Image management and presentation

• US 9,529,832 B2
• Filed: 05/31/2014
• Issued: 12/27/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Eames, Patrick Jan, Hadley, Brent Louis, Miller, Stephen Paul, Floyd, Joseph Frank
• Primary Examiner(s): ZALALEE, SULTANA MARCIA
• Application Number:
  US14/292,830
• Publication Number:
  US 20140279982A1
• Time in Patent Office: 941 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/219 Managing data history or versioning querying versioned data G06F16/2474; querying temporal data G06F16/2477
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/3872 Repositioning or masking
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/3935 with modification of image resolution, i.e. determining the values of picture elements at new relative positions

Abstract

A method and apparatus for managing a number of images. A plurality of resolutions in which the number of images are to be stored and a style of presentation for the number of images is identified using a policy. A plurality of copies of the number of images in the plurality of resolutions are stored. A copy of a particular image in the number of images for a selected location in a layout defining a presentation for the number of images is selected using the style of presentation. The copy of the particular image has a desired resolution in the plurality of resolutions for the selected location in the layout.

Claims

1. A method for displaying desired information about an aircraft component from a plurality of image tiles by managing the plurality of image tiles on a display device in communication with a processor, the method comprising:

identifying, by a processor, a plurality of resolutions in which the plurality of image tiles are to be stored and a style of presentation for the plurality of image tiles using a policy, wherein the plurality of image tiles all relate to the aircraft component, wherein some of the plurality of image tiles are on different types of media, wherein desired information about the aircraft component is contained in the plurality of image tiles, wherein the desired information is too extensive to fit onto a single image tile, and wherein review of all of the image tiles would be undesirably time consuming;

storing, in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, a plurality of copies of the plurality of image tiles in the plurality of resolutions, wherein any given image tile is stored as multiple copies in different resolutions;

selecting, by the processor, a copy of a particular image tile in the plurality of image tiles for a selected location in a layout defining a presentation for the plurality of image tiles using the style of presentation, wherein the copy of the particular image tile has a desired resolution in the plurality of resolutions, the desired resolution being selected according to the selected location in the layout, and the desired resolution further being selected, according to the policy, as being a higher relevance to the desired information about the aircraft component relative to information stored in remaining ones of the plurality of image tiles;

selecting, by the processor, a second copy of a second particular image tile in the plurality of image tiles for a second selected location in the layout, the second particular image tile having a second resolution less than the desired resolution for the copy of the particular image tile, the second copy of the second particular image tile also relating to the aircraft component; and

displaying, on a display device in communication with the processor, the layout, wherein the layout includes both the copy of the particular image tile and the second copy of the second particular image tile, wherein displaying includes adjusting the layout to present the copy of the particular tile image at the desired resolution and in the selected location and also to present the second copy of the second image tile at the second location at the second resolution, and whereby faster review of all of the tile images is facilitated relative to reviewing each of the plurality of tiles individually.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the style of presentation is a hierarchy in which the particular image tile on a first level of the hierarchy comprises additional detail about a second image tile on a second level of the hierarchy, wherein the second level is higher than the first level in the hierarchy, wherein the first hierarchy is laid out as a first row of image tiles, wherein the second hierarchy is laid out as a second row of image tiles, and wherein the first row is displayed below the second row.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the style of presentation is a grid in which the plurality of image tiles are ordered according to a physical location of an object depicted in the plurality of image tiles.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving an additional user selection of an area of the display device that includes both the first row and the second row, the area being less than all image tiles initially shown on the display device;

further adjusting the display device to show only a second plurality of image tiles in the area; and

further adjusting the display device to increase resolution of the second plurality of image tiles by replacing initial image tiles initially displayed with copies of the second plurality of image tiles that have higher resolutions relative to the initial image tiles.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the style of presentation comprises the selected location and a relative size for the particular image tile in the plurality of image tiles as compared to a second image tile in the plurality of image tiles and wherein the method further comprises:

prior to selecting the copy of the particular image tile in the plurality of image tiles for the selected location in the layout, selecting the desired resolution for the particular image tile based on the relative size of the particular image tile in the style of presentation.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein metadata is associated with the particular image tile in the plurality of image tiles, and further comprising:

