JP2012128859A - System for providing actual position specification data - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system for providing actual position specification data.SOLUTION: A device for providing actual position specification image data for at least one requester is coupled to many producers for position specification image data, and the respective producers have producer profiles adapted so as to provide position specification image data at one or a plurality of specific positions and including at least position representations showing positions of the producers. A device 100 has a receiver 101, a processor 102, and a transmitter 103. The receiver 101 is configured so as to receive a request for the position specification image data at the one or the plurality of specific positions from the requester. The transmitter 103 is configured so as to transmit requested position specification image data from at least one matching producer to the requester.

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus, system, and method for providing actual location image data to at least one requestor.

  It is a complex task to provide location request image data accurately and in a timely manner for a given location state. There are many scenarios where access to imaging material can be important to improve situational awareness, to gain an overview, to quickly find potential problems, or to understand the cause of problems. For example, with an understanding of traffic conditions on highways after traffic accidents or difficult weather conditions, authorities may dispatch patrol cars or helicopters equipped with cameras, if possible, to take pictures of the current situation, It needs to be transmitted to road users.

  Another example may be efficiently responding to emergency situations such as traffic accidents or chemical accidents, fires or environmental accidents. Emergency services are critically dependent on early and accurate information about the current state in the area in order to prepare rescue operations, recognize access points and assess hazards.

  In yet another example, a private person who wants to participate in an event wants to know about free parking conditions and congestion in the area of interest.

  To provide location-specific image data, it is usually utilized to install cameras in fixed locations such as, for example, surveillance cameras, webcams, cars and helicopters that patrol and report to headquarters, and military satellite systems.

  However, these solutions are generally time consuming, expensive to operate, and inflexible in terms of coverage. A fixed camera can potentially provide a 360 degree field of view, but can only provide monitoring information for a very limited area attached and cannot be applied to remote areas.

  To cover these areas, vehicles can be dispatched or satellite images need to be requested. This makes the image acquisition process expensive in terms of time and money.

  Moreover, traditional solutions are further secured by the authorities. On the other hand, a private person who is interested in a particular current parking situation or, for example, congestion at a particular location on a beach cannot obtain such information.

  Another solution for providing location-specific image data is to capture stock photos from an image database of the specific location of interest. Such an off-line solution has the disadvantage that it cannot provide raw or real data. Furthermore, it is possible to entrust a photographer to take position-specific image data at a specific position. However, this solution also has the disadvantage of not being able to provide raw real data, and furthermore this solution can be very expensive.

  Further, in order to obtain position specific image data, the pilot or driver may be asked verbally to report on the status of a specific position or position of interest.

  For example, privacy protection of a user's location has been studied in the context of location-based services when a user requests a lot of information such as restaurants, weather conditions, travel guidance, etc., depending on their current location.

  In Non-Patent Document 1, to develop a method to limit the accuracy of the reported position so that there are at least k-1 other users in the same region during a given time interval. The concept of k-anonymity is used. The method of Non-Patent Document 1 is summarized and reveals the true position to the position anonymizer.

  Non-Patent Document 2 proposes an obfuscation technique in which false measurement points are reported along with actual positions. This focuses on the trade-off between resulting location-based quality of service and protected privacy.

  In Non-Patent Document 3, the leverage points of interest are identified by symbolic signature positions at various granularities, such as cities or wards. The technique of Non-Patent Document 3 limits the privacy level to a selection of a predetermined granularity, so that a strict set of strict privacy levels is reported.

  Non-Patent Document 4 and Non-Patent Document 5 propose position obfuscation using three perturbation operators for the initial position area in position-based services. The three perturbation operators include radius expansion, center movement, and radius reduction.

Gruteser, M., Grunwald, D, `` Anonymoususage of location-based services through spatial and temporal cloaking '', the 1st International Conference on Mobile Systems, Applications and Services (MobiSys), The USENIX Association, 2003 M. Duckham and L. Kulik, "A formalmodel of obfuscation and negotiation for location privacy", the 3rd International Conference PERVASIVE 2005, Munich, Germany, 2005 P. Bellavista, A. Corradi and C.I. Giannelli, "Efficiently managing location information with privacy requirements in WiFi networks: a middleware approach", theInternational Symposium on Wireless Communication Systems (ISWCS'05), page 1-8, Siena, Italy, 2005 Ardagna, CA, Cremonini, M., Damiani, E., di Vimercati, SDC, Samarati, P., "Location privacy protection through obfuscation-based techniques", the 21st Conference on Data and Applications Security, Volume 4602 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer, 47-60, 2007 ClaudioA. Ardagna, Marco Cremonini, SabrinaDe Capitani di Vimercati, Pierangela Samarati, "An Obfuscation-Based Approach for Protecting Location Privacy", IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing, 2009

  An apparatus, system, and method are provided for providing actual location image data to at least one requester.

