Organizing images captured by multiple image capture devices
View Patent ↗A method for organizing images from multiple image capture devices includes allowing the determination of an offset between image capture times recorded in a first image capture device and image capture times recorded in a second image capture device, adjusting the image capture times recorded in the second image capture device by the offset to produce adjusted image capture times by a computer processor, and sequencing images taken by the first image capture device and the second image capture device in an chronological order. The sequencing is based on the image capture times for the images captured by the first image capture device and the adjusted image capture times for the images captured by the second image capture device.
1. A method for organizing images from multiple image capture devices, comprising:
sampling image counts of images captured by a first image capture device to produce a first image count distribution (ICD) based on image capture times;
sampling image counts of images captured by a second image capture device to produce a second ICD based on image capture times;
computing a first correlation function between the first ICD and the second ICD;
determining a first value for an offset between image capture times recorded in the first image capture device and image capture times recorded the second image capture device at least in part based on the first correlation function by a computer processor; and
adjusting the image capture times recorded in the second image capture device by the first value for the offset to produce adjusted image capture times.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
before the step of sampling image counts of images captured by the first image capture device, sequencing images captured by the first image capture device based on the image capture times recorded by the first image capture device; and
before the step of sampling image counts of images captured by the second image capture device, sequencing images captured by the second image capture device based on the image capture times recorded by the second image capture device.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
after the step of adjusting, sequencing the images taken by the second image capture device based on the adjusted image capture times.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first value for the offset is determined by a maximum value in the first correlation function.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the image counts of images captured by the first image capture device and the image counts of images captured by the second image capture device are sampled at a first time interval.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the first time interval is in a range from about 2 minutes to about 45 minutes.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of determining a first value for an offset further comprises:
allowing a user to select, using a computer device, a first image captured by the first image capture device and a second image captured by the second image capture device and to identify the first image and the second image as having been taken at about the same time;
computing a second value for the offset based on image capture times of the first image and the second image; and
selecting one of the first value and the second value, wherein the image capture times recorded in the second image capture device are adjusted by the selected one of the first value and the second value.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first value for the offset is related to a difference between clock times in the first image capture device and the second image capture device.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
allowing a computer device to display the images taken by the first image capture device and the second image capture device in a chronological order.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the computer device is connected to the computer processor via a computer network.
11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the computer processor resides in the computer device.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first image capture device and the second image capture device comprise at least one of a digital camera, a camera phone, a video camera, a laptop computer, or a tablet computer.
13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
allowing a design of an image product to incorporate the images from the first image capture device and the second image capture device in a chronological order.
14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
allowing a web media to publish the images from the first image capture device and the second image capture device in a chronological order.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the web media comprises a blog page.
16. A method for organizing images from multiple image capture devices, comprising:
sampling image counts of images captured by a first image capture device to produce a first image count distribution (ICD) based on image capture times;
sampling image counts of images captured by a second image capture device to produce a second ICD based on image capture times;
computing a first correlation function between the first ICD and the second ICD by a computer system;
determining a first value for an offset between image capture times recorded in the first image capture device and image capture times recorded the second image capture device at least in part based on the first correlation function;
sampling image counts of images captured by the first image capture device at a time interval to produce a third ICD;
sampling image counts of images captured by the second image capture device at the time interval to produce a fourth ICD;
computing a second correlation function between the third ICD and the fourth ICD;
determining a second value for an offset between image capture times recorded in the first image capture device and image capture times recorded the second image capture device at least in part based on the second correlation function;
selecting one of the first value and the second value; and
adjusting the image capture times recorded in the second image capture device by the selected one of the first value and the second value.
17. A computer system, comprising:
one or more computer processors configured to sample image counts of images captured by a first image capture device to produce a first image count distribution (ICD) based on image capture times, to sample image counts of images captured by a second image capture device to produce a second ICD based on image capture times, to compute a first correlation function between the first ICD and the second ICD, to determine a first value for an offset between image capture times recorded in the first image capture device and image capture times recorded the second image capture device at least in part based on the first correlation function, and to adjust the image capture times recorded in the second image capture device by the first value for the offset to produce adjusted image capture times.
18. The computer system of claim 17 , wherein the first value for the offset is determined by a maximum value in the first correlation function.
19. The computer system of claim 17 , wherein the image counts of images captured by the first image capture device and the image counts of images captured by the second image capture device are sampled at a first time interval, wherein the first time interval is in a range from about 2 minutes to about 45 minutes.
20. The computer system of claim 17 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to allow a user to identify a first image captured by the first image capture device and a second image captured by the second image capture device which are taken at about the same time, wherein the one or more processors are configured to compute a value for the offset based on image capture times of the first image and the second image.