US 2018/0007263 A1 · METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATED PLACEMENT OF A SEAM IN A PANORAMIC IMAGE DERIVED FROM MULTIPLE CAMERAS

Abstract

A method, apparatus and computer program product are provided to generate a panoramic view derived from multiple cameras and automatically place a seam in that panoramic view in a computationally efficient manner. In regards to a method, images captured by at least two cameras are received. Each camera has a different, but partially overlapping field of view. The method determines a seam location and scale factor to be used when combining the images together to minimize errors at the seam between the two images. In some example implementations, the seam location and scale factor may be recalculated in response to a manual or automatic trigger. In some additional example implementations, motion associated with an image element near a seam location is detected, and the seam location is moved in a direction opposite that of the direction of motion.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method comprising:

receiving an image frame captured by a first camera and an image frame captured by a second camera, wherein the first camera and the second camera have different fields of view, wherein the different fields of view have a mutually overlapping portion;
combining the image frame captured by the first camera and the image frame captured by the second camera into a composite image;
determining a seam location and a scale factor for the image frame captured by the first camera and the image frame captured by the second camera;
and
applying the seam location and the scale factor to a plurality of subsequent image frames captured by the first camera and a plurality of subsequent image frames captured by the second camera.

2 more elements

An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:

receive an image frame captured by a first camera and an image frame captured by a second camera, wherein the first camera and the second camera have different fields of view, wherein the different fields of view have a mutually overlapping portion;
combine the image frame captured by the first camera and the image frame captured by the second camera into a composite image;
determine a seam location and a scale factor for the image frame captured by the first camera and the image frame captured by the second camera;
and
apply the seam location and the scale factor to a plurality of subsequent image frames captured by the first camera and a plurality of subsequent image frames captured by the second camera.

2 more elements

A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable program code instruction stored therein, the computer-executable program code instructions comprising program code instructions configured to:

receive an image frame captured by a first camera and an image frame captured by a second camera, wherein the first camera and the second camera have different fields of view, wherein the different fields of view have a mutually overlapping portion;
combine the image frame captured by the first camera and the image frame captured by the second camera into a composite image;
determine a seam location and a scale factor for the image frame captured by the first camera and the image frame captured by the second camera;
and
apply the seam location and the scale factor to a plurality of subsequent image frames captured by the first camera and a plurality of subsequent image frames captured by the second camera.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application

15/637,132Filed 29 Jun 2017

Priority

29 Jun 2016

Published

4 Jan 2018

Term ends

Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification8 codes

G06T 3/4038
Scaling of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. expanding or contracting: image mosaicing, e.g. composing plane images from plane sub-images
H04N 5/2628
Studio circuits, e.g. for mixing, switching-over, change of character of image, other special effects ; Cameras specially adapted for the…:…
H04N 23/45
Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof: for generating image signals from two or more image sensors being…
H04N 23/698
Control of cameras or camera modules: for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture

Method and apparatus for automated placement of a seam in a panoramic image derived from multiple cameras

Life of this patent

Method and apparatus for automated placement of a seam in a panoramic image derived from multiple cameras

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20