DETERMINING TRIGGER RATE FOR A DIGITAL CAMERA

• US 20100182430A1
• Filed: 01/16/2009
• Published: 07/22/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Kimchi, Gur, Curlander, John Charles, Neuhold, Gerhard, Kroepfl, Michael, Bauer, Joachim, Bernogger, Stefan
• Granted Patent: US 8,284,250 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/148
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/86 Combinations of lidar systems with systems other than lidar, radar or sonar, e.g. with direction finders
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/60 Control of cameras or camera modules
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/698 for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture

Abstract

A system that facilitates determining a trigger rate for a digital camera to provide a threshold forward overlap for consecutively captured images is described herein. The system includes a receiver component that receives first data pertaining to a distance between the digital camera and a surface. The system additionally includes a rate determiner component that is in communication with the receiver component, wherein the rate determiner component determines the trigger rate for the digital camera based at least in part upon the first data, wherein the trigger rate is indicative of an amount of time between consecutive images captured by the digital camera.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates determining a trigger rate for a digital camera, comprising:

a receiver component that receives first data pertaining to a distance between the digital camera and a surface desirably imaged by the digital camera; and

a rate determiner component that is in communication with the receiver component, wherein the rate determiner component determines the trigger rate for the digital camera based at least in part upon the first data.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the rate determiner component determines the trigger rate for the digital camera based at least in part upon a predefined desired forward overlap between consecutive images captured by the digital camera.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the predefined desired forward overlap is between twenty percent and ninety percent.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a laser measurement system that generates the data pertaining to the distance between the digital camera and the surface.

5. The system of claim 4, further comprising a plurality of laser measurement systems that generates the data pertaining to the distance between the digital camera and the surface.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the digital camera is mounted to an automobile and the surface is a building facade.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the digital camera is mounted to a moving vehicle, and wherein the receiver component additionally receives second data indicative of velocity of the vehicle, and further wherein the rate determiner component determines the trigger rate for the digital camera based at least in part upon the received second data.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the digital camera is mounted to a moving vehicle, and wherein the receiver component additionally receives second data indicative of angular velocity of the vehicle, and wherein the rate determiner component determines the trigger rate for the digital camera based at least in part upon the received second data.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the digital camera is mounted to a moving vehicle, and wherein the receiver component additionally receives second data indicative of linear velocity of the vehicle and third data indicative of angular velocity of the vehicle, and wherein the rate determiner component determines the trigger rate for the digital camera based at least in part upon the received second data and the received third data.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising a trigger component that causes the digital camera to capture images in accordance with the trigger rate determined by the rate determiner component.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the trigger component causes a plurality of digital cameras to capture images in accordance with the trigger rate determined by the rate determiner component.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the rate determiner component determines a plurality of distances from the digital camera to the surface in a field of view of the digital camera, and wherein the rate determiner component uses a minimum distance in the plurality of distances to determine the trigger rate.

13. The system of claim 1, further comprising a field of view determiner component that determines a field of view pertaining to the digital camera, and wherein the rate determiner component determines the trigger rate for the digital camera based at least in part upon the determined field of view.

14. A method for determining a trigger rate for a digital camera, comprising:

receiving first data that is indicative of a distance from the digital camera to a surface that is desirably photographed by the digital camera; and

determining the trigger rate for the digital camera based at least in part upon the received first data, wherein the trigger rate is indicative of an amount of time between consecutive images captured by the digital camera.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising configuring the digital camera to capture images in accordance with the determined trigger rate.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the digital camera is mounted to a vehicle in transit, and further comprising:

receiving second data that is indicative of velocity of the vehicle; and

determining the trigger rate for the digital camera based at least in part upon the received second data.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the digital camera is mounted to a vehicle in transit, and further comprising:

receiving second data that is indicative of angular velocity of the vehicle; and

determining the trigger rate for the digital camera based at least in part upon the received second data.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

determining a field of view of the digital camera; and

determining the trigger rate for the digital camera based at least in part upon the determined field of view.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the trigger rate is determined based at least in part upon a predefined desirable forward overlap of consecutive images captured by the digital camera.

20. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform the following acts:

determining a plurality of distances between one or more building facades and a digital camera;

determining a field of view of the digital camera along the one or more building facades;

selecting a minimum distance from a plurality of distances that correspond to the field of view of the digital camera; and

determining a trigger rate for the digital camera based at least in part upon the selected minimum distance.