Patent ID: 7593042

Claim:
A 360-degree panoramic video camera system, comprising: one or more video cameras configured to image a panoramic area; a processor and memory configured to perform a process in real time, the process comprising: determining orientations of the panoramic video camera system; receiving and storing one of the orientations as an initial heading that identifies an orientation of the panoramic video camera system at an initial time; receiving video images from the one or more cameras, respectively, and mapping the images to panoramic video images comprising 360-degree video images of the panoramic area; determining a direction and magnitude of a rotation that occurs when the panoramic video camera system is rotated from the initial heading and supplying correction values to the mapping step; and wherein the mapping incorporates the correction values into the mapping step so that the panoramic video images maintain a similar orientation before and after the rotation such that a point in the panoramic area that is portrayed in the panoramic video images will, if displayed on a display, stay in a substantially same location on the display despite the rotations of the panoramic video camera.