System and method for tagging objects in a panoramic video and associating functions and indexing panoramic images with same

摘要

A system and process for attaching tags to panoramic video. Tags provide information when viewing panoramic images, serve as references to specific actions and serve as reference for outside systems into a panoramic image database. Objects in a video can be tagged. It defines tags through 4-D time-space curves, which specify the 3-D location of a tagged object over time. It provides a user-friendly mechanism for defining said curves in panoramic video, which rely on curve fitting techniques to minimize the number of images to be labeled. It provides a mechanism for annotating tags with further information. When displaying tagged panoramic video, tags are graphically superimposed on the panoramic video feed using projective projection techniques. From this visualization, a user can then select a given tag and invoke an associated action. Additionally a mechanism whereby tags and associated user-provided information are used as index into panoramic image databases is provided.

主权项

1. An image acquisition system comprising:
a camera for acquiring panoramic images; a positioning system; a computer system, where the computer system is configured by a first server application and a second server application; and an image database; where the computer system is configured by the first server application to:
receive a plurality of panoramic images captured by the camera;receive a plurality of locations captured by the positioning system corresponding to positions where the plurality of panoramic images are captured;receive a plurality of time stamps corresponding to times when the plurality of panoramic images are captured;generate a plurality of annotated panoramic images by associating the plurality of panoramic images with the corresponding plurality of locations and corresponding plurality of time stamps; andupload the plurality of annotated panoramic images to the image database; and where the computer system is configured by the second server application to:
receive a user selection of a 2-D tag location in a first panoramic image found in the image database;calculate a time-space function defining the 2-D tag location in the 3-D physical world, where the time-space function maps an annotated time stamp of the first panoramic image to 3-D coordinates;calculate an updated location using the time-space function; andselect a second panoramic image from the image database annotated with the updated location.