High-resolution Panoramic Movie Generation from Video Streams Acquired by an Omnidirectional Multi-camera System

Telepresence systems using an omnidirectional image sensor enable us to experience remote sites with rich sensation. An omnidirectional multi-camera system is more useful to acquire high-resolution omnidirectional images of outdoor scenes than a monocular camera system. However, exact calibration of the camera system is necessary to generate a panoramic movie. In this paper, we describe a panoramic movie generation method based on geometric and photometric calibration of the omnidirectional multi-camera system. A prototype of telepresence system is also shown as applications of generated panoramic movies. This high-resolution telepresence system has been proven to enable us to experience remote sites with rich presence.