APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CREATING DIGITAL COLLAGE

• US 20080205694A1
• Filed: 09/13/2007
• Published: 08/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Inventors: Lee, Ju-youn, SAGOO, KiranPal
• Granted Patent: US 8,126,192 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D

Abstract

A method and apparatus for creating a digital collage, the apparatus including a sending/receiving unit and a creating unit, the sending/receiving unit receiving contents from a plurality of slave devices, and the creating unit merging the received contents in a predetermined form to create the digital collage.

Claims

1. An apparatus for creating a digital collage, the apparatus comprising:

a sending/receiving unit of a host device which receives contents from a plurality of slave devices; and

a creating unit which merges the received contents in a predetermined form to create the digital collage.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a sync unit which synchronizes a creation date of the digital collage with the digital collage or synchronizes the creation date of a part of the digital collage contributed by each of the members who participated in creating the digital collage, and stores the synchronized digital collage.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a control unit which determines whether or not the received contents are from the slave devices that received a request message from the host device.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the slave devices are mobile devices.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the contents include at least one of text, icons, images, or video.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the creating unit includes an effect unit that applies a predetermined effect to the digital collage or the contents.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

an output unit which outputs at least one of the digital collage, the contents, or information about members who participate in creating the digital collage.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein when a pointer is placed on a predetermined part of the digital collage, the output unit outputs information of a member who made content corresponding to the part.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein when a certain date is selected, the output unit outputs the digital collage which is synchronized with the date.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the digital collage is formed as an image file, video file, or an application file.

11. An apparatus creating a digital collage using a story template, the apparatus comprising:

a sending/receiving unit which receives contents created by combining objects selected from the story template in a slave device; and

a creating unit which creates the digital collage using the received contents.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the story template includes at least one of background images, characters, music, dialogue boxes, or photo images.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the creating unit includes an arranging unit that merges a plurality of the contents in a predetermined form.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the story template is sent sequentially to a plurality of slave devices according to a sequence created using a host device.

15. A method of creating a digital collage by merging contents in a predetermined form, the method comprising:

selecting a plurality of members using a host device of a user;

sending a request message for creating the contents to slave devices of the members;

receiving and merging the contents created by the members; and

creating the digital collage using the merged contents.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising synchronizing a date of creation of the digital collage with the digital collage or synchronizing the date of creation of a portion of the digital collage contributed by each of the members who participated in creating the digital collage, and storing the synchronized digital collage.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the slave devices are mobile devices.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the contents include at least one of text, icons, images, or video.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising applying a predetermined effect to the digital collage or to the contents.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein when a pointer is placed on a predetermined part of the digital collage, further comprising outputting information of a member who created the content corresponding to the predetermined part.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein when a date is selected, further comprising outputting the digital collage which is related to the selected date.

22. The method of claim 15, wherein the digital collage is formed as an image file, video file, or an application file.

23. A method of creating a digital collage using a story template, the method comprising:

receiving contents produced by combining objects selected from the story template in a slave device; and

creating the digital collage using the received contents.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the story template includes at least one of background images, characters, music, dialogue boxes, and photo images.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the creating of the digital collage includes merging a plurality of contents in a predetermined form.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein the story template is sent sequentially to a plurality of slave devices according to an sequence created using a host device.

27. The method of claim 23, further comprising sending the story template to a second slave device from a first slave device which has finished producing assigned contents.

28. An apparatus for creating a digital collage comprising:

a sending/receiving unit sending a message to a plurality of devices belonging to members of a group selected by a user of the apparatus requesting information from the devices of the members to form the digital collage and receiving the requested information from the devices of the members selected by the user; and

a creating unit merging the received information from the devices of the members selected by the user creating the digital collage.