US 7,925,434 B2Granted

Image-related information displaying system

AssigneeHitachi Software Engineering Co., Ltd.

InventorsHideaki Kato, Koji Ueda, Akira Kurosawa

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Abstract

An image-related information displaying system includes: a host system having a three-dimensional land feature/place name information database and a delivery service subscriber list database; and multiple mobile terminal devices, each of which receives land feature/place name information from the host system and is connected to a base station via respective radio channels The base station is connected to a network, such as a wired public telephone circuit network, and the host system is connected thereto. Individual mobile terminal devices and the host system are bilaterally connected via the radio channels and the network which both reach to the base station. The base station corresponds to a base station managed by a cellular phone service provider when cellular phones are used as radio transmitter-receiver means. The host system includes the three-dimensional land feature/place name information database and the delivery service subscriber list database. Data on three-dimensional coordinates of representative points which represent land features, for example, throughout Japan, and the corresponding name and information are registered in the three-dimensional land feature/place name information database in the host system. The host system includes a retrieval processor unit for performing a process of retrieving land feature information from the three-dimensional land feature/place name information database in response to a request for the land feature information from one of the mobile terminal devices, and a transmitter-receiver unit for transmitting and receiving data between the host system and each of the mobile terminal devices.

Claims8

Dependent claims

An image-related information displaying system comprising:

a host system having a three-dimensional land feature/place name information database which stores three-dimensional land feature/place name information including information on three-dimensional position of land features and land feature-related information related to the land features;
and
a plurality of mobile terminal devices capable of being connected to the host system,
wherein each of the mobile terminal devices includes an image photographing unit for photographing an image, a current-position detecting unit for detecting a current position, a three-dimensional posture/direction detecting unit for detecting a three-dimensional posture at a time of photographing and a photographing direction that the image photographing unit faces and a communications unit for transmitting to the host system the current position, the three-dimensional posture, the photographing direction, and focus information including a subject distance obtained by using the image photographing unit,
the host system includes a retrieving unit for receiving the current position, the three-dimensional posture at the time of photographing, the photographing direction, and the focus information from one of the mobile terminal devices, and for, based on these received conditions, retrieving land feature-related information regarding land features that lie within a focal area from the three-dimensional land feature/place name information database, and
each of the mobile terminal devices receives the land feature-related information retrieved by the retrieving unit and performs, without generating a three-dimensional map image, a superimposed display of the land features and the corresponding land feature-related information only with respect to the land features that lie within the focal area in the photographed image.

3 more elements

A mobile terminal device comprising:

a current position detecting unit for acquiring a current position;
a three-dimensional posture/direction detecting unit for detecting a three-dimensional posture at a time of photographing and a photographing direction;
an image photographing unit for photographing an image;
and
a communications unit for transmitting to a host system the current position, the three-dimensional posture, the photographing direction, and focus information including a subject distance obtained by using the image photographing unit, the host system having a three-dimensional land feature/place name information database which stores three-dimensional land feature/place name information including information on three-dimensional position of land features and land feature-related information related to the land features;
wherein the host system, upon receiving the current position, the three-dimensional posture at the time of photographing, the photographing direction, and the focus information from the communication unit and based on these received conditions, retrieves land feature-related information regarding land features that lie within a focal area from the three-dimensional land feature/place name information database, and
wherein the communication unit receives the land feature-related information from the host system and performs, without generating a three-dimensional map image, a superimposed display of the land features and the corresponding land feature-related information only with respect to the land features that lie within the focal area in the photographed image.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 11/987,849Filed 5 Dec 2007
Priority: JP 2006-34343820 Dec 2006
Published: US 2008/0154494 A126 Jun 2008
Granted: 12 Apr 2011
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification5 codes

G01C 21/3638
Guidance using 3D or perspective road maps: including 3D objects and buildings
G01C 21/3647
Details of the output of route guidance instructions: guidance involving output of stored or live camera images or video streams
G09B 29/106
Map spot or coordinate position indicators; Map reading aids: using electronic means
G01C
Measuring distances, levels or bearings