Portable virtual reality

1. A method in a virtual reality system comprising:

capturing an input video stream using a digital camera, the input video stream comprising video frames that carry information about a surrounding environment limited by a field of view of the digital camera;

processing the input video stream at a handheld computer coupled to the digital camera to extract data regarding visual motion of the digital camera; and

adjusting visual motion of a rendered scene of a virtual environment based on the data extracted from the input video stream by the handheld computer, wherein the adjusted visual motion of the rendered scene of the virtual environment corresponds to the visual motion of the digital camera.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising presenting an adjusted rendered scene of the virtual environment on a display after the adjusting, based upon the adjusted scene definition parameters.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising filtering noise from the input video stream before the adjusting.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the extraction of the motion parameters comprises tracking a location of a salient feature across the input video stream.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the tracking of the location of the salient feature further comprises:

measuring the location of the salient feature in a first frame;

measuring the location of the salient feature in a subsequent frame; and

comparing the location of the salient feature in the first frame against the location of the salient feature in the subsequent frame.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the extraction of the motion parameters comprises principal motion analysis of the input video stream, the principle motion analysis comprising:

computing optical flow of pixels of the input video stream; and

extracting a statistically dominant motion from the optical flow.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the extracting of a statistically dominant motion further comprises:

caching results of the computing of the optical flow of pixels for multiple image frames of the input video stream; and

performing principal component analysis of the cached results to determine the statistically dominant motion.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein computing the optical flow of pixels comprises determining a relative motion of a background area image with respect to the handheld computer as the user moves the handheld computer.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the extraction of the motion parameters comprises tracking motion of a user's facial image.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the motion tracking further comprises generating a bounding box, defined by bounding box parameters, around the facial image.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the adjusting comprises zooming, the zooming determined by comparing a size of the bounding box around the facial image at the current time against the size of the bounding box around an initial facial image.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the adjusting comprises adjusting for roll, the adjusting for roll determined by comparing a tilt of the bounding box around the facial image at the current time against the tilt of the bounding box around an initial facial image.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the adjusting comprises adjusting for change in elevation, the adjusting for the change in the elevation determined by comparing vertical position of the bounding box parameters measured at a current time against the vertical position of the bounding box parameters measured at a previous time.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the adjusting comprises adjusting for change in azimuth, the adjusting for the change in the azimuth determined by comparing horizontal position of the bounding box parameters measured at a current time against the horizontal position of the bounding box parameters measured at a previous time.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the extraction of the motion parameters comprises measuring eye gaze direction parameters of a user at predefined time intervals.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein adjusting comprises adjusting for change in azimuth, the adjusting for change in azimuth determined by comparing a horizontal eye gaze angle measured at a current time against the horizontal eye gaze angle measured at a previous time.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the adjusting comprises adjusting for change in elevation, the adjusting for the change in the elevation determined by comparing a vertical eye angle measured at a current time against the vertical eye gaze angle measured at a previous time.

18. An apparatus comprising:

a digital camera to capture an input video stream, comprising video frames that carry information about a surrounding environment limited by a field of view of the digital camera; and

a handheld computer coupled to the digital camera, the handheld computer to process the input video stream to extract data regarding visual motion of the digital camera, and

adjust visual motion of a rendered scene of a virtual environment based on the data extracted from the input video stream by the handheld computer, wherein the adjusted visual motion of the rendered scene of the virtual environment corresponds to the visual motion of the digital camera.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , further comprising a display that displays the rendered scene of the virtual environment.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the display is a component of the handheld computer.

21. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the motion analysis comprises principal motion analysis of the input video stream, the principal motion analysis comprising:

computing optical flow of pixels of the input video stream, and

extracting a statically dominant motion from the optical flow.

22. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the motion analysis comprises tracking facial motion.

23. A machine-readable medium having stored thereon sets of instructions, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:

capture an input video stream using a digital camera, the input video stream comprising video frames that carry information about a surrounding environment limited by a field of view of the digital camera;

process the input video stream at a handheld computer coupled to the digital camera to extract data regarding visual motion of the digital camera; and

adjust parameters that define a rendered scene of a virtual environment based on the data extracted from the input video stream by the handheld computer, wherein the adjusted visual motion of the rendered scene of the virtual environment corresponds to the visual motion of the digital camera.

24. The machine-readable medium of claim 23 , wherein the extraction of the motion parameters comprises tracking a location of a salient feature across the input video stream.

25. The machine-readable medium of claim 23 , wherein the extraction of the motion parameters comprises pixel flow analysis comprising:

computing optical flow of pixels of the input video stream; and

extracting a statistically dominant motion from a trend in the optical flow.

26. A system comprising:

a processing unit in a handheld computer;

a memory coupled to the processing unit through a bus; and

a virtual scene rendering process executed from the memory by the processing unit to

capture an input video stream using a digital camera, the input video stream comprising video frames that carry information about a surrounding environment limited by a field of view of the digital camera,

process the input video stream to extract data regarding visual motion of the digital camera, and

adjust visual motion of a rendered scene of a virtual environment based on the data extracted from the input video stream by the handheld computer, wherein the adjusted visual motion of the rendered scene of the virtual environment corresponds to the visual motion of the digital camera.

27. The system of claim 26 , wherein the extraction of the motion parameters comprises principal motion analysis of the input video stream, the principal motion analysis comprising:

computing optical flow of pixels of the input video stream; and

extracting a statistically dominant motion from the optical flow.

28. The system of claim 26 , wherein the extraction of the motion parameters comprises tracking facial motion.

29. A system comprising:

a virtual scene rendering device comprising a digital camera to capture an input video stream comprising video frames that carry information about a surrounding environment limited by a field of view of the digital camera and handheld computer coupled to the digital camera;

a server communicatively coupled to the virtual scene rendering device; and

a client computer communicatively coupled to the server, the client computer to

process the input video stream to extract data regarding visual motion of the digital camera,

adjust visual motion of a rendered scene of a virtual environment based on the data extracted from the input video stream, wherein the adjusted visual motion of the rendered scene of the virtual environment corresponds to the visual motion of the digital camera, and

distribute the virtual scene between the virtual scene rendering device, the server and the client computer.

30. The system of claim 29 , wherein an adjusted rendered scene of the virtual environment is presented on a display coupled to the client computer, based upon the adjusted scene definition parameters.

31. The system of claim 29 , wherein the motion analysis comprises tracking a location of a salient feature across the input video stream.

32. The system of claim 29 , wherein the motion analysis comprises principal motion analysis of the input video stream, the principal motion analysis comprising:

computing optical flow of pixels of the input video stream; and

extracting a statistically dominant motion from a trend in the optical flow.