Image control apparatus, image control method and program

• US 20050125454A1
• Filed: 11/30/2004
• Published: 06/09/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Konica Minolta Holdings Incorporated (Konica Minolta Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Konica Minolta Holdings Incorporated (Konica Minolta Inc.)
• Inventors: Hung, Po-Chieh
• Granted Patent: US 7,515,754 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00453 arranged in a two dimensional array
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/2166 for mass storage, e.g. in document filing systems information retrieval G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32101 Display, printing, storage or transmission of additional information, e.g. ID code, date and time or title
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3247 Data linking a set of images to one another, e.g. sequence, burst or continuous capture mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3274 Storage or retrieval of prestored additional information

Abstract

An image control apparatus having an image database storing plural pieces of image information, for controlling the plural pieces of image information, the image control apparatus including: a first image information acquiring device for acquiring first image information; a second image information acquiring device for acquiring second image information; a similarity determining section for determining a similarity through comparison between the first image information and the second image information; and an associating information generating section for generating associating information to associate the first image information with the second image information, based on a judgment result of the similarity determining section, wherein the plural pieces of image information are controlled based on the associating information generated by the associating information generating section.

Claims

1. An image control apparatus having an image database capable of storing plural pieces of image information, for controlling the plural pieces of image information stored in the image database, the image control apparatus comprising:

a first image information acquiring device for acquiring first image information;

a second image information acquiring device for acquiring second image information;

a similarity determining section for determining a similarity through comparison between the first image information acquired by the first image information acquiring device and the second image information acquired by the second image information acquiring device; and

an associating information generating section for generating associating information to associate the first image information with the second image information, based on a judgment result of the similarity determining section,

wherein the plural pieces of image information are controlled based on the associating information generated by the associating information generating section.

2. The image control apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second image acquiring device is configured to acquire print image information as the second image information from a print recording medium on which an image is printed, and the first image acquiring device is configured to acquire medium image information as the first image information from a recording medium different from the print recording medium.

3. The image control apparatus of claim 2, further comprising:

a similarity information generating section for generating similarity information related to similarity between the medium image information and the print image information based on the similarity determined by the similarity determining section, wherein

the associating information generating section generates the associating information which associates the print image information with the medium image information similar to the print image information, based on the similarity information generated by the similarity information generating section.

4. The image control apparatus of claim 3, further comprising:

a similarity level judging section for judging which is higher a similarity already determined by the similarity determining section between a first medium image information and a first print information, or a similarity between a newly acquired second medium image information and the first print information; and

an associating information revising section for revising the associating information so that an associating degree between the second medium image information and the first print image information becomes higher than associating degree between the first medium image information and the first print image information, when the similarity between the second medium image information and the first print image information is judged to be higher than the similarity between the first medium image information and the first print image information.

5. The image control apparatus of claims 3, further comprising:

a displaying section for displaying images stored in the image database including an image related to the print image information and an image related to the medium image information, wherein the displaying section is configured to display a similar image display instruction mark for instructing to display an image related to the medium image information associated with the print image information, based on the associating information generated by the associating information generating section.

6. The image control apparatus of claims 4, further comprising:

a displaying section for displaying images stored in the image database including an image related to the print image information and an image related to the medium image information, wherein the displaying section is configured to display a similar image display instruction mark for instructing to display an image related to the medium image information associated with the print image information, based on the associating information generated by the associating information generating section.

7. The image control apparatus of claim 5, wherein the image database comprises a medium image memory area to store plural pieces of the medium image information, acquired by the first image information acquiring device, and being associated with the print image information, and wherein, the displaying section is configured to display a medium image display instruction mark for instructing to display images related to the plural pieces of the medium image information stored in the medium image memory area, including the medium image information associated with the print image information.

8. The image control apparatus of claim 6, wherein the image database comprises a medium image memory area to store plural pieces of the medium image information, acquired by the first image information acquiring device, and being associated with the print image information, and wherein, the displaying section is configured to display a medium image display instruction mark for instructing to display images related to the plural pieces of the medium image information stored in the medium image memory area, including the medium image information associated with the print image information.

9. An image controlling method for controlling plural pieces of image information stored in an image database by using an image control apparatus comprising a first image information acquiring device for acquiring first image information and a second image information acquiring device for acquiring second image information, and the image database for storing the first image information and the second image information, the image controlling method comprising:

determining a similarity through comparison between the first image information acquired by the first image information acquiring device and the second image information acquired by the second image information acquiring device;

generating associating information to associate the first image information with the second image information, based on a judgment result of the step of determining a similarity; and

controlling the plural pieces of image information based on the associating information generated by the step of generating associating information.

10. The image controlling method of claim 9, wherein the second image acquiring device is configured to acquire print image information as the second image information from a print recording medium on which an image is printed, and

the first image acquiring device is configured to acquire medium image information as the first image information from a recording medium different from the print recording medium.

11. The image control method of claim 10, further comprising the step of:

generating similarity information related to similarity between the medium image information and the print image information based on the similarity determined by the step of determining similarity,

wherein in the step of generating associating information, the associating information which associates the print image information with the medium image information similar to the print image information is generated, based on the similarity information generated in the step of generating the similarity information.

12. The image control method of claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

judging which is higher a similarity, already determined by the step of determining similarity, between a first medium image information and a first print information, or a similarity between a newly acquired second medium image information and the first print information; and

revising the associating information so that an associating degree between the second medium image information and the first print image information becomes higher than an associating degree between the first medium image information and the first print image information, when the similarity between the second medium image information and the first print image information is judged to be higher than the similarity between the first medium image information and the first print image information.

13. The image control method of claim 12, wherein the image control apparatus further comprises a displaying section for displaying images stored in the image database including an image related to the print image information and an image related to the medium image information, wherein the image control method further comprising the step of:

displaying a similar image display instruction mark for instructing to display an image related to the medium image information associated with the print image information, based on the associating information.

14. The image control method of claim 13, wherein the image database comprises a medium image memory area to store plural pieces of the medium image information, acquired by the first image information acquiring device, and being associated with the print image information, and the image control method further comprising the step of:

displaying a medium image display instruction mark for instructing to display images related to the plural pieces of the medium image information stored in the medium image memory area, including the medium image information associated with the print image information.

15. A program for realizing an image control on an image control apparatus comprising a first image information acquiring device for acquiring first image information, a second image information acquiring device for acquiring second image information, and an image database for storing the first image information and the second image information, the image control comprising the functions of:

determining similarity through comparison between the first image information acquired by the first image information acquiring device and the second image information acquired by the second image information acquiring device;

generating associating information to associate the first image information with the second image information, based on a judgment result of the step of determining similarity; and

controlling plural pieces of image information based on the associating information generated by the step of generating associating information.