Panoramic Image Mapping Reduces Oversampling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Equirectangular panoramic image mapping suffers from severe oversampling in high-latitude regions, leading to increased code rates and distortion during the mapping process, which existing methods have not adequately addressed.
Innovation Solution
A novel panoramic image mapping method that partitions equirectangular panoramic images into mapping and non-mapping regions, mapping only high-latitude areas to square regions, reducing pixel numbers and code rates while minimizing distortion through specific coordinate transformations and interpolation techniques.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If equirectangular mapping is used for panoramic images, then the mapping process is simple, but oversampling occurs in high-latitude regions leading to increased code rate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the panoramic image into three distinct mapping regions: high-latitude regions (|y| > M/4), middle-latitude regions (M/8 < |y| ≤ M/4), and low-latitude regions (|y| ≤ M/8). Each region is mapped using different strategies - high-latitude regions use square region mapping to reduce oversampling, while other regions use traditional equirectangular mapping. This segmentation allows the system to reduce code rate by 11% in high-latitude areas without increasing overall mapping complexity.
2Quantity of substance
If mapping to new planes is used to reduce oversampling, then code rate is reduced, but interpolation brings distortion problems
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different mapping qualities to different regions: high-latitude regions (|y| > M/4) use square region mapping with specific coordinate transformations that minimize distortion, while middle and low-latitude regions use traditional equirectangular mapping. The boundary regions use blended mapping to ensure smooth transitions. This local quality approach reduces overall distortion while achieving 11% code rate reduction.
3Quantity of substance
If high-latitude regions are mapped to square regions, then the number of pixels is reduced by 25%, but mapping complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments only the high-latitude regions (|y| > M/4) for square region mapping, affecting 25% of total pixels, while leaving other regions unchanged. This selective segmentation reduces the complexity increase to only the boundary regions where mapping transitions occur, rather than the entire image.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies square region mapping partially - only to high-latitude regions where oversampling is most severe - rather than to the entire panoramic image. This partial action achieves significant code rate reduction (11% overall) while limiting the increase in mapping complexity to specific regions only.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed is a panoramic image mapping method, wherein mapping regions and a non-mapping region are partitioned for an equirectangular panoramic image with a resolution of 2M×M, where only the partitioned mapping regions are mapped as square regions; the method comprises:, computing a vertical distance and a horizontal distance from a point on the square region to a center of the square region, a larger one of which being denoted as m; computing a distance n from the point to a zeroth (0th) point on a concentric square region; computing a longitude and a latitude corresponding to the point; computing a corresponding position (X, Y) in the equirectangular panoramic image to which the point is mapped; and then assigning a value to the point. The method may effectively reduce oversampling, thereby effectively reducing the number of pixels of the panoramic image and the code rate required for coding with little distortion.