Acquisition and organization of digital images

• US 20030043420A1
• Filed: 08/29/2001
• Published: 03/06/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Hamilton, David O., Breidenbach, Steven T., Sutton, James E.
• Granted Patent: US 7,499,200 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/474
• 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 1/00135 Scanning of a photographic original
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00137 Transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00148 Storage information retrieval G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00167 Processing or editing H04N1/00196 - H04N1/00201 take precedence
• 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 1/00188 Printing, e.g. prints or reprints H04N1/0019, H04N1/00196 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00822 Selecting or setting a particular reading mode, e.g. from amongst a plurality of modes, simplex or duplex, or high or low resolution
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3214 of a date
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 358/906 Hand-held camera with recorder in a single unit

Abstract

A system and method for organizing digital images automatically. A digital image is acquired and automatically converted into an image data file with an associated date, and stored into a file system folder associated with that date. When the digital image is to be acquired using an optical scanner, the method automatically acquires the image using predefined scanner settings that are appropriate to a photographic image to scan the item.

Claims

1. A method of optically scanning a target item, comprising:

predefining settings for scanning parameters appropriate to a photographic image;

optically scanning the target item using the predefined settings to form a digital image of the target item; and

automatically converting the digital image into a data file.

2. The method of claim 1, further including:

automatically storing the data file.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the storing includes storing the data file on a file system.

4. The method of claim 3, further including specifying a date, and wherein the storing further includes storing the data file on the file system in a folder associated with the date.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the folder is associated with a particular month and year.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the scanning parameters are selected from the group consisting of pixel depth, resolution, crop mode, and skew correction mode.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the scanning parameter settings appropriate to a photographic image includes:

pixel depth=24-bit color;

resolution=150 dots per inch;

crop mode=automatic border detection; and

skew correction mode=automatic image straightening.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the file system has no folder associated with the date, further including:

creating the folder associated with the date.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein the data file is a plurality of data files and wherein the file system has a plurality of folders, further including:

viewing a representation of the plurality of folders; and

viewing a representation of the data files in one of the folders.

10. The method of claim 1, further including providing an image capture signal to initiate the scanning, and wherein the scanning and converting is performed without any further user intervention.

11. A method of automatically organizing digital images, comprising:

acquiring a digital image from an image source;

automatically associating a date with the digital image;

automatically converting the digital image into a data file; and

storing the data file into a folder of a file system, the folder associated with the date.

12. The method of claim 11, further including:

creating the folder if no other folder is associated with the date.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the date is the capture date when the image was captured by the image source.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the date is the storage date when the image was converted into a data file.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the data folder is associated with a particular month and year.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the data folder is selected from a set of data folders.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the digital image is a previously captured image, and wherein the acquiring further includes:

uploading the previously captured image.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the acquiring further includes:

predefining settings for image acquisition parameters appropriate to a photographic image; and

capturing the digital image with the image source according to the predefined settings.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

performing a post-processing operation on the data file.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the performing includes performing an image polishing operation.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the performing includes processing the data file with an application program.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the performing further includes sending the processed data file to a destination.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the destination is a peripheral device.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the peripheral device is selected from the group consisting of a printer and a fax machine.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein the application program is selected from the group consisting of an image polishing application, a creative printing application, a photo album application, an e-mail application, and a photo web site upload application.

26. A method of processing digital images from a plurality of image sources, comprising:

predefining at least one set of image acquisition parameters, each set associated with a corresponding one of a group of image sources and appropriate for acquiring a photographic image with the corresponding image source;

configuring a selected one of the image sources with the associated set of image acquisition parameters;

acquiring a digital image from the selected one of the image sources;

automatically converting the digital image into a data file; and

integrating the data file into a file structure common to data files from all the image sources.

27. An image processing system, comprising:

at least one image source, each image source for providing at least one digital image upon request;

an image capture subsystem coupled to the at least one image source for requesting and receiving the at least one digital image from the at least one image source, the image capture subsystem further for associating a date with each digital image and automatically converting each digital image into a corresponding image file; and

a file system coupled to the image capture subsystem for automatically storing each image file in a selected one of a plurality of data folders, the selected data folder associated with the date.

28. The image processing system of claim 27, comprising:

an image management subsystem coupled to the image capture subsystem and the file system for viewing the plurality of data folders and the image files in a specified data folder.

29. The image processing system of claim 28, comprising:

a post-processing subsystem coupled to the image management subsystem for post-processing at least one selected one of the image files.

30. The image processing system of claim 29, wherein the post-processing subsystem is further coupled to the file system for accessing the selected ones of the image files.

31. The image processing system of claim 29, comprising:

an image destination coupled to the post-processing subsystem for receiving output data corresponding to at least one selected one of the image files.

32. The image processing system of claim 27, wherein the date is an image acquisition date provided by the image source.

33. The image processing system of claim 27, wherein the date is a current date provided by a date subsystem coupled to the image capture subsystem.

34. The image processing system of claim 27, wherein the at least one image source is an optical scanner, and wherein the image capture subsystem provides predefined settings appropriate to a photographic image to the optical scanner for use in providing the at least one digital image.

35. A processor-readable medium having processor-executable instructions thereon which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

acquire a digital image from an image source;

automatically convert the digital image into a data file having a date associated with the digital image; and

store the data file into a data folder of a file system, the folder associated with the date.

36. A processor-readable medium having processor-executable instructions thereon which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

predefine settings for scanning parameters appropriate to a photographic image;

optically scan the target item using the predefined settings to form a digital image of the target item; and

automatically convert the digital image into a data file.

37. An image processing system, comprising:

means for acquiring a digital image from an image source;

means for automatically converting the digital image into a data file having a date associated with the digital image; and

means for storing the data file into a data folder of a file system, the folder associated with the date.

38. An image processing system, comprising:

means for predefining settings for scanning parameters appropriate to a photographic image;

means for optically scanning the target item using the predefined settings to form a digital image of the target item; and

means for automatically converting the digital image into a data file.

39. A method for optically scanning a target item, comprising:

a step for predefining settings for scanning parameters appropriate to a photographic image;

a step for optically scanning the target item using the predefined settings to form a digital image of the target item; and

a step for automatically converting the digital image into a data file.

40. A method for automatically organizing digital images, comprising:

a step for acquiring a digital image from an image source;

a step for automatically converting the digital image into a data file having a date associated with the digital image; and

a step for storing the data file into a data folder of a file system, the folder associated with the date.

41. An image processing system, comprising:

at least one image source, each image source for providing at least one digital image upon request;

an image capture subsystem coupled to the at least one image source which requests and receives the at least one digital image from the at least one image source, associates a date with each image, and automatically converts each image into a corresponding image file; and

a file system coupled to the image capture subsystem which receives each image file from the image capture subsystem and automatically stores each image file in a selected one of a plurality of data folders, the selected data folder associated with the date.