The system includes a panoramic input device (6, 7, 8), a computer processing system (15-18), and panoramic audio-visual presentation device (11, 12). The panoramic input device may include a sensor assembly (36) including a plurality of positionable radar (29, 38), camera (28, 37), and acoustical sensors (30, 39) for recording signatures from all sides of a subject simultaneously. The computer processing system processes signals from the input device to generate, update and display a virtual model. An interactive input device (10) is provided for allowing interaction with the virtual model. The panoramic audio-visual presentation device may be either a head-mounted display (11) or a closed structure (42) having display units mounted in all viewable directions surrounding a participant. The display units may be conventional (31), stereoscopic (32), autostereographic (33), or holographic (34) display systems.
IMPROVED PANORAMIC IMAGE BASED VIRTUAL REALITY/TELEPRESENCE AUDIO-VISUAL SYSTEM AND METHOD