Camera device, methods and program products for location and environmental stamping of images, communications and other applications

• US 7,016,899 B1
• Filed: 09/21/2000
• Issued: 03/21/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Lenovo PC International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo Singapore Pte Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Stern, Edith H., Willner, Barry E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gaffin, Jeffrey
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mahmoudi, Hassan
• Application Number:
  US09/666,864
• Time in Patent Office: 2,007 Days
• Field of Search: 707/2, 707/10, 707/513, 707/3, 707/7, 707/104.1, 709/206, 709/219, 340/539, 382/313, 386/46, 386/117, 701/201, 701/208, 701/209, 345/428, 345/619, 348/239, 348/603
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• 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: H04N 1/00209 Transmitting or receiving image data, e.g. facsimile data, via a computer, e.g. using e-mail, a computer network, the internet, I-fax
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00212 Attaching image data to computer messages, e.g. to e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00323 with a measuring, monitoring or signaling apparatus, e.g. for transmitting measured information to a central location
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32128 attached to the image data, e.g. file header, transmitted message header, information on the same page or in the same computer file as the image for information embedded in the image H04N1/32144
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2101/00 Still video cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3226 of identification information or the like, e.g. ID code, index, title, part of an image, reduced-size image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3253 Position information, e.g. geographical position at time of capture, GPS data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3273 Display
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3278 Transmission
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A portable imaging device having a data processing system, imaging and sensing devices records objects of interest as images and includes a terminal connection for transmitting the images to a network. Sensing devices record location and environmental conditions related to the object of interest. The device is linked to a positioning determining system. The device records an image and environmental information related to the image and incorporates into the image stored descriptive information based on location information. The image may be translated into an analog or digital picture incorporating the recorded location, environmental and descriptive information. The device may be linked by wire or wirelessly via the terminal connection to a network including a server and a PC terminal. The recorded image, location and environmental information are transmitted by the device over the network to the server using a wireless connection for download and editing by a user.

Claims

1. A system for incorporating images in an electronic message, comprising:

a) means for obtaining geographical coordinates of a location;

b) means for providing the geographical location coordinates to a network and obtaining images from the network according to the geographical location coordinates

c) means for accessing location images, in lieu of taking a picture, stored in the network according to the geographical location coordinates;

d) a terminal for generating electronic messages wherein the terminal is a laptop or personal digital assistant or other computer device and linked to a network by a wired or wireless connection; and

e) means for incorporating in an electronic message transmitted over the network, where the message was created, at least one of the location images obtained from the network.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the geographical location coordinates provided to the network are the geographical location coordinates of the terminal creating the message.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the geographical location coordinates are established at the completion of the creation of the electronic message.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the geographical location coordinates are established at the start of the creation of the electronic message.

5. In a system including an image-collecting device coupled to a remote data processing system and a workstation via a network using network protocols, a method for recording an image including a geographical location, and/or environmental conditions in a medium, comprising the steps of:

a) forming an electronic image of an object of interest in digital form in the image-collecting device;

b) determining a geographical location of the image in digital form;

c) capturing and storing the digital image and the geographical location thereof in a memory;

d) storing descriptive text of a plurality of objects of interest related to the digital image at a geographical location in a remote processing system or workstation;

e) communicating with and accessing the remote processing system or workstation wherein accessing the remote processing system or workstation correlates and records the digital image with the geographical location, and descriptive text associated with the object of interest in a medium;

f) selecting and associating the descriptive text with the digital image in the work station; and

g) printing the digital image with the geographical location, and descriptive text associated with the object of interest in the medium at the workstation.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the step of forming an electronic image further comprises the step of:

a1) receiving and converting optical information of the object of interest into compressed digital form.

7. The method of claim 5 further comprising the step of:

h) converting satellite signals into geographical coordinates in digital form indicative of the image geographical location.

8. The method of claim 5 further comprising the step of

h) selecting the stored descriptive text related to the object of interest at the geographical location to be recorded in the digital image.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein the step of determining geographical location includes determining latitude and longitude.

10. The method of claim 5 further comprising the step of:

h) collecting and storing environmental conditions at a geographical location related to the image for recording in the medium.

11. The method of claim 5 further comprising the step of:

h) connecting and providing to a network using network protocols, the image, geographical location, and environmental conditions of the object of interest stored in the image-collecting device for processing and recording in a medium by the network.

12. The method of claim 5 further comprising the step of:

h) storing thumbnail images related to objects of interest in the remote data processing system according to geographical location coordinates.

13. The method of claim 5 further comprising the step of:

h) transmitting geographical location coordinates of an object of interest to the remote data processing system;

i) receiving a thumbnail image related to the geographical location coordinates from the remote data processing system; and

recording the related thumbnail image in the medium.

14. The method of claim 5 further comprising the step of:

h) editing the image to include the related geographical location and descriptive text.

