Patents by Inventor Michael Kroepfl
Michael Kroepfl has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
-
Patent number: 8971641Abstract: An image matching system is described for finding reference images that match a query image. The image matching system performs this operation in expeditious fashion by restricting the matching to a bounding region; the bounding region, in turn, may be associated with a location at which the query image may have been captured. In addition, the image matching system provides various mechanisms that expedite adding new reference images to an image index, to thereby provide a re-enforced learning mechanism of the image matching system.Type: GrantFiled: December 16, 2010Date of Patent: March 3, 2015Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLCInventors: Daniel Buchmueller, Michael Kroepfl, David Z. Nister, Vadim Cugunovs, Blaise Hilary Aguera-Arcas, Scott V. Fynn, Eyal Ofek
-
Patent number: 8831380Abstract: A system for displaying hybrid image data produced by embedding additional media objects within street-level panoramic images includes a user interface through which a user may view, search for, and/or navigate through additional media objects in the context of browsing a virtual environment of a location at street level. In response to user input indicating a request to view a geographic location and/or an additional media object, street-level panoramic image data associated with the geographic location, in which one or more additional media objects also associated with the geographic location have been embedded, may be provided for display through the user interface. The user interface may be provided by a client device including one or more processors that receive hybrid image data produced by one or more processors of a server and display the image data to the user.Type: GrantFiled: April 18, 2013Date of Patent: September 9, 2014Assignee: Microsoft CorporationInventors: Eyal Ofek, Michael Kroepfl, Julian R. Walker, Gonzalo A. Ramos, Blaise Hilary Aguera y Arcas
-
Patent number: 8675122Abstract: A digital camera described herein includes an analyzer component that analyzes a histogram of a first image, wherein the first image has a first resolution. The digital camera also includes a setter component that sets an exposure time for capturing a second image based at least in part upon the analysis of the histogram of the first image, wherein the second image has a second resolution, and wherein the first resolution of the first image is less than the second resolution of the second image.Type: GrantFiled: January 16, 2009Date of Patent: March 18, 2014Assignee: Microsoft CorporationInventors: Michael Kroepfl, Martin Josef Ponticelli, Hannes Hegenbarth, Gur Kimchi, John Charles Curlander
-
Patent number: 8611643Abstract: Photographs of an object may be oriented with respect to both the geographic location and orientation of the object by registering a 3D model derived from a plurality of photographs of the objects with a 2D image of the object having a known location and orientation. For example, a 3D point cloud of an object created from photographs of the object using a Photosynth™ tool may be aligned with a satellite photograph of the object, where the satellite photograph has location and orientation information. A tool providing scaling and rotation of the 3D model with respect to the 2D image may be used or an automatic alignment may be performed using a function based on object edges filtered at particular angles. Once aligned, data may be recorded that registers camera locations for the plurality of photographs with geographic coordinates of the object, either absolute latitude/longitude or relative to the object.Type: GrantFiled: September 14, 2012Date of Patent: December 17, 2013Assignee: Microsoft CorporationInventors: Eyal Ofek, Dan Hou, Blaise Aguera y Arcas, Scott Vernon Fynn, Roberto R. Molinari, Michael Kroepfl, Tony Ernst
-
Publication number: 20130229434Abstract: A system for displaying hybrid image data produced by embedding additional media objects within street-level panoramic images includes a user interface through which a user may view, search for, and/or navigate through additional media objects in the context of browsing a virtual environment of a location at street level. In response to user input indicating a request to view a geographic location and/or an additional media object, street-level panoramic image data associated with the geographic location, in which one or more additional media objects also associated with the geographic location have been embedded, may be provided for display through the user interface. The user interface may be provided by a client device including one or more processors that receive hybrid image data produced by one or more processors of a server and display the image data to the user.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 18, 2013Publication date: September 5, 2013Applicant: Microsoft CorporationInventors: Eyal Ofek, Michael Kroepfl, Julian R. Walker, Gonzalo A. Ramos, Blaise Hilary Aguera y Arcas
-
