Granted Patent B2

US 9,866,881 · App. 14/951,348 · Granted Jan 9, 2018

Inventors: Ehren Brav (Bainbridge Island, WA); Russell Hannigan (Sammamish, WA); 3ric Johanson (Seattle, WA); Phillip Rutschman (Seattle, WA)

Assignee: ELWHA, LLC

H04N21/2393H04N5/23206H04N5/23229H04N5/23238H04N5/23293H04N5/247H04N21/2183H04N21/21805H04N21/23418H04N21/2662H04N21/812

Abstract

Claims (68)

1. A system comprising:

circuitry configured for accepting an input of a request for particular image data that is part of a scene that is larger than the particular image data;

circuitry configured for generating an expanded request for the particular image data that includes a request for image data associated with a first portion of the scene at a first resolution, a request for image data associated with a second portion of the scene bordering the first portion at a second resolution that is less than the first resolution, and a request for image data associated with a third portion of the scene bordering the second portion at a third resolution that is less than or equal to the second resolution;

circuitry configured for transmitting the expanded request for the particular image data to an image sensor array device that includes more than one image sensor and that is configured to capture the scene and to selectively retain a subset of the scene;

circuitry configured for receiving from the image sensor array device the particular image data that includes the image data associated with the first portion of the scene at the first resolution, the image data associated with the second portion of the scene at the second resolution, and the image data associated with the third portion of the scene at the third resolution; and

circuitry configured for outputting at least some of the particular image data to a requestor for presentation.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein said circuitry configured for accepting an input of a request for particular image data that is part of a scene that is larger than the particular image data comprises:

circuitry configured for accepting from an automated component an input of a request for particular image data that is part of a scene that is larger than the particular image data.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein said circuitry configured for accepting an input of a request for particular image data that is part of a scene that is larger than the particular image data comprises:

circuitry configured for accepting an input of a request for particular image data associated with a tracked object that is part of a scene that is larger than the particular image data.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein said circuitry configured for transmitting the expanded request for the particular image data to an image sensor array device that includes more than one image sensor and that is configured to capture the scene and to selectively retain a subset of the scene comprises:

circuitry configured for transmitting the expanded request for the particular image data to a server that is configured to relay the expanded request to an image sensor array device that includes more than one image sensor and that is configured to capture the scene and to selectively retain a subset of the scene.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein said circuitry configured for transmitting the expanded request for the particular image data to a server that is configured to relay the expanded request to an image sensor array device that includes more than one image sensor and that is configured to capture the scene and to selectively retain a subset of the scene comprises:

circuitry configured for transmitting the expanded request for the particular image data to a server that is configured to package multiple requests and relay the multiple requests to an image sensor array device that includes more than one image sensor and that is configured to capture the scene and to selectively retain a subset of the scene.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein said circuitry configured for transmitting the expanded request for the particular image data to a server that is configured to package multiple requests and relay the multiple requests to an image sensor array device that includes more than one image sensor and that is configured to capture the scene and to selectively retain a subset of the scene comprises:

circuitry configured for transmitting the expanded request for the particular image data to a server that is configured to combine multiple requests and relay the multiple requests to an image sensor array device that includes more than one image sensor and that is configured to capture the scene and to selectively retain a subset of the scene.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein said circuitry configured for receiving from the image sensor array device the particular image data that includes the image data associated with the first portion of the scene at the first resolution, the image data associated with the second portion of the scene at the second resolution, and the image data associated with the third portion of the scene at the third resolution comprises:

circuitry configured for receiving from the image sensor array device the particular image data that includes the image data associated with the first portion of the scene at the first resolution, the image data associated with the second portion of the scene at the second resolution, and the image data associated with the third portion of the scene at the third resolution, wherein the image sensor array device discarded portions of the scene other than the particular image data.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein said circuitry configured for receiving from the image sensor array device the particular image data that includes the image data associated with the first portion of the scene at the first resolution, the image data associated with the second portion of the scene at the second resolution, and the image data associated with the third portion of the scene at the third resolution comprises:

circuitry configured for receiving from the image sensor array device the particular image data that includes the image data associated with the first portion of the scene at the first resolution, the image data associated with the second portion of the scene at the second resolution, and the image data associated with the third portion of the scene at the third resolution, wherein a size characteristic of the particular image data is at least partially based on a feature of the requestor.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein said circuitry configured for receiving from the image sensor array device the particular image data that includes the image data associated with the first portion of the scene at the first resolution, the image data associated with the second portion of the scene at the second resolution, and the image data associated with the third portion of the scene at the third resolution comprises:

circuitry configured for receiving from the image sensor array device the particular image data that includes the image data associated with the first portion of the scene at the first resolution, the image data associated with the second portion of the scene at the second resolution, and the image data associated with the third portion of the scene at the third resolution, wherein a resolution of the particular image data is at least partially based on a screen size of the requestor.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein said circuitry configured for outputting at least some of the particular image data to a requestor for presentation comprises:

circuitry configured for outputting the image data associated with the first portion of the scene at the first resolution to a requestor for presentation.

11. The system of claim 10 , further comprising:

circuitry configured for storing the image data associated with the second portion of the scene and the image data associated with the third portion of the scene.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein said circuitry configured for storing the image data associated with the second portion of the scene and the image data associated with the third portion of the scene comprises:

circuitry configured for storing the image data associated with the second portion of the scene and the image data associated with the third portion of the scene to be used as cached image data for one or more subsequent requests.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the circuitry configured for accepting an input of a request for particular image data that is part of a scene that is larger than the particular image data comprises:

circuitry configured for receiving a request for particular image data that is part of a scene that is larger than the particular image data.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the circuitry configured for accepting an input of a request for particular image data that is part of a scene that is larger than the particular image data comprises:

circuitry configured for receiving an input via an interface of the requestor of a request for particular image data that is part of a scene that is larger than the particular image data.

