Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080267521 | MOTION AND IMAGE QUALITY MONITOR - A method, apparatus and computer program product for monitoring the motion and/or image quality associated with a captured image are provided. Various actions may be taken in response to the detected motion and corresponding image quality associated with a captured image. In particular, the motion and image quality monitor may, for example, only allow captured images to be used in conjunction with an image matching application, such as a mobile visual search application, when the image features of the captured image have stabilized (i.e., little to no motion is detected between consecutive frames of the captured image). The detected changes in motion and/or image quality may further be used for energy saving purposes, for example, by switching on or off various applications and/or components operating on the mobile device depending upon the amount of motion detected and/or the quality of the image captured. | 10-30-2008 |
20080268876 | Method, Device, Mobile Terminal, and Computer Program Product for a Point of Interest Based Scheme for Improving Mobile Visual Searching Functionalities - Systems, methods, devices and computer program products which relate to utilizing a camera of a mobile terminal as a user interface for search applications and online services to perform visual searching are provided. The system consists of an apparatus that includes a processor that is configured to capture an image of one or more objects and analyze data of the image to identify an object(s) of the image. The processor is further configured to receive information that is associated with at least one object of the images and display the information that is associated with the image. In this regard, the apparatus is able to simplify access to location based services and improve a user's experience. The processor of the apparatus is configured to combine results of robust visual searches with online information resources to enhance location based services. | 10-30-2008 |
20080270378 | Method, Apparatus and Computer Program Product for Determining Relevance and/or Ambiguity in a Search System - An apparatus for a determining relevance and/or ambiguity in a search system may include a processing element configured for receiving visual media comprising a query, determining search results including a matching score for at least one candidate visual media with respect to the query based on ambiguity and relevance, utilizing a mapping function to provide a confidence level associated with the search results, and providing a visualization of the search results based on the confidence level. | 10-30-2008 |
20090083275 | Method, Apparatus and Computer Program Product for Performing a Visual Search Using Grid-Based Feature Organization - A method, apparatus and computer program product are provided for visually searching feature sets that are organized in a grid-like manner. As such, a feature set associated with a location-based grid area may be received. The location-based grid area may also be associated with the location of a device. After receiving query image features, a visual search may be performed by comparing the query image features with the feature set. The search results are then returned. By conducting the visual search within a feature set that is selected based upon the location of the device, the efficiency of the search can be enhanced and the search may potentially be performed by the device, such as a mobile device, itself. | 03-26-2009 |
20090094289 | METHOD, APPARATUS AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR MULTIPLE BUFFERING FOR SEARCH APPLICATION - A method, apparatus and computer program product are provided for facilitating a fast and efficient search. The apparatus may include a processor configured to receive and buffer a dataset based on the current location of a user, in a first buffer; receive and buffer another dataset based on the current location of the user and the direction of movement of the user, in a second buffer; search the dataset, based on the current location of the user, to identify an object from an image; and update buffers based on a change in location of the user, wherein updating buffers includes associating the second buffer with a current location and receive and buffer a dataset, based on the current location of the user and the direction of movement of the user, in the first buffer. | 04-09-2009 |
20100111441 | METHODS, COMPONENTS, ARRANGEMENTS, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS FOR HANDLING IMAGES - Artifacts are located in an electronic representation of an image. There is stored a characterisation of a located artifact. There is also output at least one of a characterisation of the artifact or a representation of the artifact. The system may aid the user to correct artifacts, for example by guiding her how to take a new image that contains data that helps in correcting the artifacts. | 05-06-2010 |
20130329015 | TECHNIQUES FOR GENERATING ROBUST STEREO IMAGES - Techniques for generating robust depth maps from stereo images are described. A robust depth map is generated from a set of stereo images captured with and without flash illumination. The depth map is more robust than depth maps generated using conventional techniques because a pixel-matching algorithm is implemented that weights pixels in a matching window according to the ratio of light intensity captured using different flash illumination levels. The ratio map provides a rough estimate of depth relative to neighboring pixels that enables the flash/no-flash pixel-matching algorithm to devalue pixels that appear to be located at different depths than the central pixel in the matching window. In addition, the ratio map may be used to filter the generated depth map to generate a smooth estimate for the depth of objects within the stereo image. | 12-12-2013 |
