System for stock images peer-to-peer services over the world wide web

• US 20060044599A1
• Filed: 04/20/2005
• Published: 03/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kodak Limited (Eastman Kodak Company)
• Original Assignee: Kodak Limited (Eastman Kodak Company)
• Inventors: Manascherov, Raz, Beery, Ron, Lipowitz, Shay, Gelbendorf, Hanan, Weisman, Hanan
• Granted Patent: US 7,574,378 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/1.150
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

A method and system for distributed digital, particularly graphic arts images, content trading over the Internet and other communication means The system comprises image publishers, each equipped with a web server, an image repository and a publishing module; image buyers, each equipped with a web server, an image enhancement unit and a system service center, equipped with a web server, an image attributes database, a search module, a billing module and a coordination and control module. Image publishers, interested in selling rights in their proprietary high-resolution images, publish in the service'"'"'s web-site thumbnails representing those images. The image buyer, searching the service web site for images of particular attributes, selects those thumbnails meeting her/his requirements, and gets from the service a temporary direct communication link to the image repository of the image publisher, owning the selected images. The buyer got the option to remotely review, enhance and embed, in a page layout, the low-resolution representation of the selected thumbnails, and quality check parts of the high-resolution images including generic and precise simulations When satisfied, the buyer gets into a price and payment negotiation with the image publisher, and subsequently pays via the service'"'"'s billing module, which automatically splits the sum received to the eligible parties. On conclusion of the transaction the buyer acquires, by Internet, CD or transparency, the high-resolution image file directly from the publisher'"'"'s repository, whereas the high-resolution files were automatically rendered by the enhancement unit ready for print, following the parameters set previously by the buyer

Claims

1. A distributed image trading system comprising:

at least one image publisher unit able to communicate with at least one image buyer terminal, said image publisher unit comprises at least one of a repository for high-resolution images and an image publishing module;

an image enhancement unit; and

a system service unit able to communicate with said at least one image buyer terminal and said at least one image publisher unit, the service unit comprising at least one of an image attributes database, a search module for searching said at least one image attributes database, a billing module and a coordination and control module.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein said image publishing module comprises at least one of:

a) an image metadata publishing module;

b) a low-resolution and high-resolution image file exporting module;

c) an image price-negotiating module;

d) combinations thereof.

3. The system according to claim 2, wherein said metadata publishing module comprises a module for extracting metadata from high-resolution image files stored in said at least one repository.

4. The system according to claim 2, wherein said low and high-resolution image exporting module comprises at least one of:

a) means for exporting a low-resolution representation of a thumbnail selected by said image buyer;

b) means for embossing or removing an electronic signature on/from said low-resolution image file;

c) means for exporting the high-resolution representation of said low-resolution image file; and

d) means for compressing said high-resolution image file.

5. The system according to claim 2, wherein said image price negotiating module, comprises at least one of pricing templates, a module for defining a pricing policy, and combinations thereof.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein said image publisher unit comprises a first module of said image enhancement unit.

7. The system according to claim 6, wherein said first image enhancement module comprises at least one of:

a) means for extracting a low-resolution image file from a high-resolution image file stored in said at least one repository;

b) means for scaling and cropping said low-resolution image according to instructions received from said image buyer;

c) means for enhancing said low-resolution representation comprising at least one of toning, sharpening and color correction according to instructions received from said image buyer;

d) means for embedding the selected and enhanced low-resolution image in a page layout according to instructions received from said image buyer,

e) means for obtaining from said high-resolution image file an image buyer defined partial image in maximum resolution;

f) means for generating a simulation of said partial image in maximum resolution;

g) means for negotiating the price of said high-resolution image, said price defined by said publisher,

h) means for automatically performing the operations in (b) to (d) and (f) on said high-resolution image file to render the file ready for print;

k) combinations thereof.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein said image publishing module and said first image enhancement module are provided by said system service unit to said image publisher unit upon registering with said service unit.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein said service unit comprises a second module of said image enhancement unit.

10. The system according to claim 1, wherein said image attributes database comprises at least one of thumbnails representing said high-resolution images, a description of said images, and combinations thereof.

11. The system according to claim 10, wherein the description of said image comprises at least one of an image publisher'"'"'s identity, the actual location of said image in said image publisher'"'"'s repository, physical attributes of said image, content category to which said image belongs, textual description of the content, pricing tables, image grading and preference segmentation information and combinations thereof.

