INFORMATION PROVIDING METHOD AND APPARATUS, INFORMATION DISPLAY METHOD AND MOBILE TERMINAL, PROGRAM, AND INFORMATION PROVIDING SYSTEM

• US 20110052083A1
• Filed: 08/27/2010
• Published: 03/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: REKIMOTO, Junichi
• Granted Patent: US 8,903,197 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/218
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00244 with a server, e.g. an internet server fax-servers or the like for store and forward H04N1/324
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00307 with a mobile telephone apparatus constructional features of portable telephone sets H04M1/0202; mobile radio systems H04W84/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32101 Display, printing, storage or transmission of additional information, e.g. ID code, date and time or title
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32144 embedded in the image data, i.e. enclosed or integrated in the image, e.g. watermark, super-imposed logo or stamp
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3253 Position information, e.g. geographical position at time of capture, GPS data

Abstract

An information providing method includes a recognition step of recognizing an image-capture position, in the real world, at which a captured image was captured; a retrieval step of retrieving information that is associated with the image-capture position, which has been recognized in the recognition step, and the captured image; and a provision step of providing the information, which has been retrieved in the retrieval step, as overlay information that is to be displayed so as to be superimposed on the captured image.

Claims

1. An information providing method comprising:

a recognition step of recognizing an image-capture position, in the real world, at which a captured image was captured;

a retrieval step of retrieving information that is associated with the image-capture position, which has been recognized in the recognition step, and the captured image; and

a provision step of providing the information, which has been retrieved in the retrieval step, as overlay information that is to be displayed so as to be superimposed on the captured image.

2. The information providing method according to claim 1,

wherein the information is further associated with a time, and

wherein, in the retrieval step, the information is retrieved on the basis of a time at which the captured image was captured, in addition to the image-capture position and the captured image.

3. The information providing method according to claim 1, wherein the retrieval step includes

an image retrieval step of retrieving images that are to be compared with the captured image, as retrieved images, from among a plurality of images corresponding to individual positions in the real world, on the basis of the image-capture position that has been recognized in the recognition step,

a comparison step of comparing the retrieved images with the captured image, and

an information retrieval step of retrieving, as the information, information that is associated with one of the retrieved images, the retrieved image coinciding with the captured image as a result of comparison in the comparison step.

4. The information providing method according to claim 3,

wherein, in the recognition step, in addition to the image-capture position, an image-capture direction from which the captured image was captured is recognized, and

wherein, in the image retrieval step, images are retrieved as the retrieved images on the basis of the image-capture direction in addition to the image-capture position.

5. The information providing method according to claim 4,

wherein the captured image is an image that is obtained by performing image capture at the image-capture position in the real world, and

wherein, in the image retrieval step, images are retrieved as the retrieved images on the basis of each zoom magnification with which the captured image was captured, in addition to the image-capture position.

6. An information providing apparatus comprising:

recognizing means for recognizing an image-capture position, in the real world, at which a captured image was captured;

retrieving means for retrieving information that is associated with the image-capture position, which has been recognized by the recognizing means, and the captured image; and

providing means for providing the information, which has been retrieved by the retrieving means, as overlay information that is to be displayed so as to be superimposed on the captured image.

7. A program for causing a computer to perform a control process, the control process comprising the steps of:

recognizing an image-capture position, in the real world, at which a captured image was captured;

retrieving information that is associated with the recognized image-capture position and the captured image; and

providing the retrieved information as overlay information that is to be displayed so as to be superimposed on the captured image.

8. An information display method comprising:

an image acquisition step of acquiring a captured image that is obtained by performing image capture at an image-capture position in the real world;

an information acquisition step of acquiring information concerning the image-capture position;

a communication step of transmitting the captured image and the information concerning the image-capture position to an information providing apparatus, and of receiving overlay information that is associated with the captured image and the information concerning the image-capture position from the information providing apparatus; and

a display step of displaying the overlay information, which has been received in the communication step, in such a manner that the overlay information is superimposed on the captured image.

9. The information display method according to claim 8, wherein, in the communication step, in addition to the captured image and the information concerning the image-capture position, time information concerning a time at which the captured image was captured is further transmitted to the information providing apparatus, and overlay information that is further associated with the time information in addition to the captured image and the information concerning the image-capture position is received from the information providing apparatus.

10. The information display method according to claim 8, wherein, in the communication step, direction information concerning an image-capture direction from which the captured image was captured is further transmitted to the information providing apparatus.

