A Walkthrough Remote View System with an Omnidirectional Camera

A remote view system is a system for the delivery and presentation of information such as video and audio to users in remote locations. Methods for the construction of virtual environments based on video information have been applied to remote view technology. When a system that supports remote viewing is applied to situations such as viewing scenery or engaging in collaborative work, it is useful to provide users with a function that enables them to walkthrough a sense of immersion in a remote location environment. Although walkthroughs are possible in remote view systems that use pre-prepared images to construct virtual environments, these systems are lacking in terms of real-time performance. In this study, we built a virtual walkthrough environment and created a system that allows multiple users view images sent in real time from an omnidirectional camera installed in a remote location. In this system, when presenting an object in the environment on a real world image, the information of the object can be shown in a separate window to the walkthrough environment if necessary. By using an improved map projection method, the system produces less image distortion than the conventional projection method. We have confirmed the walkthrough capabilities of this system, evaluated the performance of the improved map projection method, and subjected it to user trials.