ANNOTATING IMAGES WITH INSTRUCTIONS

• US 20100241946A1
• Filed: 03/19/2009
• Published: 09/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Ofek, Eyal, Chen, Billy
• Granted Patent: US 8,301,996 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/231
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/58 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/583 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance

Abstract

A method described herein includes the acts of receiving an image captured by a mobile computing device and automatically annotating the image to create an annotated image, wherein annotations on the annotated image provide instructions to a user of the mobile computing device. The method further includes transmitting the annotated image to the mobile computing device.

Claims

1. A method comprising the following acts:

receiving an image captured by a mobile computing device;

automatically annotating the image to create an annotated image, wherein annotations on the annotated image provide instructions to a user of the mobile computing device; and

transmitting the annotated image to the mobile computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving at least one annotation to the image captured by the mobile computing device from an operator such that the annotated image includes manual annotations; and

transmitting the annotated image to the mobile computing device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the annotations comprise at least one of animation overlaid on the image received from the mobile computing device or images overlaid on the image from the mobile computing device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically annotating the image comprises:

comparing the received image with at least one retained image, wherein the retained image includes the annotations; and

positioning the annotations on the received image based at least in part upon the comparison.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the at least one retained image is one of a plurality of images of an object, wherein locations of the object in the plurality of images are known with respect to other images in the plurality of images.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the annotations include directions on repairing an object.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the annotations include travel directions.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting at least one advertisement to the mobile computing device that pertains to the annotations.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the at least one advertisement is in the form of a selectable hyperlink.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile computing device is a portable telephone that comprises a digital camera.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

retaining the received image; and

using the received image in connection with annotating a subsequently received image from a second mobile computing device.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting audio instructions to the mobile computing device that correspond to the annotations.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the received image is a portion of a video stream received from the mobile computing device.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second image from the mobile computing device;

automatically annotating the second image with second annotations to generate a second annotated image; and

transmitting the second annotated image to the mobile computing device.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting comments of other users corresponding to the annotation to the mobile computing device.

16. A system comprising the following computer-executable components:

an annotator component that receives an image from a mobile computing device of a user and automatically visually annotates the image with annotations to generate an annotated image; and

a transmitter component that transmits the annotated image to the mobile computing device of the user.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the annotations comprise image data overlaid on the received image.

18. The system of claim 16, further comprising an advertisement component that provides an advertisement to the mobile computing device that pertains to the received image.

19. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

a comparator component that compares the received image with a plurality of other retained images and determines an orientation of an object in the received image with respect to one or more corresponding objects in the plurality of other retained images; and

a determiner component that determines a location on the received image to place the annotations.

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

receive a first image of a first object from a mobile computing device;

extract at least one feature from the first image;

compare the at least one feature of the first image with a corresponding feature in a retained second image, wherein the retained second image is an image of a second object that corresponds to the first object;

determine a position of the first object in the first image relative to a position of the second object in the second image;

automatically visually annotate the first image based at least in part upon the determined position of the first object in the first image relative to the position of the second object in the second image to create an annotated image; and

transmit the annotated image to the mobile computing device.