SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CREATING, STORING AND UTILIZING IMAGES OF A GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION
First Claim
1. In a system including an image source and a user terminal having a screen and an input device, a method for enabling visual navigation of a geographic area from the user terminal, the method comprising:
- receiving a first user input specifying a first location in the geographic area;
retrieving from the image source a first image associated with the first location, the image source providing a plurality of images depicting views of objects in the geographic area, the views being substantially elevations of the objects in the geographic area, wherein the images are associated with image frames acquired by an image recording device moving along a trajectory;
displaying an icon associated with an object in the portion of the geographic area;
receiving a user selection of the icon; and
identifying the first location based on the user selection.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method synthesizing images of a locale to generate a composite image that provide a panoramic view of the locale. A video camera moves along a street recording images of objects along the street. A GPS receiver and inertial navigation system provide the position of the camera as the images are being recorded. The images are indexed with the position data provided by the GPS receiver and inertial navigation system. The composite image is created on a column-by-column basis by determining which of the acquired images contains the desired pixel column, extracting the pixels associated with the column, and stacking the columns side by side. The composite images are stored in an image database and associated with a street name and number range of the street being depicted in the image. The image database covers a substantial amount of a geographic area allowing a user to visually navigate the area from a user terminal.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. In a system including an image source and a user terminal having a screen and an input device, a method for enabling visual navigation of a geographic area from the user terminal, the method comprising:
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receiving a first user input specifying a first location in the geographic area;
retrieving from the image source a first image associated with the first location, the image source providing a plurality of images depicting views of objects in the geographic area, the views being substantially elevations of the objects in the geographic area, wherein the images are associated with image frames acquired by an image recording device moving along a trajectory;
displaying an icon associated with an object in the portion of the geographic area;
receiving a user selection of the icon; and
identifying the first location based on the user selection. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 16)
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9. In a system including an image source and a user terminal having a screen and an input device, a method for enabling visual navigation of a geographic area from the user terminal, the method comprising:
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accessing a plurality of images from the image source, the images representing objects within the geographic area;
identifying a current location in the geographic area;
retrieving from the image source an image corresponding to the current location;
monitoring a change of the current location in the geographic area; and
retrieving from the image source an image corresponding to the changed location, displaying an indicia that information is available about an object in the image; and
retrieving information about the object in response to a user request to display the information on the screen of the user terminal.
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11. A system for enabling visual navigation of a geographic area from a user terminal, the system comprising:
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means for accessing an image source providing a plurality of images depicting views of objects in the geographic area, the views being substantially elevations of the objects in the geographic area, wherein the images are associated with image frames acquired by an image recording device moving along a trajectory;
means for receiving a first user input specifying a first location in the geographic area;
means for retrieving from the image source a first image associated with the first location;
means for displaying an icon associated with an object in the geographic area;
means for receiving a user selection of the icon; and
means for identifying the second location based on the user selection. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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Specification