Method and Apparatus for Automatically Capturing and Managing Images

• US 20080192129A1
• Filed: 12/23/2004
• Published: 08/14/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Inventor Holdings LLC (Walker Innovation Inc. (f/k/a Patent Properties, Inc.))
• Original Assignee: Walker Digital LLC (Walker Innovation Inc. (f/k/a Patent Properties, Inc.))
• Inventors: Jorasch, James A., Sammon, Russell P., Walker, Jay S.
• Granted Patent: US 7,924,323 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/231.2
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/28 by using information signals recorded by the same method as the main recording G11B27/22 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/3027 used signal is digitally coded
• 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: 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 1/2112 using still video cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/2129 Recording in, or reproducing from, a specific memory area or areas, or recording or reproducing at a specific moment
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/2137 with temporary storage before final recording, e.g. in a frame buffer
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2101/00 Still video cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/214 Checking or indicating the storage space
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/216 Arrangements for recording on different types of storage medium, e.g. IC card or magnetic tape; Recording on a plurality of storage media
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/218 Deletion of stored data; Preventing such deletion
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/64 Computer-aided capture of images, e.g. transfer from script file into camera, check of taken image quality, advice or proposal for image composition or decision on when to take image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/66 Remote control of cameras or camera parts, e.g. by remote control devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters

Abstract

According to one embodiment of the invention, a camera determines whether to acquire an image (e.g., automatically), determines whether to store the acquired image, and determines how to store the acquired image.

Claims

1. (canceled)

2. A method, comprising:

acquiring an image;

storing the acquired image in a primary memory;

determining a rating of the acquired image;

storing the acquired image in a secondary memory based on the rating and transmitting the acquired image to a second device.

4. The method of claim 2, in which transmitting the image to a second device further comprises compressing the acquired image.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising deleting the acquired image from at least one of the primary memory or the secondary memory.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the rating includes an indication of a quality of the image based on at least one rating category.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least one rating category comprises at least one of an exposure rating, a sharpness rating, a composition rating, or a subject rating.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the rating comprises a relative rating based on a comparison with at least one other image.

9. The method of claim 2, further comprising storing the rating of the image in a memory as meta-data associated with the image.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the memory comprises at least one of the primary memory, the secondary memory, or a memory of the second device.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

retrieving the stored meta-data associated with the stored image; and

determining that the stored image should be compressed or deleted based on the rating.

12. The method of claim 2, further comprising storing meta-data associated with the acquired image, wherein the meta-data comprises at least one of position data, orientation data, altitude data, camera settings data, lens setting data, sound annotations, date and time data, cropping data, or scale data.

13. The method of claim 2, further comprising storing meta-data associated with the acquired image, wherein the meta-data comprises at least one of scene data, illumination data, subject motion data, image content data, or image categorization data.

14. The method of claim 2, further comprising at least one of modifying the image, cropping the image, rotating the image, filtering the image, adding a meta tag to the image, or displaying the image.

15. The method of claim 2, further comprising selecting at least one of a sports mode, a portrait mode, a sunny mode, or a sunset mode.

16. The method of claim 2, further comprising selecting at least one of a fluorescent light mode, a power save mode, a silent mode, or a macro mode.

17. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining that an acquire condition is satisfied; and

capturing at least one additional image automatically.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the acquire condition comprises a Boolean expression referencing at least one factor.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the at least one factor comprises at least one of factors affecting the occurrence of a condition, factors affecting whether a condition is true, factors that cause a condition to occur, or factors that cause a condition to become true.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising temporarily storing the automatically captured image.

21. The method of claim 17, in which automatically capturing the image comprises triggering a camera when at least one acquire condition is satisfied.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the at least one acquire condition is based on at least one of information from sensors, time-related data, information concerning images stored in a memory, a state of a camera, characteristics of a user, or information in a database.

23. The method of claim 17, in which automatically capturing the image comprises determining to automatically capture the image based on at least one of a previously acquired image, a test image, an analysis of previous images, or a quality of a previously acquired image.

