Abstract:
To supplement a video display on a conventional television, a surround video stream may be projected onto wall and other surfaces adjacent the television. The surround video stream may derive from a wide angle lens camera positioned alongside the main camera. The surround video stream may be processed in a local processor to compensate for departures from planar geometry in the wall surfaces. Where no surround video stream is received, a video processor may synthesize a surround video stream from the main video signal. Moving objects represented in the main video signal may be synthesized in the surround video to provide the perception of movement across the viewer&#39;s full field of view.

Description:
PRIOR APPLICATION DATA  
       [0001]     The present application claims priority from prior UK application 0606965.2 filed Apr. 6, 2006, incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.  
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The present invention relates to video processing and display. For example, some embodiments aim to provide a viewer with a wider field-of-view—leading to a greater sense of immersion than a traditional video presentation—without requiring a larger television or display screen.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     Traditional television viewing in domestic environments usually includes a single, television monitor. In some situations, a flat-screen display or projector may be used to provide a larger viewing area. It is reasonably common for viewers to choose to augment or replace the audio capabilities of the display with an external stereo or surround sound hi-fi system.  
         [0004]     One known system (Philips Ambilight FlatTV TM) includes a built in soft light, which emanates onto the wall surrounding the television and aims to provide a more relaxed viewing environment as well as to improve the perceived picture detail, contrast and color. The color of the surrounding light may be adjusted in line with prevailing colors in the screen image, but there is no further image information. Thus this may improve perception but does not provide any real sense of enhanced “immersion” in the scene, as it occupies only a small proportion of the viewer&#39;s visual field, and is only very weakly related to the picture content.  
         [0005]     Watching a broadcast television program or a DVD film in the home thus provides a very different experience from viewing ‘real world’ scenes. The angle subtended by the video image to the eye is only a few degrees at either optimum or typical viewing distances. Much of the field of view of the eye is filled with the viewing environment—the living room furniture, wall decoration, and so on.  
         [0006]     Conventional methods for achieving a wide-angle display, such as IMAX, require a very high-definition camera and display system, and are unsuitable for use in a domestic environment. The data rate required to deliver such a high-definition image over a broadcast link makes deploying such a system impractical.  
         [0007]     Furthermore, were such a system to be set up in a domestic environment, any conventional TV set would have to be removed to make space, interfering with viewing of conventional TV.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0008]     Embodiments of the present invention seek to provide an improved viewing system alleviating the drawbacks of the above-mentioned systems. Advantageously, embodiments may be backwards compatible with existing television equipment.  
         [0009]     In one aspect, an embodiment of the present invention includes a method of providing a video display comprising the steps of providing a primary video display in a primary display region; providing a surround video display in a region surrounding the primary display region, wherein the surround video display is of lower quality than the primary video display.  
         [0010]     The primary video display may be provided by a primary display device having a dedicated screen area. The primary video display may be provided by a device having an active screen. The surround video display may be provided by projection onto at least one object surrounding the primary display device. An embodiment may compensate the projected surround video display based on the geometry of an object. Apparent motion of at least one object in the primary video display may be extrapolated into the surround video display.  
         [0011]     In another aspect, an embodiment of the present invention includes a method of providing a video display comprising providing a primary video display in a primary display region; and providing a surround video display in a region surrounding the primary display region, wherein the surround video display is of lower resolution than the primary display and wherein the surround video display extends over a substantially larger field of view than the primary display.  
         [0012]     The primary video display may be provided on a primary display device and the surround video display may be provided by projection onto at least one object surrounding the primary display device. An embodiment may receive at least one encoded video signal and provide a primary signal to cause the primary display device to display the primary video and a surround signal to cause a surround video projector to display the surround video. The surround signal may include information for use in synthesizing surround information based on the primary video signal Synthesizing at least a part of a surround video signal based on the content of a primary video signal may be performed Apparent motion of at least one object in the primary video display may be extrapolated into the surround video display. A surround video signal may be provided by transforming generic surround images in real time based on the geometry of the surroundings of the primary video display.  
         [0013]     A primary representation may include a primary video signal and a surround representation may include a surround video signal which is more coarsely quantized or encoded at a lower bit rate than the primary video signal. In another aspect, an embodiment of the present invention includes a method of distributing video content, comprising supplying a primary representation of a first view of a scene which representation is decodable to provide a primary video display; and supplying a surround representation of a second view of the scene, being a wider angle view than said first view, which surround representation is separately decodable to provide a surround video display in a region surrounding the primary display region.  
