Method and system for display of weather-related information

• US 6,052,648 A
• Filed: 04/10/1997
• Issued: 04/18/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 04/12/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Earthwatch Communications, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Earthwatch Communications, Inc.
• Inventors: Kruhoeffer, Douglas P., Ebbert, Christopher F., Burfeind, Craig R., Resch, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): McElheny, Jr., Donald E.
• Application Number:
  US08/833,841
• Time in Patent Office: 1,104 Days
• Field of Search: 702/3, 702/4, 702/5, 348/598, 348/599, 348/592
• US Class Current: 702/3
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/222 Studio circuitry; Studio devices; Studio equipment cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors, or control thereof H04N23/00

Abstract

A method and a system for the display of weather-related information are described. The display is interactive, three-dimensional, and weather forecaster-immersive. A three-dimensional image from a computer is integrated with a video feed source of a weather forecaster preferably in real time, so that the resulting image is a weather forecaster who is inside or a part of the visualized weather information. The integrated images of the forecaster and the weather display are preferably generated quickly, so that they appear animated when shown in succession.

Claims

1. A method for visually displaying weather-related information on a video display in a three-dimensional animated fashion comprising the steps of:

a. generating signals representative of the changing x-y position of a subject as the subject moves within a three-dimensional background of a single color;

b. generating a virtual set of said subject moving within said three-dimensional background using a video camera;

c. generating a chroma-keyed mask based upon said virtual set;

d. using a real-time texture map generator to create a textured memory based upon said virtual set and said chroma-keyed mask;

e. creating a computer-generated weather display using weather data;

f. combining said textured memory, weather display and signals representative of the changing position of said subject to create a real-time animation depicting the subject moving about said weather display; and

g. displaying said animation on a video display.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said weather data is satellite weather information.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said weather data is radar weather information.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said weather data is derived from a plurality of sources.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said signals representative of the changing position of the subject are used to alter the position of the subject in the animation.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said animation is displayed on the video display from the point of view of a virtual scene camera located at a defined location.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the virtual scene camera can be moved and animated three-dimensionally within the animation.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the field of view of the virtual scene camera is adjustable.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein the yaw, pitch and roll of the virtual scene camera is adjustable.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein a three-dimensional background is a portion of a room having a solid color.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the chroma-keyed mask comprises a two-color image, a first part of the image corresponding to the subject in a first color, and a second part of the image corresponding to said three-dimensional background in a second color.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the texture memory comprises a digital representation of only the subject.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the texture memory is generated in real-time.

14. A method for interactively immersing a subject in a three-dimensional display of computer-generated, weather-related information, comprising the steps of:

a. tracking the movement of the subject within a three-dimensional, solid color background and generating tracking signals representative of said movement;

b. chroma-keying a video feed of the subject moving within a three-dimensional solid colored background to generate a chroma-keyed mask comprising an image of the subject having a color corresponding to an on color against a background having a color corresponding to an off color;

c. mapping the video feed to a texture memory in real-time using the chroma-keyed mask as an alpha input, wherein the texture memory comprises a digital representation correspond to the subject; and

d. mapping the texture memory of the video feed onto a three-dimensional display of weather-related information generated by a computer such that the subject appears to have become a part of and move about the three-dimensional display, said tracking signals being used to coordinate the position of the subject with respect to the three-dimensional display as the subject moves within the three-dimensional solid color background.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising the step of displaying the three-dimensional display of computer-generated, weather-related information including the mapped texture memory on a display device.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein the digital representation of the subject comprises a plurality of pixels, each pixel having a red channel component, a blue channel component, a green channel component, and an alpha channel component.

17. A weather visualization system comprising:

a. a three-dimensional, single-color background in which a subject can move about;

b. a sensor for tracking the x-y position of a subject as it moves with said three-dimensional single-color background;

c. a chroma-key device to generate a mask based on a video feed including a subject against said three-dimensional single-color background;

d. a texture map device utilizing the mask as an alpha input to generate a texture memory based on the video feed; and

e. at least one graphics processor to map the texture memory onto a three-dimensional display of weather-related information-based upon the position of the subject as it moves about said three-dimensional single-color background.

18. The system of claim 17 further comprising a display device to display the three-dimensional display of weather-related information including the mapped texture memory.

19. The system of claim 17 wherein the video feed is a live video feed.

20. The system of claim 17 wherein said mask has a subject color corresponding to an on color and a background color corresponding to an off color.

21. The system of claim 17 wherein the texture map device generates the texture memory in real-time.

22. The system of claim 17 wherein the texture map device digitizes the video feed as a first intermediate texture memory and the mask as a second intermediate texture memory.

23. The system of claim 17 wherein the at least one graphics processor maps the texture memory onto the three-dimensional display of weather-related information such that a subject in the video feed appears to be located within and move about the three-dimensional display.

24. A computerized system for visually displaying weather-related information comprising:

a. means for tracking the position of a subject as the subject moves within a three-dimensional background;

b. means for generating a virtual set of said subject;

c. means for generating a chroma-keyed mask based on the virtual set;

d. means for generating a memory of the virtual set based on the chroma-keyed mask;

e. means for mapping the texture memory onto the weather-related information based upon the position of the subject as the subject moves within the three-dimensional background; and

f. means for displaying the weather-related information including the mapped texture memory.

25. The computerized system of claim 24 wherein the virtual set comprises the image of the subject in a three-dimensional, single-color background.

26. The computerized system of claim 25 wherein the chroma-keyed mask comprises a two-color image, a first part of the image corresponding to the subject in a first color, and a second part of the image corresponding to said background in a second color.

27. The computerized system of claim 24 wherein the texture memory comprises a digital representation of only the subject.

28. A computerized system for interactively immersing a subject in a three-dimensional display of computer-generated, weather-related information, comprising:

a. means for chroma-keying a video feed of the subject against a solid-colored, three-dimensional background to generate a chroma-keyed mask comprising an image of the subject having a color corresponding to an on color against said background having a color corresponding to an off color;

b. means for mapping the video feed to a texture memory in real-time, using the chroma-keyed mask as an alpha input, wherein the texture memory comprises a digital representation corresponding to the subject, the digital representation comprising a plurality of pixels;

c. means for tracking the position of the subject as the subject moves within said solid-color, three-dimensional background; and

d. means for mapping the texture memory of the video feed onto the three-dimensional display of computer-generated, weather-related information based upon the position of the subject within said solid-color, three-dimensional background, such that the subject appears to have become a part of the three-dimensional display of computer-generated, weather-related information.

29. The computerized system of claim 28 further comprising means for displaying the three-dimensional display of weather-related information generated by a computer including the mapped texture memory.

30. The computerized system of claim 28 wherein each pixel has a red channel component, a blue channel component, a green channel component, and an alpha channel component.

31. The computerized system of claim 28 wherein said means for tracking generates signals used to scale appearance of the subject with respect to the three-dimensional display.

32. The computerized system of claim 28 wherein said three-dimensional display is viewed from the perspective of a virtual scene camera located at a defined position.

33. The computerized system of claim 28 wherein the virtual scene camera can be moved and animated three-dimensionally within the three-dimensional display.

34. The computerized system of claim 28 wherein the field of view of the virtual scene camera is adjustable.

35. The computerized system of claim 28 wherein the yaw, pitch and roll of the virtual scene camera is adjustable.