Storage and retrieval of digitized photographic images
First Claim
1. For use with a digitized image processing system in which images that have been captured on an image recording medium are converted into digital format and stored as digitized image data files on a transportable digital data storage medium, a method of controlling the manner in which digitized images are accessed therefrom for storage comprising the steps of:
- (a) causing a digital data recording device to store, on said transportable digital data storage medium, respective data files associated with each of the images that have been digitized from images captured on said image recording medium, each of said data files containing digitized imagery data representative of its associated image as captured on said image recording medium;
(b) for each of said respective data files, causing said digital data recording device to store, on said transportable digital data storage medium, a presentation file, the contents of which represent the manner in which its associated digitized imagery data has been captured, on said image recording medium;
(c) providing an image retrieval device, which contains a digital data memory having a storage capacity which is different from the resolution of the image represented by the contents of a digitized image data file stored on said transportable digital data storage medium;
(d) transporting said transportable digital data storage medium on which digital data files and presentation files have been stored in steps (a) and (b) to said image retrieval device and coupling said transportable digital data storage medium to said image retrieval device; and
(e) causing said image retrieval device to read out, from said transportable digital data storage medium, the digitized imagery data of a respective data file stored in step (a) and to write the read out digitized imagery data into said digital data memory of said image retrieval device in a manner that depends upon the contents of its associated presentation file stored on said transportable digital data storage medium in step (b).
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A storage and retrieval mechanism for a digital image processing system employs a reduced capacity frame store in the playback device. A plurality of photographic images captured on a photographic recording medium are digitized for processing and subsequent display. Digitized images are stored on a compact disc. When the disc is inserted into a playback device for driving a color TV monitor, the playback device decodes header information representative of image orientation, so that the image will be read from the disc and stored in the reduced capacity frame store for subsequent read out and display in an upright orientation. A memory control mechanism employs a decimation/interpolation operator to interface the imagery data from the disc to the frame store.
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Citations
71 Claims
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1. For use with a digitized image processing system in which images that have been captured on an image recording medium are converted into digital format and stored as digitized image data files on a transportable digital data storage medium, a method of controlling the manner in which digitized images are accessed therefrom for storage comprising the steps of:
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(a) causing a digital data recording device to store, on said transportable digital data storage medium, respective data files associated with each of the images that have been digitized from images captured on said image recording medium, each of said data files containing digitized imagery data representative of its associated image as captured on said image recording medium; (b) for each of said respective data files, causing said digital data recording device to store, on said transportable digital data storage medium, a presentation file, the contents of which represent the manner in which its associated digitized imagery data has been captured, on said image recording medium; (c) providing an image retrieval device, which contains a digital data memory having a storage capacity which is different from the resolution of the image represented by the contents of a digitized image data file stored on said transportable digital data storage medium; (d) transporting said transportable digital data storage medium on which digital data files and presentation files have been stored in steps (a) and (b) to said image retrieval device and coupling said transportable digital data storage medium to said image retrieval device; and (e) causing said image retrieval device to read out, from said transportable digital data storage medium, the digitized imagery data of a respective data file stored in step (a) and to write the read out digitized imagery data into said digital data memory of said image retrieval device in a manner that depends upon the contents of its associated presentation file stored on said transportable digital data storage medium in step (b). - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. For use with a digital image processing system wherein a plurality of images that have been captured on a photographic recording medium, said images being (and may include horizontally and vertically oriented images) oriented along one of a plurality of orientation axes, including vertical and horizontal axes, said images being (, are) digitized into respective digital imagery data files, each digital imagery data file containing data values associated with an array of pixels corresponding to a prescribed resolution representation of a respective one of said plurality of images, a method of controlling (the manner in which said) access to said digital imagery data files (may be accessed) for storage comprising the steps of:
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(a) digitizing each of said plurality of images in accordance with a prescribed orientation, irrespective of its actual orientation on said photographic recording medium, and causing a digital data recording device to store each digitized image in a respective digital imagery data file on a transportable digital data storage medium; (b) for each digital imagery data file stored in step (a), causing said digital data recording device to store on said transportable digital data storage medium a presentation data file, the contents of which are associated with the actual orientation of its image on said photographic recording medium; (c) providing a digital image retrieval device having a digital data memory, the storage capacity of which is different from the resolution of the image represented by the contents of a digitized image data file stored on said transportable digital data storage medium; (d) transporting said transportable digital data storage medium on which digital data files and presentation files have been stored in steps (a) and (b) to said image retrieval device and coupling said transportable digital data storage medium to said image retrieval device; and (e) causing said image retrieval device to read out, from said transportable digital data storage medium that has been coupled to said image retrieval device, the digitized imagery data of a respective data file stored in step (a) and to write the read out digitized imagery data into said digital data memory, in a manner that depends upon the contents of its associated presentation file stored in step (b). - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. For use with a digital image processing system wherein a plurality of photographic images that have been captured on a photographic recording medium are digitized and stored on a transportable digital data storage medium, said transportable digital data storage medium being capable of being coupled to an image playback device for display of an image, a method of controlling the displayed presentation of said image by said playback device comprising the steps of:
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(a) digitizing each of said plurality of images on said photographic recording medium and storing each digitized image on said transportable digital data storage medium in the orientation in which the image was captured on said photographic recording medium; (b) for each digitized image stored in step (a), causing a digital data recording device to store on said transportable digital data storage medium at least one digital code respectively representative of the orientation of the image; (c) providing, with said image playback device, a digital data memory(,) having a (the) storage capacity (of) which is different from the resolution of the image represented by the contents of a digitized image stored on said transportable digital data storage medium; (d) transporting said transportable digital data storage (device) medium to said image playback device; (e) causing said image playback device to read out, from said transportable digital data storage medium that has been transported thereto in step (d), a respective digitized image stored in step (a) and to write the read out digitized image into said digital data memory in a manner that depends upon the contents of its associated at least one digital code stored in step (b); and (f) causing said image playback device to read out a digitized image that has been written into said digital data memory and to couple the read out digitized image to an image reproduction device such that the reproduced image is reproduced by said image reproduction device in an upright orientation. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. For use with a digital image processing system wherein a plurality of images that have been captured on a photographic recording medium, said images being (and may include horizontally and vertically oriented images, are) oriented along one of a plurality of orientation axes, including vertical and horizontal axes, Said images being digitized into respective digital imagery data files and stored on a transportable digital data storage medium, each digital imagery data file containing a base resolution image associated with an MXN pixel array and formatted as a plurality of interlaced image fields each of which is associated with a respective JXK pixel subarray within said MXN pixel array, a method of controlling (the manner in which) access to a digital imagery data file (may be accessed) for application to an image reproduction device, so that a reproduced image (may be) is capable of being viewed in an upright orientation comprising the steps of:
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(a) causing a digital data recording device to store, within each of said data files, digitized imagery data representative of its associated image as captured on said (image) photographic recording medium; (b) for each respective data file, causing said digital data recording device to store, on said transportable digital data storage medium, a presentation file the contents of which represent the manner in which its associated digitized imagery data has been captured on said photographic recording medium; (c) providing an image retrieval device having a digital data memory(, the) with a storage capacity (of) which is less than the resolution of said MXN pixel array, but greater than the resolution of said JXK pixel sub-array; (d) transporting said transportable digital data storage medium and coupling said transportable digital data storage medium with said image retrieval device; (e) defining an image window within the array of pixels associated with the respective storage locations of said digital data memory; (f) for a vertical imagery data file, causing said image retrieval device to read out, from said transportable digital data storage medium, digitized image data associated with one of its interlaced image fields, to interpolate data values for the vertical dimension of said one interlaced image field so as to effectively increase its vertical-to-horizontal aspect ratio, and to store the (resulting) increased vertical-to-horizontal aspect ratio of said one interlaced image field in storage locations of said digital data memory that effectively produce an orthogonal rotation of said increased vertical-to-horizontal aspect ratio interlaced image field; and (g) causing said image retrieval device to read out from said digital data memory those image values stored in step (f) that fall within said image window and to couple the read-out image to said image reproduction device, such that the read-out image is reproduced by said image reproduction device in an upright orientation. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. For use with a digital image processing system wherein a plurality of images that have been captured on a photographic recording medium, said images being (and may include horizontally and vertically oriented images,) oriented along one of a plurality of orientation axes, including vertical and horizontal axes, said images being (are) digitized into respective digital imagery data files and stored on a transportable digital data storage medium, each digital imagery data file containing a base resolution image associated with an MXN pixel array, a method of controlling (the manner in which) access to a digital imagery data file (may be accessed) for application to an image reproduction device, so that a reproduced image (may be) is capable of being viewed in an upright orientation comprising the steps of:
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(a) causing a digital data storage device to store on said transportable digital data storage medium, within each of said data files, digitized imagery data representative of its associated image as captured on said photographic recording medium; (b) for each respective data file, causing said digital data storage device to store, on said transportable digital data storage medium, a presentation file the contents of which represent the manner in which its associated digitized imagery data has been captured on said (image recording) transportable digital data storage medium; (c) providing an image retrieval device having a digital data memory(, the) with a storage capacity (of) which is less than the resolution of said MXN pixel array; (d) transporting said transportable digital data storage medium and coupling said transportable digital data storage (device) medium to said image retrieval device; (e) defining an image window within the array of pixels associated with the respective storage locations of said digital data memory; (f) for a horizontal imagery data file, causing said image retrieval device to read out, from said transportable digital data storage medium that has been coupled thereto, digitized image data associated with said MXN pixel array, to decimate data values for the horizontal dimension of said MXN pixel array so as to effectively decrease its horizontal-to-vertical aspect ratio, and to store the (resulting) decreased horizontal-to-vertical aspect ratio (image) in storage locations of said digital data memory; and (f) causing said image retrieval device to read out from said digital data memory those image values stored in step (f) that fall within said image window and to couple the read-out image to said image reproduction device. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. For use with a digitized image processing system in which images that have been captured on an image recording medium are converted into digital format and stored as digitized image data files on a transportable digital data storage medium, an apparatus for controlling the manner in which digitized images are accessed therefrom for playback comprising, in combination:
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a digitized image recording device, which is operative to store, on said transportable digital data storage medium, respective data files associated with each of the images that have been digitized from images captured on said (transportable) image recording medium, each of said data files containing digitized imagery data representative of its associated image as captured on said image recording medium, and a presentation file for each of said respective data files, the contents of said presentation file being representative of (the manner in which) its associated digitized imagery data (has been) as captured on said image recording medium and stored as a digitized image on said transportable digital data storage medium; and a playback device including a digital data memory, the storage capacity of which is different from the resolution of the image represented by the contents of a digitized image data file stored on said digital data storage medium, and being operative to read from said transportable digital data storage medium, that has been transported from said digitized image recording device and coupled to said playback device, the digitized imagery data of a respective data file and writes the read out digitized imagery data from said transportable digital data storage medium into said digital data memory in a manner that depends upon the contents of its associated presentation file, and controllably reads digitized imagery data that has been written into said memory and couples the read out data to an image reproduction device such that the reproduced image is reproduced by said image reproduction device in an upright orientation. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)
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51. For use with a digital image processing system wherein a plurality of images that have been captured on a photographic recording medium, said images being (and may include horizontally and vertically oriented images) oriented along one of a plurality of orientation axes, including vertical and horizontal axes, said images being (, are) digitized into respective digital imagery data files, each digital imagery data file containing data values associated with an array of pixels corresponding to a prescribed resolution representation of a respective one of said plurality of images, an apparatus for controlling (the manner in which said) access to said digital imagery data files (may be accessed) for presentation to a reproduction device, so that a reproduced image (may be) is capable of being viewed in an upright orientation comprising, in combination:
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a digitized image recording device which is operative to digitize each of said plurality of images in accordance with a prescribed orientation, irrespective of its actual orientation on said photographic recording medium, and stores each digitized image in a respective digital imagery data file on a transportable digital data storage medium and stores on said transportable digital data storage medium, for each digital imagery data file, a presentation data file the contents of which are associated with the actual orientation of its image on said photographic recording medium; and a playback device including a digital data memory having a storage capacity which is different from the resolution of the image represented by the contents of a digitized image data file stored on said transportable digital data storage medium, said playback device being operative to read out, from said transportable digital data storage medium, the digitized imagery data of a respective data file and to write the read out digitized imagery data into said digital data memory in a manner that depends upon the contents of its associated presentation file, and to controllably read out digitized imagery data that has been written into said digital data memory and to couple the read out data to said image reproduction device such that the reproduced image is reproduced by said image reproduction device in an upright orientation. - View Dependent Claims (52, 53, 54, 55)
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56. For use with a digital image processing system wherein a plurality of photographic images that have been captured on a photographic recording medium are digitized and stored on a transportable digital data storage medium, said transportable digital data storage medium being transported to and coupled to an image playback device for display of an image, an apparatus for controlling the displayed presentation of said image by said playback device comprising, in combination:
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a digitized image recording device which is operative to digitize each of said plurality of images on said photographic recording medium and to store each digitized image on said transportable digital data storage medium in the orientation in which the image was captured on said photographic recording medium, and, for each digitized image, to store at least one digital code respectively representative of at least one of the aspect ratio and orientation of the image; a digitized image playback device including a digital data memory, said digital data memory having a storage capacity which is different from the resolution of the image represented by the contents of a digitized image stored on said transportable digital data storage medium, and is operative to read out, from said transportable digital data storage medium that has been transported from said digitized image recording device and coupled to said digitized image playback device, a respective digitized image and to write the read out digitized image into said digital data memory in a manner that depends upon the contents of its associated at least one digital code, and controllably reads out a digitized image that has been written into said digital data memory and couples the read out digitized image to said image reproduction device such that the reproduced image is reproduced by said image reproduction device in an upright orientation. - View Dependent Claims (57, 58, 59, 60)
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61. For use with a digitized image processing system in which images that have been captured on an image recording medium are converted into digital format and stored as digitized image data files on a transportable digital data storage medium, each of said data files containing digitized imagery data representative of its associated image as captured on said image recording medium, and a presentation file for each of said respective data files, the contents of said presentation file being representative of the manner in which its associated digitized imagery data has been captured on said image recording medium and stored as a digitized image on said transportable digital data storage medium, a playback apparatus for controlling (the manner in which) access to said digitized images (are accessed) from said transportable digital data (recording) storage medium for presentation by an image reproduction device comprising, in combination:
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a transportable digital data (recording) storage medium interface to which said transportable digital data (recording) storage medium is transported and coupled; a digital data memory coupled to said transportable digital data (recording) storage medium interface and having a storage capacity which is different from the resolution of the image represented by the contents of a digitized image data file stored on said transportable digital data storage medium that has been transported and coupled to said interface; first means for reading from said transportable digital data storage medium the digitized imagery data of a respective data file and writing the read out digitized imagery data into said digital data memory in a manner that depends upon the contents of its associated presentation file; and second means for controllably reading out digitized imagery data that has been written into said digital data memory from said transportable digital data storage medium coupled to said interface and coupling the read out data to an image reproduction device such that the reproduced image is reproduced by said image reproduction device in an upright orientation. - View Dependent Claims (62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71)
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Specification