System and Method for Interactive 360 Video Playback Based on User Location

A display apparatus configured to present a plurality of video sections to a viewer, the display apparatus comprising:

• a processing circuit coupled to a non-transitory memory configured to store computer readable program code;
• a video player;
• and
• an application configured to interface with a manifest and the plurality of video sections;
• wherein when the processing circuit executes the computer readable program code, the display apparatus is caused to present to a viewer, a plurality of video sections defined by the manifest, wherein the plurality of video sections is presented in a sequence determined by viewer input while viewing the plurality of video sections;
• wherein when the processing circuit executes the computer readable program code, the display apparatus is further caused to present to the viewer a first video section created by recording a geographical area with a video recording camera moving in a first direction through the geographical area, a second video section created by recording a geographical area with a video recording camera moving in a second direction opposite the first direction through the geographical area;
• and wherein the first and second video sections have time points associated with virtual locations of the viewer;
• wherein the video player is configured to play back the first video section to the viewer;
• wherein the application is configured to detect that the viewer has reversed a field of view from the forward direction to the backward direction at a reversal time point during the first video section;
• and
• the video player is configured to present the second video section to the viewer beginning at a virtual location corresponding to the reversal time point in the second video section.

A video recording and playback system, comprising:

• a database configured to store a manifest and a plurality of video sections recorded in a geographical area;
• a server configured to retrieve the manifest and the plurality of video sections from the database;
• and
• a display apparatus configured to present the video sections to a viewer, the display apparatus comprising:
• a processing circuit coupled to a non-transitory memory configured to store computer readable program code;
• a video player;
• and
• an application configured to interface with the server to retrieve the manifest and the plurality of video sections;
• wherein when the processing circuit executes the computer readable program code, the display apparatus is caused to present to the viewer a first video section created by recording a geographical area with a video recording camera moving in a first direction through the geographical area, a second video section created by recording a geographical area with a video recording camera moving in a second direction opposite the first direction through the geographical area;
• and wherein the first and second video sections have time points associated with virtual locations of the viewer;
• wherein the video player is configured to play back the first video section to the viewer by presenting a field of view in the forward direction;
• wherein the application is configured to detect that the viewer has reversed a field of view from the forward direction to the backward direction at a reversal time point during the first video section;
• and
• the video player is configured to present the second video section to the viewer beginning at a virtual location corresponding to the reversal time point in the second video section.

A method of recording a video and playing back the video to a viewer in a Virtual Reality (VR) environment, the method comprising:

• recording a geographical area with an omnidirectional video recording camera, wherein recording includes recording a first video section by recording a geographical area with a video recording camera moving in a first direction through the geographical area, recording a second video section by recording the geographical area with a video recording camera moving in a second direction opposite the first direction through the geographical area, and wherein the first and second video sections have time points associated with virtual locations of a viewer;
• storing the first and second video sections;
• retrieving the first and second video sections;
• playing back the first video section to the viewer by presenting a field of view in the first direction;
• detecting that the viewer has reversed the field of view from the first direction to the second direction at a reversal time point during the first video section;
• and
• presenting the second video section to the viewer beginning at a virtual location corresponding to the reversal time point in the second video section.