The present invention relates to applications for designing photo albums.
Digital photography has increased the number of images a typical user stores and manages. There is no longer the need to buy expensive, single use film. There is no longer the need to carefully manage this film both before and after development of the film into costly inconvenient prints. There is also no longer the need to carefully select shots to conserve film or money. Film has essentially become an unlimited resource.
Consequently, a typical user with access to widely available modern image acquisition technologies (e.g., a scanner, a camera, etc.) may store many thousands of images on even more widespread storage technologies (e.g., memory cards, magnetic disks, optical disks, etc.). As many photographers, both amateur and professional, have come to realize, the trick with snapping a few good shots is no longer simply having the right light or the right film. Although the traditional issues of image acquisition still exist, new complications of how to edit and manage the volume of image data accumulating on a typical computer hard drive now burden the typical computer user.
In the past, image collectors would develop, edit, and assemble hard wrought photo/journalistic creations into scrapbooks, photo albums, and other culminations or creative work of this sort. The development of computer applications for editing images and assembling the images have greatly reduced the effort needed to create a modern masterpiece out of a few pictures. However, the field of existing image management applications is still in its infancy. These applications suffer from lack of usability and may require users a high degree of technical knowledge and/or creative talent to produce a quality result or even any result. The existing applications may further limit a user's ability to customize their creations.
Thus, there is a need in the art to assist users in managing the volumes of their image data. There is also a need to allow users to edit and organize the image data into quality forms of expression. There is further a need to allow users additional means to custom tailor their creative works involving image data.
Some embodiments of the invention provide a computer-based application that allows its users to insert their pictures in a variety of different photo album books (called photo books below). Each photo book has several pages that have one or more picture fields for presenting pictures. Different photo books can differ in their size, themes, covers, page designs, page colors, picture-field designs, picture-field layouts, and/or other attributes.
In some embodiments, the application also allows the users to modify photo books that they select. For instance, in some embodiments, a user can modify the page design, color, frame design, and/or other thematic aspects of a selected photo books. Also, in some embodiments, the user can add picture and text fields to the photo book. Once the user has completed designing the photo book and inserting pictures in the photo book, the user can order the photo book through an online transaction that is initiated through the application.
The novel features of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. However, for purpose of explanation, several embodiments of the invention are set forth in the following figures.
In the following description, numerous details are set forth for purposes of explanation. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will realize that the invention may be practiced without the use of these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order not to obscure the description of the invention with unnecessary detail.
Some embodiments of the invention provide a computer-based application that allows its users to insert their pictures in a variety of different photo album books (called photo books below). Each photo book has several pages that have one or more picture fields for presenting pictures. Different photo books can differ in their size, themes, covers, page designs, page colors, picture-field designs, picture-field layouts, and/or other attributes.
In some embodiments, the application also allows the users to modify photo books that they select. For instance, in some embodiments, a user can modify the page design, color, frame design, and/or other thematic aspects of a selected photo books. Also, in some embodiments, the user can add picture and text fields to the photo book. Once the user has completed designing the photo book and inserting pictures in the photo book, the user can order the photo book through an online transaction that is initiated through the application.
I. Overview of Picture Editing and Organizing Application
Some embodiments of the invention are implemented by an application that is for editing and organizing photos.
For instance, in
II. Selecting a Photo Book Theme
The photo-organizing application illustrated in
When a user selects (e.g., through a click operation) the book icon 120, the application presents a window from which the user can select a photo book.
As shown in
As shown in
The window 400 also includes a selectable button 425 entitled “Choose Theme.” This button allows a user to select the photo book theme that is highlighted in the list section 405. In other words, through this button 425, the user can direct the application to present a photo book according to the photo book theme that is highlighted in the list section 405 with the size and covering that is specified in the drop-down menu 415. In some embodiments, when the user selects the “Choose Theme” button, the application provides the user with a notice 800 that is illustrated in
III. The Presentation of a Photo Book
Manual insertion of pictures in a selected photo book will be first described below.
