Spherical Image Processing for Natural Zoom via Regional Pixel Expansion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current image processing technologies for panoramic videos fail to provide an immersive experience when the viewpoint moves, as objects appear to zoom in or out excessively, disrupting the natural viewing experience similar to real-world movements.
Innovation Solution
A spherical image processing method that divides the image into regions based on the viewpoint's position, applying pixel expansion or shrinkage to create a more natural zoom effect, allowing objects to appear larger or smaller as the user moves towards or away from them, mimicking real-world viewing experiences.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If uniform zoom-in or zoom-out is applied to the entire spherical image when the viewpoint moves, then the processing is simple, but the viewing experience becomes unnatural and non-immersive
Solution Approach 1:
The spherical image is divided into multiple regions (first region, second region, third region, fourth region) based on the viewpoint position and movement direction. Different zoom processing is applied to different regions, allowing the system to achieve natural viewing experience while maintaining manageable processing complexity through structured division.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the spherical image receive different zoom processing tailored to their specific spatial relationship with the viewpoint. The first and second regions (in front of the viewpoint) undergo different zoom ratios compared to the third and fourth regions (behind the viewpoint), creating locally optimized visual effects that collectively provide immersive experience.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the viewpoint moves forward or backward in the spherical image, then the field of view content changes appropriately, but rotation afterward causes excessive fast or slow movement that breaks immersion
Solution Approach 1:
The zoom ratio is dynamically adjusted based on the viewpoint's movement state. When the viewpoint moves forward or backward, the system calculates appropriate zoom ratios for different regions. When rotation occurs after zooming, the system continues to apply region-specific zoom processing to compensate for the rotational effect, maintaining natural visual progression and preventing excessive fast or slow movement.
3Ease of manufacture
If all objects in the panoramic video are uniformly zoomed when the viewpoint moves, then the processing is straightforward, but objects do not appear to change size naturally as expected in the real world
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies different zoom ratios to different regions of the spherical image based on their spatial relationship to the viewpoint. Objects in regions closer to the viewpoint's direction of movement experience different zoom magnification compared to objects in other regions, creating the realistic effect where objects appear to change size naturally as the user moves toward or away from them.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from uniform 2D zoom processing to 3D-spatially-aware regional zoom processing. By considering the three-dimensional spatial relationships between the viewpoint, sphere center, and different image regions, the system creates depth-perceptual zoom effects that mimic real-world viewing experiences while maintaining 2D image processing feasibility.
Data Source
AI summary
This application provides a spherical image processing method which includes: obtaining a spherical image and determining a sphere center of the spherical image; determining a viewpoint of a user when the user views the spherical image, where the viewpoint is located at any point, other than the sphere center, in a sphere space surrounded by the spherical image; determining a pixel expansion region and a pixel shrinkage region on the spherical image based on the sphere center and the viewpoint; and performing an image processing operation on the spherical image, where the image processing operation comprises a pixel expansion processing operation on an image in the pixel expansion region, and a pixel shrinkage processing operation on an image in the pixel shrinkage region.