Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080244648 | PROCESS FOR DISPLAYING AND NAVIGATING PANORAMIC VIDEO, AND METHOD AND USER INTERFACE FOR STREAMING PANORAMIC VIDEO AND IMAGES BETWEEN A SERVER AND BROWSER-BASED CLIENT APPLICATION - A method for providing panoramic videos and images to a user using a server-client architecture while minimizing the wait time necessary before still images are available for viewing or videos begin playing. A series of location-referenced panoramic images are separated into one-dimensional tracks. Intuitive user controls are provided which allow the user to start and stop video playback, step through the panoramas in a track one at a time, and change the viewing orientation within the panorama. A video will start playing as soon as the video files for the preferred projected cube faces have been downloaded. This delay is reduced by storing the videos as keyframe distance files for opposing directions for each cube face and further reduced by encoding videos with different starting points so that they are staggered by a portion of the keyframe distance. | 10-02-2008 |
20090105939 | VEHICLE NAVIGATION SYSTEM WITH OBSTACLE AVOIDANCE - A vehicle navigation system through an area having a plurality of objects. A Voronoi decomposition on the area is first constructed having a number of edges surrounding the obstacles. A Voronoi field having a value between zero and an upper limit is calculated for geometric locations within the area such that the field reaches a maximum value within obstacles and a minimum value on the edges. A transversal cost between adjacent locations in the area from the position of the vehicle and toward a destination is calculated in which the transversal cost increases proportionately with the value of the field. A route is then planned from the position of the vehicle to the destination which minimizes the transversal cost. | 04-23-2009 |
20090284529 | SYSTEMS, METHODS AND DEVICES FOR MOTION CAPTURE USING VIDEO IMAGING - A variety of methods, devices and storage mediums are implemented for creating digital representations of figures. According to one such computer implemented method, a volumetric representation of a figure is correlated with an image of the figure. Reference points are found that are common to each of two temporally distinct images of the figure, the reference points representing movement of the figure between the two images. A volumetric deformation is applied to the digital representation of the figure as a function of the reference points and the correlation of the volumetric representation of the figure. A fine deformation is applied as a function of the coarse/volumetric deformation. Responsive to the applied deformations, an updated digital representation of the figure is generated. | 11-19-2009 |
20090299573 | SYSTEMS, METHODS AND DEVICES FOR ADAPTIVE STEERING CONTROL OF AUTOMOTIVE VEHICLES - A variety of methods, systems, devices and arrangements are implemented for automated assistance for a driver. One such method relates to a synergistic combination of automation and human control for a motor vehicle traveling on a lane, thereby allowing human-based decisions to be supplement (or be supplemented by) automated decisions. Specific aspects facilitate maintenance of the vehicle on the lane. The vehicle is automatically steered towards a lateral offset within the vehicle lane. Steering input from the driver results in changes to this lateral offset. This modification of the lateral offset can be used to allow the driver to follow any trajectory parallel to the road, including trajectories where the vehicle is not centered within the lane. | 12-03-2009 |
20090306881 | DETECTING PRINCIPAL DIRECTIONS OF UNKNOWN ENVIRONMENTS - Apparatus and methods according to some embodiments of the present invention use a graphical model, such as a Markov random field model, to represent principal driving directions within an environment. The model has a plurality of nodes representing spatial locations within the environment, and the principal direction for each node is determined probabilistically using linear features detected within an image of the environment. Apparatus and methods according to embodiments of the present invention can be used in improved autonomous navigation systems, such as robotic vehicles. | 12-10-2009 |
20100149183 | IMAGE MOSAICING SYSTEMS AND METHODS - Mosaicing methods and devices are implementing in a variety of manners. One such method is implemented for generation of a continuous image representation of an area from multiple images consecutively received from an image sensor. A location of a currently received image is indicated relative to the image sensor. A position of a currently received image relative to a set of previously received images is indicated with reference to the indicated location. The currently received image is compared to the set of previously received images as a function of the indicated position. Responsive to the comparison, adjustment information is indicated relative to the indicated position. The currently received image is merged with the set of previously received images to generate data representing a new set of images. | 06-17-2010 |
