Photography – Plural image recording – Stereoscopic
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-08
2001-10-09
Gray, David M. (Department: 2851)
Photography
Plural image recording
Stereoscopic
C396S428000, C348S050000, C352S057000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06301447
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to support structures for image capturing devices and the methods for their use in the capture and creation of totally immersive stereoscopic images from fisheye or wide-angle images captured from the support structures.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
One of the purposes of modern photography is to encourage a viewer to explore an image and, in the process, transform the image into something more than a two dimensional representation of space. Panoramic images provide some feeling of being enveloped into an image, but this feeling diminishes at the periphery of the image.
To create a greater feeling of being enveloped and to provide a greater resolution image to a viewer, high numbers of picture elements have been combined to create even larger panoramic images. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,083,389 to Alperin which is expressly incorporated herein by reference. Unfortunately, the combining of a plurality of images creates the potential for distortions at the seams of the images. Additionally, the number of images required to create a composite image in this manner is burdensome.
A partially enveloping image was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,667 to Zimmermann, expressly incorporated by reference to its entire contents. Zimmermann discloses a system and method for navigating about a spherically distorted image where the user's inputs control the displayed portion of the screen.
Another difficulty of capturing large field-of-view images is the potential for misalignment of a camera as it is moved from a first image capturing position to a second image capturing position. Further, with multiple images being captured, the possible alignment error grows with each movement of a misaligned camera. The resulting images then require additional manual correlation to compensate for any misalignment of the camera.
Yet another difficulty is providing a supporting structure which allows for the quick and easy capture of an image. Another difficulty is providing a portable support for a camera where the support does not require numerous adjustments to capture panoramic or spherical images. See, for example, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/767,376 filed Dec. 16, 1996 to Kuban et al. that is expressly incorporated herein by reference. While the Kuban et al. system solves the above problems, it is directed to the capture of images about a single axis of rotation, which effects the usefulness of these images when used for stereoscopic viewing. This effect is due to the identical image being used as the display in each eye, which does not account for the normal inter-pupillary distance between a user's eyes. This inter-pupillary distance is necessary for realistic stereoscopic viewing.
None of this previous work uses the new techniques described in this application for the capture and creation of stereoscopic immersive images. Therefore, there is a need for the method of and apparatus for capturing fisheye or wide-angle images and then creating and displaying totally immersive stereoscopic images from the fisheye and wide-angle images.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The problems and related problems of the prior art are overcome by the principles of the present invention. According to these principles, a lens supporting structure is disclosed which provides exact alignment of and offsets for a image capture means. The exact alignment produces captured images that are properly aligned for easily seaming together the captured images to form spherical images. In addition, the combination of the exact alignment and offsets is used to produce multiple, properly aligned captured images to form a seamed panoramic view. Embodiments of the present invention include a base support structure that rotably attaches to an offset mounting system that includes a rotable eccentric mount support and a rotable lens mount support that attaches to and supports a image capture means. Embodiments of the present invention also contemplate the offset mounting system and rotable lens mount taking on a variety of forms and combinations. For simplicity, the rotable lens mount is described herein as a ring and associated elements thereof Additional configurations of the rotable lens mount include a supporting platform and equivalents thereof In at least one embodiment, the rotable lens mount attaches to a rotating sleeve that rotates about a central bore. In one embodiment the supporting structure is a tripod; in another a monopod is used to diminish the footprint of the structure on the image.
In one embodiment, the axis of rotation of the lens mount coincides with a plane of an objective lens of the lens where the plane signifies a large field-of-view of the lens. In another embodiment, the plane signifies an approximate 180-degree field-of-view of the lens. In yet another embodiment, the plane signifies a field-of-view greater than 180 degrees. The axis of rotation of the lens mount is preferably co-linear with the axis of rotation of the lens. By rotating the image capture means about the rotable eccentric mount support and by rotating the lens about the axis of rotation of the lens mount, multiple images are captured. In particular, through the controlled positions of the eccentric and lens mounts, the captured images are seamed together to form totally immersive stereoscopic images. The number of fixed positions of the lens mount accounts for lenses with various fields-of-view.
In one embodiment, the offset mounting system consists of a lens mount, where the lens mount bottom securely attaches to the top end of the top-half of a two-stop rotator. The bottom end of the top-half of the two-stop rotator is rotably connected to the top end of the bottom-half of the two-stop rotator and the bottom end of the bottom-half of two-stop rotator securely attaches to the top side at a first end of the eccentric mount. The bottom side at a second end of the eccentric mount securely attaches to the top end of the top-half of an n-stop rotator, where n is a number greater than one. The bottom end of the top-half of the n-stop rotator is rotably connected to the top end of the bottom-half of the n-stop rotator.
By way of example only, capturing and seaming together left and right hemispherical images are described in greater detail in co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 08/863,584 filed May 27, 1997, which is incorporated by reference herein as to its entire contents.
Additional techniques for capturing first and second images having approximately equal to or greater than 180 degree field-of-view are described in co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 08/494,599 filed Jun. 23, 1995, which is incorporated by reference herein as to its entire contents.
Through the use of perspective correction and manipulation disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,667 to Zimmermann and its progeny including U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,384,588; 5,359,363; and 5,313,306 and U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 08/189,585 filed Jan. 31, 1994, Ser. No. 08/339,663 filed Nov. 11, 1994 and Ser. No. 08/373,446 filed Jan. 17, 1995, the formed seamless image is explored, of which these are expressly incorporated by reference as to their entire contents. The exact representation of the transformation provided by this approach allows the seamless edges to be produced when the data is collected in a controlled manner.
Consequently, a method of capturing immersive images for stereoscopic display is claimed comprising the steps of: mounting an offset mounting means to a support means at a first end of the offset mounting means; mounting an image capture means to a second end of the offset mounting means and rotating the offset mounting means so that the image capture means is in a first position; rotating the offset mounting means through a first series of positions in a constant direction; capturing an immersive image with the image capture means at each of the series of positions such that the immersive images cover a 360 degree field-of-view; converting each of the captured immersive images into a first digital data image for each of
Cole Bruce
Jackson Laban P.
Martin H. Lee
Banner & Witcoff , Ltd.
Gray David M.
Interactive Pictures Corporation
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