Methods and apparatus for providing rotated spherical viewpoints

A method for generating a rotated sphere viewpoint (RSV), comprising:

• retrieving first image data associated with a first portion of interest of a source image, the first image data being associated with an equatorial portion;
• receiving data relating to a request for second image data;
• based on the received data relating to the request for the second image data, transforming the first image data such that the second image data is associated with a new equatorial portion;
• and
• based on the transformed first image data, generating a second image associated with the second image data, and causing provision of the second image to a viewport.

A computerized apparatus configured to generate a rotated sphere viewpoint (RSV), the computerized apparatus being further configured to:

• retrieve first image frame data associated with a first portion of interest, the first image frame data being obtained from source data;
• receive data relating to a request for a second image frame associated with a second portion of interest, the second image frame being offset in at least one dimension with respect to an equatorial portion that is associated with the first image frame;
• based on the received data relating to the request for the second image frame, transform the first image frame data to produce a transformed image frame that resides on a new equatorial portion;
• and
• based on the transformed image frame, generate and cause provision of a second image frame.

A non-transitory computer-readable apparatus comprising a storage medium, the storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, the computer program comprising a plurality of instructions configured to, when executed by a processor apparatus, cause a computing device to:

• retrieve first image data associated with a first portion of interest within a source image, the first image data being associated with a first equatorial portion;
• based at least on data relating to a different portion of interest than the first portion, transform the first image data such that the different portion of interest resides on a second equatorial portion different than the first equatorial portion;
• and
• using at least the transformed first image data, generate resultant image data corresponding to the different portion of interest, and provide the resultant image data to a viewport.