METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING PANORAMIC ELECTRONIC MAP SERVICE

• US 20090116764A1
• Filed: 10/29/2008
• Published: 05/07/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Dongfang Xie, Xiaofeng Hu, Xiaohua Liu
• Original Assignee: Dongfang Xie, Xiaofeng Hu, Xiaohua Liu
• Inventors: HU, Xiaofeng, XIE, Dongfang, LIU, Xiaohua
• Application Number:
  US12/260,167
• Publication Number:
  US 20090116764A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/284
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/4038 Image mosaicing, e.g. composing plane images from plane sub-images
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/698 for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/262 Studio circuits, e.g. for mixing, switching-over, change of character of image, other special effects ; Cameras specially adapted for the electronic generation of special effects

Abstract

A method of constructing panoramic electronic map service, comprising the steps of: 1) collecting panoramic image sequence, namely, collecting panoramic image sequence containing geographic position information and having information continuity between adjacent images; 2) establishing panoramic image database, namely, establishing database containing a panoramic image sequence on a server; 3) establishing position association link, namely, associating the panoramic image sequence in the database with the electronic map via position information; and 4) searching and positioning the panoramic image, namely, when searching, a user can position the geographic information at a searched point on the electronic map by searching for a keyword, and find the corresponding position information in the panoramic image sequence so as to retrieve the panoramic image. The method of the invention can be applied to a conventional electronic map service so as to provide more detailed, specific, and omnidirectional position information.

Claims

1. A method of constructing a panoramic electronic map service, comprising the steps of:

1) collecting a panoramic image sequence comprising a plurality of panoramic images;

2) establishing a database comprising said panoramic image sequence;

3) establishing a position association link between an electronic map and said panoramic image sequence; and

4) optionally, searching and positioning said panoramic images.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said panoramic image sequence comprises geographic position information and has an adjacent image information continuity.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said geographic position information comprises any unique information capable of describing or representing a geographic position.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said geographic position information is geographic position information (GIS), longitude and altitude information, or an ID identifier.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein said adjacent image information continuity comprises overlap between two adjacent panoramic images.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein a part of image information contained in a first image is found in an adjacent image.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein said panoramic image is a sphere panoramic image, a partial sphere panoramic image, a column panoramic image, a partial column panoramic image, a cubic panoramic image, a partial cubic panoramic image, a circular panoramic image, a partial circular panoramic image, or a combination thereof.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein said panoramic image sequence comprises at least one panoramic image containing position information.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said panoramic image sequence is associated with said electronic map through position information.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said position information comprises a unique position information identifier.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said unique position information identifier comprises GIS information, or longitude and altitude information.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein said position association link comprises a corresponding and unique position on said electronic map for said position information of the panoramic image in said image sequence.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein establishing said position association link comprises finding a panoramic image in said panoramic image sequence corresponding to a position on the electronic map.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein establishing said position association link comprises displaying a previous or a next image in said panoramic image sequence while displaying a corresponding position on said electronic map.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein said searching and positioning panoramic image means that when a user is searching, a geographic position at a searched point is positioned on said electronic map by searching a keyword or by clicking on said map, and a corresponding position information in said panoramic image sequence is located by using said position information to retrieve said panoramic image.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein said searching and positioning panoramic image means that a user finds a panoramic image by searching for a keyword, and the image is positioned on the map using position information of said panoramic image.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein said searching and positioning panoramic image means that a user retrieves a previous and a next image by triggering a previous and a next motion of the panoramic image sequence, respectively.