Publication number: 20130156274Abstract: Actions, such as adding new connection to a social graph, may be performed through picture taking. In one example, a user takes a picture of one or more people. The face in the picture may be sent to a social network for identification. The social network may use various resources to identify the face, including the social network's picture database and its social graph. When the person in the picture has been identified, the user may indicate an action (e.g., “adding as a friend” in a social network) to be performed with respect to the identified person. The action requested by the user may be then performed with respect to the identified person.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 19, 2011Publication date: June 20, 2013Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATIONInventors: Daniel Buchmueller, Amir Akbarzadeh, Michael Kroepfl
-
Patent number: 8447136Abstract: A system for displaying hybrid image data produced by embedding additional media objects within street-level panoramic images includes a user interface through which a user may view, search for, and/or navigate through additional media objects in the context of browsing a virtual environment of a location at street level. In response to user input indicating a request to view a geographic location and/or an additional media object, street-level panoramic image data associated with the geographic location, in which one or more additional media objects also associated with the geographic location have been embedded, may be provided for display through the user interface. The user interface may be provided by a client device including one or more processors that receive hybrid image data produced by one or more processors of a server and display the image data to the user.Type: GrantFiled: March 4, 2010Date of Patent: May 21, 2013Assignee: Microsoft CorporationInventors: Eyal Ofek, Michael Kroepfl, Julian R. Walker, Gonzalo A. Ramos, Blaise Hilary Aguera y Arcas
-
Patent number: 8429156Abstract: A request may be received that includes an indicator associated with a geographic location and scope. A database search may be initiated, based on the geographic location and scope. A list of one or more tags may be received, the tags associated with the geographic location, ordered based on relevance within the geographic scope, based on tag locale rankings associated with each of the tags included in the list of tags, the tag locale rankings based on comparisons of relative frequencies of occurrence of the tags, based on first bounded geographic areas, compared with second relative frequencies of occurrence of the tags based on second bounded geographic areas that are respectively larger than the first bounded geographic areas, the request geographic scope indicating one of a plurality of hierarchical geographic analysis levels associated with a plurality of geographic locations.Type: GrantFiled: June 17, 2011Date of Patent: April 23, 2013Assignee: Microsoft CorporationInventors: Daniel Buchmueller, Michael Kroepfl, Frederik Schaffalitzky
-
Patent number: 8428088Abstract: Systems and methods are described herein that cause data from asynchronous data sources to be provided with a timestamp that corresponds to a common time base. A trigger board can be used to control synchronized data sources, and can generate timestamps when data is collected by the synchronized data sources. Unsynchronized data sources can generate data independent of the trigger board. System timestamps are generated each time data from the synchronized data source and the unsynchronized data source is received. Values of the system timestamp can be modified, and can be replaced by timestamps that correspond to the time base used by the trigger board.Type: GrantFiled: May 31, 2011Date of Patent: April 23, 2013Assignee: Microsoft CorporationInventors: Michael Kroepfl, Gerhard Neuhold, Stefan Bernögger, Martin Josef Ponticelli, Joachim Pehserl, Gur Kimchi, John Charles Curlander
-
Publication number: 20130009954Abstract: Photographs of an object may be oriented with respect to both the geographic location and orientation of the object by registering a 3D model derived from a plurality of photographs of the objects with a 2D image of the object having a known location and orientation. For example, a 3D point cloud of an object created from photographs of the object using a Photosynth™ tool may be aligned with a satellite photograph of the object, where the satellite photograph has location and orientation information. A tool providing scaling and rotation of the 3D model with respect to the 2D image may be used or an automatic alignment may be performed using a function based on object edges filtered at particular angles. Once aligned, data may be recorded that registers camera locations for the plurality of photographs with geographic coordinates of the object, either absolute latitude/longitude or relative to the object.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 14, 2012Publication date: January 10, 2013Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATIONInventors: Eyal Ofek, Dan Hou, Blaise Aguera y Arcas, Scott Vernon Fynn, Roberto R. Molinari, Michael Kroepfl, Tony Ernst
-
