to the user interaction input;

the output unit drives the display apparatus according to the second partial image and the fourth partial image for 3D playback;

the third image and the fourth image are spatially correlated; and

an FOV of each of the third image and the fourth image is larger than the FOV of the display apparatus.

27. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program code, wherein when executed by a processor, the program code instructs the processor to perform the following steps:

determining at least a first partial image corresponding to a portion of a first image directly selected from a plurality of images, and driving a display apparatus according to the first partial image;

in accordance with a user interaction input, determining a second partial image corresponding to a portion of a second image directly selected from the images; and

driving the display apparatus according to at least the second partial image;

wherein the first image and the second image are spatially correlated, and a field of view (FOV) of each of the first image and the second image is larger than an FOV of the display apparatus.