Systems and methods for video processing and display

Abstract

A method for sensing an environment in which an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is configured to operate includes, with aid of one or more processors onboard the UAV individually or collectively, obtaining video data of the environment that is collected using a binocular video camera mounted in a forward-looking direction of the UAV, encoding the video data to generate stereoscopic video data, and transmitting the stereoscopic video data to a terminal remote to the movable object.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for sensing an environment in which an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is configured to operate, the method comprising, with aid of one or more processors onboard the UAV individually or collectively:
 obtaining video data of the environment, wherein the video data is collected using a binocular video camera mounted in a forward-looking direction of the UAV;   encoding the video data to generate stereoscopic video data; and   transmitting the stereoscopic video data to a terminal remote to the movable object.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the video data is encoded using multi-ocular joint encoding. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the multi-ocular joint encoding comprises performing inter-frame prediction based on positional information of the binocular video camera. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the multi-ocular joint encoding comprises applying inter-frame prediction between multiple image views captured by the binocular video camera at a same moment. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the terminal is configured to display a first person view (FPV) of the environment based on the stereoscopic video data. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the terminal is configured to allow a user to control and navigate the UAV from the first person view (FPV). 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the terminal comprises a head-mounted display (HMD). 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the terminal comprises a pair of virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) enabled glasses. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one video camera of the binocular video camera is operably coupled to the UAV via a carrier. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the carrier is a multi-axis gimbal. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the stereoscopic video data is transmitted to the terminal via a ground station, wherein the ground station is configured to: (1) decode the stereoscopic video data to obtain the video data, and (2) transmit the video data to the terminal. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: processing the video data of the environment to obtain a predetermined visual effect before encoding the video data. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the predetermined visual effect comprises smooth rendering of the video data with reduced jitter. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein processing the video data of the environment to obtain the predetermined visual effect comprises:
 generating a virtual motion path of the binocular video camera; and   mapping the video data to the virtual motion path to obtain the predetermined visual effect.   
     
     
         15 . A system for sensing an environment in which an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is configured to operate, the system comprising:
 a binocular video camera mounted in a forward-looking direction of the UAV; and   one or more processors onboard the UAV and individually or collectively configured to: (1) obtain video data collected using the binocular video camera, (2) encode the video data to generate stereoscopic video data, and (3) transmit the stereoscopic video data to a terminal remote to the UAV.   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the video data is encoded using multi-ocular joint encoding. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the multi-ocular joint encoding comprises performing inter-frame prediction based on positional information of the binocular video camera. 
     
     
         18 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause a computer to perform a method for sensing an environment in which an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is configured to operate, the method comprising:
 obtaining video data of the environment, wherein the video data is collected using a binocular video camera mounted in a forward-looking direction of the UAV;   encoding the video data to generate stereoscopic video data; and   transmitting the stereoscopic video data to a terminal remote to the movable object.   
     
     
         19 . The medium of  claim 18 , wherein the video data is encoded using multi-ocular joint encoding. 
     
     
         20 . The medium of  claim 19 , wherein the multi-ocular joint encoding comprises performing inter-frame prediction based on positional information of the binocular video camera.