Method and system of providing a virtual community for participation in a remote event

• US 9,532,112 B2
• Filed: 01/27/2014
• Issued: 12/27/2016
• 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
• Primary Examiner(s): OSINSKI, MICHAEL S
• Application Number:
  US14/165,007
• Publication Number:
  US 20140143819A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,065 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 of adding a grid over a camera view of a geographic area of an event, comprising:

receiving at a stream server the camera view of the geographic area of the event sent over a communication network from a camera set positioned at the event, the stream server comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the processor;

maps a coordinate system to the geographical area of the event;

provides a visualization of the coordinate system over the camera view of the geographic area of the event; and

sends the visualization of the coordinate system over the camera view of the geographic area of the event over the communication network to a user display for viewing by a user,

wherein the visualization of the coordinate system comprises a virtual grid over the camera view of the geographic area 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 virtual grid comprises GPS coordinates.

5. A method according to claim 4, further comprising projecting the GPS coordinates as a light colored mesh over a viewing field.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein the processor further:

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

identifies, via the virtual grid, a plurality of locations at the event that are within a section of the virtual grid,

wherein each of the plurality of locations within a section of the virtual grid of the event is different from one another, and

wherein the identifying occurs independent of the different viewing angles from the plurality of cameras.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the processor further:

provides 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.

8. 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;

receive a camera view of a geographic area of an event sent over a communication network from a camera set positioned at the event;

map a coordinate system to the geographical area of the event;

provide a visualization of the coordinate system over the camera view of the geographic area of the event; and

send the visualization of the coordinate system over the camera view of the geographic area of the event over the communication network to a user display for viewing by a user,

wherein the visualization of the coordinate system comprises a virtual grid over the camera view of the geographic area of the event.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein values of coordinates in the coordinate system correspond to the geographical location of the event.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the values of the coordinates are independent of a viewing perspective of a user.

11. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the virtual grid comprises GPS coordinates.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the apparatus is further configured to:

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

13. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the apparatus is further configured to:

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

identify, via the virtual grid, a plurality of locations at the event that are within a section of the virtual grid,

wherein each of the plurality of locations within a section of the virtual grid of the event is different from one another, and

wherein the apparatus is configured to identify the one or more locations independent of the different viewing angles from the plurality of cameras.

14. The apparatus according to claim 13, 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.

15. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the apparatus comprises a stream server.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions stored thereon executed by a processor to perform a method of adding a grid over a camera view of a geographic area of an event, the method comprising:

receiving a camera view of a geographic area of the event sent over a communication network from a camera set positioned at the event;

mapping a coordinate system to the geographical area of the event;

providing a visualization of the coordinate system over the camera view of the geographic area of the event; and

sending the visualization of the coordinate system over the camera view of the geographic area of the event over the communication network to a user display for viewing by a user,

wherein the visualization of the coordinate system comprises a virtual grid over the camera view of the geographic area of the event.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the method further comprises:

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

identifying, via the virtual grid, a plurality of locations at the event that are within a section of the virtual grid,

wherein each of the plurality of locations within a section of the virtual grid of the event is different from one another, and

wherein the apparatus is configured to identify the one or more locations independent of the different viewing angles from the plurality of cameras.