Publication number: 20120323931Abstract: A request may be received that includes an indicator associated with a geographic location and scope. A database search may be initiated, based on the geographic location and scope. A list of one or more tags may be received, the tags associated with the geographic location, ordered based on relevance within the geographic scope, based on tag locale rankings associated with each of the tags included in the list of tags, the tag locale rankings based on comparisons of relative frequencies of occurrence of the tags, based on first bounded geographic areas, compared with second relative frequencies of occurrence of the tags based on second bounded geographic areas that are respectively larger than the first bounded geographic areas, the request geographic scope indicating one of a plurality of hierarchical geographic analysis levels associated with a plurality of geographic locations.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 17, 2011Publication date: December 20, 2012Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATIONInventors: Daniel Buchmueller, Michael Kroepfl, Frederik Schaffalitzky
-
Patent number: 8295589Abstract: Photographs of an object may be oriented with respect to both the geographic location and orientation of the object by registering a 3D model derived from a plurality of photographs of the objects with a 2D image of the object having a known location and orientation. For example, a 3D point cloud of an object created from photographs of the object using a Photosynth™ tool may be aligned with a satellite photograph of the object, where the satellite photograph has location and orientation information. A tool providing scaling and rotation of the 3D model with respect to the 2D image may be used or an automatic alignment may be performed using a function based on object edges filtered at particular angles. Once aligned, data may be recorded that registers camera locations for the plurality of photographs with geographic coordinates of the object, either absolute latitude/longitude or relative to the object.Type: GrantFiled: May 20, 2010Date of Patent: October 23, 2012Assignee: Microsoft CorporationInventors: Eyal Ofek, Dan Hou, Blaise Aguera y Arcas, Scott Vernon Fynn, Roberto R. Molinari, Michael Kroepfl, Tony Ernst
-
Patent number: 8284250Abstract: A system that facilitates determining a trigger rate for a digital camera to provide a threshold forward overlap for consecutively captured images is described herein. The system includes a receiver component that receives first data pertaining to a distance between the digital camera and a surface. The system additionally includes a rate determiner component that is in communication with the receiver component, wherein the rate determiner component determines the trigger rate for the digital camera based at least in part upon the first data, wherein the trigger rate is indicative of an amount of time between consecutive images captured by the digital camera.Type: GrantFiled: January 16, 2009Date of Patent: October 9, 2012Assignee: Microsoft CorporationInventors: Michael Kroepfl, Joachim Bauer, Gerhard Neuhold, Stefan Bernögger, Gur Kimchi, John Charles Curlander
-
Patent number: 8244431Abstract: A system described herein includes a receiver component that receives first velocity data that is indicative of a velocity of a vehicle over a period of time, wherein the first velocity data corresponds to a first sensor. The receiver component also receives second velocity data that is indicative of the velocity of the vehicle over the period of time, wherein the second velocity data corresponds to a second sensor. The system also includes a modifier component that determines a difference between the first velocity data and the second velocity data and outputs at least one final velocity value for the vehicle based at least in part upon the first difference data.Type: GrantFiled: February 13, 2009Date of Patent: August 14, 2012Assignee: Microsoft CorporationInventors: Michael Kroepfl, Joachim Pehserl, Joachim Bauer, Stephen L. Lawler, Gur Kimchi, John Curlander
-
Publication number: 20120155778Abstract: An image matching system is described for finding reference images which match a query image. The image matching system performs this operation in expeditious fashion by restricting the matching to a bounding region; the bounding region, in turn, may be associated with a location at which the query image may have been captured. In addition, the image matching system provides various mechanisms that expedite adding new reference images to an image index, to thereby provide a re-enforced learning mechanism of the image matching system.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 16, 2010Publication date: June 21, 2012Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATIONInventors: Daniel Buchmueller, Michael Kroepfl, David Z. Nister, Vadim Cugunovs, Blaise Hilary Aguera-Arcas, Scott V. Fynn, Eyal Ofek
-
