SYSTEM AND METHOD OF DISPLAYING IMAGES BASED ON ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS

• US 20100250581A1
• Filed: 03/31/2009
• Published: 09/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Chau, Stephen
• Application Number:
  US12/414,878
• Publication Number:
  US 20100250581A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/769
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/58 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually

Abstract

In one aspect, the system and method provides a modified image in response to a request for a street level image at a particular location, wherein the previously captured image is modified to illustrate the current conditions at the requested location. By way of example only, the system and method may use local weather, time of day, traffic or other information to update street level images.

Claims

1. A method of displaying images comprising:

receiving a request for an image at a geographic location, the request being associated with a location;

identifying, with a processor, a captured image in response to the request, wherein the captured image represents geographic objects captured by a camera and wherein the captured image is identified based on the proximity of the camera position to the location;

requesting and receiving environmental condition information, wherein the environmental information comprises information identifying environmental conditions proximate to the requested location at a time after the image was captured;

generating, with a processor, a second image based on the captured image and the environmental condition information such that a portion of the captured image is replaced with a representation of the environmental conditions; and

providing, to an electronic display, the second image.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the environmental condition information comprises information representing the weather at the requested location at a time after the environmental condition information was requested and before it was received.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the environmental condition information comprises information representing precipitation.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the environmental condition information comprises information representing the traffic at the requested location at a time after the environmental condition information was requested and before it was received.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the environmental condition information comprises information representing the time of day at the requested location at a time after the environmental condition information was requested and before it was received.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the environmental condition information represents an image of the environmental conditions.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the environmental condition information is an image of a sky.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein providing the captured image and information associated with environmental conditions comprises creating an image wherein a first portion comprises at least a portion of the captured image and a second portion comprises the image of the environmental conditions.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the second image is provided by a server at a node of a network to an electronic display at another node of a network.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the second image is generated at a computer and the method further comprises displaying the second image on an electronic display connected to the computer.

11. A method of displaying a geographic object:

transmitting, over a network, data identifying a location;

receiving, from the network, data representing an image, where;

a portion of the image comprises an image of the geographic objects that was taken proximate to the location,

a portion of the image comprises an image representative of a weather characteristic, and

the weather portion of the image was determined by querying a source of weather information with the location, and receiving information identifying a characteristic of the current weather at the location in response; and

displaying the image on an electronic display.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the weather portion was determined by selecting an image of a weather characteristic based on the information received from source of weather information, and displaying the image comprises displaying the selected image of a weather characteristic.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the weather characteristic is a type of cloud cover, the weather portion of the image comprises an image of a sky corresponding with the type of cloud cover, and the weather portion of the image is displayed in place of the image of the sky that was captured when the image of the geographic objects was taken.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the weather characteristic indicates the state of precipitation at the location, and wherein displaying the image comprises displaying precipitation superimposed on the image of the geographic objects if the information received from the weather source indicates that there is currently precipitation at the location.

15. A system comprising:

a user input device;

a memory storing instructions;

a first processor in communication with the user input device so as to process information received from the user input device in accordance with the instructions; and

a display in communication with, and displaying data received from, the processor;

the instructions comprising;

providing data identifying a location;

receiving and displaying image data representing a geographic object and a visual state of the geographic object, where (A) a portion of the image data comprises image data representing a geographic object at a time prior to the transmission of the data identifying the location, (B) a portion of the image comprises image data representing a visual state of the geographic object at a time after the transmission of the data identifying the location, (C) the visual state of the geographic object changes over time, and (D) a second processor processed the image data by selecting, based on the location, the image data representing a geographic object and the image data representing the visual state of the geographic object.

16. The system of claim 15 further comprising a server, wherein the server provides data representing a visual state of the geographic object in response to receiving data representing a geographic location.

17. The system of claim 15 wherein the visual state of the geographic object comprises the weather conditions at the geographic object.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the weather condition comprises cloud cover.

19. The system of claim 17 wherein the visual state of the geographic object comprises precipitation.

20. The system of claim 15 wherein the visual state of the geographic object is determined by querying a database with the location so as to obtain a value indicative of the visual state.

21. The system of claim 15 wherein the visual state of the geographic object comprises the time of day at the geographic object.

22. The system of claim 15 wherein the geographic object comprises a street and the visual state of the geographic object comprises traffic on the street.

23. The system of claim 15 wherein the image data representing a geographic object at a time prior to the transmission of the data identifying the location comprises a photograph of the geographic object.

24. The system of claim 15 wherein the geographic object is a building.

25. A system of displaying images comprising:

a first computer at a first node of a network, the first computer comprising a first memory storing a first set of instructions, a first processor that processes data in accordance with the first set of instructions, and an electronic display,

a second computer at a second node of a network, the second computer comprising a second memory storing a second set of instructions and a second processor that processes data in accordance with the second set of instructions,

said first set of instructions comprising receiving a location identified by a user, transmitting the location to the second computer over the network, receiving an image from the second computer, and displaying the image,

said second set of instructions comprising receiving the location identified by the user, selecting a street level image from a database based on the location, retrieving a value indicative of the current environmental conditions at the location, selecting a condition-reflective image representing the environmental conditions at the location based on the value, processing the street level image and the condition-reflective image to create an image containing both the street level image and the condition-reflective image, transmitting the created image to the first computer for display on the electronic display.

26. The system of claim 25 wherein the condition-reflective image represents weather at the location.

27. The system of claim 26 wherein the condition-reflective image represents precipitation at the location.

28. The system of claim 26 wherein the condition-reflective image represents cloud cover at the location.

29. The system of claim 25 wherein the condition-reflective image represents the time of day at the location.

30. The system of claim 25 wherein the condition-reflective image represents traffic at the location.

31. The system of claim 30 wherein the condition-reflective image is an image of a vehicle, and wherein processing the street level image and the condition-reflective image comprises overlaying a plurality of images of vehicles on a street captured in the street level image.