Virtual reality camera
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A hand-held camera comprising:
- a camera housing;
a camera lens mounted on said housing;
image acquisition circuitry located within said camera housing for acquiring images of fields of view via said camera lens at various orientations of said camera housing;
at least one user input panel for receiving a user request to select a panoramic or non-panoramic image capture mode; and
image processing circuitry located within said camera housing;
responsive to the panoramic image capture mode selection, for at least partially combining each successively acquired image of a field of a view with previously acquired images of fields of view, on an image by image basis in real time, by determining spatial relationships between the images of fields of view, and by mapping the images of fields of view onto regions of a cylindrical surface, based on the spatial relationships.
9 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for creating and rendering multiple-view images. A camera includes an image sensor to receive images, sampling logic to digitize the images and a processor programmed to combine the images based upon a spatial relationship between the images.
13 Citations
67 Claims
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1. A hand-held camera comprising:
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a camera housing; a camera lens mounted on said housing; image acquisition circuitry located within said camera housing for acquiring images of fields of view via said camera lens at various orientations of said camera housing; at least one user input panel for receiving a user request to select a panoramic or non-panoramic image capture mode; and image processing circuitry located within said camera housing;
responsive to the panoramic image capture mode selection, for at least partially combining each successively acquired image of a field of a view with previously acquired images of fields of view, on an image by image basis in real time, by determining spatial relationships between the images of fields of view, and by mapping the images of fields of view onto regions of a cylindrical surface, based on the spatial relationships. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A hand-held camera comprising:
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a camera housing; a camera lens mounted on said housing; a display mounted on said camera housing; image acquisition circuitry located within said cameral housing for acquiring images of fields of view via said camera lens at various orientations of said camera housing; image processing circuitry located within said camera housing for at least partially combining each successively acquired image of a field of view with previously acquired images of fields of view, on an image by image basis in real time, by determining spatial relationships between the images of fields of view, and by mapping the images of fields of view onto regions of a cylindrical surface, based on spatial relationships; at least one user input panel to select a panoramic or non-panoramic image view mode, and to receive a user request to display a spatial region of the cylindrical panoramic image on said display; and view control circuitry, located within said camera housing and responsive to the panoramic view mode, to display a spatial region of the cylindrical panoramic image on said display, wherein said view control circuitry selects the spatial region of the cylindrical panoramic image based upon the user request. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method for providing cylindrical panoramic images comprising:
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selecting a panoramic or non-panoramic image capture mode; acquiring images of fields of view at various orientations of a camera; and when the panoramic image capture mode is selected, at least partially combining each successively acquired image of a field of view with previously acquired images of fields of view, on an image by image basis in real time, comprising; determining spatial relationships between the image of fields of view; and mapping the images of fields of view onto regions of a cylindrical surface, based on the spatial relationships. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A method for providing cylindrical panoramic images comprising:
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acquiring images of fields of view at various orientations of a camera; at least partially combining each successively acquired image of a fields of view with previously acquired images of fields of view, on an image by image basis in real time, comprising; determining spatial relationships between the images of fields of view; and mapping the images of fields of view onto regions of a cylindrical surface, based on the spatial relationships; selecting a panoramic or non-panoramic image view mode; when the panoramic image view mode is selected, receiving a user request to display a spatial region of a cylindrical panoramic image; and displaying the spatial region of the cylindrical panoramic image. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26)
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27. A hand-held camera comprising:
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a camera housing; a camera lens mounted on said housing; image acquisition circuitry located within said camera housing for acquiring images of fields of view via said camera lens at various orientations of said camera housing; at least one user input panel for receiving a user request to select a panoramic or non-panoramic image capture mode; and image processing circuitry located within said camera housing, responsive to the panoramic image capture mode selection, for at least partially combining each successively acquired image of a field of view with previously acquired images of fields of view, on an image by image basis in real time, by determining spatial relationships between the images of fields of view, and by mapping the images of fields of view onto regions of a spherical surface, based on the spatial relationships. - View Dependent Claims (28)
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29. A hand-held camera comprising:
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a careen housing; a camera lens mounted on said housing; image acquisition circuitry located within said camera housing for acquiring images of fields of view via said camera lens at various orientations of said camera housing; at least one user input panel for receiving a user request to select a panoramic or non-panoramic image capture mode; and image processing circuitry located within said camera housing, responsive to the panoramic image capture mode selection, for at least partially combining each successively acquired images of a field of view with previously acquired images of fields of view, on an image by image basis in real time, by mapping the images of fields of view onto regions of a cylindrical surface, based on spatial relationships between the images of fields of view. - View Dependent Claims (30)
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31. A hand-held camera comprising:
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a camera housing; a camera lens mounted on said housing; image acquisition circuitry located within said camera housing for acquiring images of fields of view via said camera lens at various orientations of said camera housing; at least one user input panel for receiving a user request to select a panoramic or non-panoramic image capture mode; and image processing circuitry located within said camera housing, responsive to the panoramic image capture mode selection, for at least partially combining each successively acquired image of a field of view with previously acquired fields of view, on an image by image basis in real time, by napping the images of fields of view onto regions of a spherical surface, based on spatial relationships between the images of fields of view. - View Dependent Claims (32)
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33. A method for providing spherical panoramic images comprising:
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selecting a panoramic or non-panoramic image capture mode; acquiring images of fields of view at various orientations of a camera; and when the panoramic image capture mode is selected, at least partially combining each successively acquired image of a field of view with previously acquired images of fields of view, on an image by image basis in real time, comprising; determining spatial relationships between the images of fields of view; and mapping the images of fields of view onto regions of a spherical surface, based on the spatial relationships.