         [0014]     In another aspect, an embodiment of the present invention includes a method of distributing video content, comprising supplying a primary representation of a first view of a scene which representation is decodable to provide a primary video display; and supplying surround information which surround representation is separately decodable to provide a surround video display in a region surrounding the primary display region such that apparent motion of at least one object in the primary video display is extrapolated into the surround video display.  
         [0015]     In another aspect, an embodiment of the present invention includes video processing apparatus comprising an input stage for receiving a video input; a primary display driver connected with the input stage and adapted to provide a primary video signal for a primary display on a screen in a room; and a surround video processor connected with the input stage and adapted to provide a surround video signal for a surround display projected onto surfaces of the room adjacent the screen, the surround video processor being adapted to hold geometrical parameters of said surfaces and to compensate in said surround video signal for said parameters.  
         [0016]     The surround video processor may for example mask the area of the screen in the surround video signal. A masking area corresponding to the primary video display may be defined.  
         [0017]     In another aspect, an embodiment of the present invention a includes video processing apparatus comprising an input stage for receiving a video input; a primary display driver connected with the input stage and adapted to provide a primary video signal for a primary display; a surround video processor connected with the input stage adapted to provide a surround video signal for a surround display in which the trajectory of moving objects represented in the primary display is extrapolated into the surround display.  
         [0018]     In another aspect, an embodiment of the present invention includes a method of calibrating a video display apparatus including a primary video display and a surround video projector, the method comprising registering the projector and primary video display so that the projected surround video surrounds but does not substantially overlap the primary video display.  
         [0019]     In another aspect, an embodiment of the present invention includes a method of calibrating a video display apparatus including a primary video display and a surround video projector, the method comprising storing data indicative of the geometry and/or reflectivity and/or color of the surroundings of the primary video display for use in modifying a surround video image to be projected onto the surroundings.  
         [0020]     In another aspect, an embodiment of the present invention includes video processing apparatus means for receiving video information; means for outputting a signal to a primary video display; surrounding object information storage means, store, or memory; image transformation means for transforming surround video image data based on the stored surrounding object information and means for outputting a surround video signal to a surround projector.  
         [0021]     In another aspect, an embodiment of the present invention includes a system comprising a primary display driver for outputting a signal to a primary video display; a surrounding object information store or memory; an image transformation processor for transforming surround video image data based on the stored surrounding object information; a surround video display driver for outputting a surround video signal; and a surround projector receiving the surround video signal.  
         [0022]     In another aspect, an embodiment of the present invention includes video capture apparatus comprising; primary video capture means for capturing primary video corresponding to at least one broadcast standard for a primary field of view; surround video capture means for capturing surround video for a surround field of view surrounding the primary field of view. The surround video capture means may capture video overlapping with or encompassing the primary field of view.  
         [0023]     In another aspect, an embodiment of the present invention includes a processor, computer program or computer program product or logic or video processing hardware configured to perform a method comprising the steps of receiving at least one encoded video signal; providing a primary signal to generate a primary video display on a primary display device; providing a surround signal to generate a surround video display by projection onto at least one object surrounding the primary display device wherein apparent motion of at least one object in the primary video display is extrapolated into the surround video display.  
         [0024]     It will be appreciated that there is considerable correspondence between capture and playback and processing features. For conciseness features are generally identified herein in a single context; method features may be provided as apparatus features (or computer code or program features) and vice versa and features of the capture system may be applied to the playback system and vice versa unless otherwise explicitly stated or clearly implied by context.  
         [0025]     Embodiments may fill a large portion of the eye&#39;s view—both the central and peripheral vision areas—and thereby increase the sense of immersion in the presented scene.  
         [0026]     In a preferred embodiment it is proposed that, a secondary (high definition) camera fitted with a wide angle or fish-eye lens is associated with and, typically, rigidly mounted to the main camera. While the main camera records action as usual, the secondary camera records the surrounding scene. The fish eye lens may have close to 180° field of view. The precise field of view and other characteristics of the secondary camera are not critical to this invention.  
         [0027]     Both main and secondary recordings may be made available as two separate but synchronous video streams. Those viewers with the required playback equipment can use the second ‘surround’ video stream to project an image onto the walls, floor and ceiling of their viewing environment and substantially fill their field of view. Real-time image manipulation software is preferably provided to remove the distortion imposed on the image by the geometry (or other characteristics) of the room. The portion of the projected image that would fall on the normal TV display is typically blanked, but may be at a lower intensity so as not to be problematic.  
