Press Room - 2000 Archive

Acquisition of Panoram's FullView™ 360° video camera energizes research directed toward expanding sensory involvement of computing experience.

Los Angeles, CA (July 24, 2000) USC's Integrated Media Systems Center (IMSC), a National Science Foundation-funded Engineering Research Center (ERC), is committed to plunging computer users into a cyberspace environment called "augmented reality." Unlike its predecessor, virtual reality in which viewers interact with computer-generated scenes, augmented reality seeks to fuse the entire range of human sensory perceptions (i.e., sight, sound, touch, smell and eventually taste) into data collected and manipulated from the physical world. Ultimately, augmented reality will revolutionize the way we work, communicate, teach, learn, entertain and play.

One of the missing links the IMSC seeks to either find or create is a device that captures rich, accurate, full-environment visual data. This month, the IMSC announced that it has acquired a Panoram FullView 360° video camera, from Panoram Technologies, Inc., the world's leading developer of advanced immersive technologies for industrial and government applications.

"I envisioned a camera like this back in 1994," said Ulrich Neumann, Associate Director of Research in IMSC's Computer Interfaces group. "I even built some crude prototypes but did not have the engineering resources or funding to create an operational system. Then one day I saw the FullView camera on Panoram's Web site (www.panoramtech.com) and was amazed to find that a system, much like the one we conceived of, actually existed."

The Panoram FullView 360° panoramic camera offers lifelike resolution (up to 400 x 4000 pixels) and display rates (15 to 22 frames/second.) "Similar panoramic cameras available up to now have offered fairly low resolution, low frame rate, and low quality," said Neumann. "It was essential that a visual capture device provide realistic images and function transparently to the users. Anything less would compromise the realism of our multimedia immersion environment."

IMSC researchers have already taken the camera system on the road to capture panoramic video at popular landmarks and events. IMSC is also researching the technology of information delivery over computer networks in the hopes that panoramic visualization may eventually transform the way users interact with each other over the internet and through the World Wide Web.

As part of the acquisition, Panoram has agreed to assist the IMSC in co-developing applications for immersive imaging. To assist IMSC in the rapid development of these applications, Theo Mayer, President and CEO of Panoram Technologies, Inc., asked Peter Inova, Vice President of Metavision, Inc. and world-renown expert in panoramic film making, to become the Project Mentor of the video production process. Inova graciously accepted the challenge and has already participated in the taping of panoramic video footage using the recording system developed at IMSC.

A playback of the video can be presented on the desktop or head-mounted display (HMD). With the HMD application, viewers wearing the display hardware are able to explore all 360° of panoramic video by turning their heads in the direction they want to look. IMSC will be demonstrating the HMD system at Panoram's booth (253) during the upcoming SIGGRAPH show (July 25-27, New Orleans).

In addition to the FullView camera, Panoram also provided IMSC with an extreme-resolution PV290 DSK desktop visualization system. The PV290 DSK offers a massive 43.5" by 11.5", 3.9-megapixel native resolution desktop display and provides the perfect computer display solution for panoramic visual content.

"Panoram is honored to have the opportunity to advance IMSC's research efforts," said Mayer. "The combination of Panoram's products and the IMSC's technical expertise will result in the creation of human-computer interactions that, until now, existed only in the realm of fiction."