Licensing
Oxford University’s technology transfer arm Isis Innovation has signed an outlicensing deal for Parallel Tracking and Mapping (PTAM) software, which enables three-dimensional animated graphics to merged into live video in real time, creating a fusion of real and computer-generated visuals.
The software, developed in the Department of Engineering Science, has been licensed to augmented reality company QderoPateo, which plans to integrate PTAM into mobile phone applications, to provide advertising and other services.
PTAM is a camera-tracking system which maps an environment visible through the camera, and can locate surfaces such as a table top in a room or the ground outside. These surfaces become the platforms on which a virtual object’s movements are played out. It does this in real time without using pre-stored maps or tagged environments.
The software builds a detailed 3-D map containing thousands of features which can be tracked at frame-rate with an accuracy and robustness rivalling that of model-based systems. It can also recognise objects and scenes through the appearance of clusters of features that form a digital signature of the location. As the map is built, the camera viewpoint and angle is calculated, allowing 3-D graphics to be projected into the video stream so that they appear to belong in the same scene.
“The blending of real and virtual worlds is common enough in films and television, but is usually achieved by extensive processing of the recorded images, or by filming in studios with known objects at fixed locations. The PTAM software allows developers to augment a camera’s video stream in real time and in everyday locations. It allows developers to build augmented reality applications for consumer markets and education, both quickly and economically,” said David Murray of Oxford’s Active Vision Group.
On smartphones, PTAM can supplement sensors like GPS and digital compasses, both to improve the accuracy of the positioning, and also to maintain the position when out of range of satellite, 3G and WiFi signals.
Isis is also looking for commercial partners to develop the software in other applications.
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