NAVIGABLE CAMERA ARRAY AND VIEWER THEREFORE

摘要

User interface (Fig. 1, 24) for the controlling of time and viewpoint, and warping of imagery in response to user (Fig. 1, 22) inputs. The inputs to the interface can be either a raw set of pre-synthesized image data, or a set of original image data together with a set of flow-fields. In both cases the interface (1, 24) allows the user (Fig. 1, 22) to navigate the data both in space and in time, for example, with the use of two slider controls, a single graphical control (e.g., a four-quadrant button, the quadrants corresponding to left, right, forward in time, backward in time), and the like. Interface (Fig. 1,.24) thus works generally according to the following four steps. Data is first organized before being read into the interface. Second step mapping the desired view given by the interface, and the next likely desired-view, onto the source data. Third step uses mapping performed in the second step to fetch the data for the desired view and the next anticipated desired view into local memory. Forth step involves processing the data for the desired view as required, displaying the view on the screen (Fig. 1, Monitor), and continuing to fetch data for the next desired view.