Method and system for video interaction based on motion swarms

• US 8,218,811 B2
• Filed: 09/28/2007
• Issued: 07/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: UTI Limited Partnership
• Original Assignee: UTI Limited Partnership
• Inventors: Boyd, Jeffrey Edwin, Nguyen, Quoc Ai, Jacob, Christian Johann, Hushlak, Gerald
• Primary Examiner(s): Seth, Manav
• Application Number:
  US11/863,951
• Publication Number:
  US 20090087032A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,747 Days
• Field of Search: 382100-105, 382181-231, 382275-299
• US Class Current: 382/100
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/144 Movement detection for video coding H04N19/503; analysis of motion in general G06T7/20

Abstract

A system and method for generating a video display suitable for interaction with a public audience or group. The system comprises one or more video capture devices for capturing a scene, a module configured to extract one or parameters that describe a field of motion in the scene, and a module configured to generate a plurality of particles or a swarm of particles that are responsive or react to the motion field.

Claims

1. A method for video interaction, said method comprising the steps of:

capturing an image of a scene with an image capture device, the scene including a movement of a participant;

generating, in a processing device, a motion field comprising one or more parameters describing the movement of the participant in the scene;

simulating motion of a particle that is responsive to the motion field;

applying the one or more parameters of the motion field to the particle, such that the particle is responsive to the one or more parameters;

generating, using the processing device, an interaction based on the simulated motion of said particle and the movement of the participant.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of simulating motion of a particle comprises modeling one or more forces associated with said motion field.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein said forces comprise an attraction force.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, further including the step of bounding the motion of said particle.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, further including the step of providing an anchor point and anchoring the motion of said particle to said anchor point.

6. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein said forces comprise a repel force.

7. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein said forces comprise a friction force.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7, further comprising tuning the motion of the particle through modification of the friction force.

9. The method as claimed in claim 8, further comprising adjusting a friction coefficient in a model of the friction force to tune the motion of the particle.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein simulating motion of the particle further comprises calculating a momentum value associated with the particle.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the momentum value is tunable in response to an adjustment to a mass value associated with the particle.

12. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein bounding the motion of said particle comprises applying a bounding box defining a restricted space for movement of the particle.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12, further comprising tuning a parameter associated with the bounding box to modify movement of the particle.

14. The method as claimed in claim 5, further comprising providing a plurality of anchor points distributed throughout an image associated with the scene.

15. The method as claimed in claim 14, such that a plurality of particles may be distributed throughout the image and available for interaction with participants in different portions of the scene.

16. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein a force exerted by the anchor point on the particle is modeled as a spring force between the anchor point and the particle.

17. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the force exerted by the anchor point on the particle is tunable.

18. The method as claimed in claim 17, further comprising adjusting a spring constant in a model of the spring force associated with the anchor.

19. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the motion field is generated in response to a Motion History Image (MHI).

20. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein generating the motion field further comprises identifying a change in an intensity of a pixel in the image captured of the scene.