/Patent Tracker
SonyGranted patentAR, VR & displaysInterest 6/10

Sony patents display markers that hide from cameras to improve tracking

Patent drawing
Patent drawing from the official filing.

Sony describes a system that uses markers on a screen to help cameras figure out their own position and angle. The system hides markers that are currently in the camera's view and only shows markers that are outside that view. This allows other cameras, which are looking at the screen from different angles, to use the visible markers to calculate the first camera's exact location.

Why it mattersThis technique could make it easier for mixed reality headsets or cameras to accurately track their position relative to a screen without the tracking markers getting in the way of the user's view.

In the filing’s own words

There is provided an information processing apparatus to more easily estimate a position and a posture of an imaging camera. The information processing apparatus includes: a position estimation unit configured to estimate a position and a posture of an imaging camera configured to image an image displayed on a display device as a background by using a plurality of markers existing on a display surface of the display device; and a marker control unit configured to control display or non-display of each of the markers on the basis of a viewing angle of the imaging camera determined from the position and the posture of the imaging camera.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. An information processing apparatus comprising: circuitry configured to estimate a position and a posture of an imaging camera configured to image an image displayed on a display device as a background by using a plurality of markers existing on a display surface of the display device, and control whether to display each of the markers based on a viewing angle of the imaging camera determined from the position and the posture of the imaging camera, wherein the circuitry performs the control such that each marker of the plurality of markers located within the viewing angle of the imaging camera is not displayed and each marker of the plurality of markers located outside the viewing angle of the imaging camera is displayed, and wherein a position of each marker is determined according to one or more tracking images capturing the display device with a viewing angle different from the viewing angle of the imaging camera.

Facts

Company
Sony (Sony Group Corporation)
Official title
Information processing apparatus, information processing system, information processing method, and program
Patent number
US12755422B2
Application number
18703927
Filed
Aug 12, 2022
Granted
Oct 6, 2026
Inventors
5
Claims
22

Classified under

G06T 7/73 Physics & computingG06T 2207/30204 Physics & computingG06T 2207/30244 Physics & computing

More from Sony in AR, VR & displays

Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.