Abstract:
Disclosed is a system and method of using a hand-held device by a prospective viewer to wirelessly transmit to a control source a request for the delivery to the device of an image of a selected person. The prospective viewer is identified and compared to a list of allowed parties. If a match occurs the desired image is delivered to the hand-held device for viewing by the viewer.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]    The present application is related to commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. [Attorney Docket No. 10018883-1] “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CAPTURING IMAGES BASED UPON SUBJECT ORIENTATION,” U.S. patent application Ser. No. [Attorney Docket No. 10018893-1] entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING SERVICE DELIVERY,” and U.S. patent application Ser. No. [Attorney Docket No. 10018884-1] entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MONITORING WITHIN A VEHICLE,” filed on the same date herewith, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties. 
     
    
     
       BACKGROUND  
         [0002]    People find themselves confined to hospitals, rest homes, assisted living facilities and the like, for a variety of reasons. Some of those reasons are happy occasions, such as the birth of a child. Some of those reasons are far less joyous. Regardless of why such confinement occurs, many people not so confined often have reason to have visual contact with those that are confined.  
           [0003]    For example, when a child is born it is very natural for the mother to wish to see the child even while the child is sleeping in a remote nursery. The desire to see the child increases when the new-born is under treatment for a medical condition. This desire is also true, as another example, for parents whose child is undergoing, or recovering from, a hospital procedure.  
           [0004]    Today, the child must be brought to the parent, or the parent must go to the child, and view the child from afar, usually through a glass partition. Often such visits are not possible, either because the parent or the child are unable to be moved. Also, the normal schedules of such institutions are such that they cannot accommodate a visitor&#39;s schedule.  
           [0005]    Sometimes, friends or family travel to an institution to visit an occupant and the occupant is not available, or visiting hours are over, or for a number of other reasons, the visitor is not able to see the occupant. These situations are all most unsatisfactory to all concerned.  
         SUMMARY  
         [0006]    Embodiments of the teachings of the invention provide a hand-held device for use by a prospective viewer comprising means for wirelessly transmitting to a control source a request for the delivery to the device of an image of a selected person, means for identifying the prospective viewer, means for receiving the delivery of the selected image, and means for displaying the received, selected images.  
           [0007]    Additionally, embodiments of the teachings of the invention provide a system for retrieving digital images from a file, comprising a storage device for storing digital data images, each such image being retrievable only by a limited set of users, the users physically separate from the storage device, an image control system for obtaining from the storage device a specific data image upon command of one of the users, and a plurality of viewers wirelessly coupled with the image control system, each viewer for use by any user. Wherein each viewer includes an input for accepting from a specific user the identity of the specific user, an identity of a desired image, a desired presentation format, and the viewer including circuitry for communicating wirelessly to the image control system the accepted identity, the accepted desired image and the accepted desired format, such that the image control system may thereupon obtain from the storage device the desired image using the communicated specific user identity.  
           [0008]    Embodiments of the teachings of the invention further provide a method for allowing users to view the images of certain people confined to an institution comprising, under control of a prospective viewer, sending a wireless message to a database, the message including an identity of the prospective viewer, and an identify of an image of a person so confined to be viewed by the prospective viewer, and then processing the wireless message to determine if the requesting prospective viewer, based on the message identity, has been given permission to view the requested image.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]    [0009]FIG. 1 is an overview of an embodiment of a system in accordance with the teachings of the invention;  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 2 is a flow chart of one embodiment of an image capture portion in accordance with the teachings of the invention;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 3 is a flow chart of one embodiment of a request processing portion in accordance with the teachings of the invention;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 4 is a flow chart of one embodiment of an image requesting process in accordance with the teachings of the invention; and  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 5 is a flow chart of one embodiment of an image receiving process in accordance with the teachings of the invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0014]    The present inventive teachings are directed to a system and method for enabling an occupant of an institution (or a visitor) to visually observe a desired person (such as a new-born) by use of a monitor remote from the person to be viewed.  
         [0015]    In one embodiment, images of the target person (or other object) are captured and stored in a database in association with a list of those who can view the images. The viewer then, using the remote monitor, indicates which images he/she desires to view. The selected images are copied from the database and wirelessly sent to the monitor for viewing by the requesting viewer.  
         [0016]    In an embodiment, the requesting viewer then may take action with respect to each retrieved image. For example, the action taken could be to have a certain image printed. Or the viewer could request that the image be transmitted to someone else, or removed from the database. Any number of such actions can be taken by the viewer.  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 1 is an overview of a system according to an embodiment in accordance with the teachings of the invention and shows system  10  in which a enterprise imaging system  11 , such as that shown and described in the above referenced patent application entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING SERVICE DELIVERY,” receives images from an imaging source, such as camera  101 , scanner  102 , or any other input  103 . These other inputs  103  could be from a computer, the Internet, a card scanner capable of scanning credit cards, or other cards having information thereon in various forms, including Smart Cards, or the like. The information from these other inputs  103  is stored together with information pertaining to the identity of the person (or persons) who have permission to withdraw the information from database  12 , as will be discussed hereinafter. In one embodiment, the information includes images of hospital patients, such as babies, which are obtained in the defined space of the hospital and can be viewed, if desired, only in that space.  
