Patents by Inventor Rudolf O. Ernst

Rudolf O. Ernst 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: 8885940
    Abstract: A method of inserting an image into a container file including reading source data including the image; opening the container file where the image will be stored, the container file comprising one or more records. Each record includes an image file section reserved for storing the image, an image metadata section reserved for storing data about the image, and a record metadata section having a status flag or status mark indicating whether the image file section is empty. The method further includes determining whether the source data is valid to be entered into a record in the one or more records; if the source of data is valid, preparing the record and the image metadata; and writing the record into the container file and marking the status mark of the record as being updated while writing the record into the container file.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 11, 2014
    Assignee: Pixia Corp.
    Inventors: Rahul C. Thakkar, Scott L. Pakula, Rudolf O. Ernst
  • Publication number: 20140254954
    Abstract: A method of creating a container file for large format imagery and organizing data within the container file are described. In one embodiment, the method of creating the container file includes validating user input parameters for the file container, and determining whether the container file already exists, the container file having file container metadata. If the file container does not exist, creating the container by creating one or more empty records in a storage device, the one or more empty records having an image file section reserved for storing an image, an image metadata section reserved for storing data about the image and a record metadata section having at least a mark indicating that the image file section is empty. A size of the image file section, a size of the image metadata section and a size of the record metadata section are determined using the user input parameters.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 16, 2014
    Publication date: September 11, 2014
    Applicant: PIXIA CORP.
    Inventors: Rahul C. Thakkar, Scott L. Pakula, Rudolf O. Ernst
  • Publication number: 20140248002
    Abstract: A method of creating or updating a container file for storing images is provided. The method includes determining whether the container file already exists in a storage device, the container file having a container file metadata section. If the container file does not exist in the storage device, the method creates the container file by creating one or more empty records in the storage device. Each record of the one or more empty records includes an image file section reserved for storing an image, an image metadata section reserved for storing data about the image, a record metadata section including information about the record and having at least a record status mark indicating that the record is empty. The method further includes setting a container status mark in the container file metadata section to available, after creating the container file.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 16, 2014
    Publication date: September 4, 2014
    Applicant: PIXIA CORP.
    Inventors: Rahul C. Thakkar, Scott L. Pakula, Rudolf O. Ernst
  • Publication number: 20140240345
    Abstract: A method of processing a viewport within an image arranged as a matrix of tiles from a container file is provided. The method includes receiving a request to read data of the viewport starting from a point of origin of the viewport, the viewport having a pixel width and a pixel height, the viewport being a portion of an image that is stored in a record within the file container; computing column numbers or row numbers, or both, of the tiles containing the viewport; and reading in parallel or asynchronously each row or each column of tiles containing the viewport.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 8, 2014
    Publication date: August 28, 2014
    Applicant: PIXIA CORP.
    Inventors: Rahul C. Thakkar, Scott L. PAKULA, Rudolf O. ERNST
  • Patent number: 8768106
    Abstract: A container file for storing images in a storage device, the container file includes container file metadata including information about the container file and a status mark indicating whether the container file is available or unavailable; and one or more records, each record of the one or more records comprising: an image file section reserved for storing an image, an image metadata section reserved for storing data about the image, and a record metadata section including information about the record and at least a status mark indicating whether the record is empty, being updated, valid or invalid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2014
    Assignee: Pixia Corp.
    Inventors: Rahul C. Thakkar, Scott L. Pakula, Rudolf O. Ernst
  • Patent number: 8755609
    Abstract: A method of processing a viewport within an image arranged as a matrix of tiles from a container file is provided. The method includes reading data of the viewport starting from a point of origin of the viewport, the viewport having a pixel width and a pixel height, the viewport being a portion of an image stored in a record within the file container; reading record metadata of the record; computing column numbers or row numbers, or both, of the tiles containing the viewport; and launching parallel or asynchronous read requests for each row or each column of the viewport.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 17, 2014
    Assignee: Pixia Corp.
    Inventors: Rahul C. Thakkar, Scott L. Pakula, Rudolf O. Ernst
  • Publication number: 20140055478
    Abstract: A method, implemented by a computer system, and a system of organizing data of a wide area motion imagery frame and a method and a system of retrieving objects that match a user defined AOI from an image in a WAMI frame in a WAMI collection are described. The method of organizing includes dividing, by the computer system, an image of a WAMI frame into a plurality of tiles, each tile in the plurality of tiles comprising a plurality of pixels and having a pixel width and a pixel height; storing, by the computer system, the plurality of tiles as objects in an OSD, each object having an object identifier (OID); collecting, by the computer system, object identifiers (OIDs) of the objects; and storing, by the computer system, the OIDs in the OSD.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 22, 2013
    Publication date: February 27, 2014
    Applicant: Pixia Corp.
