The invention is a system or method for providing access to interactive video content (collectively, “video system” or simply the “system”). More specifically, the invention is a video system for interacting with a representation of physical space.
The use of digital media has increased significantly because the tools for capturing and transferring digital sounds, still images, and video clips have become increasingly advanced and inexpensive. However, the tools for transforming digital media content into interactive digital video content have not kept up with the advancements in digital media. Existing techniques fail to display representations of physical space in a photo-realistic manner as seen by the human eye. Two types of image distortion, bent edges and blurry digital zooms degrade the quality of the interactive video. Those distortions result in a display that is significantly different from how a human being would perceive the subject matter embodied in the digital media. In summary, the existing interactive video systems fail to accurately capture the human experience. It would be desirable for an interactive video system to incorporate true video processing in a photo-realistic manner. Instead of relying on stitched-together still pictures or image interpolation applications, it would be desirable to use actual video or film
Internet-based video systems typically require additional Java or other additional external applications in order to run. Such specific configurations preclude a universal approach to interactive media over the Internet. Different environments require different supporting software, and the resulting fragmentation precludes the market success required for a successful universal system. It would be desirable for an interactive video system to compatible across all major web browsers and platforms.
Existing interactive video systems also suffer from substantial performance problems. These problems are particularly acute in the context of invoking interactive video functionality from a web site or some other Internet-based mechanism. Although the use of high-speed connectivity mechanisms such as cable modems, DSL, satellite, and other mechanisms (collectively “high-speed connections”), most web surfers continue to rely on much slower dial-up connections (collectively “low-speed connections”). Existing interactive video systems involve large files that preclude meaningful real-time processing. It would be desirable for the media files of an interactive video system to be sufficiently compact as to allow real-time performance over a low-speed connection.