Apparatus, systems and methods for generating 3D model data from a media content event

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10715684-B2
Application number	US-201916390705-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 22, 2019
Priority date	Nov 29, 2016
Publication date	Jul 14, 2020
Grant date	Jul 14, 2020

Abstract

Three dimension (3D) model generation methods are operable to generate 3D model data corresponding to images of a physical object of interest that are viewed in a presenting media content event. An exemplary embodiment receives a user request that is associated with an interest by the user to obtain a 3D model of a physical object of interest that is being shown in a scene of a currently presenting media content event. A plurality of video image frames are selected from the scene. Then, 3D model data of the physical object of interest is generated based on at least the selected video image frames of the scene.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method that generates three dimensional (3D) models based on images in a media content event, the method comprising:
receiving, at a media device, a user request that is associated with an interest by a user to obtain a 3D model of a physical object of interest that is being shown in a scene of a media content event that the user is currently viewing;
accessing a first video image frame of the scene of the media content event, wherein the first video image frame corresponds to a video image presented in the scene of the media content event at a time that the user request is generated;
identifying a candidate physical object that is shown in the accessed first video image frame;
generating an image of the candidate physical object using the accessed first video image frame;
generating a user confirmation image that is presentable to the user, wherein the user confirmation image includes the generated image of the candidate physical object;
receiving a user response,
wherein the user response indicates that the candidate physical object corresponds to the physical object of interest that the user is interested in, or
wherein the user response indicates that the candidate physical object does not correspond to the physical object of interest that the user is interested in;

defining the candidate physical object as the physical object of interest when the user response indicates that the candidate physical object corresponds to the physical object of interest that the user is interested in;
accessing a plurality of second video image frames, wherein the plurality of second video image frames are accessed from the scene of the media content event that was presented to the user at the time that the user request is generated;
generating an image of the physical object of interest from each one of the plurality of second video image frames when the physical object of interest is identified in the plurality of second video image frames; and
generating 3D model data based on at least the images of the physical object of interest that are generated from the first video image frame and the plurality of second video image frames that were accessed from the scene of the media content event that was presented to the user at the time that the user request is generated.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the candidate physical object that is shown in the accessed first video image frame is performed at the media device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein accessing the first video image frame of the scene of the media content event and identifying the candidate physical object comprises:
accessing the first video image frame from a buffer of the media device;
communicating the first video image frame from the media device to a remote 3D model site,
wherein the candidate physical object that is shown in the accessed first video image frame is identified at the remote 3D model site,
wherein the image of the candidate physical object in generated using the first video image frame at the remote 3D model site, and
wherein the image of the candidate physical object is communicated from the remote 3D model site to the media device;

generating the user confirmation image that includes the image of the candidate physical object at the remote 3D model site; and
communicating the image of the candidate physical object to the media device from the remote 3D model site,
wherein the user confirmation image is generated at the media device based on the image of the candidate physical object.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein accessing the first video image frame of the scene of the media content event and identifying the candidate physical object that is shown in the accessed first video image frame comprises:
determining, at the media device, information that identifies at least one of an image frame that was being presented at the time when the user request was generated, image frame identification information that identifies the image frame that was being presented at the time when the user request was generated, and a presentation time of the media content event corresponding to the time that the user request was generated;
communicating the information from the media device to a remote 3D model site;
accessing the first video image frame from a stored media content event that is the same as the media content event that was being viewed by the user at the time that the user request was generated,
wherein the first video image frame is accessed based on the information,
wherein the candidate physical object that is shown in the accessed first video image frame is identified at the remote 3D model site,
wherein the image of the candidate physical object in generated using the first video image frame at the remote 3D model site, and
wherein the user confirmation image with the image of the candidate physical object is communicated from the remote 3D model site to the media device; and

receiving the user confirmation image at the media device from the remote 3D model site,
wherein the user confirmation image is generated at the media device based on received information identifying the candidate physical object.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the candidate physical object that is shown in the accessed first video image frame comprises:
identifying a plurality of different objects that are shown in the first video image frame;
determining, for each identified object of the identified plurality of different objects, whether the identified object is suitable for printing using a 3D printer; and
selecting the candidate physical object from those ones of the identified plurality of different objects that are identified as being suitable for printing using the 3D printer.

6. The method of claim 5 ,
wherein a plurality of candidate objects are selected that are identified as being suitable for printing using the 3D printer,
wherein an image of each of the selected plurality of candidate objects are generated,
wherein the user confirmation image includes the generated image of each of the selected plurality of candidate objects, and
wherein the user response includes a selection of one of the selected plurality of candidate objects that have been identified as being suitable for printing using the 3D printer.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the candidate physical object that is shown in the accessed first video image frame comprises:
identifying a plurality of different objects that are shown in the first video image frame; and
determining, for each one of the identified plurality of different objects, a size of the different object as shown in the first video image frame,
wherein the size for the candidate physical object is largest out of the sizes of the identified plurality of different objects.

8. The method of claim 7 ,
wherein a plurality of candidate objects are selected that are identified as each having the size that is larger than a threshold size,
wherein an image of each of the selected plurality of candidate objects are generated,
wherein the user confirmation image includes the generated image of each of the selected plurality of candidate objects, and wherein the user response includes a selection of one of the selected plurality of candidate objects that have been identified as being suitable for printing using a 3D printer.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the candidate physical object that is shown in the accessed first video image frame comprises:
identifying a plurality of different objects that are shown in the first video image frame;
for each object of the identified plurality of different objects:
dete

Assignees

• Dish Tech Llc

Inventors

• Newell Nick
• Tilaye Swapnil

Classifications

• H04N21/4728 Primary

  for selecting a Region Of Interest [ROI], e.g. for requesting a higher resolution version of a selected region · CPC title

• H04N5/00

  Details of television systems (scanning details or combination thereof with generation of supply voltages H04N3/00) · CPC title

• B24D7/16

  Bushings; Mountings · CPC title

• H04M1/00

  Substation equipment, e.g. for use by subscribers (subscriber services or facilities provided at exchanges H04M3/00; prepayment telephone coin boxes H04M17/00; current supply arrangements H04M19/08) · CPC title

• G06T7/579

  from motion · CPC title