Method and apparatus for image acquisition, organization, manipulation, and publication

• US 8,330,844 B2
• Filed: 09/20/2007
• Issued: 12/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Reid, Glenn, Disario, Aaron, Wasko, Tim, Waylonis, Daniel B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Daniels, Anthony J
• Application Number:
  US11/858,785
• Publication Number:
  US 20080007625A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,909 Days
• Field of Search: 348/207.1, 348/333.01, 348/333.05
• US Class Current: 348/333.02
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/54 Browsing; Visualisation therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/58 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/00 2D [Two Dimensional] image generation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/00 Geometric image transformations in the plane of the image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/40 Scaling of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. expanding or contracting

Abstract

To better realize the great potential of amateur digital photography, the present invention introduces an integrated system for the acquisition, organization, manipulation, and publication of digital images by amateur digital photography enthusiasts. The system of the present invention first acquires images from a number of different image sources. Images acquired in the same image importing session are marked as coming from the same conceptual film roll. Next, a user is empowered to organize and manipulate the acquired images. The images may be organized by tagging the images with informative keywords and grouping images together into conceptual photo albums. Furthermore, the images may be manipulated by rotating, cropping, and removing red-eye. Finally, the system of the present invention provides simple intuitive image publish systems. A selected group of images may be published in a photobook, published onto the World Wide Web, or published as individual image prints with minimal computer knowledge on the part of the user.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing an application that when executed by at least one processor implements a graphical user interface (“

GUI”

), the GUI comprising;

a first display area for displaying different groups of images imported in the application during different import sessions;

a photo album tool comprising a second display area for associating different sets of images from the first display area with different digital photo albums and displaying each particular digital photo album as a user selectable item, wherein a selection of a selectable item corresponding to a particular digital photo album causes the first display area to only display a set of images associated with the particular digital photo album, wherein the first display area displays all the images imported in the application when no selectable item corresponding to a digital album is selected;

an image set grouping tool that when selected causes the images in the first display area to be grouped into the different groups according to the different import sessions by displaying a group divider icon between each of two different groups of images; and

a set of editing tools comprising a redeye removal tool for removing redeye from a particular image selected from the first display area.

2. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the set of editing tools further comprises at least one of a rotate tool for rotating the particular image and a cropping tool for cropping the particular image.

3. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the red-eye removal tool allows a user to identify an area of the particular image containing a red eye.

4. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the photo album tool further comprises a control for creating a new digital photo album and displaying, in the second display area, a particular selectable item corresponding to the new digital photo album, wherein the GUI further comprises a third display area for displaying said control and at least one editing tool.

5. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the GUI further comprises a slide show tool, wherein a user'"'"'s selection of the particular digital photo album and the slide show tool causes a slide show presentation comprising the set of images in the particular digital photo album to be displayed.

6. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the GUI further comprises a keyword association tool comprising (i) a keyword display area for displaying different keywords and associating different sets of images with the different keywords, and (ii) a filtering option that when applied causes the first display area to only display a set of images associated with a particular keyword, wherein the first display area displays all the images imported in the application when the filtering option is not applied for any keyword and no selectable item corresponding to a particular digital album is selected.

7. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein images organized into a particular group of the different groups are the images imported in the application during one import session.

8. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein a drag and drop operation of a set of images from the first display area onto the selectable item for the particular photo album associates the set of images with the particular photo album.

9. A method for an image organizing application that executes on a computing device, the method comprising:

providing a first display area for displaying different groups of images imported in the application during different import sessions;

providing a photo album tool comprising a second display area for associating different sets of images from the first display area with different digital photo albums and displaying each particular digital photo album as a user selectable item, wherein a selection of a selectable item corresponding to a particular digital photo album causes the first display area to only display a set of images associated with the particular digital photo album, wherein the first display area displays all the images imported in the application when no selectable item corresponding to a digital album is selected;

providing an image set grouping tool that when selected causes the images in the first display area to be grouped into the different groups according to the different import sessions by displaying a visible group divider between each of two different groups of images; and

providing a set of editing tools comprising a redeye removal tool for removing redeye from a particular image selected from the first display area.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises providing a slide show tool, wherein a user'"'"'s selection of the particular digital photo album and the slide show tool causes a slide show presentation comprising the set of images in the particular digital photo album to be displayed.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising providing a keyword association tool comprising (i) a keyword display area for displaying different keywords and associating different sets of images with the different keywords, and (ii) a filtering option that when applied causes the first display area to only display a set of images associated with a particular keyword, wherein the first display area displays all the images imported in the application when the filtering option is not applied for any keyword and no selectable item corresponding to a particular digital album is selected.

12. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program for processing a plurality of images on a device, said computer program comprising:

a set of instructions for displaying, in a first display area, different groups of images imported during different import sessions;

a set of instructions for associating different sets of images from the first display area with different digital photo albums;

a set of instructions for displaying each particular digital photo album as a user selectable item, wherein a selection of a selectable item corresponding to a particular digital photo album causes the first display area to only display a set of images associated with the particular digital photo album, wherein the first display area displays all the images imported when no selectable item corresponding to a digital album is selected;

a set of instructions for receiving a selection of a grouping tool; and

a set of instructions for grouping, in response to the selection of the grouping tool, the images in the first display area into the different groups according to the different import sessions by displaying a group divider icon between each of two different groups of images.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the computer program further comprises:

a set of instructions for associating different sets of images with different keywords; and

a set of instructions for displaying, in response to a selection of a particular keyword, only a set of images associated with the particular keyword.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the computer program further comprises a set of instructions for editing a particular image selected in the first display area by removing redeye from the particular image.