The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 27, 2001
Filed:
Aug. 28, 1998
Vishvjit Singh Nalwa, Middletown, NJ (US);
Lucent Technologies Inc., Murray Hill, NJ (US);
Abstract
A compact high resolution omnidirectional or panoramic viewer has several cameras with a common virtual optical center. The field of view of each of the cameras is arranged to form a continuous 360 degree view of an area when taken as a whole. The cameras are positioned so that they each view a different reflective surface of a polyhedron such as a pyramid. This results in each camera having a virtual optical center positioned within the pyramid. The cameras may be positioned so that their virtual optical centers are offset from each other. The offsets produce narrow blind regions that remove image distortions received from the edges of the pyramid's reflective surfaces. The reflective pyramids may be stacked base to base or nested within each other to produce a more compact panoramic viewer. Using two or more reflective pyramids in such close proximity permits using many cameras with the same virtual optical center. Using many cameras divides a large viewing area into many smaller areas where an individual camera views each smaller area. Since each camera views a smaller area, increased resolution is provided to the user.