Abstract:
A method of providing image goods and/or services to more than one party located at different locations. The method includes providing a camera for substantially simultaneously capturing an image both electronically and on a photosensitive media by a customer and transmitting the electronic image to a third party at a location remote from the customer along with additional data. The additional data identifying the image with respect to the photosensitive media. The customer and/or the third party placing an order with a service provider for at least one good and/or service with respect to the image. The service provider assembles the order upon receipt of the photosensitive media.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This is a continuation application of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/717,448 filed Nov. 20, 2000 by Dale F. McIntyre and Thomas D. Jensen. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     This invention relates to the field of photography, and in particular, to a method of sharing low resolution electronic images to create print orders in advance of a service provider receiving high resolution printable images.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     Photographers like to share pictures. In fact, a major reason photographers take pictures is to share them with friends, family and co-workers. One current method to share pictures includes ordering multiple sets of prints giving the user multiple prints of every picture on the roll whether the photographer considers them good enough for sharing or not. This approach is costly for the photographer and limits them to sharing with just a few individuals.  
         [0004]     Another method of sharing pictures is to order reprints of only those pictures desired. This occurs after the original film has been processed, printed, and reviewed by the photographer. The photographer must then return the negatives to a retailer for selective reprints. This is not cost or time efficient. Reprints are usually more expensive than the original prints, in part because of the extra handling of the previously processed film. In addition, time is of the essence when sharing images. Often an inordinate amount of time passes between the original picture taking and the moment the photographer “gets around” to placing the reprint order and finally receiving the reprint. And then occasionally, the original is given away with intention of reprinting the photo later. Many times the process of ordering reprints never happens because it is not convenient, or it is put off so long that it is not as important as it first was. Missing such an opportunity to share memories with others is a moment that can be lost forever.  
         [0005]     More recently, service providers have been offering on-line photographic services. On-line photographic services include image digitization, digital image storage, and distribution of digital image files. These are all currently provided by on-line service providers such as the KODAK PhotoNet™ online service, available on the Internet at http://kodak.photonet.com.  
         [0006]     However, this is still not necessarily the most convenient way to share pictures. The on-line process entails communicating to the people you want to share the images with, what and where the web site is, what the password is, where the images you want them to look at reside etc. The process is complex for the average person and may not be intuitive.  
         [0007]     The present invention resolves many of the problems of the prior art in that there is provided a system for easy access to the results of a photographic event and the ability for multiple parties to conveniently order all of the desired images prior to the first printing of any image thus avoiding the complex reprint process.  
         [0008]     These and other aspects, objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood and appreciated from a review of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and appended claims, and by reference to the accompanying drawings.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0009]     In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of providing image goods and/or services to more than one party located at different locations, comprising the steps of: 
        capturing a high resolution image by a customer using a camera;     transmitting a low resolution electronic image of the high resolution image over a communication network to a third party at a location remote from the customer along with additional data, the additional data providing information for identifying the high resolution image;     placing an order by the third party or the customer over the communication network with a service provider for at least one good and/or service with respect to the high resolution image associated using the low resolution electronic image prior to the service provider receiving the high resolution image; and     the service provider assembling the order upon obtaining of the high resolution image.       
 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0014]     In the detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention presented below, reference is made to the accompanying drawings in which:  
         [0015]      FIG. 1A  is a perspective view of a hybrid camera  
         [0016]      FIG. 1B  is a perspective view of a digital camera  
         [0017]      FIG. 2A  is a back view of an Advanced Photo System film cassette  
         [0018]      FIG. 2B  is a front view of an Advanced Photo System film cassette  
         [0019]      FIG. 3A  is a system diagram including a hybrid camera in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0020]      FIG. 3B  is a system diagram including a digital camera in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0021]      FIG. 4A  is a flow chart showing a process for implementing the present invention.  
         [0022]      FIG. 4B  is a flow chart showing another process for implementing the present invention.  
         [0023]      FIG. 4C  is a flow chart showing another process for implementing the present invention.  
         [0024]      FIG. 4D  is a flow chart showing another process for implementing the present invention.  