24. The method of claim 2, in which storing the acquired image in at least one of the primary memory or the secondary memory further comprises compressing the image.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising storing at least one of a compression condition or a compression parameter associated with the acquired image.

26. The method of claim 2, in which acquiring an image comprises automatically capturing the image when a user is composing a shot.

27. The method of claim 2, in which storing the acquired image in at least one of the primary memory or the secondary memory comprises determining to store the image based on a quality of the image.

28. The method of claim 29, wherein the quality of the image is determined by an artificial intelligence system.

29. The method of claim 2, in which storing the acquired image in at least one of the primary memory or the secondary memory comprises determining to store the image based on a characteristic of the image.

30. The method of claim 31, wherein the characteristic of the image comprises at least one of sharpness, exposure, colors, composition, movement in the image, subject of the image, background of the image, face recognition, a user preference, noise, meta-data, or a similarity to other images.

31. The method of claim 2, further comprising deleting the acquired image from at least one of the primary memory or the secondary memory.

32. The method of claim 31, in which deleting the acquired image comprises automatically deleting the acquired image based on the rating of the acquired image.

33. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

comparing the rating of the acquired image to a threshold value; and

compressing the acquired image if the rating is less than or equal to the threshold value.

34. The method of claim 35, in which compressing comprises:

determining a compression setting based on a condition related to the rating; and

compressing the acquired image according to the compression setting.

35. The method of claim 2, further comprising at least one of deleting or compressing the acquired image based on a categorical rating of the acquired image.

36. The method of claim 2, further comprising at least one of deleting or compressing the acquired image based on at least one of an indication from a user, a preference of a user, a state of a camera, or a capture condition.

37. The method of claim 2, further comprising at least one of deleting or compressing the acquired image based on at least one of an amount of memory available, an amount of memory that is used, or a comparison between an amount of memory available and a threshold value.

3. A camera, comprising:

means for acquiring an image;

means for storing the acquired image in a primary memory;

means for determining a rating of the acquired image;

means for storing the acquired image in a secondary memory based on the rating; and

means for transmitting the acquired image to a second device.

38. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the means for transmitting the acquired image comprises a wireless communications port.

39. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the second device comprises at least one of a personal digital assistant, a cellular telephone, a digital wallet, a portable stereo, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a server, a mainframe computer, a personal computer, a portable hard drive, a digital picture frame, a GPS device, or a portable computer.

40. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising means for deleting the acquired image from at least one of the primary memory or the secondary memory.

41. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising:

means for determining that an acquire condition is satisfied; and

means for capturing at least one additional image automatically.

42. The apparatus of claim 41, wherein the means for determining that the acquire condition is satisfied comprises a processor.

43. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising sensor means.

44. The apparatus of claim 3, in which the means for storing the acquired image in at least one of the primary memory or the secondary memory further comprises means for compressing the image.

45. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising an artificial intelligence system for determining which images are most appealing to a user.

46. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising:

means for comparing the rating of the acquired image to a threshold value; and

means for compressing the acquired image if the rating is less than or equal to the threshold value.

47. The apparatus of claim 46, in which the means for compressing comprises:

means for determining a compression setting based on a condition related to the rating; and

means for compressing the acquired image according to the compression setting.

48. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the secondary memory comprises at least one database.

49. The apparatus of claim 48, wherein the at least one database comprises at least one of an image database, an acquire condition database, an acquired image log, an image rating database, a compression condition database, or a compression tracking database.

50. A computer readable medium storing instructions configured to direct a processor to:

acquire an image;

store the acquired image in a primary memory;

determine a rating of the acquired image;

store the acquired image in a secondary memory based on the rating; and

transmit the acquired image to a second device.

51. The computer readable medium of claim 50, in which the instructions for transmitting the image to a second device comprise instructions configured to direct the processor to compress the acquired image.

52. The computer readable medium of claim 50, which further comprises instructions configured to direct the processor to delete the acquired image from at least one of the primary memory or the secondary memory.

53. The computer readable medium of claim 50, in which the instructions for rating the image comprise instructions configured to direct the processor to base the rating on at least one rating category comprising at least one of an exposure rating, a sharpness rating, a composition rating, or a subject rating.

