Method and system for calendar-based image asset organization

• US 20050044066A1
• Filed: 08/20/2003
• Published: 02/24/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/20/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ACD Systems International Incorporated
• Original Assignee: ACD Systems Ltd. (ACD Systems International Incorporated)
• Inventors: Hooper, David, Mao, Yida
• Granted Patent: US 7,398,479 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/968 interface for database querying and retrieval

Abstract

A calendar-based image asset organizer, including a user interface for designating at least one date range, an image date reader for determining a date associated with an image, and an image query manager for identifying images having an associated date within the designated at least one date range. A method and a computer readable storage medium are also described and claimed.

Claims

1. A calendar-based image asset organizer, comprising:

a user interface for designating at least one date range;

an image date reader for determining a date associated with an image; and

an image query manager for identifying images having an associated date within the at least one designated date range.

2. The calendar-based image asset organizer of claim 1, wherein the user interface displays a calendar.

3. The calendar-based image asset organizer of claim 1, wherein a date range includes a date and time range, and wherein the date associated within an image includes a date and a time.

4. The calendar-based image asset organizer of claim 1, wherein the date associated with an image is a date stored by an image capture device within a file header of a file containing the image.

5. The calendar-based image asset organizer of claim 4, wherein the file header is an Exchangeable Image File (EXIF) header.

6. The calendar-based image asset organizer of claim 1, wherein the date associated with an image is a file system date for a file containing the image.

7. The calendar-based image asset organizer of claim 6, wherein the file system data is a file'"'"'s last modified date.

8. The calendar-based image asset organizer of claim 1, wherein the date associated within an image is date entered manually by a user.

9. The calendar-based image asset organizer of claim 1, further comprising a display processor, for displaying representations of the images having an associate dates within the designated at least one date range.

10. The calendar-based image asset organizer of claim 9, wherein the representations of the images are thumbnail representations.

11. The calendar-based image asset organizer of claim 9, wherein the representations of the images are small-scale versions of the images.

12. The calendar-based image asset organizer of claim 1, wherein said image query manager identifies the number of images having an associated date within the designated at least one date range.

13. The calendar-based image asset organizer of claim 12, further comprising a display processor for displaying the number of images having an associated date within the designated at least one date range.

14. The calendar-based image asset organizer of claim 1, wherein said image query manager comprises a relational database manager for storing and retrieving image identifiers associated with specific dates.

15. The calendar-based image asset organizer of claim 14, wherein the image identifiers include identifiers for file names.

16. The calendar-based image asset organizer of claim 14, wherein the image identifiers include binary image data.

17. The calendar-based image asset organizer of claim 16 wherein the binary image data is pixel data for thumbnail representations of images.

18. The calendar-based image asset organizer of claim 14, wherein the image identifiers include pointers to binary image data.

19. The calendar-based image asset organizer of claim 18 wherein the binary image data is pixel data for thumbnail representations of images.

20. The calendar-based image asset organizer of claim 1, wherein said image query manager comprises a data structure manager for storing and retrieving image identifiers associated with specific dates.

21. The calendar-based image asset organizer of claim 20, wherein the data structure is a tree.

22. The calendar-based image asset organizer of claim 20, wherein the data structure is a linked list.

23. The calendar-based image asset organizer of claim 20, wherein the data structure is a dynamic array.

24. A method for organizing image assets, comprising:

receiving at least one designated date range;

determining dates associated with images; and

identifying images having an associated date within the at least one designated date range.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising displaying a calendar.

26. The method of claim 24 wherein the date range includes a date and time range, and wherein the date associated within an image includes a date and a time.

27. The method of claim 24 wherein the date associated with an image is a date stored by an image capture device within a file header of a file containing the image.

28. The method of claim 26 wherein the file header is an Exchangeable Image File (EXIF) header.

29. The method of claim 24 wherein the date associated with an image is a file system date for a file containing the image.

30. The method of claim 29 wherein the file system date is a file'"'"'s last modified date.

31. The method of claim 24 wherein the date associated within an image is a date entered manually by a user.

32. The method of claim 24 further comprising displaying representations of the images having an associated date within the at least one designated date range.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein the representations of the images are thumbnail representations.

34. The method of claim 32 wherein the representations of the images are small-scale versions of the images.

35. The method of claim 24 wherein said identifying identifies the number of images having an associated date within the at least one designated date range.

36. The method of claim 35 further comprising displaying the number of images having an associated date within the at least one designated date range.

37. The method of claim 24 further comprising storing and retrieving image identifiers associated with specific dates within a relational database.

38. The method of claim 37 wherein the image identifiers include identifiers for file names.

39. The method of claim 37 wherein the image identifiers include binary image data.

40. The method of claim 39 wherein the binary image data is pixel data for thumbnail representations of images.

41. The method of claim 37 wherein the image identifiers include pointers to binary image data.

42. The method of claim 41 wherein the binary image data is pixel data for thumbnail representations of images.

43. The method of claim 24 further comprising storing and retrieving image identifiers associated with specific dates within a data structure.

44. The method of claim 43 wherein the data structure is a tree.

45. The method of claim 43 wherein the data structure is a linked list.

46. The method of claim 43 wherein the data structure is a dynamic array.

47. A computer-readable storage medium storing program code for causing a computer to perform the steps of:

receiving at least one designated date range;

determining dates associated with images; and

identifying images having an associated date within the at least one designated date range.

48. A calendar-based digital content organizer, comprising:

a user interface for designating at least one date range;

a date reader for determining a date associated with digital content; and

a query manager for identifying digital content having an associated date within the designated at least one date range.

49. The calendar-based digital content organizer of claim 48 wherein the digital content is digital video.

50. The calendar-based digital content organizer of claim 48 wherein the digital content is digital slide presentations.

51. The calendar-based digital content organizer of claim 48 wherein the digital content is digital image collections.

52. The calendar-based digital content organizer of claim 48 wherein the digital content is digital animation.

53. The calendar-based digital content organizer of claim 48 wherein the digital content is electronic documents.

54. The calendar-based digital content organizer of claim 48 wherein the digital content is e-mail.

55. A method for organizing digital content, comprising:

receiving at least one designated date range;

determining a date associated with digital content; and

identifying digital content having an associated date within the at least one designated date range.

56. The method of claim 55 wherein the digital content is digital video.

57. The method of claim 55 wherein the digital content is digital slide presentations.

58. The method of claim 55 wherein the digital content is digital image collections.

59. The method of claim 55 wherein the digital content is digital animation.

60. The method of claim 55 wherein the digital content is electronic documents.

61. The method of claim 55 wherein the digital content is e-mail.

62. A computer-readable storage medium storing program code for causing a computer to perform the steps of:

receiving at least one designated date range;

determining a date associated with digital content; and

identifying digital content having an associated date within the at least one designated date range.