         [0025]      FIG. 5  is a representation of computer screen wherein an order is placed in accordance with the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0026]     Turning to  FIG. 1A , a perspective view of a hybrid camera  12  is shown. Hybrid cameras are described in detail in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,822,625; 5,619,275 and 4,949,117 which are hereby incorporated by reference. Briefly, the hybrid camera  12  includes an optical exposing assembly  34  for focussing and exposing a silver halide filmstrip operationally contained within a film cassette  26  (See  FIGS. 2A and 2B ). The film cassette  26 , of course, is capable of being operationally loaded into hybrid camera  12 . Hybrid camera  12  also includes an optical assembly  36  for substantially simultaneously focussing and electronically exposing the same scene as is captured on the silver halide filmstrip via optical exposing assembly  34 . Controls (not shown) included in the hybrid camera  12  cause the simultaneous actuation of both assemblies  34  and  36  creating two correlated exposures of the same scene on the two different capture media. It will be understood that the data correlating the film image with the electronic image will be stored with or appended to the electronic image as will be discussed later with respect to  FIGS. 2A and 2B . Hybrid camera  12  further includes an electronic display (not shown) which permits the photographer  10  (See  FIG. 3 ) to review the electronic image correlated to the image captured on the silver halide film without the use of a computer or other image display device.  
         [0027]     Turning to  FIG. 1B , a perspective view of a digital camera  152  is shown. Briefly, digital cameras are well understood in the art and include an optical assembly  153  for focussing and electronically exposing the scene to be captured on an image sensor (not shown) producing a high resolution electronic image capable of being printed with adequate quality. It will be understood that each captured image is typically given a filename by the digital camera  152  which can be a unique code. For example, the unique code can be generated from the combination of the serial number of the digital camera  152  and the sequential exposure number. The unique code is stored with the high resolution electronic image information in well understood digital picture formats such as EXIF and JPEG2000. Any derivation of the high resolution electronic image such as a thumbnail or low resolution electronic image maintains this unique code which is instrumental in compiling a print order in accordance with the present invention. Typically a low resolution digital image is primarily suitable for display on an electronic device such as a CRT but not well suited for producing high quality prints comparable to standard photographic prints. An example of a low resolution VGA image would comprise 640×480 pixels.  
         [0028]     Turning now to  FIG. 2A , a film cassette  26  is shown which is identified by a unique number encoded in a machine readable code  28  such as a bar code found on the exterior of the cartridge. For the sake of clarity, film cassette  26  is shown as an Advantix film cassette sold and marketed by the Eastman Kodak Company as part of the Advanced Photo System. Similarly in  FIG. 2B , film cassette  26  also includes a human readable code  30  which represents the same identification of film cassette  26 . The machine readable code  28  allows automated scanning and identification by a computer system while the human readable code  30  allows a manual identification or confirmation of the automated scanning of machine readable code  28 . In co-operation with the frame number of the film, these codes identify both the film cassette  26  and the frame number of an image that is desired to be shared, stored or printed. The electronic image captured hybrid camera  12  is stored in a temporary internal memory (not shown) of the hybrid camera  12 . As is well understood in the art, many image file formats are possible to use such as EXIF, JPEG2000, and specialized XML descriptions which permit the inclusion of metadata such as the cartridge ID/frame number combination with the actual picture data. In accordance with the present invention, the cartridge ID/frame number combination are stored with the electronic images and are transmitted with those images for use in the creation of a print order.  
         [0029]     Turning to  FIG. 3A , photographer  10  begins taking pictures with the hybrid camera  12  exposing the silver halide film contained within film cassette  26 . At a point prior to delivering the film cassette  26  for processing at a service provider  16 , the photographer  10  chooses to share the electronic images corresponding to the exposed, unprocessed silver halide images with a third party  20  which could be a friend or a relative or other acquaintance of their choosing. The choice of which images to share can be done using the image display included on the camera or with an image display system  14  as shown in  FIG. 3A . It will be understood that the image display system  14  may be a personal computer with a monitor such as the various models manufactured by Dell Computer, a cable set top box such as the Explorer 2010 digital set top box manufactured by Scientific Atlanta connected to a television set, or a personal digital assistant such as a Palm IIIc manufactured by Palm Computing Inc. Likewise, image display system  38  belonging to the third party  20  can be any of the aforementioned systems that is operably connected to a network such as the Internet  19 . Using image display system  38 , third party  20  connects to a computer  21  for the purpose of placing a print order. It should be noted that third party  20  may actually be multiple people at multiple physical locations.  
