Abstract:
An image intent file is created by a user or a trusted friend containing information about one or more of the common image destinations of the user. These destinations may include email addresses, web sites, local or networked printers, internet printing services, and I-frames (picture-like electronic displays with download capability). The possible image destinations included in the intent file are displayed graphically or textually on the display of the image capture device. For each image, the user is able to select one or more image destinations from the display of the image capture device. When the share function on the image capture device is activated, all images associated with each destination that are contained within the image capture device are sent to the destination with sufficient configuration data such that the destination correctly receives and processes the image or images.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to the field of digital image acquisition, and more particularly, to the field of sharing digital images among users.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    Users of digital cameras often have no problems taking photos, but encounter difficulties in sharing these photos with other people. Often, the photos must be downloaded to a computer, viewed and selected for sharing, and sent as an email attachment to a relative or friend, uploading to their personal web page, or an online photo processing service for the purchase of prints from the image. All of this manual work often stands in the way of a user desiring to share their images, but lacking the computer knowledge necessary to do so. There is a need in the art for an apparatus or method that enables users of digital image capture devices to easily select destinations for their images.  
           [0003]    After capturing a number of images, on a camera or other image capture device, a user may edit the set of images, deleting any unwanted images while retaining the rest. After editing, the user may wish to have one (or more) copies made of each image. Currently many image capture devices require the user must manually transfer all of the images to a computer and select the destination printer or internet print service. There is a need in the art for an apparatus or method that enables users of digital image capture devices to easily select a printer or print service, the number and size of copies desired. Then, after selecting the users intent for the images, automatically send the images to the printer or print service with all instructions necessary to obtain the number and size of copies desired by the user.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0004]    An image intent file is created by a user or a trusted friend containing information about one or more of the common image destinations of the user. These destinations may include email addresses, web sites, local or networked printers, internet printing services, and I-frames (picture-like electronic displays with download capability). The possible image destinations included in the intent file are displayed graphically or textually on the display of the image capture device. For each image, the user is able to select one or more image destinations from the display of the image capture device. When a share function on the image capture device is activated, all images associated with each destination that are contained within the image capture device are sent to the destination with sufficient configuration data such that the destination correctly receives and processes the image or images.  
           [0005]    Other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the invention. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0006]    [0006]FIG. 1 shows the display of an image capture device incorporating the present invention.  
         [0007]    [0007]FIG. 2 is an embodiment of an intent file according to the present invention.  
         [0008]    [0008]FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a method for the sharing of digital images according to the present invention.  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 4 is a block diagram of part of an image capture device incorporating the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0010]    [0010]FIG. 1 shows the display of an image capture device incorporating the present invention. A display  100  incorporated into an image capture device may include a variety of icons or other representations of files and actions. In the example embodiment shown in FIG. 1 a number of icons representing files and actions are shown, but these files and actions may be represented textually within the scope of the present invention. In this example embodiment, photo  117   102  is represented by an icon. Likewise, photo  119   104 , photo  120   106 , photos  123  through  133   110 , and photos  117  and  119   112  are all represented by icons. Also, all photos  108  in memory are represented by an additional single icon. A recycle icon  114  is available for deleting any photo or group of photos from the memory of the image capture device. An information icon  116  is available for displaying information such as size, date taken, and other data about any photo or group of photos. Additionally, a number of icons are present representing possible photo destinations as defined in an intent file. An example intent file corresponding to this example display is shown in FIG. 2. The icons in this example embodiment include a modem icon  118  so that a photo or group of photos may be transferred through a modem. Also present are icons to send an image to Uncle John  120 , and one to send an image to Aunt Judy  122 . (All the names contained in this document are fictional.) A computer icon  124  allows the user to download a photo or group of photos to a computer. The computer may be electrically coupled with the image capture device, or wireless communication techniques may be used to transfer the images. A printer icon  126  allows the user to send the photo or group of photos directly to a printer. A target icon  128  may allow the user to select a target device not shown on the display. A storage icon  130  may allow the user to save the photo or group of photos to an external storage device. An email icon  132  may allow the user to email the photo or group of photos to a person, a mailing list, or other email destination, such as an online photo processor. An I-frame icon  134  would allow a user to send an image or group of images to a picture-like electronic display with download capability (I-frame). Finally, a web page icon  140  would allow a user to automatically upload an image or group of images to a web page. All the destination icons shown (and others not shown) in the example embodiment of the present invention in FIG. 1 have corresponding entries in an intent file that is shown in FIG. 2.  