Optical: systems and elements – Compound lens system – Telescope
Reexamination Certificate
1998-08-28
2001-02-27
Chang, Audrey (Department: 2872)
Optical: systems and elements
Compound lens system
Telescope
C359S402000, C359S725000, C359S726000, C348S036000, C353S030000, C353S037000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06195204
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a viewing system; more particularly, a panoramic viewing system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an effort to operate more efficiently, it is desirable to perform some tasks using telepresence. Telepresence refers to providing visual or other types of sensory information from a device at a remote site to a user that makes the user feel as if he/she is present at the remote site. For example, many businesses now hold meetings using telepresence. Telepresence is also useful for distance learning and remote viewing of vents such as concerts and sporting events. A more realistic telepresence is provided to a user by providing the user with the capability to switch between views, and thereby mimic, for example, looking around a meeting room.
In the past, when several views were made available to a user, several cameras with different optical centers were used. Such a situation is illustrated in FIG.
1
.
FIG. 1
illustrates cameras
2
,
4
,
6
, and
8
with optical centers
10
,
12
,
14
, and
16
, respectively. When the user decided to change views, he or she simply switched between cameras. In more sophisticated systems, when a user decided to change views, he or she was able to obtain a view from optical centers
10
,
12
,
14
, or
16
as well as from additional optical centers
18
,
20
,
22
,
24
, or
26
. Views associated with optical centers such as
18
,
20
,
22
,
24
, and
26
were obtained by using views from the two cameras nearest to the selected optical center. For example, a view from optical center
18
was obtained by using the views from cameras
2
and
4
and interpolating between the two views so as to simulate a view from optical center
18
. Such procedures introduced irregularities into views. In addition, forming these interpolated views required a large amount of computational power and time, and thereby made this technique expensive and slow to respond to a user's commands. This computational overhead also limited the number of users that could simultaneously use the system.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One embodiment of the present invention provides an omnidirectional or panoramic viewer in which multiple cameras effectively have a common optical center at least one of these cameras having its field of view redirected by a planar mirror. The field of view of each of the cameras is arranged to form a continuous 360 degree view of an area when taken as a whole. The user can sweep through 360 degrees of viewing, where each view has the same or nearly the same optical center, by simply using the output of one camera, more than one or the combination of cameras without requiring the computational overhead of interpolation used in the prior art. Such an arrangement may be used to enhance use of virtual meeting rooms by allowing a viewer to see the meeting room in a more natural format. This format corresponds closely to a person sitting in the actual meeting who simply turns his or her head to change the view at a particular time.
In another embodiment of the invention, the cameras are positioned so that they each view a different reflective surface of a solid or hollow polyhedron such as a solid or hollow pyramid. This results in each camera having a virtual optical center positioned within the pyramid. The cameras are positioned so that their virtual optical centers are offset from each other. The offsets produce narrow blind regions that remove image distortions received from the edges of the pyramid's reflective surfaces.
In still another embodiment of the invention, a stereo panoramic view is provided through the use of multiple virtual optical centers. A reflective polyhedral element, such as a pyramid, redirects the field of view of each camera in a first set of cameras to form a group of substantially co-located virtual optical centers at a first location within the pyramid. The pyramid also redirects the field of view of each camera in a second set of cameras to form a group of substantially co-located virtual optical centers at a second location within the pyramid. Panoramic images from the first and second virtual optical centers provide a stereo panoramic view when one panoramic image is provided to a user's left eye and the other panoramic image is provided to the user's right eye.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, polyhedrons such as pyramids having reflective surfaces are stacked base to base or nested within each other to produce a compact panoramic viewer. Using multiple reflective polyhedrons in such a manner permits using many cameras with the same or nearly the same virtual optical center. Using many cameras divides a large viewing area into many smaller areas where an individual camera views each smaller area. Since each camera views a smaller area, increased resolution is provided to the user.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the reflective polyhedron such as a pyramid is supported by a post that passes through the vertex of the pyramid. Cameras are then mounted to the post to provide a panoramic viewer with a mounting structure and a structure for supporting individual cameras.
In still another embodiment of the present invention, a nearly spherical view is provided to a user by placing a camera at the common virtual optical center of the viewer. In order to enhance the spherical view, the camera at the common virtual optical center may use a wide angle lens.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the viewing device may include any type of image processing device. If the image processing device is a camera or other type of image capture device, a panoramic image is captured for the user, and if the image processing device is a projector or other type of image producing device, a panoramic image is produced for the user.
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“Omnidirectional Imaging with Hyper
Chang Audrey
Lucent Technologies - Inc.
Malvone Christopher N.
Winstedt Jennifer
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