Television – Panoramic
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-29
2004-09-21
Britton, Howard (Department: 2613)
Television
Panoramic
C348S343000, C348S369000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06795109
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates generally to the field of recording images, and more particularly to stereo panoramic camera arrangements for recording of panoramic images useful in a stereo panoramic image pair. In addition, the invention relates to camera arrangements for recording individual panoramic images, which may be used in the stereo panoramic camera arrangements.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Panoramic images are images of a scene having a wide field of view, up to a full 360°. Panoramic images may be recorded using a wide angled lens, a mirror, or the like, providing a wide field of view. Panoramic images having a wider field of view can be generated by, for example, recording a plurality of images around a particular point and, using conventional mosaicing techniques, generating a single mosaic image. Panoramic images may also be generated of simulated scenes using conventional computer graphics techniques. Stereoscopic panoramic images can also be generated from images using various techniques known to those skilled in the art. In one technique, described in Joshua Gluckman, et al., “Real-Time Omnidirectional And Panoramic Stereo,” DARPA Image Understanding Workshop, 1998, two omnidirectional cameras, vertically displaced along a common axis, record panoramic images of the surrounding scene. Since the cameras are displaced, the pair of images recorded by the cameras, when considered in combination, will provide depth information for objects in the scene surrounding the cameras. However, since the displacement is vertical, the recorded images are inappropriate for human stereo panoramic perception.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention in one aspect provides new and improved stereo panoramic camera arrangements for recording of panoramic images useful in a stereo panoramic image pair. In addition, the invention provides new and improved camera arrangements for recording individual panoramic images, which may be used in the stereo panoramic camera arrangements.
In brief summary, the invention, in one aspect, provides a camera arrangement comprising a camera and an optical element. The camera is configured to record an image defined by light rays directed thereto. The optical element is configured to deflect rays from a scene to the camera for recording thereby. The optical element is further configured to deflect the rays such that, if the rays were undeflected, the rays would instead be tangent to a viewing device of predetermined shape, such as a circle.
Optical elements may be in the form of curved mirrors or lenses.
The camera arrangements are configured to record images in the form of left or right panoramic images of a stereo panoramic image pair, and in another aspect, the invention provides a stereo panoramic camera arrangement including one or more camera arrangements, for contemporaneously recording both left or right panoramic images of a stereo panoramic image pair.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5049987 (1991-09-01), Hoppenstein
patent: 5130794 (1992-07-01), Ritchey
patent: 5510831 (1996-04-01), Mayhew
patent: 5649032 (1997-07-01), Burt et al.
patent: 5686975 (1997-11-01), Lipton
patent: 5721585 (1998-02-01), Keast et al.
patent: 5768447 (1998-06-01), Irani et al.
patent: 5790182 (1998-08-01), St. Hilaire
patent: 5850352 (1998-12-01), Moezzi et al.
patent: 5929951 (1999-07-01), Sasakura et al.
patent: 5953664 (1999-10-01), Kumar et al.
patent: 6064353 (2000-05-01), Hoshi
patent: 6141036 (2000-10-01), Katayama et al.
patent: 6141145 (2000-10-01), Nalwa
patent: 6157747 (2000-12-01), Szeliski et al.
patent: 6252707 (2001-06-01), Kleinberger et al.
patent: 6275254 (2001-08-01), Beeteson et al.
patent: 6278480 (2001-08-01), Kurahashi et al.
patent: 6301447 (2001-10-01), Jackson et al.
patent: 6331871 (2001-12-01), Taylor
patent: 6459451 (2002-10-01), Driscoll et al.
patent: 6611282 (2003-08-01), Trubko et al.
patent: 2002/0005921 (2002-01-01), Sasakura et al.
Ishiguro, H. et al.; “Correspondence, Omni-Directional Stereo”; IEEE Transactions on Patern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, vol. 14, No. 2; Feb. 1992; pp. 257-262.
Gluckman, J. et al.; “Real-Time Omnidirectional and Panoramic Stereo;” DARPA Image Understanding Workshop; 1998;.
Kawanishi, T. et al.; “Generation of High-Resolution Stereo Panoramic Images by Omnidirectional Sensor Using Hexagonal Pyramidal Mirrors;” 14thInternational Conference on Pattern Recognition; pp. 485-489; Brisbane; Australia; Aug. 1998; IEEE Computer Society.
Nayar, S.; “Catadiopotric Omnidirectional Cameras;” IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition; pp. 482-488; San Juan; Jun. 1997.
Ben-Ezra Moshe
Peleg Shmuel
Pritch Yael
Britton Howard
Fenster and Company
Yissum Research Development Company of the Hebrew University of
LandOfFree
Stereo panoramic camera arrangements for recording panoramic... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Stereo panoramic camera arrangements for recording panoramic..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Stereo panoramic camera arrangements for recording panoramic... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3190489