  According to one embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention, an apparatus for providing position specific image data to at least one requestor is proposed. The apparatus is coupled to a number of producers of location specific image data, each producer adapted to provide location specific location image data of one or more specific locations and at least indicating the location of the producer. Has a producer profile that includes a location indication. The apparatus has a receiver, a processor, and a transmitter. The receiver is configured to receive a request for position specific image data at a specific position from the requester. The processor adapts at least one producer to the requester based on the received request, the producer profile, and a reality display that indicates a predetermined reality of the requested location image data for a particular location. Configured as follows. The transmitter is configured to send the requested location image data from at least one suitable producer to the requester.

  The reality display indicates the required or required reality, or in other words, the freshness of the requested image. Reality can be specified or predetermined by the requester, for example, for a period of time or a point in time. As an example, it can be specified that the reality display can be not older than the specified date and time, eg, not older than 4 pm on a certain date.

  By specifying the required reality of position specific image data, the apparatus according to embodiments of the present invention allows the actual position specific image data, or in other words current position specific image data, or in other words real time. The position specific image data can be provided to the requester.

  According to some implementations, the requester can obtain the actual location image data or material in a timely and cost effective manner.

  In particular, a service model can be provided for on-demand creation of image data within a short time limit from a random location of interest, i.e. one or more specific locations. Embodiments of the present invention take into account the increasing camera ubiquity, such as location awareness, such as GPS receivers, and high-speed connectivity of current and next generation handheld devices. In this regard, the requester and each producer can also be embodied by such a handheld device. The device may be implemented by a service provider, server or broker that can manage location image data requests, find and notify relevant producers, link matched producers to requesters, and process possible rewards can do.

  According to some implementations, the image collection process can be from multiple producers using a distributed community-based approach, decoupled from a few conventional producers in a closed population. A large number of producers that form this community can be connected to the device and can be distributed over a wide area, so that location-specific image data can be advantageously provided for that wide area. In addition, these many producers can ensure a fast solution for providing location specific image data.

  Further, collecting or providing location specific image data for the community based approach described above can reduce operational costs compared to the conventional solutions described above. As an example, depending on the urgency, exclusivity, and the quality of the requested location image data, the producer can even provide images with low or no reward.

  According to some implementations, the requestor's request can be sent to a producer contracting with equipment in the area of interest, so that the relevant location, for example, an aircraft across the highway where the accident is reported Specific image data can be provided within seconds. This region of interest can include a specific location where location-specific image data is required.

  According to one embodiment, the apparatus may provide a protocol between the requesting requester and the producer to provide the requested location image data. This protocol can maintain anonymity for requesters and producers during transactions of location specific image data. Specifically, anonymity for all communication endpoints can be maintained by using a device between the requester and each producer. Further, the apparatus can be implemented to iteratively determine one or more producers that meet the requester's needs according to specific requirements.

  The following example may illustrate one embodiment. Image producers that have contracted with this device can report their location or possibly their blurred location to the device along with other optional attributes. The requester can make a request for location-specific image data from a random location to the device or service provider, optionally in combination with a request for a particular property of interest in the image. These specific properties can illustratively define overview photos, free parking, and queue conditions or beach congestion at specific events.

  The location specific image data request can be combined with rewards to provide incentives to the image producer.

  The device or service provider can initiate the protocol and select a set of producers that best suits the requester's requirements. The producer can voluntarily decide to participate, where the requester can choose from the proposed producers that decided to participate. Selected producers can be notified and can generate or provide location specific image data, which can be transferred to the requestor via the service provider.

  In one embodiment, the receiver is configured to receive the latest producer profile from the combined producer of location specific image data, and the processor receives the received request, the received latest producer profile, and the reality display. Based on, the at least one producer is configured to be adapted to the requester.

  The producer can change its position. With the latest producer profile, the device can know to some extent where the contracted producer is located, and can therefore provide the actual location image data to the requesting requester.

In yet another embodiment, the receiver is configured to receive a request that includes a reality indication. In this context, the processor
A reality indication can be extracted from the received request and the at least one producer can be configured to adapt to the requester based on the received request, the producer profile, and the extracted reality indication.

  In yet another embodiment, the apparatus includes a memory for storing a requester profile for each requester that has contracted with the apparatus. Each requester profile can have at least a reality display that indicates a predetermined reality of the position specific image data required by each requester. Here, the processor may be configured to adapt at least one producer to the requester based on the received request, the producer profile, and the stored requester profile.

  In yet another embodiment, the apparatus includes a sender for sending a join request to a producer that is compliant with the requester. The receiver can now be configured to receive a join response from the adapted producer in response to the sent join request.

