Mapping of spherical image data into rectangular faces for transport and decoding across networks

A computer readable apparatus comprising a storage medium adapted to store a computer program thereon, the computer program being configured to, when executed, cause a computerized apparatus to:

• retrieve a first hyper-hemispherical image and a second hyper-hemispherical image, each of the first hyper-hemispherical image and the second hyper-hemispherical image comprising an overlap portion, the overlap portions capturing a same area within a spherical field of view (FOV);
• modify the first hyper-hemispherical image, the modification comprising removal of the overlap portion of the first hyper-hemispherical image, the modification of the first hyper-hemispherical image resulting in a modified first hemispherical image;
• modify the second hyper-hemispherical image, the modification comprising removing the overlap portion of the second hyper-hemispherical image, the modification of the second hyper-hemispherical image resulting in a modified second hemispherical image;
• map a first portion of the modified first hemispherical image into first, second and third facets of a two-dimensional projection of a cubic representation, the first, the second and the third facets of the two-dimensional projection of the cubic representation defining a first extent of contiguous space within the spherical FOV;
• map a first portion of the modified second hemispherical image into the first, the second and the third facets of the two-dimensional projection of the cubic representation of the spherical FOV;
• map a first portion of the overlap portions into the first, the second and the third facets of the two-dimensional projection of the cubic representation of the spherical FOV;
• and
• encode the two-dimensional projection of the cubic representation of the spherical FOV to generate an encoded image representative of the spherical FOV.

An image processing system for mapping spherical images to a two-dimensional projection of a cubic representation of a spherical field of view (FOV), the image processing system configured to:

• retrieve a first hyper-hemispherical image and a second hyper-hemispherical image from memory, each of the first hyper-hemispherical image and the second hyper-hemispherical image comprising an overlap portion, the overlap portions capturing a same area within a spherical field of view (FOV);
• modify the first hyper-hemispherical image, the modification comprising removal of the overlap portion of the first hyper-hemispherical image, the modification of the first hyper-hemispherical image resulting in a modified first hemispherical image;
• modify the second hyper-hemispherical image, the modification comprising removing the overlap portion of the second hyper-hemispherical image, the modification of the second hyper-hemispherical image resulting in a modified second hemispherical image;
• map a first portion of the modified first hemispherical image into first, second and third facets of the two-dimensional projection of the cubic representation, the first, the second and the third facets of the two-dimensional projection of the cubic representation defining a first extent of contiguous space within the spherical FOV;
• map a first portion of the modified second hemispherical image into the first, the second and the third facets of the two-dimensional projection of the cubic representation of the spherical FOV;
• map a first portion of the overlap portions into the first, the second and the third facets of the two-dimensional projection of the cubic representation of the spherical FOV;
• and
• encode the two-dimensional projection of the cubic representation of the spherical FOV to generate an encoded image representative of the spherical FOV.