Patent ID: 8599275

Claim:
An image processing apparatus comprising: an image processing unit that, upon reception of first image data from a first image pickup apparatus or reception of a first signal indicating capture of the first image data, sends a second signal to a second image pickup apparatus to cause the second image pickup apparatus to capture a second image data at substantially a same timing as the first image pickup apparatus or providing link information for correlating an image from the second image pickup apparatus with the first image data, the image processing unit having access to both the first image data and the second image data stored in a storing means; and further wherein the second image pickup apparatus is an image pickup apparatus dedicated for capturing a common image and further wherein the link information is stored which provides correlation between the first and the second image data, and wherein the image processing unit processes the first image data in order to provide album data for a corresponding plurality of users, and further wherein the second image data is automatically arranged such that the second image data has priority over the first image data, thereby automatically generating an album of image information, and the second image data is automatically arranged with respect to the first image data, and wherein the automatic album generation processing includes automatic processing of the link information and album layout or structure processing, the image processing unit providing selection from among a plurality of types of album structure data and the image processing unit identifies correlated image data from the first and second image pickup apparatus having the selected album structure data and provides automatic arrangement of the correlated image data from the first and second image pickup apparatus according to the selected album structure data.