         [0030]     Continuing with  FIG. 3A , a service provider  16  is shown operably connected to the Internet  19  via server  13  and computer  21 . Service provider  16  as shown in  FIG. 3  includes film processing block  15  for reading the machine readable code  28  and chemically processing the film and film scanning block  17  for creating the high resolution digital image files for fulfilling print orders. It should be noted that service provider  16  does not necessarily need to include film processing and scanning capabilities rather receiving the high resolution digital image files from a remote location such as a retail store with a digital minilab such as the Model 2711 manufactured by Noritsu. Computer  21  further includes an image database  24  for receiving high resolution digital image files and a customer database  23  for receiving information about a customer including print orders, payment information and delivery information.  
         [0031]     Turning to  FIG. 3B  like parts indicating like operation, photographer  150  begins taking pictures with the digital camera  152 . At a point prior to uploading the high resolution images captured by digital camera  152  for processing at a service provider  162 , the photographer  150  chooses to share the low resolution electronic images typically referred to as thumbnail images with a third party  154  which could be a friend or a relative or other acquaintance of their choosing. The low resolution electronic images are tagged by the digital camera  152  with a unique code that can be generated, for example, by a combination of the camera&#39;s serial number and the sequential exposure number. This unique code may also include customer identification and/or customer address. This unique code stored and transmitted with the low resolution electronic images is also maintained with the high resolution electronic images for identification later of the specific images that belong to a print order. It is of course understood that any other information may also be provided as desired for associating an order with the customer and/or third party recipient of the image order.  
         [0032]     The choice of which images to share can be done using the image display (not shown) included on the digital camera  152  or with an image display system  156  as shown in  FIG. 3B . It will be understood that the image display system  156  may be a personal computer with a monitor such as the various models manufactured by Dell Computer, a cable set top box such as the Explorer 2010 digital set top box manufactured by Scientific Atlanta connected to a television set or a personal digital assistant such as a Palm IIIc manufactured by Palm Computing Inc. Likewise, image display system  158  belonging to the third party  154  can be any of the aforementioned systems that is operably connected to a network such as the Internet  19 . Using image display system  158 , third party  154  connects to a computer  160  for the purpose of placing a print order. It should be noted that third party  154  might actually be multiple people at multiple physical locations.  
         [0033]     Continuing with  FIG. 3B , a service provider  162  is shown operably connected to the Internet  19  via server  164  and computer  160 . Service provider  162  as shown in  FIG. 3B  includes computer  160  for receiving the high resolution electronic images from the photographer  150  for fulfilling print orders. Computer  160  further includes an image database  166  for receiving high resolution digital image files and a customer database  168  for receiving information about a customer including print orders, payment information and delivery information.  
         [0034]     Turning to  FIG. 4A , the process begins with photographer  10  taking a picture in step  50 . At a future point in time, the photographer  10  chooses to review the low resolution electronic images in step  52  with the display on the hybrid camera  12  or on the image display system  14 . Deciding to order prints, photographer  10  connects to service provider  16  in step  54  and has to decide in step  56  whether he intends to share the pictures with third party  20 . If so, he inputs the electronic addresses of the intended third parties  20  at step  58 . This permits the service provider  16  to create an electronic order form in step  60  to forward to the identified third parties on behalf of photographer  10 . The forwarded electronic order form, typically in HTML or XML format, makes it very easy for third parties  20  to reply to and thus create a print order (step  64 ) with a minimal amount of work after reviewing the shared images in step  62 . It is important to note that the print order just created by third party  20  is in advance of service provider  16  receiving APS film cassette  26 . Creating the print order in this manner allows service provider  16  to produce the additional prints ordered by third party  20  at the same time as the original print order from photographer  10 . This eliminates the need for sharing hardcopy prints and then returning with the negatives to reorder prints at some future date thus saving the photographer  10  a lot of time.  