selecting the selected location and the desired resolution for the particular image tile based on the metadata associated with the particular image tile.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the metadata associated with the particular image tile comprises a plurality of coordinates for the selected location.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the metadata associated with the particular image tile comprises a relative location for the particular image tile as compared to an image tile in the plurality of image tiles.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the metadata associated with the particular image tile comprises information about at least one of a physical area and a level of detail of an object depicted by the particular image tile.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein a logical relationship is present between the selected location for the particular image tile and a plurality of selected locations for other image tiles in the plurality of image tiles and is based on a content of the particular image tile and the other image tiles.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

selecting a size for the particular image tile in the layout based on the logical relationship.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

identifying the logical relationship between the selected location and the plurality of selected locations using metadata associated with the particular image tile.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the layout comprises an identifier for the copy of the particular image tile having the desired resolution, the selected location at which to present the copy of the particular image tile relative to the other image tiles in the plurality of image tiles, and the size at which to present the copy of the particular image tile relative to copies of the other image tiles in the plurality of image tiles.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

responsive to a request for the layout from a requester, forming a computer program product containing the layout.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

sending the computer program product, including the layout, to the requester.

16. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

receiving the computer program product, including the layout;

requesting the copy of the particular image tile having the desired resolution using an identifier; and

presenting the copy of the particular image tile at the selected location and a size received in the layout.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the copy is a first copy, the desired resolution is a first desired resolution, and further comprising:

receiving a request to increase the size of the copy of the particular image tile in a view to a first level;

determining whether the first level exceeds a threshold;

responsive to a determination that the first level exceeds the threshold, requesting a second copy of the particular image tile having a second desired resolution, wherein the second copy of the particular image tile comprises a greater level of detail than the first copy of the particular image tile; and

presenting the second copy of the particular image tile such that the second copy is displayed in place of the first copy.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the request is a first request and further comprising:

receiving a second request to decrease the size of the copy of the particular image tile in the view to a second level;

determining whether the second level is below the threshold; and

responsive to a determination that the second level is below the threshold, presenting the first copy of the particular image tile such that the first copy is displayed in place of the second copy.

19. A method for presenting a layout of a plurality of image tiles comprising:

receiving, at a processor, the layout of the plurality of image tiles comprising an identifier for a copy of a particular image tile in the plurality of image tiles having a desired resolution, a selected location at which to present the copy of the particular image tile relative to other image tiles in the plurality of image tiles, and a size at which to present the copy of the particular image tile relative to copies of the other image tiles in the plurality of image tiles, wherein the plurality of image tiles all relate to the aircraft component, wherein some of the plurality of image tiles are on different types of media, wherein desired information about the aircraft component is contained in the plurality of image tiles, wherein the desired information is too extensive to fit onto a single image tile, and wherein review of all of the image tiles would be undesirably time consuming;

requesting, by the processor, the copy of the particular image tile having the desired resolution using the identifier;

presenting, by the processor on a display device, the copy of the particular image tile at the selected location and the size received in the layout, wherein presenting includes adjusting the layout to present the copy of the particular tile image at the desired resolution and in the selected location, and wherein the desired resolution is selected according to the selected location; and

presenting, by the processor on the display device, a second copy of a second particular image tile at a second selected location and the size received in the layout, wherein presenting the second copy includes adjusting the layout to present the second copy of the second particular tile image at a second desired resolution and in a second selected location, wherein second desired resolution is selected according to the second selected location, wherein the second desired resolution is higher than the first desired resolution, and wherein both the copy of the particular image tile and the second copy of the particular image tile are logically related by both showing different images of a same aircraft component.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the copy is a first copy, the desired resolution is a first desired resolution, and further comprising:

receiving a request to increase the size of the copy of the particular image tile in a view to a first level;

determining whether the first level exceeds a threshold;

responsive to a determination that the first level exceeds the threshold, requesting a third copy of the particular image tile having a third desired resolution, wherein the third copy of the particular image tile comprises a greater level of detail than the first copy of the particular image tile and the second copy; and

presenting the third copy of the particular image tile such that the third copy is displayed in place of the first copy.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the request is a first request and further comprising:

receiving a second request to decrease the size of the copy of the particular image tile in the view to a second level;

determining whether the second level is below the threshold; and

responsive to a determination that the second level is below the threshold, presenting the first copy of the particular image tile in place of the second copy of the particular image tile.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the copy of the particular image tile is the first copy and the selected location is a first selected location, and wherein presenting the copy of the particular image tile at the selected location and the size received in the layout comprises:

presenting the first copy of the particular image tile at the selected location and the size using a display device; and

moving a first image tile displayed on the display device such that the second copy of a second image tile received in the layout is presented using the display device.

