METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING IMAGE FILE HAVING OBJECT INFORMATION

• US 20090009626A1
• Filed: 02/12/2008
• Published: 01/08/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/02/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Ko, Chang-seog, Park, Hyun-cheol, Kim, Young-sun, Choi, Yoo-jin
• Granted Patent: US 8,614,753 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/231.300
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00251 with an apparatus for taking photographic images, e.g. a camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/2125 Display of information relating to the still picture recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/2183 the stored images being distributed among a plurality of different locations, e.g. among a plurality of users
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32128 attached to the image data, e.g. file header, transmitted message header, information on the same page or in the same computer file as the image for information embedded in the image H04N1/32144
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2101/00 Still video cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3226 of identification information or the like, e.g. ID code, index, title, part of an image, reduced-size image
• 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 2201/3252 Image capture parameters, e.g. resolution, illumination conditions, orientation of the image capture device H04N2201/3256 and subgroups take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3253 Position information, e.g. geographical position at time of capture, GPS data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3269 of machine readable codes or marks, e.g. bar codes or glyphs
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3271 Printing or stamping

Abstract

Provided are a method and an apparatus for generating an image file having information about an object. The method of generating the image file having the object information includes the operations of generating image data by taking a picture of the object; receiving the object information from the object through a network; and storing the object information in an image file together with the image data. Accordingly, when a photographing apparatus capable of perform wireless communications generates image data by taking a picture of an object having a wireless communication module, object information is received from the object through wireless communications and is stored together with image data.

Claims

1. A method of generating an image file including object information about an object, the method performed in a user terminal and comprising:

generating image data by taking a picture of the object;

receiving the object information from the object through a network; and

storing the object information in the image file with the image data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the object includes a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag which includes the object information, and the user terminal includes an RFID reader,

wherein the receiving of the object information comprises receiving the object information included in the RFID tag using a radio frequency.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the network is a short-distance wireless network using one of a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) method, a Bluetooth method, a Zigbee method and a Wireless Broadband (WiBro) method.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

converting location information of the object into location information of the object on a screen by using location information of the user terminal and the location information of the object; and

performing an addition of the converted location information of the object on the screen to the object information and storing a result of the addition in the image file.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising calculating the location information of the user terminal, wherein the calculating of the location information of the user terminal comprises:

receiving a Global Positioning System (GPS) signal from a satellite; and

calculating the location information of the user terminal by using the received GPS signal.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising calculating the location information of the user terminal, wherein the calculating of the location information of the user terminal comprises:

receiving a wireless signal from a base station; and

calculating the location information of the user terminal by using the wireless signal.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the location information of the user terminal includes a first latitude, a first longitude, a first direction of a visual field and a first altitude and the location information of the object includes a second latitude, a second longitude, a second direction of a visual field and a second altitude.

8. A method of generating an image file including object information about an object, the method performed in a user terminal and comprising:

generating image data by taking a picture of the object;

receiving object identification information from the object through a network; and

storing the object identification information in the image file with the image data.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the user terminal is connected to an object information storage server through the network, or through another network, and the method further comprises:

transmitting the object identification information to the object information storage server;

receiving the object information about the object from the object information storage server; and

storing the received object information in the image file with the image data.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the object includes a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag which includes the object information, and the user terminal includes an RFID reader,

wherein the receiving of the object identification information comprises receiving the object identification information included in the RFID tag using a radio frequency.

11. A method of outputting an image file, the method performed in a user terminal and comprising:

extracting image data generated by taking a picture of the object from the image file and outputting the image data; and

outputting object information about the object.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the object information is received from the object and is recorded in the image file and wherein the outputting of the object information comprises outputting the object information from a metadata area of the image file.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the outputting of the object information comprises outputting the object information to a location of the object on an image by using location information of the object that is stored in the image file.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the outputting of the object information comprises:

extracting image data generated by taking a picture of the object from the image file and outputting the image data;

extracting object identification information received from the object from the image file;

searching for the object information from database by using the object identification information; and

outputting the object information extracted from the database.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the user terminal is connected to an object information storage server through a network, wherein the outputting of the object information comprises:

outputting image data generated by taking a picture of the object;

extracting object identification information received from the object;

transmitting the object identification information to the object information storage server;

receiving the object information from the server; and

outputting the object information.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the object identification information comprises one of a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) and an identification number of the object.

17. An apparatus for generating an image file including object information about an object, the apparatus comprising:

an image file processing unit which generates image data by taking a picture of the object, and stores information received from the object with the image data to generate the image file; and

a communication unit which receives the information from the object through a network.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the image processing unit comprises:

an image data generating unit which generates the image data by taking a picture of the object;

an object information processing unit which processes the information received from the object; and

an image file generating unit which generates the image file by storing the object information with the image data.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the apparatus is connected to an object information storage server through a network, wherein if the information received from the object is object identification information, the communication unit transmits the object identification information to the object information storage server, receives the object information about the object from the object information storage server, and transmits the received object information to the image file processing unit.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the object includes a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag which includes the object information, and the apparatus includes an RFID reader,

wherein the communication unit receives the object information included in the RFID tag by using a radio frequency.

21. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising a location information processing unit which calculates location information of the apparatus and converts location information of the object into location information of the object on a screen by using the location information of the apparatus and the location information of the object,

wherein the converted location information of the object on the screen is added to the object information in an addition and a result of the addition is stored in the image file.

22. An apparatus for outputting an image file having object information of an object, the apparatus extracting image data generated by taking a picture of the object from the image file and outputting the image data and outputting object information about the object.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the object information is extracted from a metadata area of the image file.

24. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the apparatus extracts object identification information received from the object from the image file, searches for the object information from database by using the object identification information, and outputs the object information extracted from the database.

25. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the apparatus is connected to an object information storage server through a network, and the apparatus extracts object identification information received from the object, transmits the object identification information to the object information storage server, receives the object information from the server, and outputs the object information.