Photograph or video tagging based on peered devices
A method of capturing photographs or videos and associated metadata. The method includes capturing a photograph or video using a mobile camera device at a shooting location and encompassing a shooting area, identifying a shooting area using positional and orientational detectors of the mobile camera device and known camera properties and recording a definition of the shooting area, and sending the captured photograph or video to a server system. Either at the mobile camera device or at the server system, the presence of peer mobile devices within the shooting area is identified using positional information reported by those peer mobile devices, and the captured photograph or video is tagged with identities associated with those peer mobile devices.
1. A method of capturing photographs or videos and associated metadata, the method comprising:
capturing a photograph or video using a mobile camera device at a shooting location and encompassing a shooting area;
identifying the shooting area using at least positional and orientational detectors of the mobile camera device, and recording a definition of the shooting area, wherein the shooting area does not start at the location of the mobile camera device; and
sending the captured photograph or video to a server system,
wherein either at the mobile camera device or at the server system, the presence of peer mobile devices within the shooting area is identified by comparing positional information reported by those peer mobile devices with said recorded definition of the shooting area, and the captured photograph or video is tagged with identities associated with and sent from those peer mobile devices in response to the peer mobile devices receiving requests to return the identities after the presence of the peer mobile devices is identified.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the mobile camera device reports the shooting area definition to the server system and the presence of peer mobile devices within the shooting area is identified at the server system, the server system receiving positional information reported by peer mobile devices and correlating timing information with the times at which photographs or videos were taken.
3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a peer mobile device reports its positional information and identity to the mobile camera device.
4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the peer mobile device reports its positional information and identity to the mobile camera device using one selected from the group consisting of Bluetooth™, direct peer-to-peer wifi, 3G connections, RFID awareness established between the peer mobile device and the mobile camera device, and sending/receiving SMS messages.
5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a peer mobile device reports its positional information and identity to the server system.
6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the position of the mobile camera device is determined as absolute coordinates using a positioning unit of the mobile camera device.
7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the positional information reported by a peer mobile device comprises absolute coordinates determined using a positioning unit of the peer mobile device.
8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the shooting area is identified by also using one or more camera properties selected from the group consisting of a camera depth of focus, a focus distance, and a view angle.
9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said camera properties are determined by one selected from the group consisting of retrieving them from a record stored on the mobile camera device, and retrieving them from data stored in a photograph or video file.
10. A mobile camera device comprising:
a camera for capturing photographs and/or videos;
a positioning unit for determining a current position of the device;
an orientation determining unit for determining an orientation of the device in three dimensions;
a shooting area determining unit for determining and recording shooting area using an obtained current position and orientation, wherein the shooting area does not start at the location of the mobile camera device;
a peer mobile device identification unit for determining presence of peer mobile devices located within said shooting area by comparing positional information reported by those peer mobile devices with said recorded shooting area, and for sending requests for returning identities from the peer mobile devices after the presence of the peer mobile devices is determined;
a tagging unit for tagging captured photographs and/or videos with said identities associated with the peer mobile devices; and
a photograph and/or video upload unit for uploading tagged photographs and/or videos to a server system via a wireless network.
11. The mobile camera device according to claim 10 , wherein said peer mobile device identification unit is configured to receive the positional information from the peer mobile devices and to compare this information to the recorded shooting area in order to determine whether the peer mobile devices are located within said recorded shooting area.
12. A server system comprising:
a first receiver for receiving photographs and/or videos, and associated shooting area definitions defining regions that contain subjects of the photographs and/or videos, from client devices, wherein each of the shooting area definitions includes a cuboid volume with vertices that are defined by absolute location coordinates;
a second receiver for receiving the locations of client devices from those devices; and
a tagging unit for identifying client devices within the shooting areas associated with respective photographs and/or videos, and for tagging photographs and/or videos with the identities of identified client devices or their users.
13. The server system according to claim 12 , wherein said tagging unit correlates timing information associated with said locations with the times at which photographs or videos were taken in order to identify client devices within the shooting areas.
14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer readable code which, when the computer readable code is executed on a mobile camera device, is configured to cause the device to carry out a method comprising:
capturing photographs and/or videos;
determining a current position of the device;
determining an orientation of the device in three dimensions;
determining and recording a shooting area using an obtained current position and orientation, wherein the shooting area starts at a location beyond the location of the mobile camera device;
determining presence of peer mobile devices located within said shooting area by comparing positional information reported by those peer mobile devices with said recorded shooting area;
sending requests for returning identities from the peer mobile devices after the presence of the peer mobile devices is determined;
tagging captured photographs and/or videos with said identities associated with the peer mobile devices; and
uploading tagged photographs and/or videos to a server system via a wireless network.
15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 14 , wherein the shooting area is an estimated region to contain at least one subject.
16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 15 , wherein the method further comprises receiving the identities associated with the peer mobile devices directly from the peer mobile devices.
17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 16 , wherein the method further comprises determining presence of peer mobile devices located within a range of the mobile camera device but outside the shooting area, and separately tagging the captured photographs and/or videos with identities associated with the peer mobile devices that are located within the range of the mobile camera device but outside the shooting area.
18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 17 , wherein the peer mobile devices that are located within the range of the mobile camera device but outside the shooting area, are located behind the mobile camera device.