IMAGE ACQUISITION AND MANAGEMENT

• US 20160259992A1
• Filed: 03/06/2015
• Published: 09/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Knodt, Kurt, Shimizu, Tomohito
• Granted Patent: US 10,217,022 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0077 Devices for viewing the surface of the body, e.g. camera, magnifying lens
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1112 Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/445 Evaluating skin irritation or skin trauma, e.g. rash, eczema, wound, bed sore
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4842 Monitoring progression or stage of a disease
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6844 Monitoring or controlling distance between sensor and tissue
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6898 Portable consumer electronic devices, e.g. music players, telephones, tablet computers
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 11/00 Photogrammetry or videogrammetry, e.g. stereogrammetry; Photographic surveying
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 3/08 Use of electric radiation detectors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/22 Matching criteria, e.g. proximity measures
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/40 for processing medical images, e.g. editing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/634 Warning indications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/64 Computer-aided capture of images, e.g. transfer from script file into camera, check of taken image quality, advice or proposal for image composition or decision on when to take image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/667 Camera operation mode switching, e.g. between still and video, sport and normal or high- and low-resolution modes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/80 Camera processing pipelines; Components thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/951 by using two or more images to influence resolution, frame rate or aspect ratio
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/265 Mixing

Abstract

A reference image of one or more objects is displayed on the display of a mobile device in a manner that allows a user of the mobile device to simultaneously view the reference image and a preview image of the one or more objects currently in a field of view of a camera of the mobile device. An indication is provided to the user of the mobile device whether the camera of the mobile device is currently located within a specified amount of a distance at which the reference image was acquired. In response to a user request, the camera acquires a second image of the one or more objects and optionally a distance between the camera and the one or more objects at the time the second image was acquired is recorded. An image management application provides various functionalities for accessing and managing image sequences.

Claims

1. A mobile device comprising:

a camera;

a distance detection mechanism;

a display;

one or more processors;

one or more memories communicatively coupled to the one or more processors; and

an image acquisition application executing on the mobile device, wherein the image acquisition application is configured to;

cause the camera to automatically acquire, using a plurality of different exposure settings, a plurality of images of one or more objects,

retrieve a reference image of the one or more objects, wherein the reference image was acquired prior to the plurality of images of the one or more objects, and

analyze the plurality of images of the one or more objects and determine one or more particular images of the one or more objects from the plurality of images of the one or more objects that best match the reference image of the one or more objects.

2. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein a determined image is used as the primary image in a historical progression after the reference image.

3. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of different exposure settings include one or more of an aperture setting, a shutter speed or an ISO setting.

4. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein at least a first image of the one or more objects from the plurality of images of the one or more objects is acquired using different exposure settings than the second image of the one or more objects from the plurality of images of the one or more objects.

5. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the image acquisition application is configured to analyze the plurality of images of the one or more objects and determine one or more particular images of the one or more objects from the plurality of images of the one or more objects that best match the reference image of the one or more objects using one or more of keypoint matching, histogram matching, keypoint +decision tree matching, hash-based matching, perceptual hash-based (phash) matching or feature-based matching.

6. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the image acquisition application is configured to:

generate, for the one or more particular images of the one or more objects, metadata that identifies the reference image, and

cause the one or more particular images of the one or more objects and the metadata that identifies the reference image of the one or more objects to be transmitted over one or more networks to an application server that is external to the mobile device.

7. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the image acquisition application is configured to cause the reference image of one or more objects to be displayed, on the display of the mobile device, as a background image in a manner that allows a user of the mobile device to simultaneously view one or more preview images of the one or more objects currently in a field of view of the camera by changing one or more attribute values for the reference image.

8. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the image acquisition application is configured to provide an indication to the user of the mobile device whether the camera is currently located within a specified amount of a distance at which the reference image was acquired by one or more of causing a visual indication to be displayed on the display of the mobile device or causing the mobile device to make one or more audible sounds.

9. A one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions which, when processed by one or more processors, causes:

an image acquisition application executing on the mobile device to;

cause the camera to automatically acquire, using a plurality of different exposure settings, a plurality of images of one or more objects,

retrieve a reference image of the one or more objects, wherein the reference image was acquired prior to the plurality of images of the one or more objects, and

analyze the plurality of images of the one or more objects and determine one or more particular images of the one or more objects from the plurality of images of the one or more objects that best match the reference image of the one or more objects.

10. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9, wherein a determined image is used as the primary image in a historical progression after the reference image.

11. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9, wherein the plurality of different exposure settings include one or more of an aperture setting, a shutter speed or an ISO setting.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9, wherein at least a first image of the one or more objects from the plurality of images of the one or more objects is acquired using different exposure settings than the second image of the one or more objects from the plurality of images of the one or more objects.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9, wherein the image acquisition application is configured to analyze the plurality of images of the one or more objects and determine one or more particular images of the one or more objects from the plurality of images of the one or more objects that best match the reference image of the one or more objects using one or more of keypoint matching, histogram matching, keypoint+decision tree matching, hash-based matching, perceptual hash-based (phash) matching or feature-based matching.

14. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9, further comprising additional instructions which, when processed by the one or more processors, cause the image acquisition application to:

generate, for the one or more particular images of the one or more objects, metadata that identifies the reference image, and

cause the one or more particular images of the one or more objects and the metadata that identifies the reference image of the one or more objects to be transmitted over one or more networks to an application server that is external to the mobile device.

15. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9, wherein the image acquisition application is configured to cause the reference image of one or more objects to be displayed, on the display of the mobile device, as a background image in a manner that allows a user of the mobile device to simultaneously view one or more preview images of the one or more objects currently in a field of view of the camera by changing one or more attribute values for the reference image.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9, wherein the image acquisition application is configured to provide an indication to the user of the mobile device whether the camera is currently located within a specified amount of a distance at which the reference image was acquired by one or more of causing a visual indication to be displayed on the display of the mobile device or causing the mobile device to make one or more audible sounds.

17. A computer-implemented method comprising:

causing, by an image acquisition application executing on a mobile device, the camera to automatically acquire, using a plurality of different exposure settings, a plurality of images of one or more objects,

retrieving, by the image acquisition application executing on the mobile device, a reference image of the one or more objects, wherein the reference image was acquired prior to the plurality of images of the one or more objects, and

analyzing, by the image acquisition application executing on the mobile device, the plurality of images of the one or more objects and determine one or more particular images of the one or more objects from the plurality of images of the one or more objects that best match the reference image of the one or more objects.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein a determined image is used as the primary image in a historical progression after the reference image.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein the plurality of different exposure settings include one or more of an aperture setting, a shutter speed or an ISO setting.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein at least a first image of the one or more objects from the plurality of images of the one or more objects is acquired using different exposure settings than the second image of the one or more objects from the plurality of images of the one or more objects.