12. The system according to claim 1, wherein said billing module comprises at least one of a means for transaction detail logging, means for payment processing, means for splitting on-line payments to eligible parties, and combinations thereof.

13. The system according to claim 1, wherein said system service unit includes a repository for high and low-resolution images.

14. The system according to claim 1, wherein said communication is at least one of Internet, Intranet, telephone, mail services and combinations thereof.

15. The system according to claim 1, wherein said service unit comprises means for Internet Web Services.

29. The system according to claim 1, wherein said image publisher is at least one of Exclusive Content Provider and non-Exclusive Content Provider.

16. An image buyer'"'"'s method of locating and purchasing high-resolution images directly from the publisher of said images, the method comprising:

a) accessing a system service unit through a network connection;

b) searching image attributes in said system service'"'"'s data base and selecting desired thumbnails,

c) Simulating, enhancing and verifying the quality of the high-resolution files and their low-resolution representation corresponding to said selected thumbnail by controlled remote accessing of said image publisher unit via a network connection,

d) purchasing from said system service unit and paying for a permission to download said selected high-resolution images;

e) acquiring from said image publisher'"'"'s repository, said selected image in high-resolution format directly to said image buyer'"'"'s terminal, and

f) automatically rendering said selected image in high-resolution format ready for print by applying parameters of step (c).

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said simulating, enhancing and verifying step comprises at least one of:

.

a) evaluating the low-resolution representation of a selected thumbnail;

b) cropping and scaling said low-resolution representation,

c) enhancing said low-resolution representation including at least one of toning, sharpening, color correction and color conversion;

d) embedding the selected and enhanced low-resolution image in a page layout;

e) obtaining from said high-resolution image a defined partial image in maximum resolution, and

f) simulating said partial image on said image buyer terminal calibrated screen.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said simulation on said image buyer terminal calibrated screen is one of generic simulation or precise simulation.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein said purchasing step comprises at least one of

a) negotiating a price, of the high-resolution image by said image buyer, by accessing said image publisher'"'"'s price negotiating module;

b) paying the negotiated price; and

c) combinations thereof.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein said paying to is at least to one of said image

publisher, the service unit, or split between eligible parties.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein said acquiring comprises at least one of:

a) downloading said selected high-resolution image via said network connection;

b) receiving a removable storage device including said selected high-resolution image, and

c) receiving a transparency representing said selected high-resolution image.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein said steps (c), (e) and (f) are carried out indirectly via a temporary storage location in said system service.

23. A method of image presentation by preference segmentation in transactions controlled by an image-bank or peer-to-peer service, the method including:

a) characterizing preferred unique features;

b) defining in the attributes record of the service unit of said image-bank or peer-to-peer service the preference and unique features, representing the high-resolution representation of the image;

c) performing the required transformations to obtain said unique features on a low-resolution representation of said image, and

d) following a purchase decision, performing the required transformations to obtain said unique features on the purchased high-resolution representation of the image.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein said unique features include at least one of saturated colors, skin tone, a filter for ultra high-resolution.

25. A method of embedding images, selected from an image-bank or a peer-to-peer networked service, in an image buyer'"'"'s page layout, the method including;

a) selecting at least one thumbnail available from said service to be embedded in said layout;

b) obtaining the low-resolution image, corresponding to said at least one selected thumbnail;

c) fitting said low-resolution image in said image buyer'"'"'s page layout;

d) enhancing said low-resolution image, including at least one of toning, sharpening, color correction and color conversion;

e) obtaining from the high-resolution image, corresponding to said low resolution image, a defined partial image in maximum resolution;

f) simulating said partial image on said image buyer'"'"'s terminal calibrated screen, said simulation is one of generic simulation or precise simulation;

g) closing said page layout including the enhanced low-resolution representation and simulation of the image;

h) purchasing said high-resolution image from said image-bank or peer-to-peer service;

i) acquiring said high-resolution image from an image publisher'"'"'s repository to the image buyer'"'"'s terminal; and

j) automatically embedding and enhancing said high-resolution images in said layout.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein said purchasing includes at least one of:

a) negotiating a price, of said high-resolution image, by accessing said publisher'"'"'s price negotiating unit, and

b) paying the negotiated price.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein said paying to is at least to one of said image publishers, the service system, or split between eligible parties.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein said acquiring comprises at least one of:

a) downloading said selected high-resolution image via said network service

b) receiving a removable storage device including said selected high-resolution image file, and

c) receiving a transparency representing said selected high-resolution image.