15. The method of claim 5 wherein the obtained images are provided as part of advertising.

16. The method of claim 5 further comprising the step of:

h) offering the images to users in a prioritized manner based on the amount of payment associated with each image.

17. The method of claim 5 further comprising the step of:

h) providing the sender of an electronic message an incentive to include an advertising image in the message.

18. In an article of manufacture:

A program medium, executable in a computer system, for recording all image including a related descriptive text, geographical location information and/or environmental conditions in a medium, comprising;

a) program instruction in the medium forming an electronic image of an object of interest in digital form;

b) program instruction in the medium determining a geographical location of the image in digital form;

c) program instruction in the medium capturing and storing the digital image and the geographical location thereof in an image-collecting device wherein the program instructions convert satellite signals into geographical coordinates in digital form indicative of the image geographical location for storage in the image-collecting device;

d) program instruction in the medium for storing and accessing descriptive text of a plurality of objects of interest related to the image at a geographical location in a remote data processing system or workstation, wherein accessing the remote processing system or workstation correlates and records the digital image with the geographical location, and descriptive text associated with the object of interest in a medium;

e) program instructions in the medium for accessing and correlating the digital image with the geographic location at the workstation;

f) program instructions in the medium for programmatically correlating the descriptive text with the image at the geographical location under user direction; and

g) program instructions in the medium enabling selection and recording the image with the geographical location and associated descriptive text in a picture.

19. The program medium of claim 18 further comprising:

h) program instructions for converting satellite signals into geographical coordinates in digital form indicative of the image geographical location for storage in an image collecting device.

20. The program medium of claim 18 further comprising:

h) program instruction in the medium collecting and storing environmental conditions related to the image at a geographical location for recording in the medium.

21. The program medium of claim 18 further comprising:

h) program instruction in the medium for accessing thumbnail images of objects of interest in the remote data processing system according to geographical location coordinates.

22. The program medium of claim 18 further comprising:

h) program instruction in the medium obtaining and inserting a thumbnail of an object of interest according to geographical location coordinates and storing in a medium.

23. A camera device for recording an image including a geographical location, environmental conditions at the location and related descriptive text in a medium, comprising:

a) means for forming an electronic image of an object of interest in digital form;

b) means for determining a geographical location of the image and related environmental conditions;

c) means for recording the image, environmental conditions and related geographical location;

d) means for communicating the recorded image, environmental conditions with related geographical location to a network for subsequent processing;

e) a server in the network for storing descriptive text of objects of interest; and

f) means for communicating with and accessing the server for programmatically correlating and recording the digital image with geographical location, environmental conditions and descriptive text associated with the object of interest in a medium under user control.

24. A camera device for recording an image including a geographical location, related descriptive text and/or environmental conditions in a medium, comprising:

a) means for forming an electronic image of an object of interest in digital form;

b) means for determining a geographical location of the image in digital form;

c) means for storing the digital image and the geographical location thereof in a memory;

d) means for storing and accessing descriptive text related to the image at the geographical location;

e) means for selecting and correlating the descriptive text with the image at the geographical location;

f) means for recording the image, related geographical location and descriptive text;

g) means for communicating the recorded image with or without related geographical location and descriptive text to a network for subsequent processing using network protocols;

h) a server in the network for storing descriptive text of objects of interest; and

i) means under user control for communicating with and accessing the server for correlating and recording the digital image with geographical location and descriptive text stored in the server associated with the object of interest in a medium.

25. The device of claim 24 wherein the means for forming an electronic image further comprises:

a1) data processing means responsive to control means for receiving and converting optical information of the image and correlating location and environmental information with the contents of the image into compressed digital form for storage in a local memory.

26. The device of claim 24 wherein means for determining the geographical location of the image further comprise:

b1) a GPS interface and processing logic unit linked to at least one space satellite for converting satellite signals into geographical coordinates in digital form for storage in the memory and indicative of the image geographical, location.

27. The device of claim 24 wherein the means for accessing descriptive texts of a plurality of objects of interest further comprises:

d1) a network interface to a database responsive to a user for selecting the stored descriptive text related to the object of interest recorded in the digital image.

28. The device of claim 24 further comprising:

j) environmental sensing means for collecting and storing environmental conditions related to the image at a geographical location for recording in the medium.

29. The device of claim 24 further comprising:

j) wireless means for connecting and providing to the network the geographic location and environmental conditions of the object of interest stored in the memory for processing and recording in a medium by the network.

30. The device of claim 29 further comprising

k) a terminal coupled to the network and responsive to a user to obtain, display and record the geographical location and descriptive text in the medium.

31. The device of claim 24 wherein said means of communicating includes wireless communication.

32. The device of claim 24 further comprising:

j) a terminal coupled to the network and responsive to a user input to obtain, select, display and record the stored image of the object of interest with or without geographical location and descriptive text in the medium.