Patent · US Expired

System and process for viewing and navigating through an interactive video tour

US6968973B2 · kind B2 · utility

42Cited by
0References
45Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMay 31, 2003
Grant dateNov 29, 2005
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 27, 2023

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F16/4393
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A system and process for providing an interactive video tour of a tour site to a user is presented. In general, the system and process provides an image-based rendering system that enables users to explore remote real world locations, such as a house or a garden. The present approach is based directly on filming an environment, and then using image-based rendering techniques to replay the tour in an interactive manner. As such, the resulting experience is referred to as Interactive Video Tours. The experience is interactive in that the user can move freely along a path, choose between different directions of motion at branch points in the path, and look around in any direction. The user experience is additionally enhanced with multimedia elements such as overview maps, video textures, and sound.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.