Associating presence information with a digital image

• US 20070011186A1
• Filed: 06/27/2005
• Published: 01/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Scenera Mobile Technologies LLC (Scenera Research LLC)
• Original Assignee: Scenera Technologies LLC (Scenera Research LLC)
• Inventors: Horner, Richard, Bardsley, Jeffrey
• Granted Patent: US 7,676,543 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/58 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range

Abstract

The present invention provides a computer-implemented method and system for associating presence information with a digital image. Aspects of the preferred embodiment include allowing an identifier associated with at least one object depicted in the image to be stored as image metadata; using the identifier to associate presence information with the at least one object; and performing an action related to the object using the associated presence information.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for associating presence information with a digital image, comprising:

allowing an identifier associated with at least one object depicted in the image to be stored as image metadata;

using the identifier to associate presence information with the at least one object; and

performing an action related to the object using the associated presence information.

2. The method of claim 1 further including:

using a plurality of identifiers for associating respective presence information with corresponding multiple objects depicted in the image.

3. The method of claim 1 further including:

after the presence information is associated with the least one object, uploading the image and the associated presence information to a server on a network.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein performing an action includes at least one of displaying the presence information associated with the object in response to a request to view the image, printing the presence information with the image, and playing an audio reproduction of the content of the presence information while the image is viewed.

5. The method of claim 4 further including:

displaying the presence information in a location including one of next to the image, over a location of the object in the image, and in a separate window.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the presence information displayed includes a status associated with the at least one object.

7. The method of claim 1 further including:

providing the presence information with at least one of a status that conveys status information and a communication address.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the communication address specifies at least one contact means and corresponding at least one contact address associated with the object.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein performing an action includes automatically opening a communication channel via the communication address associated with the object.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein using the identifier to associate presence information with the at least one object includes using the identifier to subscribe to the presence information associated with the object via a presence service.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein using the identifier to associate presence information with the at least one object includes using the identifier to retrieve presence information associated with an entry included a local roster list, the entry corresponding to the identifier of the object.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein using the identifier to associate presence information with the at least one object includes using the identifier as an index to obtain a presence URL via one of a look-up and mapping operation if the identifier is not of a type sufficient to directly obtain the presence information, and then using the presence URL to obtain the presence information.

13. A computer-readable medium containing program instructions for associating presence information with a digital image, the instructions for:

allowing an identifier associated with at least one object depicted in the image to be stored as image metadata;

using the identifier to associate presence information with the at least one object; and

performing an action related to the object using the associated presence information.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 further including program instructions for:

using a plurality of identifiers for associating respective presence information with corresponding multiple objects depicted in the image.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 further including program instructions for:

after the presence information is associated with the least one object, uploading the image and the associated presence information to a server on a network.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 wherein performing an action includes at least one of displaying the presence information associated with the object in response to a request to view the image, printing the presence information with the image, and playing an audio reproduction of the content of the presence information while the image is viewed.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16 further including program instructions for:

displaying the presence information in a location including one of next to the image, over a location of the object in the image, and in a separate window.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the presence information displayed includes a status associated with the at least one object.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 further including program instructions for:

providing the presence information with at least one of a status that convey status information and a communication address.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19 wherein the communication address specifies at least one contact means and corresponding at least one contact address associated with the object.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 19 wherein performing an action includes automatically opening a communication channel via the communication address associated with the object.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein using the identifier to associate presence information with the at least one object includes using the identifier to subscribe to the presence information associated with the object via a presence service.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein using the identifier to associate presence information with the at least one object includes using the identifier to retrieve presence information associated with an entry included a local roster list, the entry corresponding to the identifier of the object.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 wherein using the identifier to associate presence information with the at least one object includes using the identifier as an index to obtain a presence URL via one of a look-up or mapping operation if the identifier is not of a type sufficient to directly obtain the presence information, and then using the presence URL to obtain the presence information.

25. An image system, comprising:

at least one digital image having an identifier associated with at least one object depicted in the image, wherein the identifier is stored as image metadata; and

image presence means for using the identifier to associate presence information with the at least one object, and for performing an action related to the object using the associated presence information.

26. The system of claim 25 wherein an image application allows a user to associate the identifier with the object by, allowing the user to select a graphical element and position the graphical element over a portion of the image containing the object to which the user wishes to associate the identifier, and allowing the user to enter the identifier, wherein the identifier is saved in the image metadata along with x-coordinates and y-coordinates of the object selected.

27. The system of claim 25 wherein the image presence means includes any combination of the image application, an image presence component, and a presence application.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein the image presence component and the presence application are implemented as one component.

29. The system of claim 27 wherein when the image application accesses the image for display, the image application sends the image data to a display device and passes the metadata to the image presence component.

30. The system of claim 29 wherein the image presence component determines whether the identifier is a type sufficient to directly obtain the presence information associated with the identified object.

31. The system of claim 30 wherein if the identifier is a type sufficient to directly obtain the presence information associated with the identified object, then the image presence component sends the identifier to the presence application, and the presence application uses the identifier to subscribe to a presence service to obtain the presence information.

32. The system of claim 30 wherein if the identifier is a type sufficient to directly obtain the presence information associated with the identified object, then the image presence component uses the identifier to retrieve the presence information associated an entry corresponding to the identifier found in a local presence roster list.

33. The system of claim 30 wherein if the identifier is not a type sufficient to directly obtain the presence information associated with the identified object, then the identifier is used as an index to obtain a presence URL via a look-up or mapping operation, and the presence URL is then used to obtain the presence information.

34. The system of claim 33 wherein prior to performing the lookup or mapping operation, the identifier is validated to ensure that the format of the data is correct.

35. The system of claim 25 wherein the action performed related to the object includes at least one of displaying the presence information associated with the object in response to a request to view the image, printing the presence information with the image, and playing an audio reproduction of the content of the presence information while the image is viewed.

36. The system of claim 35 wherein the presence information is displayed in a location including one of next to the image, over a location of the object in the image, and in a separate window.

37. The system of claim 35 wherein the presence information displayed includes a status associated with the at least one object.

38. The system of claim 25 comprising communication means, wherein performing an action includes using a communication address included in the presence information associated with the object to automatically open a communication channel via the communication means.

39. The system of claim 25 wherein the communication address specifies at least one contact means and corresponding at least one contact address associated with the object.