IP Library Granted Patent US 8,659,613
Granted Patent B2
US 8,659,613 · App. 12/921,934 · Granted Feb 25, 2014

Method and system for displaying an image generated by at least one camera

Inventor: Peter Meier (Munich, DE)
Assignee: Metaio GmbH
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,659,613
App. No.
12/921,934
Granted
Feb 25, 2014
Kind
B2
Abstract

The invention is directed to a method and system for displaying an image generated by at least one camera ( 11 ) on an image displaying means ( 13 ), comprising the steps of generating at least one image ( 15 ) by the camera ( 11 ) capturing at least one real object ( 12 ), displaying the image ( 15 ) on the image displaying means ( 13 ), analysing ( 2.1 A, 2.1 B, 2.1 C) at least one characteristic property of the at least one image and/or of the camera when generating the image, and automatically determining whether the at least one image ( 15 ) is to be displayed on the image displaying means ( 13 ) in mirrored fashion, or not, depending on the at least one characteristic property. The method and system is capable of automatically determining whether the at least one image is to be displayed in mirrored fashion, or not, depending on the particular situation.

Claims (23)

1. A method for displaying an image generated by at least one camera ( 11 ) on an image display ( 13 ), comprising:

generating at least one image ( 15 ) by at least one camera ( 11 ) with poses configured to capture at least one real object ( 12 ) wherein the surface of said real object is parallel to the camera pose and is approximately on a plane with the camera;

displaying the at least one image ( 15 ) on an image display ( 13 );

analysing ( 2 . 1 B, 2 . 1 C) at least one characteristic property of the at least one image which includes analysing at least one feature of the at least one image, wherein said analysing the at least one feature of the at least one image comprises searching and analysing ( 2 . 1 B, 2 . 1 B 1 ) the at least one image for at least one characteristic of a human face;

and/or

analysing ( 2 . 1 A) at least one characteristic property of the at least one camera when generating the at least one image which comprises determining one or more camera poses in relation to the at least one real object that is captured when generating the at least one image; automatically determining whether the at least one image ( 15 ) is to be displayed on the image display ( 13 ) in mirrored fashion, or not, depending on the at least one characteristic property.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said determining said one or more camera poses comprises analysing ( 2 . 1 A 1 , 2 . 1 A 2 , 2 . 1 A 3 ) a history of camera poses over a number of images generated by the at least one camera, including heuristically analysing the history of camera poses over the number of images.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein said analysing the history of camera poses over the number of images generated by the at least one camera comprises analysing ( 2 . 1 A 2 ) a history of translation values of respective camera poses over the number of images, including analysing of extrema values and/or smoothness of translation values.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said determining of one or more camera poses comprises determining ( 2 . 1 A 3 ) at least one absolute camera pose relative to the at least one real object ( 12 ).

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said analysing the at least one characteristic property of the at least one image comprises analysing ( 2 . 1 C) a plurality of images selected from said at least one image, for at least one image area which is substantially stationary among the plurality of images.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein said analysing said plurality of images for at least one stationary image area comprises determining ( 2 . 1 C 1 , 2 . 1 C 2 ) an optical flow between two subsequent images for a configurable number of image areas.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein said determining said optical flow between said two subsequent images comprises determining ( 2 . 1 C 2 ) respective flow vectors and determining a number of the flow vectors having a length lower than a predetermined configurable minimum value.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said at least one image is augmented with at least one virtual object using an Augmented Reality technology.

9. A system ( 1 ) for displaying an image, comprising:

a camera ( 11 ) with pose configured to generate at least one image ( 15 ) of at least one real object ( 12 ) captured by said camera wherein the surface of said real object is parallel to the camera pose and is approximately on a plane with the camera;

an image display ( 13 ) coupled with the camera ( 11 ) and configured to display the at least one image generated by the camera;

a processing unit ( 14 ) connected with the camera ( 11 ) and the image display ( 13 ) wherein said processing unit is configured to analyse at least one characteristic property of the at least one image which comprises

analyse at least one feature of the at least one image, wherein said analyse the at least one feature of the at least one image comprises searching and analysing ( 2 . 1 B, 2 . 1 B 1 ) the at least one image for at least one characteristic of a human face;

and/or

analyse at least one characteristic property of the camera when the image is generated and determine one or more camera poses in relation to the at least one real object when the at least one image is generated, and

display the at least one image on the image display;

said processing unit ( 14 ) configured to automatically determine whether the at least one image ( 15 ) is to be displayed on the image display ( 13 ) in mirrored fashion, or not, based on the at least one characteristic property.

10. A non-transitory computer programmable product comprising software code sections which are configured to carry out the method according to claim 1 when the code sections are loaded into an internal memory of a computer device.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 6, 2016
From: METAIO GMBH
To: APPLE INC.
Reel/Frame 040821/0462 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 10, 2010
From: MEIER, PETER
To: METAIO GMBH
Reel/Frame 024970/0934 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20110001760A1 · Jan 6, 2011