Television – Panoramic
Patent
1994-09-28
1996-10-08
Britton, Howard W.
Television
Panoramic
348147, H04N 718
Patent
active
055636500
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is a problem that people of ten have to go to a certain place in order to view the surroundings. To take one or more photographs of a certain object is often not enough, because it appears, that when these photos are consulted at another place, for instance at the office, that certain information and details can not be satisfactorally seen. Similar problems can occur with, for example, estate agents, where buyers are eager for information about certain objects offered for sale. The estate agent often has a view of the object to be sold but not of the direct surroundings. Council officials also need to view objects so that, for instance, tree felling licenses can be issued, building applications checked, or that the eventual suitability of a building initiative in an existing situation can be controlled and assessed, or that a town planner's designs, and the suitability of these designs in existing situations can be assessed.
The production of panoramic images whereby the whole surroundings from one point can be observed is known. For this purpose a number of photos can be taken, with a photographic camera, which can then be put together to form a panoramic image. This method is however very time consuming and requires a large shooting storage in the case where a certain area requires more than the usual number of shots in order to be produced and recorded. It is also very difficult to quickly and accurately find a desired image from such a file.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to a first object of the invention, a system is provided whereby a large number of panoramic images can be made in a short time, in simple manner can be recorded and then very quickly, at a desired moment, consulted.
Such object can be met with a method according to the invention, by which a shot of the surroundings is made from a desired shooting position with the help of a camera with a fish eye optic, and whereafter the obtained image is scanned with the aid of scanning means, after which the obtained images, in digital form, are transformed into a panoramic image with the help of a computer and software.
The registering of complete surroundings in a single image, with the help of a fish eye optic is already known. However the images obtained thus, are very difficult to be interpreted in the correct manner by the human eye. Because the images obtained give a very distorted image with respects to that as seen by the human eye, it is very difficult to interpret these images in order to obtain the desired information.
With this method according to the invention, images are achieved, obtained with a fish eye optic, which are firstly transformed in such a manner that they approach an image which can be interpreted by the human eye. By recording these images in digital form in a computer, a certain desired image can be consulted very quickly from a large number of recorded images.
According to another aspect of the present invention a method is provided for transforming fish eye images into panoramic images, comprising the following steps:
centering a scanning means onto the center of an obtained fish eye image; and
rotatingly scanning the fish eye image by a rotating scanning array of aligned light sensitive elements such that the fish eye image is divided into successive radial parts which are transformed into successive parts of a panoramic image.
A apparatus is preferably employed for the production of digital fish eye images according to the invention, whereby the apparatus comprises a camera provided with a fish eye optic and the image area is provided with a CCD-matrix on which the obtained image is projected, whereby an image in digital form is immediately obtained. It is possible, with such a apparatus, to immediately transform the images obtained with the fish eye optic into digital forms, whereby the step of firstly obtaining a photographic depiction, with the help of a fish eye optic, can be omitted.
In general there is an increased need to be able to visually observe the surroundings an
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Patent Abstract of Japan Patent Publication No. JP63216180, vol. 13, No. 9, Jan. 11, 1989, 1 p.
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Britton Howard W.
Geeris Holding Nederland B.V.
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