IMAGE COLLAGE AUTHORING

• US 20100199227A1
• Filed: 02/05/2009
• Published: 08/05/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/05/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Zhang, Xuemei, Xiao, Jun, Gao, Yuli, Atkins, C. Brian, Cheatle, Phil
• Granted Patent: US 9,152,292 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/863
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1296 Printer job scheduling or printer resource handling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0082 Image hardcopy reproducer H04N2201/0091 - H04N2201/0094 take precedence

Abstract

A user interface that includes a catalog area, a collage mock-up area, and a mode select interface control operable to select an operational state of the user interface is displayed. Thumbnails of respective images are shown in the catalog area. A layout of a subset of the images is presented in the collage mock-up area. In response to the receipt of a user input gesture and a determination that the user interface is in a first operational state, a first action type is performed based on the type of the received user input gesture and the object type of the target object. In response to the receipt of the user input gesture and a determination that the user interface is in a second operational state, a second action type is performed based on the type of the received user input gesture and the object type of the target object.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

on a display, displaying a user interface comprising a catalog area, a collage mock-up area, and a mode select interface control operable to select an operational state of the user interface;

showing thumbnails of respective images in the catalog area;

presenting a layout of a subset of the images in the collage mock-up area;

receiving an instance of a respective one of multiple types of user input gestures with respect to a target object displayed in the user interface, wherein the target object is an instance of a respective one of multiple object types;

in response to the receipt of the user input gesture instance and a determination that the user interface is in a first operational state, performing an instance of a first action type based on the type of the received user input gesture and the object type of the target object; and

in response to the receipt of the user input gesture instance and a determination that the user interface is in a second operational state, performing an instance of a second action type based on the type of the received user input gesture and the object type of the target object.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the collage mock-up area comprises a user-selectable mock-up area background object that is operable to change the layout of the images presented in the collage mock-up area, and the presenting comprises presenting the images of the layout over respective portions of the mock-up area background object.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein

in response to a determination that the received user input gesture instance is a point-and-click gesture with respect to the mock-up area background object, changing the layout from a current layout to a new layout of the images in the subset.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein:

with the user interface in the first operational state, the changing comprises maintaining relative sizes and positions of the images in the layout while changing the layout between (i) a straight layout in which respective edges of adjacent ones of the images in the subset are parallel across respective dimensions of the layout and (ii) a tilted layout in which respective edges of adjacent ones of the images in the subset are non-parallel across respective dimensions of the layout; and

with the user interface in the second operational state, the changing comprises changing ones of the images in the subset in terms of at least one of relative size and relative position.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein

in response to a determination that the user interface is in the first operational state and the received user input gesture instance is a point-and-click gesture with respect to a target one of the images presented in the collage mock-up area, the performing of the instance of the first action type comprises selecting the target image;

and

in response to a determination that the user interface is in the second operational state and the received user input gesture instance is a point-and-click gesture with respect to a target one of the images presented in the collage mock-up area, the performing the instance of the second action type comprises creating a modified instance of the target image and replacing the target image with the modified instance in the layout.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the creating comprises at least one of:

(i) automatically cropping the target image, and (ii) automatically enhancing the target image.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the catalog area comprises an album area and an image area, the album area comprises an album icon associated with a collection of images corresponding to the thumbnails, and the thumbnails are shown in the image area.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein

in response to a determination that the user interface is in the second operational state and the received user input gesture instance is a point-and-click gesture with respect to the album icon, automatically selecting an image from the collection, adding the selected image to the images in the subset to produce a new subset of images, determining a new layout of the images in the new subset of images, and presenting the new layout in the collage mock-up area.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein

in response to a determination that the user interface is in the second operational state and the received user input gesture instance is a point-and-click gesture with respect to a target one of the images represented by the thumbnails shown in the image area, automatically rearranging the thumbnails shown in the image area according to similarity between the target image and other ones of the images in the collection.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the presenting comprises presenting a respective view of each of the images in the layout through a respective frame that defines a boundary around the view of the image.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein

in response to a determination that the user interface is in the first operational state and the received user input gesture instance is a drag-and-drop gesture defining a movement from first position over a target one of the images within a target one of the frames to a second position within the target frame, repositioning the target image within the target frame to define a different respective view of the target image through the frame.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein

in response to a determination that the user interface is in the first operational state and the received user input gesture instance is a drag-and-drop gesture defining a movement from a first position over a first one of the images within a first one of the frames to a second position over a second one of the images within a second one of the frames, swapping positions of the first and second images in the layout, wherein the swapping comprises presenting a view of the first image through the second frame and presenting a view of the second image through the first frame.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein

in response to a determination that the user interface is in the first operational state and the received user input gesture instance is a scroll gesture with respect to a target one of the images in the layout, re-sizing a region of the target image presented through the respective frame.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein

in response to a determination that the user interface is in the second operational state and the received user input gesture instance is a drag-and-drop gesture defining a movement from a first position over a first one of the images in the layout to a second position over a second one of the images in the layout, swapping relative positions of the first and second images in the layout, and

the swapping comprises determining a new layout of the images that exchanges the relative positions of the first and second images and maintains relative positions of all other ones of the images in the subset, and presenting the new layout in the collage mock-up area.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein

in response to a determination that the user interface is in the second operational state and the received user input gesture instance is a drag-and-drop gesture defining a movement from a first position over a selected one of the thumbnails to a second position over a target one of the images in the layout, replacing the target image in the layout with the image corresponding to the selected thumbnail, and

the replacing comprises replacing the target image with the image corresponding to the selected thumbnail in the subset produce a new subset of images, determining a new layout of the images in the new subset of images, and presenting the new layout in the collage mock-up area.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the determining comprises determining the new layout with the image corresponding to the selected thumbnail positioned in an equivalent relative position in the layout as the target image.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein

in response to a determination that the user interface is in the second operational state and the received user input gesture instance is a scroll gesture with respect to a target one of the images in the layout, re-sizing the target image to a new size, determining a new layout of the images that accommodates the new size of the target image and maintains relative positions of the images in the layout, and presenting the new layout in the collage mock-up area.

18. At least one computer-readable medium having computer-readable program code embodied therein, the computer-readable program code adapted to be executed by a computer to implement a method comprising:

on a display, displaying a user interface comprising a catalog area, a collage mock-up area, and a mode select interface control operable to select an operational state of the user interface;

showing thumbnails of respective images in the catalog area;

presenting a layout of a subset of the images in the collage mock-up area;

receiving an instance of a respective one of multiple types of user input gestures with respect to a target object displayed in the user interface, wherein the target object is an instance of a respective one of multiple object types;

in response to the receipt of the user input gesture instance and a determination that the user interface is in a first operational state, performing an instance of a first action type based on the type of the received user input gesture and the object type of the target object; and

in response to the receipt of the user input gesture instance and a determination that the user interface is in a second operational state, performing an instance of a second action type based on the type of the received user input gesture and the object type of the target object.

19. Apparatus, comprising:

a computer-readable medium storing computer-readable instructions; and

a data processing unit coupled to the memory, operable to execute the instructions, and based at least in part on the execution of the instructions operable to perform operations comprising

on a display, displaying a user interface comprising a catalog area, a collage mock-up area, and a mode select interface control operable to select an operational state of the user interface;

showing thumbnails of respective images in the catalog area;

presenting a layout of a subset of the images in the collage mock-up area;

receiving an instance of a respective one of multiple types of user input gestures with respect to a target object displayed in the user interface, wherein the target object is an instance of a respective one of multiple object types;

in response to the receipt of the user input gesture instance and a determination that the user interface is in a first operational state, performing an instance of a first action type based on the type of the received user input gesture and the object type of the target object; and

in response to the receipt of the user input gesture instance and a determination that the user interface is in a second operational state, performing an instance of a second action type based on the type of the received user input gesture and the object type of the target object.