DETAIL-IN-CONTEXT LENSES FOR DIGITAL IMAGE CROPPING, MEASUREMENT AND ONLINE MAPS

• US 20100026718A1
• Filed: 02/09/2009
• Published: 02/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/16/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accessify, LLC (Ascend Innovation Management, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Noregin Assets N.V. LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Baar, David J.P., Shoemaker, Garth B.D., Jetha, Zeenat, Skiers, Andrew, Carlisle, Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 8,120,624 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/647
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04805 Virtual magnifying lens, i.e. window or frame movable on top of displayed information to enlarge it for better reading or selection
• 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: G09G 5/00 Control arrangements or circuits for visual indicators common to cathode-ray tube indicators and other visual indicators image data processing or generation, in general G06T

Abstract

In one or more implementations, a signal is received selecting a geographic location in an original image of a digital map for display on a display. The original image is distorted to give an appearance of a lens being applied to the digital map for display on the display, the appearance of the lens including a focal region that includes a magnification of the geographic location and a base region that surrounds the focal region.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a signal selecting a geographic location in an original image of a digital map for display on a display; and

distorting the original image to give an appearance of a lens being applied to the digital map for display on the display, the appearance of the lens including a focal region that includes a magnification of the geographic location and a base region that surrounds the focal region.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the geographic location is a street.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the distorting causes a street name to be revealed.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the signal is included in a sequence of signals that cause the appearance of the lens to move through a plurality of respective geographic locations.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a graphical user interface (“

GUI”

) on the display for adjusting the appearance of the lens.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the base region has a magnification which varies from the focal region to provide a continuous transition from the focal region to the original image.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the focal region has a size and a shape and further comprising receiving one or more signals for adjusting at least one of the size, the shape, or the magnification of the focal region.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the one or more signals for adjusting at least one of the size, the shape, or the magnification of the focal region are received via a graphical user interface (GUI).

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the GUI includes at least one of:

a slide bar icon for adjusting the magnification for the appearance of the lens;

a slide bar icon for adjusting a degree of scooping for the appearance of the lens;

a bounding rectangle icon with at least one handle icon for adjusting a size or a shape for the focal region;

a bounding rectangle icon with at least one handle icon for adjusting a size or a shape for the base region;

a move icon for adjusting a location for the appearance of the lens on the boundary;

a pickup icon for adjusting a location for the base region within the original image;

or

a fold icon for adjusting a location for the focal region relative to the base region.

10. A tangible computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon that, if executed by a system, cause the system to perform a method comprising:

defining a line segment between geographic locations on an original image of a digital map; and

distorting the original image to give an appearance of a lens, the appearance of the lens including;

a focal region having a magnification of at least a portion of the line segment; and

a base region that surrounds the focal region and that includes a magnification that provides a continuous transition from the magnification of the focal region to the original image.

11. The tangible computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein at least one of the geographic locations is a street.

12. The tangible computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein the distorting causes a street name to be revealed.

13. The tangible computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein the focal region has a size and a shape and further comprising receiving one or more signals for adjusting at least one of the size, the shape, or a magnification of the focal region.

14. The tangible computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein one or more signals are received through a GUI to define the line segment.

15. The tangible computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein the instructions, if executed by the system, are configured to provide a graphical user interface to adjust at least one of a size, a shape, or the magnification of the appearance of the lens.

16. The tangible computer-readable media of claim 15, wherein the GUI includes at least one of:

a slide bar icon for adjusting a magnification for the appearance of the lens;

a slide bar icon for adjusting a degree of scooping for the appearance of the lens;

a bounding rectangle icon with at least one handle icon for adjusting a size or a shape for the focal region;

a bounding rectangle icon with at least one handle icon for adjusting a size or a shape for the base region;

a move icon for adjusting a location for the appearance of the lens on the line segment;

a pickup icon for adjusting a location for the base region within the original image;

or

a fold icon for adjusting a location for the focal region relative to the base region.

17. The tangible computer-readable media of claim 15, wherein the line segment is a straight line.

18. A method comprising:

establishing a lens, by a data processing system, for a region-of-interest in a digital image of a map, the lens having a focal region with a magnification for the region-of-interest at least partially surrounded by a shoulder region across which the magnification varies to provide a transition from the focal region to regions outside the lens; and

filtering search results, by the data processing system, to limit a search to the search results that correspond to geographic locations that are included within the region-of-interest in the digital image of the map.

19. The method of claim 18 and further comprising displaying the filtered search results with the digital image of the map.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising inserting information pertaining to one or more of the search results into a display of the filtered search results.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the information is a telephone number or a street address.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the information is an advertisement.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the information is an email address.

24. The method of claim 18, wherein the distorting includes displacing the original image onto the lens to produce a displacement and perspectively projecting the displacement onto a plane in a direction aligned with a viewpoint for the region-of-interest.