23. The method of claim 22 further comprising:

determining whether the second copy of the second image tile is being presented using a particular region of the display device; and

responsive to a determination that the second copy of the second image tile is being presented using the particular region of the display device, requesting a third copy of the second image tile having a third desired resolution.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein the selected location is a first selected location and further comprising:

responsive to receiving a user input, presenting the copy of the particular image tile in a location relative to the other image tiles in the plurality of image tiles.

25. The method of claim 19, wherein the selected location of the copy of the particular image tile has a logical relationship with a plurality of selected locations of the copies of the other image tiles.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the particular image tile depicts an assembly having a plurality of components, and the other image tiles depict the plurality of components.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the particular image tile depicts a first portion of a wiring system and the other image tiles depict other portions of the wiring system, wherein the first portion comprises a first plurality of wires that connects to a second plurality of wires in at least one portion in the other portions.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein the selected location for the particular image tile is a point in a second image tile at which a reference to a document is located, and wherein the particular image tile is the document.

29. The method of claim 19 further comprising:

receiving a user input comprising an activation of the copy of the particular image tile; and

responsive to receiving the user input, presenting the copy of the particular image tile with a color highlight.

30. A computer program product displaying desired information about an aircraft component from a plurality of image tiles by managing the plurality of image tiles on a display device in communication with a processor, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer recordable storage medium;

program code, stored on the non-transitory computer recordable storage medium, for identifying a plurality of resolutions in which the plurality of image tiles are to be stored and a style of presentation for the plurality of image tiles using a policy, wherein the plurality of image tiles all relate to the aircraft component, wherein some of the plurality of image tiles are on different types of media, wherein desired information about the aircraft component is contained in the plurality of image tiles, wherein the desired information is too extensive to fit onto a single image tile, and wherein review of all of the image tiles would be undesirably time consuming;

program code, stored on the non-transitory computer recordable storage medium, for storing a plurality of copies of the plurality of image tiles in the plurality of resolutions, wherein any given image tile is stored as multiple copies in different resolutions;

program code, stored on the non-transitory computer recordable storage medium, for selecting a copy of a particular image tile in the plurality of image tiles for a selected location in a layout defining a presentation for the plurality of image tiles using the style of presentation, wherein the copy for the particular image tile has a desired resolution in the plurality of resolutions for the selected location in the layout, and the desired resolution further being selected, according to the policy, as being a higher relevance to the desired information about the aircraft component relative to information stored in remaining ones of the plurality of image tiles; and

selecting, by the processor, a second copy of a second particular image tile in the plurality of image tiles for a second selected location in the layout, the second particular image tile having a second resolution less than the desired resolution for the copy of the particular image tile, the second copy of the second particular image tile also relating to the aircraft component; and

program code for displaying, on a display device in communication with the processor, the layout, wherein the layout includes both the copy of the particular image tile and the second copy of the second particular image tile, wherein the program code for displaying includes program code for adjusting the layout to present the copy of the particular tile image at the desired resolution and in the selected location, and wherein the program code for displaying is configured such that the desired resolution is selected according to the selected location and also to present the second copy of the second image tile at the second location at the second resolution, and whereby faster review of all of the tile images is facilitated relative to reviewing each of the plurality of tiles individually.

