| Patent application number | Description | Published |
| 20100009700 | Methods and Apparatus for Collecting Image Data - An image processing system identifies desired views of a particular subject and triggers a mobile camera device in proximity to the subject to capture a digital image, thus collecting new image data to augment an existing database. In an exemplary method, location data for a camera-equipped mobile communication device in visual proximity to a subject of interest is received at an image collection server. Upon determining whether the location data corresponds to a desired view of the subject of interest, the image collection server sends an image capture request to the mobile device, triggering the user of the device to capture an image of the subject. Finally, digital image data is received from the mobile communication device in response to the image capture request. The digital image data may then be used for assembling a composite representation of the subject of interest, such as a 3D model of the subject. | 01-14-2010 |
| 20100150245 | Multimedia Stream Selection - Two or more video streams including a high quality video stream and a low quality video stream are simultaneously transmitted to the mobile communication device over the wireless network. All of the video streams carry the same video content but with different video quality. The high quality video stream is transmitted with a relatively low margin and the low quality video stream is transmitted with a relatively high margin. The mobile communication device can select the high quality video stream when channel conditions are favorable, and may select the low quality video stream when the channel conditions are not good enough to support the high quality video stream. | 06-17-2010 |
| 20100150252 | Multimedia Stream Combining - Two or more video streams including a high quality video stream and a low quality video stream are simultaneously transmitted to the video receiving device over the wireless network. All of the video streams carry the same video content but with different video quality. The high quality video stream is encoded using an unequal error protection code so that first components (e.g., high frequency components) receive a higher level of error protection than second components (e.g., low frequency components). The video receiving device can select the high quality video stream when channel conditions are favorable. When channel conditions are not good enough to support the high quality video stream, the video receiving device determines whether the first components of the high quality video stream with the greater error protection are usable. If so, the video receiving device combines the first components of the high quality video stream with the low quality video stream. Otherwise, the video receiving device outputs the low quality video stream. | 06-17-2010 |