  In yet another embodiment, the sender can be configured to send the producer proposal to the requester, where the processor is configured to generate the producer proposal based on the received participation response. .

  In particular, if multiple producers fit into the requester, the device can use the producer proposal to give the requestor the opportunity to select one producer or multiple producers.

  The producer proposals described above can provide the requester with an appropriate basis for selection, including the respective producer profile.

  In yet another embodiment, the receiver is configured to receive a producer selection from the requestor in response to the transmitted producer proposal, and the sender is configured to trigger the transfer of the requested location image data. The request is configured to be sent to the producer selected by the received producer selection.

  In yet another embodiment, the receiver is configured to receive an image response including the requested location image data in response to the transmitted image request, and the sender sends the received image response to the requester. Configured to transmit.

  In yet another embodiment, the position specific image data request includes reality display, position display indicating a specific position for which position specific image data is requested, object display indicating a specific object for which position specific image data is requested, An event display indicating the specific event for which the position specific image data is requested, a type display indicating the specific type of the position specific image data requested, an urgency display indicating the time limit for receiving the requested position specific image data, And / or at least one of a reward indication indicating the highest reward for the required location image data.

  The device may be embodied by or part of a service provider, server or broker. The requester can be any requesting means or requesting device such as, for example, a mobile device, handheld, computer or vehicle navigation system.

  The producer can have a camera for creating location specific image data. The producer can be handheld, mobile or mobile device. Furthermore, location specific image data can be created by a camera and uploaded to a service provider by a mobile device or a personal computer. The request can be transferred by any communication link, in particular by any mobile communication link, for example using UMTS, LTE or GSM, or a wireless LAN.

  Furthermore, the position specific image data described above can also be transferred over such a communication link. Further, the position specific image data may include a still image such as a photograph and / or a moving image such as a video.

  The particular location for which the location request image data is requested by the requester can be the actual location of the requester, or a location defined by the requester, such as a location that the requester can reach in the future.

  The receiver can be any receiving means. Further, the processor can be any processing means. The transmitter can be any transmission means. Furthermore, the sender can be any transmission means.

  Each means, in particular the receiver, processor, transmitter and sender, can be implemented in hardware or in software. Where the means described above are implemented in hardware, the means may be embodied as a device, for example as a computer or as a processor, or as part of a system, for example a computer system. Where the means described above are implemented in software, the means may be embodied as a computer program, as a function, as a routine, as program code, or as an executable object.

  Any embodiment of the first aspect can be combined with any embodiment of the first aspect to obtain another embodiment of the first aspect.

  According to an embodiment of the second aspect of the present invention, a system for providing position specific image data to at least one requester is proposed. The system includes a number of producers of location specific image data and an apparatus according to the first aspect described above or an embodiment of the first aspect described above. Each producer can be adapted to provide actual location image data of one or more particular locations. Further, each producer has a specific producer profile that includes at least a location indication that indicates the location of the producer.

  In one embodiment, each producer is configured to send an up-to-date producer profile that includes a blurred position as a position indication to the device, where the blurred position is the exact position of the producer's action. It is configured to blur.

  In yet another embodiment, each producer has the latest producer profile on the device based on a defined change in the producer's location, or based on a timer timeout for sending the latest producer profile. Configured to transmit.

  In yet another embodiment, the producer is configured to calculate a blurred position based on the producer's actual exact location, distance random number, and angular random number. The distance random number can be selected from the range [0, R] by a requester. R can be a specific blur radius, for example by being selected by the requester. The angle random number can be selected from [0, 360 °]. The reference for the angle random number can be predetermined.

  According to an embodiment of the third aspect of the present invention, a method is proposed for providing location-specific image data from at least one of a number of producers of location-specific image data to at least one requestor, each producer. Has a producer profile that is adapted to provide location image data of one or more particular locations and includes at least a location indication that indicates the location of the producer. The method includes receiving a position specific image data request for a specific position from a requester. The method further includes adapting at least one producer to the requestor based on the received request, the producer profile, and a reality display that indicates a predetermined reality of the requested location image data for the particular location. Have The method further comprises transmitting the requested location image data from the at least one suitable producer to the requester.

  According to an embodiment of the fourth aspect, the present invention relates to a device for transmitting location specific image data to the device of the first aspect of the present invention, the device comprising at least a position indication indicating the position of the device. The produced producer profile is adapted to be transmitted to the device, and is adapted to transmit one or more location specific image data to the device in response to an image request received from the device.

  The device functions as an image producer for the device and is preferably configured to send the latest producer profile to the device, including a blurred position as a position indication, Is configured to blur the actual exact position of the.

  In the following, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Unless otherwise specified, similar or functionally similar elements in the figures are assigned the same reference signs.