         [0028]     Thus, a high-resolution video image is displayed on a smaller screen in the centre of the viewer&#39;s gaze. The second ‘surround’ video is displayed over a much larger area filling the viewer&#39;s peripheral vision. Because of the large surface area over which the secondary stream is displayed, it is perceived as a lower resolution image.  
         [0029]     Those with only regular viewing equipment are free to watch the standard video stream as usual.  
         [0030]     In cases where it is impossible or impractical to capture a contemporaneous “surround” video recording (or for use with archive or other video that was not captured using a secondary camera as described above), embodiments of the present invention contemplate analysis of the main video image (and possibly also the audio soundtrack) to synthesize a surround video stream, which is related to the main video image spatially, by color and by motion (of main camera or of objects in the scene) as examples.  
         [0031]     The ‘surround’ video image will generally be of lower quality than the main image: it will almost certainly be of lower spatial resolution, it is likely to be dimmer, and is likely to show some residual distortion due to failures to accurately compensate for the geometry of the walls. However, since the programme being viewed will have been shot so as to put the main focus of interest on the conventional display (as the programme will generally be shot to look sensible for viewers without the benefit of the surround image), the viewer&#39;s attention will usually be concentrated on this display. The main task of the ‘surround’ image is to provide information for the viewer&#39;s peripheral vision, where requirements for resolution and other aspects of image quality are generally lower.  
         [0032]     A mode selector may allow selecting at least one synthetic surround video signal or no signal in the absence of received or stored information providing the surround video signal. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0033]     The principles and operation of embodiments of the present invention may be better understood with reference to the drawings, and the following description, it being understood that these drawings are given for illustrative purposes only and are not meant to be limiting, wherein:  
         [0034]      FIG. 1  shows a capture system;  
         [0035]      Fig. 2  shows a playback system;  
         [0036]      FIG. 3  shows a recording and delivery system;  
         [0037]      FIG. 4  illustrates extrapolation from a primary image; and  
         [0038]      FIG. 5  illustrates alternative extrapolation from a primary image. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0039]     The following description is presented to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention as provided in the context of a particular application and its requirements. Various modifications to the described embodiments will be apparent to those with skill in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments. Therefore, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments shown and described, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed. In some cases, well-known methods, procedures, and components have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the present invention.  
         [0040]     Referring to  FIG. 1 , two cameras  10  and  11  are used which are rigidly mounted together in a frame. The cameras can be handheld, mounted on a tripod or supported in any other appropriate manner. The main camera  10  is free to be moved to frame shots as usual; the second camera  11  may be fitted with a fish-eye lens, such that it captures a very much wider field of view than the main camera and is used to record the surround video stream The surround video stream captures the environment in which the scene was recorded, putting it into better context.  
         [0041]     The cameras are frame-synchronized. A clapperboard may be used, as is common in television and film productions; the synchronism could equally be provided electronically using genlock and time code.  
         [0042]     Referring to  FIG. 2 , an existing video playback system (which is assumed to comprise of a video display, with internal or external audio capabilities) is supplemented with a projector The standard display system is used to present the main video stream, as usual. This may comprise a “conventional” television, which term is intended to encompass without limitation a cathode ray tube, plasma screen, liquid crystal display and may be analogue, digital, high definition. It may also include a video projection screen onto which an image is projected by a video projector, which may or may not be integrated with the projector to be described below.  
         [0043]     In one example of a system according to this invention, a projector  20  is used to project the wide field-of-view video stream onto the walls ( 40   a - d ), ceiling and floor of the viewing environment. The wide-angle projection is obtained by using a conventional video projector  20  and a curved mirror  21 .  
         [0044]     Referring to  FIG. 3 , there is provided a system for recording a surround video stream, delivering said stream to a user and displaying the stream The image capture system comprises two cameras as before—one for the main image  10  and a second  11 , with a fish-eye lens; this provides the video stream The video is then processed in editing and post-production  41 . When the zoom of the main camera changes, the scale factor for the surround image may be adjusted accordingly. Image-based analysis  42  can occur by, for example:  
         [0045]     i analyzing the main and surround images in order to deduce their relative scale factors (many techniques in the field of image processing are known which could be used for this task, for example correlation-based methods, object matching or recognition, or motion estimation) or  
         [0046]     ii analyzing data from sensors attached to the camera lenses that indicated their focal length.  
