Conditional alteration of a saved image

• US 9,191,611 B2
• Filed: 11/01/2005
• Issued: 11/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Malamud, Mark A., Lord, Robert W., Levien, Royce A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ye, Lin
• Assistant Examiner(s): YODER III, CHRISS S
• Application Number:
  US11/264,701
• Publication Number:
  US 20060274165A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,668 Days
• Field of Search: 348/36, 348/231.2, 348/231.6, 348/239, 348/240.2, 348/333.01, 348/333.05, 348/333.11, 348/333.12, 382/118, 382/181, 382/190, 382/209, 707/665
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00818 wherein the usage restriction limits the signal quality, e.g. by low-pass filtering of audio signals or by reducing the resolution of video signals
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/2112 using still video cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/2158 using a detachable storage unit
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2101/00 Still video cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0084 Digital still camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3287 Storage of at least one complete document page or image frame
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3295 Deletion of stored data; Preventing such deletion
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3298 Checking or indicating the storage space
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/772 the recording apparatus and the television camera being placed in the same enclosure
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/781 on disks or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/85 on discs or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/907 using static stores, e.g. storage tubes or semiconductor memories H04N5/91 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/7921 for more than one processing mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8047 using transform coding

Abstract

Embodiments include an apparatus, device, system, computer-program product, and method. In an embodiment, a device includes a user-accessible digital storage medium, and a storage medium manager module. The storage manager module includes a storage manager module operable to save a digital image in a form in the user-accessible digital storage medium, and then alter the form of the saved digital image if a condition is met.

Claims

1. A handheld digital camera, comprising:

a camera body;

at least one processing device internal to the camera body;

an accessible storage medium; and

an image administration circuit implemented at least partially using the at least one processing device, the image administration circuit operable to at least;

save a digital image captured via the handheld digital camera in a first digital file in the accessible storage medium, the saved first digital file having a first file size;

determine, responsive to an examination of at least one other digital image stored in the accessible storage medium, that two or more conditions are met, the two or more conditions including at least (i) that the at least one other digital image includes at least a selected subject of the saved digital image, the selected subject of the saved digital image being other than an entirety of the saved digital image, and (ii) that the at least one other digital image was stored in a selected time frame, the selected time frame related to the selected subject of the saved digital image; and

save the digital image in a second digital file in the accessible storage medium if the two or more conditions are met, including at least saving the digital image at a resolution that results in the second digital file having a second and smaller file size than the first file size.

2. The handheld digital camera of claim 1, wherein the image administration circuitry is further operable to at least:

remove the first digital file from the accessible storage medium subsequent to saving the digital image in the second digital file.

3. The handheld digital camera of claim 1, wherein the accessible storage medium comprises:

the accessible storage medium disposed at least partially internally to the digital camera, the accessible storage medium removable from the handheld digital camera.

4. The handheld digital camera of claim 1, wherein the image administration circuit comprises:

the image administration circuitry operably coupled with an image acquisition module of the handheld digital camera.

5. The handheld digital camera of claim 1, wherein the image administration circuit operable to at least save the digital image in a second digital file in the accessible storage medium if the two or more conditions are met, including at least saving the digital image at a resolution that results in the second digital file having a second and smaller file size comprises:

the image administration circuitry operable to at least accumulate one or more times associated with one or more instances of the handheld digital camera being commanded to display the digital image and determine that the digital image was not displayed for an accumulated time greater than a predetermined duration associated with displaying saved images within the selected time frame related to the selected subject of the digital image.

6. A computer program product, comprising:

at least one non-transitory computer readable medium including at least;

one or more instructions for saving a digital image captured via a handheld digital camera in an accessible storage medium of the handheld digital camera, the saved first digital file having a first file size;

one or more instructions for determining, responsive to an examination of at least one other digital image stored in the accessible storage medium, that two or more conditions are met, the two or more conditions including at least (i) that the at least one other digital image includes at least a selected subject of the saved digital image, the selected subject of the saved digital image being other than an entirety of the saved digital image, and (ii) that the at least one other digital image was stored in a selected time frame, the selected time frame related to the selected subject of the saved digital image; and

one or more instructions for saving the digital image in a second digital file in the accessible storage medium if the two or more conditions are met, including at least saving the digital image at a resolution that results in the second digital file having a second and smaller file size than the first file size.