1 shows a schematic block diagram of a first embodiment of an apparatus for providing actual position specific image data to a requester. FIG. FIG. 4 shows a schematic block diagram of a second embodiment of an apparatus for providing actual position specific image data to a requester. 1 shows a schematic block diagram of a first embodiment of a system for providing actual location specific image data to a requester. FIG. FIG. 3 shows a schematic block diagram of a second embodiment of a system for providing actual position specific image data to a requester. FIG. 3 illustrates a first embodiment of a series of method steps for providing actual position specific image data to a requester. FIG. 6 illustrates a second embodiment of a series of method steps for providing actual position specific image data to a requester. FIG. 6 illustrates one embodiment of a series of method steps for selecting an appropriate producer of a plurality of possible producers. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating one embodiment of a producer's true position and blurred position area notified to the device. It is a figure which shows one Embodiment of the position update of the blurred position area | region notified to an apparatus. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating one embodiment of device mobility resulting in continuous position updates of blurred position regions that are notified to the device. FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment of a blur radius depending on position.

  FIG. 1 shows a schematic block diagram of a first embodiment of an apparatus 100 for providing actual position specific image data to a requester.

  The device 100 can be a server or a broker. The device 100 is coupled with a number of producers of position specific image data (see FIGS. 3 and 4). Each producer is adapted to provide actual location image data of one or more particular locations. The specific position can be determined by the requester. Each producer has a producer profile that includes at least a location indication indicating the location of the producer.

  The apparatus 100 includes a receiver 101, a processor 102, and a transmitter 103.

  The receiver 101 is configured to receive a position specific image data request for a specific position from the requester. The processor 102 is adapted to adapt at least one producer to the requester in response to the received request, producer profile and reality indication. The reality display indicates a predetermined reality of the position specific image data at the specific position requested.

  The transmitter 103 is configured to transmit the requested location image data from at least one suitable producer to the requester. A communication link, in particular a mobile communication link, can be used to transmit the position specific image data.

  For example, the receiver 101 can be configured to receive the latest producer profile from the combined producer of location specific image data, so that the processor 102 can receive the received request, the latest producer profile received. And, based on the reality display, at least one producer can be configured to adapt to the requester.

  According to another example, receiver 101 can be configured to receive a request that includes a reality indication, and then processor 102 extracts a reality indication from the received request and receives the received request. Based on the producer profile and the extracted reality representation, at least one producer can be configured to adapt to the requester.

  The apparatus 100 can provide the requester with actual location-specific image data, or in other words current location-specific image data, or in other words, real-time location-specific image data.

  FIG. 2 shows a schematic block diagram of a second embodiment of an apparatus 200 for providing actual position specific image data to a requester.

  The apparatus 200 includes a receiver 201, a processor 202, and a transmitter 203, which can be embodied as the receiver 101, processor 102, and transmitter 103 of FIG. Furthermore, the apparatus 200 has a memory 204.

  The receiver 201 can be part of a transmitter 203 that also includes a sender 206.

  The memory 204 can be coupled to the processor 202 and can be coupled to a transmitter 203 for exchanging data, such as producer profiles and / or requester profiles.

  In particular, the memory 204 of FIG. 2 is adapted to store a requester profile for each requester subscribed to the device 200. The requester profile of each requester can include at least a reality display that indicates a predetermined reality of the position specific image data requested by each requester. The predetermined reality specifies the reality of the required or desired image data.

  With such a memory 204, the processor 202 is adapted to adapt at least one producer to the requestor based on the received request from the requester, the stored producer profile and the stored requester profile. Can be configured.

  The sender 206 of the transmitter 202 can be configured to send a join request to a producer that is compatible with the requester. In response to the sent join request, the receiver 201 can receive a join response from a suitable producer.

  Further, in response to the received join response, the processor 202 can generate a producer proposal. A producer proposal can indicate a number of producers that fit the requester. The generated producer proposal can be sent to the requester by the sender 206 described above.

  In response to the transmitted producer proposal, the receiver 201 can receive a producer selection from the requester. In addition, the sender 206 can send an image request to trigger the transfer of the requested location image data to the producer selected by the received producer selection.

  In response to the transmitted image request, the receiver 201 can receive an image response that includes the requested location image data from the selected producer. The sender 206 can then send the received image response to the requester.

  In FIG. 3, a schematic block diagram of a first embodiment of a system 300 for providing actual position location image data to a requester 300 is shown. System 300 includes a number of producers 302, 303, and 304 of location specific image data. Without loss of generality, the embodiment of FIG. 3 shows three producers 302, 303, and 304. Each producer 302, 303, and 304 is adapted to provide actual location image data of one or more specific locations that the requester 301 can select. In addition, each producer has a specific producer profile that includes at least a location indication that indicates the location of the producers 302, 303, and 304. Producers 302, 303, and 304 contract with and bind to device 305. Device 305 is coupled between requester 301 and producers 302, 303 and 304. This coupling can be provided by a communication link. The device 305 can be adapted to manage the transfer of location specific image data selected by at least one request from the requester.

