SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ANALYTIC DATA GATHERING FROM IMAGE PROVIDERS AT AN EVENT OR GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION

• US 20120233000A1
• Filed: 03/07/2012
• Published: 09/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kba2 Inc.
• Original Assignee: Kba2 Inc.
• Inventors: Fisher, Jon, Broderick, Jeff, Van Blaricom, Douglas, Malinovsky, Alex, Wu, Anthony S.
• Granted Patent: US 9,020,832 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.71
• 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 16/587 using geographical or spatial information, e.g. location
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/78 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/787 using geographical or spatial information, e.g. location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10004 Still image; Photographic image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30244 Camera pose
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/70 Determining position or orientation of objects or cameras camera calibration G06T7/80

Abstract

The invention relates to a system and method of gathering and analyzing data from device operators aiming their image capture devices and thereby creating a line of sight to an object of interest, for example through the process of obtaining photographs, videos or other digital images of an event or geographical location, where the real-time or embedded location, compass heading, and time data from each of a plurality of image providers are communicated from the plurality of image-capture devices to one or more servers for statistical analysis of the proportionate amount of providers focusing on each image target or sub-target at the event or location.

Claims

1. A system for determining objects of interest at events or locations, which comprises:

a computer system running at least an application program capable of receiving the real time stream of data from the remote portable image capture devices and analyzing the data, and a database capable of storing at least some of the received data wherein the application program is configured to;

receive in the real time data stream from the portable image capture devices information from which the application program determines the geographic location and compass heading of the devices when the devices are using image capturing capabilities of their devices,

calculates a location where a line of sight from each of the two or more devices could intersect to identify a potential object of interest,

identifies from the calculation a cluster of users that are associated with the potential object of interest, and

stores the cluster and its association with a particular object of interest

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is geographically separated from the two or more devices, and wherein the devices are mobile telephonic devices.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the real time data stream includes GPS coordinates and compass heading from the devices and the application program calculates the location of the potential object of interest by triangulation using GPS coordinates and compass heading from the devices to determine distances and angles between the devices.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the server system stores the location(s) of the potential objects of interest, and an algorithm of the application program analyzes the stored locations to determine to determine a dynamic state of the cluster.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the server system transmits the location of a cluster or a rapid increase in the users within the cluster to a third party to alert them of its existence, so the third party can respond to the cluster.

6. A computer implemented method for obtaining information from a plurality of image capture devices which comprises:

receiving a continuous stream of data from each of a plurality of image capture devices, wherein the data steam comprises GPS position data, compass heading data, and time data;

processing the data using a software application that determines locations where each electronic device was focused;

determining the number of electronic devices focused on each location at approximately a same time from the processed data;

identifying a cluster of users from the number of devices determined to be focused on a particular location;

generating information representing an amount of interest or momentum of interest in each location by performing statistical calculations of a proportional number of electronic devices focused on each location at a specific time or period of time.

7. The method of claim 6, which further comprises storing the results of the statistical calculations for future decisions regarding which locations to target at certain times.

8. A computer implemented method of determining the level of interest in an object at an event or location, which comprises:

receiving a real time stream of data at a computer system transmitted from one or more electronic devices, wherein the electronic devices are remote from the system;

storing the data values comprising the data stream from each of the electronic devices on the system, wherein the data values comprise at least the GPS coordinates and the compass heading of the transmitting electronic device;

determining a line of sight from each of the electronic devices based upon the GPS position and compass heading;

determining the distance and direction between a pair of electronic devices;

calculating the point of intersection of the lines of sight for the pair of electronic devices through triangulation;

repeating the determination of the distance and direction for each possible pair of electronic devices and the calculations of the points of intersection for the lines of sight of each possible pair of electronic devices through triangulation to create a set of such points; and

analyzing the distance between the points of intersection of the set to determine where a subset of the points forms a cluster, wherein the cluster is a set of points located within a predetermined distance from all the other points; and

transmitting the location of a cluster to a third-party for monitoring of the formation of such clusters.

9. The method of claim 8, which further comprises:

repeating the analysis of the set of points to identify all subsets forming clusters at a particular time;

identifying an object of interest associated with a particular cluster; and

determining the level of interest in the identified object based on the proportion of the number of points in the subset forming the particular associated cluster compared to the total number of intersection points forming the set.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the third-party is a broadcaster, and the broadcaster receives the location and level of interest in one or more objects of interest to assist in determining which object to focus on for broadcasting to a viewing audience.

11. The method of claim 8, which further comprises tracking the change in the points of intersection over time to determine changes in the position and size of clusters, wherein changes in the number of points forming a cluster identifies shifting levels of interest between objects.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the third-party is a security agency, and the particular location and rate of the shifting level of interest in an object indicates a possible security risk at the location to alert the security agency of such risk.

13. The method of claim 8, which further comprises:

associating a cluster with the data used to calculate the subset of points forming the cluster;

identifying the electronic devices that transmitted the data associated with the cluster; and

transmitting a message back to the identified electronic devices.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the message transmitted to the identified electronic devices is an invitation to form a discussion group between the electronic devices.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the message transmitted to the identified electronic devices comprises information about the object of interest.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the message transmitted to the identified electronic devices is an advertisement for a product or service.

17. The method of claim 10, which further comprises filtering the stream of data received by the server to eliminate erratic data values before server resources use the erratic data to calculate lines of sight and points of intersection.

18. A computer implemented method of identifying an observers'"'"' level of interest in an object at an event or location, which comprises:

identifying a plurality of observers at an event or location having active electronic devices capable of both capturing images and communicating data over a communications network;

monitoring the data and images being transmitted by the active electronic devices to one or more server(s) regarding their GPS positions and compass directional facing;

compiling the transmitted data and images generated by the electronic devices on the one or more servers;

analyzing the data relating to the position and direction of focus of the electronic devices and metadata of the collected images to determine the observer'"'"'s level of interest in different occurrences happening at the event or location and recognizing patterns or clusters through the analysis.

