Image scaling arrangement

• US 7,565,036 B2
• Filed: 05/16/2007
• Issued: 07/21/2009
• 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:
  US11/749,599
• Publication Number:
  US 20070217716A1
• Time in Patent Office: 797 Days
• Field of Search: 382/305, 382/312, 709/219, 709/227, 709/231, 707/1, 707/10, 707/101, 711/133, 717/109
• 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 computing device, comprising:

a data storage device for storing at least a plurality of media items; and

a media management module configured to at least (i) receive a media request for at least one media item from a portable media device;

(ii) obtain information regarding characteristics for the portable media device;

(iii) obtain, based on the characteristics, a set of media items for each of the at least one media item being requested by the media request; and

(iv) cause the set of media items to be sent to the portable media device.

2. A computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein the information regarding the characteristics for the portable media device includes at least device characteristics.

3. A computing device as recited in claim 2,

wherein said data storage device stores device characteristics for a plurality of different portable media devices, and

wherein the information regarding the device characteristics for the portable media device are obtained from said data storage device.

4. A computing device as recited in claim 1,

wherein the media request includes identification information for the portable media device, and

wherein said media management module uses the identification information to obtain the information regarding the characteristics for the portable media device.

5. A computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein said computing device further comprises:

a communication module for sending data from or receiving data to said computing device.

6. A computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein the information regarding the characteristics for the portable media device are provided from the portable media device.

7. A computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein said media management module is further configured to receive an identifier from the portable media device, and to retrieve the information regarding the characteristics for the portable media device using the identifier.

8. A computing device as recited in claim 7, wherein the identifier can be within or associated with the media request.

9. A computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein the set of media items is a set of images, the set of images including at least a plurality of images having different sizes or formats but having essentially the same image data.

10. A computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein the information regarding the characteristics for the portable media device comprises or identifies at least one image profile, and wherein the set of media items being produced is based on the at least one image profile.

11. A computing device as recited in claim 10, wherein the at least one image profile identifies characteristics for an image.

12. A computing device as recited in claim 11, wherein the identified characteristics include at least one of:

a format, a width, a height, a rotation, or a color adjustment.

13. A computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein the set of media items is a set of images, the set of images including at least a full screen image, a plurality of thumbnail images of various sizes, and a TV image.

14. A computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein the set of images includes at least (i) an original image corresponding to the at least one media item being requested by the media request, and (ii) a full screen image.

15. A computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein the set of images includes at least (i) an original image corresponding to the at least one media item being requested by the media request, and (ii) a plurality of thumbnail images of various sizes.

16. A computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein the set of images includes at least (i) an image for use on a monitor, and (ii) an image for use on a TV.

17. A computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein the information regarding characteristics for the portable media device identifies at least an image format, and wherein the set of media items for each of the at least one media item being requested by the media request is dependent on the at least the image format.

18. A computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein the information regarding characteristics for the portable media device identifies at least an image format and an image size, and wherein the set of media items for each of the at least one media item being requested by the media request is dependent on the at least the image format and the image size.

19. A computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein the information regarding characteristics for the portable media device identifies at least one display mode, and wherein the set of media items for each of the at least one media item being requested by the media request is dependent on the at least one display mode.

20. A computing device as recited in claim 19, wherein the at least one display mode has an image format associated therewith.

21. A computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein said media management module obtains the set of media items by generating the set of media items.

22. A computing device, comprising:

a data storage device for storing at least a plurality of media items; and

a media management module configured to at least (i) pre-process a plurality of media items to produce a plurality of additional media items from each of the media items based on characteristics pertaining to a portable media device;

(ii) store the additional media items in said data storage device; and

(iii) deliver at least the additional media items to said portable media device.

23. A computing device as recited in claim 22, wherein said computing device is a host computer.

24. A computing device as recited in claim 22, wherein the pre-process of the media items includes one or more of:

scale, crop, rotation, or color correction.

25. A portable media device, comprising:

a data storage device configured to store media data pertaining to media items and to store device characteristics pertaining to said portable media device;

an output device; and

a processing device configured to (i) send at least a portion of the device characteristics to a host device, (ii) receive media data pertaining to one or more media items to be stored on said data storage device, the one or more media items having essentially the same media data, the received media data being obtained at the host device based on the device characteristics pertaining to said portable media device, (iii) storing the received media data to said data storage device, (iv) subsequently determining whether a particular media item of the one or more media items is to be output by said portable media device, (v) selecting an appropriate one of the determined media items to be output, and (vi) output the data for the selected determined media item.