When the user chooses to manually insert pictures in a photo book, the display section 905 can provide thumbnail views of the pictures that are to be inserted (i.e., that have not yet been inserted) into the photo book, as shown in
Initially, when the user selects to manually insert pictures in the photo book, the pictures that are previewed in the window 905 are all the pictures that are to be inserted in the photobook. These pictures can be the pictures that the user selects in the image display section 110 before selecting the book icon 120. On the other hand, when the user does not select any pictures in the image display section 110, the pictures that are to be inserted in the photo book are all the pictures that were displayed in the image display section 110 right before the user selected the book icon 120. For instance, in the example illustrated in
The thumbnail-preview section 905 can also provide a thumbnail preview of the pages of the photo book. Specifically, the thumbnail-control section 915 includes two icons 925 and 930. When the user selects the icon 925, the preview section 905 illustrates thumbnail views of the pictures that are to be inserted in the photo book, as shown in
The photo-album display section 910 presents one or two editable pages of the selected photo book. The user can enlarge these pages and/or navigate through them by using the view-adjust icons 950 and 955, scrolling arrows 940 and 945, and size-adjust scroll bar 960, which are illustrated in
Also, when the two-page view icon 950 is selected, the photo-album display section 910 presents to the user two pages of the photo book. As illustrated in
The user can also adjust the size of the presentation in the photo-album display section 910 by moving a slider 965 across the scroll bar 960. For instance,
When the user selects manual insertion of photographs in a selected photo book, the application in some embodiments presents the user with the front cover of the photo book. In some of these embodiments, the application automatically labels the front cover with the name of the source (in the source list 105) of the pictures for inserting into the photo book. For instance,
Some embodiments allow the user to change the title that is automatically applied to the photo book, selecting the title (e.g., by clicking over the title) and modifying it. In addition to the title, the front cover of a photo book can also include one or more user-editable text fields, such as fields 970 and 975 illustrated in
IV. Photo Book Pages
As mentioned above, a photo book typically has several pages that have one or more picture fields each. Each picture field defines an area on the page for displaying a picture. For instance,
The design of each picture field can be different in different photo books or even in the same photo book. For instance, the picture fields illustrated in
As shown in
Initially, when the user selects a photo book, the application presents the photo book based on the album's default page designs, colors, and picture fields of the selected photo book theme. The default page designs, colors, and picture fields of the photo book's theme are specified by graphic designers to maximize the expected appeal of a photo book. For instance, the designer of a photo book might avoid using the same number of picture fields in the same arrangement on successive pages of the photo book, especially successive pages that can be viewed concurrently.
V. Editing and Adding Photobook Pages
Some embodiments allow the user to modify different default thematic attributes of the pages of a photo book. For instance,
Specifically,
Once the user selects a different number of picture fields for a page, the application presents a layout of the new picture fields that the application's designer has previously specified as an optimal layout for such a number of fields on the currently selected page. This specification is based in some embodiments on just the currently selected page, while it is based in other embodiments on the number of picture fields that are currently presented on the adjacent page that can concurrently be viewed with the currently selected page. For instance, in
A user can also add pages to a photo book through the “Add Page” icon 990 in the edit-control section 920 illustrated in
Some embodiments also allow a user to add or remove a page to or from a photo book through the menu options presented on top of the application (e.g., through the drop-down Edit menu option, which includes Add Page and Remove Page commands). As shown in
VI. Adding and Removing Pictures and Picture Fields to the Photo Book Pages
Some embodiments allow a user to add and remove pictures and picture fields to and from the photo book by dragging pictures from the thumbnail preview display section 905. One way of adding a picture to the photo book is to drag the picture's thumbnail from the display section 905 to an empty picture field in the photo book. An example of such an operation is illustrated in
In
In addition, given that all three pictures on page 2 have a landscape orientation and that one of the picture fields 3805 has a portrait orientation, the application ends up displaying only a portion of the landscape picture that it presents in picture field 3805, as shown in
As shown in
Some embodiments also allow a user to remove a picture from a picture field without removing the picture field from the photo book. For instance, some embodiments allow the user to remove a picture through the menu options presented on top of the application (e.g., through the drop-down Edit menu option, which might include a Remove Picture command). Also,
Yet another way of removing a picture without removing a picture field is to drag and drop a thumbnail 4405 of a new picture over the picture field 3605, as illustrated in
When a user inserts a picture having a first orientation in a picture field having a second orientation, some embodiments perform one or more operations in order to maintain the expected aesthetic appeal of the page. For instance,
In the examples mentioned above, the application tries to maintain the expect aesthetic appeal of the page when a user inserts a picture with one orientation in a picture field with a different orientation by (1) switching to a new picture field with a different orientation that matches the orientation of the picture, (2) switching the position of text field(s) on the page, (3) changing size or orientation of other picture fields on the same page. In other cases, the application might perform other operations, such as (1) showing only a portion of the added picture in the picture field, (2) shrinking the new picture to fit the picture field, (3) placing a colored background in the picture field to smooth the coloring in areas in the picture field that are not covered by the new picture, etc.
