Image scaling arrangement

• US 8,200,629 B2
• Filed: 04/06/2009
• Issued: 06/12/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Marriott, Greg, Boettcher, Jesse, Dowdy, Thomas, Heller, David, Miller, Jeff, Robbin, Jeffrey L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Phong
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ly, Anh
• Application Number:
  US12/419,161
• Publication Number:
  US 20090216814A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,163 Days
• Field of Search: 707/770, 707/638, 707/695, 707/913, 707/915, 707/E17.102, 709/217, 709/221, 709/248, 725/8, 725/54, 725/116, 725/117, 725/135
• US Class Current: 707/638
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/10 Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Measuring tape travel
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• 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: H04L 65/756 adapting media to device capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/762 at the source reformatting of additional data in video distribution servers H04N21/2355
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00129 with a display device, e.g. CRT or LCD monitor with a television apparatus H04N1/00283; arrangements for control of display devices G09G
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00198 Creation of a soft photo presentation, e.g. digital slide-show
• 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 1/00291 with receiver circuitry television receiver circuitry per se H04N5/44
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2343 involving reformatting operations of video signals for distribution or compliance with end-user requests or end-user device requirements video transcoding H04N19/40; media packet handling at the source H04L65/762
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25825 involving client display capabilities, e.g. screen resolution of a mobile phone optimising the visualisation of content during browsing in the Internet G06F16/9577; processing of terminal status or physical abilities in wireless networks H04W8/22; authentication in wireless network security H04W12/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25833 involving client hardware characteristics, e.g. manufacturer, processing or storage capabilities allocation of resources considering hardware capabilities in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/5044; allocation of resources considering software capabilities in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/5055
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44231 Monitoring of peripheral device or external card, e.g. to detect processing problems in a handheld device or the failure of an external recording device configuring of peripheral devices in general G06F9/4411; reporting information sensed by appliance or service execution status of appliance services in a home automation network H04L12/2823; monitoring the status of connected device in data switched networks H04L43/0817
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8153 comprising still images, e.g. texture, background image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0065 Converting image data to a format usable by the connected apparatus or vice versa
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0084 Digital still camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0086 Image transceiver H04N2201/0093 and H04N2201/0094 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0087 Image storage device
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0089 : Image display device
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/325 : Modified version of the image, e.g. part of the image, image reduced in size or resolution, thumbnail or screennail
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3277 : The additional information being stored in the same storage device as the image data
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 : Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 : Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 : Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

Methods and system for transferring images between devices is disclosed. For example, differently scaled images by a host device may automatically and/or selectively be transferred to a media player for display. In turn, appropriately scaled images may be transferred automatically and/or selectively to another display device for example a TV, camera or printer. The selectivity may occur either at the host level or at the player level.

Claims

1. A method of transferring image data between a portable media device and a second device other than the portable media device, the method comprising:

at the portable media device,

designating at least one image for downloading from the second device to the portable media device;

sending an image request of the designated at least one image to the second device;

receiving at least one image collection that includes a plurality of image versions for each of the requested at least one image in response to the image request from the second device, each image collection containing new image versions of the requested at least one image, each image version having a different image profile based on the capabilities of the portable media device;

storing a database entry for each of the images to be downloaded from the second device, wherein the database entry is updated with information about each of the image versions in the received image collection;

wherein updating the database entry comprises grouping together all the image versions of a particular image collection and providing pointers to the location where the actual image is stored.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

concurrent with updating the database entry in the portable media device, storing a copy of the updated database entry and image collection on the second device.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

at the portable media device,

sending information regarding capabilities of the portable media device to the second device, the capabilities being used to determine the different image profiles for the image versions in the at least one image collection.