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34. A method for providing cylindrical panoramic images comprising:
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selecting a panoramic or non-panoramic image capture mode; acquiring images of fields of view at various orientations of a camera; and when the panoramic image capture mode is selected, at least partially combining each successively acquired image of a field of view with previously acquired images of fields of view, on an image by image basis in real time, comprising mapping the images of fields of view onto regions of a cylindrical surface, based on spatial relationships between the images of fields of view.
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35. A method for providing spherical panoramic images comprising:
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selecting a panoramic or non-panoramic image capture mode; acquiring images of fields of view at various orientations of a camera; and when the panoramic image capture mode is selected, at least partially combining each successively acquired image of a field of view with previously acquired image of fields of view, on an image by image basis in real time, comprising mapping the images of fields of view onto regions of a spherical surface, based on spatial relationships between the images of fields of view.
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36. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform the steps of:
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sensing selection of a panoramic image capture mode; acquiring images at various orientations of a camera; and responsive to the selection of the panoramic image capture mode, at least partially combining at least one successively acquired image with one or more previously acquired images, on an image-by-image basis, comprising; determining spatial relationships between the images; and mapping the images onto regions of a virtual three-dimensional surface, based on the spatial relationships. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 56, 57)
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42. A method for providing panoramic images performed by a camera having a processor, the method comprising:
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selecting a panoramic or non-panoramic image capture mode; acquiring images of fields of view at various orientations of the camera; and if the panoramic image capture mode is selected, at least partially combining by the processor of the camera each successively acquired image of a field of view with previously acquired images of fields of view, on an image-by-image basis, comprising; determining at least one spatial relationship between the images of fields of view; and mapping the images of fields of view onto regions of a virtual three-dimensional surface based at least in part on the at least one spatial relationship. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 58)
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48. A method performed by a camera having a processor, the method for providing panoramic images, comprising:
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enabling a selection of a panoramic image capture mode; acquiring images of fields of view at various orientations of the camera; and at least partially combining, by the processor of the camera, each successively acquired image of a field of view with a previously acquired image of a field of view on an image-by-image basis in the panoramic image capture mode, comprising; determining at least one spatial relationship between the images of fields of view; and mapping the images of fields of view onto regions of a surface based at least in part on the at least one spatial relationship. - View Dependent Claims (49, 50, 51, 59, 60)
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52. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform the steps of:
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selecting a panoramic or non-panoramic image capture mode; acquiring images of fields of view at various orientations of a camera; and in response to selection of the panoramic image capture mode, at least partially combining each successively acquired image of a field of view with previously acquired images of fields of view, on an image by image basis, comprising mapping the images of fields of view onto regions of a smooth surface, based on spatial relationships between the images of fields of view. - View Dependent Claims (53, 54, 55, 61)
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62. A camera for providing panoramic images, the camera comprising:
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a processor and a memory; a mode component configured to enable a selection of a panoramic image capture mode; an image acquisition component configured to acquire images of fields of view at various orientations of the camera; and an image combining component configured to; determine the camera is in the panoramic image capture mode; and at least partially combine, on an image-by-image basis using the processor, two or more successively acquired images from the image acquisition component, the combining performed by; determining at least one spatial relationship between the successively acquired images; and mapping the successively acquired images onto regions of a surface based at least in part on the at least one spatial relationship. - View Dependent Claims (63, 64, 65, 66, 67)
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Specification