7. A method for a handheld digital camera, comprising:

saving a digital image captured via the handheld digital camera in a first digital file in an accessible storage medium of the handheld digital camera, the saved first digital file having a first file size;

determining, responsive to an examination of at least one other digital image stored in the accessible storage medium, that two or more conditions are met, the two or more conditions including at least (i) that the at least one other digital image includes at least a selected subject of the saved digital image, the selected subject of the saved digital image being other than an entirety of the saved digital image, and (ii) that the at least one other digital image was stored in a selected time frame, the selected time frame related to the selected subject of the saved digital image; and

saving the digital image in a second digital file in the accessible storage medium if the two or more conditions are met, including at least saving the digital image at a resolution that results in the second digital file having a second and smaller file size than the first file size.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein saving a digital image captured via the handheld digital camera in a first digital file in an accessible storage medium of the handheld digital camera, the saved first digital file having a first file size, comprises:

saving a digital image, the digital image including at least one of a single scene, a stream of scenes, or a combination of a single scene and a stream of scenes.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein saving a digital image captured via the handheld digital camera in a first digital file in an accessible storage medium of the handheld digital camera, the saved first digital file having a first file size, comprises:

saving a digital image, the digital image including at least one of a digital photograph, a still image, an image stream, or a combination of a still image and an image stream.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein saving a digital image captured via the handheld digital camera in a first digital file in an accessible storage medium of the handheld digital camera, the saved first digital file having a first file size, comprises:

saving a digital image, the digital image including at least one of a visual image, an audio image, or a combination of a visual image and an audio image.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein saving a digital image captured via the handheld digital camera in a first digital file in an accessible storage medium of the handheld digital camera, the saved first digital file having a first file size, comprises:

saving a digital image in a first digital file in an accessible storage medium associated with a cell phone including at least a digital camera that captured the image.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein saving the digital image in a second digital file in the accessible storage medium if the two or more conditions are met, including at least saving the digital image at a resolution that results in the second digital file having a second and smaller file size than the first file size, comprises:

saving the digital image in a second digital file if the two or more conditions are met, at least one condition including at least a temporal parameter.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein saving the digital image in a second digital file if the two or more conditions are met, at least one condition including at least a temporal parameter, comprises:

saving the digital image in a second digital file if the two or more conditions are met, at least one condition including at least a temporal parameter including at least an elapsed time since the image was captured.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein saving the digital image in a second digital file if the two or more conditions are met, at least one condition including at least a temporal parameter including at least an elapsed time since the image was captured, comprises:

saving the digital image in a second digital file if the two or more conditions are met, at least one condition including at least that an elapsed time since the image was captured has exceeded a preselected time threshold.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein saving the digital image in a second digital file if the two or more conditions are met, at least one condition including at least a temporal parameter, comprises:

saving the digital image in a second digital file if two or more conditions are met, at least one condition including at least a temporal parameter including at least an elapsed time since the image was viewed.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein saving the digital image in a second digital file if two or more conditions are met, at least one condition including at least a temporal parameter including at least an elapsed time since the image was viewed, comprises:

saving the digital image in a second digital file if two or more conditions are met, at least one condition including at least that an elapsed time since the image was viewed has exceeded a preselected time threshold.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein saving the digital image in a second digital file if the two or more conditions are met, at least one condition including at least a temporal parameter, comprises:

saving the digital image in a second digital file if two or more conditions are met, at least one condition including at least a temporal parameter including at least an aggregate amount of time that a user has caused the image to be viewed.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein saving the digital image in a second digital file if the two or more conditions are met, at least one condition including at least a temporal parameter, comprises:

