System and method of indicating the distance or the surface of an image of a geographical object

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9477368-B1
Application number	US-41510209-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Mar 31, 2009
Priority date	Mar 31, 2009
Publication date	Oct 25, 2016
Grant date	Oct 25, 2016

Abstract

A system and method is provided that displays cursors for street level images, where the cursor changes appearance based on the objects in the image, such as the geographic distance between the objects and the camera position and the surface of the objects. For example, the cursor may appear to lie flat against the objects in the image change size based on the distance between the camera and object's surface.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of displaying images comprising:
receiving, by one or more computing devices, a street-level image representing a geographical object captured by a camera at a camera position;
receiving, by the one or more computing devices, surface data representing a surface of the geographical object and the distance of the surface from the camera position, the surface data including data that represents the surface of the geographical object based on a three-dimensional coordinate system;
displaying, by the one or more computing devices, the street-level image on an electronic display;
receiving, by the one or more computing devices, a screen position, where the screen position identifies a position on the street-level image relative to the display at which to display a cursor;
selecting, by the one or more computing devices, surface data depending on whether the screen position corresponds with the location of the surface of the geographic object depicted within the street-level image;
determining, by the one or more computing devices, a visual characteristic of the cursor based on the selected surface data, an orientation of the surface relative to the camera, and the distance of the surface to the camera; and
displaying, by the one or more computing devices, the cursor with the visual characteristic on the electronic display to provide the appearance of the cursor conforming to the surface of the geographical object within the street-level image such that the shape of the cursor appears to lie flat against the surface of the geographical object, wherein the visual characteristic of the cursor is configured to change based on changes in the received screen position and corresponding changes in the selected surface data, an orientation of the surface relative to the camera, and the distance of the surface to the camera, and wherein a shape of the cursor is dependent on the selected surface data of the geographical object.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the angle of the camera is substantially parallel to the ground.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the shape of the cursor is generally circular if the surface data indicates the surface is generally facing the camera and generally elliptical if the surface data indicates the surface is angled away from the camera.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the visual characteristic of the cursor depends on the type of the surface.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein a first type of surface is a vertically-oriented surface and a second type of surface is a horizontally-oriented surface.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the visual characteristic of the cursor is its color.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the screen position depends on the position of a mouse cursor.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein:
the street-level image represents a plurality of geographical objects captured by the camera;
the surface data represents a plurality of surfaces; and
the surface data is selected depending on whether the screen position corresponds with the location of one of the plurality of surfaces within the street-level image.

9. A method of displaying images comprising:
receiving, by one or more computing devices, an image representing a geographical object captured by a camera at a camera position at or above street level, the image including data that represents the geographical object based on a three-dimensional coordinate system;
displaying, by the one or more computing devices, the image on an electronic display;
receiving, by the one or more computing devices, a plurality of different screen positions representing a command to move a cursor in the image between a first position overlapping the geographical object and a second position not overlapping the geographical object; and
displaying, by the one or more computing devices, the cursor with a first visual characteristic on the electronic display when overlapping the geographical object and displaying, by the one or more computing devices, the cursor with a second visual characteristic when not overlapping the geographical object, wherein:
the first visual characteristic represents a distance between the geographical object and the camera, wherein the first visual characteristic is configured to change based on changes in the distance between the geographical object and the camera at different screen positions; and
the first visual characteristic of the cursor depends on the type of the geographical object, wherein the first visual characteristic is configured to change based on changes in the type of geographical object at different screen positions, and wherein a shape of the first visual characteristic of the cursor is dependent on the geographical object such that the shape of the cursor appears to lie flat against a surface of the geographical object.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the angle of the camera is substantially parallel to the ground.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the first visual characteristic of the cursor is its size.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the first visual characteristic of the cursor is its color.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the screen position depends on the position of a mouse cursor.

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein the distance data represents, for each of a plurality of pixels of the image, the distance from the camera position to the surface of the object represented in the image at the pixel.

15. The method of claim 9 , wherein the distance data represents a plurality of polygons having vertices at positions, the positions of the vertices being associated with the geographical position of a surface of the geographical object.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the vertices are stored as values representing the latitude, longitude and altitude of the surface.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the vertices are stored as values representing distances from the camera position.

18. The method of claim 9 , wherein:
the distance data represents the distances of a plurality of surfaces captured in the image;
the distance data is selected depending on whether the screen position corresponds with the location of one of the plurality of surfaces within the image;
the first visual characteristic is the size of the cursor; and
the size of the cursor at a first one of the plurality of surfaces relative to a second one of the plurality of surfaces is proportional to the difference in distance between the first surface and the camera position and the distance between the second surface and the camera position.

19. A method of displaying images comprising:
receiving, by one or more computing devices, a street-level image representing a geographical object captured by a camera at a camera position;
receiving, by the one or more computing devices, distance data representing the distance between a surface of the geographical object and the camera position, the distance data including a two-dimensional array of distance values for each pixel of the received street-level image that represents the geographical object;
displaying, by the one or more computing devices, the image on an electronic display;
receiving, by the one or more computing devices, orientation data representing the orientation of the surface relative to the camera angle;
receiving, by the one or more computing devices, a screen position, where the screen position identifies a position on the street-level image relative to the display;
selecting, by the one or more computing devices, d

Assignees

• Filip Daniel
• Szybalski Andrew
• Google Inc

Inventors

• Filip Daniel
• Szybalski Andrew

Classifications

• G06F3/048 Primary

  Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI] · CPC title

• G06F16/29 Primary

  Geographical information databases · CPC title

• G01C21/367

  Details, e.g. road map scale, orientation, zooming, illumination, level of detail, scrolling of road map or positioning of current position marker · CPC title

• G06F3/04812 Primary

  Interaction techniques based on cursor appearance or behaviour, e.g. being affected by the presence of displayed objects · CPC title