N-up display method and apparatus, and image forming device thereof

• US 20070024913A1
• Filed: 07/17/2006
• Published: 02/01/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: S-Printing Solution Co., Ltd. (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Jeong, Jong-un
• Granted Patent: US 8,612,848 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/3.240
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/0035 User-machine interface; Control console input or output arrangements for computers G06F3/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00453 arranged in a two dimensional array
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0082 Image hardcopy reproducer H04N2201/0091 - H04N2201/0094 take precedence

Abstract

A display method and an apparatus to display a plurality of images on a screen, and an image forming apparatus to performs the N-up display method, wherein the image display method includes: classifying the images according to the similarities in their shapes on the basis of horizontal length information and vertical length information of the images; and displaying the images on the display screen such that images having similar shapes are positioned adjacent to each other. Therefore, by positioning images having similar, or corresponding, shapes at adjacent positions when images to be printed are displayed on a display unit, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) included in the image forming apparatus, a reduction of blank spaces between displayed images and an increase of the number of images that can be displayed on a screen are promoted.

Claims

1. An image display method of displaying a plurality of images on a display screen, comprising:

classifying each of the images according to horizontal length information and vertical length information to determine a shape of each of the images; and

displaying the images on the display screen, wherein images that classified as having a corresponding shape are adjacently displayed on the display screen.

2. The image display method of claim 1, wherein:

in the classifying of the images, an image having a horizontal length longer than a vertical length of the image is classified as a horizontal shape image, and an image having a horizontal length shorter than a vertical length of the image is classified as a vertical shape image.

3. The image display method of claim 2, wherein:

in the classifying of the images, an image having a horizontal length equal to a vertical length of the image is classified as a square shape image.

4. The image display method of claim 2, wherein:

in the displaying of the images, images classified as horizontal shape images are displayed in frames having horizontal lengths longer than vertical lengths of the frames, and images classified as vertical shape images are displayed in frames having vertical lengths longer than horizontal lengths of the frames.

5. The image display method of claim 1, further comprising:

setting by a user a number of the images displayed on the display screen, or

setting the number of images to be displayed on the display screen as the number of the plurality of images.

6. The image display method of claim 1, wherein the displaying the images further comprises:

dividing the display screen into upper and lower regions or into left and right regions, and

displaying images which are classified as having a corresponding shape on one of the upper and lower regions or on one of the left and right regions.

7. A method of displaying a plurality of images on a display screen, comprising:

reading classification information to classify the images by shape according to the classification information; and

displaying the images on the display screen, wherein images that are classified as having a corresponding shape, on the basis of the classification information, are adjacently displayed on the display screen.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

generating classification information, based on horizontal length information and vertical length information, of the images whose classification information is not read.

9. An image display apparatus to display a plurality of images on a display screen, comprising:

an image classifying unit to classify the images according to horizontal length information and vertical length information to determine a shape of each of the images;

a layout deciding unit to determine display positions of the images on the display screen, wherein images which are classified as having a corresponding shape, based on the horizontal length information and the vertical length information, are positioned in adjacent display positions; and

a display unit to display the images on the display screen according to the determined display positions.

10. The image display apparatus of claim 9, wherein:

the image classifying unit classifies an image having a horizontal length longer than a vertical length of the image as a horizontal shape image, and

the image classifying unit classifies an image having a horizontal length shorter than a vertical length of the image as a vertical shape image.

11. The image display apparatus of claim 10, wherein:

the image classifying unit classifies an image having a horizontal length equal to a vertical length of the image as a square shape image.

12. The image display apparatus of claim 10, wherein:

the display unit displays images classified as horizontal shape images in frames having horizontal lengths longer than vertical lengths of the frames, and

the display unit displays images classified as vertical shape images in frames having vertical lengths longer than horizontal lengths of the frames.

13. The image display apparatus of claim 9, wherein:

the number of the images displayed on the display screen is set by a user or is set as the number of the plurality of the images.

14. The image display apparatus of claim 9, wherein:

the layout deciding unit divides the display screen into upper and lower regions or into left and right regions, and

the layout deciding unit determines display positions of the images such that images which are classified as having a corresponding shape are displayed on one of the upper and lower regions or on one of the left and right regions.

21. The image display apparatus of claim 11, wherein:

the display unit displays images classified as horizontal shape images in frames having horizontal lengths longer than vertical lengths of the frames,

the display unit displays images classified as vertical shape images in frames having vertical lengths longer than horizontal lengths of the frames, and

the display unit displays images classified as square shape images in frames having horizontal lengths equal to vertical lengths of the frames.

15. An image display apparatus to display a plurality of images on a display screen, comprising:

a storage unit to store classification information to classify the plurality of the images by shape according to the classification information;

a layout deciding unit to read the classification information from the storage unit and to determine display positions of the images, wherein the images that are classified as having a corresponding shape, on the basis of the classification information, are positioned in adjacent display positions; and

a display unit to display the images on the display screen according to the determined display positions.

16. An image forming apparatus to display images, comprising:

a data input unit to receive image data;

a print unit to print images using the image data;

a size detector to detect horizontal length information and vertical length information of the images using the image data;

an image classifying unit to classify the images according to shape, based on the horizontal length information and the vertical length information of the images detected by the size detector;

a layout deciding unit to determine display positions of the images, wherein images that are classified as having a corresponding shape, on the basis of the horizontal length information and the vertical length information, are positioned in adjacent display positions; and

a display unit to display the images on a display screen according to the determined display positions.

17. The image forming apparatus of claim 16, wherein:

the data input unit receives the image data from a storage medium, wherein the storage medium selectively engages or communicates with the image forming apparatus.

18. The image forming apparatus of claim 16, further comprising:

a storage unit to store the horizontal length information and the vertical length information of the images.

20. The image forming apparatus of claim 17, further comprising:

a storage unit to store the horizontal length information and the vertical length information of the images.

19. A computer-readable recording medium having embodied thereon a computer program to execute by a processor an image display method, the image display method embodied in the program comprising:

classifying each of the images according to horizontal length information and vertical length information to determine a shape of each of the images; and

displaying the images on the display screen, wherein images that are classified as having a corresponding shape are adjacently displayed on the display screen.

22. An image display method, comprising:

classifying images according to horizontal length information and vertical length information to determine a shape of each of the images; and

determine display positions of the images to position images which are classified as having a corresponding shape, based on the horizontal length information and the vertical length information, in adjacent display positions.

23. The image display method of claim 22, wherein the determining display positions of the images further comprises:

determining display positions of the images to reduce blank spaces between displayed images, to increase the number of images displayed on the display screen, or to set the number or arrangement of the images on the display screen.

24. An image display method, comprising:

classifying images according to classification information to determine a shape of each of the images; and

determine display positions of the images to position images which are classified as having a corresponding shape, based on the classification information, in adjacent display positions.

25. The image display method of claim 24, wherein the determining display positions of the images further comprises:

determining display positions of the images to reduce blank spaces between displayed images, to increase the number of images displayed on the display screen, or to set the number or arrangement of the images on the display screen.

26. An image display apparatus, comprising:

an image classifying unit to classify images according to horizontal length information and vertical length information to determine a shape of each of the images; and

a layout deciding unit to determine display positions of the images, wherein images which are classified as having a corresponding shape, based on the horizontal length information and the vertical length information, are positioned in adjacent display positions.

27. An image display apparatus, comprising:

an image classifying unit to classify images according to classification information to determine a shape of each of the images; and

a layout deciding unit to determine display positions of the images, wherein images which are classified as having a corresponding shape, based on the classification information, are positioned in adjacent display positions.