# US 8,571,357 B2 · Image data management apparatus, method and program > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 8,571,357 B2 - Document ID: US8571357B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 12/889,966 - Filed: 2010-09-24 - Published: 2011-04-14 - Granted: 2013-10-29 - Earliest claimed: 2009-10-08 - Assignees: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha - Applicants: Kanako Yamakawa - Inventors: Kanako Yamakawa - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US8571357B2 ## CPC - G06F 16/58: Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually - G06F 16/4393: {Multimedia presentations, e.g. slide shows, multimedia albums} - G06F 16/587: using geographical or spatial information, e.g. location - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract Image data are each related to identification information on an image-capturing location and an image-capturing apparatus, and a CPU, upon issuance of an image data transfer instruction, determines a non-image-capturing location on the basis of the image-capturing location information for image data captured by a specific image-capturing apparatus and stored in a recording medium. Then, from among image data captured by other image-capturing apparatuses and stored in other recording medium, image data captured in the non-image-capturing location is extracted, so that a user of the specific image-capturing apparatus can easily obtain image data captured by the other apparatuses in a location that the specific image-capturing apparatus did not capture images of. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An image data management apparatus for managing a plurality of image data, comprising: a reading unit configured to read identification information unique to an image-capturing apparatus which captured the image data, and image-capturing location information indicating an image-capturing location of the image data, the identification information and the image-capturing location information being related to the image data; a determination unit configured to determine a non-image-capturing location for an image-capturing apparatus corresponding to specific identification information on the basis of the image-capturing location information of image data related to the specific identification information; and an extraction unit configured to extract, from among image data related to other identification information that is different from the specific identification information, image data whose image-capturing locations exists in the non-image-capturing location. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The image data management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reading unit further reads image-capturing date and time information indicating image-capturing date and time related to each image data; and wherein the image data management apparatus further comprises a date and time-based retrieval unit configured to retrieve image data on the basis of the image-capturing date and time of the image data related to the specific identification information from among the image data extracted by the extraction unit. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The image data management apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a calculation unit configured to calculate a distance between the image-capturing locations of the image data extracted by the extraction unit; a model retrieval unit configured to retrieve, from among a plurality of image data having the calculated distances smaller than a predetermined value, image data on the basis of a model name of an image-capturing apparatus corresponding to the other identification information. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The image data management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reading unit further reads image-capturing direction information related to each image data; and wherein the image data management apparatus further comprises: an obtainment unit configured to obtain the image-capturing directions of the image data extracted by the extraction unit; and a direction retrieval unit configured to retrieve image data from among a plurality of image data having the same obtained image-capturing directions the image data extracted by the extraction unit, on the basis of the model name of the image-capturing apparatus corresponding to the other identification information. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The image data management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines a location whose distance from the image-capturing location of the image data related to the specific identification information is no less than a predetermined value to be a non-image-capturing location. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The image data management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit divides a retrieval object area into a plurality of small areas, and determines a small area not including the image-capturing location of the image data related to the specific identification information to be a non-image-capturing location. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The image data management apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a route making unit configured to make a route on the basis of the image-capturing location of the image data related to the specific identification information, wherein the determination unit determines a location whose distance from the route is no less than a predetermined value, to be a non-image-capturing location. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The image data management apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a route making unit configured to make a route on the basis of the image-capturing location of the image data related to the specific identification information, wherein the determination unit determines a section whose distance on the route from the image-capturing location of the image data related to the specific identification information is no less than a predetermined value, to be a non-image-capturing section, and determines a location having a distance within a predetermined value from the non-image-capturing section to be a non-image-capturing location. ### Claim 9 An image data management method for managing a plurality of image data, comprising the steps of: reading identification information unique to an image-capturing apparatus which captured the image data, and image-capturing location information indicating an image-capturing location of the image data, the identification information and the image-capturing location information being related to the image data; determining a non-image-capturing location for an image-capturing apparatus corresponding to specific identification information on the basis of the image-capturing location information of image data related to the specific identification information; and extracting, from among image data related to other identification information that is different from the specific identification information, image data whose image-capturing location exists in the non-image-capturing location. ### Claim 10 A computer program stored on a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium, comprising program code for causing a computer to execute management processing of a plurality of image data, the management processing comprising: reading identification information unique to an image-capturing apparatus which captured the image data, and image-capturing location information indicating an image-capturing location of the image data, the identification information and the image-capturing location information being related to the image data; determining a non-image-capturing location for an image-capturing apparatus corresponding to specific identification information on the basis of the image-capturing location information of image data related to the specific identification information; and extracting, from among image data related to other identification information that is different from the specific identification information, image data whose image-capturing location exists in the non-image-capturing location. ### Claim 11 An image data management apparatus for managing a plurality of image data, comprising: a reading unit configured to read identification information unique to an image-capturing apparatus which captured the image data, and image-capturing location information indicating an image-capturing location of the image data, the identification information and the image-capturing location information being related to the image data; a determination unit configured to determine an image-capturing area for an image-capturing apparatus corresponding to specific identification information on the basis of the image-capturing location information of image data related to the specific identification information; and an extraction unit configured to extract, from among image data related to other identification information that is different from the specific identification information, image data whose image-capturing location does not exist in the image-capturing area.