Display control apparatus, display control method and program for displaying images of a plurality of files

• US 8,468,467 B2
• Filed: 02/12/2009
• Issued: 06/18/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Yamashita, Tomoya
• Primary Examiner(s): Sax, Steven
• Assistant Examiner(s): VARGA, WILSON V
• Application Number:
  US12/370,238
• Publication Number:
  US 20090217204A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,587 Days
• Field of Search: 715/212, 715/243, 715712-713, 715717-718, 715/764, 715/781, 715/803, 715/810, 715/825, 715/836, 715838-839, 715/848, 715/850, 715/866, 715/767, 715/794
• US Class Current: 715/838
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/51 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures

Abstract

A display control apparatus for displaying images of a plurality of files as a list on a display unit, comprises: a setup unit which sets a specific file type among a plurality of file types as a reference file type; a reference file retrieval unit which retrieves a file of the type set among the plurality of files as the reference file; an associated file retrieval unit which retrieves an associated file from among the plurality of files; and a control unit which controls the display unit such that a list of the images of a plurality of reference files arranged in a first direction and the images of the associated files arranged in a second direction intersecting with the first direction at the location of the image of each reference file.

Claims

1. A display control apparatus for displaying images of a plurality of files containing at least image files of images captured by a digital camera as a list on a display unit, the apparatus comprising:

a setup unit adapted to set a specific file type among a plurality of file types as a reference file type, wherein the setup unit sets, as the specific file type, at least one type of file from still image file, movie file, audio file, and settings file used during capture of the still image of a still image file;

a reference file retrieval unit adapted to retrieve files of the type set by the setup unit from among the plurality of files as the reference files;

an associated file retrieval unit adapted to retrieve, from among the plurality of files,

first associated files having a predetermined association with a first reference file which is one of the reference files retrieved by the reference file retrieval unit and

second associated files having a predetermined association with a second reference file which is one of the reference files retrieved by the reference file retrieval unit; and

a control unit adapted to control the display unit such that, along with displaying a list of the images of a plurality of reference files including the first reference file and the second reference file of the same file type retrieved by the reference file retrieval unit arranged in a first direction alone a first axis of a two-dimensional plane, the images of the first associated files of a different file type are displayed as a list arranged in a second direction along a second axis of the two-dimensional plane and intersecting with the arrangement oriented in the first direction at the location of the image of the first reference file, the images of the second associated files are displayed as a list arranged in the second direction at the location of the image of the second reference file,

wherein, if the setting of the reference file type is changed by the setup unit, the reference file retrieval unit retrieves reference files based on the file type changed by the setup unit and the associated file retrieval unit retrieves an associated file associated with said reference files again, and the control unit controls the display unit so as to update the list view of the image of the reference files and an image of the associated files, and wherein in a case that a first file type is set as the reference file type and a file of a second file type is displayed as the associated file, if the setting of the reference file type is changed from the first file type to the second file type, said associated file retrieval unit may retrieve the file of the first file type which has been set to the reference file type as the associated file and said control unit controls the display unit to display the file of the first file type retrieved as the associated file and displayed along the second axis of the two-dimensional plane.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the associated file retrieval unit retrieves, as the associated file, another file recorded simultaneously with recording the reference file.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the associated file retrieval unit retrieves another file recorded simultaneously with recording the reference file based on information on the time of recording of said reference file.

4. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the associated file retrieval unit retrieves another file recorded simultaneously with recording the reference file based on association information that is contained as attribute information in the reference file and describes the association between said reference file and another file.

5. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein, if the reference file is a still image file, the associated file retrieval unit retrieves, as an associated file, a movie file that was in the process of being recorded when said still image was captured.

6. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein, if the reference file is a movie file, the associated file retrieval unit retrieves, as an associated file, a still image file that was captured when said movie was in the process of being recorded.

7. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein, if the reference file is an audio file, the associated file retrieval unit retrieves, as an associated file, a still image file or a movie file that was in the process of being captured or recorded when said audio was recorded.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first direction and second direction are mutually orthogonal directions.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the first direction is the horizontal direction of the display unit and the second direction is the vertical direction of the display unit.

10. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the first direction is the vertical direction of the display unit and the second direction is the horizontal direction of the display unit.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, in case of presence, among the displayed images of the associated files, of an image of a file identical to the image of another displayed associated file, the control unit controls the display unit so as to display, in a discernible manner, the fact that the image of said associated file and the image of said another associated file are images of identical files.

12. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising operation units arranged in a first direction and a second direction orthogonal to the first direction,

wherein the control unit, in response to manipulation of the operation unit arranged in the first direction, determines which reference file is to be put in a selected state among the plurality of reference files.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the control unit, in response to manipulation of the operation unit arranged in the second direction, determines which associated file is to be put in a selected state among the plurality of associated files.

14. An imaging apparatus having an image sensing unit and displaying images of a plurality of files containing at least image files of images captured by the image sensing unit as a list on a display unit, the apparatus comprising:

a setup unit adapted to set a specific file type among a plurality of file types as a reference file type, wherein the setup unit sets, as the specific file type, at least one type of file from still image file, movie file, audio file, and settings file used during capture of the still image of a still image file;

a reference file retrieval unit adapted to retrieve files of the type set by the setup unit from among the plurality of files as the reference files;

an associated file retrieval unit adapted to retrieve, from among the plurality of files,

first associated files having a predetermined association with a first reference file which is one of the reference files retrieved by the reference file retrieval unit and

second associated files having a predetermined association with a second reference file which is one of the reference files retrieved by the reference file retrieval unit; and

a control unit adapted to control the display unit such that, along with displaying a list of the images of a plurality of reference files including the first reference file and the second reference file of the same file type retrieved by the reference file retrieval unit arranged in a first direction along a first axis of a two-dimensional plane, the images of the first associated files of a different file type are displayed as a list arranged in a second direction along a second axis of the two-dimensional plane and intersecting with the arrangement oriented in the first direction at the location of the image of the first reference file, the images of the second associated files are displayed as a list arranged in the second direction at the location of the image of the second reference file,

wherein, if the setting of the reference file type is changed by the setup unit, the reference file retrieval unit retrieves reference file files based on the file type changed by the setup unit and the associated file retrieval unit retrieves an associated file associated with said reference files again, and the control unit controls the display unit so as to update the list view of the image of the reference files and an image of the associated files, and

wherein in a case that a first file type is set as the reference file type and a file of a second file type is displayed as the associated file, if the setting of the reference file type is changed from the first file type to the second file type, said associated file retrieval unit retrieves the file of the first file type which has been set to the reference file type as the associated file and said control unit controls the display unit to display the file of the first file type retrieved as the associated file and displayed along the second axis of the two-dimensional plane.

15. A display control method for displaying images of a plurality of files containing at least image files of images captured by a digital camera as a list on a display unit, the method comprising the steps of:

setting a specific file type among a plurality of file types as a reference file type, wherein the setting sets, as the specific file type, at least one type of file from still image file, movie file, audio file, and settings file used during capture of the still image of a still image file;

retrieving files of the type set by the setup unit from among the plurality of files as the reference files;

retrieving, from among the plurality of files,

first associated files having a predetermined association with a first reference file which is one of the reference files retrieved by the reference file retrieval unit and

second associated files having a predetermined association with a second reference file which is one of the reference files retrieved by the reference file retrieval unit; and

controlling the display unit such that, along with displaying a list of the images of a plurality of reference files including the first reference file and the second reference file of the same file type retrieved by the reference file retrieval unit arranged in a first direction along a first axis of a two-dimensional plane, the images of the first associated files of a different file type are displayed as a list arranged in a second direction along a second axis of the two-dimensional plane and intersecting with the arrangement oriented in the first direction at the location of the image of the first reference file, the images of the second associated files are displayed as a list arranged in the second direction at the location of the image of the second reference file,

wherein, if the setting of the reference file type is changed, reference files are retrieved based on the file type changed and an associated file is associated with said reference files again, and the display unit is controlled so as to update the list view of the image of the reference files and an image of the associated files, and

wherein in a case that a first file type is set as the reference file type and a file of a second file type is displayed as the associated file, if the setting of the reference file type is changed from the first file type to the second file type, the file of the first file type which has been set to the reference file type is retrieved as the associated file and the display unit is controlled so as to display the file of the first file type retrieved as the associated file and displayed alone the second axis of the two-dimensional plane.

16. A computer-readable storage medium, which stores a software program that causes a computer execute the display control method according to claim 15.