System for creating messages including image information

• US 6,542,936 B1
• Filed: 08/27/1999
• Issued: 04/01/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/03/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Chemtron Research LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: IPAC Acquisition Subsidiary I LLC
• Inventors: Mayle, Neil L., Rose, David L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Maung, Zarni
• Application Number:
  US09/384,674
• Time in Patent Office: 1,313 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 709/250, 709/203, 709/217, 709/246, 709/313, 707/526
• US Class Current: 709/250
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/51 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/08 Annexed information, e.g. attachments
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/10 Multimedia information

Abstract

A system for creation of an image display such as an electronic postcard. The system interacts with a user to create and configure the display. The user provides the image data to the system and optionally specifies a message and addressee for the image display. The system creates the display, comprising a mixture of image and textual data, and sends a notification including identification of the display to a specified addressee, for instance, the recipient of the postcard. The addressee can then request receipt of the display from the system via the identification information sent by the system.

Claims

1. A system for processing and sharing digital images over a network, comprising:

a server computer having;

at least one CPU,

a storage device,

an input interface for receiving user information from a client computer over the network, and

a communications interface adapted for exchange of information between computers,

the CPU adapted by a program to;

input user information from the input interface, the user information including electronic image data and at least one email address of a recipient;

store the user information in the storage device;

process the electronic image data;

generate a display including at least a portion of the processed electronic image data;

associate a uniform resource locator (URL) with the display;

create an email message that includes the URL associated with the display notifying the recipient that the display is available for viewing; and

send the email message via the communications interface to the recipient for retrieval at a recipient computer to allow the at least one recipient to view the display using the URL.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the storage device further comprises long term storage and short term storage.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the CPU is further adapted to store the display in the storage device and associate the URL with the display stored in the storage device.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the client computer is connected via the communications interface.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the communications interface is a network adaptor for interfacing to a network.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the CPU is further adapted to process the electronic image data via at least one operation selected from the set of operations comprising:

scaling, rotating, centering, mirroring, filtering, formatting, compressing, decompressing, color correcting, compositing, cropping, blurring, captioning, adding motifs, adding visual effects and combinations thereof.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the CPU is further adapted to transmit the display in response to a request from the recipient computer received via the communications interface that includes the URL.

8. A method for sharing digital images over a network that includes a client computer, a server, and a recipient computer, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) allowing a user of the client computer to upload to the server a digital image, contact information, and an email address of a recipient;

(b) storing, by the server, the digital image and the contact information;

(c) in response to the user requesting that the digital image be sent to the recipient, creating an email message that includes a uniform resource locator (URL) associated with the digital image;

(d) automatically sending the email message from the server to the recipient at the recipient computer, the email message stating that there is an image available on a web site for the recipient and that the image can be viewed by opening the included URL; and

(e) in response to receiving a request from the recipient computer that includes the URL, displaying the digital image to the recipient for viewing.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein step (c) further includes the step of:

in response to user requesting that the digital image be sent to the recipient, creating a card key that identifies the digital image.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein step (c) further includes the step of:

including the key in the URL.

11. The method of claim 10 further including the step of:

saving the contact information card database, and saving the digital image in an image database.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein step (b) further includes the step of:

storing the al image in a directory whose name is derived from the card key.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein step (c) further includes the step of:

receiving the request from a web browser running on the recipient computer.

14. The method of claim 8 wherein step (a) further includes the step of:

creating an electronic postcard from the digital image.

15. The method of claim 14 further including the step of:

providing the electronic postcard with a front and back, wherein the back of the postcard includes a postmarked stamp.

16. The method of claim 15 further including the step of:

providing the postmark with a date the postcard was sent and the stamp with an advertisement.

17. A method of sharing image data between a user and a recipient via a server adapted to communicate with a sending computer and a receiving computer, the server executing the steps of:

(a) receiving electronic image data that is transferred under control of the user at the sending computer, the image data residing in the sending computer or an image source separate from and in communication with the sending computer;

(b) storing the received image data in a database;

(c) associating a uniform resource locator (URL) with the stored image data that allows a browser to retrieve the image data;

(d) receiving at least one email address for at least one recipient from the sending computer;

(e) including the URL for the stored image data in an email message that states the stored image data is available for viewing; and

(f) sending the email message to the at least one recipient for retrieval at the receiving computer, whereby the at least one recipient can view the image data using the URL.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the user uploads the electronic image to the server for a photo contest, and wherein once uploaded, the server sends an electronic notice including image URL to a judge notifying the judge of entry of the electronic image.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the user uploads the electronic image to the server where for a baby journal, and wherein once uploaded, the server adds the image to an album and sends an electronic notice including the image URL to one or more recipients inviting the recipients to visit and view the album.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein the user uploads the electronic image to the server where for a family album, and wherein once uploaded, the server adds the image to a family album and sends an electronic notice including the image URL to one or more recipients inviting recipients to visit and view the album.