  The device 305 of FIG. 3 can be embodied as the device 100 of FIG. 1 or the device 200 of FIG.

  In addition, each of producers 302, 303, and 304 can send the latest producer profile to device 305 that includes a blurred location as a location indication. The blurred position is configured to blur the exact or true position of each producer 302, 303, and 304. The latest producer profile can be generated in response to a defined change in the producer's location, or alternatively in response to a timer timeout for sending the latest producer profile. The defined change in the position of the producer can be determined in particular by the specific blur radius selected by the respective requester. For example, each producer 302, 303, and 304 was taken from the actual exact location of each producer 302, 303, and 304, a distance random number taken from [0, R], and [0,360 °]. The blurred position can be calculated based on the angle random number.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic block diagram of a second embodiment of a system 400 for providing actual location image data to requester 401. The system 400 of FIG. 4 includes an aircraft 402, a laptop 403, and a smartphone 404 as producers of location specific image data, and a server 405 as a device that couples the producers 402-404 to the requester 401. Further, reference numeral 406 in FIG. 4 indicates a position of interest identified by the requester 401.
In addition, the system 400 can have a GPS system (not shown) for finding the location of the producer close to the location of interest 406.

Steps 1-5 in FIG. 4 illustrate the functionality of the embodiment of FIG.
In step 1, the requester 401 recognizes that an image at the position 406 is required.
In step 2, the requester 401 transmits a request to a server 405 such as an image broker.
In step 3, server 405 looks at the producers near location 406, here aircraft 402, laptop 403 and smartphone 404, and sends a photo request to aircraft 402, laptop 403 and smartphone 404.
In step 4, the aircraft 402 as the accepting producer sends the image to the server 405.
In step 5, the server 405 transfers the image to the requester 401.

  In FIG. 5, a first embodiment of a series of method steps for providing actual requesting image data from at least one of a number of producers of localization image data is shown. Each producer is adapted to provide actual location image data of one or more particular locations. In addition, each producer has a producer profile that includes at least a location indication indicating the location of the producer.

In step 501, a request for position specific image data at a specific position is received from a requester.
In step 502, at least one producer is adapted to the requester based on the received request, producer profile, and reality indication. The reality display indicates a predetermined reality of the position specific image data at the specific position requested. The predetermined reality can be determined by the requester.
In step 503, the requested location image data from at least one suitable producer is transmitted to the requester.
Steps 501, 502 and 503 can be embodied by a computer program running on at least one computer.

  FIG. 6 shows a second embodiment of a series of method steps for providing actual position specific image data to the requester 601.

  Requester 601 is coupled to broker 602. Further, producers 603-605 of position specific image data are registered in the broker 602 and combined. Without loss of generality, FIG. 6 shows three producers 603-605.

  With respect to the embodiment of FIG. 6, a two-stage image transfer protocol is shown in which the appropriate producers 604-605 are determined while maintaining the requester 601 in a decision loop.

  The method of the present invention of FIG. 6 includes the following steps 1-9. After reporting the location of producers 603-605 to broker 602 (step 1), in the first phase, embodied by step 2-5, broker 602 identifies candidate producers 603-605 that are willing to participate. To the image requester 601. In the second stage, embodied by step 6-9, the requester 601 determines which image data from which one or more producers are requested and optionally under which conditions. adjust.

  Assume that multiple producers, here producers 603-605, contract with broker 602. Examples of image producers 603-605 may include private persons equipped with portable devices, professional photographers, individuals with webcams, or authorities that manage fixed installation cameras. In this regard, FIG. 6 shows the messages exchanged during the requester 601 image request processing. Details are as follows.

  In step 1, producers 603-605 periodically report their actual or blurred geometric location areas to broker 602. Further, in step 1, a set of further information elements, such as the respective capabilities of each producer 603-605, etc., can be reported to the broker 602 along with the latest location. Such further information elements may include information about available camera equipment or interest in receiving a particular request, such as only a request with a certain reward. The broker 602 can record the latest information provided by the producers 603-605 along with their general producer profile. The producer profile of the producers 603-605 may include statistical information from the initial assigned work, such as image quality assessment, timeliness, accuracy, skill, reliability corresponding to requirements, and the like.