15. The system of claim 1 , wherein the circuitry configured for accepting an input of a request for particular image data that is part of a scene that is larger than the particular image data comprises:

circuitry configured for receiving an input from at least one of the following types of requestors: smartphone, television, laptop computer, desktop computer, tablet, camera, wearable computer, or augmented reality device.

16. The system of claim 1 , wherein the circuitry configured for accepting an input of a request for particular image data that is part of a scene that is larger than the particular image data comprises:

circuitry configured for accepting an input of a request for particular image data that is part of at least one of the following types of scenes: sporting event, street view, tourist destination, highway, or inside of a home.

17. The system of claim 1 , wherein the circuitry configured for accepting an input of a request for particular image data that is part of a scene that is larger than the particular image data comprises:

circuitry configured for accepting an input of a request for particular video data that is part of a scene that is larger than the particular video data.

18. The system of claim 1 , wherein the circuitry configured for generating an expanded request for the particular image data that includes a request for image data associated with a first portion of the scene at a first resolution, a request for image data associated with a second portion of the scene bordering the first portion at a second resolution that is less than the first resolution, and a request for image data associated with a third portion of the scene bordering the second portion at a third resolution that is less than or equal to the second resolution comprises:

circuitry configured for generating an expanded request for the particular image data that includes a request for image data associated with a first portion of the scene at a first resolution, a request for image data associated with a second portion of the scene adjacent to the first portion at a second resolution that is less than the first resolution, and a request for image data associated with a third portion of the scene adjacent to the second portion at a third resolution that is less than or equal to the second resolution.

19. The system of claim 1 , wherein the circuitry configured for generating an expanded request for the particular image data that includes a request for image data associated with a first portion of the scene at a first resolution, a request for image data associated with a second portion of the scene bordering the first portion at a second resolution that is less than the first resolution, and a request for image data associated with a third portion of the scene bordering the second portion at a third resolution that is less than or equal to the second resolution comprises:

circuitry configured for generating an expanded request for the particular image data that includes a request for image data associated with a first portion of the scene at a first resolution, a request for image data associated with a second portion of the scene bordering the first portion on all sides at a second resolution that is less than the first resolution, and a request for image data associated with a third portion of the scene bordering the second portion on all sides at a third resolution that is less than or equal to the second resolution.

20. The system of claim 1 , wherein the circuitry configured for receiving from the image sensor array device the particular image data that includes the image data associated with the first portion of the scene at the first resolution, the image data associated with the second portion of the scene at the second resolution, and the image data associated with the third portion of the scene at the third resolution comprises:

circuitry configured for receiving from the image sensor array device the particular image data that includes the image data associated with the first portion of the scene at the first resolution, the image data associated with the second portion of the scene at the second resolution, and the image data associated with the third portion of the scene at the third resolution, wherein a data size of the particular image data is at least partially based on an available bandwidth.

21. The system of claim 1 , wherein the circuitry configured for receiving from the image sensor array device the particular image data that includes the image data associated with the first portion of the scene at the first resolution, the image data associated with the second portion of the scene at the second resolution, and the image data associated with the third portion of the scene at the third resolution comprises:

circuitry configured for receiving from the image sensor array device the particular image data that includes only one or more portions of the scene that have changed.

22. The system of claim 1 , wherein the circuitry configured for outputting at least some of the particular image data to a requestor for presentation comprises:

circuitry configured for outputting at least some of the particular image data that includes inserted contextual information to a requestor for presentation.

23. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:

the image sensory array device including at least:

more than one image sensor configured to capture the scene;

a computer processor configured to process image data of the scene prior to communication;

memory; and

at least one communication interface.

24. The system of claim 23 , wherein the a computer processor configured to process image data of the scene prior to communication comprises:

a computer processor configured to process image data of the scene prior to communication including consolidating one or more requested overlapping portions.

25. The system of claim 23 , wherein the a computer processor configured to process image data of the scene prior to communication comprises:

a computer processor configured to process image data of the scene prior to communication including removing one or more unchanged portions based on one or more comparisons with previous data.

26. A computationally-implemented method, comprising:

accepting input of a request for a particular image of a scene that is larger than the particular image;

generating an expanded request for the particular image that includes the request for the particular image at a first resolution, a request for a border image that borders the particular image at a second resolution less than the first resolution, and a request for a secondary border image that borders the border image at a third resolution less than or equal to the second resolution;

transmitting the expanded request to an image sensor array device that includes more than one image sensor and that is configured to capture the scene and retain a subset of the scene that includes the particular image, the border image, and the secondary border image;

receiving the particular image, the border image, and the secondary border image from the image sensor array device; and

transmitting to a requestor device at least the particular image for presentation.

27. The method of claim 26 , wherein the generating an expanded request for the particular image that includes the request for the particular image at a first resolution, a request for a border image that borders the particular image at a second resolution less than the first resolution, and a request for a secondary border image that borders the border image at a third resolution less than or equal to the second resolution comprises:

generating an expanded request for the particular image that includes the request for the particular image at a first resolution, a request for a border image that borders the particular image on each side at a second resolution less than the first resolution, and a request for a secondary border image that borders the border image at a third resolution less than or equal to the second resolution.

28. The method of claim 26 , wherein the receiving the particular image, the border image, and the secondary border image from the image sensor array device comprises:

receiving the particular image, the border image, and the secondary border image from the image sensor array device, wherein a resolution of at least the particular image is at least partially based on a property of the requestor device.

Assignments (2)

Continuity (13)