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SonyGranted patentAI & softwareInterest 6/10

Sony patents 3D map navigation that slides between building floors

Patent drawing
Patent drawing from the official filing.

Sony has been granted a patent for an image processing system that lets users navigate digital maps of buildings. When a user selects a different floor, the display animates the new image sliding in from the direction of that floor, such as up or down, to show the vertical relationship between levels.

Why it mattersThis improves how digital maps handle multi-story buildings by using visual movement to help users understand their position relative to other floors.

In the filing’s own words

Disclosed herein is an image processing device including an input information acquiring part that receives a user operation relating to an image displayed on a displaying device, and an image displaying part that, when the input information acquiring part receives an operation for specifying a place by a user, causes the displaying device to display thereon an image of the place. The image displaying part further causes an icon for floor number selection for selecting a floor number of a building currently displayed to be displayed and, when the input information acquiring part receives an operation, which is performed on the icon for floor number selection, for selecting another floor, changes display such that an image of the selected floor appears from a direction same as a direction corresponding to the selected floor in a vertical positional relation between the selected floor and a floor currently displayed.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. An image processing apparatus comprising: a display; and an interface configured to receive a user operation; and circuitry configured to provide content to be displayed on the display of one of a plurality of images obtained by photographing a same place in different situations in accordance with the user operation, wherein: the display is configured to display a situation selection icon that is selectable to select a photographing situation of the same place as that of a first image being displayed, in response to the interface having received notification of the situation selection icon being selected, the circuitry is further configured to cause the display device to display a second image to be photographed in the selected situation, and in response to an instruction within a range on the interface regarded as a same position that persists for at least a predetermined time, the circuitry is further configured to cause the display to superimpose the situation selection icon at an instructed position on the first image.

Facts

Company
Sony (Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.)
Official title
Image processing device, image providing server, image display method, and image provision method for navigating horizontally or vertically between floor images
Patent number
US12770296B2
Application number
18639998
Filed
Apr 19, 2024
Granted
Oct 20, 2026
Inventors
1
Claims
14

Classified under

G06T 7/97 Physics & computingG06F 3/04815 Physics & computingG06T 5/50 Physics & computingG06T 7/0002 Physics & computingG09B 29/007 Physics & computingG06T 2207/20221 Physics & computing

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.