Shared image database with geographic navigation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10235390-B2
Application number	US-201615361231-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 25, 2016
Priority date	Mar 29, 2006
Publication date	Mar 19, 2019
Grant date	Mar 19, 2019

Abstract

There is disclosed a method and device for operating an image database shared by a plurality of users. In an embodiment, each image captured by a user and stored in a shared image database is associating with the geographic coordinates of the location at which the image was captured. A search engine for the image database is configured to accept geographic coordinates as a search criterion for locating at least one captured image stored in the shared image database. The images having location coordinates within a predefined range of geographic coordinates is displayed to the user.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method at a server comprising:
maintaining, in memory of the server, a shared image database, the shared image database comprising images stored in association with a geographic location;
receiving a request from a client device, the request comprising a requested geographic location;
searching records in the shared image database for any images corresponding to the requested geographic location;
transmitting the images corresponding to the requested geographic location to the client device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the requested geographic location comprises geographic coordinates.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the requested geographic location comprises a place name.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the searching comprises identifying one or more images within a predetermined range of the geographic coordinates.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the geographic coordinates define a region and the searching comprises identifying images within the region.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a new image, the new image being associated with a new geographic location; and
storing the new image and the new geographic location in the shared image database.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the new image is received in an attachment to an email.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the new geographic location is specified in a field of the email.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the new geographic location is embedded in the new image.

10. A server, comprising:
a telecommunications subsystem;
memory; and
a processor;

wherein the telecommunications subsystem and the processor cooperate to:
maintain, in the memory, a shared image database, the shared image database comprising images stored in association with a geographic location;
receive a request from a client device, the request comprising a requested geographic location;
search records in the shared image database for any images corresponding to the requested geographic location;
transmit the images corresponding to the requested geographic location to the client device.

11. The server of claim 10 , wherein the requested geographic location comprises geographic coordinates.

12. The server of claim 10 , wherein the requested geographic location comprises a place name.

13. The server of claim 11 , wherein the searching comprises identifying one or more images within a predetermined range of the geographic coordinates.

14. The server of claim 11 , wherein the geographic coordinates define a region and the searching comprises identifying images within the region.

15. The server of claim 10 , wherein the processor and telecommunications subsystem further cooperate to:
receive a new image, the new image being associated with a new geographic location; and
store the new image and the new geographic location in the shared image database.

16. The server of claim 15 , wherein the new image is received in an attachment to an email.

17. The server of claim 16 , wherein the new geographic location is specified in a field of the email.

18. The server of claim 16 , wherein the new geographic location is embedded in the new image.

19. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon executable code for execution by a processor of a server, the executable code comprising instructions for:
maintaining, in memory of the server, a shared image database, the shared image database comprising images stored in association with a geographic location;
receiving a request from a client device, the request comprising a requested geographic location;
searching records in the shared image database for any images corresponding to the requested geographic location;
transmitting the images corresponding to the requested geographic location to the client device.

Assignees

• Blackberry Ltd

Inventors

• Friedmann Michael Jonathan

Classifications

• G03B17/48 Primary

  adapted for combination with other photographic or optical apparatus · CPC title

• G06F16/9537

  Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries · CPC title

• G06F16/50

  of still image data · CPC title

• G06F16/24575

  using context · CPC title

• G06F16/58

  Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually · CPC title