11. The information display method according to claim 8, further comprising a zoom-magnification acquisition step of acquiring a zoom magnification with which the captured image was captured,

wherein, in the communication step, in addition to the captured image and the information concerning the image-capture position, the zoom magnification is further transmitted to the information providing apparatus, and overlay information that is further associated with the zoom magnification in addition to the captured image and the information concerning the image-capture position is received from the information providing apparatus.

12. A mobile terminal comprising:

image acquiring means for acquiring a captured image that is obtained by performing image capture at an image-capture position in the real world;

information acquiring means for acquiring information concerning the image-capture position;

communicating means for transmitting the captured image and the information concerning the image-capture position to an information providing apparatus, and for receiving overlay information that is associated with the captured image and the information concerning the image-capture position from the information providing apparatus; and

display means for displaying the overlay information, which has been received by the communicating means, in such a manner that the overlay information is superimposed on the captured image.

13. A program for causing a computer to perform a control process, the control process comprising the steps of:

acquiring a captured image that is obtained by performing image capture at an image-capture position in the real world;

acquiring information concerning the image-capture position;

transmitting the captured image and the information concerning the image-capture position to an information providing apparatus, and receiving overlay information that is associated with the captured image and the information concerning the image-capture position from the information providing apparatus; and

displaying the received overlay information in such a manner that the overlay information is superimposed on the captured image.

14. An information providing system comprising:

an information providing apparatus configured to provide, for a mobile terminal, overlay information that is to be combined with a captured image; and

the mobile terminal configured to combine the overlay information with the captured image to obtain a combined image, and configured to display the combined image,

the mobile terminal including

image acquiring means for acquiring the captured image that is obtained by performing image capture at an image-capture position in the real world,

display means for displaying the overlay information in such a manner that the overlay information is superimposed on the captured image, and

first communicating means for transmitting the captured image and information concerning the image-capture position to the information providing apparatus, and for receiving the overlay information from the information providing apparatus,

the information providing apparatus including

recognizing means for recognizing the image-capture position on the basis of the information concerning the image-capture position, which has been received from the mobile terminal,

retrieving means for retrieving information that is associated with the image-capture position, which has been recognized by the recognizing means, and the captured image, and

second communicating means for transmitting, to the mobile terminal, the information, which has been retrieved by the retrieving means, as the overlay information item that is to be displayed so as to be superimposed on the captured image.

15. An information providing apparatus comprising:

a recognizing unit configured to recognize an image-capture position, in the real world, at which a captured image was captured;

a retrieving unit configured to retrieve information that is associated with the image-capture position, which has been recognized by the recognizing unit, and the captured image; and

a providing unit configured to provide the information, which has been retrieved by the retrieving unit, as overlay information that is to be displayed so as to be superimposed on the captured image.

16. A mobile terminal comprising:

an image acquiring unit configured to acquire a captured image that is obtained by performing image capture at an image-capture position in the real world;

an information acquiring unit configured to acquire information concerning the image-capture position;

a communicating unit configured to transmit the captured image and the information concerning the image-capture position to an information providing apparatus, and configured to receive overlay information that is associated with the captured image and the information concerning the image-capture position from the information providing apparatus; and

a display unit configured to display the overlay information, which has been received by the communicating unit, in such a manner that the overlay information is superimposed on the captured image.

17. An information providing system comprising:

an information providing apparatus configured to provide, for a mobile terminal, overlay information that is to be combined with a captured image; and

the mobile terminal configured to combine the overlay information with the captured image to obtain a combined image, and configured to display the combined image,

the mobile terminal including

an image acquiring unit configured to acquire the captured image that is obtained by performing image capture at an image-capture position in the real world,

a display unit configured to display the overlay information in such a manner that the overlay information is superimposed on the captured image, and

a first communicating unit configured to transmit the captured image and information concerning the image-capture position to the information providing apparatus, and configured to receive the overlay information from the information providing apparatus,

the information providing apparatus including

a recognizing unit configured to recognize the image-capture position on the basis of the information concerning the image-capture position, which has been received from the mobile terminal,

a retrieving unit configured to retrieve information that is associated with the image-capture position, which has been recognized by the recognizing unit, and the captured image, and

a second communicating configured to transmit, to the mobile terminal, the information, which has been retrieved by the retrieving unit, as the overlay information item that is to be displayed so as to be superimposed on the captured image.