Image acquisition and management using a reference image

• US 9,558,553 B2
• Filed: 11/17/2014
• Issued: 01/31/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Nuggehalli, Jayasimha, Woo, James
• Primary Examiner(s): HOGUE, DENNIS A
• Application Number:
  US14/543,725
• Publication Number:
  US 20160142611A1
• Time in Patent Office: 806 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/364 Correlation of different images or relation of image positions in respect to the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7425 Displaying combinations of multiple images regardless of image source, e.g. displaying a reference anatomical image with a live image geometric transforms for image registration G06T3/14; enhancement using image fusion G06T5/50; algorithms for registration of images G06T7/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/20 Processor architectures; Processor configuration, e.g. pipelining
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10016 Video; Image sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10024 Color image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30004 Biomedical image processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0016 involving temporal comparison
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/40 for processing medical images, e.g. editing
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/62 Control of parameters via user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/63 by using electronic viewfinders
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/633 for displaying additional information relating to control or operation of the camera

Abstract

A reference image of one or more objects is displayed on the display of a mobile device in a manner that allows a user of the mobile device to simultaneously view the reference image and a preview image of the one or more objects currently in a field of view of a camera of the mobile device. An indication is provided to the user of the mobile device whether the camera of the mobile device is currently located within a specified amount of a distance at which the reference image was acquired. In response to a user request, the camera acquires a second image of the one or more objects and optionally a distance between the camera and the one or more objects at the time the second image was acquired is recorded. An image management application provides various functionalities for accessing and managing image sequences.

Claims

1. A network device comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more memories; and

an image management application configured to perform;

in response to receiving, over one or more communications links from a client device that is external to the network device, a request for image sequences that correspond to a particular user, provide to the client device via the one or more communications links, a first set of one or more Web pages that include one or more graphical user interface objects that correspond to a plurality of image sequences that correspond to the particular user, wherein each image sequence from the plurality of image sequences includes a reference image and one or more other images acquired using the reference image displayed on a camera as a background image, and

in response to receiving, over the one or more communications links from the client device that is external to the network device, a request for a particular image sequence from the plurality of image sequences that correspond to the particular user, provide to the client device via the one or more communications links, a second set of one or more Web pages that include, for the particular image sequence, a particular reference image and one or more other images arranged in chronological order, starting with the particular reference image, and metadata that specifies a time at which the particular reference image, and each image from the one or more other images, was acquired.

2. The network device of claim 1, wherein the reference image was displayed as a background image on the camera by changing one or more attribute values for the reference image.

3. The network device of claim 2, wherein the one or more attribute values for the reference image correspond to one or more attributes that include one or more of brightness, color or special effects.

4. The network device of claim 1, wherein the second set of one or more Web pages includes, for the particular image sequence, one or more of memorandum data, audio data or a textual representation of the audio data.

5. The network device of claim 4, wherein the memorandum data includes data for one or more of a user that corresponds to the particular image sequence, the particular reference image or the one or more other images for the particular image sequence.

6. The network device of claim 1, wherein the metadata further specifies a distance at which the particular reference image and each image from the one or more other images was acquired.

7. The network device of claim 1, wherein for each image sequence, from the plurality of image sequences, a difference between a distance from the camera to the one or more objects at which the reference image was acquired, and a distance from the camera to the one or more objects at which each of the one or more other images were acquired, is less than a specified amount.

8. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions which, when processed by one or more processors, cause:

an image management application to perform;

in response to receiving, over one or more communications links from a client device that is external to the network device, a request for image sequences that correspond to a particular user, provide to the client device via the one or more communications links, a first set of one or more Web pages that include one or more graphical user interface objects that correspond to a plurality of image sequences that correspond to the particular user, wherein each image sequence from the plurality of image sequences includes a reference image and one or more other images acquired using the reference image displayed on a camera as a background image, and

in response to receiving, over the one or more communications links from the client device that is external to the network device, a request for a particular image sequence from the plurality of image sequences that correspond to the particular user, provide to the client device via the one or more communications links, a second set of one or more Web pages that include, for the particular image sequence, a particular reference image and one or more other images arranged in chronological order, starting with the particular reference image, and metadata that specifies a time at which the particular reference image, and each image from the one or more other images, was acquired.

9. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 8, wherein the reference image was displayed as a background image on the camera by changing one or more attribute values for the reference image.

10. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9, wherein the one or more attribute values for the reference image correspond to one or more attributes that include one or more of brightness, color or special effects.

11. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 8, wherein the second set of one or more Web pages includes, for the particular image sequence, one or more of memorandum data, audio data or a textual representation of the audio data.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11, wherein the memorandum data includes data for one or more of a user that corresponds to the particular image sequence, the particular reference image or the one or more other images for the particular image sequence.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 8, wherein the metadata further specifies a distance at which the particular reference image and each image from the one or more other images was acquired.

14. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 8, wherein for each image sequence, from the plurality of image sequences, a difference between a distance from the camera to the one or more objects at which the reference image was acquired and a distance from the camera to the one or more objects at which each of the one or more other images were acquired is less than the specified amount.

15. A computer-implemented method comprising:

an image management application performing;

in response to receiving, over one or more communications links from a client device that is external to the network device, a request for image sequences that correspond to a particular user, provide to the client device via the one or more communications links, a first set of one or more Web pages that include one or more graphical user interface objects that correspond to a plurality of image sequences that correspond to the particular user, wherein each image sequence from the plurality of image sequences includes a reference image and one or more other images acquired using the reference image displayed on a camera as a background image, and

in response to receiving, over the one or more communications links from the client device that is external to the network device, a request for a particular image sequence from the plurality of image sequences that correspond to the particular user, provide to the client device via the one or more communications links, a second set of one or more Web pages that include, for the particular image sequence, a particular reference image and one or more other images arranged in chronological order, starting with the particular reference image, and metadata that specifies a time at which the particular reference image, and each image from the one or more other images, was acquired.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the reference image was displayed as a background image on the camera by changing one or more attribute values for the reference image.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein the one or more attribute values for the reference image correspond to one or more attributes that include one or more of brightness, color or special effects.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the second set of one or more Web pages includes, for the particular image sequence, one or more of memorandum data, audio data or a textual representation of the audio data.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the memorandum data includes data for one or more of a user that corresponds to the particular image sequence, the particular reference image or the one or more other images for the particular image sequence.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the metadata further specifies a distance at which the particular reference image and each image from the one or more other images was acquired.