PANORAMIC CAMERA

• US 20140340473A1
• Filed: 01/04/2013
• Published: 11/20/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ImmerVision Inc. (f/k/a 6115187 Canada Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ImmerVision Inc. (f/k/a 6115187 Canada Inc.)
• Inventors: Artonne, Jean-Claude
• Granted Patent: US 10,356,316 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/36
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/51 Housings
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/53 of electronic viewfinders, e.g. rotatable or detachable
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/63 by using electronic viewfinders
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/661 Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/698 for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/2628 Alteration of picture size, shape, position or orientation, e.g. zooming, rotation, rolling, perspective, translation

Abstract

A panoramic camera is provided with an orientation sensor to record orientation along with a panoramic image. The display or print image is selected from the captured panoramic image, a warped, non-scale-correct image. The selection of the display image is done using the orientation sensor. The orientation sensor data can be recorded with the panoramic image as metadata. The orientation sensor can also be used to control an external display and/or panoramic image selection during browsing.

Claims

1. A panoramic camera comprising a device for obtaining an indication of an orientation of the lens of the panoramic camera when shooting a panoramic image and to generate information in order to produce an image to be displayed or printed where the image to be displayed or printed corresponds to a strip of the panoramic image selected as a function of the orientation of the optics of the camera during shooting of the panoramic image.

2. A camera according to claim 1, wherein, when the orientation of the panoramic camera lens is in a first orientation relative to a horizontal axis, the strip of the panoramic image which corresponds to the displayed/printed image is a horizontal strip, and wherein, when the orientation of the panoramic camera optics is in a second orientation relative to the horizontal axis, the strip of the panoramic image which corresponds to the displayed/printed image is a vertical strip.

3. A camera according to claim 2, wherein, when the orientation of the panoramic camera lens is in a vertical orientation, the strip of the panoramic image which corresponds to the displayed/printed image is a circular/peripheral strip.

4. A camera according to claim 1, wherein the camera is configured to generate the image to be displayed or printed using the indication of the orientation.

5. A camera according to claim 1, wherein the camera is configured to store the panoramic image with orientation data, whereby the image to be displayed or printed using the indication of the orientation can be done externally to the camera.

6. A camera according to claim 1, wherein the device for obtaining an indication of the orientation comprises an accelerometer.

7. A camera according to claim 1, wherein the device for obtaining an indication of the orientation comprises a magnetic field sensor for reading the earth'"'"'s magnetic field.

8. A camera according to claim 1, wherein the indication of the orientation is used to navigate a selection of the strip within the panoramic image.

9. A camera according to claim 1, wherein the indication of the orientation is used to control browsing of panoramic images.

10. A camera according to claim 1, wherein the image to be displayed or printed is selected by scrolling or panning along a direction determined using said indication of an orientation of the lens of the panoramic camera.

11. A camera according to claim 1, wherein said lens is a wide-angle lens capturing a field of view that is essentially at least a hemisphere.

12. A system for displaying an image from a panoramic image comprising:

a panoramic camera according to claim 1, and further comprising a wireless communications device for communicating to a display device data representing said indication and a panoramic image;

a display device having a wireless communications device for receiving said data, and a processor for generating a display image from said panoramic image selected using said indication.

13. A method for generating a displayable image from a selected portion of a panoramic image from a camera having an optical system characterised by an optical axis, the method for generating the displayable image comprising:

producing an indication of an orientation of the optical system during the shooting of the panoramic image by using a spatial orientation device;

interpreting the indication of the orientation of the optics systems by using an interpretation unit;

selecting a portion of the panoramic image, by using the interpretation unit, according to the indication of the orientation of the optics system; and

generating the displayable image from the selected portion of the panoramic image.

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising:

determining the orientation of the optical axis relative to a horizontal, where the horizontal is defined as an apparent line that separates earth from sky; and

determining a relative position of the space orientation-based panoramic camera about the optical axis.

15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising:

creating the image with a greater extent in a direction parallel to the horizontal than in a direction perpendicular to the horizontal when the orientation of the optical axis is generally parallel to the horizontal and the space orientation-based panoramic camera is in a first relative position about the optical axis; and

creating the image with a greater extent in a direction perpendicular to the horizontal than in a direction parallel to the horizontal when the orientation of the optical axis is generally parallel to the horizontal and the space orientation-based panoramic camera is in a second relative position about the optical axis.

16. The method according to claim 14, further comprising:

creating a peripheral strip when the orientation of the optical axis is generally perpendicular to the horizontal.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the peripheral strip is circular, where a circular strip is defined as a 360°

peripheral strip.

18. The method according to claim 13, further comprising associating metadata with the image.

19. The method according to claim 13, further comprising using processing software for mitigating geometric distortions.

20. The method according to claim 13, further comprising:

providing the panoramic camera with a display device;

providing the panoramic camera with an accelerometer;

configuring the panoramic camera so that a shake movement in a first direction is interpreted as a forward command and a shake movement in a second direction is interpreted as a backward command;

placing the panoramic camera in a shake-detection mode; and

controlling displaying stored images on the display device by imparting the panoramic camera a shake in the first or second direction;

wherein the forward command causes the next stored image to be displayed and the backward command causes the previous stored image to be displayed.