Method and apparatus for image collection and analysis

• US 9,111,143 B2
• Filed: 09/27/2013
• Issued: 08/18/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Meredith, Sheldon Kent, Fix, Jeremy, Hilliard, Brandon B
• Primary Examiner(s): COUSO, JOSE L
• Application Number:
  US14/039,690
• Publication Number:
  US 20150092979A1
• Time in Patent Office: 690 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/583 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2218/00 Aspects of pattern recognition specially adapted for signal processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/95 structured as a network, e.g. client-server architectures
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/10 Terrestrial scenes scenes under surveillance with static cameras G06V20/52; scenes perceived from the exterior of a vehicle G06V20/56; scenes perceived from the interior of a vehicle G06V20/59
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/80 Recognising image objects characterised by unique random patterns
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 2201/07 Target detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4223 Cameras H04N23/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4335 Housekeeping operations, e.g. prioritizing content for deletion because of storage space restrictions storage management, e.g. defragmentation G06F3/0604; unloading stored programs G06F9/445; storage management in file systems G06F16/10; buffering arrangements in a network node or in an end terminal in packet networks H04L49/90
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44008 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in the video stream arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6547 comprising parameters, e.g. for client setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/71 Circuitry for evaluating the brightness variation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/44 Receiver circuitry for the reception of television signals according to analogue transmission standards H04N5/14 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/77 between a recording apparatus and a television camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a processor that can detect an event, access location information for a group of mobile communication devices that are each automatically capturing images, and identify a subset of the group of mobile communication devices that are in proximity to the event based on the location information. The processor can provide first image analysis criteria to the subset of the group of mobile communication devices without providing the first image analysis criteria to remaining devices of the group of mobile communication devices where the first image analysis criteria includes first characteristics associated with an object. The processor can receive a first target image that includes the object from a first mobile communication device of the subset of the group of mobile communication devices, where the first target image is selected by the first mobile communication device from among a plurality of images captured by the first mobile communication device based on first image pattern recognition performed by the first mobile communication device utilizing the first image analysis criteria. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

capturing first images by a first mobile communication device of a group of mobile communication devices, wherein the capturing is performed automatically by the first mobile communication device subject to recording limitations designated based on user input, wherein a second mobile communication device of the group of mobile communication devices automatically captures second images;

receiving, by the first mobile communication device, first image analysis criteria including first characteristics associated with an object, wherein the first image analysis criteria is received from a remote server that provides the first image analysis criteria to a subset of the group of mobile communication devices without providing the first image analysis criteria to remaining devices of the group of mobile communication devices, wherein the subset includes the first and second mobile communication devices;

applying, by the first mobile communication device, image pattern recognition to the first images according to the first image analysis criteria to identify a first target image that includes the object;

determining, by the first mobile communication device, second image analysis criteria from the first target image, wherein the second image analysis criteria includes second characteristics associated with the object; and

providing, by the first mobile communication device, the second image analysis criteria to the second mobile communication device to enable the second mobile communication device to perform image pattern recognition on the second images according to the second image analysis criteria to identify a second target image that includes the object,

wherein each of the first images is time stamped, wherein the subset of the group of mobile communication devices is selected by the remote server based on location information for each of the subset of the group of mobile communication devices.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising:

storing the first images in a memory of the first mobile communication device; and

deleting a portion of the first images from the memory responsive to satisfying a maximum storage threshold defined by the recording limitations,

wherein the first image analysis criteria comprises text describing the first characteristics associated with the object, and

wherein the second image analysis criteria comprises an image sample of the object.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the recording limitations include time limitations for the capturing of the first images.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising providing, by the first mobile communication device, the first target image to the remote server.

5. The method of claim 1, comprising:

receiving, by the first mobile communication device, third image analysis criteria including third characteristics associated with the object, wherein the third image analysis criteria is received from the second mobile communication device and is generated based on detection of the third characteristics from the second target image; and

applying, by the first mobile communication device, additional image pattern recognition to the first images according to the third image analysis criteria to identify a third target image that includes the object.

6. The method of claim 5, comprising providing, by the first mobile communication device, the third target image to the remote server.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first image analysis criteria comprises text describing the first characteristics associated with the object without providing an image sample of the object, and wherein the second image analysis criteria comprises the image sample of the object.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing of the second image analysis criteria comprises transmitting the second image analysis criteria to all other mobile communication devices of the subset of the group of mobile communication devices.

