On-demand image tile production

• US 9,191,631 B1
• Filed: 01/11/2010
• Issued: 11/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Smith, Brian Hendee
• Primary Examiner(s): Haskins, Twyler
• Assistant Examiner(s): Quiett, Carramah J
• Application Number:
  US12/685,603
• Time in Patent Office: 2,136 Days
• Field of Search: 348/231.2, 348/231.9
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/86 Combinations of radar systems with non-radar systems, e.g. sonar, direction finder
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/90 using synthetic aperture techniques , e.g. synthetic aperture radar [SAR] techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

The different advantageous embodiments provide an apparatus for generating an image on-demand comprising a number of sensors, a storage device, and an image formation process. The number of sensors is configured to generate data. The storage device is configured to store the data generated by the number of sensors. The image formation process is configured to receive a number of requests for a number of image regions and generate a number of image tiles using the data at a requested set of parameters.

Claims

1. A method for generating an image, the method comprising:

collecting data for an area using a sensor, wherein the data comprises a plurality of raw information items associated with the area, the data further comprising synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data;

storing the data in a storage device;

receiving a number of requests for a number of image regions at a given set of parameters from a client application;

responsive to the number of requests, identifying SAR data associated with the number of requests;

processing only a selective portion of the SAR data associated with the number of requests, the selective portion being a minimum necessary to generate the number of image regions at the given set of parameters using an image formation process to form a number of image tiles, wherein the image formation process retrieves only the selective portion of the SAR data from the storage device, and wherein the selective portion is less than all of the SAR data, whereby, by processing only the selective portion, time and computational resources are saved relative to processing all of the SAR data;

transmitting the number of image tiles to the client application; and

compiling the number of image tiles using the client application to display the number of image regions.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

converting the number of requests to a number of image tile requests;

transmitting the number of image tile requests to an image server process;

translating the number of image tile requests into an image formation request; and

transmitting the image formation request to an image formation processor to process the portion of data needed to generate the number of image regions at the given set of parameters.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensor is selected from at least one of a radar, an ultrasound machine, a magnetic resonance imaging scanner, and a charge-coupled device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the given set of parameters is selected from at least one of a location, resolution, image size, and specified algorithm parameters.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

collecting additional SAR data from the sensor based on the number of requests; and

transmitting the additional SAR data to the storage device, wherein the selective portion includes portions of both the SAR data and the additional SAR data.

6. An apparatus for generating an image on-demand, the apparatus comprising:

a number of sensors configured to generate data, wherein the data comprises a plurality of raw information items associated with the area, the data further comprising synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data;

a storage device configured to store the data generated by the number of sensors;

an image formation process configured to receive a number of requests for a number of image tiles and generate the number of image tiles using the data at a requested set of parameters;

an image server process configured to receive a number of image tile requests for a number of image regions from an image client process and convert the number of image tile requests into an image formation request;

wherein the image server process is configured to transmit the image formation requests to the image formation process;

wherein the image server process is configured to translate the number of image tile requests to identify the requested set of parameters for the number of image regions requested and to associate a number of algorithms with the image formation request configured to be used by the image formation process in generating the number of image tiles at the requested set of parameters; and

wherein the image server process is configured to, responsive to the number of requests, generate a data collection request for a number of sensors using the number of requests received;

wherein the image server process is configured to collect additional SAR data from the number of sensors based on the number of requests, and transmitting the additional SAR data to the storage device;

wherein the image server process is configured to process only a portion of the data, the portion being a minimum necessary to generate the requested number of image tiles with the number of algorithms, and wherein the portion of the data is less than all of the data; and

wherein the image server process is further configured to extract only the portion of the SAR data and the additional SAR data from the storage device, and wherein the portion is less than all of the SAR data and the additional SAR data.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the requested set of parameters is selected from at least one of a location, resolution, image size, and specified algorithm parameters.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the number of sensors is selected from at least one of a radar, an ultrasound machine, and a charge-coupled device.

9. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program product, the computer program product comprising:

a model manager configured computer usable program code for collecting data for an area using a sensor, wherein the data comprises a plurality of raw information items associated with the area, the data further comprising synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data;

computer usable program code for storing the data in a storage device;

computer usable program code for receiving a number of requests for a number of image regions at a given set of parameters from a client application;

computer usable program code for, responsive to the number of requests, generating a data collection request for the sensor using the number of requests received;

computer usable program code for collecting additional SAR data from the sensor based on the number of requests, and transmitting the additional SAR data to the storage device;

computer usable program code for processing only a portion of the SAR data and the additional SAR data, the portion being a minimum necessary to generate the number of image regions at the given set of parameters using an image formation process to form a number of image tiles, and to retrieve only the portion of the SAR data and the additional SAR data from the storage device, and wherein the portion is less than all of the SAR data and the additional SAR data;

computer usable program code for processing only the portion of the data, the portion being a minimum necessary to generate the number of image regions at the given set of parameters to form a number of image tiles;

computer usable program code to combine the number of image tiles newly processed and the number of image tiles retrieved from the data in the storage device; and

computer usable program code for transmitting the number of image tiles to the client application.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 further comprising:

computer usable program code for compiling the number of image tiles using the client application to display the number of image regions.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9,

wherein the sensor is selected from at least one of a radar, an ultrasound machine, and a charge-coupled device.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9, further comprising:

computer usable program code for, responsive to receiving a number of image tile requests from an image client process, converting a number of image tile requests into an image formation request; and

computer usable program code for transmitting the image formation request to the image formation process.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9,

wherein the given set of parameters is selected from at least one of a location, resolution, image size, and specified algorithm parameters.