         [0047]     Similar techniques could be used to determine or specify the relative positioning of the main and surround video (for example, the surround video may be centered on the main image, or it may be centered a little way above, to give a more extensive view of objects above the camera rather than below). This analysis could also be carried out later at the end-user. The video stream is delivered via broadcast or physical media  50  to the user. Upon delivery, geometric correction is performed to correct distortions due to the viewing environment  43 ; in addition image-based analysis may be carried out, especially in cases where no surround video stream was recorded. Real-time video manipulation software may be used to remove the distortion imposed on the image by the fixed geometry of the room. This software performs additional scaling of the surround image, such that it correctly matches the scale of objects shown in the main video. Re-timing of the two video streams occurs  44  in order to compensate for processing delays. The main image is displayed on a video display  30  such as an LCD monitor. The peripheral image is projected onto the viewing environment  40  by a projector  20  or projecting system as depicted in  FIG. 2 .  
         [0048]     For cases where no surround video stream was recorded, the video may be analyzed to synthesize a surround video stream. A number of example algorithms are suggested here; any one of these or combinations or modifications may be used.  
         [0049]     1. Edge Color Extrapolation  
         [0050]     To provide a wider surround view from existing video material it is proposed to synthesize a surround video signal. This signal contains aspects of the motion and the predominant color from the edges of the original image. The use of the predominant edge color allows the extended view to match the background color in the video and so providing a basic sense of being surrounded by the scene Motion in the original image is represented in the synthesized view to give extra movement cues to the viewer so that movement on the. conventional display is also represented on the surrounding view.  
         [0051]     To extract basic motion and color from the edges of the conventional image, the average color is taken from blocks of pixels from around the edge of the image and replicate them to fill the larger surround image.  
         [0052]     Referring to  FIG. 4 , this averaging process is done for each pixel along a border  33  within the edge of the image  31 . This border is smaller than the picture size to take into account any letterboxing or pillar boxing black borders of the image. For each pixel along the line of this border the n×n block of pixels  32  containing the border pixel is averaged together to find the average color for the block. The resulting color for the block is then replicated within the surround video image  32  across a line  35  from where original pixel lines up within the larger surround image to the edge of the projected view.  
         [0053]     The area within the surround image that the conventional display fills is then set to black in the image This stops light from the projected surround image landing on the conventional display. The brightness of the synthetic image can also be adjusted so that pixels get darker the further they are from the centre of the image to fade out the surround view.  
         [0054]     This approach works well for the sides of the display. Motion within the synthetic view matches well with the original image and appears somewhat like the change of reflected light caused by the movement of the foreground objects. The extent to which motion and textural detail are represented in the surround view can be controlled by the size of the averaging blocks. The sizing of the averaging border also can be used to control the extent to which objects within the foreground of the scene occur within the surround image.  
         [0055]     However, this approach may have limitations at the corner areas of the surround view as a single pixel block value is replicated to fill an entire corner area of the larger image. To minimize the effect of this, filtering may be performed on the entire synthesized view to the smooth the transition between the sides and the corners of the surround image.  
         [0056]     2. Radial Color Extrapolation  
         [0057]     An alternative synthesis algorithm—presented in  FIG. 5 —uses the averaging technique as described above, but generates the ‘Surround Video’ image  32  by extrapolating the location of each pixel in the ‘Surround’ image back to the centre of the original video image  31  and coloring it according to the color of the pixel on the edge of the original image which lies closest to the line  36  extrapolated between the centre pixel and the ‘Surround Video’ pixel.  
         [0058]     3. Measurement of Object or Camera Motion to Render a Moving Texture Pattern  
         [0059]     Motion cues can be one of the more important cues to come from peripheral vision. Therefore one method of synthesizing the surround video is to generate an image with motion properties that match those of the main image. For example, a pseudo-random texture could be generated, which is moved in accordance with the estimated movement of the camera. Thus, when the camera pans left, the texture is moved to the left at a rate that matches the movement in the main image. Alternatively, instead of using a pseudo-random texture, some features of the image (such as fine detail) could be extracted and replicated to fill the surround image, in such a way that motion in the main image results in the replicated texture moving at a matching speed in the surround image.  
         [0060]     By taking just the fine detail from the image, the replication process can be substantially hidden, resulting in a texture with an apparently random appearance, but which moves in largely the same way as the content of the main image. The low frequencies in the surrounding image could be synthesized using one of the color extrapolation methods described above.  
