System and method for displaying information in response to a request

• US 9,535,587 B2
• Filed: 10/28/2013
• Issued: 01/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: A9.com Incorporated (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: A9.com Incorporated (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Dorfman, Barnaby M., Manber, Udi, Gold, Jonathan A., Ha, Huy T., Caro-Bruce, Timonthy, Karls, Jason
• Primary Examiner(s): Reyes, Mariela
• Assistant Examiner(s): MINCEY, JERMAINE A
• Application Number:
  US14/065,328
• Publication Number:
  US 20140058839A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,163 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/367 Details, e.g. road map scale, orientation, zooming, illumination, level of detail, scrolling of road map or positioning of current position marker
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3673 Labelling using text of road map data items, e.g. road names, POI names
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04812 Interaction techniques based on cursor appearance or behaviour, e.g. being affected by the presence of displayed objects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/083 Shipping
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0256 User search
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2200/24 involving graphical user interfaces [GUIs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/047 Fisheye or wide-angle transformations
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/40 Scaling of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. expanding or contracting
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/4038 Image mosaicing, e.g. composing plane images from plane sub-images
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/12 Relief maps relief models G09B25/06

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and system for generating an online listing, such as a yellow pages listing, that includes information about an object, such as a business, and also includes at least one image of the structure containing the object. For example, the image may be a digital image of the store front of a business taken at a street view. Additionally, a user may select an image from a plurality of images that the user perceives as being an appropriate representative image for the business. Based on votes received a default representative image may be identified that is provided in response to a request for information about the business.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

acquiring a first image and a second image;

associating the first image with first GPS coordinates and the second image with second GPS coordinates, a first location corresponding to the first GPS coordinates, the first location being adjacent to a second location corresponding to the second GPS coordinates;

retrieving a first boundary information associated with the first GPS coordinates and a second boundary information associated with the second GPS coordinates, the first boundary information corresponding to a first boundary that includes at least the first location, the second boundary information corresponding to a second boundary that includes at least the second location, each of the first boundary and the second boundary encompassing a representation of a different street-level structure;

matching the first GPS coordinates to physical coordinates of the first image, the physical coordinates of the first image corresponding to a physical location represented in the first image;

detecting a mismatch between the first GPS coordinates and the physical coordinates of the first image;

detecting a match between the physical coordinates of the first image and the second GPS coordinates;

associating the first image with the second GPS coordinates and second boundary information;

updating a list for display in an online directory, the list including the first image associated with the second GPS coordinates and the second boundary, the list including a region surrounding the first boundary and the second boundary;

stitching together at least the first image and the second images to generate a three-hundred and sixty degree view of the region associated with the first boundary and the second boundary;

associating the three-hundred and sixty degree view of the region with the online directory;

in response to a search query at the online directory, identifying an object within the region for which information is to be provided, the identified object being associated with a location within at least the portion of the region, wherein the location for the object is determined based at least in part on a lookup table that stores an altered visual emphasis address and corresponding longitude and latitude coordinates for the address;

and generating information associated with the identified object, wherein the information includes image information providing the three-hundred sixty degree view of the region and at least one interactive element for changing a direction of a display of the three-hundred sixty degree view of the region.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the physical coordinates of the first image comprises longitude coordinates and latitude coordinates corresponding to the physical location represented in the first image.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first boundary is determined based at least in part on the first GPS coordinates and a representation of street-level objects in the first image, the first boundary information being stored in a database server.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein identifying the first image comprising:

acquiring the first image of a street-level view at the physical location with a camera;

determining the first GPS coordinates at the physical location using at least one of a GPS receiver, a range finder, and a synchronized clock, the first GPS coordinates being determined at substantially a same time as acquiring the first image;

correlating the first image with the first GPS coordinates; and

storing the first image and information associated with the first image in a database.

5. A computing device, comprising:

a processor;

and a memory including instructions that, when executed by the processor, enables the computing device to perform steps comprising;

acquiring a first image and a second image;

associating the first image with first GPS coordinates and the second image with second GPS coordinates, a first location corresponding to the first GPS coordinates, the first location being adjacent to a second location corresponding to the second GPS coordinates;

retrieving a first boundary information associated with the first GPS coordinates and a second boundary information associated with the second GPS coordinates, the first boundary information corresponding to a first boundary that includes at least the first location, the second boundary information corresponding to a second boundary that includes at least the second location, each of the first boundary and the second boundary encompassing a representation of a street-level structure;

matching the first GPS coordinates to physical coordinates of the first image, the physical coordinates of the first image corresponding to a physical location represented in the first image, the first GPS coordinates being determined by measuring the first GPS coordinates at the physical location using a time-stamped GPS receiver;

detecting a mismatch between the first GPS coordinates and the physical coordinates of the first image;

detecting a match between the physical coordinates of the first image and the second GPS coordinates;

associating the first image with the second GPS coordinates and second boundary information;

updating a list for display in an online directory, the list including the first image associated with the second GPS coordinates and the second boundary, the list including a region surrounding the first boundary and the second boundary;

stitching together at least the first image and the second images to generate a three-hundred and sixty degree view of the region associated with the first boundary and the second boundary;

associating the three-hundred and sixty degree view of the region with the online directory;

in response to a search query at the online directory, identifying an object within the region for which information is to be provided, the identified object being associated with a location within the region, wherein the location for the object is determined based at least in part on a lookup table that stores an altered visual emphasis address and corresponding longitude and latitude coordinates for the address;

and generating information associated with the identified object, wherein the information includes image information providing the three-hundred sixty degree view of the region and at least one interactive element for changing a direction of a display of the three-hundred sixty degree view of the region.

