Patent ID: 6349373
Filing Date: 2002-02-19
Classification: G11B,G16H,H04N,Y10S

Abstract:
A method for archiving a plurality of digital images, wherein each image is associated with one of a plurality of customers, the method comprising the steps of:selecting one of the customers; defining an image group to include all of the images associated with the selected customer; storing the image group to a short-term storage device having a plurality of individually removable short-term storage media such that all of the images of the image group are maintained on a single short-term storage media; moving the customer image group from said short-term storage device to a mid-term storage device having a plurality of individually removable mid-term storage media when the customer image group is not accessed by a user within a first predetermined period of time, wherein the mid-term storage device stores the customer image group on a single mid-term storage medium; and moving the customer image group from the mid-term storage device to a long-term storage device having a plurality of individually removable long-term storage media when the customer image group is not accessed by a user within a second predetermined period of time, wherein the long-term storage device stores the customer image group on a single long-term storage medium.