Patent ID: 8160394

Claim:
A method of transforming an input image from a hemispherical source to an output image in rectilinear coordinates, the method comprising: receiving data representative of an input image originating from a hemispherical camera, and having a size defined by an input image height and an input image width; calculating an output image width and an output image height representative of a size of a rectilinear output image based on the size of the input image; generating a look-up table containing designated locations of pixels located within the input image and corresponding locations within the output image, wherein generating the look-up table includes: calculating an inverse mapping for each input image pixel by determining a location of each input image pixel, wherein the input image pixel location is represented by a column and a row, calculating a look-up table index for each input image pixel, the look-up table index containing an association of a column and row within the output image with an input image pixel, and adjusting the look-up table index column for each input image pixel such that the look-up table index column is equal to that input image pixel's column; and adjusting the look-up table index row for each input image pixel such that the look-up table index row is equal to that input image pixel's row; and generating a rectilinear output image by mapping pixels to locations within the width and height of the output image based upon the input image data, using the look-up table, and without reference to the optical characteristics of the hemispherical camera.