Devices, methods and systems for visual imaging arrays

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10609270-B2
Application number	US-201514838114-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 27, 2015
Priority date	Nov 18, 2014
Publication date	Mar 31, 2020
Grant date	Mar 31, 2020

Abstract

Computationally implemented methods and systems include acquiring a request for particular image data that is part of a scene, transmitting the request for the particular image data to an image sensor array that includes more than one image sensor and that is configured to capture the scene that is larger than the requested particular image data, receiving only the particular image data from the image sensor array, and transmitting the received particular image data to at least one requestor. In addition to the foregoing, other aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computationally-implemented method executed by an image device that includes at least one wireless communication interface and an array of image sensors arranged to capture image data associated with a scene, the method comprising:
transmitting static imagery during one or more periods of available bandwidth via the at least one wireless communication interface to enable cache filling;
acquiring via the at least one wireless communication interface one or more requests for one or more image portions;
determining one or more overlapping image areas of the one or more image portions with at least one other image portion subject to at least one other request; and
transmitting via the at least one wireless communication interface the one or more image portions without the one or more overlapping image areas and without the static imagery to at least partially satisfy the one or more requests, the one or more overlapping image areas being separately transmitted in response to the at least one other request.

2. A computer processor communicably linked with a plurality of image sensors and configured to execute operations comprising:
transmitting static imagery during one or more periods of available bandwidth via at least one wireless communication interface to enable cache filling;
acquiring via the at least one wireless communication interface one or more requests for one or more image portions;
determining one or more overlapping image areas of the one or more image portions with at least one other image portion subject to at least one other request; and
transmitting via the at least one wireless communication interface the one or more image portions without the one or more overlapping image areas and without the static imagery to at least partially satisfy the one or more requests, the one or more overlapping image areas being separately transmitted in response to the at least one other request.

3. An imaging device comprising:
a plurality of image sensors arranged to capture image data associated with a scene;
at least one wireless communication interface; and
at least one computer processor configured to perform operations including at least:
transmitting static imagery during one or more periods of available bandwidth via the at least one wireless communication interface to enable cache filling;
acquiring via the at least one wireless communication interface one or more requests for one or more image portions;
determining one or more overlapping image areas of the one or more image portions with at least one other image portion subject to at least one other request; and
transmitting via the at least one wireless communication interface the one or more image portions without the one or more overlapping image areas and without the static imagery to at least partially satisfy the one or more requests, the one or more overlapping image areas being separately transmitted in response to the at least one other request.

4. The imaging device of claim 3 , wherein said scene is a street view of an area.

5. The imaging device of claim 3 , wherein said scene is a sport scene of a football field.

6. The imaging device of claim 3 , wherein the at least one computer processor is further configured to perform an operation comprising:
combining the one or more request with the at least one other request.

7. The imaging device of claim 3 , wherein the at least one computer processor is further configured to perform an operation comprising:
determining a size for the one or more image portions.

8. The imaging device of claim 7 , wherein said determining a size for the one or more image portions comprises:
determining a size for the one or more image portions based on a property of a user device.

9. The imaging device of claim 3 , wherein the at least one computer processor is further configured to perform an operation comprising:
at least one of:
discarding at least some image data from the scene other than the one or more image portions;
storing at least some image data from the scene other than the one or more image portions;
receiving the one or more image portions in near-real time;
transmitting at least some additional image data from the scene at a time at which bandwidth is available; or
separating image data of the scene into a set of images.

10. The imaging device of claim 3 , wherein transmitting static imagery during one or more periods of available bandwidth via the at least one wireless communication interface to enable cache filling comprises:
transmitting static imagery during one or more periods of available bandwidth via the at least one wireless communication interface to enable filling of at least one portion of a requested image using at least a portion of the static imagery stored in a cache memory.

11. The imaging device of claim 3 , wherein transmitting static imagery during one or more periods of available bandwidth via the at least one wireless communication interface to enable cache filling comprises:
transmitting static imagery during one or more periods of available bandwidth via the at least one wireless communication interface to enable at least a portion of the static imagery to be stored in a cache memory to be available to provide one or more portions of a requested image responsive to a subsequent image request.

12. The imaging device of claim 3 , wherein transmitting static imagery during one or more periods of available bandwidth via the at least one wireless communication interface to enable cache filling comprises:
transmitting static imagery during one or more periods of available bandwidth via the at least one wireless communication interface to enable at least a portion of the static imagery to be available to provide one or more portions of a requested image using previously-stored static imagery.

13. The imaging device of claim 3 , wherein transmitting static imagery during one or more periods of available bandwidth via the at least one wireless communication interface to enable cache filling comprises:
transmitting static imagery during one or more periods of available bandwidth via the at least one wireless communication interface to enable at least a portion of the static imagery to be available to provide one or more portions of a requested image using previously-captured static imagery.

14. The imaging device of claim 3 , wherein the at least one computer processor is further configured to perform an operation comprising:
adding supplemental data.

15. The imaging device of claim 3 , wherein the at least one computer processor is further configured to perform an operation comprising:
adding visual data.

16. The imaging device of claim 3 , wherein the at least one computer processor is further configured to perform operations comprising:
transmitting a lower-resolution version of the scene; and
subsequently transmitting a high resolution version of the scene.

17. The imaging device of claim 3 , wherein transmitting via the at least one wireless communication interface the one or more image portions without the one or more overlapping image areas and without the static imagery to at least partially satisfy the one or more requests comprises:
transmitting via the at least one wireless communication interface the one or more image portions at a resolution that is determined based at least partly on a screen resolution of at least one requestor.

18. The imaging device of claim 3 , wherein the at least one computer processor is further configured to perform

Assignees

• Elwha Llc
• The Invent Science Fund Ii Llc

Inventors

• Brav Ehren
• Hannigan Russell
• Hyde Roderick A
• Ishikawa Muriel Y
• Johanson 3Ric
• Kare Jordin T
• Pan Tony S
• Rutschman Phillip
• Tegreene Clarence T
• Whitmer Charles
• Wood Jr Lowell L
• Wood Victoria Y H

Classifications

• G06T2207/30196

  Human being; Person · CPC title

• G06T2207/30221

  Sports video; Sports image · CPC title

• H04N21/2662

  Controlling the complexity of the video stream, e.g. by scaling the resolution or bitrate of the video stream based on the client capabilities · CPC title

• H04N21/2183

  Cache memory {(caches in web servers or browsers G06F16/9574; intermediate storage and caching in data networks H04L67/568)} · CPC title

• H04N21/2393

  involving handling client requests (scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60) · CPC title