System and method for creating a navigable, three-dimensional virtual reality environment having ultra-wide field of view

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and method for capturing video of a real-world scene over a field of view that may exceed the field of view of a user, manipulating the captured video, and then stereoscopically displaying the manipulated image to the user in a head mounted display to create a virtual environment having length, width, and depth in the image. By capturing and manipulating video for a field of view that exceeds the field of view of the user, the system and method can quickly respond to movement by the user to update the display allowing the user to look and pan around, i.e., navigate, inside the three-dimensional virtual environment.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for creating a navigable, panoramic three-dimensional virtual reality environment with stereoscopic perception of three-dimensional depth to a user, comprising:
 a storage device for storing first and second video image streams corresponding to two different stereoscopic viewpoints of a scene, respectively, each stream comprising image frames;   a tracking device configured to track the movement of a user;   a position detector disposed in communication with the tracking device to receive tracking data from the tracking device and configured to determine a direction of view of the user;   an image renderer disposed in communication with the storage device to receive the first and second video image streams and disposed in communication with the position detector to receive the direction of view, the image renderer configured to create an output stream of merged stereo image frames corresponding to the direction of view of the user, the merged frames comprising image frames from the first video stream which are temporally matched to respective image frames from the second video stream; and   a head mounted display disposed in communication with the image renderer to receive output stream and configured to display the output stream to the user, whereby a navigable, panoramic three-dimensional virtual reality environment having stereoscopic perception of three-dimensional depth is created.   
     
     
         2 . The system according to  claim 1 , comprising an optical imaging device disposed in communication with the storage device and configured to image at least two different viewpoints of the scene, the imaging device comprising at least one optical imaging detector configured to record the first and second video image streams corresponding to the at least two different viewpoints of the scene, respectively. 
     
     
         3 . The system according to  claim 2 , wherein the optical imaging device is configured to display the images of the at least two different view points on the optical imaging detector to provide the first and second video image streams. 
     
     
         4 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the image renderer is configured to split the merged frames of the output stream and transform each of the split frames onto respective first and second models. 
     
     
         5 . The system according to  claim 4 , wherein the center of origin of the each model is selected to correspond to a location within the head mounted display at which a respective one of the user's eyes is to be positioned. 
     
     
         6 . The system according to  claim 4 , wherein the model comprises a wireframe model. 
     
     
         7 . The system according to  claim 4 , wherein the model comprises a sphere. 
     
     
         8 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the renderer comprises a non-transitory computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method for rendering the first and second video image streams to create a panoramic three-dimensional virtual reality environment having stereoscopic perception of three-dimensional depth comprising the steps of creating first and second wireframe models, and transforming each of the first and second video images by wrapping the first and second video streams onto the first and second wireframe models respectively. 
     
     
         9 . A non-transitory computer usable medium comprising a computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method for rendering video image streams to create a navigable, panoramic three-dimensional virtual reality environment having stereoscopic perception of three-dimensional depth comprising the steps of:
 receiving video image streams of a scene comprising first and second video image streams taken from different stereoscopic viewpoints, the first video image stream having a plurality of first image frames and the second video image stream having a plurality of second image frames;   merging respective pairs of the first and second image flames in stereo format to create a video output stream of merged stereoscopic image pairs;   receiving position data indicating a direction of sight of a user;   calculating a first and second region of interest of the merged stereoscopic image pairs based on the position data; and   displaying the first and second regions of interest on a head mounted stereoscopic display,   whereby a navigable, panoramic three-dimensional virtual reality environment having stereoscopic perception of three-dimensional depth is created.   
     
     
         10 . A non-transitory computer usable medium comprising a computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method for rendering the first and second video image streams to create a navigable, panoramic three-dimensional virtual reality environment according to  claim 9 , comprising creating first and second wireframe models, and wrapping the respective first and second section of the merged image pairs onto the first and second wireframe models respectively. 
     
     
         11 . A non-transitory computer usable medium comprising a computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method for rendering the first and second video image streams to create a navigable three-dimensional virtual reality environment according to  claim 10 , wherein the step of displaying the first and second regions of interest comprises rotating the first and second wireframe models in response to the position data. 
     
     
         12 . A non-transitory computer usable medium comprising a computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method for rendering the first and second video image streams to create a navigable three-dimensional virtual reality environment according to  claim 9 , comprising removing distortion from the first and second image frames. 
     
     
         13 . A non-transitory computer usable medium comprising a computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method for rendering the first and second video image streams to create a navigable, panoramic three-dimensional virtual reality environment according to  claim 9 , wherein the step of merging the respective pairs of the first and second image frames comprises temporally synchronizing the first and second image frames.