31. A computer program product for presenting a layout of a plurality of image tiles comprising:

a non-transitory computer recordable storage medium;

program code, stored on the non-transitory computer recordable storage medium, for receiving the layout of the plurality of image tiles comprising an identifier for a copy of a particular image tile in the plurality of image tiles having a desired resolution, a selected location at which to present the copy of the particular image tile relative to other image tiles in the plurality of image tiles, and a size at which to present the copy of the particular image tile relative to copies of the other image tiles in the plurality of image tiles, wherein the plurality of image tiles all relate to the aircraft component, wherein some of the plurality of image tiles are on different types of media, wherein desired information about the aircraft component is contained in the plurality of image tiles, wherein the desired information is too extensive to fit onto a single image tile, and wherein review of all of the image tiles would be undesirably time consuming;

program code, stored on the computer recordable storage medium, for requesting the copy of the particular image tile having the desired resolution using the identifier;

program code, stored on the non-transitory computer recordable storage medium, for presenting the copy of the particular image tile at the selected location and the size received in the layout, wherein the program code for presenting includes program code for adjusting the layout to present the copy of the particular tile image at the desired resolution and in the selected location, and wherein the program code for presenting is configured such that the desired resolution is selected according to the selected location; and

program code, stored on the non-transitory computer recordable storage medium, for presenting, by the processor on the display device, a second copy of a second particular image tile at a second selected location and the size received in the layout, wherein presenting the second copy includes adjusting the layout to present the second copy of the second particular tile image at a second desired resolution and in a second selected location, wherein second desired resolution is selected according to the second selected location, wherein the second desired resolution is higher than the first desired resolution, and wherein both the copy of the particular image tile and the second copy of the particular image tile are logically related by both showing different images of a same aircraft component.

32. An apparatus for managing a plurality of image tiles comprising:

a storage device containing program code; and

a processor unit configured to execute the program code to identify a plurality of resolutions in which the plurality of image tiles are to be stored and a style of presentation for the plurality of image tiles using a policy, wherein the plurality of image tiles all relate to the aircraft component, wherein some of the plurality of image tiles are on different types of media, wherein desired information about the aircraft component is contained in the plurality of image tiles, wherein the desired information is too extensive to fit onto a single image tile, and wherein review of all of the image tiles would be undesirably time consuming;

store a plurality of copies of the plurality of image tiles in the plurality of resolutions, wherein any given image tile is stored as multiple copies in different resolutions;

select a copy of a particular image tile in the plurality of image tiles for a selected location in a layout defining a presentation for the plurality of image tiles using the style of presentation, wherein the copy for the particular image tile has a desired resolution in the plurality of resolutions for the selected location in the layout, and the desired resolution further being selected, according to the policy, as being a higher relevance to the desired information about the aircraft component relative to information stored in remaining ones of the plurality of image tiles;

selecting, by the processor, a second copy of a second particular image tile in the plurality of image tiles for a second selected location in the layout, the second particular image tile having a second resolution less than the desired resolution for the copy of the particular image tile, the second copy of the second particular image tile also relating to the aircraft component; and

display, on a display device in communication with the processor, the layout, wherein the layout includes both the copy of the particular image tile and the second copy of the second particular image tile, including to adjust the layout to present the copy of the particular tile image at the desired resolution and in the selected location, wherein the processor unit is further configured such that desired resolution is selected according to the selected location and also to present the second copy of the second image tile at the second location at the second resolution, and whereby faster review of all of the tile images is facilitated relative to reviewing each of the plurality of tiles individually.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the style of presentation is a hierarchy in which the particular image tile on a first level of the hierarchy comprises additional detail about a second image tile on a second level of the hierarchy, wherein the second level is higher than the first level in the hierarchy.

34. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the style of presentation is a grid in which the plurality of image tiles are ordered according to a physical location of an object depicted in the plurality of image tiles.

35. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the style of presentation comprises the selected location and a relative size for the particular image tile in the plurality of image tiles as compared to a second image tile in the plurality of image tiles.

36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the processor unit is further configured to execute the program code to select the desired resolution for the particular image tile based on the relative size of the particular image tile in the style of presentation prior to selecting the copy of the particular image tile in the plurality of image tiles for the selected location in the layout.

37. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein metadata is associated with the particular image tile in the plurality of image tiles, and wherein the processor unit is further configured to execute the program code to select the selected location and the desired resolution for the particular image tile based on the metadata associated with the particular image tile.

38. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the metadata associated with the particular image tile comprises a plurality of coordinates for the selected location.

39. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the metadata associated with the particular image tile comprises a relative location for the particular image tile as compared to an image tile in the plurality of image tiles.