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. 03, 2004
Filed:
Dec. 27, 1999
Joseph R. S. Molnar, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Andrew H. Mutz, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Internet Pictures Corporation, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus are provided for dewarping images. According to one aspect of the present invention, rotational motion of a scene is taken into account for purposes for performing image dewarping. The image is extracted from the scene by selecting pixel values from an environment map that correspond to a viewing plane. Velocity information associated with rotational motion of the scene is determined. Then, based upon the velocity information, a velocity-dependent transformation is determined. Finally, a perspective image is created by applying the velocity-dependent transformation to the image. In this manner, when the images is presented to a user, the appearance of visible and objectionable distortion may be reduced while maintaining the perceived geometric accuracy of the image. For example, when the scene is rotating at a high angular velocity, little or no dewarping may be performed and the image extracted therefrom may be presented essentially uncorrected. In contrast, when the scene is not rotating, the image may be fully corrected. Between these extremes of high angular velocity and no angular velocity, the amount of dewarping may be modulated to intermediate values.