Methods For Sharing Images Captured At An Event

• US 20170070358A1
• Filed: 12/18/2014
• Published: 03/09/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ikorongo Technology, LLC (Concert Technology Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Ikorongo Technology, LLC (Concert Technology Corporation)
• Inventors: Svendsen, Hugh Blake
• Granted Patent: US 10,243,753 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1822 Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal

Abstract

In the present disclosure, methods, systems, and non-transitory computer readable medium are described whereby images are obtained at a server or another suitable computing device. The images may contain metadata indicating the time, date, and geographic location of capture. In one aspect of the present disclosure, this metadata may be used to determine that the images were captured at an event that is still occurring (in-process event). Users who have uploaded images that are captured at the event may be invited to join an image sharing pool. In response to accepting the invitation, the images provided by the user may be contributed to the image sharing pool, and other users having also joined the image sharing pool will be able to access the newly contributed images. The event associated with the sharing pool may be detected by the system or proposed by a moderator.

Claims

1. A method of operating a server, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of images, from a plurality of mobile devices, the images each comprising metadata and image information identifying a geographic capture location and capture time;

identifying, based on the metadata, an in-process event, the in-process event comprising geographical boundary information and start time information derived from the metadata;

communicating, to a first device of the plurality of mobile devices, a first invitation to join a sharing pool;

receiving, from the first device of the plurality of mobile devices, a first acceptance of the first invitation; and

in response to receiving the first acceptance of the first invitation from the first device, associating the images received from the first device with the sharing pool.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing, to a second device of the plurality of mobile devices, a second invitation to join the sharing pool;

receiving, from the second device of the plurality of mobile devices, a second acceptance of the second invitation;

in response to receiving the second acceptance of the second invitation from the second device, associating the images received from the second device with the sharing pool; and

providing notification to the first device indicating that the sharing pool is available for use.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

providing, to the first device, a notification, the notification indicating that the images from the second device are available for sharing;

receiving, from the first device, a request for at least one image associated with the sharing pool and received from the second device; and

providing, to the first device, the at least one image associated with the sharing pool and received from the second device.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

identifying at least one pool subject present in at least one image associated with the sharing pool;

identifying a third device associated with the at least one pool subject; and

selecting, by the server, the third device associated with the at least one pool subject as the third device to receive a third invitation to join the sharing pool.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

granting provisional rights, to the third device, based on receiving a third acceptance of the third invitation from the third device; and

granting permanent rights, to the third device, in response to the third device contributing at least one image to the sharing pool.

6. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

Identifying a fourth device currently at the event; and

selecting, by the server, the fourth device currently at the event as the fourth device to receive a fourth invitation to join the sharing pool.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein identifying the fourth device currently at the event further comprises:

receiving a last reported geographic location of the fourth device;

performing a comparison of the last reported geographic location of the fourth device to the geographical boundary information and the start time information; and

based on the comparison, determining that the fourth device is currently at the event.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the last reported geographic location of the fourth device is no older than fifteen minutes.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the first invitation is comprised of information chosen from a group consisting of:

information identifying event geographical boundaries,

information identifying event temporal boundaries,

information identifying event altitudinal boundaries,

information identifying a device participating in the sharing pool,

information identifying an user participating in the sharing pool,

information identifying a subject participating in the sharing pool,

information identifying an invitee to join the sharing pool,

information identifying status of the sharing pool,

information identifying a title of the sharing pool,

information identifying a description of the sharing pool,

information identifying an initiation policy of the sharing pool,

information identifying a termination policy of the sharing pool,

information identifying a tag associated with an image of the sharing pool,

a map of a geographical area of the event, as specified by the geographical boundary information, with participating devices superimposed, and

a map of a geographical area of the event, as specified by the geographical boundary information, with images available for sharing superimposed.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the first device is one of a mobile cellular phone, tablet computing device, and network enabled camera.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the information defining the sharing pool is further comprised of information chosen from a group consisting of:

information identifying event geographical boundaries,

information identifying event temporal boundaries,

information identifying event altitudinal boundaries,

information identifying a device participating in the sharing pool,

information identifying a user associated with the device participating in the sharing pool,

information identifying an invitee of the sharing pool,

information identifying a subject of the sharing pool,

information identifying a title of the sharing pool,

information identifying a description of the sharing pool,

information identifying an initiation policy of the sharing pool,

information identifying a termination policy of the sharing pool,

information identifying a tag associated with the event, and

information identifying a tag associated with the sharing pool.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the sharing pool is associated with a display device, wherein the display device is one of a networked television, a set-top-box communicatively coupled to a display, a digital picture frame, an electronic billboard, and a public venue display.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the sharing pool is determined to have ended based on one of:

a last device associated with a pool participant leaving a geographical area specified by the geographical boundary information,

a percentage of devices associated with pool participants having left a geographical area specified by the geographical boundary information,

no device having accessed a pool image for a period of time,

no device having contributed a pool image for a period of time.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

communicating, to ones of the plurality of mobile devices, an invitation to join the sharing pool;

receiving, from ones of the plurality of mobile devices, an acceptance of the first invitation;

performing a comparison of a count of invitation acceptances to a threshold number of pool participants; and

based on the comparison, initiating the sharing pool.