    Inventors: Rahul C. THAKKAR, Rudolf O. ERNST, Nabil Samir AL RAMLI
  • Patent number: 8644690
    Abstract: A method and system for storing a video on a storage device are provided. The method includes formatting each image in a plurality of images into a plurality of tiles, the plurality of images being captured as a temporal sequence of images at successive points in time. The method further includes selecting a tile from each image in the temporal sequence of images to obtain a temporal sequence of tiles to generate a video segment; selecting another tile from each image in the temporal sequence of images to obtain another temporal sequence of tiles to generate another video segment; and repeating the selecting a tile from each image in the temporal sequence of images to obtain a plurality of temporal sequences of tiles to generate a plurality of video segments. The obtained plurality of video segments are stored in a file on the storage device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2014
    Assignee: Pixia Corp.
    Inventors: Rudolf O. Ernst, Rahul C. Thakkar
  • Publication number: 20130330020
    Abstract: A container file for storing images in a storage device, the container file includes container file metadata including information about the container file and a status mark indicating whether the container file is available or unavailable; and one or more records, each record of the one or more records comprising: an image file section reserved for storing an image, an image metadata section reserved for storing data about the image, and a record metadata section including information about the record and at least a status mark indicating whether the record is empty, being updated, valid or invalid.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 9, 2013
    Publication date: December 12, 2013
    Applicant: Pixia Corp
    Inventors: Rahul C. THAKKAR, Scott L. PAKULA, Rudolf O. ERNST
  • Publication number: 20130325911
    Abstract: A method of inserting an image into a container file including reading source data including the image; opening the container file where the image will be stored, the container file comprising one or more records. Each record includes an image file section reserved for storing the image, an image metadata section reserved for storing data about the image, and a record metadata section having a status flag or status mark indicating whether the image file section is empty. The method further includes determining whether the source data is valid to be entered into a record in the one or more records; if the source of data is valid, preparing the record and the image metadata; and writing the record into the container file and marking the status mark of the record as being updated while writing the record into the container file.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 9, 2013
    Publication date: December 5, 2013
    Applicant: PIXIA CORP.
    Inventors: Rahul C. THAKKAR, Scott L. Pakula, Rudolf O. Ernst
  • Publication number: 20130322756
    Abstract: A method of processing a viewport within an image arranged as a matrix of tiles from a container file is provided. The method includes reading data of the viewport starting from a point of origin of the viewport, the viewport having a pixel width and a pixel height, the viewport being a portion of an image stored in a record within the file container; reading record metadata of the record; computing column numbers or row numbers, or both, of the tiles containing the viewport; and launching parallel or asynchronous read requests for each row or each column of the viewport.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 9, 2013
    Publication date: December 5, 2013
    Applicant: Pixia Corp.
    Inventors: Rahul C. THAKKAR, Scott L. Pakula, Rudolf O. Ernst
  • Patent number: 8532383
    Abstract: A method of processing a viewport within large format imagery is described. In one embodiment, the method includes dividing the image into a matrix of a plurality of tiles, each tile in the plurality of tiles having a plurality of pixels; defining a viewport within the image, the viewport including one or more tiles in the plurality of tiles, the viewport having an origin point and a width and a height; and reading a strip of pixel data in each column of the matrix of tiles within the viewport starting at a column in the matrix of tiles containing the origin point. The strip of pixel data starts at a first line of the viewport and ends at the height of the viewport from the first line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2013
    Assignee: Pixia Corp.
    Inventors: Rahul C. Thakkar, Scott Pakula, Rudolf O. Ernst
  • Patent number: 8532397
    Abstract: A method of creating a container file for large format imagery and organizing data within the container file are described. In one embodiment, the method of creating the container file includes validating user input parameters for the file container, and determining whether the container file already exists, the container file having file container metadata. If the file container does not exist, creating the container by creating one or more empty records in a storage device, the one or more empty records having an image file section reserved for storing an image, an image metadata section reserved for storing data about the image and a record metadata section having at least a mark indicating that the image file section is empty. A size of the image file section, a size of the image metadata section and a size of the record metadata section are determined using the user input parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2013
    Assignee: Pixia Corp.