  In step 2, the requester 601 transmits a request for position specific image data at a specific position to the broker 602. This request includes relevant key values of the image material of interest, such as a reality indication indicating the reality of the image that is needed or desired, location, object or event to record, type of image, urgency of the request, And possible rewards for image material and the like. A particular location can be represented as a geographic area, GPS coordinates, address, point of interest, or location of an event such as a sporting event, concert or performance. Objects or events can consist of landmarks, streets, buildings or areas, as well as specific events such as train entrances. The imaging material can be taken as a still picture or video of the view from the air or from the street. Depending on the requirements, for example, the first report about an accident or environmental disaster can be urgent in order to prepare the appropriate reaction or equipment. For other requests such as queues, traffic or road conditions, urgency may not be important, but a timely response may still be desirable. Depending on the type of request, the requester 601 can provide a reward to each producer 603-605 as a reward, for example, by gold or credit card payment. Examples of the image requester 601 may include emergency services, security agencies and environmental departments, new companies or private individuals.

  In step 3, the broker 602 sends a join request to each producer 603-605 to clarify the request to the associated producer 603-605 and give them all necessary details. Specifically, broker 602 receives an image request and identifies the best matching producer or producers by the current producer profile. As described above, the producer profile can include the producer's geographic location, the ability to take the type of image requested, and the expected reward. An embodiment for reporting a blurred or geographical location to the broker 602 will be described with reference to FIGS.

Further in FIG. 7, one embodiment of how the broker 602 selects an appropriate producer is shown.
In step 701, an image request is received. In step 702, information regarding producers that have contracted with broker 602 is provided. This information can include location, equipment, availability, etc.
In step 703, the appropriate producer is adapted to the received request.
In step 704, it is checked whether one or more producers have been found.

  In step 704, if no producers are found that meet the criteria, for example because there are no producers in the region of interest, the method proceeds to step 705. In step 705, broker 602 may automatically weaken the criteria or attributes of the request to repeat step 703, for example, to extend the geographic location, reduce expected quality, or adapt the deadline. it can.

Otherwise, if the answer is yes at step 704, the method proceeds to step 706. In step 706, it is checked whether multiple producers have been found. If too many producers are found that meet the criteria, for example, if a large number of producers go to a soccer game or illustratively on the beach, the broker 602 will identify producers with high user ratings from previous assignment jobs. You can choose. This is checked in step 707 to select an appropriate producer. If such additional checks are deemed unnecessary, the method proceeds directly to step 708.
In step 708, a join request is sent to the selected producer or producers.

  Returning to FIG. 6, in step 4, the selected producers 603-605 send a join response to the broker 602 after receiving the join request in step 3. This participation response may include information for accepting each job. Along with acceptance, the participation response may include certain conditions, such as the expected reward or time required to create the image material. If no one of the requested producers 603-605 is willing to participate or no one responds within a certain time frame, the broker 602 can lower the request criteria again and repeat step 3.

  In step 5, the broker 602 sends the producer proposal to the requester 601. This producer proposal may include information regarding producers 603-605 that are interested in participating. This is done in an anonymous manner without revealing the personal information of each producer 603-605. For example, the current blurred position of producers 603-605 can be shown on the map along with their imposed conditions. The requester 601 can select producers to determine one or more of them, or no one can decide. Further, at this stage, the requester can abandon the request and / or refine the criteria and start over from step 2.

In step 6, requester 601 sends a producer selection identifying the selected producer or producers to broker 602. Accordingly, the requester 601 approves the conditions of the selected producers 603-605.
In step 7, the broker 602 sends an image request to, for example, the selected producer 603.
In step 8, the selected producer 603 creates the image material according to the instructions specified by the image request. This image material is sent to the broker 602 by the image response of step 9. This image response is transferred to the requester 601 by the broker 602.

  After the transaction, the broker 602 can process the rewards of the selected producer 603 and the evaluation from the requester 601 for the assigned work. In order to use the broker 602 as an intermediary, the method maintains the anonymity of the communication endpoint involved.

  In FIG. 8, a diagram is shown showing an embodiment for the location update of a blurred location area, provided by the producer, notified to the device.

An image producer who is willing to participate can send periodic updates of his position to the broker. Producers do not want to reveal their exact location because producer privacy can be a concern. Thus, obfuscation is provided that allows the user to customize the current location of the producer. The producer can choose the level of position accuracy to report to the broker. With reference to FIG. 8, the blur radius R determines the maximum distance between the true position P of the producer and the blur position P ′ reported to the broker. The method of determining blur position P ′ from true position P for a given blur radius R, also referred to as method A below, includes the following four steps.
In the first step, the true position P is determined, for example by GPS.
In the second step, a random number ρ describing the distance from the true position P to the blur position P ′ is uniformly extracted from [0, R].
In the third step, a random number ω that describes the angle around the true position P is uniformly extracted from [0, 360].
In the fourth step, the blur position P ′ is determined by adding (ρ, ω) to P in polar coordinates.

