Displaying representative images in a visual mapping system

• US 10,127,633 B2
• Filed: 06/11/2018
• Issued: 11/13/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: A9.com Incorporated (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: A9.com Incorporated (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gold, Jonathan A., Caro-Bruce, Timothy, Ha, Huy T., Hjelmstad, John Alan, Volkert, Christopher Aaron
• Primary Examiner(s): Dager, Jonathan M
• Application Number:
  US16/005,634
• Publication Number:
  US 20180293705A1
• Time in Patent Office: 155 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/367 Details, e.g. road map scale, orientation, zooming, illumination, level of detail, scrolling of road map or positioning of current position marker
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3673 Labelling using text of road map data items, e.g. road names, POI names
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04812 Interaction techniques based on cursor appearance or behaviour, e.g. being affected by the presence of displayed objects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/083 Shipping
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0256 User search
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2200/24 involving graphical user interfaces [GUIs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/047 Fisheye or wide-angle transformations
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/40 Scaling of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. expanding or contracting
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/4038 Image mosaicing, e.g. composing plane images from plane sub-images
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/12 Relief maps relief models G09B25/06

Abstract

Embodiments provide systems and methods for generating a street map that includes a position identifier that identifies a location on the street map. The method and system may also generate and display a plurality of images representative of the location of the position identifier. A user may interact with a position identifier or one of several scroll icons to view images of other locations on the street map and/or to obtain driving directions between two locations.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

at least one processor; and

memory including instructions that when executed by the at least one processor cause the system to;

determine geographical coordinates of a physical location of a computing device;

determine a business located at the geographical coordinates based in part on a correlation of a business database and associated location information;

provide the computing device with an input option to provide an image of the physical location;

receive the image of the physical location;

relate the image to one or more of the geographical coordinates and the physical location; and

index the image for display when a search associated with the physical location is performed.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions when executed by the at least one processor further cause the system to:

receive a request to display data for the physical location;

display a portion of a map including the physical location and an icon displayed at the location; and

display the image as representative of the business or the physical location along with the portion of the map.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions when executed by the at least one processor further cause the system to:

receive additional images of the physical location;

correlate the additional images to the image;

determine a quality of each of the correlated images; and

provide at least one image from the correlated images as a representative image of the business or the physical location.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions when executed by the at least one processor further cause the system to:

receive additional images of the physical location at different times of capture;

correlate the additional images to seasons associated with the times of capture;

receive a search associated with the physical location;

determine a current season during which the search is received; and

provide at least one image from the additional images as a representative image of the business or the physical location based at least on the current season.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions when executed by the at least one processor further cause the system to:

allow the computing device to provide a selection from additional images of the physical location separated from the image of the physical location; and

index the image for display along with the additional images based at least in part on the selection when a search of the physical location is performed.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions when executed by the at least one processor further cause the system to:

receive, in the computing device, a change to be applied to an address associated with the physical location; and

index the image with the applied change to the address.

7. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

determining geographical coordinates of a physical location of a computing device;

determining a business located at the geographical coordinates based in part on a correlation of a business database and associated location information;

receiving an image of the physical location based in part on an input from the computing device;

relating the image to one or more of the geographical coordinates and the physical location; and

indexing the image for display when a search associated with the physical location is performed.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a request to display data for the physical location;

displaying a portion of a map including the physical location and an icon displayed at the location; and

displaying the image as representative of the business or the physical location along with the portion of the map.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving additional images of the physical location;

correlating the additional images to the image;

determining a quality of each of the additional images; and

providing at least one image from the correlated images as a representative image of the business or the physical location.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving additional images of the physical location at different times of capture;

correlating the additional images to seasons associated with the times of capture;

receiving a search associated with the physical location;

determining a current season during which the search is received; and

providing at least one image from the additional images as a representative image of the business or the physical location based at least on the current season.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising:

allowing the computing device to provide a selection from additional images of the physical location separate from the image of the physical location; and

indexing the image for display along with the additional images based at least in part on the selection when a search of the physical location is performed.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving, in the computing device a change to be applied to an address associated with the physical location; and

indexing the image with the applied change to the address.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising:

displaying a graphical element indicating a detected direction of orientation of the computing device with respect to a reference coordinate system; and

indexing the orientation of the computing device with the image.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving a request to display data for the physical location;

displaying a portion of a map including the physical location and an icon displayed at the location;

displaying the image as representative of the business or the physical location along with the portion of the map; and

when the image is selected, updating an orientation of the portion of the map to match the detected direction of orientation with respect to the reference coordinate system.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving a request to display data for the physical location;

displaying a portion of a map including the physical location and an icon displayed at the location;

displaying the image as representative of the business or the physical location along with the portion of the map; and

when the map is scrolled, replacing the image with a new image to match a new physical location in the detected direction of the scrolling.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a selection to view data for the physical location; and

displaying a three-hundred and sixty degree view that includes the image.

17. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions executable by at least one processor to cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

determining geographical coordinates of a physical location of a computing device;

determining a business located at the geographical coordinates based in part on a correlation of a business database and associated location information;

receiving an image of the physical location based in part on an input from the computing device;

relating the image to one or more of the geographical coordinates and the physical location; and

indexing the image for display when a search associated with the physical location is performed.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, further comprising instructions executable by the at least one processor to cause the at least one processor to perform further operations comprising:

receiving a request to display data for the physical location;

displaying a portion of a map including the physical location and an icon displayed at the location; and

displaying the image as representative of the business or the physical location along with the portion of the map.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, further comprising instructions executable by the at least one processor to cause the at least one processor to perform further operations comprising:

stitching together at least a portion of additional images determined to be geographically adjacent;

providing a three-hundred and sixty degree view of a region surrounding the physical location, wherein the region is centered proximate to the physical location.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, further comprising instructions executable by the at least one processor to cause the at least one processor to perform further operations comprising:

allowing the computing device to provide a selection from additional images than the image of the physical location; and

indexing the image for display along with the additional images based at least in part on the selection when a search of the physical location is performed.