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 2 is an embodiment of an intent file according to the present invention. This example intent file contains example data such as might be used with the example icons present in FIG. 1. The syntax shown in FIG. 2 is one possible syntax, out of an immense variety that may be created for use with the present invention. The actual syntax and file format used by the intent file are not relevant to the functionality of the present invention. The first line of the example intent file of FIG. 2 is a comment line  200 . The comment line  200  contains the text, “Intent file for Jane Doe” used in this example to identify the user of the intent file. A modem object  218  is shown in the example intent file with a name of “modem1” as shown in the first line of the modem object  218 . This modem object  218  has a .port property of “COMI”, and a .speed property of 2800. A first person object  220  with a name of “Uncle John” is also shown in the example intent file. The first person object  220  has a .email property of unclejohn@invalid.com, representing the email address of Uncle John, and a format property of jpeg, representing the format the photos will be sent in. A second person object  222  with a name of “Aunt Judy” is also shown in the example intent file. The second person object  222  has a .email property of auntjudy@invalid.com, representing the email address of Aunt Judy, and a format property of tiff, representing the format the photos will be sent in. A computer object  224  with a name of “PC” is also shown in the example intent file. The computer object  224  has a directory property of “c:\My Photos”, representing the directory photos will be stored in, and a format property of tiff, representing the format that the photos will be stored in. A printer object  226  with a name of “DeskJet” is also shown in the example intent file. The printer object  226  has a quality property of “high”, representing the printing quality desired, and a format property of “pcl”, representing the data format to be sent to the printer. The printer object  226  may further contain properties similar to, but not limited to, those present in the Digital Print Order Format (DPOF) released by Canon, Inc., Eastman Kodak Company, Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd., and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. on Jul. 17, 2000. A target object  228  without a name is also shown in the example intent file. This target object  228  includes a list property of “other friends”, representing the first list object  236  in the example intent file and a .type property of “:person”, representing the data type of the first list object  236 . This target object  228  is one possible example of the use of hierarchy within an intent file. By the use of a single target icon  128 , the user is able to have many more intents specified than may be displayed in one screen of the display  100 . When the target icon  128  is selected, another screen is displayed containing the intents specified in the first list object  236  that the target object  228  references. In this case two more person icons would appear with the names of “John Doe” and “Mungo Parkinson.” A storage object  230  with the name of “CDRW” is also shown in the example intent file. The storage object  230  has a .type property of “CD-R”, representing the type of CDROM to be written, and a speed property of “12×”, representing the maximum speed of the CDROM drive. An email object  232  without a name is also shown in the example intent file. The email object  232  has a .list property of “email friends”, representing the second list object  238  in the example intent file, and a .type property of “:person”, representing the data type of the second list object  238 . This email object  232  is another example of the use of hierarchy within an intent file. By the use of a single email icon  132 , the user is able to have many more intents specified than may be displayed in one screen of the display  100 . When the email icon  132  is selected, another screen is displayed containing the intents specified in the second list object  238  that the email object  232  references. In this case two more person icons would appear with the names of “Cletus Purcell” and “Lincoln Rhyme.” An I-frame object  234  with the name “living room” is also shown in the example intent file. The I-frame object  234  is used when the I-frame icon  134  is selected. This I-frame object  234  has a format property of jpeg, representing the data format of the images to be sent to the I-frame. A web page object  240  with the name “my web site” is also shown in the example intent file. The web page object  240  is used when the web page icon  140  is selected. This web page object  240  has a .url property of “http://www.invalid.com/˜jane/photopage.html,” representing the uniform resource locator (URL) of the web page that the image or images are to be uploaded to.  