Priority-Based Camera Control for Bandwidth-Limited Visual Data

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Solution Overview

Problem

Panoramic cameras face issues with latency and bandwidth in forwarding visualization data to servers, and there is often incomplete or low-quality data in certain areas, necessitating a more efficient data collection process.

Innovation Solution

A controller or processing system that determines priority or value data for locations based on factors like data coverage, age, and commercial value, controlling the camera to selectively collect and process visualization data accordingly, optimizing data collection and processing based on these values.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If panoramic cameras collect and forward visualization data from all areas, then complete coverage is achieved, but bandwidth requirements and data transmission time increase significantly

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata coverage completenessVSAvoidbandwidth consumption
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies local quality by differentiating data collection strategies based on geographic location characteristics. High-priority areas (urban centers, commercial zones) receive intensive data collection with high resolution and frequent updates, while low-priority areas (rural regions, deserts) receive reduced data collection with lower resolution and less frequent updates. This resolves the contradiction by optimizing bandwidth consumption according to local data value rather than applying uniform collection across all areas.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

Solution Approach 2:

The system dynamically changes data collection parameters (resolution, frame rate, update frequency) based on priority scores assigned to different locations. The controller adjusts these parameters in real-time according to the camera's current location and the predefined priority map, thereby reducing overall bandwidth consumption while maintaining reliable coverage in critical areas.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

2Reliability

If panoramic cameras forward all collected visualization data to servers, then data availability is maximized, but latency in data transmission increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata availabilityVSAvoiddata transmission latency
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts only the most valuable data for transmission by filtering collected visualization data based on location priority. The controller identifies high-priority areas and selectively forwards only data from these locations to the server, while processing or discarding data from low-priority areas. This extraction principle reduces transmission latency by minimizing the volume of data sent while maintaining data availability for critical regions.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The system performs preliminary filtering and prioritization of data before transmission occurs. By pre-establishing priority maps and pre-processing collected data to identify high-value information, the system prepares data for efficient transmission, reducing the time required for data forwarding while ensuring critical data is always available.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

3Manufacturing precision

If panoramic cameras process and composite all collected images, then visualization quality is improved, but processing time and computational resources increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvevisualization qualityVSAvoiddata processing time
Core Design Contradiction:
Manufacturing precisionVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies local quality to image processing by adjusting processing intensity based on location priority. In high-priority areas, the system performs full composite image processing to maximize visualization quality. In low-priority areas, the system reduces processing effort, using simpler processing methods or skipping composite image generation entirely. This resolves the contradiction by matching processing quality to the actual value of the location being captured.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

Solution Approach 2:

The system applies partial processing action by selectively processing only the most valuable portions of collected data. Rather than uniformly processing all images, the controller applies full processing only to high-priority locations, accepting reduced quality in low-priority areas. This partial action approach maintains acceptable visualization quality overall while significantly reducing processing time and computational resource consumption.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #16Partial or excessive action

Data Source

PatentEP3967973B1Camera controller
Publication Date: 2026.05.20 NCTECH LTD
  • EP3967973B1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP3967973B1 patent drawingFigure 3~4a
  • EP3967973B1 patent drawingFigure 4b

AI summary

A processing system for controlling a camera, the processing system being configured to receive priority or value data provided from a remote data store or server over a communications network and/or access the priority or access value stored in data storage of the processing system, the priority or value data indicating priorities or values for visualization data; determine a level of requirement for visualization data based on the priority or value data; and control the camera to automatically and selectively collect visualization data and/or vary the rate or amount of visualization data collected by the camera based on the determined level of requirement.