15. A method of operating a server, the method comprising:

receiving, from a first device, a first sharing pool initiation request, the first sharing pool initiation request comprising first event information;

initiating the first sharing pool;

receiving, from a second device, a second sharing pool initiation request, the second sharing pool initiation request comprising second event information;

comparing the first event to the second event to determine whether the first event and the second event overlap; and

in response to determining that the first event and the second event overlap, providing a notification to the second device identifying the first event.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

receiving, from a second device, an indication that the second sharing pool initiation request is to be aborted;

providing, to the second device, an invitation to join the first sharing pool; and

receiving, from the second device, an invitation acceptance.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the invitation is comprised of information chosen from a group consisting of:

information identifying event geographical boundaries,

information identifying event temporal boundaries,

information identifying event altitudinal boundaries,

information identifying a device participating in the sharing pool,

information identifying an user participating in the sharing pool,

information identifying a subject participating in the sharing pool,

information identifying an invitee to join the sharing pool,

information identifying status of the sharing pool,

information identifying a title of the sharing pool,

information identifying a description of the sharing pool,

information identifying an initiation policy of the sharing pool,

information identifying a termination policy of the sharing pool,

information identifying a tag associated with an image of the sharing pool,

a map of a geographical area of the event, as specified by geographical boundary information, with participating devices superimposed, and

a map of a geographical area of the event, as specified by geographical boundary information, with images available for sharing superimposed.

18. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

initiating the second sharing pool.

19. The method of claim 15 wherein determining that the first event and the second event overlap further comprises:

performing a comparison of first geographical boundary information of the first event and second geographical boundary information of the second event;

based on the comparison of the geographical boundary information, determining that the geographic boundaries of the first event and the second event overlap;

performing a comparison of first temporal boundary information of the first event and second temporal boundary information of the second event;

based on the comparison of the temporal boundary information, determining that the temporal boundaries of the first event and the second event overlap; and

based on determining that the geographic boundaries of the first event and the second event overlap and temporal boundaries of the first event and the second event overlap, determining that the first event and the second event overlap.

20. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

receiving information identifying a reference position device;

receiving a current geographic position of the reference position device;

performing a comparison of the current geographic position of the reference position device to a previous geographic position of the reference device to determine a position change vector;

determining updated geographical boundary information based on the position change vector; and

storing the updated geographical boundary information.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the reference position device is the first device.

22. The method of claim 15 wherein the information defining the first sharing pool is further comprised of information chosen from a group consisting of:

information identifying first event altitudinal boundaries,

information identifying a device participating in the sharing pool,

information identifying a moderator of the sharing pool,

information identifying an invitee to join the sharing pool,

information identifying a title of the sharing pool,

information identifying a description of the sharing pool,

information identifying an initiation policy of the sharing pool,

information identifying a termination policy of the sharing pool,

information identifying a tag associated with the event,

information identifying a tag associated with the sharing pool, and

information identifying a reference position device for the sharing pool.

23. The method of claim 15 wherein the first device is within a geographical area indicated by the first event at a time the first event information is received.

24. The method of claim 15 wherein the first device is not within a geographical area indicated by the first event at a time the first event information is received.

25. The method of claim 15 wherein temporal boundary information indicated in the first event information represents a past time period.

26. The method of claim 15 wherein temporal boundary information indicated in the first event information represents a future time period.

27. The method of claim 15 wherein temporal boundary information indicated in the first event information represents a time period containing a current time.

28. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

associating, with the first sharing pool, an textual tag;

providing, to a second device present at the first event, information identifying the textual tag;

receiving, from the second device present at the first event, an image captured at the first event, and information reflecting that the textual tag is associated with the image captured at the first event; and

storing the image and the textual tag.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein associating, with the first sharing pool, the textual tag further comprising:

selecting, by the server, the textual tag to be one of;

unique among the first event,

unique among all events associated with the first sharing pool,

unique among all events having been operated by the server, and

unique among all sharing pools having been operated by the server.

30. The method of claim 29 wherein the textual tag is a social networking service messaging label.