Methods and systems for content processing

• US 8,886,206 B2
• Filed: 07/13/2010
• Issued: 11/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Original Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Inventors: Lord, John D., MacIntosh, Brian T., Rhoads, Geoffrey B., Rodriguez, Tony F.
• Primary Examiner(s): WYCHE, MYRON
• Application Number:
  US12/835,527
• Publication Number:
  US 20110034176A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,582 Days
• Field of Search: 455/450, 455/561, 455/566, 382/275, 348/241
• US Class Current: 455/450
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/50 of still image data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/40 Software arrangements specially adapted for pattern recognition, e.g. user interfaces or toolboxes therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/945 User interactive design; Environments; Toolboxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/96 Management of image or video recognition tasks
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/142 using hand-held instruments; Constructional details of the instruments
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0264 for a camera module assembly
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• 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 2101/00 Still video cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3225 of data relating to an image, a page or a document
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3274 Storage or retrieval of prestored additional information
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3278 Transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/10 for generating image signals from different wavelengths
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/56 provided with illuminating means
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/74 by influencing the scene brightness using illuminating means
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/26 Resource reservation

Abstract

Many of the detailed technologies are useful in enabling a smart phone to respond to a user'"'"'s environment, e.g., so it can serve as an intuitive hearing and seeing device. A few of the detailed arrangements involve using radio base station SDR equipment (e.g., at a cell tower) to perform image recognition operations for phones; forecasting service needs from remote processors, and reserving such capacity in advance of use; delegating a remote execution task to a service provider chosen in a competitive process, such as by a reverse auction; using nearby processors, e.g., in an automobile, another phone, or set-top box, for remote execution tasks; phones with separable camera and/or illumination components; phone camera illumination using different colors of light; using search tree methods with image frames captured at different focuses; using a phone'"'"'s microprojector to aid in object identification; correcting lens aberrations by texture mapping captured imagery onto a corrective polygon surface using a phone GPU; etc. A great variety of other features and arrangements are also detailed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

capturing an image through a lens of a camera; and

texture-mapping the image onto a virtual correction surface using a graphics processing unit, said virtual correction surface having been earlier defined by characterizing an optical distortion function associated with the lens, and defining a geometry of the correction surface to counteract the optical distortion function associated with the lens;

wherein tilts and/or elevations in the virtual correction surface serve to compensate for the optical distortion function associated with the camera lens.

2. A method of correcting lens distortion in an image, characterized by projecting the image onto a virtual surface whose topology is shaped to counteract the lens distortion.

12. The method of claim 2 in which the lens distortion comprises barrel distortion.

3. A method of operating a mobile phone, comprising:

sensing visual stimulus using a sensor in said phone;

transmitting first data, including data related to the sensed stimulus, from the mobile phone for remote signal processing;

responsive to said transmitting, receiving processed second data back at the mobile phone, the processed second data comprising information resulting from said remote signal processing of the first data; and

taking an action, at the phone, based on the received second data;

wherein said transmitting comprises transmitting the first data to one of a set-top box, automobile, thermostat, or an HVAC system, for signal processing by a processor therein.

4. A method comprising:

receiving one or more data packets, the packet(s) including first data relating to imagery captured by a mobile phone, and indicating an operation to be performed using said imagery-related data;

after said imagery has been captured by the mobile phone, conducting an automated evaluation of plural different computer-based service providers that are each capable of performing said indicated operation, to identify which of them is to provide results of said indicated operation on the first data for use by the mobile phone; and

based on said evaluation, sending the first data to a selected one of said computer-based service providers, for it to perform the indicated operation thereon.

5. The method of claim 4 that includes sending results of said indicated operation performed by the selected one of said computer-based service providers to the mobile phone.

6. The method of claim 4 that includes conducting said automated evaluation after receiving said one or more data packets.

13. The method of claim 4 in which conducting said automated evaluation comprises applying criteria specified by the user to identify which of the service providers should perform the indicated operation on the first data.

14. The method of claim 4 in which conducting said automated evaluation comprises conducting an automated auction.

15. The method of claim 14 that further includes deciding a winner of the automated auction in accordance with criteria specified by the user, said criteria including a non-price factor.

7. A method comprising:

receiving one or more packets of data, the packet(s) including first data relating to image content captured by a mobile phone, and also indicating an operation to be performed using the first data;

contacting plural computer-based service providers, to solicit interest in performing the operation, and providing results of said operation for use by the mobile phone on a competitive basis, said providers each being capable of performing said operation;

receiving responses from one or more of said service providers; and

deciding a winner from among said plural computer-based service providers;

wherein the method further includes providing at least some of the first data to at least some of said plural service providers before deciding the winner.

8. A method of processing image data captured using an image sensor in a cell phone, comprising:

performing a first image processing operation on the captured image data using a processing module in the cell phone, yielding internally-processed image data;

evaluating a competition between two or more external service providers to perform an operation on the internally-processed image data, each of said service providers being capable of performing said operation on said image data, and sending the internally-processed image data to a winner of said competition for further processing, the winning service provider delivering externally-processed image data; and

taking an action based on the externally-processed image data.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the internally-processed image data produced by said processing module in the cell phone comprises plural sets of visual keyvector data, and wherein the method further includes:

routing one of said sets of keyvector data to the winning service provider; and

routing another of said sets of keyvector data to a different external service provider, identified without reference to a competition.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the competition comprises a reverse auction.

11. A method comprising the acts:

in a mobile phone, which has an RF output power state that varies with proximity to a base station with which the phone wirelessly communicates, assessing variables including variables relating to (a) said RF transmitter output power state, (b) mobile phone battery state, and (c) network bandwidth state, to determine whether to have a processing operation related to imagery captured by the mobile phone performed by a processor in the mobile phone, or by a processing node at the base station;

transmitting data to the processing node at the base station, if said determination is to have said processing operation performed by said processing node at said base station; and

performing the image processing operation using the processor in the mobile phone, if said determination is to have the image processing operation performed by said mobile device processor;

wherein said base station comprises a processor at a cell tower site that is also used in connection with a software defined radio, wherein said processor performs both RF and image processing.