Automatic generation of a photo album

• US 7,474,801 B2
• Filed: 07/07/2005
• Issued: 01/06/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Shutterfly, LLC
• Original Assignee: Shutterfly Incorporated (Shutterfly, LLC)
• Inventors: Bansner, Kai, Quek, Su M., Townsend, John T. Jr., Teo, Patrick C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Johns; Andrew W
• Application Number:
  US11/176,049
• Publication Number:
  US 20070019924A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,279 Days
• Field of Search: 345/629, 345/581, 345/769, 345/634, 345/635, 358/1.9, 358/1.18, 358/450, 348/788, 382/154, 382/175, 382/284, 382/309, 382/100, 382/294, 382/295, 705/26, 707/10, 715/243, 715/246, 715/253
• US Class Current: 382/284
• 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 1/00196 Creation of a photo-montage, e.g. photoalbum H04N1/0019 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00442 Simultaneous viewing of a plurality of images, e.g. using a mosaic display arrangement of thumbnails
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00448 horizontally
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00453 arranged in a two dimensional array
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00456 for layout preview, e.g. page layout
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00458 Sequential viewing of a plurality of images, e.g. browsing or scrolling
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00461 marking or otherwise tagging one or more displayed image, e.g. for selective reproduction
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2101/00 Still video cameras

Abstract

A method for producing a digital photo album includes selecting a plurality of digital images each characterized by a portrait format or a landscape format, providing a library of page layouts each comprising one or more image areas configured to receive digital images. Each of the image areas is characterized by an image area format consistent with the image format. One or more page layouts are automatically selected from the library of page layouts in accordance with the selected digital images and their associated image formats. The selected digital images are disposed in the image areas on the one or more page layouts to produce one or more pages in the digital photo album.

Claims

1. A method for producing a photo album having a plurality of pages, comprising:

storing a plurality of digital images each characterized by a portrait format or a landscape format;

specifying a sequence for the plurality of digital images;

providing a library of page layouts each comprising one or more image areas each of which is configured to receive a digital image characterized by a portrait format or a landscape format;

selecting a first group of one or more digital images at the beginning of the sequence of the plurality of digital images;

after the step of selecting a first group of one or more digital images, automatically selecting a page layout from the library of page layouts in accordance with the image formats of the one or more digital images in the first group; and

disposing the first group of one or more digital images in the one or more image areas in the automatically selected page layout to produce a first page in a photo album.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of disposing comprises automatically matching the image formats of one or more digital images in the first group with the associated image formats of the one or more image areas in the automatically selected page layout.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

removing the first group of one or more digital images from the sequence of the plurality of digital images;

selecting a second group of one or more digital images at the beginning of the sequence of the plurality of digital images;

after the step of selecting a second group of one or more digital images, automatically selecting another page layout from the library of page layouts in accordance with the image formats of the one or more digital images in the second group; and

disposing the second group of one or more digital images in the one or more image areas in the page layout to produce a second page in the digital photo album.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first group comprises two digital images, wherein the page layout comprises two image areas configured to receive two portrait image, or two landscape image, or one portrait image and one landscape image.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically displaying in the automatically selected page layout having the first group of one or more digital images disposed in the one or more image areas.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

before the step of selecting a first group of one or more digital images, determining the number of digital images in the first group; and

specifying the number of image areas on the first page in accordance with the number of digital images in the first group.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first group comprises three digital images, wherein the page layout comprises three image areas configured to receive three portrait image, or three landscape image, or one portrait image and two landscape images, or two portrait images and one landscape image.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the page layout further comprises one or more image caption areas.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the page layout further comprises a page background pattern.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the page background pattern can be selected from a plurality of pre-designed page background patterns.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

after the step of selecting a first group of one or more digital images, automatically selecting the page layout from the library of page layouts in accordance with the number of images in the first group and the image formats of the one or more digital images in the first group.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first group comprise two images having a same image format, wherein the step of disposing comprises randomly disposing the two images having the same image format in two image areas associated with the same image format in the automatically selected page layout.

13. A method for producing a photo album having a plurality of pages, comprising:

storing a plurality of digital images each characterized by a portrait format or a landscape format;

specifying a sequence for the plurality of digital images;

providing a library of page layouts each comprising one or more image areas each of which is configured to receive a digital image characterized by a portrait format or a landscape format;

selecting a first group of one or more digital images at the beginning of the sequence of the plurality of digital images;

after the step of selecting a first group of one or more digital images, automatically selecting a first page layout from the library of page layouts in accordance with the image formats of the one or more digital images in the first group;

disposing the first group of one or more digital images in the one or more image areas in the automatically selected first page layout to produce a first page in a photo album;

after the step of disposing the first group of one or more digital images, selecting a second group of one or more digital images at the beginning of the sequence of the plurality of digital images;

after the step of selecting a second group of one or more digital images, automatically selecting a second page layout from the library of page layouts in accordance with the image formats of the one or more digital images in the second group, wherein the first page layout is different from the second page layout; and

disposing the second group of one or more digital images in the one or more image areas in the second page layout to produce a second page in the digital photo album.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the first group and the second group comprise different numbers of digital images.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

determining the number of digital images in the first group;

determining the number of digital images in the second group;

specifying the number of image areas on the first page in accordance with the number of digital images in the first group; and

specifying the number of image areas on the second page in accordance with the number of digital images in the second group.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

after the step of disposing the first group of one or more digital images, removing the first group of one or more digital images from the sequence of the plurality of digital images.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising automatically displaying the first page and the second page in the digital photo album.

18. A method for producing a photo album having a plurality of pages, comprising:

storing a plurality of digital images each characterized by a portrait format or a landscape format;

specifying a sequence for the plurality of digital images;

providing a library of page layouts each comprising image areas each configured to receive a digital image characterized by a portrait format or a landscape format;

selecting a first group of digital images at the beginning of the sequence of the plurality of digital images, wherein the first group comprise two images having a same image format;

after the step of selecting a first group of digital images, automatically selecting a page layout from the library of page layouts in accordance with the image formats of the digital images in the first group; and

disposing the first group of digital images in the image areas in the automatically selected page layout to produce a first page in a photo album, wherein the two images having the same image format are randomly disposed in two image areas associated with the same image format in the automatically selected page layout.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the same image format is a landscape image format.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the same image format is a portrait image format.