         [0035]     Similarly in  FIG. 4A , photographer  10  places his print order in step  64 . After receiving film cassette  26  in step  66 , service provider  16  processes the film in the knowledge of the unique machine readable code  28  attached to the cartridge in step  68 . If optically printing the processed negatives, service provider  16  must look in the customer database  23  (indexing using the unique machine readable code  28 ) to collect and adjust the print quantity of a high speed optical printer in step  70  to produce all the orders. If printing digitally, step  68  must scan the film and create the high resolution electronic image files needed to create a satisfactory hard copy print. Finally, again indexing the customer database  23  by the unique machine readable code  28  included on the film cassette  26 , the service provider  16  sets up the delivery of the print order and delivers the print order in step  72  to the photographer  10  and third parties  20 .  
         [0036]     Turning to  FIG. 4B , the process begins with photographer  10  taking a picture in step  74 . At a future point in time, the photographer  10  chooses to review the low resolution electronic images in step  76  with the display on the hybrid camera  12  or on the image display system  14 . Deciding to share (step  78 ) these images with third party  20 , photographer  10  attaches the low resolution electronic images to an email message to third party  20  in step  80 . Upon receiving the email attachments, third party  20  views the low resolution electronic images on image display system  38  (step  82 ) and decides whether or not to order prints in step  84 . If the decision is to order prints, third party  20  connects to the service provider  16  which has been identified in the email message (step  88 ). An order is placed at step  90  by third party  20  and/or photographer  10 .  
         [0037]     Continuing with  FIG. 4B  at step  78 , photographer  10  has decided not to share and connects to service provider  16  in step  88  and places an order in step  90  with the unique combination of machine readable code and frame number identifying the pictures to print. It is again important to note that the print order just created by third party  20  and/or photographer  10  is in advance of service provider  16  receiving APS film cassette  26 . Creating the print order in this manner allows service provider  16  to produce the additional prints ordered by third party  20  at the same time as the original print order from photographer  10 . This eliminates the need for sharing hardcopy prints and then returning with the negatives to reorder prints at some future date thus saving the photographer  10  a lot of time. After, receiving film cassette  26  in step  92 , service provider  16  processes the film (step  94 ) in the knowledge of the unique machine readable code  28  attached to the cartridge. If optically printing the processed negatives, service provider  16  must look in the customer database  23  (indexing using the unique machine readable code  28 ) to collect and adjust the print quantity of a high speed optical printer in step  96  to produce all the orders. If printing digitally, step  94  must also scan the film and create the high resolution electronic image files needed to create a satisfactory hard copy print. Finally, again indexing the customer database  23  by the unique machine readable code  28  included on the film cassette  26 , the service provider  16  sets up the delivery of the print order and delivers the print order in step  98  to the photographer  10  and third parties  20 .  
         [0038]     Turning to  FIG. 4C , the process begins with photographer  150  taking a picture in step  100 . At a future point in time, the photographer  150  chooses to review the low resolution electronic images in step  102  with the display on the digital camera  152  or on the image display system  156 . Deciding to order prints, photographer  150  connects to service provider  162  in step  104  and has to decide in step  106  whether he intends to share the pictures with third party  154 . If so, he inputs the electronic addresses of the intended third parties  154  at step  108 . This permits the service provider  162  to create an electronic order form in step  110  to forward to the identified third parties  154  on behalf of photographer  150 . The forwarded electronic order form, typically in HTML or XML format, makes it very easy for third parties  154  to reply to and thus create a print order (step  114 ) with a minimal amount of work after reviewing the shared images on image display system  158  in step  112 . It is important to note that the print order just created by third party  154  is in advance of service provider  162  receiving the high resolution electronic images from the digital camera  152 . Creating the print order in this manner allows service provider  162  to produce the additional prints ordered by third party  154  at the same time as the original print order from photographer  150 . This eliminates the need for sharing hardcopy prints and then reloading the high resolution electronic images to reorder prints at some future date thus saving the photographer  150  a lot of time.  