  As a result of the above, FIG. 8 shows an example of the blurred position P ′ reported based on P after applying the method A described above. A gray shaded disk 801 in FIG. 8 shows a blur position area of radius r (r = R) recognized by the broker based on the tuples P ′ and R.

  The producer can arbitrarily select the blur radius. For example, the producer can choose R = 1 km. Prior to providing the position to the broker, the apparatus applies method A above to determine the center P 'of the blur position area. When the calculation of P 'is performed, information about the true position P does not leak to the broker.

  From the reported position index (P ', R), the broker can derive many characteristics. By knowing P 'and R, the broker knows that the maximum distance between the producer's true positions P and P' is R. Further, the difference between the true position P and an arbitrary position in the disk 801 defined by P ′ and R is 2R at the maximum. Eventually, the average distance between the true position P and an arbitrary position can be determined to be 2R / 3.

  The above characteristics can be particularly useful when the broker responds to image requests, for a given position of interest Q, Q∈ (P ′, R), ie where Q is their blurred position All producers are proposed that are in the region and have a maximum distance between Q and P of 2R and an average distance of 2R / 3. Note that all producers can choose any value R.

In addition, producers can change their location over time and send updates of their current location. Having two consecutive blurred positions P ′, the broker can assume the current true position P of the producer. In this context, method B is proposed for reporting location updates to the broker when user-defined update conditions are met. In method B, the blur position for a given blur radius R is reported at regular time intervals. Method B has the following four steps.
In the first step, the true position Pi is determined, for example by GPS.
In the second step, method B is stopped if the predetermined position update condition is not met. In other cases, if the predetermined location update condition is met, Method B proceeds to a third step.

  In the following, two independent embodiments relating to the location update condition will be described, but the third condition can be configured by combining these two embodiments.

The first embodiment is location-based update. This condition is the previously reported position P ′ _i−1
And the blur radius R _i−1 is used. The reported boundary radius B _i is uniformly chosen randomly from the interval [ρ _i−1 , 2R _i−1 ] (see FIG. 9). If the true position Pi is at the end of the disc determined by (P ′ _i−1 , B _i ), ie if the producer is about to leave the disc, a new location update is started. In this embodiment, P ′ _i−1 and R _i−1 are given along with P ′ _i and R _i at the time of update, so that the broker is inadequate assumptions about the producer's true position Pi, ie (P ′ _{i -1} , 2R _i-1 ) and (P ′ _i , R _i ) can only be assumed to be common. In fact, in the worst case where P ′ _i is chosen on the boundary of the disc determined by (P ′ _i−1 , 2R _i−1 ), the broker excludes up to 55.3% of the reported area. can do. This is a result of the common part being smaller than the disk (P ′ _i , R _i ). If the producer chooses P ′ _i strictly within the region (P ′ _i−1 , R _i−1 ), the broker cannot make any assumptions, ie the new region is a disk (P ′ _i−1 , 2R _i-1 ), it can only exclude the 0% region. FIG. 9 shows a case where P ′ _i is on the boundary of (P ′ _i−1 , R _i−1 ).

  The second embodiment is a time-based update. In the second embodiment, a timeout maintained on the producer side is used as the update condition.

In the third step, the blurred position P ′ is determined as a result of method A using the input parameters P and R.
In the fourth step, the blurred position P ′ and the blurred radius R are notified to the broker.

An example of a blurred trajectory 1001 with nine position updates generated by Method A is shown in FIG. A blurred locus 1001 (broken line) is an approximation of a true locus (solid line). As long as the true position P is in the blurred position area, the new position is not reported to the broker. Depending on the blur radius R chosen by the producer, more information about the true position may be inferred by the broker. At a constant speed, the accuracy of the broker can also change because the rate of information updates to the broker can vary according to the decreasing value of the blur radius, the decrease in the area reported to the broker and / or the increase in the average reporting frequency. A large blur radius reduces the frequency with which the producer leaves the reported blur location area, i.e. new location updates are generated more slowly, and the updates include less accuracy. In the extreme case of R≈0, whenever method B is applied, a new position is reported to the broker and P _i is different from P _i−1 .

  In addition, users may be interested in applying variations in the level of accuracy reported from their true location. Therefore, switching of the blur radius based on the automation rule is proposed. The user may not always want to reveal his true position when meeting certain predetermined conditions, for example during work hours or in certain environmental conditions. It is proposed to allow the user to set a predetermined blur radius when meeting specific conditions such as a specific time of day or a specific geographical location.

  For example, in FIG. 11, it is assumed that the default blur radius is R = 2 and the basic unit can be km, for example. Whenever the user enters the first predetermined area 1101 with R = 1, the device automatically changes the blur radius and reports more accurate position information to the broker. When the user enters the second predetermined area 1102 with R = 5, the device provides position information with low accuracy. Outside the regions 1101 and 1102, the default blur radius R = 2 is used.

