Method and apparatus for obtaining an image associated with a location of a mobile terminal

• US 9,729,645 B2
• Filed: 08/31/2015
• Issued: 08/08/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Coyle-Gilchrist, Matthew John Toby
• Primary Examiner(s): NANO, SARGON N
• Application Number:
  US14/840,521
• Publication Number:
  US 20150373131A1
• Time in Patent Office: 708 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/631 Graphical user interfaces [GUI] specially adapted for controlling image capture or setting capture parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A method, apparatus and computer program product are provided in order to obtain an image from a remote computer with the image being associated with the current location of a mobile terminal via which a user provides input soliciting the image. In the context of a method, the user input representative of a request to obtain an image from a remote computer may be received. The method may then determine a current context including a location of a mobile terminal and may cause the current context to be transmitted to the remote computer. The method may also receive an image from the remote computer based upon the current context of the mobile terminal. In this regard, the image is associated with the location of the mobile terminal upon receiving the user input. The method may also cause the image received from the remote computer to be stored.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining whether an image associated with a location of a mobile terminal is available from a remote computer;

causing a representation of a user interface element on the mobile terminal to be altered based upon availability of the image associated with the location of the mobile terminal from the remote computer;

receiving user input representative of a request to obtain an image from the remote computer, wherein the user input is received via the user interface element in an instance in which the image associated with the location of the mobile terminal is available from the remote computer;

determining, using a processor, a current context including the location of the mobile terminal, wherein the current context comprises determining contextual information sensed by one or more sensors coupled to the mobile terminal;

causing the current context to be transmitted to the remote computer;

receiving an image from the remote computer based upon the current context of the mobile terminal, wherein the image is associated with the location of the mobile terminal upon receiving the user input; and

causing the image received from the remote computer to be stored.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the contextual information further includes at least one of a time of day, a viewing angle, a weather environment, light conditions or a season.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing an image to be captured and causing the image that was captured to be stored along with the image received from the remote computer.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising causing the image that was captured to be provided to the remote computer.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising assigning a time value to the image received from the remote computer based upon a time at which the user input was received.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving user input partially overriding the current context, wherein receiving an image from the remote computer based upon the current context comprises receiving the image from the remote computer based upon the current context as partially overridden by the user input.

7. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program instructions, the at least one memory and the computer program instructions configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:

determine whether an image associated with a location of a mobile terminal is available from a remote computer;

cause a representation of a user interface element on the mobile terminal to be altered based upon availability of the image associated with the location of the mobile terminal from the remote computer;

receive user input representative of a request to obtain an image from the remote computer, wherein the user input is received via the user interface element in an instance in which the image associated with the location of the mobile terminal is available from the remote computer;

determine a current context including the location of the mobile terminal, wherein the current context comprises determining contextual information sensed by one or more sensors coupled to the mobile terminal;

cause the current context to be transmitted to the remote computer;

receive an image from the remote computer based upon the current context of the mobile terminal, wherein the image is associated with the location of the mobile terminal upon receiving the user input; and

cause the image received from the remote computer to be stored.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the contextual information further includes at least one of a time of day, a viewing angle, a weather environment, light conditions or a season.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program instructions are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to cause an image to be captured and to cause the image that was captured to be stored along with the image received from the remote computer.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program instructions are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to cause the image that was captured to be provided to the remote computer.

11. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program instructions are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to assign a time value to the image received from the remote computer based upon a time at which the user input was received.

12. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program instructions are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to receive user input partially overriding the current context, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program instructions are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to receive an image from the remote computer based upon the current context by receiving the image from the remote computer based upon the current context as partially overridden by the user input.

13. A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium bearing computer program instructions embodied therein for use with a computer, the computer program instructions comprising program instructions configured to:

determine whether an image associated with a location of a mobile terminal is available from a remote computer;

cause a representation of a user interface element on the mobile terminal to be altered based upon availability of the image associated with the location of the mobile terminal from the remote computer;

receive user input representative of a request to obtain an image from the remote computer, wherein the user input is received via the user interface element in an instance in which the image associated with the location of the mobile terminal is available from the remote computer;

determine a current context including the location of the mobile terminal, wherein the current context comprises determining contextual information sensed by one or more sensors coupled to the mobile terminal;

cause the current context to be transmitted to the remote computer;

receive an image from the remote computer based upon the current context of the mobile terminal, wherein the image is associated with the location of the mobile terminal upon receiving the user input; and

cause the image received from the remote computer to be stored.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the contextual information further includes at least one of a time of day, a viewing angle, a weather environment, light conditions or a season.

15. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the program instructions are further configured to cause the apparatus to cause an image to be captured and to cause the image that was captured to be stored along with the image received from the remote computer.

16. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the program instructions are further configured to cause the image that was captured to be provided to the remote computer.

17. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the program instructions are further configured to assign a time value to the image received from the remote computer based upon a time at which the user input was received.

18. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the computer program instructions further comprise program instructions configured to receive user input partially overriding the current context, and wherein the program instructions configured to receive an image from the remote computer based upon the current context comprise program instructions configured to receive the image from the remote computer based upon the current context as partially overridden by the user input.