Patents by Inventor Robert Mark Stefan Porter

Robert Mark Stefan Porter 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: 9269105
    Abstract: An image processing method includes partitioning an image under test to form a plurality of contiguous image segments having similar image properties, deriving feature data from a subset including one or more of the image segments, and comparing the feature data from the subset of image segments with feature data derived from respective image segments of one or more other images so as to detect a similarity between the image under test and the one or more other images.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2016
    Assignee: SONY EUROPE LIMITED
    Inventors: Mikael Carl Lang, Robert Mark Stefan Porter, Paul Edward Prayle, Ratna Beresford, Jonathan Richard Thorpe, Michael John Williams
  • Patent number: 9118845
    Abstract: A method of annotating, on a display, a plurality of objects in an image of a scene captured by a camera, the method comprising: receiving i) metadata representing the different annotations to be applied to each of the objects, and ii) position information identifying the real-world position of each object in the scene to which the annotations in the image are to be applied; determining the focal length of the camera and the tilt applied to the camera; determining the position of the camera with respect to the scene being captured; and applying the annotation to the image captured by the camera in accordance with the position information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2015
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventor: Robert Mark Stefan Porter
  • Publication number: 20150143421
    Abstract: A client device, comprising: a communication unit configured to receive a plurality of parameters, the parameters defining segments of an image stored on a server, wherein the segments partially overlap; a processing unit configured to allow selection of a segment of the image in accordance with a defined view on the client device and wherein upon selection the segment is downloadable from the server; and a display configured to display on the client device the cut out of the image taken from the receivable segment is disclosed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 22, 2014
    Publication date: May 21, 2015
    Applicant: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Michael John WILLIAMS, David Wagg, Clive Henry Gillard, Robert Mark Stefan Porter, Richard Cooper
  • Publication number: 20150138188
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a device for generating a graphic and superimposing the generated graphic on a second image generated from a cut-out of a first image of a scene, the cut-out representing the field of view of a virtual camera, the device comprising: receiver circuitry configured to receive the second image and a set of cut-out corner coordinates; homography determining circuitry configured to determine, a homography between coordinates of the first 2D coordinate system defined within the cut-out and coordinates of a second 2D coordinate system defined for the second image; feature determining circuitry configured to determine a feature of the virtual 3D map of the scene within the field of view of the virtual camera; graphic generator circuitry configured to generate the graphic from the determined feature of the virtual 3D map; and graphic superimposing circuitry configured to superimpose the generated graphic on the second image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 22, 2014
    Publication date: May 21, 2015
    Applicant: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Clive Henry GILLARD, Michael John WILLIAMS, Robert Mark Stefan PORTER, Paul Edward PRAYLE
  • Patent number: 8965043
    Abstract: A method of detecting an object in an image at a client device is described. This method comprises the steps of: receiving from a server a two dimensional image of a scene, the scene being captured by a camera and the image comprising an object located within the scene, receiving from the server position data, the position data being indicative of the position of the object within the image; receiving from the server an outline representation of the object at that position, the outline representation defining for pixel positions in a segment of the image at that position whether the pixel position represents the object; and on the basis of said outline, detecting the object in the image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2015
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Robert Mark Stefan Porter, Stephen Mark Keating, Clive Henry Gillard
  • Patent number: 8924583
    Abstract: A method of viewing a highlight package on a client device, comprising at the client device: receiving a video stream comprising a plurality of frames, receiving field of view information from a server, the field of view information identifying, for a frame in the received video stream, positional information defining a segment of the frame, and displaying the defined segment to a user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 30, 2014
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Clive Henry Gillard, Robert Mark Stefan Porter
  • Publication number: 20140300687
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method for generating an image, comprising: obtaining a first image comprised of a first area being a plurality of images having different field of views of a real-life scene and captured from a location above the real-life scene stitched together to form a panoramic view of the real-life scene, and a second area which does not include the plurality of images; generating a second image which is a segment of the first image; determining whether the second image includes only the first area; and when the second image includes both the first area and at least part of the second area, the method further comprises: applying a border to the second image that extends along an upper boundary and along a lower boundary of the second image, the border being applied above the upper boundary and below the lower boundary. A corresponding device is also disclosed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 11, 2014
    Publication date: October 9, 2014
    Applicant: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Clive Henry Gillard, Robert Mark Stefan Porter
  • Publication number: 20140300645
    Abstract: A method of controlling the movement of a virtual camera whose image plane provides a cut-out from a captured image of a scene is disclosed. The method comprises: defining a set of first pixel positions forming the boundary of the cut-out of the captured image; defining a set of second pixel positions for the boundary of the captured image; calculating a virtual camera rotation matrix to be applied to the first pixel positions, the virtual camera rotation matrix representative of the difference in at least one of the yaw and pitch of the image plane of the virtual camera and the image plane of the captured image of the scene, wherein the virtual camera rotation matrix is limited such that when one of the set of first pixel positions is transformed using the virtual camera rotation matrix, the transformed first pixel position is located within the boundary of the captured image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 11, 2014
    Publication date: October 9, 2014
    Applicant: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Clive Henry GILLARD, Stephen Mark Keating, Robert Mark Stefan Porter
  • Publication number: 20140300644
    Abstract: A method of generating a cut-out from an image of a scene which has been captured by a camera is described.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 11, 2014
    Publication date: October 9, 2014
    Applicant: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Clive Henry GILLARD, Stephen Mark KEATING, Robert Mark Stefan PORTER
