Abstract:
Panoramic images are displayed with referencing icons that assist the user in conceptualizing the panoramic image as an unrolled cylindrical representation of a panoramic image. Icons above and below the image indicate a cylinder by their substantially elliptical shape. The icons also include left and right extensions with reference marks that give the impression of a cylindrical surface being unrolled. As a result, a user more readily understands the relationship between objects in different parts of the panoramic image.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED INVENTION 
     This application is related to commonly assigned and concurrently filed U.S. patent application entitled “Split Mirrored Panoramic Image Display.” 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to displays; more particularly, panoramic displays. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     In the past, panoramic images were displayed as a single rolled out panoramic display. FIG. 1 illustrates such a display. FIG. 1 can be thought of as a cylindrical panoramic view that is unrolled on a display. Unfortunately, such a display is disorienting to a user. For example, a user who is looking in the direction indicated by arrow  10  does not get a clear understanding of how the view 180 degrees away from arrow  10  appears. As a result, there is a need for a display that more clearly shows panoramic images. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention solves the aforementioned problems by displaying panoramic images with referencing icons that assist the user in conceptualizing the panoramic image as an unrolled cylindrical representation of a panoramic image. Icons above and below the image indicate a cylinder by their substantially elliptical shape. The icons also include left and right extensions with reference marks that give the impression of a cylindrical surface being unrolled. As a result, a user more readily understands the relationship between objects in different parts of the panoramic image. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art panoramic display; 
     FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a display system; 
     FIG. 3 illustrates the relationship between image data and a viewing direction; 
     FIG. 4 illustrates a memory structure used to store image data; and 
     FIG. 5 illustrates a one part panoramic display with an icon. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a panoramic viewing system using the display of FIG.  5 . Panoramic image source or camera  50  provides panoramic signals representative of a panoramic view to analog to digital converter  52 . Analog to digital converter  52  provides data representative of the panoramic view to display memory  54 . Display memory  54  stores the image data using addressing provided by controller  56 . Controller  56  may be a microprocessor or a microcontroller. When image data is provided to a user for display, addressing is provided by controller  56 . Controller  56  provides the read addressing based on the viewing direction selected by a user. It is also possible for a random direction of view to be selected, and for controller  56  to provide read addressing to display memory  54  in order to read out data in accordance with the random viewing direction. If display device  56  has a digital input the panoramic image data read from display memory  54  may be provided to display device  56  directly. Digital to analog converter  58  is used to provide image signals to analog display devices such as display device  60 . It is also possible to send the panoramic image data over communication network  62  to a distant display device  64 . Since it is possible for a user to select the direction of view, the user input may be provided by, for example, joystick  66  or joystick  68 , where joystick  68  provides user input via communication network  62 . 
     FIG. 3 is a cylindrical representation of a panoramic image that illustrates the relationship between the direction of view and image data comprising the panoramic image. The data can be thought of as columns of data representative of pixels that form a cylinder around a central point  92 . For example, the columns between reference lines  94  and  96  can be thought of as columns of image data representative of pixels obtained from the direction of arrow  98  with a 45 degree field of view on each side of the arrow. 
     FIG. 4 illustrates the structure of display memory  54  where the image data discussed with regard to FIG. 3 is stored. For the sake of clarity, reference lines  94 ,  96 ,  100 L,  100 R and  102  are provided to show the relationship between the section of the cylinder in FIG.  4  and the sections of memory in FIG.  4 . ( 100 L and  100 R can be thought of as the left and right portions of line  100  of FIG. 3, respectively.) The data corresponding to the columns of FIG. 3 is written into the columns of FIG.  4 . For example, the data corresponding to columns  110 ,  112  and  114  of FIG. 3 is written into columns  116 ,  118  and  120  of FIG. 4, respectively. This process is repeated for all the columns of data from FIG.  3 . 
     Once the data is stored in display memory  54  as illustrated in FIG. 4, controller  56  produces the addressing for reading the data from the memory for display in accordance with a user input. 
     The image data is displayed on display area as illustrated in FIG. 5, which shows single display area  140  with adjacent upper and lower substantially elliptical icons  142  and  144 , respectively. Mark  146  of upper icon  142 , and mark  148  of lower icon  144  indicate the direction of view selected by a user. It is particularly helpful if right portion  150  and left portion  152  of upper icon  142  have different colors, shades or cross hatching. It is also helpful if right portion  154  of icon  144  has the same color, shading or cross hatching as right portion  150  of icon  142 , and if left portion  156  of icon  144  has the same color, shading or cross hatching as left portion  152  of icon  142 . A panoramic image may be thought of as a cylindrical image that is unrolled. The user is assisted with this conceptualization by icons  142  and  144 . To indicate that a panoramic image is being unrolled from a cylinder represented by icons  142  and  144 , portion  158  of upper icon  142  stretches out to the left and may be the same color, shading or cross hatching as portion  152 . Likewise, portion  160  of icon  144  stretches out to the left and may be the same color, shading or cross hatching as portion  156 . In a similar fashion, right portion  162  of icon  142  stretches out to the right and may be the same color, shading or cross hatching as portion  150 , and portion  164  of icon  144  stretches out to the right and may be the same color, shading or cross hatching as portion  154 . These colors and graphics help orient a viewer within the panoramic image of display area  140 . 
     Referring back to FIG.  4  and recalling that column  118  corresponds to data at the center of the selected view, data corresponding to column  118  is provided at a position indicated by marks  146  and  148 . The image data is provided to display area  140  starting with providing data from column  118 −n/2 to the far left of the display area and continuing in the direction of arrow  166  as additional columns of data are read from the memory. When right position  100 R is reached in the memory, the addressing rolls over and begins once again at column  100 L and continues until all of the data is provided to the display area. It might be desirable to continue the image display beyond  118 ±n/2 so that more than 360 degrees is displayed. 
     It is also possible to include reference marks  172  and  174  in upper icon  142 . Reference mark  172  corresponds to reference mark  176  in icon portion  158  and reference mark  174  corresponds to reference mark  178  in icon portion  162 . Likewise, lower icon  144  includes reference marks  180  and  182 . Reference mark  180  corresponds to reference mark  184  in icon portion  160  and reference mark  182  corresponds to reference mark  186  in icon portion  164 . These sets of reference marks further help orient a user in the panoramic display by indicating that marks  172  and  180  of the cylindrical representation of the panoramic image correspond to marks  176  and  184  of the unrolled representation. Similarly, marks  174  and  182  of the cylindrical representation correspond to marks  178  and  186  of the unrolled representation.