Architectures and methods for creating and representing time-dependent imagery

• US 8,077,918 B2
• Filed: 08/28/2008
• Issued: 12/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Kirmse, Andrew, Nash, Reuel William, Zelinka, Steve
• Primary Examiner(s): Tabatabai, Abolfazl
• Application Number:
  US12/231,290
• Publication Number:
  US 20100054527A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,202 Days
• Field of Search: 382/100, 382/103, 348/169, 348/207.1, 345/418, 702/5, 705/7.34, 707/919, 707/999.104, 707/999.107, 707/999, 707/203, 725/35
• US Class Current: 382/103
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/0085 Time domain based watermarking, e.g. watermarks spread over several images
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/20 Drawing from basic elements, e.g. lines or circles
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/40 Scaling of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. expanding or contracting
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/422 Technical drawings; Geographical maps
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/377 for mixing or overlaying two or more graphic patterns G09G5/02, G09G5/397 take precedence

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, comprising:

providing an identification of available points in time for which images are available for a geographical location, the identification being provided by a processor of a computer;

receiving a request for an image associated with the geographical location for one of the available points in time at the computer; and

in response to the request, the computer providing the image associated with the requested geographical location,

wherein portions of the provided image comprise different images of the geographical location captured at different points in time, the different images being selected from a plurality of images comprising images captured before and after the requested point in time, and wherein the different images included in the provided image were captured prior to the requested point in time.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

deriving the plurality of different images from assets obtained from an imagery source; and

identifying the point in time associated with each of the plurality of different images, each point in time corresponding to an acquisition date of a respective asset.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising generating a blended image for the requested point in time, the blended image including at least one secondary image from a point in time earlier than the requested point in time and a primary image from the requested point in time, the primary image overlying the secondary image.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein generating the blended image for the requested point in time includes generating multiple blended images each having a different level of detail.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the request for an image associated with the geographical location further includes a request for a minimum level of detail and wherein the provided image is one of the blended images having the minimum level of detail.

6. A method of processing geographical imagery, comprising:

obtaining imagery from an imagery source;

identifying an acquisition date for at least some of the imagery obtained from the imagery source;

blending overlapping pieces of imagery with 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 tiles in memory associated with the computer; and

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

7. The method of claim 6, wherein blending the overlapping pieces of imagery based on the respective acquisition dates forms multiple tiles for a given acquisition date, the overlapping pieces of imagery being layered chronologically by acquisition date.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the piece of imagery with the most recent acquisition date overlies the other pieces of imagery with earlier acquisition dates.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein at least some of the multiple image tiles incorporate the same overlapping pieces of imagery at different levels of detail.

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

at least one processor; and

memory for storing 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, to identify an acquisition date for at least some of the imagery obtained from the imagery source, to blend overlapping pieces of imagery based on respective acquisition dates to form one or more image tiles associated with each acquisition date, to store the one or more image tiles in the memory, and to provide at least one image tile having a selected acquisition date from the memory to a user upon request for an image associated with a geographical location for the selected acquisition date.

11. The processing system of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor is operable to blend the overlapping pieces of imagery based on the respective acquisition dates to form multiple image tiles for each acquisition date, the overlapping pieces of imagery being layered chronologically by acquisition date.

12. The processing system of claim 11, wherein the piece of imagery with the most recent acquisition date overlies the other pieces of imagery with earlier acquisition dates.

13. The processing system of claim 11, wherein at least some of the multiple image tiles incorporate the same overlapping pieces of imagery at different levels of detail.

14. A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the operations of:

obtaining imagery from an imagery source;

identifying an acquisition date for at least some of the imagery obtained from the imagery source;

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

storing the one or more tiles in memory; and

providing at least one image tile having a selected acquisition date from the memory to a user upon request for an image associated with a geographical location for the selected acquisition date.

15. A method of processing imagery, comprising:

blending a plurality of tiles representative of a geographical location using a processor, at least some of the tiles being time-based tiles associated with imagery of the geographical location from different acquisition dates;

preparing a tiles table for organizing the plurality of tiles, the tiles table being indexed by location and level of detail for each of the plurality of tiles;

creating fingerprints having tile creation information for each of the plurality of tiles;

the processor generating a plurality of packfiles, each packfile being associated with at least one of the plurality of tiles; and

distributing the plurality of packfiles to at least one datacenter;

wherein the tiles table further indexes the time-based tiles by acquisition date.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein blending the time-based tiles includes blending overlapping pieces of imagery based on respective acquisition dates.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein a given packfile contains at least one of a given tile, an indication that the given tile is shared with a database, or a deletion marker indicating that a tile entry is to be deleted.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising updating a respective one of the fingerprints after tile information associated with the respective fingerprint has been incorporated into a packfile.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising updating the tiles table based on the updated fingerprint.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

indexing the distributed packfiles;

updating an image data table based upon the distributed packfiles; and

updating a quadtree packet table based upon the indexed packfiles;

wherein each distributed packfile having time-based information therein is further indexed based upon the time-based information.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising storing the image data table and the quadtree packet table in a database of an image server.

22. A system for managing imagery, comprising:

means for indexing time-based packfiles and non-time-based packfiles, each packfile containing at least one of an image tile, an indication that the at least one image tile is shared with a database, or a deletion marker indicating that an image tile entry in the database is to be deleted;

means for updating at least one image data table based upon the time-based and non-time-based packfiles, the at least one image data table including image data for generated image tiles;

means for updating at least one quadtree packet table based upon the indexed packfiles; and

means for distributing quadtree packets of the quadtree packet table and image data of the at least one image data table to a client device upon request.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the means for indexing the packfiles indexes the time-based packfiles in a time-based index table and indexes the non-time-based packfiles in a non-time-based index table, each index table including a version indicator and a location indicator while the time-based-index table further includes a date indicator.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the at least one quadtree packet table includes a first quadtree packet table for managing time-based quadtree packets and a second quadtree packet table for managing non-time-based quadtree packets.

25. The system of claim 22, further comprising means for creating fingerprints, each of the fingerprints having tile creation information for a respective one of the image tiles.

26. The system of claim 22, further comprising means for processing selected image tiles based upon the fingerprints.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the means for processing is operable to blend an existing image tile with a new image tile having time information associated therewith, and whether blending is performed is based on a comparison of the fingerprint of the existing image tile with the fingerprint of the new time-based image tile.

28. An image processing method, comprising:

a processor requesting quadtree packets for a geographical location, the quadtree packets containing tile information for the geographical location, at least some of the quadtree packets including date information for respective tiles associated therewith;

the processor requesting one or more tiles having a specified date for the geographical location; and

the processor presenting at least one of the requested tiles on a display,

wherein portions of the at least one of the requested tiles comprise different images of the geographical location captured at different points in time, the different images being selected from a plurality of images comprising images captured before and after the specified date, and wherein the different images included in the presented tile were captured prior to the specified date.

29. The image processing method of claim 28, wherein the portions are blended chronologically.

30. The image processing method of claim 28, wherein quadtree packets further include level of detail information for the respective tiles, and requesting the one or more tiles further includes identifying a specific level of detail to be presented on the display.