Truncated Pyramid Projection for 360-Degree Video Field of View
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current 360-degree video technologies face challenges in efficiently storing and transmitting high-quality video data due to the large amount of data required for a seamless immersive experience, as they often provide full 360-degree content that exceeds what the viewer can see at any given moment, leading to increased storage and bandwidth needs.
Innovation Solution
The use of a truncated square pyramid mapping geometry, where the video data is projected onto planes of a truncated square pyramid, allowing for reduced data size by maintaining full resolution in the front view and decreasing resolution towards the back view, with the planes oriented such that the base represents the front view and the top represents the back view, thereby reducing the overall data requirements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If full 360-degree video content is provided to ensure seamless immersive experience, then the completeness and quality of the virtual reality environment is improved, but the data size and storage requirements increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by mapping 360-degree video content to a truncated square pyramid geometry where different regions have different resolutions. The front view (base plane) maintains full resolution for the viewer's primary field of view, while peripheral views (top and side planes) use reduced resolution. This selective quality distribution reduces overall data size while preserving visual fidelity where it matters most to the user experience.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from traditional equirectangular 2D mapping to a three-dimensional truncated square pyramid geometry. This dimensional change allows the video content to be organized in a spatial structure that better matches human visual perception and field of view characteristics, enabling efficient resolution allocation across different viewing directions and reducing redundant data storage.
2Manufacturing precision
If full resolution is maintained across all 360-degree views, then the visual quality in all directions is improved, but the bandwidth and transmission requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements local quality by allocating full video resolution only to the front view plane that corresponds to the viewer's primary field of view, while using progressively lower resolutions for top, bottom, left, and right views. This selective resolution strategy maintains manufacturing precision (video quality) where it is most needed while significantly reducing bandwidth consumption for transmitting peripheral view data.
3Quantity of substance
If the video frame size is reduced to decrease data storage requirements, then the storage efficiency is improved, but the quality in peripheral views deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent resolves this contradiction by applying local quality principles - the video frame size is reduced overall through the truncated pyramid mapping, but the front view plane maintains full resolution to preserve quality in the primary field of view. Peripheral views accept reduced resolution, creating an optimal balance between storage efficiency and visual quality where quality degradation is least noticeable to users.
4Ease of manufacture
If traditional equirectangular mapping is used to represent spherical video data, then the implementation simplicity is improved, but the efficiency of data utilization deteriorates due to excessive data in unseen areas
Solution Approach 1:
The patent improves data transmission efficiency by moving from traditional two-dimensional equirectangular mapping to a three-dimensional truncated square pyramid geometry. This dimensional transformation creates a more efficient data structure that aligns with human visual perception and field of view characteristics, reducing redundant data representation while maintaining implementation feasibility through standardized geometric transformations.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques and systems are described for encoding 360-degree video data using the planes of a truncated square pyramid to map the 360-degree data for different fields of view. 360-degree video data can include multiple frames, where each frame includes spherical video data. In various implementations, a video coding system can select a field of view for the video data, and determine an offset from the center of the spherical video data that corresponds to the field of view. Using the offset, the system can determine a projection of the spherical video data onto the planes of the truncated square pyramid, where the base plane represents a front view and the top plane represents a back view. The system can then map the video data according to the projection such that each plane of the truncated square pyramid includes a portion of the spherical video data.