Abstract:
A method of capturing, cataloging, and presenting files with a portable electronic device includes capturing files having a plurality of formats of data with the portable electronic device, generating a geographical tag (geotag) based on a current location of the portable electronic device for each file with the portable electronic device and attaching the geotag to the file, generating a timestamp for each file with the portable electronic device and attaching the timestamp to the file, storing the files having the attached geotags and timestamps, and presenting the files according to corresponding geographical locations, timestamps, or formats of the files.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The invention relates to a method of for capturing and presenting files with a portable electronic device, and more particularly, to a method for capturing and presenting files having a variety of data formats with a portable electronic device. 
         [0003]    2. Description of the Prior Art 
         [0004]    In modern times, the device that is perhaps used most frequently for capturing events of a unique and transient nature is a camera. Most camera models can capture not just still images, moving images and sounds, but also provide time and date stamps for the files. However, keeping track of when and where the captured events occurred still requires significant additional effort and resources to capture, store, and organize required information. For example, maps, Global Positioning System (GPS) devices, filing systems, and other such devices are needed for properly documenting and organizing the captured files. Moreover, modern devices are often limited to capturing one or two types of files, and do not offer the flexibility of capturing a large variety of files. 
         [0005]    Therefore, there is currently a need for a way to easily capture, organize, and present files of many different types in a portable electronic device that can be conveniently carried by the user. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    It is therefore one of the primary objectives of the claimed invention to provide a method of capturing, organizing, and presenting files of a plurality of formats with a portable electronic device. 
         [0007]    According to an exemplary embodiment of the claimed invention, a method of capturing, cataloging, and presenting files with a portable electronic device is disclosed. The method includes capturing files having a plurality of formats of data with the portable electronic device, generating a geographical tag (geotag) based on a current location of the portable electronic device for each file with the portable electronic device and attaching the geotag to the file, generating a timestamp for each file with the portable electronic device and attaching the timestamp to the file, storing the files having the attached geotags and timestamps, and presenting the files according to corresponding geographical locations, timestamps, or formats of the files. 
         [0008]    It is an advantage that the present invention provides an easy way to capture files of a variety of different formats. Moreover, the files are assigned both geotags and timestamps for providing a way to organize and sort the files by time or geographical information. Stored files can then be selected for presenting the files in a multimedia presentation. 
         [0009]    These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0010]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a portable electronic device according to the present invention. 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  is a chart showing various files captured by the portable electronic device and stored in memory as data. 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram of a computer that may be used in conjunction with the portable electronic device according to the present invention. 
           [0013]      FIG. 4  is a flowchart illustrating the present invention method for capturing, organizing, and presenting files. 
           [0014]      FIG. 5  illustrates the feature of viewing a file associated with a navigation route while also viewing a map of the navigation route. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0015]    Please refer to  FIG. 1 .  FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a portable electronic device  10  according to the present invention. The portable electronic device  10  comprises a display  12  for displaying data, a speaker  14  for outputting audio sounds, an input  16  such as control buttons and a touch-screen for inputting data into the portable electronic device  10  such as text data or sketch drawings, and a microphone  18  for inputting audio data into the portable electronic device  10 . A processor  20  is used to control operation of the portable electronic device  10  and to execute firmware  32  and application software  34  stored in a memory  30  of the portable electronic device  10 . The portable electronic device  10  contains a GPS module  22  for receiving the current location of the portable electronic device  10 , an interface port  24  for communicating with a computer or other electronic devices, and an image sensor  26  for capturing image and video data. All files captured by the portable electronic device  10  are stored in the memory  30  as data  36 . 
         [0016]    Please refer to  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 2  is a chart  40  showing various files captured by the portable electronic device  10  and stored in the memory  30  as data  36 . Six different files are shown in the chart  40 , with three files belonging to a first group  42  and the other three files belonging to a second group  44 . The files in the first group  42  were taken at a different time and location from the files in the second group  44 . 
         [0017]    Assume that the files in the first group  42  were taken on a trip to New York City on Dec. 7-8, 2007. A first file in the first group  42  is “IMG024.JPG”, which is a photo taken on Dec. 7, 2007 at 14:12 and having geotag information of 40.78 latitude and −73.98 longitude. A second file in the first group  42  is “MVI098.AVI”, which is a video taken on Dec. 7, 2007 at 14:45 and having geotag information of 40.78 latitude and −73.96 longitude. A third file in the first group  42  is “JOHNSMITH.MSG”, which is a file containing contact information for John Smith that was created on Dec. 8, 2007 at 09:32 and having geotag information of 40.75 latitude and −73.99 longitude. 
         [0018]    Assume that the files in the second group  44  were taken on a trip to Paris on Jan. 3, 2008. A first file in the second group  44  is “AUD017.MP3”, which is an audio file created on Jan. 3, 2007 at 11:41 and having geotag information of 48.85 latitude and 02.30 longitude. A second file in the second group  44  is “DWG084.BMP”, which is a sketch drawing created on Jan. 3, 2007 at 13:06 and having geotag information of 48.86 latitude and 02.29 longitude. A third file in the second group  44  is “JOURNAL0101.TXT”, which is a text file created on Jan. 3, 2007 at 23:07 and having geotag information of 48.83 latitude and 02.33 longitude. 
