System and method for creating, storing, and utilizing composite images of a geographic location

• US 20050207672A1
• Filed: 05/16/2005
• Published: 09/22/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vederi LLC
• Original Assignee: Enrico Di Bernardo, Luis F. Goncalves
• Inventors: Goncalves, Luis F., Bernardo, Enrico Di
• Granted Patent: US 7,239,760 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/284
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 11/02 Picture taking arrangements specially adapted for photogrammetry or photographic surveying, e.g. controlling overlapping of pictures
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3848 Data obtained from both position sensors and additional sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/387 Organisation of map data, e.g. version management or database structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/4038 Image mosaicing, e.g. composing plane images from plane sub-images
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/3876 Recombination of partial images to recreate the original image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/77 between a recording apparatus and a television camera

Abstract

A system and method synthesizing images of a locale to generate a composite image that provide a panoramic view of the locale. A video camera moves along a street recording images of objects along the street. A GPS receiver and inertial navigation system provide the position of the camera as the images are being recorded. The images are indexed with the position data provided by the GPS receiver and inertial navigation system. The composite image is created on a column-by-column basis by determining which of the acquired images contains the desired pixel column, extracting the pixels associated with the column, and stacking the columns side by side. The composite images are stored in an image database and associated with a street name and number range of the street being depicted in the image. The image database covers a substantial amount of a geographic area allowing a user to visually navigate the area from a user terminal.

Claims

1. In a system including an image database and a user terminal having a screen and an input device, a method for visually navigating a geographic area from a user terminal, the method comprising:

storing a plurality of images in the image database representing objects within the geographic area, the images providing a non-aerial view of the objects;

identifying a current location in the geographic area;

retrieving an image corresponding to the current location from the image database;

monitoring a change of the current location in the geographic area; and

retrieving an image corresponding to the changed location.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein image database resides at a remote site and a host computer at the remote site receives a request via a communications network for an image corresponding to the current or changed location, retrieves the requested image from the image database, and transmits the retrieved image to the user terminal via the communications network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the image database resides at the user terminal and the method further comprises:

displaying the image corresponding to the current location on the screen of the user terminal; and

updating the image on the screen with the image corresponding to the changed location.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising retrieving a map of a portion of the geographic area for displaying the map on the screen of the user terminal.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

displaying an icon on the map associated with an object in the portion of the geographic area covered by the map;

receiving a user selection of the icon; and

identifying a second location based on the user selection.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the current or changed location is identified by a user selection of the location on the map using the input device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the current or changed location is identified by a specific address entered by the user using the input device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the retrieving of the image corresponding to the current or changed location comprises:

identifying a street segment including the current or changed location;

identifying a position on the street segment corresponding to the current or changed location; and

identifying an image associated with said position.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the image simulates a view of objects on one side of the street segment and the method further comprises retrieving a second image depicting a view of objects on an opposite side of the street segment in response to a user request.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the image is a composite image created by processing a plurality of image frames acquired from an image recording device moving through the geographic area.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a user selection of a portion of the image; and

displaying an alternate view of the selected portion.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

displaying an indicia that information is available about an object in the image; and

retrieving information about the object in response to a user request to display the information on the screen of the user terminal.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

displaying a navigation button on the screen of the user terminal; and

retrieving the image associated with the changed location from the image database upon actuation of the navigation button using the user input device.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the navigation button indicates direction of motion within a displayed map.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the navigation button indicates direction of motion with respect to the displayed image.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the direction of motion includes one of panning left or right, rotating left or right, and viewing a direction opposite of a displayed direction.

17. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

displaying a map of a portion of the geographic area;

identifying the current location with an identifier on the map; and

advancing the identifier on the map from the current location to the changed location.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of images are ground-level images of the objects within the geographic area.

19. A method for visually depicting a geographic area, the method comprising:

storing a plurality of images in an image database representing objects within a geographic area, the images providing a non-aerial view of the objects;

receiving a user-entered search request;

identifying a portion of the geographic area based on the search request;

retrieving one or more images in the image database associated with the identified portion of the geographic area; and

displaying the retrieved images on a display.

20. A system for visually navigating a geographic area from a user terminal, the system comprising:

means for storing a plurality of images in the image database representing objects within the geographic area, the images providing a non-aerial view of the objects;

means for identifying a current location in the geographic area;

means for retrieving an image corresponding to the current location from the image database;

means for monitoring a change of the current location in the geographic area; and

means for retrieving an image corresponding to the changed location.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the image database resides at a remote site and the system further comprises a host computer including means for receiving a request for an image corresponding to the current or changed location, means for retrieving the requested image from the image database, and means for transmitting the retrieved image to the user terminal.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the image database resides at the user terminal and the system further comprises:

a display screen for displaying the image of the current location; and

means for updating the image on the screen with the image corresponding to the changed location.

23. The system of claim 20 further comprising means for retrieving a map of a portion of the geographic area for displaying the map on the screen of the user terminal.

24. The system of claim 23 further comprising:

means for displaying an icon on the map associated with an object in the portion of the geographic area covered by the map;

means for receiving a user selection of the icon; and

means for identifying a second location based on the user selection.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the current or changed location is identified by a user selection of the location on the map using in the input device.

26. The system of claim 20, wherein the current or changed location is identified by a specific address entered by the user using an input device.

27. The system of claim 20, wherein the means for retrieving the image corresponding to the current or changed location comprises:

means for identifying a street segment including the current or changed location;

means for identifying a position on the street segment corresponding to the current or changed location; and

means for identifying an image associated with said position.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the image simulates a view of objects on one side of the street segment and the system further comprises means for retrieving a second image depicting a view of objects on an opposite side of the street segment in response to a user request.

29. The system of claim 20 further comprising means for processing a plurality of image frames acquired from an image recording device moving through the geographic area.

30. The system of claim 20 further comprising:

means for receiving a user selection of a portion of the image; and

a display displaying an alternate view of the selected portion.

31. The system of claim 20 further comprising:

means for indicating that information is available about an object in the image;

means for retrieving information about the object in response to a user request to display the information on the screen of the user terminal.

32. The system of claim 20 further comprising:

means for navigating the image database; and

means for retrieving the image associated with the next location from the image database as the user navigates the image database.

33. The system of claim 32 further comprising:

a navigation button indicating direction of motion within a displayed map.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the navigation button indicates direction of motion within a displayed map.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein the navigation button indicates direction of motion with respect to the displayed image.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the direction of motion includes one of panning left or right, rotating left or right, and viewing a direction opposite of a displayed direction.

37. The system of claim 20 further comprising:

means for displaying a map of a portion of the geographic area;

means for identifying the current location on the map; and

means for identifying the next location on the map as the user navigates the image database.

38. The system of claim 20, wherein the plurality of images are ground-level images of the objects within the geographic area.