6. The computing device of claim 5, wherein the physical coordinates of the first image comprises longitude coordinates and latitude coordinates corresponding to the physical location represented in the first image.

7. The computing device of claim 5, wherein the first boundary is determined based at least in part on the first GPS coordinates and a representation of street-level objects in the first image, the first boundary information being stored in a database.

8. The computing device of claim 5, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor to identify the first image, further enables the computing device to perform steps comprising:

acquiring the first image of a street-level view at the physical location with a camera;

determining the first GPS coordinates at the physical location using at least one of the time-stamped GPS receiver, a range finder, and a synchronized clock, the first GPS coordinates being determined at substantially a same time as acquiring the first image;

correlating the first image with the first GPS coordinates; and

storing the first image and information associated with the first image in a database.

9. The computing device of claim 5, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further enables the computing device to perform steps comprising:

providing the first image of the street-level view associated with the second boundary information for display in the online directory.

10. The computing device of claim 5, wherein the first image is selected from a plurality of images acquired at the physical location, the first image being a representative image for the physical location, the representative image being selected based at least in part on a number of votes from users of the online directory.

11. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the database includes at least the physical coordinates in correlation with GPS coordinates of geographic locations.

12. The computing device of claim 5, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further enables the computing device to perform steps comprising:

matching the second GPS coordinates to physical coordinates for the second image.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a computing system, cause the computing system to:

acquire a first image and a second image a first image and a second image;

associate the first image with first GPS coordinates and the second image with second GPS coordinates, a first location corresponding to the first GPS coordinates, the first location being adjacent to a second location corresponding to the second GPS coordinates;

retrieve a first boundary information associated with the first GPS coordinates and a second boundary information associated with the second GPS coordinates, the first boundary information corresponding to a first boundary that includes at least the first location, the second boundary information corresponding to a second boundary that includes at least the second location, each of the first boundary and the second boundary encompassing a representation of a different street-level structure;

match the first GPS coordinates to physical coordinates of the first image, the physical coordinates of the first image corresponding to a physical location represented in the first image, the first GPS coordinates being determined by measuring the first GPS coordinates at the physical location using a time-stamped GPS receiver;

detect a mismatch between the first GPS coordinates and the physical coordinates of the first image;

detect a match between the physical coordinates of the first image and the second GPS coordinates;

associate the first image with the second GPS coordinates and second boundary information;

update a list for display in an online directory, the list including the first image associated with the second GPS coordinates and the second boundary, the list including a region surrounding the first boundary and the second boundary;

stitch together at least the first image and the second images to generate a three-hundred and sixty degree view of the region associated with the first boundary and the second boundary;

associate the three-hundred and sixty degree view of the region with the online directory;

in response to a search query at the online directory, identify an object within the region for which information is to be provided, the identified object being associated with a location within the region, wherein the location for the object is determined based at least in part on a lookup table that stores an altered visual emphasis address and corresponding longitude and latitude coordinates for the address;

and generate information associated with the identified object, wherein the information includes image information providing the three-hundred sixty degree view of the region and at least one interactive element for changing a direction of a display of the three-hundred sixty degree view of the region.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the physical coordinates of the first image comprises longitude coordinates and latitude coordinates corresponding to the physical location represented in the first image.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the first boundary is determined based at least in part on the first GPS coordinates and a representation of street-level objects in the first image, the first boundary information being stored in a database.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions when executed, to identify the first image, further cause the computing system to:

acquire the first image of a street-level view at the physical location with a camera;

determine the first GPS coordinates at the physical location using the time-stamped GPS receiver, a range finder, and a synchronized clock, the first GPS coordinates are determined at substantially a same time as acquiring the first image;

correlate the first image with the first GPS coordinates; and

store the first image and information associated with the first image in the database.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions when executed further cause the computing system to:

provide the first image of the street-level view associated with the second boundary information for display in an online directory.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the first image is selected from a plurality of images acquired at the physical location, the first image being a representative image for the physical location, the representative image being selected based at least in part on a number of votes from users of the online directory.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the database includes the physical coordinates in correlation with GPS coordinates of geographic locations.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions when executed further cause the computing system to:

match the second GPS coordinates to physical coordinates for the second image.