1. A computer-implemented method for determining a position for at least one wind turbine within a confined geographical target region for the wind turbine, the method comprising the steps of:
defining a plurality of geographical locations within the target region;
determining a plurality of wind flow characteristics in each of said geographical locations, said flow characteristics including at least a wind velocity and a turbulence intensity;
applying a function, which expresses a maintenance parameter of the at least one wind turbine as a function of at least said flow characteristics, to each of the geographical locations within the target region to compute a value of the at least one maintenance parameter at each of the geographical locations within the target region;
selecting one of the geographical locations as the position for the at least one wind turbine on the basis of the computed maintenance parameter values.
2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:
receiving meteorological measurement data obtained at least one position, said meteorological data including at least wind velocities, wind directions and turbulence intensities;
extrapolating the meteorological measurement data by means of a numerical method to obtain said plurality of wind flow characteristics in each of the geographical locations within the geographical region.
3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising an output device for outputting a representation of the computed values of the at least one maintenance parameter, the output device including a monitor, and wherein the representation of the computed maintenance parameter values includes a map of the geographical target region, in which the computed maintenance parameter value in each of the geographical locations is represented in the corresponding positions in the map.
4. The method according to claim 1, wherein said function expressing the maintenance parameter of the wind turbine further is a function of a time-dependent variable.
5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the time-dependent variable is one of: time and accumulated power production of the at least one wind turbine.
6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one maintenance parameter is a maintenance parameter of at least one component of the wind turbine.
7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising, during application of said function, the step of estimating the expected number of replacements of a given wind turbine component during the expected life time of the wind turbine.
8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the maintenance parameter includes a maintenance cost expressed as a monetary amount per energy unit produced.
9. The method according to claim 8, comprising the step of computing the maintenance cost as the sum of computed maintenance costs of a plurality of wind turbine components at a given time divided by the accumulated energy produced at that time.
10. The method according to claim 1, comprising the step of estimating at least one maintenance parameter of a plurality of wind turbines, and applying said function to take mutual aerodynamic effects of the wind turbines into account.
11. A computer system for determining a site for at least one wind turbine within a confined geographical target region for the wind turbine, the computer system being programmed to:
define a plurality of geographical locations within the target region;
determine a plurality of wind flow characteristics in each of said geographical locations, said flow characteristics including at least a wind velocity and a turbulence intensity;
apply a function, which expresses a maintenance parameter of the at least one wind turbine as a function of at least said flow characteristics, to each of the geographical locations within the target region to compute a value of the at least one maintenance parameter at each of the geographical locations within the target region;
select one of the geographical locations as the position for the at least one wind turbine on the basis of the computed maintenance parameter values.
12. A computer system for visualizing a position of at least one wind turbine in a geographical terrain, the computer system including a monitor and a database storing three-dimensional visualization data of the surface of at least a portion of the Earth, the computer system being programmed to:
receive coordinates of the position of the at least one wind turbine;
receive a digital image of the at least one wind turbine;
superimpose the digital image on said three-dimensional visualization data at the coordinates of the position of the at least one wind turbine; and
cause the monitor to display a three-dimensional image of the at least one wind turbine as located at said coordinates.
13. The computer system according to claim 12, further programmed to receive a user-defined view angle and cause the monitor to display the three-dimensional image as seen from the user-defined view angle.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
receiving a set of images from an electronic marketplace;
providing, on a display of a user device, a first view comprising a first image of the set of images, wherein the set of images individually include a same item;
receiving a first user input indicating a tilt position;
determining multiple portions of the first image and multiple portions of the second image;
providing, on the display of the user device, a second view based at least in part on the first user input being greater than a tilt angle threshold, the second view comprising an overlaid image of the first image and the second image, the overlaid image depicting the multiple portions of both the first image and the second image being arranged in an alternating pattern within the display of the user device;
providing, on the display of the user device, a third view based at least in part on a second user input being greater than the tilt angle threshold, the third view comprising the second image;
transitioning from the third view to a fourth view based on an indication of a maintained tilt being greater than the tilt angle threshold, the transitioning occuring after a predetermined period of time has elapsed, the fourth view comprising a third image of the set of images;
determining that the maintained tilt has been maintained for the predetermined period of time; and
providing subsequent displays based at least in part on the determination that the maintained tilt has been maintained for the predetermined period of time, wherein time elapsed between the provided subsequent displays decreases as a function of time.
2. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the multiple portions of the first image and the multiple portions of the second image vary in width or height.
3. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, having further instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
providing, on the display of the user device, the fourth view after a predetermined period of time has elapsed, the fourth view comprising the third image of the set of images.
4. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, having further instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
modifying a first set of image widths corresponding to the multiple portions of the first image based at least in part on a first tilt position;
receiving a second user input indicating a second tilt position;
determining that the second tilt position is greater than the tilt position; and
increasing the first set of image widths corresponding to the multiple portions of the first image based at least in part on the determination that the second tilt position is greater than the tilt position.
5. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 4, having further instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
modifying a second set of image widths corresponding to the multiple portions of the second image based at least in part on the first tilt position; and
decreasing the second set of image widths corresponding to the multiple portions of the second image based at least in part on the determination that the second tilt position is greater than the first tilt position.
6. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
receiving, by a computer system of a mobile device, a set of images identifying an item offered in an electronic marketplace;
providing a first display on the mobile device, the first display comprising a first image of the set of images;
receiving a first user input indicating a first tilt angle;
transitioning to a second display based at least in part on the user input being less than a tilt angle threshold, the second display comprising a partial view of the first image and a partial view of a second image of the set of images, the partial view of the first image and the partial view of the second image being an animated overlaid image of the first image and the second image, the overlaid image depicting alternating viewable portions of the first image with viewable portions of the second image;
receiving a second user input indicating a second tilt angle that is greater than the first tilt angle;
transitioning from the second display to a third display based at least in part on the second user input being greater than the tilt angle threshold, the third display comprising the second image in its entirety;
transitioning from the third display to a fourth display based on an indication of a maintained tilt being greater than the tilt angle threshold after a predetermined period of time has elapsed, the fourth display comprising a third image of the set of images;
determining that the maintained tilt has been maintained for the predetermined period of time; and
providing subsequent displays based at least in part on the determination that the maintained tile has been maintained for the predetermined period of time, wherein time elapsed between the provided subsequent displays decreases as a function of time.
7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the first user input and the second user input are submitted utilizing at least one of an accelerometer, a gyroscope, or a camera of the mobile device.
8. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the second image is a subsequent image in the set of images relative to the first image.
9. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the second image is a preceding image in the set of images relative to the first image.
10. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein providing the subsequent displays includes providing subsequent images of the set of images based at least in part on a tilt angle, wherein the subsequent displays individually presenting a view of the item at a second angle that is different than the first angle, and wherein providing the subsequent images causes a visual representation of the item to appear to rotate on a fixed axis.
11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the set of images are displayed sequentially at a speed proportional to the tilt angle.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein a first speed at which the subsequent displays are individually presented is based at least in part on the tilt angle.
13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:
receiving user input indicating a subsequent tilt angle; and
providing additional subsequent displays of additional subsequent images of the set of images based at least in part on the subsequent tilt angle, wherein a second speed at which the additional subsequent displays are individually presented is based at least in part the subsequent tilt angle, and wherein the second speed is faster than the first speed when the subsequent tilt angle is greater than the tilt angle.
14. A system, comprising:
a processor; and
a memory storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to at least:
receive a plurality of images;
provide, on a display of a user device, a first view comprising a first image of the plurality of images;
receive a first user input indicating a first tilt position;
provide, on the display of the user device, a second view based at least in part on the first user input being less than a tilt angle threshold, the second view comprising one portion of the first image visually located adjacent to one portion of the second image;
receive a second user input indicating a second tilt position;
provide, on the display of the user device, a third view based at least in part on the second user input being greater than the first tilt position, the third view comprising the second image of the plurality of images;
transition from the third view to a fourth view based on an indication of a maintained tilt being greater than the tilt angle threshold, the transition occurring after a predetermined period of time has elapsed, the fourth view comprising a third image of the plurality of images;
determine that the maintained tilt has been maintained for the predetermined period of time; and
provide subsequent displays based at least in part on the predetermined period of time and the determination that the maintained tile has been maintained for the predetermined period of time, wherein time elapsed between the provided subsequent displays decreases as a function of time.
15. The system of claim 14, wherein the plurality of images are received from an electronic marketplace.
16. The system of claim 14, wherein the first image visually depicts an item as viewed from a first angle.
17. The system of claim 16, wherein providing the subsequent displays includes providing a subsequent image of the plurality of images, the subsequent image visually depicting the item as viewed from a second angle that is different than the first angle.
18. The system of claim 14, having further instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to at least:
receive a second user input indicating a maintained tilt position; and
based on the second user input, provide, at a first speed, subsequent views individually comprising subsequent images of the plurality of images according to the second user input, the subsequent displays individually depicting the item as viewed from another angle different that the first angle or second angle.
19. The system of claim 18, having further instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to at least:
receive a third user input indicating an increased tilt position, the increased tilt position being greater than the maintained tilt position; and
based on the third user input, provide at least one subsequent image of the plurality of images at a second speed, the second speed being faster than the first speed.
20. The system of claim 19, having further instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to at least:
receive a fourth user input indicating a decreased tilt position, the decreased tilt position being less than the increased tilt position; and
based on the fourth user input, provide at least one subsequent image of the plurality of images at a third speed, the third speed being slower than the second speed.