ARCHITECTURES AND METHODS FOR CREATING AND REPRESENTING TIME-DEPENDENT IMAGERY

• US 20110007094A1
• Filed: 09/09/2010
• Published: 01/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Co, Christopher S., Kirmse, Andrew, Nash, Reuel William
• Granted Patent: US 8,872,847 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/634
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/50 of still image data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/51 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/532 Query formulation, e.g. graphical querying
• 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: G06F 16/587 using geographical or spatial information, e.g. location
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials

Abstract

The present invention pertains to geographical image processing of time-dependent imagery. Various assets acquired at different times are stored and processing according to acquisition date in order to generate one or more image tiles for a geographical region of interest. The different image tiles are sorted based on asset acquisition date. Multiple image tiles for the same region of interest may be available. In response to a user request for imagery as of a certain date, one or more image tiles associated with assets from prior to that date are used to generate a time-based geographical image for the user.

Claims

1. A method of processing geographical imagery, comprising:

obtaining imagery from an imagery source;

identifying an acquisition date and a level of detail for at least some of the imagery obtained from the imagery source;

blending overlapping pieces of imagery using a processor of a computer based on respective acquisition dates to form one or more image tiles associated with each acquisition date;

storing the one or more image tiles in memory associated with the computer, the stored tiles being organized by level of detail;

determining at the processor the acquisition dates for which imagery is available at a first level of detail and not a second level of detail;

storing, for the second level of detail, an indicator linking to the imagery at the first level of detail for the acquisition dates where the second level of detail is not available; and

providing at least one of the image tiles having a selected acquisition date from the memory to a client device upon request for an image associated with a geographical location for the selected acquisition date.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing at least one of the image tiles includes providing chosen image tiles having the first level of detail and the second level of detail to the client device upon request for an image associated with a geographical location for the selected acquisition date and the second level of detail.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising magnifying at the client device the image tiles having the first level of detail.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing output relating to the acquisition dates for which the imagery is available at the first level of detail or the second level of detail, the output being readable by a client device to form a graphical user interface.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein storing the tiles organized by level of detail includes implementing a quadtree architecture.

6. A processing system for processing geographical imagery, comprising:

at least one processor; and

memory for storing data organized by a level of detail associated with the data, the memory electrically coupled to the at least one processor;

wherein the at least one processor is operable to obtain imagery from an imagery source, identify an acquisition date and a level of detail for at least some of the imagery obtained from the imagery source, blend overlapping pieces of imagery based on respective acquisition dates to form one or more image tiles associated with each acquisition date, store the one or more tiles in the memory, determine the acquisition dates for which imagery is available at a first level of detail and not a second level of detail, store for the second level of detail an indicator linking to the imagery at the first level of detail for the acquisition dates where the second level of detail is not available, and provide at least one of the image tiles having a selected acquisition date from the memory to a client device upon request for an image associated with a geographical location for the selected acquisition date.

7. The processing system of claim 6, wherein the at least one processor is operable to provide chosen image tiles having the first level of detail and the second level of detail to the client device upon request for an image associated with a geographical location for the selected acquisition date and the second level of detail.

8. The processing system of claim 7, wherein the at least one processor is operable to magnify the image tiles having the first level of detail.

9. The processing system of claim 6, wherein the at least one processor is further operable to provide output relating to the acquisition dates for which the imagery is available at the first level of detail or the second level of detail, the output being readable by a client device to form a graphical user interface.

10. The processing system of claim 6, wherein the at least one processor is operable to store the one or more tiles in accordance with a quadtree architecture.

11. A method for displaying available dates associated with historical imagery of a specified location, comprising:

determining a first set of dates for which real tiles associated with a specified location and a first level of detail exist;

determining a second set of dates for which coarse tiles associated with the specified location and a second coarser level of detail exist;

displaying through a user interface the first set of dates and the second set of dates;

receiving input from a user requesting imagery associated with the specified location, one of the first or second sets of dates, and a specified level of detail;

searching a database for tiles associated with the requested imagery; and

displaying the tiles associated with the requested imagery on a display.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising requesting the tiles associated with the requested imagery from a server.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein if the input from the user requests imagery associated with a given one of the first set of dates, the searching for tiles comprises identifying for each quadnode a most recent tile prior to the given date.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein if the input from the user requests imagery associated with a given one of the second set of dates, the searching for tiles further comprises:

identifying parent nodes of quadnodes associated with the requested imagery; and

for each parent node, identifying a most recent tile prior to the given date.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising magnifying the most recent tiles identified in the parent nodes.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the level of detail requested by the user is determined using a viewing field set by the user.

17. A client device for displaying available dates associated with historical imagery of a specified location, the client device being electronically coupled to a server, the client device comprising a processor operable to:

determine a first set of dates for which real tiles associated with a specified location and a first level of detail exist;

determine a second set of dates for which coarse tiles associated with the specified location and a second coarser level of detail exist;

display through a user interface the first set of dates and the second set of dates;

receive input from a user requesting imagery associated with the specified location, one of the first or second sets of dates, and a specified level of detail;

search for tiles associated with the requested imagery; and

display the tiles associated with the requested imagery.

18. The client device of claim 17, wherein if the input from the user requests imagery associated with one of the first set of dates, the search for tiles comprises identifying for each quadnode a most recent tile prior to the date.

19. The client device of claim 17, wherein if the input from the user requests imagery associated with one of the second set of dates, the search for tiles further comprises:

identifying parent nodes of quadnodes associated with the requested imagery; and

for each parent node, identifying a most recent tile prior to the date.

20. The client device of claim 19, wherein the client device is further operable to magnify the most recent tiles identified in the parent nodes.

21. The client device of claim 17, wherein the client device is further operable to determine the level of detail requested by the user using a viewing field set by the user.