METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING A VIRTUAL COMMUNITY FOR PARTICIPATION IN A REMOTE EVENT

• US 20140143819A1
• Filed: 01/27/2014
• Published: 05/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: CHU, Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 9,532,112 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/109
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2542 for selling goods, e.g. TV shopping payment schemes, payment architectures or payment protocols for electronic shopping systems G06Q20/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4223 Cameras H04N23/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47205 for manipulating displayed content, e.g. interacting with MPEG-4 objects, editing locally
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4753 for user identification, e.g. by entering a PIN or password cryptographic authentication protocols H04L9/32; networks authentication protocols H04L63/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4781 Games
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47815 Electronic shopping payment schemes, payment architectures or payment protocols for electronic shopping systems G06Q20/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6405 Multicasting data broadcast and multicast in packet switching networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/816 involving special video data, e.g 3D video
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/661 Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/165 Centralised control of user terminal subsequent to an upstream request signal H04N7/17345; Registering at central by two-way working H04N7/17309
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

An approach is provided for establishing a virtual community for remotely participating in an event. A remote camera set is controlled by a user equipment to view an event from a plurality of viewing perspectives. A virtual community is built to share viewing of the event by multiple participants.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

mapping a coordinate system to a geographical area of an event; and

providing a visualization of the coordinate system over a camera view of the event.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein values of coordinates in the coordinate system correspond to the geographical location of the event.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein the values of the coordinates are independent of a viewing perspective of a user.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the visualization of the coordinate system comprises a virtual grid.

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein the virtual grid comprises GPS coordinates.

6. A method according to claim 5, further comprising projecting the GPS coordinates as a light colored mesh over a viewing field.

7. A method according to claim 4, further comprising:

receiving feeds from different viewing angles of an event from a plurality of cameras; and

uniquely identifying one or more locations at the event that are within a section of the virtual grid wherein the identifying occurs independent of the different viewing angles from the plurality of cameras.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

providing different users within a virtual community with a common reference when a subject of interest at the event is viewed from different angles by the different users.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method is performed by a stream server.

10. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code for one or more programs, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following;

map a coordinate system to a geographical area of an event; and

provide a visualization of the coordinate system over a camera view of the event.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein values of coordinates in the coordinate system correspond to the geographical location of the event.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the values of the coordinates are independent of a viewing perspective of a user.

13. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the visualization of the coordinate system comprises a virtual grid.

14. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the virtual grid comprises GPS coordinates.

15. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the apparatus is further configured to:

project the GPS coordinates as a light colored mesh over a viewing field.

16. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the apparatus is further configured to:

receive different viewing angles of the event from a plurality of cameras; and

uniquely identify one or more locations at the event that are within a section of the virtual grid, wherein the apparatus is configured to uniquely identify the one or more locations independent of the different viewing angles from the plurality of cameras.

17. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the apparatus is further configured to:

provide different users within a virtual community with a common reference when a subject of interest at the event is viewed from different angles by the different users.

18. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the apparatus comprises a stream server.

19. A stream server for performing the steps of:

forming a virtual grid comprising a visualization of a coordinate system that is mapped to a geographical area of an event;

receiving feeds from a plurality of camera angles from a plurality of cameras having different viewing angles of the event;

uniquely identifying one or more locations at the event that are within a section of the virtual grid, wherein the identifying occurs independent of the different viewing angles from the plurality of cameras; and

providing different users a common reference when a subject of interest at the event is viewed from individual angles of the different viewing angles.

20. The stream server of claim 19, wherein the forming of the virtual grid comprises forming GPS coordinates projected as a light colored mesh over a viewing field.