4. A non-transitory computer readable medium that stores computer program code for transferring image data between a portable media device and a second device other than the portable media device, the method non-transitory computer readable medium comprising:

computer program code for designating at least one image for downloading from the second device to the portable media device;

computer program code for sending an image request of the designated at least one image to the second device;

computer program code for receiving at least one image collection that includes a plurality of image versions for each of the requested at least one image in response to the image request from the second device, each image collection containing new image versions of the requested at least one image, each image version having a different image profile based on the capabilities of the portable media device;

computer program code for storing a database entry for each of the images to be downloaded from the second device, wherein the database entry is updated with information about each of the image versions in the received image collection;

wherein updating the database entry comprises computer program code for grouping together all the image versions of a particular image collection and computer program code for providing pointers to the location where the actual image is stored.

5. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in claim 4, further comprising:

computer program code for storing a copy of the updated database entry and image collection on the second device concurrent with updating the database entry in the portable media device.

6. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in claim 4, further comprising:

computer program code for sending an identifier from the portable media device to the second device, wherein the second device uses the identifier to determine image profiles for the plurality of image versions in the at least one image collection.

7. A method of managing media by a host device, comprising:

connecting the host device and a portable media device;

automatically sending images or image identifiers stored on the host device to the portable media device for display in response to the connecting;

receiving a download command designating one or more images to be downloaded from the host device to the portable media device;

determining by the host device the image formats required by the portable media device for the designated images;

creating by the host device new versions of the designated images, each new version consistent with the determined image formats required by the portable media device;

sending at least the new versions of the designated images from the host device to the portable media device; and

at the host device, receiving from the portable media device an identifier of the portable media device with which to determine the required image formats based on a previously stored table or list that includes capabilities of the identified portable media device; and

storing a database entry for each of the images to be downloaded from the host device, wherein the database entry is updated with information about each of the image versions in the received image collection;

wherein updating the database entry comprises grouping together all the image versions of a particular image collection and providing pointers to the location where the actual image is stored.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the new versions of the designated images are stored in the portable media device.

9. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising:

generating a display command on the portable media device;

retrieving one or more images from storage in the portable media device based on the display command; and

presenting by the portable media device one or more of the retrieved images.

10. A non-transitory computer readable medium that stores computer program code for managing media by a host device, comprising:

at the host device,

computer program code for automatically sending images or image identifiers stored on the host device to the portable media device for display in response to the host device connecting to a portable media device;

computer program code for receiving a download command designating one or more images to be downloaded from the host device to the portable media device;

computer program code for determining image formats required by the portable media device;

computer program code for creating new versions of the designated images, each new version consistent with the determined image formats required by the portable media device;

computer program code for sending at least the new versions of the designated images to the portable media device; and

computer program code for retrieving image profiles for the portable media device stored in the host device, the image profiles being used to determine the image formats required by the portable media device; and

computer program code for storing a database entry for each of the images to be downloaded from the host device, wherein the database entry is updated with information about each of the image versions in the received image collection;

wherein updating the database entry comprises grouping together all the image versions of a particular image collection and providing pointers to the location where the actual image is stored.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in claim 10, wherein the new versions of the designated images are stored in the portable media device.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in claim 11, wherein when a display command is generated on the portable media device, then one or more images are retrieved from storage and presented on a display of the portable media device.

13. A portable media device capable of playing media items, the device comprising:

a communication module arranged to provide a communication channel between the portable media device and a second device;

a user interface suitable for assisting a user in designating at least one or more media items for transfer between the second device and the portable media device;

a storage device arranged to store the at least one or more media items; and

a processor, wherein when the user designates at least one or more media items to be downloaded from the second device, the processor uses the communication module to send a media item request to the second device and to receive a set of two or more media items for each of the at least one media item being requested, wherein the set of two or more media items is based upon information specific to the portable media device;

wherein the storage device is further arranged to store the information specific to the portable media device; and

the processor is further arranged to communicate the information specific to the portable media device to the second device before receiving the set of two or more media items.

14. The portable media device as recited in claim 13, wherein when the requested media item is an image, the set of media items includes an image collection for each requested image wherein each image collection contains new versions of the requested image each having a different image profile based on the information specific to the portable media device.

15. The portable media device as recited in claim 14, wherein when the user provides a display command on the user interface, the processor responds to the display command by retrieving one or more images from the storage device and presents the one or more of the retrieved images on a display device.