Claims
- 1. A method for automatically adapting the page layout of a plurality of images to a boundary condition of an event, said method comprising the steps of:
(a) receiving a plurality of images having event-determining information that relates to an event to which the images pertain; (b) generating an event boundary for the plurality of images based on the event-determining information; and (c) laying out the images for the event into a page format wherein the page format of the images comprising the event is adapted to the event boundary determined for the event.
- 2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein step (c) further includes laying out the images for the event into a page format having a maximum number of images per page as predetermined via a user interface, wherein the page format of the event is further adapted to the maximum number of images per page.
- 3. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the number of images for the event laid out in step (c) includes a remaining number of images, fewer than the maximum number, for a last page ending with the event boundary.
- 4. A method as claimed in claim 3 wherein step (c) further comprises rearranging the remaining number of images into a page format for the last page that is different from the page format of the preceding pages of the event.
- 5. A method as claimed in claim 4 wherein the step (c) of rearranging the remaining number of images further comprises changing the size of at least one of the remaining images.
- 6. A method as claimed in claim 4 wherein the step (c) of rearranging the remaining number of images further comprises enlarging at least one of the remaining images.
- 7. A method as claimed in claim 4 wherein the step (c) of rearranging the remaining number of images further comprises overlapping at least two of the remaining images.
- 8. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein step (c) further comprises rearranging a remaining number of images into a page format for the last two or more pages of the event that is different from the page format of the preceding pages of the event.
- 9. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the event-determining information received in step (a) comprises at least one of date, time and image content corresponding to the images.
- 10. A method as claimed in claim 9 wherein the event boundary determined in step (b) is based on at least one of the date, time and image content.
- 11. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the images are obtained from the digitization of photographic film and the event-determining information received in step (a) comprises the capture date if that is available, and if capture date is not available then the date of film development, and if the date of film development is not available then the date of digitization.
- 12. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the number of images for the event laid out in step (c) that are spread over the last two or more pages of the event include fewer than the maximum number of images per page.
- 13. A method for automatically adapting the page layout of a plurality of images to the boundary conditions of a plurality of events, said method comprising the steps of:
(a) receiving a plurality of images having event-determining information that relates to a plurality of events to which the images pertain; (b) separating the plurality of images into the plurality of events based on the event-determining information, with each event having an event boundary determined from the event-determining information; and (c) laying out the images for each event into a page format having at least one predetermined user preference, wherein the page format of each event is adapted to the event boundary determined for that event.
- 14. A method as claimed in claim 13 wherein the predetermined user preference is a predetermined maximum number of images per page.
- 15. A method as claimed in claim 13 wherein an event may be separated into sub-events, and sub-event boundaries are determined from the event-determining information.
- 16. A method as claimed in claim 15 wherein the event-determining information for an event is time and date information and the event-determining information for a sub-event is image content information.
- 17. A method as claimed in claim 15 wherein the step (c) further provides that the images comprising each sub-event are never combined on the same page.
- 18. A method as claimed in claim 14 wherein the number of images for each event laid out in step (c) may include a remaining number of images, fewer than the predetermined maximum number, for a last page ending with an event boundary.
- 19. A method as claimed in claim 18 wherein step (c) further comprises rearranging the remaining number of images into a page format for the last page that is different from the page format of the preceding pages of the event.
- 20. A method as claimed in claim 19 wherein the step (c) of rearranging the remaining number of images further comprises changing the size of at least one of the remaining images.
- 21. A method as claimed in claim 19 wherein the step (c) of rearranging the remaining number of images further comprises enlarging at least one of the remaining images.
- 22. A method as claimed in claim 18 wherein step (c) further comprises rearranging the remaining number of images into a page format for the last two or more pages of the event that is different from the page format of the preceding pages of the event.
- 23. A computer program for automatically adapting the page layout of a plurality of images to a boundary condition of an event comprising: a computer readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon for performing the steps of:
(a) receiving a plurality of images having event-determining information that relates to an event to which the images pertain; (b) generating an event boundary for the plurality of images based on the event-determining information; and (c) laying out the images for the event into a page format wherein the page format of the images comprising the event is adapted to the event boundary determined for the event.
- 24. A computer program product as claimed in claim 23 wherein step (c) further includes laying out the images for the event into a page format having a maximum number of images per page as predetermined via a user interface, wherein the page format of the event is further adapted to the maximum number of images per page.
- 25. A computer program product as claimed in claim 24 wherein the number of images for the event laid out in step (c) includes a remaining number of images, fewer than the maximum number, for a last page ending with the event boundary.
- 26. A computer program product as claimed in claim 25 wherein step (c) further comprises rearranging the remaining number of images into a page format for the last page that is different from the page format of the preceding pages of the event.
- 27. A computer program product as claimed in claim 25 wherein step (c) of rearranging the remaining number of images further comprises changing the size of at least one of the remaining images.
- 28. A computer program product as claimed in claim 25 wherein step (c) further comprises rearranging the remaining number of images into a page format for the last two or more pages of the event that is different from the page format of the preceding pages of the event.
- 29. A computer program product as claimed in claim 23 wherein the event-determining information received in step (a) comprises at least one of date, time and image content corresponding to the images.
- 30. A computer program product as claimed in claim 29 wherein the event boundary determined in step (b) is based on at least one of the date, time and image content.
- 31. A method for automatically generating an album from a plurality of images related to a series of events and adapting the page layout of the album to a boundary condition of each event, said method comprising the steps of:
(a) receiving a first plurality of images having event-determining information that relates to one or more events to which the images pertain; (b) establishing a default page layout including a maximum number of images that will appear on each album page; (c) extracting the event-determining information from the first plurality of images; (d) storing the first plurality of images and the event-determining data in a database; (e) selecting a second plurality of images from the database, said second plurality of images comprising a plurality of events of interest to the user; (f) identifying and eliminating low quality images among the second plurality of images; (g) separating the second plurality of images into events based on the event-determining information, with each event having an event boundary determined from the event-determining information; (h) identifying duplicate images in each event; (i) interfacing with the user to eliminate duplicate images; (j) laying out the images for each event into a predetermined page format having a predetermined maximum number of images per page; (k) adapting the page layout of each event to the event boundary determined for that event; and (l) displaying the album to the user.
- 32. A method as claimed in claim 31 wherein step (g) comprises separating the second plurality of images into events based on the capture time and date of the images.
- 33. A method as claimed in claim 31 wherein step (g) further comprises separating the events determined from the second plurality of images into sub-events based on the content of the images.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)
[0001] Reference is made to commonly assigned copending application Ser. No. 09/163,618 [our Docket No. 78311DMW], entitled “A Method for Automatically Classifying Images into Events” and filed Sep. 30, 1998 in the names of Alexander Loui and Eric Pavie; Ser. No. 09/197,363 [our Docket No. 78713DMW], entitled “A Method for Automatically Comparing Content of Images for Classification into Events” and filed Nov. 20, 1998 in the names of Alexander Loui and Eric Pavie; and Ser. No. 09/274,645 [our Docket No. 79119DMW], entitled “A Method for Automatically Detecting Digital Images that are Undesirable for Placing in Albums” and filed Mar. 23, 1999 in the names of Andreas Savages and Alexander Louie, each of which are assigned to the assignee of this application.