Obtaining and displaying virtual earth images

• US 20060238379A1
• Filed: 10/07/2005
• Published: 10/26/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Lawler, Stephen L., Schwartz, Joseph, Lombardi, Steve, Kimchi, Gur, Kuppusamy, Ashok, Gounares, Alexander G., Endres, Raymond E., Dekate, Amit
• Granted Patent: US 8,850,011 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/995.100
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3841 Data obtained from two or more sources, e.g. probe vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0253 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0962 having an indicator mounted inside the vehicle, e.g. giving voice messages
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0969 having a display in the form of a map
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/007 using computer methods
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/106 using electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

Provided is a single repository for capturing, connecting, sharing, and visualizing information based on a geographic location, for example. Provided is a schema, repository, index, and APIs for any information, place, entity, attribute, service or person that can be referenced geographically. A system to provide real time image data includes an input component that receives image data associated with a specific geographic area, a splitter component that splits the image data into at least two quadrants, and a storage component that stores at least a portion of the at least two quadrants. Also provides is on-line or real-time advertising based on a user'"'"'s mapped location and/or a user preference.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates serving large images, comprising:

a component that determines level of web-based viewing activity associated with a particular geographic location;

a capacity component that determines available capacity to render images associated with the particular geographic location; and

a load balancing component that dynamically redistributes data associated with the images to be rendered as a function of image size and the viewing activity.

2. The system of claim 1, the load balancing component redistributes the data based in part upon hotness.

3. The system of claim 2, hotness is calculated based upon viewing population, viewing activity (tourism) and unforeseen event data.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an input component that receives image data associated with a specific geographic area;

a splitter component that splits the image data into at least two quadrants; and

a storage component that stores the at least two quadrants.

5. The system of claim 4, the splitter component includes an index component that provides location identification for each of the at least two quadrants.

6. The system of claim 4, the quadrants are ranked according to a viewing level, wherein the viewing level is one of cold, normal, and hot.

7. The system of claim 1, the load balancing component further reconfigures the data into a single image file to provide seamless viewing of a single image file.

8. The system of claim 1, the level of web-based viewing activity associated with a particular geographic location is based on a number of user requests received for the location.

9. A method for providing larges images on request, comprising:

receiving a plurality of user requests to view the image data;

dynamically redistributing the image data; and

displaying the image data to the plurality of users.

10. The method of claim 10 dynamically redistributing the image data, further comprising:

determining a level of viewing activity; and

calculating available capacity based on the determined level of viewing activity.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

calculating a viewing level of each quadrant based upon viewing population, viewing activity and unforeseen event data.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving image data from a plurality of users; and

storing the image data with an associated location identification;

13. The method of claim 12, storing the image data with an associated location identification further comprising:

dividing the image data into at least two quadrants; and

providing a location identification associated with each of the quadrants.

14. The method of claim 12, the image data is stored in at least two storage locations.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

redistributing the data based at least in part on hotness of the data.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

calculating hotness using the equation;

HOTNESS=[(population+tourism)*unknown event]

17. The method of claim 15, calculating hotness is based on a foreseen event.

18. A system for displaying large images, comprising:

means for determining a viewing activity associated with a geographic region;

means for calculating an available capacity to render images associated with the particular geographic region; and

means for redistributing data associated with the images to be rendered as a function of image size and the viewing activity.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising:

means for associating a received image with a geographic location;

means for dividing the image into at least two smaller images; and

means for storing the at least two smaller images.

20. The system of claim 18, further comprising:

means for providing location identification for each of the at least two smaller images.