19. The method of claim 18, which further comprises:

creating a database based on information about the event or location;

storing the database on the server(s);

capturing one or more images or videos of the event at a particular time or over a period of time;

tagging the captured images or videos with the information identifying the event or location and a time stamp;

transmitting the tagged image and metadata to the server;

identifying the tagged image based on the metadata including the time stamp, and associating the image with the correct event or location in the database;

storing the image in the database for the correct event or location; and

displaying the captured image on a website.

20. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer-readable instructions executable by a computer processing system stored thereon, the computer-readable instructions comprising:

instructions that cause a computer system receiving location, directional, and time data from mobile devices to compile the location, direction, and time data for analysis;

instructions that cause the system to analyze the compiled data to determine where a line of sight based on the directional data of at least two of the remote devices'"'"' could intersect to identify a target of focus for each of the plurality of remote devices;

instructions that cause the system to calculate the number of remote devices focused on a particular target at a particular time based on the number of points of intersection at the target'"'"'s particular location; and

instructions that cause the system to determine the amount of interest in each target from the results of statistical calculations of the proportional number of remote devices focused on a particular target at a particular time compared to other targets.

21. A system comprising:

a computer system running one or more applications, wherein the computer system is configured to receive data from portable cameras over a network when individual are using their cameras to point at objects, collect and process data in real time to determine from one or more line of sight of the cameras a location that is of shared interest between two or more users, and identifying a plurality of clusters of users and users contained in each cluster based on the shared interest in a location, and storing user data in association with each cluster.

22. A method of increasing revenue from advertising of an event, which comprises:

determining the periods of time at the event that are of higher interest based upon input from mobile devices of one or more event attendees;

communicating information about the periods of time that are of higher interest to one or more potential advertisers;

receiving bids over a network from the one or more potential advertisers for advertising time during the event at or near the periods of time of higher interest; and

accepting one or more bids to derive advertising revenue from the event.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the determination of high interest periods, providing of information on high interest periods to potential advertisers, receiving of bids from potential advertisers, and accepting of bids from potential advertisers is all done in real time during the event.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the determination of the periods of time of higher interest is projected in advance of the event with the receiving and accepting of bids occurring prior to the occurrence of the event.

25. A method of auctioning off positions for the placement of advertisements at an event, which comprises:

collecting data communicated from a plurality of image capture devices operated by a plurality of observers at an event over the duration of the event;

processing the collected data to determine the field of view of the greatest number of observers for each particular time period of the event; and

responsive to the processing identifying fields of view with the greatest number of observers over different period of the event.

26. The method of claim 25, which further comprises:

establishing a starting price for auctioning the placement of advertising within each identified field of view for a subsequent event.

27. The method of claim 25, which further comprises auctioning off each identified field of view in real time during the event by collecting bids in real time, and displaying the highest bidder'"'"'s advertisement on a display in the auctioned field of view in real time during the particular period of the event.

28. A method of increasing the charge for advertising during an event, which comprises:

determining the momentum of an event based upon use of image capture devices by observers of the event; and

increasing the amount charged for advertising during time periods of higher momentum based upon the momentum of the event at the particular period of time.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the momentum is determined based upon the number of image capture devices pointing at approximately the same location at approximately the same time.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein the momentum is determined based upon the number of number of images taken during a particular time of the event.

31. The method of claim 28, wherein the momentum is determined based on the focus of the devices about a person or object upon which the devices are focused.

32. The method of claim 28, wherein the momentum of the event is determined in real time, and the charge for advertising fluctuates in real time based upon the current momentum of the event.

33. The method of claim 28, wherein the momentum is determined by the ratio of image capture devices pointing at approximately the same location to the total number of image capture devices pointing at all locations at approximately the same time.

34. A method of dividing up advertising time by auctioning, which comprises:

applying information collected from mobile devices at an event as part of determining the proportion of observers concentrating on a particular person or object at a particular time during an event;

transmitting the proportion of observers concentrating on a particular person or object at a particular time to one or more advertisers;

receiving bids over a network from the one or more advertisers for presenting an advertisement to the observers on their respective image capture displays;

determining the proportionate number of image capture devices displaying a particular advertiser'"'"'s advertisement based upon the proportion of each advertiser'"'"'s bid amount; and

transmitting an advertisement from a particular advertiser to the proportion of image capture devices for display in real time during the event.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the advertisement is communicated to an observer'"'"'s image capture device, and displayed in at least a portion of the image capture device'"'"'s viewer.

36. The method of claim 34, wherein the image capture devices receiving a particular communicated advertisement are chosen randomly from all image capture devices present at the event.

37. The method of claim 34, wherein the bidding by advertisers is an automated process that occurs in real time.

38. A non-transient computer readable medium configured to carry out any one of the preceding methods.

39. A system for increasing the revenue from advertising of an event, which comprises:

at least one computer system in communication with the plurality of image capture devices running an application, wherein the computer system can collect data from each of the image capture devices identifying the direction in which the image capture device is pointing, and can communicate with at least one advertiser computer systems to accept bid amounts for the timing or placement of advertisements.

40. The system of claim 39, which further comprises a plurality of image capture devices, which are running an application and in communication with the at least one computer system.

41. The system of claim 40, which further comprises one or more advertiser computer systems in communication with the at least one server for receiving information on the present direction the plurality of image capture devices are pointing, and placing monetary bids for advertisement positioning with the computer system.