Patent Application - Optically Projected Mosaic Rendering > Claims

1. A method performed by an image processor, the method comprising: generating respective virtual image sheets for frames captured from different camera locations and different camera orientations, said generating the virtual image sheets including projecting texture maps of the captured frames over wire frames corresponding to optics settings of the camera;positioning the generated virtual image sheets at locations and orientations within a viewing space that correspond to the different camera locations and the different orientations; andrendering the positioned virtual image sheets into a mosaic viewed from a reference point of the viewing space.
- 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining the reference point from which to view the mosaic based on a spatial distribution of the different camera locations.
  - 3. The method of claim 2, wherein said determining the reference point comprises choosing the reference point's location at equal distances from the different camera locations.
  - 4. The method of claim 2, wherein said determining the reference point comprises choosing the reference point's location such that respective distances to the different camera locations are inversely proportional to an associated numbers of frames acquired per camera location.
- 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving the reference point from which to view the mosaic through an input interface.
- 6. The method of claim 1, said positioning the generated virtual image sheets in image space comprises: placing the generated virtual image sheets in the viewing space at a predetermined distance from respective different camera locations along respective rays extended from corresponding ones of the different camera locations to centers of the virtual image sheets, the rays being determined by corresponding ones of the different camera orientations; andorienting the placed virtual image sheets in the viewing space such that respective normals of the virtual image sheets are antiparallel to the respective rays extended from the corresponding ones of the different camera locations to the centers of the virtual image sheets.
- 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising pre-storing wire frames corresponding to predetermined optics settings of the camera.
- 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising using a single wire frame for said generating the virtual image sheets when the frames were captured using identical camera optics settings.
- 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising using two or more wire frames for said generating the virtual image sheets when the frames were captured using corresponding two or more camera optics settings.
- 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting the rendered mosaic by blending overlapping portions of projections in a display plane of the virtual image sheets.
- 11. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting the rendered mosaic by correlating overlapping portions of projections in a display plane of the virtual image sheets.
12. An appliance comprising: an image capture device configured to capture digital images;a graphical processing unit (GPU); anda graphical output device communicatively coupled with the GPU,wherein the GPU is configured to perform operations comprising: generating respective virtual image sheets for frames captured from different locations and different orientations of the image capture device, said generating the virtual image sheets including projecting texture maps of the captured frames over wire frames corresponding to optics settings of the image capture device;positioning the generated virtual image sheets at locations and orientations within a viewing space that correspond to the different locations and the different orientations of the image capture device; andrendering to the graphical output device the positioned virtual image sheets into a mosaic viewed from a reference point of the viewing space.
- 13. The appliance of claim 12, further comprising: a central processing unit (CPU) communicatively coupled with the GPU and configured to perform operations comprising: determining the reference point from which to view the mosaic based on a spatial distribution of the different camera locations.
- 14. The appliance of claim 12, further comprising: an input interface communicatively coupled with the CPU and configured to performed operations comprising receiving the reference point from which to view the mosaic through.
- 15. The appliance of claim 12, further comprising: a storage device communicatively coupled with the CPU and the GPU, and configured to perform operations comprising: pre-storing wire frames corresponding to predetermined optics settings of the image capture device.
- 16. The appliance of claim 12, further comprising: a geo-coordinates detector communicatively coupled with the CPU and configured to obtain the different locations of the image capture device; andan orientation detector communicatively coupled with the CPU and configured to obtain the different orientations of the image capture device.
  - 17. The appliance of claim 16, wherein the orientation detector comprises: accelerometers configured to obtain pitch and roll angles of an optical axis of the image capture device; anda compass configured to obtain a yaw angle of the image capture device, wherein the pitch, roll and yaw angles are measured with respect to the Earth's surface.
- 18. The appliance of claim 12, wherein the wire frames represent shapes of corresponding image wavefronts.
- 19. The appliance of claim 12, wherein the GPU is further configured to perform operations comprising: adjusting the rendered mosaic by blending and correlating overlapping portions of projections in a display plane of the virtual image sheets.
- 20. The appliance of claim 12, wherein to perform said positioning the generated virtual image sheets in image space, the GPU is further configured to perform operations comprising: placing the generated virtual image sheets in the viewing space at a predetermined distance from respective different camera locations along respective rays extended from corresponding ones of the different camera locations to centers of the virtual image sheets, the rays being determined by corresponding ones of the different camera orientations; andorienting the placed virtual image sheets in the viewing space such that respective normals of the virtual image sheets are antiparallel to the respective rays extended from the corresponding ones of the different camera locations to the centers of the virtual image sheets.