54. The computer readable medium of claim 50, in which the instructions for rating the image comprise instructions configured to direct the processor to base the rating on a comparison with at least one other image.

55. The computer readable medium of claim 50, which further comprises instructions configured to direct the processor to store the rating of the image in a memory as meta-data associated with the image.

56. The computer readable medium of claim 55, which further comprises instructions configured to direct the processor to:

retrieve the stored meta-data associated with the stored image; and

determine that the stored image should be compressed or deleted based on the rating.

57. The computer readable medium of claim 50, which further comprises instructions configured to direct the processor to store meta-data associated with the acquired image, wherein the meta-data comprises at least one of position data, orientation data, altitude data, camera settings data, lens setting data, sound annotations, date and time data, cropping data, or scale data.

58. The computer readable medium of claim 50, which further comprises instructions configured to direct the processor to store meta-data associated with the acquired image, wherein the meta-data comprises at least one of scene data, illumination data, subject motion data, image content data, or image categorization data.

59. The computer readable medium of claim 50, which further comprises instructions configured to direct the processor to at least one of modify the image, crop the image, rotate the image, filter the image, add a meta tag to the image, or display the image.

60. The computer readable medium of claim 50, which further comprises instructions configured to direct the processor to select at least one of a sports mode, a portrait mode, a sunny mode, or a sunset mode.

61. The computer readable medium of claim 50, which further comprises instructions configured to direct the processor to select at least one of a fluorescent light mode, a power save mode, a silent mode, or a macro mode.

62. The computer readable medium of claim 50, which further comprises instructions configured to direct the processor to:

determine that an acquire condition is satisfied; and

capture at least one additional image automatically.

63. The computer readable medium of claim 62, in which the instructions for determining that an acquire condition is satisfied comprise instructions configured to direct the processor to base the determination on at least one of factors affecting the occurrence of a condition, factors affecting whether a condition is true, factors that cause a condition to occur, or factors that cause a condition to become true.

64. The computer readable medium of claim 62, further comprising instructions for directing the processor to temporarily store the automatically captured image.

65. The computer readable medium of claim 62, in which the instructions for automatically capturing the image comprise instructions configured to direct the processor to trigger the camera based on at least one of information from sensors, time-related data, information concerning images stored in a memory, a state of a camera, characteristics of a user, or information in a database.

66. The computer readable medium of claim 62, in which the instructions for automatically capturing the image comprise instructions configured to direct the processor to trigger the camera based on at least one of a previously acquired image, a test image, an analysis of previous images, or a quality of a previously acquired image.

67. The computer readable medium of claim 50, in which the instructions for storing the acquired image comprise instructions configured to direct the processor to compress the image.

68. The computer readable medium of claim 67, in which the instructions for compressing the acquired image comprise instructions configured to direct the processor to store at least one of a compression condition or a compression parameter associated with the acquired image.

69. The computer readable medium of claim 50, in which the instructions for acquiring the image comprise instructions configured to direct the processor to automatically capture the image when a user is composing a shot.

70. The computer readable medium of claim 50, in which the instructions for storing the acquired image in at least one of the primary memory or the secondary memory comprise instructions configured to direct the processor to determine to store the image based on a characteristic of the image.

71. The computer readable medium of claim 50, which further comprises instructions configured to direct the processor to automatically delete the acquired image based on the rating of the acquired image.

72. The computer readable medium of claim 50, which further comprises instructions configured to direct the processor to:

compare the rating of the acquired image to a threshold value; and

compress the acquired image if the rating is less than or equal to the threshold value.

73. The computer readable medium of claim 50, which further comprises instructions configured to direct the processor to delete or compress the acquired image based on at least one of a categorical rating of the acquired image, an indication from a user, a preference of a user, a state of a camera, or a capture condition.

74. The computer readable medium of claim 50, which further comprises instructions configured to direct the processor to delete or compress the acquired image based on at least one of a an amount of memory available, an amount of memory that is used, or a comparison between an amount of memory available and a threshold value.