Patent number: 8189925Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention relate to systems, methods and computer storage media for associating a known geographic location with a known identity. Feature matching, of at least two images, is performed in at least two iterations. The iterations are based on an orientation of feature vectors associated with points of interest in each image. A geometric model is applied to the matched points of interest to improve the matched pairs. Two images are identified as being related. As a result, the known geographic location is associated with the known identity. Additional embodiments include augmenting feature vectors with a coordinate location of a related point of interest based on a geometric model. Further, an exemplary embodiment includes an additional matching iteration based on the augmented feature vectors. In an exemplary embodiment, the feature matching utilizes a Scale-Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT).Type: GrantFiled: June 4, 2009Date of Patent: May 29, 2012Assignee: Microsoft CorporationInventors: Michael Kroepfl, Eyal Ofek, Yonatan Wexler, Donald Wysocki, Gur Kimchi
-
Publication number: 20110286660Abstract: Photographs of an object may be oriented with respect to both the geographic location and orientation of the object by registering a 3D model derived from a plurality of photographs of the objects with a 2D image of the object having a known location and orientation. For example, a 3D point cloud of an object created from photographs of the object using a Photosynth™ tool may be aligned with a satellite photograph of the object, where the satellite photograph has location and orientation information. A tool providing scaling and rotation of the 3D model with respect to the 2D image may be used or an automatic alignment may be performed using a function based on object edges filtered at particular angles. Once aligned, data may be recorded that registers camera locations for the plurality of photographs with geographic coordinates of the object, either absolute latitude/longitude or relative to the object.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 20, 2010Publication date: November 24, 2011Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATIONInventors: Eyal Ofek, Dan Hou, Blaise Aguera y Arcas, Scott Vernon Fynn, Roberto R. Molinari, Michael Kroepfl, Tony Ernst
-
Publication number: 20110228091Abstract: Systems and methods are described herein that cause data from asynchronous data sources to be provided with a timestamp that corresponds to a common time base. A trigger board can be used to control synchronized data sources, and can generate timestamps when data is collected by the synchronized data sources. Unsynchronized data sources can generate data independent of the trigger board. System timestamps are generated each time data from the synchronized data source and the unsynchronized data source is received. Values of the system timestamp can be modified, and can be replaced by timestamps that correspond to the time base used by the trigger board.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 31, 2011Publication date: September 22, 2011Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATIONInventors: Michael Kroepfl, Gerhard Neuhold, Stefan Bernögger, Martin Josef Ponticelli, Joachim Pehserl, Gur Kimchi, John Charles Curlander
-
Publication number: 20110173565Abstract: A system for displaying hybrid image data produced by embedding additional media objects within street-level panoramic images includes a user interface through which a user may view, search for, and/or navigate through additional media objects in the context of browsing a virtual environment of a location at street level. In response to user input indicating a request to view a geographic location and/or an additional media object, street-level panoramic image data associated with the geographic location, in which one or more additional media objects also associated with the geographic location have been embedded, may be provided for display through the user interface. The user interface may be provided by a client device including one or more processors that receive hybrid image data produced by one or more processors of a server and display the image data to the user.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 4, 2010Publication date: July 14, 2011Applicant: Microsoft CorporationInventors: Eyal Ofek, Michael Kroepfl, Julian R. Walker, Gonzalo A. Ramos, Blaise Hilary Aguera y Arcas
-
Patent number: 7974314Abstract: Systems and methods are described herein that cause data from asynchronous data sources to be provided with a timestamp that corresponds to a common time base. A trigger board can be used to control synchronized data sources, and can generate timestamps when data is collected by the synchronized data sources. Unsynchronized data sources can generate data independent of the trigger board. System timestamps are generated each time data from the synchronized data source and the unsynchronized data source is received. Values of the system timestamp can be modified, and can be replaced by timestamps that correspond to the time base used by the trigger board.Type: GrantFiled: January 16, 2009Date of Patent: July 5, 2011Assignee: Microsoft CorporationInventors: Michael Kroepfl, Gerhard Neuhold, Stefan Bernögger, Martin Josef Ponticelli, Joachim Pehserl, Gur Kimchi, John Charles Curlander