System and Method for Creating an Environment and for Sharing a Location Based Experience in an Environment

Abstract

A system for creating an environment and for sharing an experience based on the environment includes a plurality of mobile devices having a camera employed near a point of interest to capture random, crowdsourced images and associated metadata near said point of interest, wherein the metadata for each image includes location of the mobile device and the orientation of the camera. Preferably, the images include depth camera information. A wireless network communicates with the mobile devices to accept the images and metadata and to build and store a point cloud or 3D model of the region. Users connect to this experience platform to view the 3D model from a user selected location and orientation and to participate in experiences with, for example, a social network.

What is claimed: 
     
         1 . A system for creating and sharing an environment comprising:
 a network for receiving images and metadata from a plurality of devices each having a camera employed near a point of interest to capture random images and associated metadata near said point of interest, wherein the metadata for each image includes location of the device and the orientation of the camera;   an image processing server connected to the network for receiving said images and metadata, wherein the server processes the images to build a 3D model of one or more targets proximate the point of interest based at least in part on said images;   an experience platform connected to the image processing server for storing the 3D targets, whereby users can connect to the experience platform to view the point of interest from a user selected location and orientation and view the one or more 3D targets.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the network includes wireless access and some of the devices are mobile, wherein the random images are crowdsourced from users of the mobile devices. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the experience platform includes a plurality of images associated with locations near the point of interest and a user connected to the experience platform can view images associated with a user selected location and orientation. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the processing server is operable to stitch a number of images together to form a panorama. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein a user connected to the experience platform can view panoramas associated with a user selected location and orientation. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein said images include advertising based on context. 
     
     
         7 . A method for creating an environment for use with a location based experience, comprising:
 capturing random images and associated metadata near a point of interest with a plurality of mobile devices accompanying a number of crowdsource contributors, each having a camera wherein the metadata for each image includes location of the mobile device and the orientation of the camera;   communicating said random images and metadata from said mobile devices to a wireless network;   receiving said random images and metadata at an image processing server connected to the network; and   processing the images to determine the location of one or more targets in the images and to build a 3D model of targets near the point of interest, including creating one or more panoramas associated with a number of locations near the point of interest.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , at least some of said mobile devices including a depth camera. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , the depth camera is a TOF camera, a structured light sensor, or a plenoptic camera. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein said processing step includes using an existing 3D model of a target and enhancing said existing 3D model using said random captured images and metadata. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein said random images are crowdsourced from a plurality of contributors without coordination among said users. 
     
     
         12 . A method of sharing content in a location based experience, comprising:
 capturing a plurality of random images and associated metadata near a point of interest;   processing the captured images and metadata to build a 3D model of one or more targets near said point of interest;   storing the images and 3D target model in an experience platform connected to a network;   accessing the experience platform using the network to access the 3D target model and images;   selecting a location and orientation near said point of interest; and   viewing the 3D target model using the selected location and orientation.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , including viewing the 3D target model and an advertisement based on context. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12 , including removing 3rd parties from the images stored in the experience platform prior to viewing and including members of a social network in the images stored in the experience platform. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein said random images are captured by crowdsource from users equipped with mobile devices without coordination of targets or time of acquisition among users. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein each mobile device includes at least one depth camera. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the depth camera is a TOF camera, a structured light sensor, or a plenoptic camera. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein said processing step includes receiving an existing 3D model of a target and enhancing said preexisting 3D model using said captured random images and metadata. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein said viewing step includes wearing goggles and viewing a point of interest with at least some of the target enhanced with artificial reality. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein said viewing step includes a user remote from said selected location. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein said remote user views said target model on a mobile device. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein said remote user views said target model projected into the remote user's environment. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 15 , including analyzing said random images and metadata to determine users' interests based on images acquired and/or time of acquisition.