System, Method, and Device Including a Depth Camera for Creating a Location Based Experience

• US 20150287246A1
• Filed: 06/17/2015
• Published: 10/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Charles D. Huston, Chris Coleman
• Original Assignee: Charles D. Huston, Chris Coleman
• Inventors: Huston, Charles D., Coleman, Chris
• Granted Patent: US 9,977,782 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5866 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, manually generated location and time information
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/00 Three dimensional [3D] modelling, e.g. data description of 3D objects
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/20 Finite element generation, e.g. wire-frame surface description, tesselation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/006 Mixed reality object pose determination, tracking or camera calibration for mixed reality G06T7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/20 Editing of 3D images, e.g. changing shapes or colours, aligning objects or positioning parts
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2219/024 Multi-user, collaborative environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2219/028 Multiple view windows (top-side-front-sagittal-orthogonal)
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8205 involving the multiplexing of an additional signal and the colour video signal

Abstract

A system, method, and device for creating an environment and sharing an experience using a plurality of mobile devices having a conventional camera and a depth camera employed near a point of interest. In one form, random crowdsourced images, depth information, and associated metadata are captured near said point of interest. Preferably, the images include depth camera information. A wireless network communicates with the mobile devices to accept the images, depth information, and metadata to build and store a 3D model of the point of interest. Users connect to this experience platform to view the 3D model from a user selected location and orientation and to participate in experiences with, for example, a social network.

Claims

1. A system for creating and sharing an environment comprising:

a network for receiving images and metadata from a plurality of devices each having a depth camera employed near a point of interest to capture image data and associated metadata near said point of interest, wherein the associated metadata for said image data includes a location of the device and an orientation of the camera;

an image processing server connected to the network for receiving said image data and metadata, wherein the server processes the image data and metadata to build a 3D model of one or more targets proximate the point of interest based at least in part on said image data;

an experience platform connected to the image processing server for storing the 3D model of one or more targets, whereby users can connect to the experience platform to view the point of interest from a user selected location and orientation, and view the 3D model of one or more targets.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the network includes wireless access and some of the devices are mobile, wherein the random images are crowdsourced from users of the mobile devices.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the experience platform includes a plurality of images associated with locations near the point of interest and a user connected to the experience platform can view images associated with a user selected location and orientation.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing server is operable to stitch a number of images together to form a panorama.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein a user connected to the experience platform can view panoramas associated with a user selected location and orientation.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein said images include advertising based on context.

7. A method for creating an environment for use with a location based experience, comprising:

capturing random image data and associated metadata near a point of interest with a plurality of mobile devices accompanying a number of crowdsource contributors, each mobile device having a depth camera, wherein the associated metadata for said image data includes a location of the mobile device and an orientation of the camera;

communicating said random image data and metadata from said mobile devices to a wireless network;

receiving said random image data and metadata at an image processing server connected to the network; and

processing the image data to determine the location of one or more targets in the image data and to build a 3D model of one or more targets near the point of interest, including creating one or more panoramas associated with a number of locations near the point of interest.

8. The method of claim 7, the depth camera is a time of flight camera, a structured light sensor, or a plenoptic camera.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein said processing step includes using an existing 3D model of a target and enhancing said existing 3D model using said random captured images and metadata.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein said random images are crowdsourced from a plurality of contributors without coordination among said users.

12. A portable device for assisting in the use of a 3D of a point of interest, comprising:

a GPS receiver for determining the position of the device near the point of interest;

a conventional optical camera for capturing an image of the point of interest;

a depth camera for capturing depth data associated with said image;

memory for storing metadata associated with said image or depth data or both;

a communication link to an experience server, operable to load information relevant to the point of interest to the device, based at least in part on the position of the device and metadata; and

a display operable to view a perspective view of said point of interest from said device position proximate said point of interest, said display operable to show at least some of said load information as an artificial reality (“

AR”

) message.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein said portable device comprises glasses that include a transparent display operable to view at least a portion of said point of interest and to view said artificial reality message.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein said viewing step includes wearing goggles and viewing a point of interest with at least some portion of the point of interest enhanced with artificial reality.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein said viewing step includes a user remote from said selected location.

14. A method of sharing content in a location based experience, comprising:

capturing a plurality of random images and associated metadata near a point of interest, including depth information;

processing the captured images, depth information, and associated metadata to build a 3D model of one or more targets near said point of interest;

storing the 3D model of one or more targets in an experience platform connected to a network;

accessing the experience platform using the network to access the 3D model of one or more targets;

selecting a location and orientation near said point of interest; and

viewing the 3D model of one or more targets using the selected location and orientation.

15. The method of claim 14, including viewing the 3D model of one or more targets and an advertisement based on context.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein said random images are captured by crowdsource from users equipped with mobile devices without coordination of targets or time of acquisition among users.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein at least one of the mobile devices includes a depth camera comprising a time of flight camera, a structured light sensor, or a plenoptic camera.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein said processing step includes receiving an existing 3D model of a target and enhancing said preexisting 3D model using said captured random images and metadata.