         [0039]     Similarly in  FIG. 4C , photographer  150  places his print order in step  114 . After receiving the high resolution electronic images from the digital camera  152  in step  116 , service provider  162  processes the print orders as stored in customer database  168  by correlating the unique code attached to the low resolution electronic images used to place the order with the uploaded high resolution electronic images which share the same code. Finally, again indexing the customer database  168  by the unique code, the service provider  162  sets up the delivery of the print order and delivers the print order in step  118  to the photographer  150  and third parties  154 .  
         [0040]     Turning to  FIG. 4D , the process begins with photographer  150  taking a picture in step  120 . At a future point in time, the photographer  150  chooses to review the low resolution electronic images in step  122  with the display on the digital camera  152  or on the image display system  156 . Deciding to share (step  124 ) these images with third party  154 , photographer  150  attaches the low resolution electronic images to an email message to third party  154  in step  126 . Upon receiving the email attachments, third party  154  views the low resolution electronic images on image display system  158  (step  128 ) and decides whether or not to order prints in step  130 . If the decision is to order prints, third party  154  connects to the service provider  162  (step  134 ) which has been identified in the email message. An order is placed at step  136  by third party  154  and/or photographer  150 .  
         [0041]     Continuing with  FIG. 4B  at step  124 , photographer  150  has decided not to share and connects to service provider  162  in step  134  and places an order in step  136  with the unique code identifying the high resolution electronic images to print. It is again important to note that the print order just created by third party  154  and/or photographer  150  is in advance of service provider  162  receiving the high resolution electronic images. Creating the print order in this manner allows service provider  162  to produce the additional prints ordered by third party  154  at the same time as the original print order from photographer  150 . This eliminates the need for sharing hardcopy prints and then reloading the high resolution electronic images at some future date thus saving the photographer  150  a lot of time. After receiving the high resolution electronic images in step  138 , service provider  162  produces the orders (step  140 ) using the unique code attached to the low resolution electronic images comprising the print order to correlate to the high resolution electronic images that are actually used to produce the print. Finally, again indexing the customer database  168  by the unique code attached to the low resolution electronic images, the service provider  162  sets up the delivery of the print order (s) and delivers the print order(s) in step  142  to the photographer  150  and third parties  154 .  
         [0042]     Referring to  FIG. 5 , there is illustrated a representation of an HTML order form is shown which is displayed on image display system  14 . The form has four main sections  40 ,  42 ,  44 ,  46  for inputting information. The first section  40  contains information about the photographer  10  necessary to identify a shipping address, the human readable code  30  to identify the film cassette  26 , and the credit card number used to purchase the goods and/or services such as prints. The second section  42  contains ordering information for the specific image and requested print size and quantity etc. The third section  44  provides the opportunity to order additional goods and services and the fourth section  46  provides the opportunity to list third parties  20  with whom images are to be shared.  
         [0043]     In the event that the service provider  16  does not receive any order information from the third parties  20  identified in section  46 , an automatic notification of intent to print the order can be communicated to the third parties  20  after a predetermined time, prompting them for a print order after which the opportunity will not exist. For example, they may decline participation, or place an order in the prescribed time frame.  
         [0044]     The invention has been described in detail with particular reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention.  
       Parts List  
       [0000]    
       
           10  photographer  
           12  hybrid camera  
           13  server  
           14  image display system  
           15  film processing block  
           16  service provider  
           17  film scanning block  
           19  Internet  
           20  third party  
           21  computer  
           23  customer database  
           24  image database  
           26  film cassette  
           28  machine readable code  
           30  human readable code  
           34  optical exposing assembly  
           36  optical assembly  
           38  image display system  
           40  section  
           42  section  
           44  section  
           46  section  
           50  step  
           54  step  
           56  step  
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           128  step  
           130  step  
           134  step  
           136  step  
           138  step  
           140  step  
           142  step  
           150  photographer  
           152  digital camera  
           153  optical assembly  
           154  third party  
           156  image display system  
           158  image display system  
           160  computer  
           162  service provider  
           164  server  
           166  image database  
           168  customer database