METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR CONTENT PROCESSING
First Claim
1. A cell phone including a microphone and a cellular radio transceiver, and additionally comprising:
- an image sensor;
a human visual system processing module, selected from the group consisting of a white balance correction module, a gamma correction module, an edge enhancement module, and a JPEG compression module;
a machine vision processing module, selected from the group consisting of an FFT module, an edge detection module, a pattern extraction module, a Fourier-Mellin transformer, a texture classifier, a color histogram module, a SIFT processor, and a SURF processor; and
an interconnection arrangement;
wherein the machine vision processing module employs processing circuitry integrated on a common substrate with the image sensor, and wherein the interconnection arrangement couples image data from the image sensor to the machine vision processing module without passing through the human visual system processing module.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Cell phones and other portable devices are equipped with a variety of technologies by which existing functionality can be improved, and new functionality can be provided. Some aspects relate to data driven imaging architectures, in which a cell phone'"'"'s image sensor is one in a chain of stages that successively act on packetized instructions/data, to capture and later process imagery. Other aspects relate to distribution of processing tasks between the device and remote resources (“the cloud”). Elemental image processing, such as filtering and edge detection—and even some simpler template matching operations—may be performed on the cell phone. Other operations are referred out to remote service providers. The remote service providers can be identified using techniques such as a reverse auction, though which they compete for processing tasks. Other aspects of the disclosed technologies relate to visual search capabilities, and determining appropriate actions responsive to different image inputs. Still others concern metadata generation, processing, and representation. Yet others relate to coping with fixed focus limitations of cell phone cameras, e.g., in reading digital watermark data. Still others concern user interface improvements. A great number of other features and arrangements are also detailed.
539 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A cell phone including a microphone and a cellular radio transceiver, and additionally comprising:
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an image sensor; a human visual system processing module, selected from the group consisting of a white balance correction module, a gamma correction module, an edge enhancement module, and a JPEG compression module; a machine vision processing module, selected from the group consisting of an FFT module, an edge detection module, a pattern extraction module, a Fourier-Mellin transformer, a texture classifier, a color histogram module, a SIFT processor, and a SURF processor; and an interconnection arrangement; wherein the machine vision processing module employs processing circuitry integrated on a common substrate with the image sensor, and wherein the interconnection arrangement couples image data from the image sensor to the machine vision processing module without passing through the human visual system processing module.
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2. A cell phone including a microphone and a cellular radio transceiver, and additionally comprising an image sensor and plural stages for processing image-related data, wherein a data driven packet architecture is employed, by which information in a header of a packet determines parameters to be applied by the image sensor in initially capturing image data, and other information in the packet header determines processing to be performed by the plural stages on image-related data conveyed in a body of the packet.
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3. A system comprising a cell phone and one or more remote processors for performing image-related processing, the cell phone including a microphone, a cellular radio transceiver, a memory, and an image sensor operative to capture frames of image information, the cell phone including a keyvector processing module operative to package image data from the sensor into keyvector packets—
- at least some of which comprise less than a single frame of image data, the cell phone further comprising a routing module for routing certain keyvector packets for processing of image-related data within the cell phone, and for routing certain keyvector packets for processing of image-related data by a remote processor, the system further comprising a module remote from the cell phone, cooperating with the routing module, operative to distribute data from keyvectors to remote processors, and to collect processed data from the remote processors for return to the cell phone.
- View Dependent Claims (4)
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5-7. -7. (canceled)
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8. An image processing method comprising:
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receiving an image, and metadata related thereto; storing image data in at least one plane of a plural-plane data structure; generating a graphical representation of the metadata; and storing the metadata in another plane of said data structure. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11)
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12. A cell phone including a camera, a memory, a processor, a screen, and software in the memory for causing the processor to present a display indicating data comprising at least one of (1) a rotation from horizontal, (2) a rotation since an earlier time;
- and (3) a scale change since an earlier time, the processor determining said data by reference to information from the camera.
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13. A cell phone including an image data sensor, a memory, a data processor, and a screen, the data processor defining two parallel processing chains:
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a first processing chain for producing data to be rendered into perceptual form for use by human viewers, the first processing chain including at least one of a de-mosaic processor and a JPEG image compressor; and a second processing chain for producing data to be analyzed by one or more machine-implemented algorithms, the second processing chain including at least one of a Fourier transform processor, a discrete cosine transform processor, and an eigenface processor.
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14. A method of presenting information on the screen of a cell phone, comprising the acts:
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defining two or more dimensions of information relating to a subject; displaying a sequence of screens presenting information relating to the subject in a first dimension when a first user interface control is operated; displaying a sequence of screens presenting information relating to the subject in a second dimension when a second user interface control is operated. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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17. A method of composing a text message on a portable device equipped with a camera, the method including the acts:
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inclining the device in a first direction to scroll through a sequence of displayed icons, at least some of the icons each representing plural letters of the alphabet, until an intended icon is reached; inclining the device in a second, different direction to scroll through a sequence of displayed characters, including the plural letters associated with the intended icon, until an intended letter is reached; and selecting the intended letter, to add same to a text message.
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Specification