20140079279 | INTERACTION WITH AND DISPLAY OF PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGES IN AN IMAGE STACK - A number of images of a scene are captured and stored. The images are captured over a range of values for an attribute (e.g., a camera setting). One of the images is displayed. A location of interest in the displayed image is identified. Regions that correspond to the location of interest are identified in each of the images. Those regions are evaluated to identify which of the regions is rated highest with respect to the attribute relative to the other regions. The image that includes the highest-rated region is then displayed. | 03-20-2014 |
20140118402 | TECHNIQUES FOR REGISTERING AND WARPING IMAGE STACKS - A set of images is processed to modify and register the images to a reference image in preparation for blending the images to create a high-dynamic range image. To modify and register a source image to a reference image, a processing unit generates correspondence information for the source image based on a global correspondence algorithm, generates a warped source image based on the correspondence information, estimates one or more color transfer functions for the source image, and fills the holes in the warped source image. The holes in the warped source image are filled based on either a rigid transformation of a corresponding region of the source image or a transformation of the reference image based on the color transfer functions. | 05-01-2014 |
20140119595 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR REGISTERING AND WARPING IMAGE STACKS - A set of images is processed to modify and register the images to a reference image in preparation for blending the images to create a high-dynamic range image. To modify and register a source image to a reference image, a processing unit generates a correspondence map for the source image based on a non-rigid dense correspondence algorithm, generates a warped source image based on the correspondence map, estimates one or more color transfer functions for the source image, and fills the holes in the warped source image. The holes in the warped source image are filled based on either a rigid transformation of a corresponding region of the source image or a transformation of the reference image based on the color transfer functions. | 05-01-2014 |
20140176745 | APPROACH FOR CAMERA CONTROL - An approach is provided for a user interface for enabling control of a camera. In one example, a method includes the following: displaying a tone mapped high dynamic range (HDR) image on a user interface device of the camera; receiving user edits via an input device associated with the user interface device; sending the user edits to one or more back-end devices of the camera to perform processing operations based on the user edits; receiving an updated tone mapped HDR image from the one or more back-end devices, wherein the updated tone mapped HDR image is generated from the processing operations performed based on the user edits; and displaying the updated tone mapped HDR image on the user interface as the camera lens continues to capture frames of the scene for the one or more back-end devices to perform operations that iteratively affect the updated tone mapped HDR image. | 06-26-2014 |
20140176750 | APPROACH FOR CAMERA CONTROL - An approach is provided for performing back-end operations for camera control. In one example, a method includes the following: receiving a user edit via a user interface device that displays an interpretation of a scene at which a camera lens of the camera is pointing, wherein the user edit is based on user input that is associated with a selection region on the user interface device; generating an edits mask based on one or more matching image patches, which are based on the user edit and a high dynamic range (HDR) image generated by the camera; performing one or more tone mapping operations based on the edits mask and the HDR image in order to generate a tone mapped HDR image; and performing one or more metering operations based on the edits mask and the tone mapped HDR image in order to generate metering parameters for frame capturing operations. | 06-26-2014 |
20150063695 | TECHNIQUE FOR DEBLURRING IMAGES - An image capture application captures a sequence of images via a digital camera. The sequence of images may have undesirable levels of blurriness due to the motion of objects in the field of view of the digital camera or due to movement of the digital camera itself. A deblur engine within the image capture application generates image segments within one of the captured images, where a given image segment includes pixel values that move coherently between different images in the sequence. The deblur engine then deblurs each image segment based on the coherent motion of each different image segment and combines the resultant, deblurred image segments into a deblurred image. Advantageously, blurriness caused by the combined effects of moving objects and camera motion may be reduced, thereby improving the ability of a digital camera to provide high-quality images. As such, the user experience of digital photography may be enhanced | 03-05-2015 |