Devices, methods, and systems for visual imaging arrays

• US 9,866,765 B2
• Filed: 07/02/2015
• Issued: 01/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2014
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: The Invention Science Fund II, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Brav, Ehren, Hannigan, Russell, Hyde, Roderick A., Ishikawa, Muriel Y., Johanson, 3ric, Kare, Jordin T., Pan, Tony S, Rutschman, Phillip, Tegreene, Clarence T., Whitmer, Charles, Wood, Jr., Lowell L., Wood, Victoria Y. H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cutler, Albert
• Application Number:
  US14/791,160
• Publication Number:
  US 20160165146A1
• Time in Patent Office: 922 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/631 Graphical user interfaces [GUI] specially adapted for controlling image capture or setting capture parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/661 Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/698 for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/80 Camera processing pipelines; Components thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/90 Arrangement of cameras or camera modules, e.g. multiple cameras in TV studios or sports stadiums

Abstract

Computationally implemented methods and systems include capturing a scene that includes one or more images, through use of an array of more than one image sensor, selecting a particular portion of the scene that includes at least one image, wherein the selected particular portion is smaller than the scene, transmitting only the selected particular portion from the scene to a remote location, and de-emphasizing pixels from the scene that are not part of the selected particular portion of the scene. In addition to the foregoing, other aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text.

Claims

1. An image capture device that includes more than one image sensor, the image capture device comprising:

circuitry configured to capture a scene through use of the more than one image sensor;

circuitry configured to select a particular portion of the scene that is smaller than the scene based at least partly on a user request;

circuitry configured to select an additional unrequested portion of the scene that is adjacent to the particular portion and determined to correspond to a likely subsequent user request; and

circuitry configured to transmit the particular portion of the scene at a first resolution in combination with the additional unrequested portion of the scene at a second resolution that is lower than the first resolution to reduce latency of image loading of the additional unrequested portion of the scene in an event the additional unrequested portion of the scene is a subject of a subsequent user request.

2. The image capture device of claim 1, wherein said circuitry configured to capture a scene through use of the more than one image sensor comprises:

circuitry configured to capture a scene through use of the more than one image sensor aligned in a grid pattern.

3. The image capture device of claim 1, wherein said circuitry configured to capture a scene through use of the more than one image sensor comprises:

circuitry configured to capture a scene through use of the more than one image sensor, wherein the scene is larger than a bandwidth capacity for transmission to a remote location.

4. The image capture device of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured to receive the user request for a particular image.

5. The image capture device of claim 1, wherein said circuitry configured to select a particular portion of the scene that is smaller than the scene based at least partly on a user request comprises:

circuitry configured to select a particular portion of the scene that contains a particular object and that is smaller than the scene based at least partly on a user request.

6. The image capture device of claim 1, wherein said circuitry configured to select a particular portion of the scene that is smaller than the scene based at least partly on a user request comprises:

circuitry configured to select a particular portion of the scene that is smaller than the scene based at least partly on a user request, wherein a resolution of the particular portion of the scene is at least partly based on a characteristic of a requesting device.

7. The image capture device of claim 1, wherein said circuitry configured to select a particular portion of the scene that is smaller than the scene based at least partly on a user request comprises:

circuitry configured to select a particular portion of the scene that is smaller than the scene based at least partly on a user request, wherein a resolution of the particular portion of the scene is at least partly based on a screen resolution of a requesting device.

8. The image capture device of claim 1, wherein said circuitry configured to select an additional unrequested portion of the scene that is adjacent to the particular portion and determined to correspond to a likely subsequent user request comprises:

circuitry configured to select an additional unrequested portion of the scene that surrounds the particular portion and is determined to correspond to a likely subsequent user request.

9. The image capture device of claim 1, wherein said circuitry configured to select an additional unrequested portion of the scene that is adjacent to the particular portion and determined to correspond to a likely subsequent user request comprises:

circuitry configured to select an additional unrequested portion of the scene that is adjacent to the particular portion and determined to correspond to a likely subsequent user request based at least partly on content of the particular portion.

10. The image capture device of claim 1, wherein said circuitry configured to select an additional unrequested portion of the scene that is adjacent to the particular portion and determined to correspond to a likely subsequent user request comprises:

circuitry configured to select an additional unrequested portion of the scene that is adjacent to the particular portion and determined to correspond to a likely subsequent user request due at least in part to containing an item of interest.

11. The image capture device of claim 1, wherein said circuitry configured to select an additional unrequested portion of the scene that is adjacent to the particular portion and determined to correspond to a likely subsequent user request comprises:

circuitry configured to select an additional unrequested portion of the scene that is adjacent to the particular portion and determined to correspond to a likely subsequent user request due at least in part to containing an identified object of interest.

