# US 2017/0257565 A1 · Image capture and ordering

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- Number: US 2017/0257565 A1
- Document ID: US20170257565A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 15/603,568
- Filed: 2017-05-24
- Published: 2017-09-07
- Earliest claimed: 2013-03-14
- Assignees: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
- Applicants: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
- Inventors: Blaise Aguera y ARCAS; Markus UNGER; Donald A. BARNETT; David Maxwell GEDYE; Sudipta Narayan SINHA; Eric Joel STOLLNITZ; Johannes KOPF
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20170257565A1

## CPC

- H04N 23/698: for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture
- G06T 3/4038: Image mosaicing, e.g. composing plane images from plane sub-images
- H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- G06T: IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL

## Abstract

One or more techniques and/or systems are provided for ordering images for panorama stitching and/or for providing a focal point indicator for image capture. For example, one or more images, which may be stitched together to create a panorama of a scene, may be stored within an image stack according to one or more ordering preferences, such as where manually captured images are stored within a first/higher priority region of the image stack as compared to automatically captured images. One or more images within the image stack may be stitched according to a stitching order to create the panorama, such as using images in the first region for a foreground of the panorama. Also, a current position of a camera may be tracked and compared with a focal point of a scene to generate a focal point indicator to assist with capturing a new/current image of the scene.

## Claims

### Claim at position 1

1-20. (canceled)

### Claim 21

A method for ordering images for panorama stitching, comprising:
maintaining, by a computing device, an image stack comprising a plurality of existing images, the maintaining comprising:
receiving a new image;
responsive to the new image corresponding to a first ordering preference, adding the new image to a first region of the image stack having a higher stitching priority relative to a second region of the image stack;
receiving an input corresponding to the new image indicating that the new image is to be moved to a lower stitching priority region in the image stack;
responsive to the received input, adding the new image to the second region of the image stack; and
stitching, by the computing device, the new image and the plurality of existing images in the image stack according to a stitching priority assigned to each image of the image stack to generate the panorama.

### Claim 22 (depends on 21)

The method of claim 21, wherein the first ordering preference provides stitching priority for an image captured later in time.

### Claim 23 (depends on 21)

The method of claim 21, wherein the first ordering preference provides stitching priority based on foreground bias.

### Claim 24 (depends on 21)

The method of claim 21, wherein the first ordering preference provides stitching priority based on background bias.

### Claim 25 (depends on 21)

The method of claim 21, wherein the first ordering preference provides stitching priority based on an image being manually captured.

### Claim 26 (depends on 21)

The method of claim 21, wherein the first ordering preference provides stitching priority based on an image being automatically captured.

### Claim 27 (depends on 21)

The method of claim 21, wherein the received input is a user-provided manual input.

### Claim 28 (depends on 21)

The method of claim 21, wherein each image associated with the first region of the image stack is stitched before each image associated with the second region of the image stack.

### Claim 29

A system for ordering images for panorama stitching, the system comprising:
a memory for storing executable program code; and
a processor, functionally coupled to the memory, the processor being responsive to computer-executable instructions contained in the program code and operative to:
store a plurality of existing images in an image stack;
receive a new image;
responsive to the new image corresponding to a first ordering preference, add the new image to a first region of the image stack having a higher stitching priority relative to a second region of the image stack;
receive an input corresponding to the new image indicating that the new image is to be moved to a lower stitching priority region in the image stack;
responsive to the received input, add the new image to the second region of the image stack; and
stitch the new image and the plurality of existing images in the image stack according to a stitching priority assigned to each image of the image stack to generate a panorama.

### Claim 30 (depends on 29)

The system of claim 29, wherein the first ordering preference provides stitching priority for an image captured later in time.

### Claim 31 (depends on 29)

The system of claim 29, wherein the first ordering preference provides stitching priority based on foreground bias.

### Claim 32 (depends on 29)

The system of claim 29, wherein the first ordering preference provides stitching priority based on background bias.

### Claim 33 (depends on 29)

The system of claim 29, wherein the first ordering preference provides stitching priority based on an image being manually captured.

### Claim 34 (depends on 29)

The system of claim 29, wherein the first ordering preference provides stitching priority based on an image being automatically captured.

### Claim 35 (depends on 29)

The system of claim 29, wherein the received input is a user-provided manual input.

### Claim 36 (depends on 29)

The system of claim 29, wherein each image associated with the first region of the image stack is stitched before each image associated with the second region of the image stack.

### Claim 37

A computer-readable storage device comprising executable instructions, that when executed by a processor, assist with ordering images for panorama stitching, the computer-readable storage device including instructions executable by the processor for:
storing a plurality of existing images in an image stack;
receiving a new image;
responsive to the new image corresponding to a first ordering preference, adding the new image to a first region of the image stack having a higher stitching priority relative to a second region of the image stack;
receiving an input corresponding to the new image indicating that the new image is to be moved to a lower stitching priority region in the image stack;
responsive to the received input, adding the new image to the second region of the image stack; and
stitching the new image and the plurality of existing images in the image stack according to a stitching priority assigned to each image of the image stack to generate a panorama.

### Claim 38 (depends on 37)

The computer-readable storage device of claim 37, wherein the received input is a user-provided manual input.

### Claim 39 (depends on 37)

The computer-readable storage device of claim 37, wherein the first ordering preference provides stitching priority for an image captured later in time.

### Claim 40 (depends on 37)

The computer-readable storage device of claim 37, wherein the first ordering preference provides stitching priority based on an image being manually captured.