         [0061]     4. Extrapolation of Image Texture Using Object or Camera Movement  
         [0062]     Having analyzed object movement in a video image (extracting object size and position over time to derive its speed, direction and possibly its acceleration), a representation of moving objects can be synthesized in the surround video image.  
         [0063]     The analyzed movement properties are applied to the object being rendered in the surround image, giving the impression that it continues traveling off to the sides (or top or bottom) of the main image. Similar techniques could be applied to camera rather than object movement (that is, by measuring the apparent movement of the background), to build up a wide-angle image using a method similar to the well-known ‘image stitching’ approach used to build panoramic images from a series of overlapping still images. This kind of processing would preferably process an entire image sequence before producing any synthesized surround video, because information for a given frame may usefully be taken from both preceding and following points in time. It thus may be more applicable as a pre-processing stage, implemented by the broadcaster to generate a surround video channel before the video was delivered. Alternatively, the processing could take place using stored content in a domestic device (such as a PC with a DVD drive) to generate the surround video for a programme or film before viewing it  
         [0064]     An example of the steps involved in this image synthesis process is as follows: 
        1. For each video frame, segment it into objects having different motions. Methods are known to achieve such segmentation, see for example Chung, H Y. et al “Efficient Block-based Motion Segmentation Method using Motion Vector Consistency”. In Proc. IAPR Conference on Machine Vision Applications (MVA2005), pages 550-553, Tsukuba Science City, Japan, May 2005 (http://www csis.hku.hk/˜kykwong/publications/hychung —mva 05.pdf)     2. For each object, look through the list of objects that have been seen before, and identify a corresponding object, by matching parameters such as object size, location, and direction of movement. Update the stored motion vector, size, shape and image information associated with the matching object, using the information from the current frame. If parts of the object are no longer visible due to having moved outside the image or having moved behinds another object, leave the shape and image information for these parts unchanged. If no corresponding object has been seen before, create a new object on the list of observed objects.     3. For all objects in the list, delete those that were expected to be seen in the current frame and were not. For those that were not expected to be seen (i.e. those that lie wholly outside the image), update their location by assuming they continue moving at constant velocity.     4 Synthesize an initial surround video image using one of the methods mentioned earlier, such as Edge Color Extrapolation.     5. For each object in the list that lies partly or wholly outside the image, draw the object using its stored location and image data at the appropriate position into the synthesized surround video image. Optionally, the objects may be drawn with a transparency level or degree of low-pass filtering that increases in accordance with the length of time since the object disappeared from the main image, or the distance it has traveled.        
 
         [0070]     A number of alternative implementations are possible and the embodiments described above are in no way exhaustive or limiting. Some possibilities for modification include:           
        Using a projector rather than CRT or flat-screen display to present the main video stream.               Using a projector with a wide angle lens to present the surround video image               Using any other future video display device (such as electronic wallpaper) to show either the main or surround video image. In the case of proposals such as electronic wallpaper (which can be based on liquid crystal display technology), driving of the wallpaper shall be construed as “projection” onto the surrounding objects.               Using a single high-resolution camera with wide-angle lens to capture the footage, and electronically extracting a centre portion to create the main video stream.        
 
         [0075]     Other known techniques could be incorporated to enhance a projection-based surround video system. For example, methods are known to perform accurate compensation of projected images when projecting onto irregular surfaces with varying reflectivity, such as may be found in a typical home environment. An example of such a method is described in “Bimber, O et al. Enabling View-Dependant Stereoscopic Projection in Real Environments., Fourth International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality, October 5-8, Vienna, Austria, pp. 14-23”.  
         [0076]     To apply such a method, one approach would be to use a camera to capture images of a series of projected calibration patterns. The camera should preferably be placed at the position of a typical viewer&#39;s head (e.g. someone sitting in the middle of the sofa in a living room), although alternatively for convenience it could be integrated into the projector unit. The calibration patterns could consist of a series of lines, dots or squares in different positions in the projected image. By analyzing the captured image of each projected pattern, it is possible to calculate the geometric, brightness and color corrections that should be applied to the projected image in order to compensate for the non-ideal geometry and reflectivity of the walls onto which the image is being projected. The captured images could also be analyzed to determine the location and size of the main display screen, which would allow the scaling and positioning of the projected image to be adjusted to match.  
         [0077]     The foregoing description of the embodiments of the invention has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. It should be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that many modifications, variations, substitutions, changes, and equivalents are possible in light of the above teaching. It is, therefore, to be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit of the invention.