12. The image capture device of claim 1, wherein said circuitry configured to transmit the particular portion of the scene at a first resolution in combination with the additional unrequested portion of the scene at a second resolution that is lower than the first resolution to reduce latency of image loading of the additional unrequested portion of the scene in an event the additional unrequested portion of the scene is a subject of a subsequent user request comprises:

circuitry configured to transmit to a device associated with the user request the particular portion of the scene at a first resolution in combination with the additional unrequested portion of the scene at a second resolution that is lower than the first resolution to reduce latency of image loading of the additional unrequested portion of the scene in an event the additional unrequested portion of the scene is a subject of a subsequent user request.

13. The image capture device of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured to delete at least some pixels from the scene that are not part of the particular portion of the scene.

14. The image capture device of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured to remove at least some pixels from the scene that are not part of the particular portion of the scene.

15. The image capture device of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured to append data to indicate that at least some pixels were removed from the scene.

16. The image capture device of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured to retain a sampling of pixels from the scene that are not part of the particular portion of the scene.

17. The image capture device of claim 16, wherein said circuitry configured to retain a sampling of pixels from the scene that are not part of the particular portion of the scene comprises:

circuitry configured to retain a sampling of pixels from the scene that are not part of the particular portion of the scene and that are associated with a target object.

18. The image capture device of claim 16, wherein said circuitry configured to retain a sampling of pixels from the scene that are not part of the particular portion of the scene comprises:

circuitry configured to retain a sampling of pixels from the scene that are not part of the particular portion of the scene and that are identified through automated pattern recognition.

19. The image capture device of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured to store one or more pixels from the scene that are not part of the particular portion of the scene.

20. The image capture device of claim 19, further comprising:

circuitry configured to transmit the one or more pixels from the scene that are not part of the particular portion of the scene to a remote location for storage at one or more times when no user requested portions of the scene are being transmitted.

21. The image capture device of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured to remove one or more pixels from the particular portion of the scene that correspond to one or more objects that have not changed in appearance since a previous transmission.

22. The image capture device of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured to transmit one or more portions of the scene corresponding to one or more static objects at one or more times when no user requested portions of the scene are being transmitted to enable omission of the one or more portions of the scene corresponding to the one or more static objects in one or more subsequent transmissions.

23. The image capture device of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured to change a pixel retention amount for the particular portion of the scene to maintain a constant resolution that is independent of a dimension of the particular portion of the scene.

24. The image capture device of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured to delete from memory local to the image capture device one or more portions of the scene as they are captured unless the one or more portions of the scene are subject to one or more user requests.

25. The image capture device of claim 1, further comprising:

at least one wireless communication unit that has a bandwidth that is less than image data of the scene captured in a moment by at least a factor of ten.

26. The image capture device of claim 1, wherein the more than one image sensor comprises twelve image sensors in radial alignment to capture the scene including a three hundred and sixty degree field of view.

27. The image capture device of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured to capture a scene through use of the more than one image sensor comprises:

circuitry configured to capture a video of a scene through use of the more than one image sensor.

28. The image capture device of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured to remove one or more areas from the particular portion of the scene that overlap with another particular portion selected based at least partly on another user request, such that the one or more areas are transmitted only once.

29. The image capture device of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured to insert context-based information into the particular portion of the scene for transmission to a user device based at least partly on image analysis performed with respect to the particular portion of the scene.

30. The image capture device of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured to capture a scene through use of the more than one image sensor comprises:

circuitry configured to capture at least one of the following types of scenes through use of the more than one image sensor;

tourist destination, highway, or home.

31. The image capture device of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured to receive multiple requests from multiple discrete users for multiple particular images from the scene.

32. The image capture device of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured to deemphasize one or more pixels from the scene that are not part of the particular portion with exception of one or more pixels identified as being associated with a target object.

33. An image capture device that includes more than one image sensor, the image capture device comprising:

circuitry configured to capture a scene through use of the more than one image sensor;

circuitry configured to select a particular portion of the scene that is smaller than the scene based at least partly on a user request;

circuitry configured to select an additional unrequested portion of the scene that contains an object of interest likely to be a subject of a subsequent user request; and

circuitry configured to transmit the particular portion of the scene at a first resolution in combination with the additional unrequested portion of the scene at a second resolution that is lower than the first resolution to reduce latency of image loading of the additional unrequested portion of the scene in an event the additional unrequested portion of the scene is the subject of the subsequent user request.

34. An image capture device comprising:

more than one image sensor;

at least one communication interface; and

at least one computer processor configured to execute operations including at least;

capturing a scene through use of the more than one image sensor;

selecting a particular portion of the scene that is smaller than the scene based at least partly on a user request received via the at least one communication interface;

selecting an additional unrequested portion of the scene that is adjacent to the particular portion and determined to correspond to a likely subsequent user request; and

transmitting via the at least one communication interface the particular portion of the scene at a first resolution in combination with the additional unrequested portion of the scene at a second resolution that is lower than the first resolution to reduce latency of image loading of the additional unrequested portion of the scene in an event the additional unrequested portion of the scene is a subject of a subsequent user request.