         [0019]    Referring back to the portable electronic device  10  shown in  FIG. 1 , photos can be captured with the image sensor  26 , video files can be captured with the image sensor  26  and the microphone  18 , and audio files can be captured with the microphone  18 . Contact information files, drawing files, and text files can be created using the input  16  having control buttons and a touch-screen. When each type of file is created in the portable electronic device  10 , timestamp information is added to the file and geotag information received from the GPS module  22  is also added to the file. After the timestamp information and geotag information is added to the files, the files can be sorted according to the time that they were created or according to the geographical location where they were taken. In this way, the user of the portable electronic device  10  can playback all of the files or some of the files created during a particular trip or assignment. 
         [0020]    Travelers could use the present invention portable electronic device  10  for creating various types of multimedia files on a trip and later playing back the files as part of a digital scrapbook. News reporters could make use of the portable electronic device  10  for helping to organize files created on assignment by time or location. Traveling salesmen can also make use of the portable electronic device  10  by recording sales details, contact information, customer feedback, delivery information, product information and photos, and other such types of data. 
         [0021]    After files have been created by the portable electronic device  10 , additional notes can be associated with the files for further describing the created files. In addition, users may prefer to organize files on a computer instead of relying solely on the portable electronic device  10 . In this case, files can be transferred from the memory  30  of the portable electronic device  10  to a computer via the interface port  24 . The computer can be used to edit the files or to add additional files that were created by other electronic devices. 
         [0022]    Please refer to  FIG. 3 .  FIG. 3  is a block diagram of a computer  50  that may be used in conjunction with the portable electronic device  10  according to the present invention. The computer  50  includes a display  52  for displaying data, a speaker  54  for outputting audio sounds, an input  56  such as a keyboard or mouse for inputting data into the computer  50 , and a microphone  58  for inputting audio data into the computer  50 . A processor  60  is used to control operation of the computer  50  and to execute an operating system  66  and application software  68  stored in a memory  64  of the computer  50 . The computer  50  contains an interface port  62  for communicating with the portable electronic device  10  via the interface port  24  of the portable electronic device  10 . The computer  50  stores files in the memory  64  as data  70 . As mentioned above, the computer can be used to edit the files stored in the memory  64  as data  70  or to add additional files to the data  70  section the memory  64  that were created by the computer  50  or other electronic devices. In this way, the computer  50  can be used to gather files created from a variety of sources, and can serve as a powerful platform for editing the created files. 
         [0023]    Please refer to  FIG. 4 .  FIG. 4  is a flowchart illustrating the present invention method for capturing, organizing, and presenting files. Steps contained in the flowchart will be explained below. 
         [0024]    Step  100 : The user captures files of one or more file types with the portable electronic device  10 . 
         [0025]    Step  102 : The portable electronic device  10  attaches timestamps and geotags to the created files. 
         [0026]    Step  104 : The files having the attached geotags and timestamps are stored in the memory  30  of the portable electronic device  10  as data  36 . 
         [0027]    Step  106 : Determine if the user wishes to transfer files to the computer  50 . If so, go to step  110 . If not, go to step  108 . 
         [0028]    Step  108 : The user may use the application software  34  to annotate any of the files stored in the memory  30  as data  36 . Go to step  116 . 
         [0029]    Step  110 : The user transfers files from the data  36  section of memory  30  of the portable electronic device  10  to the data  70  section of memory  64  of the computer  50  via the interface ports  24  and  62 . 
         [0030]    Step  112 : The user may utilize the application software  68  to edit any of the files stored in the data  70  section of memory  64 . 
         [0031]    Step  114 : The user may also choose to add additional files to the data  70  section the memory  64  that were created by the computer  50  or other electronic devices. 
         [0032]    Step  116 : Using either the portable electronic device  10  or the computer  50 , the user may select files for viewing. The files can be sorted and selected according to the time that they were created, according to the geographical location where they were created, or according to their file types. 
         [0033]    Step  118 : The selected files are shown in a presentation. The presentation may be a multimedia presentation showing the files in their native formats, may be a movie generated from the selected files, or may be an audio presentation generated from the selected files. 
         [0034]    Step  120 : While the presentation is being given, a map may be optionally shown in a separate frame. The map may show the geographical location of where the file that is currently being displayed in the presentation was created. The time that the files were created can be shown as well. Using this feature, viewers of the presentation can instantly know when and where the files were created, thereby providing the viewers with additional context and insight when viewing the presentation. 
         [0035]    Please refer to  FIG. 5 .  FIG. 5  illustrates the feature of viewing a file  160  associated with a navigation route  152  while also viewing a map  150  of the navigation route  152 . The map  150  shows the navigation route  152  along with markers  158  indicating the locations where files were created with the portable electronic device  10 . In this instance, the navigation route  152  has been given the name “Rockport tour” since the route is located around the area of Rockport, Mass., USA. 
         [0036]    When viewing a presentation of the files created on the navigation route  152 , the files can be viewed in one frame and the map  150  can be viewed in another frame. For example, in  FIG. 5  file  160  represents a contact entry related to a restaurant located on the navigation route  152  at marker  154 . A connecting line  156  can be shown on the presentation for indicating that the file  160  was created at the position indicated by marker  154 . Since the file  160  is a contact file, it can store the name of the contact, the address, the latitude and longitude coordinates, the date created, as well as the name of the route during which the file was created. 
         [0037]    In practice, the portable electronic device  10  may be a smartphone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), or a personal navigation device. In each case, the portable electronic device  10  should have GPS functionality or an alternative way of providing geotag information for the created files. 
         [0038]    In summary, the present invention provides an easy way to capture files of a variety of different formats. Since both timestamps and geotags are attached to the files, the files can be organized and sorted by time or geographical information. Presentations can then be given for files created during a specific time period, for files created at a certain geographical location, or for files of a certain type. 
         [0039]    Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention.