Hierarchical Image Tile Management for Seamless Zooming

Solution Overview

Problem

The existing methods for downloading and rendering image tiles on client devices face issues with slow network speeds and memory limitations, leading to delayed rendering and cache overfilling, especially when transitioning between different zoom levels or viewports, resulting in white blocks or distorted maps.

Innovation Solution

A method and system that organizes image tiles in a hierarchical structure, allowing for efficient transmission and rendering by replacing tiles in a quad tree data structure, where each tile has four child tiles at a higher resolution level, enabling seamless zooming and panning without complete tile replacement, and utilizing anchor points to manage tile updates.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If the entirety of image data is downloaded to the client device, then the complete image is available for rendering, but it puts unnecessary strain on the communication network and exceeds local memory capacity

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveimage rendering availabilityVSAvoidnetwork data transmission volume

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The image data is divided into multiple image tiles that cover the entire image area. Instead of downloading the complete image, only the necessary tiles are downloaded to the client device. Each tile represents a specific region and resolution level, allowing selective retrieval and rendering of only the required portions.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

Different resolution levels are provided for different regions of the image. The server stores and serves tiles at multiple resolution levels (first resolution level, second resolution level, etc.), allowing the client to request higher resolution tiles only for specific regions of interest while using lower resolution tiles for other areas.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

2Productivity

If image tiles are downloaded and stored in the client device cache for rendering, then rendering can be performed locally, but the cache capacity is limited and can be overfilled

Engineering Contradiction:

Improverendering speedVSAvoidcache memory usage

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The image data is divided into multiple image tiles that cover the entire image area. Instead of downloading the complete image, only the necessary tiles are downloaded to the client device. Each tile represents a specific region and resolution level, allowing selective retrieval and rendering of only the required portions.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

Different resolution levels are provided for different regions of the image. The server stores and serves tiles at multiple resolution levels (first resolution level, second resolution level, etc.), allowing the client to request higher resolution tiles only for specific regions of interest while using lower resolution tiles for other areas.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

3Adaptability or versatility

If a replacement set of map tiles is transmitted when the user zooms in or out, then the new requested map view is rendered, but rendering delays occur and white blocks or distorted maps appear

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvezoom level flexibilityVSAvoidrendering delay

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The server proactively prepares and transmits a second set of image tiles at a second resolution level in advance, before the user actually requests a zoom operation. This preliminary action ensures that when the user does zoom in or out, the necessary tiles are already available on the client device, eliminating rendering delays and preventing white blocks or distorted maps.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentUS9934757B2Method and system of downloading image tiles onto a client device

Publication Date: 2018.04.03 Y E HUB ARMENIA LLC

AI summary

There is disclosed a method for downloading image tile data from a server to a client device, the data being organized, by the server, in a hierarchal structure, where each level of the hierarchal structure stores a subset of image tiles associated with a particular resolution level. The method comprises, where the client device requests a new image view of a larger resolution, determining an anchor point of the first image view; based on the anchor point, determining a first anchor image tile of the first-level image tiles; using the hierarchical structure, determining a corresponding four child second-level image tiles, the corresponding four-child second-level image tiles forming a second anchor image tile; sending to the client device the second anchor image tile, the sending causing the client device to: replace, in the memory and on the output device, the first anchor image tile with the second anchor image tile.