26. The portable media device as recited in claim 25,

wherein said data storage device stores device characteristics for a plurality of different portable media devices, and

wherein the information regarding the device characteristics for the portable media device are obtained from said data storage device.

27. The portable media device as recited in claim 26, wherein the processing device responds to a media request for at least one media item received from a host device.

28. The portable media device as recited in claim 27,

wherein the media request includes identification information for the portable media device, and

wherein said processing device uses the identification information to obtain the information regarding the characteristics for the portable media device.

29. A computer readable medium that stores computer program code for managing media items, said computer readable medium comprising:

computer program code for receiving a media request for at least one media item from a portable media device, the media request including or referencing information regarding characteristics of the portable media device;

computer program code for generating, based on the characteristics, a set of media items for each of the at least one media item being requested by the media request, the set of the media items generated from the at least one media item including a plurality of media items that have essentially the same media data; and

computer program code for sending the set of media items to the portable media device.

30. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 29, wherein the media items are images, and wherein the characteristics are image formats.

31. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 30, wherein some of the images have different sizes or formats but have essentially the same image data.

32. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 30, wherein the information regarding the characteristics for the portable media device identifies at least one image profile, and wherein the set of media items being produced is based on the at least one image profile wherein the at least one image profile identifies characteristics for an image and wherein the identified characteristics include at least one of:

a format, a width, a height, a rotation, or a color adjustment.

33. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 29,

wherein the media request includes identification information for the portable media device that is used to obtain the information regarding the characteristics for the portable media device.

34. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 33, further comprising:

receiving an identifier from the portable media device; and

retrieving the information regarding the characteristics for the portable media device using the identifier wherein the identifier can be within or associated with the media request.

35. A method performed by a media management module comprising:

receiving a media request from a portable media device for at least one media item, wherein the requested media item is stored in a data storage device suitable for storing at least a plurality of media items;

obtaining information regarding characteristics for the portable media device;

obtaining, based on the characteristics, a set of media items for each of the at least one media item being requested by the media request; and

causing the set of media items to be sent to the portable media device.

36. The method as recited in claim 35, wherein the information regarding the characteristics for the portable media device includes at least device characteristics, wherein said data storage device stores device characteristics for a plurality of different portable media devices, and wherein the information regarding the device characteristics for the portable media device are obtained from said data storage device.

37. The method as recited in claim 35,

wherein the media request includes identification information for the portable media device, and

wherein said media management module uses the identification information to obtain the information regarding the characteristics for the portable media device.

38. The method as recited in claim 35, further comprising:

receiving an identifier from the portable media device; and

retrieving the information regarding the characteristics for the portable media device using the identifier wherein the identifier can be within or associated with the media request.

39. The method as recited in claim 35, wherein the set of media items is a set of images, the set of images including at least a plurality of images having different sizes or formats but having essentially the same image data.

40. The method as recited in claim 35, wherein the information regarding the characteristics for the portable media device identifies at least one image profile, and wherein the set of media items being produced is based on the at least one image profile wherein the at least one image profile identifies characteristics for an image and wherein the identified characteristics include at least one of:

a format, a width, a height, a rotation, or a color adjustment.

41. A method performed by a portable media device having a data storage device configured to store media data pertaining to media items and to store device characteristics pertaining to said portable media device, an output device, and processing device, comprising:

by the processing device,

sending at least a portion of the device characteristics to a host device in communication with the portable media device;

receiving media data pertaining to one or more media items to be stored on said data storage device, the one or more media items having essentially the same media data, the received media data being obtained at the host device based on the device characteristics pertaining to said portable media device;

storing the received media data to said data storage device;

subsequently determining whether a particular media item of the one or more media items is to be output by said portable media device at the output device;

selecting an appropriate one of the determined media items to be output; and

outputting the data for the selected determined media item at the output device, wherein the processing device responds to a media request for at least one media item received from a host device.

42. The method as recited in claim 41,

wherein said data storage device stores device characteristics for a plurality of different portable media devices, and

wherein the information regarding the device characteristics for the portable media device are obtained from said data storage device.

43. The method as recited in claim 42,

wherein the media request includes identification information for the portable media device, and

wherein said processing device uses the identification information to obtain the information regarding the characteristics for the portable media device.