Method and system for processing images using time and location filters

• US 20080133526A1
• Filed: 03/22/2007
• Published: 06/05/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Palm, Inc. (TCL Technology Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Allen, Mitch, Chambers, Paul, Dellinger, Richard, Haitani, Robert Y., Crowley, Matthew W.
• Granted Patent: US 9,665,597 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/58 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually

Abstract

A device may process images (e.g. sort, group, file, e-mail, etc.) using various filters. The filters may relate to non-image data in the image files to be processed. The filters may include time and location filters.

Claims

1. A method for sorting photographs, comprising:

obtaining a plurality of digital images;

storing for each of the plurality of digital images time data based on a time the image was captured and location data based on a location at which the image was captured; and

organizing the plurality of images based on the time and location data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein storing data relating to a time and location at which a plurality of the images were captured comprises storing the data relating to the time and location at which each image was captured in an image file along with that image.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the time and location data are automatically added to a file by the device used to capture the images.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein organizing the plurality of images comprises placing the plurality of images into folders based on the time and location data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein organizing the plurality of images comprises filtering images to be displayed based on the time and location data.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising generating filters for the images based on at least one of the time and location data corresponding to the plurality of images.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein location filters are generated for the images based on locations at which the images were captured.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein a time filter is generated for images based on an identification of clusters of images taken at about a same time period.

9. The method of claim 5, further comprising providing a plurality of location filters for the images wherein a first location filter covers a first geographic area, and a second location filter covers a second geographic area, the second geographic area being larger than and encompassing the first geographic area.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising a third location filter that covers a third geographic area, the first geographic area being larger than and encompassing the third geographic area.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the first location filter and the second location filter are provided in separately selectable filter menus.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the first location filter and the second location filter are provided in a common filter menu.

13. The method of claim 5, further comprising receiving a user input representative of a filter for at least one of a time and location, and altering filters available for the other of the time and location filter based on the user input.

14. The method of claim 5, further comprising filtering images stored on a memory remote from the device on which the images are displayed.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein organizing the plurality of images comprises sending an e-mail to recipients based on the time and location data.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing event data for an image based on event information from a calendar application, and providing a filter option to a user named based on the event data.

17. A handheld device, comprising:

a camera configured to capture electronic images;

a location circuit configured to provide data representative of a location of the handheld device;

a time circuit; and

a processing circuit configured to

receive data representative of an image captured from the camera;

receive data from the location circuit and, in response, generate location data representative of a location of the hand-held device when the image was captured;

receive data from the time circuit and, in response, generate time data representative of the time at which the image was captured by the camera;

form an image file that includes data representative of an image captured from the camera, the time data for the image, and the location data for the image; and

organize a plurality of images based on time and location data contained in image files corresponding to the plurality of images; and

a display configured to display images based on the organization by the processing circuit.

18. The handheld device of claim 17, wherein

each image file for a plurality of images comprises a primary size version of the image, a reduced size version of the image, location data for the image, and time data for the image;

and

displaying images on the display based on the organization by the processing circuit comprises displaying images based on the reduced size versions of the images.

19. The handheld device of claim 17, wherein the plurality of images organized by the processing circuit comprise a multiplicity of images captured by the camera.

20. The handheld device of claim 17, wherein the processing circuit is configured to organize the plurality of images in response to at least one of a time and location filter input by a user.

21. The handheld device of claim 17, further comprising a cellular transceiver, wherein at least a portion of the image file can be transferred using the cellular transceiver.

22. A method for sorting photographs, comprising:

obtaining a plurality of digital images;

storing data relating to a location at which each of the plurality of digital images were captured;

providing a plurality of location filters for the images, including

a first location filter that covers a first geographic area, and

a second location filter that covers a second geographic area, the second geographic area being larger than and encompassing the first geographic area; and

filtering images to be displayed based on the location data and at least one of the first and second location filters.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising a third location filter that covers a third geographic area, the first geographic area being larger than and encompassing the third geographic area.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the first location filter and the second location filter are parts of separately selectable filter menus.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein the first location filter and the second location filter are provided in a common filter menu.

26. A device for sorting photographs, comprising:

a memory configured to store a plurality of digital image files, the digital image files comprising image data and non-image data;

a processing circuit configured to provide a plurality of filter options for the images, the filter options configured to be changed based on the content of the stored digital image files, the processing circuit further configured to filter the images to be displayed using the filter options.

27. The device of claim 26, further comprising a user input device, the processing circuit configured to filter the images based on a filter option chosen based on an input received from the user input device.

28. The device of claim 26, wherein the filter options change based on the content of the non-image data of the stored digital image files.

29. The device of claim 26, wherein a user may save a combination of filter options for use in filtering future images.

30. The device of claim 29, wherein a user may attach a label to the saved combination of filter options.

31. The device of claim 26, wherein

the non-image data comprises location data and time data;

and

the non-image data can be used to find similar images accessible from a wide area network.