VIRTUAL PRESENCE SYSTEM

• US 20140313365A1
• Filed: 04/23/2013
• Published: 10/23/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Lehtiniemi, Arto, Eronen, Antti, Holm, Jukka, Arrasvuori, Juha Henrik
• Application Number:
  US13/868,480
• Publication Number:
  US 20140313365A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/222.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/80 Camera processing pipelines; Components thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/90 Arrangement of cameras or camera modules, e.g. multiple cameras in TV studios or sports stadiums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/2628 Alteration of picture size, shape, position or orientation, e.g. zooming, rotation, rolling, perspective, translation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/272 Means for inserting a foreground image in a background image, i.e. inlay, outlay

Abstract

A method comprising capturing, by a device equipped with a first camera, at least one image about an object of interest; determining at least one of location and orientation information of the device; retrieving, on the basis of at least one of said at least one image and said location and orientation information, at least one image of the object of interest from a service comprising media associated with location information; capturing, by a second camera, at least one image about an object currently locating in the vicinity of the object of interest; creating a cropped image from the at least one image about said object, the cropped image comprising at least a cropped portion of said object; and embedding the cropped image of said object to the at least one image of the object of interest retrieved from said service.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

capturing, by a device equipped with a first camera, at least a first image about a first object of interest;

determining at least one of location and orientation information of the device;

retrieving, on the basis of at least one of said at least one first image and said location and orientation information, at least one second image of the first object of interest from a service comprising media associated with location information;

capturing at least a third image about a second object currently locating within a predetermined range from the first object of interest;

creating a cropped image from the at least one third image about said second object, the cropped image comprising at least a cropped portion of said second object; and

embedding the cropped image of said second object to the at least one second image of the first object of interest retrieved from said service in order to form a fourth image.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein

the third image about the second object is captured by a second camera.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein

the first camera is a back camera of the device and the second camera is a front camera of said device, and

said second object is a user of the device.

4. A method according to claim 2, wherein

the first camera is a camera of a first device and the second camera is a camera of a second device, and said second object is a user of the first device, the method further comprising

sending the at least one third image about the second object to the first device.

5. A method according to claim 1, further comprising

storing the fourth image in a network server;

and

sharing access to the fourth image to at least one further person.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein

the service is a three-dimensional (3D) virtual application providing image views from real geographical locations.

7. A method according to claim 1, further comprising

sending the at least one first image about the first object of interest and the location and orientation information together to a server functionally connected to said service for determining the location of the device.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein

said cropped image is an avatar of a person

9. An apparatus comprising at least one processor, memory including computer program code, the memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least:

capture, with a first camera, at least one first image about a first object of interest;

determine at least one of location and orientation information of the device;

retrieve, on the basis of at least one of said at least one first image and said location and orientation information, at least one second image of the first object of interest from a service comprising media associated with location information;

obtain at least one third image about a second object currently locating within a predetermined range from the first object of interest;

create a cropped image from the at least one third image about said second object, the cropped image comprising at least a cropped portion of said second object; and

embed the cropped image of said second object to the at least one second image of the first object of interest retrieved from said service in order to form a fourth image.

10. An apparatus according to claim 9, wherein

the third image about the second object is arranged to be captured by a second camera.

11. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein

the first camera is a back camera of the apparatus and the second camera is a front camera of said apparatus, and

said second object is a user of the apparatus.

12. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein

the first camera is a camera of the apparatus and the second camera is a camera of a second apparatus, and said second object is a user of the first apparatus, the apparatus being configured to

receive the at least one third image about the second object from the second apparatus.

13. An apparatus according to claim 9, the apparatus being further configured to

store the fourth image in a network server;

and

share access to the image to at least one further person.

14. An apparatus according to claim 9, wherein

the service is a three-dimensional (3D) virtual application providing image views from real geographical locations.

15. An apparatus according to claim 9, the apparatus being further configured to

send the at least one first image about the first object of interest and the location and orientation information together to a server functionally connected to said service for determining the location of the device.

16. An apparatus according to claim 9, wherein

said cropped image is an avatar of a person.

17. A computer program embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium, the computer program comprising instructions causing, when executed on at least one processor, at least one apparatus to:

capture, with a first camera, at least one first image about a first object of interest;

determine at least one of location and orientation information of the device;

retrieve, on the basis of at least one of said at least one first image and said location and orientation information, at least one second image of the first object of interest from a service comprising media associated with location information;

obtain at least one third image about a second object currently locating within a predetermined range from the first object of interest;

create a cropped image from the at least one third image about said second object, the cropped image comprising at least a cropped portion of said second object; and

embed the cropped image of said second object to the at least one second image of the first object of interest retrieved from said service in order to form a fourth image.

18. A method comprising:

receiving a request from a user of a first client terminal to create at least one first image comprising a first object of interest defined by the request and a cropped image of a second object embedded thereto;

sending a request to a second client terminal currently locating within a predetermined range from the first object of interest for capturing at least one second image about the first object;

receiving, in response to an acknowledgement from the second client device, at least one third image of the second object from the first client terminal;

receiving, from the second client device, the at least one second image about the first object of interest; and

editing the received images by creating a cropped image from the at least one third image about the second object, and embedding the cropped image of the second object to the at least one second image of the first object of interest captured by the second client terminal in order to create the at least one first image.

19. A method according to claim 18, wherein the second object is a user of the first client terminal.

20. A method according to claim 18, further comprising

keeping track of places where the user of the first terminal has previously visited;

and

allowing said requests to be made only in regard to such first object of interest residing in places where the user of the first terminal has previously visited.

21. A method according to claim 18, further comprising

providing the user of the first client terminal with an option for giving instructions to a user of the second client device for adjusting the capturing of the at least one second image of the first object of interest.

22. A method according to claim 18, wherein

the editing is carried out in a common editing node, the node being a network server, the first client device or the second client device.

23. An apparatus comprising at least one processor, memory including computer program code, the memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least:

receive a request from a user of a first client terminal to create at least one first image comprising a first object of interest defined by the request and a cropped image of a second object embedded thereto;

send a request to a second client terminal currently locating within a predetermined range from the first object of interest for capturing at least one second image;

receive, in response to an acknowledgement from the second client device, at least one third image of the second object from the first client terminal;

receive, from the second client device, the at least one second image about the first object of interest; and

edit the received images by creating a cropped image from the at least one third image about the second object, and embedding the cropped image of second object to the at least one second image of the first object of interest captured by the second client terminal in order to create the at least one first image.

24. A computer program embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium, the computer program comprising instructions causing, when executed on at least one processor, at least one apparatus to:

receive a request from a user of a first client terminal to create at least one first image comprising a first object of interest defined by the request and a cropped image of a second object embedded thereto;

send a request to a second client terminal currently locating within a predetermined range from the first object of interest for capturing at least one second image;

receive, in response to an acknowledgement from the second client device, at least one third image of the second object from the first client terminal;

receive, from the second client device, the at least one second image about the first object of interest; and

edit the received images by creating a cropped image from the at least one third image about the second object, and embedding the cropped image of second object to the at least one second image of the first object of interest captured by the second client terminal in order to create the at least one first image.