Systems and methods for spatial thumbnails and companion maps for media objects

• US 9,684,655 B2
• Filed: 08/02/2016
• Issued: 06/20/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Frank, John R.
• Primary Examiner(s): LEGGETT, ANDREA C.
• Application Number:
  US15/226,155
• Publication Number:
  US 20160342595A1
• Time in Patent Office: 322 Days
• Field of Search: 715838, 715818
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/438 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/487 using geographical or spatial information, e.g. location
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/58 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results

Abstract

Under one aspect, a computer-implemented method of displaying information about a media object, the media object being associated with location-related content corresponding to a location, includes receiving a request to display a representation of the media object; in response to the request, obtaining a summary of the media object; in response to the request, obtaining a spatial thumbnail of the media object, the spatial thumbnail comprising an image of a spatial domain encompassing the location; and simultaneously displaying both the summary of the media object and the spatial thumbnail on a visual display.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a query from a user;

receiving search results from a search engine based on the query;

receiving an identification of a media object based on the received search results;

obtaining location-related content associated with the media object, wherein the location-related content represents one or more locations corresponding to one or more geospatial references within the media object;

determining one or more visual indicators based, at least in part, on a type of location reference in the location-related content, wherein at least one visual indicator of the one or more selected visual indicators comprises an image of the media object or a portion of the media object so as to allow the user to assess based on the image of the media object or the portion of the media object whether the media object is relevant to the query from the user;

obtaining a summary of the media object;

obtaining a spatial thumbnail for the media object, the spatial thumbnail comprising a representation of an image of a spatial domain encompassing the one or more locations, the one or more selected visual indicators, and a spatial relationship that organizes the geospatial references into an ordering and pattern associated with the one or more locations; and

determining to display concurrently the summary of the media object and the spatial thumbnail.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one other visual indicator of the one or more selected visual indicators indicates at least one of the one or more locations within the image of the spatial domain.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more visual indicators represent a subset of the location-related content.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the image comprises at least one of a two-dimensional image, a three-dimensional image, an animated image, a computer-generated hologram, and sculpture.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the spatial domain comprises one of a geographic domain, a physical and non-geographic domain, and a fictional domain.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination to display the summary of the media object comprises determining to display at least one of a fragment of the media object and an image of the media object.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the spatial thumbnail of the media object comprises one of obtaining the spatial thumbnail from a repository and determining to generate the spatial thumbnail, wherein the determination to generate the spatial thumbnail comprises obtaining the location-related content of the media object and obtaining the image of the spatial domain encompassing the location.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the identification of the media object comprises receiving user input referencing the media object.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the location-related content represents at least one of a geographical reference and the spatial relationship within the media object.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the media object comprises a digital document, living organism, paper document, text document, rock, video, email message, web page, slide show presentation, spread sheet, equation rendering, music, book, or a combination thereof.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining to display a reference to the media object in addition to the summary of the media object and the spatial thumbnail.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically generating the location-related content associated with the media object by:

identifying a geospatial reference within the media object;

associating a location with the identified geospatial reference, the location being represented by a set of coordinates of a selected coordinate system; and

encoding the set of coordinates in the location-related content.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the media object is a digital media object.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the digital media object is a document containing location-related content that refers to the one or more locations.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the selection occurs in response to receiving the identification.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the location-related content comprises location references such as names, latitude-longitude coordinates, identification numbers of objects of the one or more locations or a combination thereof.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the summary of the media object contains less than all the location-related content of the media object, and additional information that is not present in the media object.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the location-related content is associated with the media object as metadata by storing the location-related content in a database along with the media object or by indexing the location-related content with a reference to the media object.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause an apparatus to at least perform the following:

receiving a query from a user;

receiving search results from a search engine based on the query;

receiving an identification of a media object based on the received search results;

obtaining location-related content associated with the media object, wherein the location-related content represents one or more locations corresponding to one or more geospatial references within the media object;

determining one or more visual indicators based, at least in part, on a type of location reference in the location-related content, wherein at least one visual indicator of the one or more selected visual indicators comprises an image of the media object or a portion of the media object so as to allow the user to assess based on the image of the media object or the portion of the media object whether the media object is relevant to the query from the user;

obtaining a summary of the media object;

generating a spatial thumbnail for the media object, the spatial thumbnail comprising a representation of an image of a spatial domain encompassing the one or more locations, the one or more selected visual indicators, and a spatial relationship that organizes the geospatial references into an ordering and pattern associated with the one or more locations; and

determining to display concurrently the summary of the media object and the spatial thumbnail.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the apparatus is caused to further perform:

identifying a geospatial reference within the media object;

associating a location with the identified geospatial reference, the location being represented by a coordinate of a selected coordinate system; and

determining to encode the coordinates in the location-related content.

21. An apparatus comprising a thumbnail software subsystem configured to:

receive a query from a user;

receive search results from a search engine based on the query;

receive an identification of a media object based on the received search results;

obtain location-related content associated with the media object, wherein the location-related content represents one or more locations corresponding to one or more geospatial references within the media object;

determine one or more visual indicators based, at least in part, on a type of location reference in the location-related content, wherein at least one visual indicator of the one or more selected visual indicators comprises an image of the media object or a portion of the media object so as to allow the user to assess based on the image of the media object or the portion of the media object whether the media object is relevant to the query from the user;

obtain a summary of the media object;

obtain a spatial thumbnail for the media object, the spatial thumbnail comprising a representation of an image of a spatial domain encompassing the one or more locations, the one or more selected visual indicators, and a spatial relationship that organizes the geospatial references into an ordering and pattern associated with the one or more locations; and

using a processor to determine to display concurrently the summary of the media object and the spatial thumbnail.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein at least one other visual indicator of the one or more selected visual indicators indicates at least one of the one or more locations within the image of the spatial domain.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the thumbnail software subsystem is configured to obtain the spatial thumbnail of the media object by one of obtaining the spatial thumbnail from a repository and determining to generate the spatial thumbnail, wherein the determination to generate the spatial thumbnail comprises obtaining the location-related content of the media object and obtaining the image of the spatial domain encompassing the location.

24. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the location-related content is generated by an automated geoparsing engine and represents at least one of a geographical reference and the spatial relationship within the media object.

25. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the location-related content expresses a subset of the one or more geospatial references within the media object, the subset of geospatial references being selected by the automated geoparsing engine.

26. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the thumbnail software subsystem is further configured to determine to display a plurality of spatial thumbnails for the media object, at least one spatial thumbnail representing different location-related content than at least one other spatial thumbnail.

27. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the thumbnail software subsystem is further configured to automatically generate the location-related content associated with the media object by:

identifying a geospatial reference within the media object;

associating a location with the identified geospatial reference, the location being represented by a set of coordinates of a selected coordinate system; and

encoding the set of coordinates in the location-related content.