Patent Publication Number: US-2007097402-A1

Title: Method for printing an image during an image playing mode

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to a method for printing an image, and more specifically, to a method for printing an image during an image playing mode.  
      2. Description of the Prior Art  
      Generally a program for playing images (such as a screensaver or a slide show program) is incapable of printing the played image at the same time when the program operates in an image playing mode. The prior art shows that the program must leave the image playing mode first, then select an image among the images from an image database related to the image playing program for printing, and lastly launch a print function commonly included in the image playing program to output the requested image. It is pretty complicated to print a requested image with the prior art method. The playing mode must be interrupted and dropped temporarily by the image playing program when it comes to printing a played image, resulting in a total restart of the image playing mode if needed when printing is complete.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      Therefore, the primary objective of the claimed invention is to provide a method for printing an image during an image playing mode to solve the above problem.  
      The claimed invention provides a method for printing an image during an image playing mode. The method comprises opening an image playing mode of an image playing program, launching a printing function without leaving the image playing mode when detecting a combination of key presses, and outputting a print image to a printing device according to an image that is currently on a screen of a computer when detecting the combination of key presses.  
      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  
       FIG. 1  is a flow chart of a method for printing an image during an image playing mode of the present invention.  
       FIG. 2  is an illustration of a screen showing a print dialog box during an image playing mode when detecting a combination of key presses. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
      Please refer to  FIG. 1 , which is a flow chart of a method for printing an image during an image playing mode of the present invention. The method comprises the following steps:  
      Step  100 : Start an image playing program and launch an image playing mode of the image playing program;  
      Step  120 : Enter a combination of key presses and pause the playing action of the image playing mode without leaving the image playing mode;  
      Step  140 : Launch a printing function;  
      Step  160 : Output a printed image to a printing device according to an image that is currently on a screen of a computer when detecting the combination of key presses; and  
      Step  180 : Resume the playing action of the image playing mode.  
      The image playing program can be a screensaver or a slide show program. The image playing program will select images from an image database and display the selected images on the screen of the computer. The selected images are generally displayed on the screen in a full-screen mode. In addition, the plurality of selected images (or slides) are displayed on the screen by a predetermined sequence or a sequence set by a user, each image being displayed on the screen one after another within a predetermined time interval or as controlled by the user.  
      In Step  120 , when a predetermined combination of key presses is detected in the method of the present invention, the image playing program then pauses the image playing mode but does not leave the image playing mode. The predetermined combination of key presses can be an one button press or a combination or a plurality of key presses.  
      Please refer to  FIG. 2 , which is an illustration of a screen showing a print dialog box during an image playing mode when detecting a combination of key presses. The desktop  10  is filled with a full-screen played image  20  during the playing mode of the image playing program. When the predetermined combination of key presses is pressed as in Step  120 , a print dialog box  30  appears above the played image  20 . Meanwhile, the image playing program pauses the playing of the played image  20 , which is thus made to stay on the screen. As a printed image (not shown in  FIG. 2 ) is outputted from the static played image  20  as described in Step  160 , the image playing program selects from the image database the played image  20  that is currently on the screen of the computer. The action of outputting the printed image comprises previewing the printed image with the print dialog box  30 .  
      The present invention can further allow editing of the played image  20  in the print dialog box  30  before the printed image is outputted to a printing device. For example, editing can be to apply a design template to the played image  20  and output the played image  20  with the design template as a printed image, to set up the layout of the played image  20  and output it as a printed image, or to adjust the brightness, contrast, sharpness, scale, or printing direction of the played image  20  to enrich the printed image. Additionally, the printing dialog box  30  can be used for selecting different printing devices to output the printed image since sometimes more than one printer is connected to the computer.  
      The image playing program resumes the image playing mode once performing all the related settings in the printing dialog box  30  and outputting the printed image to the selected printing device are finished, as in Step  180 . The image playing program resumes the playing action of the image playing mode.  
      With a combination of key presses, the present invention can pause an image playing mode of an image playing program without leaving the image playing mode; and with a printing dialog box appearing on a screen, the played image that is currently on the screen of a computer when the combination of key presses takes place can be outputted to a printing device. Further image editing is also allowable in the printing dialog box before the image is outputted to the printing device. The method can quickly output a played image under a playing mode of the image playing program and effectively solve the inconvenience of the prior art image outputting method.  
      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. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.