Digital video panoramic image capture and display system
US5721585A · kind A · utility
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 8, 1996 |
| Grant date | Feb 24, 1998 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 8, 2016 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG02B5/08
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A system performing capture and display of both still and real-time motion picture panoramic images comprised of 360 degrees in azimuth and .+-.180 degrees in declination for a virtual spherical field of view wherein image capture is achieved via a horizontally scanned vertical slit image passing through a fish-eye lens, mirrors, and prisms rotated under servo motion control onto a stationary line-scan sensor to build up a continuous two dimensional image. A host computer system monitors a position encoder on the optical head, sends motion commands to the servo controller, controls sampling rate and integration time for the line-scan sensor, and does image data processing, encoding, and storage. Additional mechanisms in the optical head permit optical and solid-state image magnification, selective field of view and sub-sampling of pixel data, optical horizon shifting, and streak and slit-scan camera effects. Image display is possible either through various methods of mapping the spherical image to a conventional flat display, or using the same optical head to project the image onto the interior of a spherical screen. Synchronous image scanning and projection from a single optical h…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.