Image scaling arrangement

• US 7,433,546 B2
• Filed: 10/25/2004
• Issued: 10/07/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Dowdy, Thomas, Boettcher, Jesse, Miller, Jeff, Robbin, Jeffrey L., Heller, David, Marriott, Greg
• Primary Examiner(s): PATEL, KANJIBHAI B
• Application Number:
  US10/973,657
• Publication Number:
  US 20060088228A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,443 Days
• Field of Search: 382/305, 382/312, 707/1, 707/10, 707/101, 707/104.1, 709/203, 709/213, 709/219, 709/227, 709/231, 711/133, 717/109, 713/300, 715/500.1
• US Class Current: 382/305
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/10 Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Measuring tape travel
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• 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: H04L 65/756 adapting media to device capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/762 at the source reformatting of additional data in video distribution servers H04N21/2355
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00129 with a display device, e.g. CRT or LCD monitor with a television apparatus H04N1/00283; arrangements for control of display devices G09G
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00198 Creation of a soft photo presentation, e.g. digital slide-show
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00204 with a digital computer or a digital computer system, e.g. an internet server programmed control between transmitter and receiver or between image input and image output device H04N1/32561
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00291 with receiver circuitry television receiver circuitry per se H04N5/44
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2343 involving reformatting operations of video signals for distribution or compliance with end-user requests or end-user device requirements video transcoding H04N19/40; media packet handling at the source H04L65/762
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25825 involving client display capabilities, e.g. screen resolution of a mobile phone optimising the visualisation of content during browsing in the Internet G06F16/9577; processing of terminal status or physical abilities in wireless networks H04W8/22; authentication in wireless network security H04W12/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25833 involving client hardware characteristics, e.g. manufacturer, processing or storage capabilities allocation of resources considering hardware capabilities in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/5044; allocation of resources considering software capabilities in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/5055
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44231 Monitoring of peripheral device or external card, e.g. to detect processing problems in a handheld device or the failure of an external recording device configuring of peripheral devices in general G06F9/4411; reporting information sensed by appliance or service execution status of appliance services in a home automation network H04L12/2823; monitoring the status of connected device in data switched networks H04L43/0817
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8153 comprising still images, e.g. texture, background image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0065 Converting image data to a format usable by the connected apparatus or vice versa
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0084 Digital still camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0086 Image transceiver H04N2201/0093 and H04N2201/0094 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0087 Image storage device
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0089 : Image display device
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/325 : Modified version of the image, e.g. part of the image, image reduced in size or resolution, thumbnail or screennail
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3277 : The additional information being stored in the same storage device as the image data
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 : Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 : Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 : Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

Methods and system for transferring images between devices is disclosed. For example, differently scaled images by a host device may automatically and/or selectively be transferred to a media player for display. In turn, appropriately scaled images may be transferred automatically and/or selectively to another display device for example a TV, camera or printer. The selectivity may occur either at the host level or at the player level.

Claims

1. A method of transferring image data between a host device and a portable media device, the portable media device being capable of storing and playing media items, the method comprising:

at the host device, designating at least one image for downloading to the portable media device;

at the host device, producing an image collection for each requested image, each image collection containing new versions of the requested image, each new version having a different image profile based on the capabilities of the portable media device; and

at the host device, sending the image collection including each version of the requested image to the portable media device.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising:

at the portable media device, receiving the image collection from the host device;

at the portable media device, storing the image collection for future use.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the portable media device delivers the image profiles to the host device, and wherein the image collection is produced based on these image profiles.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the image profiles are determined based on the type of portable media device.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the portable media device is a handheld media player having data storage device that stores media items.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the handheld media player is a combination music/photo player having data storage device that stores both audio and image data.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the images are photo files that can be played on the media device.

8. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the image profiles include a list of keys that define the characteristics of the image, the keys including FormatID, RenderWidth, RenderHeight, DisplayWidth, DisplayHeight, PixelFormat, Sizing, BackColor, Rotation, ScanFormat, ColorAdjustment and GammaAdjustment.

9. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the image profiles are supplied to host device via the portable media device.

10. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the requested image is sent along with each version of the requested image to the portable media device.

11. The method as recited in claim 10 wherein the image collection includes at least the original image, a full screen image, a plurality of thumbnail images of various sizes, and a TV image.

12. The method as recited in claim 10 wherein the image collection includes at least the original image and a full screen image.