saving the digital image in a second digital file if two or more conditions are met, at least one condition including at least that an aggregate amount of time that a user has caused the image to be viewed is less than a preselected time threshold.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein saving the digital image in a second digital file if the two or more conditions are met, at least one condition including at least a temporal parameter, comprises:

saving the digital image in a second digital file if two or more conditions are met, at least one condition including at least that (i) an aggregate amount of time that a user has caused the image to be viewed is less than a first preselected time threshold, and (ii) a total amount of time since the image was captured has passed, the total amount of time including at least a second preselected time threshold.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein saving the digital image in a second digital file if the two or more conditions are met, at least one condition including at least a temporal parameter, comprises:

saving the digital image in a second digital file if two or more conditions are met, at least one condition including at least that (i) a total number of times that a user has caused the image to be viewed is less than a preselected threshold, and (ii) a total amount of time since the image was captured has passed, the total amount of time including at least a preselected time threshold.

21. The method of claim 12, wherein saving the digital image in a second digital file if the two or more conditions are met, at least one condition including at least a temporal parameter, comprises:

saving the digital image in a second digital file if two or more conditions are met, at least one condition including at least that (i) a total number of times that a user has caused the digital image to be viewed is less than a preselected threshold, (ii) a total amount of time since the digital image was captured has passed, the total amount of time including at least a preselected time threshold, and (iii) an amount of available storage space on the accessible storage medium is less than a predetermined amount of available storage space.

22. The method of claim 7, wherein saving the digital image in a second digital file in the accessible storage medium if the two or more conditions are met, including at least saving the digital image at a resolution that results in the second digital file having a second and smaller file size than the first file size, comprises:

saving the digital image in a second digital file if two or more conditions are met, at least one condition including at least that a total number of times that a user has caused the image to be viewed is less than a preselected threshold.

23. The method of claim 7, wherein saving the digital image in a second digital file in the accessible storage medium if the two or more conditions are met, including at least saving the digital image at a resolution that results in the second digital file having a second and smaller file size than the first file size, comprises:

saving the digital image in a second digital file if two or more conditions are met, the digital image saved in a second digital file in a second accessible storage medium, the second accessible storage medium including at least a second accessible storage medium that is slower than the accessible storage medium.

24. The method of claim 7, wherein saving the digital image in a second digital file in the accessible storage medium if the two or more conditions are met, including at least saving the digital image at a resolution that results in the second digital file having a second and smaller file size than the first file size, comprises:

saving the digital image in a second digital file if two or more conditions are met, the digital image saved in a second digital file in a second accessible storage medium, the second accessible storage medium including at least a second accessible storage medium associated with at least a device other than the device associated with capture of the digital image.

25. The method of claim 7, wherein saving the digital image in a second digital file in the accessible storage medium if the two or more conditions are met, including at least saving the digital image at a resolution that results in the second digital file having a second and smaller file size than the first file size, comprises:

communicating the first digital file to another accessible storage medium and acquiring a track-back link to the communicated first digital file.

26. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

removing the first digital file from the accessible storage medium subsequent to saving the digital image in the second digital file.

27. A handheld digital camera, comprising:

means for saving a digital image captured via the handheld digital camera in an accessible storage medium of the handheld digital camera, the saved first digital file having a first file size;

means for determining, responsive to an examination of at least one other digital image stored in the accessible storage medium, that two or more conditions are met, the two or more conditions including at least (i) that the at least one other digital image includes at least a selected subject of the saved digital image, the selected subject of the saved digital image being other than an entirety of the saved digital image, and (ii) that the at least one other digital image was stored in a selected time frame, the selected time frame related to the selected subject of the saved digital image; and

means for saving the digital image in a second digital file in the accessible storage medium if the two or more conditions are met, including at least saving the digital image at a resolution that results in the second digital file having a second and smaller file size than the first file size.

28. The digital camera of claim 27, further comprising:

means for removing the first digital file from the accessible storage medium subsequent to saving the digital image in the second digital file.