A panorama-based technique for annotation overlay and its real-time implementation

The panorama-based annotation method described uses a panoramic image as the source of information about the positions of the annotations. It finds image alignment parameters between an input frame and the panoramic image and then maps the positions of annotations from the panoramic image to the input frame and displays the input frame overlaid with those annotations. Camera movement from place to place is made possible by preparing a set of panoramic images in advance. The panoramic image that gives the least mean squares error of the image alignment is selected automatically and is appropriately switched as the camera moves around. The position of the camera can be tracked by monitoring the switching of selected panoramic images. Experimental results show that this method can find image alignment parameters, display input frames overlaid with the annotations, and switch the panoramic image appropriately in real-time