20100274430 | DETECTION OF TOPOLOGICAL STRUCTURE FROM SENSOR DATA WITH APPLICATION TO AUTONOMOUS DRIVING IN SEMI-STRUCTURED ENVIRONMENTS - A method of creating an obstacle-free diagram using topological sensor data to form a graph corresponding to a driving path, transforming the graph using discrete heuristics, locally smoothing a plurality of edges of the graph after the transforming, and globally smoothing the graph after the locally smoothing. Transforming includes deleting an edge of the graph, merging two intersections of the graph into a single intersection, and collapsing a plurality of edges forming a loop into a single edge. Locally smoothing includes smoothing a lane segment of the graph by minimizing a sum of a function of smoothness and a function of distance. Globally smoothing includes defining an intersection potential and minimizing a sum of the function of smoothness, the function of distance, a function of intersections and a function of direction. | 10-28-2010 |
20100299013 | USING TOPOLOGICAL STRUCTURE FOR PATH PLANNING IN SEMI-STRUCTURED ENVIRONMENTS - A method of creating a lane network of a semi-structured environment for a vehicle, assigning a corresponding cost function to each of a plurality of coordinates of the semi-structured environment using the lane network and a state of the vehicle, the state of the vehicle corresponding to a coordinate location of the vehicle and an angular orientation of the vehicle, and determining an obstacle-free path on the semi-structured environment using the cost function of each of the plurality of coordinates. | 11-25-2010 |
20110205337 | Motion Capture with Low Input Data Constraints - Systems, devices, method and arrangements are implemented in a variety of embodiments to facilitate motion capture of objects. Consistent with one such system, three-dimensional representations are determined for at least one object. Depth-based image data is used in the system, which includes a processing circuit configured and arranged to render a plurality of orientations for at least one object. Orientations from the plurality of orientations are assessed against the depth-based image data. An orientation is selected from the plurality of orientations as a function of the assessment of orientations from the plurality of orientations. | 08-25-2011 |
20110206273 | Intelligent Part Identification for Use with Scene Characterization or Motion Capture - A variety of methods, systems, devices and arrangements are implemented for use with motion capture. One such method is implemented for identifying salient points from three-dimensional image data. The method involves the execution of instructions on a computer system to generate a three-dimensional surface mesh from the three-dimensional image data. Lengths of possible paths from a plurality of points on the three-dimensional surface mesh to a common reference point are categorized. The categorized lengths of possible paths are used to identify a subset of the plurality of points as salient points. | 08-25-2011 |
20110208685 | Motion Capture Using Intelligent Part Identification - Methods, systems, devices and arrangements are implemented for motion tracking. One such system for tracking at least one object articulated in three-dimensional space is implemented using data obtained from a depth sensor. The system includes at least one processing circuit configured and arranged to determine location probabilities for a plurality of object parts by identifying, from image data obtained from the depth sensor, features of the object parts. The processing circuit selects a set of poses for the at least one object based upon the determined location probabilities and generates modeled depth sensor data by applying the selected set of poses to a model of the at least one object. The processing circuit selects a pose for the at least one object model-based based upon a probabilistic comparison between the data obtained from the depth sensor and the modeled depth sensor data. | 08-25-2011 |
20130244688 | Method and System for Signal-based Localization - In an embodiment of the present invention, a GraphSLAM-like algorithm for signal strength SLAM is presented. This algorithm as an embodiment of the present invention shares many of the benefits of Gaussian processes yet is viable for a broader range of environments since it makes no signature uniqueness assumptions. It is also more tractable to larger map sizes, requiring O(N | 09-19-2013 |
20140133740 | INTELLIGENT PART IDENTIFICATION FOR USE WITH SCENE CHARACTERIZATION OR MOTION CAPTURE - A variety of methods, systems, devices and arrangements are implemented for use with motion capture. One such method is implemented for identifying salient points from three-dimensional image data. The method involves the execution of instructions on a computer system to generate a three-dimensional surface mesh from the three-dimensional image data. Lengths of possible paths from a plurality of points on the three-dimensional surface mesh to a common reference point are categorized. The categorized lengths of possible paths are used to identify a subset of the plurality of points as salient points. | 05-15-2014 |