Patent ID: 7369164

Claim:
A method for capturing images using a digital camera and organizing the captured images for storage into electronic albums, comprising the steps of: a) capturing and storing a first group of digital images using a digital camera; b) designating, in response to a user input, that subsequent captured digital images are to form a second group of digital images; c) capturing and storing a second group of digital images using the digital camera; d) identifying at least one favorite image for the first group of digital images, and at least one favorite image for the second group of digital images; e) storing data in the digital camera identifying the first and second groups of digital images, including data indicating the identified favorite images from the first and second groups of digital images, the stored data comprising one or more control files; f) transferring the first and second groups of digital images, and the data comprising the one or more control files identifying the first and second groups of digital images and the identified favorite images, from the digital camera to a computer, wherein the computer stores the transferred digital images in a directory, creates separate objects in a database for respective ones of the transferred digital images with each of the objects comprising fields for group and favorite information, and populates the group and favorite fields of the database objects with data read from the one or more control files; g) producing from the transferred digital images and the group fields of the database objects a first electronic album including the first group of digital images and a second electronic album including the second group of digital images; and h) using the favorite image from the first group of digital images to represent the first electronic album, and the favorite image from the second group of digital images to represent the second electronic album, the favorite images from the first and second groups being determined from the favorite fields of the database objects.