System and method of constructing a photo collage

• US 6,123,362 A
• Filed: 10/26/1998
• Issued: 09/26/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
• Original Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
• Inventors: McBride, John K., Squilla, John R., Shaffer, Stephen L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Fridie, Jr., Willmon
• Assistant Examiner(s): THURSTON, ALISA LACHOW
• Application Number:
  US09/178,696
• Time in Patent Office: 701 Days
• Field of Search: 281/19.1, 281/19.2, 281/17, 281/29, 281/36, 281/37, 281/15.1, 281/31, 281/2, 380/21, 380/20, 358/335, 382/284
• US Class Current: 283/67
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/3875 combined with enlarging or reducing enlarging or reducing per se H04N1/393

Abstract

A method of constructing a photo collage wherein a plurality of digital images are provided in a low resolution format on sticker sheets that have a unique identifier that cross references the reduced resolution images digital images with a high resolution version that is stored in a data base. A page layout form is provided such that a plurality of pages each having a plurality of layouts on which to position the low resolution image stickers. The sticker sheet pages are loaded with low resolution stickers for creating the pages of the photoalbum by arranging the stickers in a desired manner on a page layout form resulting in one of the page layouts being used for each of the pages. The images on the page layout form is then correlated to the high resolution version of the images stored in the database to retrieve a high resolution version of the photo collage which is then produced using conventional photofinishing techniques.

Claims

1. A method of constructing a photo collage, comprising:

a) providing a plurality of index stickers each of the stickers having a low resolution image with a unique machine readable identifier embedded within pixels of the index stickers that cross references the sticker to a high resolution version of the low resolution image, and a page layout form having a plurality of pages with a plurality of different layouts provided for each of the pages; and

b) placing the index stickers on the pages of the layout form.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of providing further comprises providing the page layout form on a medium such that each of the pages can be folded on top of one another and each of the layouts can be folded on top of one another.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of providing further comprises providing the page layout form such that it is a single piece with folds separating the page positions.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the providing step further comprises providing on the layout form a cover page position.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the step of providing further comprises the step of providing a set of graphic arts to be used as part of the cover page.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the step of providing further comprises the step of providing a text entry area to be used in conjunction with the cover page.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of providing further comprises providing the high resolution version on a database.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising the step of retrieving the high resolution from the database and creating the photoalbum in accordance with the index stickers on the page layouts and the page layouts on the page positions.

9. A method of creating photocollages comprising the steps of:

a) acquiring a high resolution digital version for each of a plurality of images;

b) storing the high resolution digital images;

c) creating a plurality of stickers having a reduced resolution version from the high resolution digital version with a unique identifier that associates the reduced resolution version with its high resolution counterpart;

d) generating a page layout form having a plurality of page positions, each of the page positions having a plurality of page layouts such the stickers can be arranged in a variety of desired fashions on the page layout form;

e) placing the plurality of stickers on the page layout forms such that one page layout is used for each of the page positions;

f) retrieving the high resolution versions of the images by associating the unique identifier on the plurality of stickers with its high resolution counterpart; and

g) creating the photo collage with the retrieved high resolution images such that the photo collage has a layout that corresponds to the page layout form.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the generating step generates the page layout form such that it is themed to a specific topic.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the step of creating further comprises means for adding additional stickers for a plurality of events selected from a library of images.

15. The system of claim 9 further comprising means for adding additional stickers to the sticker sheet comprised of images relevant to one of a plurality of events selected from a library of images.

16. The system of claim 9 further comprising a cover page as the initial page position.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the index stickers further comprise a set of graphic arts to be used as part of the cover page.

18. The system of claim 16 wherein the cover page further comprises means for providing a text entry area to be used in conjunction with the cover page.

19. The system of claim 9 further comprising a data base for storage of the high resolution version.

20. The system of claim 19 further comprising means for retrieving the high resolution version from the database and creating the photoalbum in accordance with the index stickers on the page layout form.

12. A system for constructing a photo collage comprising:

a plurality of index stickers each having a low resolution image with a unique machine readable identifier embedded within pixels of the index stickers that cross references each of the stickers to a high resolution version of the low resolution image; and

a page layout form having a plurality of pages, each of the pages having a plurality of page layouts.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the page layout form further comprises a flexible medium that allows the pages to fold on top of one another and the page layouts to fold on top of one another.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein the page layout is formed such that it has folds separating each of the page positions.