         [0018]    Control  14  controls the selection of an image, for example specific image  13  and can provide the image to a printer  313 , e-mail location  316 , or to marking process  16 , or provide the image for other purposes  315 . Also, the image can be transmitted via wireless path  15  to a handheld viewer  16 , the viewer having on it screen  17  to view the specific image  13  and keypad or other input device  18  to facilitate transmitting the messages or other information to a third party. Keypad  18  can be keys of a keyboard, magnetic stripe readers, sound, or voice activated devices. The images could be maintained for a fixed period of time, or forever, if desired, and the time can be noted therein.  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 2 is a flow chart of one embodiment of an image capture portion in accordance with the teachings of the invention and shows flow diagram  20  of an embodiment of the invention where the images are captured via a capture device, which could be, for example, camera  101 , scanner  102 , or any other device  103 . Identification is added to the captured images via process  22  and the data, including the captured images and identification information, is stored in database under control of process  23 . The added identification can be, for example, a list of all those who can subsequently retrieve an image, or it can be a family name, or a special code, or an affinity group, such as police, co-workers, employer, etc.  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 3 is a flow chart of one embodiment of a request processing portion in accordance with the teachings of the invention and shows flowchart  30  which is one embodiment of operation of a system for receiving requests from a user, processing requests, and presenting images according to the present invention. Flow chart  30  begins at process  301  where general requests are received from a user. Process  302  identifies the user and valid identification is made at process  303 . This identification is made, for example, by comparing the user to the terminal. If the identification is not valid, processing is stopped. If the identification is valid, then a determination is made as to whether the user has identified an image in process  304 . If not, then the system identifies a universe of available images (those images available to this terminal and this user) via process  305  and, if desired by the user, sends such a list to the user via process  306 . Once the user has identified an image, the image is retrieved via process  307  and the image is sent to the user via process  308 . When the image has been sent, then a check is made at process  310  as to whether the user needs further processing. When the answer is “yes”, then the requests are received via process  311 , the requests are processed via process  312 , and perhaps the user has identified that a particular image is to be printed ( 313 ), marked ( 314 ), e-mailed to another person ( 316 ), or whether another operation is to be performed ( 315 ). An example of marking could be to keep the image, or other data, for a specific period of time or for later recovery or transmission. At the completion of process  313 ,  314 ,  315  or  316  the system repeats via process  310 .  
         [0021]    If the answer is “no” in process  310 , system  30  stops and waits for a re-initiation of the system by the same or another user.  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 4 is a flow chart of one embodiment of an image requesting process in accordance with the teachings of the invention and shows flow chart  40 , which is typically operating at TV viewer  16  (FIG. 1) such that the user can follow instructions on the screen to obtain an image or other data. This is enabled at process  401  and the identity of the user is established via any one of a number of systems or methods at process  402 . These systems or methods could be, for example, by identifying the device, by checking the manual entry of a viewer ID, by validating a fingerprint or other biometric of the user, by using a magnetic stripe or other identifying means or the like. Then a determination is made as to whether a user knows which image is desired via process  403 . If “yes”, then a request is sent via process  404  for the specific image, and that request is processed as discussed above with respect to FIG. 3. If the user does not know which image he/she desires, then the user requests available images via process  405 . This request is processed as discussed above in FIG. 3. When the universe of available images are received via process  406 , the user can select the desired image via process  407 . The selected image is processed via process  403  and  404  as discussed above.  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 5 is a flow chart of one embodiment of an image receiving process in accordance with the teachings of the invention and shows flowchart  50 , which is typically operating at viewer  16  (FIG. 1) under control of the user as discussed above. When an image is received at process  501 , the question: Does the user desire any other images? is then presented at process  502 . If the answer is “yes”, then a request for the other images at process  503  is provided and processed as discussed above. If the user does not desire any other images the question becomes: Does the user desire additional processing? at process  504 . If the user does not desire additional processing with respect to the images, the process of flowchart  50  stops. If the answer in process  504  is “yes”, then a determination is made as to whether the processing is local at process  505 . If the processing is not local then the request is transmitted via process  508  and this continues until all requests are finished. If the processing is local then process  506  performs the processing with respect to the images and process  507  stores the processed images.  
         [0024]    Local processing could be local printing or adding information to an image, or the like. This local processing could be accomplished and the image sent back to the database, or, if desired, forwarded on to a third party, via e-mail. The selected image could be posted on a web site under control of the user, if desired. Posting could be particularly appropriate when the image is that of a newborn child and one wants to share the joy with other family members or friends. The prospective viewer could, using device  16 , send instructions to the system for having the system send images to selected third parties, controlled in part, by process  506 .  
         [0025]    The wireless communication link can be, for example, Blue Tooth, or the 802.11 protocol and can be transmitted using one or more of the unlicensed frequencies, such as, for example, 900 Mhz and 2.4 Ghz. The system can serve multiple users at the same time using techniques such as TDMA, CDMA and the like.  
         [0026]    The system can be arranged to allow an image to be viewed by a single viewer or by a group of viewers. The group can be defined as family relationships, or by professional relationships (doctors, social workers, health care workers, etc.) or by friendships or work-related groups.