Image processing system for inserting plurality of images into composite area, and medium

• US 6,972,774 B2
• Filed: 12/18/2000
• Issued: 12/06/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Cedar Lane Technologies Inc.
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Eguchi, Harutaka
• Primary Examiner(s): Tung, Kee M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Santiago, Enrique L.
• Application Number:
  US09/737,489
• Publication Number:
  US 20010015729A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,814 Days
• Field of Search: 345/629, 345/634, 345/635, 345/55, 345/56, 345/419, 345/531, 345/540, 345/641, 345/790, 345/794, 345/555, 345/565, 345/420, 345/421, 345/422, 345/423, 345/424, 345/426, 345/427, 345/428, 345/619, 345/625, 345/628, 345/630, 345/638, 345/473, 345/474, 345/475, 715/790, 715/794
• US Class Current: 345/629
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00132 in a digital photofinishing system, i.e. a system where digital photographic images undergo typical photofinishing processing, e.g. printing ordering
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00161 Viewing or previewing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00172 directly from a still digital camera or from a storage medium mounted in a still digital camera H04N1/0018 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00196 Creation of a photo-montage, e.g. photoalbum H04N1/0019 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00236 using an image reading or reproducing device, e.g. a facsimile reader or printer, as a local input to or local output from a computer image input to or image output from a computer via a network H04N1/00209
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/3873 defined only by a limited number of coordinate points or parameters, e.g. corners, centre; for trimming
• 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

Abstract

An image processing system according to the present invention aiming at providing a function capable of efficiently managing and utilizing image data, comprises a display unit for displaying on a screen a composite area as an aggregation of unit areas into which images are inserted, and an operation unit for inserting a processing target image into the unit area within the composite area.

Claims

1. An image processing apparatus, comprising:

at least one processing target unit image;

a plurality of vacant unit storage areas arranged in a matrix to have images selectively inserted; and

a control unit controlling an access to each of the unit storage areas,

wherein the control unit stores the at least one processing target unit image in at least one of the plurality of vacant unit storage areas in accordance with a selected insertion of the at least one processing target unit image, accesses the unit storage areas in a predetermined sequence, and thereby generates a composite image from the unit images.

2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

unit storage areas having different capacities,

wherein the composite image is composed of the unit images having different dimensions.

3. A storage medium readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform operations, comprising:

displaying a composite area on a display of the machine as an aggregation of vacant unit areas arranged in a matrix into which images are insertable; and

selectively inserting processing target images into selected ones of the vacant unit areas within the composite area.

4. A storage medium readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform operations, comprising:

displaying a composite area as an aggregation of vacant unit areas arranged in a matrix into which images are insertable;

detecting an indication of a processing target image;

detecting a transfer of the indicated image; and

selectively inserting the indicated image into one of the vacant unit areas.

5. An image processing apparatus, comprising:

a controlling unit for dividing a portion of a display into a predetermined composite area, wherein the composite area includes a plurality of vacant blocks arranged in a matrix and each of the plurality of blocks may have a processing target image inserted from a source or any of the plurality of blocks may be left vacant;

an operation unit aggregating the matrix of the plurality of blocks, whether filled with an image or vacant into a combined image.

6. An image processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the image inserted into the block is transferable to other blocks within the composite area.

7. An image processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the image inserted into the block is deleted by transferring the same image to a position outside the composite area.

8. An image processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the processing target image is inserted into the block by a drag-and-drop operation.

9. An image processing apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising:

a transfer detection unit indicating a processing target image and detecting a transfer of the indicated image,

wherein the indicated image is inserted into the block.

10. An image processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the composite area into which the images are inserted is stored as an image having predetermined dimensions.

11. An image processing apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising:

a related image indicating module relating a plurality of target images to each other,

wherein when a first target image is related to other images, the related images are consecutively inserted together as a group with the first target image into the plurality of blocks.

12. An image processing apparatus according to claim 11, wherein when the number of images to be inserted exceeds the number of insertable vacant blocks, the image insertion is finished.

13. An image processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the composite area is composed of blocks having different dimensions.

14. An image processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein dimensions of the blocks are specified irrespective of dimensions of the processing target image, and

the processing target image is adjusted to the dimensions of the block that accepts the inserted image.

15. An image processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the number of the blocks within the composite area can be arbitrarily set.

16. An image processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein a background color of the blocks can be arbitrarily set.

17. An image processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein a configuration of the blocks is a rectangular shape of which dimensions can be arbitrarily set.

18. An image processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein even when the image inserted into the block is deleted, an original image of the image inset in the block is not deleted.

19. An image processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein dimensions of the composite area can be arbitrarily set.

20. An image processing apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the plurality of target images are consecutively inserted into the plurality of blocks starting from an arbitrarily specified block within the composite area matrix.