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a method for the sharing of digital images according to the present invention. In a step  300  a user or their trusted friend creates an image intent file containing intent objects specifying the sharing parameters for the user. In a step  302  the image intent file is transferred to an image capture device. This transfer may take place through a cable, through infrared transmitter/receiver devices, through the manual transfer of removable memory cards, or any other method of transferring data from the device where the image intent file is created to the image capture device. The transfer step may be initiated in a wide variety of ways. The pushing of a share button by a user may initiate the transfer, or the simple connection of a cable between the image capture device and an external electronic device may initiate the transfer. Further, if transmitters and receivers are used for the transfer, the transfer may be initiated by bringing the transmitter and receiver within range. In other words, the transfer may be initiated when the proximity of the transmitter to the receiver crosses a proximity threshold, where the proximity threshold is set to a distance at which communication between the transmitter and receiver may occur. In a step  304  at least one digital image is captured by the image capture device. Note that this image capture step  304  may occur at any point in the process prior to the sharing step  306 . In a step  306  when one or more intent objects are selected by the user, the image or images as specified in the image intent objects selected by the user are shared.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 4 is a block diagram of part of an image capture device incorporating the present invention. An intent file  400 , such as that shown in FIG. 2 is received by the image capture device in a receiver block  402 . The receiver block  402  then stores the intent file  400  in a memory  404 . The memory block  404  is connected to a display  408  similar to that shown in FIG. 1 where icons representing intent objects are displayed. A control block  406  is used to control the receiver  402 , memory  404 , and display  408  blocks. The control block  406  also controls when the memory  404  transmits image and intent data  412  to a transmitter block  410  for transfer to a computer, printer, or other device. Note that the control block  406  may include buttons on the image capture device that allow the user to select between the several intent icons shown on the display  408 . The transmitter  410  may send the data to an electronic device such as a computer, printer, or other device using a cable, or wireless technology. Likewise the receiver  402  may receive intent files from an electronic device through a cable, or with wireless technology. In some implementations, the receiver  402  and transmitter  410  may be combined in an input/output (I/O) block. Further, the receiver  402  and transmitter  410  may be activated by a wide variety of techniques, not limited to the control block  406 . For example, in an example embodiment of the present invention, the receiver  402  or transmitter  410  may be configured to automatically begin data transfer when the image capture device comes within a specified distance of the electronic device they will communicate with. This distance need not be specified as a discrete distance, but in some embodiments may be set to a distance where the receiver  402  or transmitter  410  may reliable transfer data with the electronic device. In wireless technologies, this distance may be the point at which signal strength is sufficient to allow efficient data transfer between the devices. In some embodiments of the present invention, a removable memory card  414  may be used to transfer image and intent information from the image capture device to an electronic device such as a computer or printer.  
         [0014]    An intent file, such as that shown in FIG. 2, may be created by a user of an image capture device, or a trusted friend with more computer skills. Once the intent file is created and downloaded to the image capture device, relatively unskilled users may select photos and share them with other people, send them to printers and other destinations without the knowledge of all the details that are needed to correctly specify these destinations. These intent files may be created on a computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), or other device capable of creating or editing intent, and downloaded to the image capture device through a cable or with the use of wireless technology (such as infrared transmitters and detectors). Some web sites may contain intent file objects allowing people browsing the web site to download the intent file objects and thus enabling the users to easily transmit images to the web site (or other location) without having to bother with the details of the configuration. Families may wish to create a web page containing intent file objects for each of the family members wanting to receive images. Further they may create intent file objects that enable the sharing of images with different groups of family members each via a single intent file object.  
         [0015]    Businesses may also take advantage of portability of these intent file objects and provide intent file objects for transmitting images to be printed directly to the business. Further, printer manufacturers may wish to make available intent file objects optimized for best results in printing to their different models of printers. Computer storage device manufacturers may likewise make optimized intent file objects publicly available for their different models.  
         [0016]    The foregoing description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed, and other modifications and variations may be possible in light of the above teachings. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention in various embodiments and various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the appended claims be construed to include other alternative embodiments of the invention except insofar as limited by the prior art.