Abstract:
A system for capturing and displaying images of subjects includes a digital camera and a slide show controller disposed in a common case. A subject can take his own picture using the digital camera. The resulting image is stored in an electronic folder with other images and all the images from the folder are distributed by a controller to several large displays.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
   None 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   a. Field of Invention 
   This invention pertains to a system and apparatus for capturing high quality digital images of models and other subjects and to display the images concurrently on a plurality of large screens. Optionally, the images are stored and/or printed. 
   b. Description of the Prior Art 
   Photo booths have been with us since the 50&#39;s and they are used to make wallet sized pictures using wet chemistry. The pictures produced are very low quality but the devices are somewhat popular because they provide almost instantaneous results. 
   More recent apparatus have been proposed that produce somewhat better results. See for instance U.S. Pat. No. 5,262,815 disclosing a modular photographic system, U.S. Patent Publication 20010011262 disclosing a digital public photo booth capable of sending a digital image to a remote location; Japanese Patent Publication JP 2001311993A2 which discloses a photo booth that takes a picture of a subject and superimposes a selected background on the resulting image; U.S. Pat. No. 5,623,581 discloses takes an image of a subject, defocuses the background and superimposes a selected image as background; U.S. Pat. No. 6,298,197 discloses a photo booth generating pictures by printing images from a video camera; EP Application 1059799 discloses a digital photo booth with a video camera generating images of a subject, a monitor for displaying the images and a printer for making pictures from the images; U.S Pat. No. 3,852,783 discloses an electronic photo studio with strobe lights a camera exposing images on a film and a processing device for developing the exposed film; U.S. Pat. No. 5,446,515 discloses a photo booth with a movable camera and a movable background. 
   However, all these devices are constructed and designed as a unitary permanent or semi-permanent structure placed usually in a high volume area. Moreover, the quality of images and pictures obtained from these devices are not very high. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention allows users to capture images of themselves, which are then stored on a computer hard drive and displayed via large displays such as plasma screens, projection screens, video screens and the like, as well as on a computer monitor. The images of subjects may also be captured by an attendant. Once several images are collected, they can be displayed sequentially or randomly as a slide show presentation. One important feature of the invention is that lighting elements are used to light the subjects in extremely flattering manner. Another important feature is that the display software instantly shows each new image as it is captured. This creates an interaction between the user and the equipment that has not been available before. 
   Preferably the system for performing the invention includes an image capture apparatus disposed in a self-contained case and the created images are stored in an electronic folder. A slide presentation program checks the contents of the folder and presents the images through a distribution network to a plurality of screens. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  shows a block diagram of an image distribution system constricted in accordance with this invention; 
       FIGS. 2A ,  2 B and  2 C show a front, side and back view of an image acquisition apparatus used in the system of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 3  shows a block diagram of the image acquisition apparatus of  FIGS. 1A-2C ; and 
       FIG. 4  shows a flow chart showing how newly acquired images are displayed. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   Referring now to  FIG. 1 , a system  10  constructed in accordance with this invention includes a picture capture apparatus  12  used to capture an image of a subject  14 . Preferably, a screen  16 , a wall or other opaque means are used to block extraneous objects so that they do not appear in the image. Moreover, the screen  16  may also be used to provide a static or dynamic background for the image. 
   The images from the apparatus  12  are stored in a picture folder  18 . Folder  18  may be an electronic file stored on a hard-drive, or any other memory means such as flash cards. The contents of the folder  18  are monitored by a folder watch  20 . The images are then distributed to a plurality of microprocessor-based slide show controllers  22  via network  24 . The controllers  22  feed the images to respective large screens  26 . The screens  26  may have different sizes, types and formats and therefore may require different the images in different formats as well. The controllers  22  receive the images from folder watch  20  in a standard format and then convert them into any respective formats, as needed, and present them for a predetermined time period, such as three seconds. Details of how this can be implemented are discussed below, in conjunction with the flow chart of  FIG. 4 . The network  24  can be a wired or a wireless network. 
   Preferably, the current folder  18  and the folder watch element  22  are implemented as software running on a microprocessor incorporated in the picture capture apparatus  12 , as shown in  FIG. 3 , however they are shown here as separate elements for the sake of clarity. 
   Referring now to  FIGS. 2A-2C  and  FIG. 3 , the image capture apparatus  12  includes a microprocessor  30 , a digital camera  32 , a video camera  34 , a remote trigger  36 , a framing screen  38  and a display screen  40 . Some additional elements are a power supply  42  that provides power to a light bank  44 . The light bank generates a burst of light which is dispersed through a a ⅛″ Plexiglas diffuser  46 . 
   These elements preferably are installed in a common case  41  having a front wall  43  and a rear wall  45 , as shown in  FIGS. 2A-2C . The front wall is formed with apertures for the diffuser  46  covering the light bank  44 , the video camera  34  and the digital camera  38 . A socket  47  is also provided for connecting the trigger  36  to the system. Alternatively the trigger  36  may be an RF or infrared (IR) device in which case the socket  47  is replaced by an RF or IR receiver. A power supply (not shown) is included in the case to provide power to the various described elements. 
   The back wall is formed with an aperture for a display screen  40 . The display is used to provide instructions to a user, to display advertising and other information or to display the same images as screens  26 . The case  41  can be attached or mounted on a support  50 . The case  41  is attached with two quickly released bolts and wing nuts (not shown). The bolts are pushed up into the case for transport and drop down when the case is set on the stand. A great advantage of the system is that the case  41  is easily removed from the support  50  and carried easily from one location to another, or stored. The case may be 32″ high, 18″ wide and 8″ deep. 
   The following parts may be used to implement the image capture apparatus, it being understood that a person skilled in the art could easily replace any of these elements with other equivalent devices. 
   Microcomputer  30  Apple—17″ iMac 1.9 GHz G5 with 2 g Intel processor) 
   1 SP-Systems Sync Cord—Male Phono to Male PC, Straight -10′ 
   Light bank  44 —Paterson Cyber Flash Panel—rated at 300 Watt/Seconds and preferably set to 75% output. 
   Trigger  36 —Canon Remote Switch RS-80N3 for Canon EOS Cameras 
   1 Canon ET-1000N3 Cord for All N3 (EOS 3 &amp; 1V) Accessories—33′ 1 Canon ACK-E2 AC Adapter Kit for EOS 20D &amp; EOS 
   Digital camera  32 —Canon EOS 20D, 8.2 Megapixel, SLR, Digital Camera with Canon 18-55 mm Lens. 
   Video Camera  34 —Varizoom VZ-TFT 5.6-Inch Camera 
   Framing screen  38 —5″ LCD monitor 
   Display screen  40 —15″ LCD monitor if a MAC is used instead of a Mac mini no additional monitor is required as it is incorporated into the Imac. 
   The image capture apparatus  12  operates as follows. A subject  14  steps in front of the case  41  with his back to screen  16 . He holds in his hand the remote trigger  36 . When he is in front of the apparatus  12 , the video camera  34  captures his image and shows it on the framing screen  38 . For this purpose, the screen  38  is shown connected directly to the video camera, although the output of the video camera could be fed to the microprocessor  30  as well for framing purposes or other functions. Once the subject  14  decides that he is in the desired position and likes the image on framing screen  38 , he is ready to take his picture. Preferably, cameras  32 ,  34  and framing screen  38  are aligned and disposed close to each other to eliminate or reduce parallax problems. 
   The subject  14  takes his own picture by activating trigger  36 . This causes the digital camera  32  to activate the light bank  44  thereby causing a flash to be directed from the light bank  44  at the subject  14 . As discussed before the light bank is selected to provide sufficient light for a pleasing, natural flash. The camera  32  then records the image in its memory (not shown) and passes the image to the microprocessor  30 . The microprocessor  30  then stores the image as a digital file in a *jpg or other similar formats in the current picture folder. The image is then displayed on one or more large screens as described below. Optionally, the apparatus  12  is connected to a printer  60  to print out pictures from the digital images. The printer can be at any point in the network. It does not need to be at or connected to the Photobooth. These functions can be implemented using off-the-shelf software such as Canon Digital Photo Professional and Canon Remote Capture. 
   The display of images is now described in conjunction with the flow chart of  FIG. 4 . This flow chart shows one possible mode of operation for the system  10 . Initially, one or more images are stored in the picture folder  18 . In step  100  the folder watch  20  obtains or receives commands or rules related to the manner in which the pictures are to be displayed. For example, the pictures can be displayed sequentially by name, in the order in which they were taken, randomly, and so on, and generates a list defining the order in which images are to be displayed. In step  102  the folder watch  20  looks for new images in the folder  18 . (Of course, this step may be implemented at other stages of the process as well). If no new images are sensed, in step  104  the next image from the list is sent to all the controllers  22 . The image is then displayed on all the screens  26 , screen  40 , etc. The process then cycles back to step  102 . 
   If in step  102  some new images are sensed then in step  108  the newly loaded image or images from the image capture apparatus are obtained from the folder and immediately displayed in step  110 . Thereafter, the new images are placed in the designated sequence and the slide show resumes in step  104  with the next image on the list. Of course the system can be modified easily to show the images in many different orders. Moreover the order in which the images are shown, need not be the same for all the screens  26 , and not all the images need to be displayed on all the screens. 
   Obviously numerous modifications may be made to the invention without departing from its scope as defined in the appended claims.