  • Patent number: 8848066
    Abstract: A method and a system for generating image content. The method and system allow segments of a panoramic scene, to be generated with reduced distortion. The method and system reduce the amount of distortion by mapping pixel data onto a pseudo camera focal plane which is provided substantially perpendicularly to the focal location of the camera that captured the image. A camera arrangement can implement the method and system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 30, 2014
    Assignee: Sony Europe Limited
    Inventors: Robert Mark Stefan Porter, Clive Henry Gillard, Jonathan James Stone, David Berry, Simon Dominic Haynes
  • Publication number: 20140195914
    Abstract: A method of viewing a highlight package on a client device, comprising at the client device: receiving a video stream comprising a plurality of frames, receiving field of view information from a server, the field of view information identifying, for a frame in the received video stream, positional information defining a segment of the frame, and displaying the defined segment to a user.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 11, 2014
    Publication date: July 10, 2014
    Applicant: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Clive Henry GILLARD, Robert Mark Stefan Porter
  • Patent number: 8745258
    Abstract: A method of viewing a highlight package on a client device, comprising at the client device: receiving a video stream comprising a plurality of frames, receiving field of view information from a server, the field of view information identifying, for a frame in the received video stream, positional information defining a segment of the frame, and displaying the defined segment to a user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2014
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Clive Henry Gillard, Robert Mark Stefan Porter
  • Patent number: 8732695
    Abstract: A method of distributing software and supplemental display data and a client device having the same. The method reduces the cost of providing software to a number of devices on a multi-cast network. The software allows the user to gain access to the multi-cast network, and the supplemental display data is transferred to the client device over the network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Robert Mark Stefan Porter, Clive Henry Gillard, Simon Dominic Haynes, Henry Epsom
  • Patent number: 8643702
    Abstract: A camera arrangement comprising a 3 dimensional image capture portion arranged to capture a first stereoscopic image composed of a first and a second image and a further camera element spaced apart from the 3 dimensional capture portion, the further camera element arranged to capture a third image, whereby the third image, when viewed with either the first or second image forms a second stereoscopic image is described. A corresponding method and camera system is also described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2014
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Robert Mark Stefan Porter, Stephen Mark Keating, Clive Henry Gillard
  • Patent number: 8532177
    Abstract: A method of image processing for image conversion, comprises the steps of calculating a difference measure of the difference in pixel values between corresponding blocks of a current image field and a preceding image field, calculating a variability measure of the variability of pixel values from at least one of said corresponding blocks, determining whether the difference measure exceeds the variability measure, and if the difference measure exceeds the variability measure, then setting an inter-image mixing value for each pixel in the corresponding block of the current image field to indicate that the current image field should not be mixed with the preceding image field at that pixel position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2013
    Assignee: Sony United Kingdom Limited
    Inventors: James Edward Burns, Karl James Sharman, Nicholas Ian Saunders, Robert Mark Stefan Porter
  • Patent number: 8477995
    Abstract: An image processing device comprises receiving means operable to receive, from a camera, a captured image corresponding to an image of a scene captured by the camera. The scene contains at least one object. The device comprises determining means operable to determine a distance between the object within the scene and a reference position defined with respect to the camera, and generating means operable to detect a position of the object within the captured image, and to generate a modified image from the captured image based on image features within the captured image which correspond to the object in the scene.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2013
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Robert Mark Stefan Porter, Clive Henry Gillard
  • Patent number: 8427545
    Abstract: A method and a system for generating image content. The method and system allow segments of a panoramic scene, to be generated with reduced distortion. The method and system reduce the amount of distortion by mapping pixel data onto a pseudo camera focal plane which is provided substantially perpendicularly to the focal location of the camera that captured the image. A camera arrangement can implement the method and system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2013
    Assignee: Sony Europe Limited
    Inventors: Robert Mark Stefan Porter, Clive Henry Gillard, Jonathan James Stone, David Berry, Simon Dominic Haynes
  • Patent number: 8391641
    Abstract: Disclosed is an apparatus for forming a composite image of a scene from a plurality of overlapping elemental images, the apparatus comprising: a selector for selecting one point in one of the plurality of images and another point in a second one of the plurality of images, the first point and the other point being overlaid in the composite image and being of substantially the same point in the scene; a determiner for determining, when the first point and the other point are overlaid, the gradient across the overlap between the first and other elementary image; and an adjuster for adjusting one of the first and second elementary image to minimize the gradient across the overlap. A corresponding method is also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2013
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Robert Mark Stefan Porter
  • Patent number: 8385646
    Abstract: An image processing method includes partitioning an image under test to form a plurality of contiguous image segments having similar image properties, deriving feature data from a subset including one or more of the image segments, and comparing the feature data from the subset of image segments with feature data derived from respective image segments of one or more other images so as to detect a similarity between the image under test and the one or more other images.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2013
    Assignee: Sony United Kingdom Limited
    Inventors: Mikael Carl Lang, Robert Mark Stefan Porter, Paul Edward Prayle, Ratna Beresford, Jonathan Richard Thorpe, Michael John Williams
  • Patent number: 8384791
    Abstract: A video camera arrangement comprises an image capture device; a face detector for detecting human faces in the captured video material and for generating face data identifying detected occurrences of faces in the captured video material; a data handling medium by which data representing the captured images is transmitted and/or stored; and a processor for generating data to be transmitted or stored by the data handling medium in dependence on the detection of faces in the captured images.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2013
    Assignee: Sony United Kingdom Limited
    Inventors: Robert Mark Stefan Porter, Ratna Rambaruth, Simon Dominic Haynes, Clive Henry Gillard