9. The method of claim 1, comprising providing, by the first mobile communication device, a plurality of target images that includes the object to the remote server, wherein an order of providing the plurality of target images to the remote server is based on an accuracy scoring analysis performed by the first mobile communication device.

10. The method of claim 1, comprising:

receiving, by the first mobile communication device, third image analysis criteria including third characteristics associated with the object, wherein the third image analysis criteria is received from the remote server and is generated based on detection of the third characteristics from a plurality of target images received by the remote server from the subset of the group of mobile communication devices; and

applying, by the first mobile communication device, additional image pattern recognition to the first images according to the third image analysis criteria to identify a third target image that includes the object.

11. The method of claim 1, comprising:

detecting, by the first mobile communication device, an undesired lighting condition; and

suspending the capturing of the first images by the first mobile communication device during the undesired lighting condition.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the subset of the group of mobile communication devices is selected by the remote server based on device capabilities for each of the subset of the group of mobile communication devices.

13. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a system including a processor, a first target image that includes an object, the first target image being received from a first mobile communication device of a group of mobile communication devices that are automatically capturing images, wherein the first target image is selected by the first mobile communication device from among a plurality of images captured by the first mobile communication device based on first image pattern recognition performed by the first mobile communication device utilizing first image analysis criteria, wherein the first image analysis criteria includes first characteristics associated with the object;

determining, by the system, second image analysis criteria from the first target image, wherein the second image analysis criteria includes second characteristics associated with the object;

providing, by the system, the second image analysis criteria to a subset of the group of mobile communication devices to enable the subset of the group of mobile communication devices to perform second image pattern recognition on the images according to the second image analysis criteria to identify a second target image that includes the object; and

detecting, by the system, an event;

accessing, by the system, location information for the group of mobile communication devices; and

identifying, by the system, the subset of the group of mobile communication devices that are in proximity to the event based on the location information.

14. The method of claim 13, comprising:

providing, by the system, the first image analysis criteria to the subset of a group of mobile communication devices without providing the first image analysis criteria to remaining devices of the group of mobile communication devices; and

receiving, from a second mobile communication device of the subset of the group of mobile communication devices, the second target image.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the first image analysis criteria comprises text describing the first characteristics associated with the object without providing an image sample of the object.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising providing, by the system, a time stamp for the first target images,

wherein the identifying the subset of the group of mobile communication devices that are in proximity to the event based on the location information is further based on a proximity to a time of the event, and

wherein the second image analysis criteria comprises an image sample of the object.

17. A machine-readable storage medium, comprising instructions, wherein responsive to executing the instructions, a processor of a first mobile communication device performs operations comprising:

capturing first images automatically subject to recording limitations designated based on user input, wherein the first mobile communication device is of a group of mobile communication devices;

providing a time stamp for each of the first images, wherein a subset of the group of mobile communication devices is selected based on a timing information for each of the subset of the group of mobile communication devices;

receiving first image analysis criteria including first characteristics associated with an object, wherein the first image analysis criteria comprises text describing the first characteristics associated with the object without providing an image sample of the object, wherein the first image analysis criteria is received from a remote server that provides the first image analysis criteria to a subset of the group of mobile communication devices without providing the first image analysis criteria to remaining devices of the group of mobile communication devices, wherein the subset includes the first mobile communication device;

applying image pattern recognition to the first images according to the first image analysis criteria to identify a first target image that includes the object;

determining second image analysis criteria from the first target image, wherein the second image analysis criteria includes second characteristics associated with the object, wherein the second image analysis criteria comprises the image sample of the object; and

providing the second image analysis criteria to a second mobile communication device to enable the second mobile communication device to perform image pattern recognition on images captured by the second mobile communication device according to the second image analysis criteria to identify a second target image that includes the object.

18. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the second image analysis criteria is provided to the second mobile communication device via the remote server that distributes the second image analysis criteria to the subset of the group of mobile communication devices.

19. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the subset of the group of mobile communication devices is selected by the remote server based on user location for each of the subset of the group of mobile communication devices.

20. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise:

detecting an undesired recording condition; and

suspending the capturing of the first images during the undesired recording condition.