    Inventors: Rahul C. Thakkar, Scott Pakula, Rudolf O. Ernst
  • Patent number: 8341548
    Abstract: A method of configuring an image for data storage on a storage device in an overlapping-tiled format and a method of displaying a desired image selected for viewing on a display are disclosed. The method of configuring an image for data storage includes formatting an image to include a plurality of image tiles, each image tile in the plurality of image tiles having at least a portion that is substantially identical to at least a portion of an adjacent image tile in the plurality of image tiles. The method further includes converting data of the image from data in a first color space into data in a second color space so as to reduce a size of the data of the image, and storing the image data in the second color space.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 25, 2012
    Assignee: Pixia Corp.
    Inventors: Rudolf O. Ernst, Rahul C. Thakkar
  • Patent number: 8290346
    Abstract: A method for storing a video on a storage device includes formatting each image in a plurality of images into a plurality of tiles, the plurality of images being captured as a temporal sequence of images at successive points in time; and generating a plurality of video segments from the temporal sequence of images by: selecting a tile from each image in the sequence of images to obtain a sequence of tiles to generate a video segment; selecting another tile from each image in the sequence of images to obtain another sequence of tiles to generate another video segment; and repeating the selecting a tile from each image in the sequence of images to obtain a plurality of sequences of tiles to generate the plurality of video segments. The method further includes storing the obtained plurality of video segments in a file on the storage device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2012
    Assignee: Pixia Corp.
    Inventors: Rudolf O. Ernst, Rahul Thakkar
  • Publication number: 20120081379
    Abstract: A method of storing an image on a storage device in a tiled format is provided. The method includes formatting the storage device to include a block size such that a tile size is an integer multiple of the block size, and the tile size corresponds to a display output. The method further includes reading pixel data of a source image; and generating, from the read pixel data, a first tile and a second tile. The first tile and the second tile each have overlapping portions that overlap by an adjustable amount, and the overlapping portions include substantially identical pixel data. The method also includes storing the first tile and the second tile on the storage device; and repeating the reading, generating, and storing a plurality of times to store the image. The image is stored on the storage device as a contiguous string of data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 9, 2011
    Publication date: April 5, 2012
    Applicant: PIXIA CORP.
    Inventors: Rudolf O. ERNST, Rahul C. Thakkar
  • Patent number: 7840908
    Abstract: A video display system, which enables users to navigate (by panning and zooming) throughout very large digital images. The digital images are stored on a disk drive in a proprietary file format (which is optimized for speed) and then viewed via a VGA connection. The system enables a user's ability to navigate throughout the entire image seamlessly. Instead of requiring a large amount of memory to display these images, the images are essentially transferred directly from the disk drive to video memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 23, 2010
    Assignee: Pixia Corp.
    Inventors: Rudolf O. Ernst, Pun Sing Lui
  • Publication number: 20100111411
    Abstract: A method of configuring an image for data storage on a storage device in an overlapping-tiled format and a method of displaying a desired image selected for viewing on a display are disclosed. The method of configuring an image for data storage includes formatting an image to include a plurality of image tiles, each image tile in the plurality of image tiles having at least a portion that is substantially identical to at least a portion of an adjacent image tile in the plurality of image tiles. The method further includes converting data of the image from data in a first color space into data in a second color space so as to reduce a size of the data of the image, and storing the image data in the second color space.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 28, 2009
    Publication date: May 6, 2010
    Applicant: PIXIA CORP.
    Inventors: Rudolf O. ERNST, Rahul C. THAKKAR
  • Patent number: 7607106
    Abstract: An image display system is disclosed that enables users to navigate very large digital images quickly and seamlessly. The system is optimized to transmit image data from a disk drive to a display at high data rates. The image data is stored on the disk drive in a file format optimized for high speed retrieval, display, and seamless navigation. The image display system can be cascaded for showing two or more contiguous images on multiple displays.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2009
    Assignee: Pixia Corp.
    Inventors: Rudolf O. Ernst, Pun Sing Lui
  • Patent number: 7119811
    Abstract: An image display system is disclosed that enables users to navigate very large digital images quickly and seamlessly. The system is optimized to transmit image data from a disk drive at high data rates. The image data is stored on the disk drive in a file format optimized for high speed retrieval, display, and seamless navigation. The image display system can be cascaded for showing two or more contiguous images.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2006
    Assignee: Pixia Corp.
    Inventors: Rudolf O. Ernst, Pun Sing Lui