Systems and methods for interactive image data acquisition and compression
First Claim
1. An interactive method of transmitting detailed image data to a user over a communications channel extending between a transmitting station and a receiving station, comprising the steps of:
- transmitting a user request for image data to the transmitting station;
obtaining a digitized image data set in a computing device at the transmitting station, said image data set defining an image with a spatial resolution;
performing a lossy compression operation on the digitized image data set, using the transmitting station computing device, to produce a lossy compressed image data set;
storing the lossy compressed image data set at the transmitting station;
transmitting the lossy compressed image data set to a computing device at the receiving station with the same said spatial resolution as the digitized image data set;
decompressing the lossy compressed image data set at the receiving station, using the receiving station computing device, to produce a lossy decompressed image data set;
displaying the lossy decompressed image data set on a display device visible to the user at the receiving station, in the form of an image having the said spatial resolution;
providing an input device permitting the user at the receiving station to select at least one window of interest within the displayed image data set;
monitoring the input device to receive a user selection of the window of interest and transmitting information defining the window of interest to the transmitting station;
transmitting, from the transmitting station to the receiving station, additional image data pertaining exclusively to the image within said window of interest, but inhibiting the performance of this step until the user interactively requests an accurate reproduction of the original image data in the currently selected window of interest;
using said additional image data received at the receiving station after the user requests an accurate reproduction of the original image data in the currently selected window of interest, enhancing the displayed image within the window of interest to produce a display within the window of interest which accurately reproduces the original digitized image data set, while maintaining the same said spatial resolution in the window of interest.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An interactive image data transmission system uses the expertise of an image end user distant from the image collection point. An image with a wide angle field of view is transmitted to the end user in lossy-compressed form. The image is displayed at the receiving end with errors introduced by the lossy compression. The end user can select and specify a narrowed field of view, and the image capturing parameters are modified as necessary under end user control to capture a desired image of the narrow view field. The transmitting station transmits a lossy compressed version of the narrow view image which is displayed for the user, and the user selects at least one window of definite interest within the image. Then, additional image data sufficient to provide a correct display within the window(s) of interest is transmitted to the receiving station and the display is updated within the window(s). The additional data may be difference data in a variable length diagonal code.
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Citations
51 Claims
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1. An interactive method of transmitting detailed image data to a user over a communications channel extending between a transmitting station and a receiving station, comprising the steps of:
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transmitting a user request for image data to the transmitting station; obtaining a digitized image data set in a computing device at the transmitting station, said image data set defining an image with a spatial resolution; performing a lossy compression operation on the digitized image data set, using the transmitting station computing device, to produce a lossy compressed image data set; storing the lossy compressed image data set at the transmitting station; transmitting the lossy compressed image data set to a computing device at the receiving station with the same said spatial resolution as the digitized image data set; decompressing the lossy compressed image data set at the receiving station, using the receiving station computing device, to produce a lossy decompressed image data set; displaying the lossy decompressed image data set on a display device visible to the user at the receiving station, in the form of an image having the said spatial resolution; providing an input device permitting the user at the receiving station to select at least one window of interest within the displayed image data set; monitoring the input device to receive a user selection of the window of interest and transmitting information defining the window of interest to the transmitting station; transmitting, from the transmitting station to the receiving station, additional image data pertaining exclusively to the image within said window of interest, but inhibiting the performance of this step until the user interactively requests an accurate reproduction of the original image data in the currently selected window of interest; using said additional image data received at the receiving station after the user requests an accurate reproduction of the original image data in the currently selected window of interest, enhancing the displayed image within the window of interest to produce a display within the window of interest which accurately reproduces the original digitized image data set, while maintaining the same said spatial resolution in the window of interest. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. An interactive method of transmitting detailed image data to a user over a communications channel extending between a transmitting station and a receiving station, comprising the steps of:
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transmitting a user request for image data to the transmitting station; obtaining a digitized image data set in a computing device at the transmit fine station; performing a lossy compression operation on the digitized image data set, using the transmitting station computing device, to produce a lossy compressed image data set; transmitting the lossy compressed image data set to a computing device at the receiving station; decompressing the lossy compressed image data set at the receiving station, using the receiving station computing device, to produce a lossy decompressed image data set; displaying the lossy decompressed image data set on a display device visible to the user at the receiving station; providing an input device permitting the user at the receiving station to select at least one window of interest within the displayed image data set; monitoring the input device to receive a user selection of the window of interest and transmitting information defining the window of interest to the transmitting station; transmitting, from the transmitting station to the receiving station, additional image data pertaining exclusively to the image within said window of interest; using said additional image data, enhancing the displayed image within the window of interest to produce a display within the window of interest which accurately reproduces the original digitized image data set, wherein said additional image data is difference data defining changes required to correct errors in the lossy decompressed image data set arising from the lossy compression operation and subsequent decompression; and inhibiting the performance of the steps of transmitting additional image data and enhancing the display image until the user interactively indicates that an accurate reproduction of the original image data is desired in the currently selected window of interest. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 35)
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25. A system for interactively transmitting detailed image data over a communications channel extending between a transmitting station and a receiving station under the control of an end user, comprising:
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transmitting station computing means for receiving an end user request for image data, obtaining an original digitized image data set at the transmitting station, said original image data set defining an image having a spatial resolution, performing a lossy compression operation on the digitized image data set to produce a lossy compressed image data set defining an image having the same said spatial resolution as the original image data set, and storing said lossy compressed image data set at the transmitting station; transmitting means for transmitting the lossy compressed image data set to the receiving station; receiving station computing means for receiving the lossy compressed image data set, decompressing the lossy compressed image data set to produce a lossy decompressed image data set, and displaying the lossy decompressed image data set as an image on a display device visible to the end user at the receiving station with the same said spatial resolution; command receiving means for receiving a selection by the end user of at least one window of interest within the displayed image and transmitting information defining the window of interest to the transmitting station; image updating means associated with the transmission station computing means for receiving said information defining the window of interest and transmitting, from the transmitting station to the receiving station, additional image data pertaining exclusively to the image within said window of interest; update inhibiting means for receiving a user command at the receiving station indicating that an accurate reproduction of the original image data is desired in the currently selected window of interest, and until said command is received, inhibiting the operation of said image updating means to transmit said additional image data pertaining exclusively to the image within said window of interest; and window display enhancing means associated with said receiving station computing means for receiving said additional image data and, while maintaining the display of the window of interest at the same said spatial resolution, enhancing the displayed image within the window of interest to produce a display within the window of interest which accurately reproduces the original image data. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. A system for interactively transmitting detailed image data over a communications channel extending between a transmitting station and a receiving station under the control of an end user, comprising:
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transmitting station computing means for receiving an end user request for image data, obtaining an original digitized image data set at the transmitting station and performing a lossy compression operation on the digitized image data set to produce a lossy compressed image data set; transmitting means for transmitting the lossy compressed image data set to the receiving station; receiving station computing means for receiving the lossy compressed image data set, decompressing the lossy compressed image data set to produce a lossy decompressed image data set and displaying the lossy decompressed image data set as an image on a display device visible to the end user at the receiving station; command receiving means for receiving a selection by the end user of at least one window of interest within the displayed image and transmitting information defining the window of interest to the transmitting station; image updating means associated with the transmission station computing means for receiving said information defining the window of interest and transmitting, from the transmitting station to the receiving station, additional image data pertaining exclusively to the image within said window of interest;
wherein the image updating means further comprises difference data computing means for computing difference data defining changes required to correct errors in the lossy decompressed image data set arising from the lossy compression operation and subsequent decompression, and said image updating means includes means for transmitting said difference data as said additional data;update inhibiting means for receiving a user command at the receiving station indicating that an accurate reproduction of the original image data is desired in the currently selected window of interest; and
until said command is received, inhibiting the operation of said image updating means to transmit said additional image data pertaining exclusively to the image within said window of interest; andwindow display enhancing means associated with said receiving station computing means for receiving said difference data and enhancing the displayed image within the window of interest to produce a display within the window of interest which accurately reproduces the original image data. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48)
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49. An interactive method of transmitting detailed image data to a user over a communications channel extending between a transmitting station and a receiving station, comprising the steps of:
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transmitting a user request for image data to the transmitting station; obtaining a digitized image data set in a computing device at the transmitting station; performing a lossy compression operation on the digitized image data set, using the transmitting station computing device, to produce a lossy compressed image data set; storing the transmitted lossy compressed image data set at the transmitting station; transmitting the lossy compressed image data set to a computing device at the receiving station; decompressing the lossy compressed image data set at the receiving station, using the receiving station computing device, to produce a lossy decompressed image data set; displaying the lossy decompressed image data set on a display device visible to the user at the receiving station; providing an input device permitting the user at the receiving station to select at least one window of interest within the displayed image data set; monitoring the input device to receive a user selection of the window of interest and transmitting information defining the window of interest to the transmitting station; transmitting, from the transmitting station to the receiving station, additional image data pertaining exclusively to the image within said window of interest; using said additional image data, enhancing the displayed image within the window of interest to produce a display within the window of interest which accurately reproduces the original digitized image data set; and until the user indicates that an accurate reproduction of the original image data is desired in the currently selected window of interest, inhibiting the performance of the additional image data transmission and display enhancing steps and iteratively;
generating and transmitting, from the transmitting station to the receiving station, a new lossy compressed image data set relating to the window of interest, decompressing and displaying the lossy compressed image data set for the new image data set relating to the window of interest, and receiving user modifications of the specification of the window of interest.
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50. A system for interactively transmitting detailed image data over a communications channel extending between a transmitting station and a receiving station under the control of an end user, comprising:
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transmitting station computing means for receiving an end user request for image data, obtaining an original digitized image data set at the transmitting station and performing a lossy compression operation on the digitized image data set to produce a lossy compressed image data set; storage means for storing the transmitted lossy compressed image data set at the transmitting station; transmitting means for transmitting the lossy compressed image data set to the receiving station; receiving station computing means for receiving the lossy compressed image data set, decompressing the lossy compressed image data set to produce a lossy decompressed image data set, and displaying the lossy decompressed image data set as an image on a display device visible to the end user at the receiving station; command receiving means for receiving a selection by the end user of at least one window of interest within the displayed image and transmitting information defining the window of interest to the transmitting station; image updating means associated with the transmission station computing means for receiving said information defining the window of interest and transmitting, from the transmitting station to the receiving station, additional image data pertaining exclusively to the image within said window of interest; and window display enhancing means associated with said receiving station computing means for receiving said additional image data and enhancing the displayed image within the window of interest to produce a display within the window of interest which accurately reproduces the original image data; and window selection iterating means associated with the transmitting station for receiving the window of interest information from the command receiving means, and until the user indicates that an accurate reproduction of the original image data is desired within the currently selected window of interest, iteratively inhibiting the operation of the image updating means and window display enhancing means, generating a new lossy compressed image data set defining an image within the window of interest, transmitting the new lossy compressed image data set to the receiving station computing means for display, and receiving a new window of interest selection from the user.
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51. An interactive method of transmitting detailed image data to a user over a communications channel extending between a transmitting station and a receiving station, comprising the steps of:
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transmitting a user request for image data to the transmitting station; obtaining a digitized image data set in a computing device at the transmitting station; performing a lossy compression operation on the digitized image data set, using the transmitting station computing device, to produce a lossy compressed image data set; storing the lossy compressed image data set at the transmitting station; transmitting the lossy compressed image data set to a computing device at the receiving station; decompressing the lossy compressed image data set at the receiving station, using the receiving station computing device, to produce a lossy decompressed image data set; displaying the lossy decompressed image data set on a display device visible to the user at the receiving station; providing an input device permitting the user at the receiving station to select at least one window of interest within the displayed image data set; monitoring the input device to receive a user selection of the window of interest and transmitting information defining the window of interest to the transmitting station; transmitting, from the transmitting station to the receiving station, additional image data pertaining exclusively to the image within said window of interest; using said additional image data, enhancing the displayed image within the window of interest to produce a display within the window of interest which accurately reproduces the original digitized image data set; and until the user interactively indicates that an accurate reproduction of the original image data is desired in the currently selected window of interest, inhibiting the performance of the additional image data transmission and display enhancing steps.
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Specification