System for locating nearby picture hotspots

Abstract

Portable communication devices transmit digital images and their location information to a central server. If a particular location is often photographed it can be designated as a hot spot. Thereafter, if a communication device is currently transmitting from within a vicinity of the hot spot, based on the location data received from the communication device, notification data can be transmitted to the communication device for notifying the user of the hot spot. The notification data can include directional information for the user to access on the communication device for enabling the user to find the hot spot.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method performed by an image management server, the method comprising:
 a. receiving, from a plurality of portable communication devices, one or more digital images, each respective one of the one or more digital images having associated image metadata including at least time and date of capture information and geographical location information, said geographical location information corresponding to a geographical location where the respective one of the one or more digital images was captured, and storing, in a memory, the one or more digital images and each of said digital image's respective image metadata;   b. identifying, by a processor operatively coupled to the memory and based at least in part on the image metadata of the one or more digital images, a collection of said one or more digital images, wherein the identifying involves excluding ones of the one or more digital images from the collection based on respective time and date of capture information of the image metadata of excluded ones of the digital images, thereby identifying collection images;   c. analyzing, by the processor, the geographical location metadata for each of the collection images to identify those of the collection images that were captured within a threshold distance of a specific geographical location;   d. determining, by the processor and based on the analyzing, a first subset of said collection images taken within said threshold distance of said specific geographical location; and   e. label, by the processor, that a geographical area is a hot spot location responsive to a determination that said first subset of said collection images determined in step (d) exceeds a threshold value.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising merging, by the processor, each image of said first subset of said collection images into an image cluster. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising determining, by the processor, that one of the portable communication devices is currently transmitting from within a vicinity of the hot spot location based on current location data received from the one of the portable communication devices, and transmitting notification data over a network to the one of the portable communication devices for notifying a user that the user is within the vicinity of the hot spot location. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the notification data includes directional information for the user to access on the one of the portable communication devices for enabling the user to find the hot spot location. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the notification data includes audio data describing the hot spot location or how to get to the hot spot location for playback on a speaker of the one of the portable communication devices. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the notification data includes descriptive text describing the hot spot location or how to get to the hot spot location on a display of the one of the portable communication devices. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the notification data includes numerical coordinate data and map image data, both for display on a display of the one of the portable communication devices. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising storing the geographical area as the hot spot location on a storage device connected to the processor. 
     
     
         9 . A server comprising a processor and a memory coupled to the processor, said memory storing processor-executable instructions, which instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform steps comprising:
 a. receiving, from a plurality of portable communication devices, one or more digital images, each respective one of the one or more digital images having associated image metadata including at least time and date of capture information and geographical location information, said geographical location information corresponding to a geographical location where the respective one of the one or more digital images was captured, and storing, in a storage device coupled to the processor, the one or more digital images and each of said digital image's respective image metadata;   b. identifying, based at least in part on the image metadata of the one or more digital images, a collection of said one or more digital images, wherein the identifying involves excluding ones of the one or more digital images from the collection based on respective time and date of capture information of the image metadata of excluded ones of the digital images, thereby identifying collection images;   c. analyzing the geographical location metadata for each of the collection images to identify those of the collection images that were captured within a threshold distance of a specific geographical location;   d. determining, based on the analyzing, a first subset of said collection images taken within said threshold distance of said specific geographical location; and   e. labeling that a geographical area is a hot spot location responsive to a determination that said first subset of said collection images determined in step (d) exceeds a threshold value.   
     
     
         10 . The server of  claim 9 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to determine that one of the portable communication devices is currently transmitting from within a vicinity of the hot spot location based on current location data received from the one of the portable communication devices, and transmit notification data over a network to the one of the portable communication devices for notifying a user that the user is within the vicinity of the hot spot location. 
     
     
         11 . The server of  claim 10 , wherein the notification data includes directional information for the user to access on the one of the portable communication devices for enabling the user to find the hot spot location. 
     
     
         12 . The server of  claim 10 , wherein the notification data includes audio data describing the hot spot location or how to get to the hot spot location for playback on a speaker of the one of the portable communication devices. 
     
     
         13 . The server of  claim 10 , wherein the notification data includes descriptive text describing the hot spot location or how to get to the hot spot location on a display of the one of the portable communication devices. 
     
     
         14 . The server of  claim 10 , wherein the notification data includes numerical coordinate data and map image data, both for display on a display of the one of the portable communication devices. 
     
     
         15 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing processor-executable instructions, which instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform steps comprising:
 a. receiving, from a plurality of portable communication devices, one or more digital images, each respective one of the one or more digital images having associated image metadata including at least time and date of capture information and geographical location information, said geographical location information corresponding to a geographical location where the respective one of the one or more digital images was captured, and storing, in a storage device coupled to the processor, the one or more digital images and each of said digital image's respective image metadata;   b. identifying, based at least in part on the image metadata of the one or more digital images, a collection of said one or more digital images, wherein the identifying involves excluding ones of the one or more digital images from the collection based on respective time and date of capture information of the image metadata of excluded ones of the digital images, thereby identifying collection images;   c. analyzing the geographical location metadata for each of the collection images to identify those of the collection images that were captured within a threshold distance of a specific geographical location;   d. determining, based on the analyzing, a first subset of said collection images taken within said threshold distance of said specific geographical location; and   e. labeling that a geographical area is a hot spot location responsive to a determination that said first subset of said collection images determined in step (d) exceeds a threshold value.   
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to determine that one of the portable communication devices is currently transmitting from within a vicinity of the hot spot location based on current location data received from the one of the portable communication devices, and transmit notification data over a network to the one of the portable communication devices for notifying a user that the user is within the vicinity of the hot spot location. 
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 16 , wherein the notification data includes directional information for the user to access on the one of the portable communication devices for enabling the user to find the hot spot location. 
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 16 , wherein the notification data includes audio data describing the hot spot location or how to get to the hot spot location for playback on a speaker of the one of the portable communication devices. 
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 16 , wherein the notification data includes descriptive text describing the hot spot location or how to get to the hot spot location on a display of the one of the portable communication devices. 
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 16 , wherein the notification data includes numerical coordinate data and map image data, both for display on a display of the one of the portable communication devices.