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US 2002/0171645 A1Published application
System and method for organization and delivery of data for virtual walkthroughs
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorDonald H. Weingarten
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method in an imaging system organizes and compresses into segments of limited size the image collection needed for the application of image based rendering to walkthroughs of large objects. For views from a limited range of positions only a corresponding limited segment of data needs to be transmitted, decompressed, and processed. A savings is thereby obtained in the startup time and memory required for execution of a walkthrough.
Claims41
A method comprising the steps of:
- covering a region for walkthrough with at least one closed surface, wherein each point in the region is surrounded by at least one closed surface;
- dividing each of the at least one closed surface into a plurality of patches such that each point of each of the at least one closed surface is contained within at least one patch;
- providing a representation of a collection of light rays crossing each patch of the plurality of patches in a direction oriented toward the interior of a corresponding closed surface using methods drawn from image based rendering;
- and
- for any selected viewing point and viewing angle within a region for walkthrough, constructing a corresponding visible image by methods drawn from image based rendering applied to the representation of the collection of light rays crossing at least one patch of at least one closed surface surrounding the selected viewing point.
2 more elements
A system comprising:
- a network;
- at least one networked computing device;
- and
- a computer server, communicatively coupled via the network with the at least one networked computing device, for sending imaging information from the computer server into the network destined for reception by the at least one networked computing device, the computer server comprising:
- a memory for storing imaging information comprising:
- a closed surface database including at least one representation of at least one closed surface, respectively, being located in a region for walkthrough;
- and
- a representation of a collection of light rays for each of a plurality of patches constituting the at least one closed surface covering the region for walkthrough;
- and
- an image server, electrically coupled to the memory, for selecting at least one representation of a collection of light rays crossing at least one patch of the plurality of patches of one of the at least one closed surface of the region for walkthrough, wherein the selected at least one representation of a collection of light rays includes all light rays needed for the image based rendering of a visible image at a selected point and viewing angle.
7 more elements
A computer server system comprising:
- a network interface;
- an processor/controller, communicatively coupled to the network interface, for sending imaging information from the computer server system via the network interface to at least one networked computing device;
- a memory for storing imaging information comprising:
- a closed surface database including at least one representation of at least one closed surface, respectively, being located in a region for walkthrough;
- and
- a representation of a collection of light rays for each of a plurality of patches constituting the at least one closed surface covering the region for walkthrough;
- and
- an image server, electrically coupled to the processor/controller and to the memory, for selecting at least one representation of a collection of light rays crossing at least one patch of the plurality of patches of one of the at least one closed surface of the region for walkthrough, wherein the selected at least one representation of a collection of light rays includes all light rays needed for the image based rendering of a visible image at a selected point and viewing angle.
5 more elements
A computer system comprising:
- a user interface for presenting imaging information to a user navigating a walkthrough;
- a processor/controller, communicatively coupled to the user interface, for rendering the imaging information for the walkthrough using methods drawn from image based rendering;
- a memory, communicatively coupled to the processor/controller, for storing imaging information comprising:
- a closed surface database including at least one representation of at least one closed surface, respectively, being located in a region for walkthrough;
- and
- a representation of a collection of light rays for each of a plurality of patches constituting the at least one closed surface covering the region for walkthrough;
- and
- an image server, communicatively coupled to the processor/controller and to the memory, for selecting at least one representation of a collection of light rays crossing at least one patch of the plurality of patches of one of the at least one closed surface of the region for walkthrough, wherein the selected at least one representation of a collection of light rays includes all light rays needed for image based rendering of a visible image at a selected point and viewing angle.
5 more elements
A computer readable medium including computer instructions for an image serving system, the computer instructions comprising instructions for:
- covering a region for walkthrough with at least one closed surface, wherein each point in the region is surrounded by at least one closed surface;
- dividing each of the at least one closed surface into a plurality of patches such that each point of each of the at least one closed surface is contained within at least one patch;
- and
- providing a representation of a collection of light rays crossing each patch of the plurality of patches in a direction oriented toward the interior of a corresponding closed surface using image based rendering methods.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.