13. The method as recited in claim 10 wherein the image collection includes at least the original image and a plurality of thumbnail images of various sizes.

14. The method as recited in claim 10 wherein the image collection includes at least the original image and a TV image.

15. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the image collection does not include the original requested image.

16. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the image collection only includes at least one of a full screen image, a plurality of thumbnail images of various sizes, and a TV image.

17. Computer readable medium for storing computer program product executable by a processor for transfeffing image data between a host device and a portable media device, the portable media device being capable of storing and playing media items, comprising:

at the host device,

computer code for designating at least one image for downloading to the portable media device;

computer code for producing an image collection for each requested image, each image collection containing new versions of the requested image, each new version having a different image profile based on the capabilities of the portable media device; and

computer code for sending the image collection including each version of the requested image to the portable media device

18. The computer readable medium for storing computer program product as recited in claim 17 wherein the portable media device receives the image collection from the host device and stores the received image collection for future use.

19. The computer readable medium for storing computer program product as recited in claim 17 wherein the portable media device delivers the image profiles to the host device, and wherein the image collection is produced based on these image profiles.

20. The computer readable medium for storing computer program product as recited in claim 17 wherein the image profiles are determined based on the type of portable media device.

21. The computer readable medium for storing computer program product as recited in claim 17 wherein the portable media device is a handheld media player having data storage device that stores media items.

22. The computer readable medium for storing computer program product as recited in claim 17 wherein the handheld media player is a combination music/photo player having data storage device that stores both audio and image data.

23. The computer readable medium for storing computer program product as recited in claim 17 wherein the images are photo files that can be played on the media device.

24. The computer readable medium for storing computer program product as recited in claim 17 wherein the image profiles include a list of keys that define the characteristics of the image, the keys including FormatlD, RenderWidth, RenderHeight, DisplayWidth, DisplayHeight, PixelFormat, Sizing, BackColor, Rotation, ScanFormat, ColorAdjustment and GammaAdjustment.

25. The computer readable medium for storing computer program product as recited in claim 17 wherein the image profiles are supplied to host device via the portable media device.

26. The computer readable medium for storing computer program product as recited in claim 17 wherein the requested image is sent along with each version of the requested image to the portable media device.

27. The computer readable medium for storing computer program product as recited in claim 26 wherein the image collection includes at least the original image, a full screen image, a plurality of thumbnail images of various sizes, and a TV image.

28. A system, comprising:

a portable media device capable of storing and playing media items; and

a host device capable of transfeffing image data between the host device and the portable media player, wherein the image data is transferred by designating at least one image for downloading to the portable media device at the host device, producing an image collection for each requested image wherein each image collection contains new versions of the requested image, wherein each new version has a different image profile based on the capabilities of the portable media device at the host device, and sending the image collection including each version of the requested image from the host device to the portable media device.

29. The system as recited in claim 28 wherein the image collection from the host device is received at the portable media device and wherein the image collection at the portable media device for future use.

30. The system as recited in claim 28 wherein the portable media device delivers the image profiles to the host device, and wherein the image collection is produced based on these image profiles.

31. The system as recited in claim 28 wherein the image profiles are determined based on the type of portable media device.

32. The system as recited in claim 28 wherein the portable media device is a handheld media player having data storage device that stores media items.

33. The system as recited in claim 28 wherein the handheld media player is a combination music/photo player having data storage device that stores both audio and image data.

34. The system as recited in claim 28 wherein the images are photo files that can be played on the media device.

35. The system as recited in claim 28 wherein the image profiles include a list of keys that define the characteristics of the image, the keys including FormatlD, RenderWidth, RenderHeight, DisplayWidth, DisplayHeight, PixelFormat, Sizing, BackColor, Rotation, ScanFormat, ColorAdjustment and GammaAdjustment.

36. The system as recited in claim 28 wherein the image profiles are supplied to host device via the portable media device.

37. The system as recited in claim 28 wherein the requested image is sent along with each version of the requested image to the portable media device.

38. The system as recited in claim 37 wherein the image collection includes at least the original image, a full screen image, a plurality of thumbnail images of various sizes, and a TV image.

39. The system as recited in claim 37 wherein the image collection includes at least the original image and a full screen image.

40. The system as recited in claim 37 wherein the image collection includes at least the original image and a plurality of thumbnail images of various sizes.

41. The system as recited in claim 37 wherein the image collection includes at least the original image and a TV image.

42. The system as recited in claim 28 wherein the image collection does not include the original requested image.