Please download the dossier by clicking on the dossier button x
×

Multi-user real-time augmented reality system and method

  • US 6,317,127 B1
  • Filed: 10/16/1996
  • Issued: 11/13/2001
  • Est. Priority Date: 10/16/1996
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
Patent Images

1. An augmented reality system for displaying landmarks to at least one user, comprising:

  • at least one image source positioned at a known orientation with respect to a center of a virtual sphere in which points on said virtual sphere are represented as spherical coordinate pairs (d,n) that respectively denote segments and rings of said virtual sphere, said image source generating video signals that together form a wide field of view (FOV) video signal having pixels (s, xs,ys,i) in which s identifies said image source, (xs, ys) are cartesian coordinates of pixels on an image plane of said image source, and i is a pixel value;

    a source processor that maps said pixels (s,xs,ys,i) into spherical coordinate triplets (d,n,i);

    a storage device that stores landmark data including overlay symbols and audio tracks that correspond to said wide FOV video signal;

    a video bus for broadcasting the triplets (d,n,i) to multiple users;

    a system for obtaining the user'"'"'s viewpoint orientation;

    at least one user display system, comprising;

    a) a display for displaying a respective subimage of said wide FOV video signal with an image plane of said display represented in cartesian coordinates (xu,yu); and

    b) a user controllable viewpoint selector for selecting said respective subimage in the wide FOV video signal wherein a center of said virtual sphere is defined as a fixed position of an user using said display; and

    at least one local processor for;

    mapping pixels (xu,yu) of said respective subimage to respective spherical coordinate pairs (d,n);

    extracting from said video bus, a respective set of said spherical triplets (d,n,i) that correspond to said respective set of said spherical coordinate pairs (d,n), and remapping said respective set of spherical triplets (d,n, i) to pixels (xu,yu,i) in said image plane, and wherein said local processor, in response to user selection, is capable of mapping selected portions of said overlay symbols and audio tracks to cartesian coordinates (xu, yu) of said image plane.

View all claims
  • 2 Assignments
Timeline View
Assignment View
    ×
    ×