A method and system for providing an optical see-through Augmented Reality modified-scale display. This aspect includes a sensor suite 100 which includes a compass 102, an inertial measuring unit 104, and a video camera 106 for precise measurement of a user's current orientation and angular rotation rate. A sensor fusion module 108 may be included to produce a unified estimate of the user's angular rotation rate and current orientation to be provided to an orientation and rate estimate module 120. The orientation and rate estimate module 120 operates in a static or dynamic (prediction) mode. A render module 140 receives an orientation; and the render module 140 uses the orientation, a position from a position measuring system 142, and data from a database 144 to render graphic images of an object in their correct orientations and positions in an optical display 150.
A Micro Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) which is based on MEMS accelerometers and gyro sensors is developed for real-time recognition of human hand motions, especially as used in the context of writing on a surface. Motion is recorded by a rate gyro and an accellerometer and communicated to a Bluetooth module, possibly to a computer which may be 20 to 30 feet or more from the sensor. The motion information generated and communicated is combined with appropriate filtering and transformation algorithms to facilitate a complete Digital Writing System that can be used to record handwriting on any surface, or on no surface at all. The overall size of an IMU can be less than 26 mm.times.20 mm.times.20 mm, and may include micro sensors, a processor, and wireless interface components. The Kalman filtering algorithm is preferably used to filter the noise of sensors to allow successful transformance of hand motions into recognizable and recordable English characters. The immediate advantage is the facilitation of a digital interface with both PC and mobile computing devices and perhaps to enable wireless sensing.
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for combining virtual reality and real-time environment. The present invention provides a system that combines captured real-time video data and real-time 3D environment rendering to create a fused (combined) environment. The system captures video imagery and processes it to determine which areas should be made transparent (or have other color modifications made), based on sensed cultural features and/or sensor line-of-sight. Sensed features can include electromagnetic radiation characteristics (i.e. color, infra-red, ultra-violet light). Cultural features can include patterns of these characteristics (i.e. object recognition using edge detection). This processed image is then overlaid on a 3D environment to combine the two data sources into a single scene. This creates an effect where a user can look through `windows` in the video image into a 3D simulated world, and/or see other enhanced or reprocessed features of the captured image.
A system and method for observing a security event which shares the position of a number of friendly participants with other participants. Preferably, the position of unknown participants or foes is also displayed to friendly participants. The views are selectable by friendly participants on, for example, a handheld device, to include a view from the participant's position, zoom, pan, and tilt views, or views of another friendly or from another location, giving increased situational awareness. Other information can be shared among friendly participants, including status and directions.
A method and apparatus for modifying, or morphing, a video image. A video feed is received which include an image of a person's face. A number of facial features are detected from the video feed. One or more of those facial features are selected and modified, with the modification being applied to the video feed to produce a morphed image. For example, the morphing can produce fun effects such as oversized or too small eyes, lips, etc.