  All of the above embodiments of the apparatus of the present invention can be embodied by respective steps that are respective embodiments of the method of the present invention. What has been described is merely illustrative of the application of the principles of the present invention. Other configurations and systems can be implemented by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

100, 200, 305: Device 101, 201: Receiver 102, 202: Processor 103, 203: Transmitter 204: Memory 206: Sender 300, 400: System 301, 401, 601: Requester 302, 303, 304, 603, 604, 605: Producer 402: Aircraft / Producer 403: Laptop / Producer 404: Smartphone / Producer 405: Server 406: Position of interest 602: Broker 801: Disc 1001: Blurred locus 1002: True locus 1101, 1102: Predetermined area

Claims (15)

An apparatus for providing location specific image data to at least one requestor, coupled to a number of location specific image data producers, each producer providing location specific image data for one or more specific locations The apparatus having a producer profile adapted to and including at least a position indication indicating the position of the producer;
A receiver for receiving a position specific image data request at a specific position from the requester;
In response to the received request, the producer profile, and a reality indication indicating a predetermined reality of the requested location specific image data at the particular location, for adapting at least one producer to the requester A processor;
A transmitter for transmitting the requested location image data from the at least one suitable producer to the requester;
Including the device. The receiver is configured to receive a current producer profile from the combined producer of location specific image data;
The processor of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to adapt at least one producer to the requester in response to the received request, the received latest producer profile, and the reality indication. Equipment.   The receiver is configured to receive the request including the reality indication, and the processor extracts the reality indication from the received request, the received request, the producer profile, and 3. An apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2, configured to adapt at least one producer to the requester in response to the extracted reality representation. A memory for storing a requester profile for each requester contracted with the device, wherein each requester profile is at least one indicative of a predetermined reality of the location specific image data requested by each requestor; Including reality display,
The processor is configured to adapt at least one producer to the requester based on the received request, the producer profile, and the stored requester profile.
The device according to any one of claims 1 to 3. A sender for sending a join request to the producer that matches the requester;
The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the receiver is configured to receive a participation response from the adapted producer in response to the transmitted participation request.   6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the sender is configured to send a producer proposal to the requester, and the processor is configured to generate the producer proposal in response to the received join response. . The receiver is configured to receive a producer selection from the requestor in response to the transmitted producer proposal;
The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the sender is configured to send an image request that triggers transmission of the requested position specific image data to the producer selected by the received producer selection. The receiver is configured to receive an image response including the requested location image data in response to the transmitted image request;
The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the sender is configured to send the received image response to the requester. The position specifying image data request is:
The reality display;
A position display indicating the specific position where the position image data is requested;
An object display indicating a specific object for which the position image data is requested;
An event display indicating the specific event for which the position image data was requested;
A type indication indicating a particular type for the requested location specific image data;
An urgency display indicating a time limit for receiving the requested location image data;
A reward display indicating a maximum reward for the requested position specific image data;
9. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8, comprising at least one of: A system for providing location specific image data to at least one requestor,
A number of location specific image data, each adapted to provide location specific image data of one or more specific locations and having a specific producer profile comprising at least a location indication indicating the location of the producer With the producer of
10. An apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9 for transmitting the requested location image data from at least one producer to the requester;
Including system.   Each producer is configured to send to the device an updated producer profile that includes a blurred position, such as the position indication, so that the blurred position blurs the actual exact position of the producer. The system of claim 10, wherein   Each of the producers sends the latest producer profile to the device based on a defined change in the location of the producer or based on a timer timeout for sending the latest producer profile. The system of claim 11, wherein the system is configured as follows.   The producer is responsive to the actual exact position of the producer, a distance random number taken from [0, R], with R as a specific blur radius, and an angular random number taken from [0,360 °]. 13. A system according to claim 11 or claim 12, configured to calculate a blurred position. A method of providing location-specific image data from at least one of a number of producers of location-specific image data to at least one requestor, wherein each producer is a location-specific image of one or more specific locations. The method comprising a producer profile adapted to provide data and including at least a position indication indicating a position of the producer;
Receiving a position specific image data request for a specific position from the requester;
Adapting at least one producer to the requestor in response to the received request, the producer profile, and a reality indication indicating a predetermined reality of the requested location-specific image data at the particular location. When,
Transmitting the requested location image data from the at least one adapted producer to the requester;
Including methods.   A device for transmitting position specific image data to an apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the apparatus includes at least a position indication indicating the position of the apparatus. In response to an image request received from the device and adapted to transmit position specific image data of one or more specific locations to the device .

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