VII. Editing Pictures and Picture Fields
Some embodiments also allow a user to edit pictures and picture fields. For instance, in some embodiments, a user can enlarge the presentation of a picture in the picture field.
When the presentation of the picture is bigger than the picture field, a portion of the picture is not displayed in the picture field. In such a situation, some embodiments allow the user to move the picture in the picture field to show the portion of the picture that the user want to appear in the picture field. The user can move the picture in some embodiments by selecting the picture (e.g., by clicking on it), and then performing a click-and-drag operation on the picture. For instance, in the example illustrated in
The user can also initiate the editing of a picture while designing a photo book. To do this, the user can select the edit option in a command window 4105 that the user can open on top of the picture (e.g., by performing a control-click or right-hand click operation while the cursor is the selected picture).
Through the command window 4105, the user can also (1) toggle the orientation of a picture field, as shown in
VIII. Automatic Insertion of Pictures
As illustrated in
As shown in
IX. Changing Themes
Through a Theme selection icon 994 in the control section 920, some embodiments also allow a user to change the theme of a photo book after creating the photo book based on another theme.
When the user confirms that he or she wishes to continue, the user is presented with the theme window 400 illustrated in
Once the user has completed designing the photo book and inserting pictures in the photo book, the user can order the photo book through an online transaction that is initiated by selecting a Buy Book command icon 996 in the control section 920.
X. Exemplary Flow of Potential Interactions
As shown in this figure, the process 7100 initially receives (at 7105) a request to generate a photo book for a collection of pictures. Next, the process provides (at 7110) the user with a list of available photo book themes that the user can explore. The process then receives (at 7112) the user's selection of a photo book.
Next, the process 7100 asks (at 7115) the user whether the user wishes to manually insert the collection of pictures selected at 7105. If not, the process 7100 automatically inserts (at 7120) the collection of pictures in the selected photo book and transitions to 7125. However, when the process 7100 determines (at 7115) that the collection of pictures will be manually inserted in the selected photo book, the process 7100 transitions to 7125 from 7115.
At 7125, the process receives from the user edits of the thematic attribute of the photo book. Based on these received edits, the process edits the photo book. Next, at 7130, the process 7100 receives from the user (1) requests to add and remove pictures to the photo book and (2) requests to edit the pictures and the photo book.
After the editing operations at 7130, the process 7100 receives (at 7135) a request from the user to clean up the remainder of the photo book (e.g., to take out unused pages and move up the pictures, if necessary). A clean up operation might be required if during the course of editing (e.g., adding, removing, moving) the pictures, space in the photo book that was originally designed for a picture is empty. In such a case, during the clean up operation, the process 7100 edits the photo book to remove all such empty spaces. For instance, if a page of the photo book includes three spaces for pictures and only two pictures are inserted in that page, the process 7100 would edit that particular page to provide space for only two pictures.
After the clean up operations at 7135, the process 7100 receives (at 7140) a request from the user to purchase the selected photo book. The process facilitates this purchase through an online transaction (e.g., a transaction through the Internet). After this transaction, the process ends.
XI. Computer System
The bus 7205 collectively represents all system, peripheral, and chipset buses that support communication among internal devices of the computer system 7200. For instance, the bus 7205 communicatively connects the processor 7210 with the read-only memory 7220, the system memory 7215, and the permanent storage device 7225.
From these various memory units, the processor 7210 retrieves instructions to execute and data to process in order to execute the processes of the invention. The read-only-memory (ROM) 7220 stores static data and instructions that are needed by the processor 7210 and other modules of the computer system. The permanent storage device 7225, on the other hand, is a read-and-write memory device. This device is a non-volatile memory unit that stores instruction and data even when the computer system 7200 is off. Some embodiments of the invention use a mass-storage device (such as a magnetic or optical disk and its corresponding disk drive) as the permanent storage device 7225. Other embodiments use a removable storage device (such as a floppy disk or Zip® disk, and its corresponding disk drive) as the permanent storage device.
Like the permanent storage device 7225, the system memory 7215 is a read-and-write memory device. However, unlike storage device 7225, the system memory is a volatile read-and-write memory, such as a random access memory. The system memory stores some of the instructions and data that the processor needs at runtime. In some embodiments, the invention's processes are stored in the system memory 7215, the permanent storage device 7225, and/or the read-only memory 7220.
The bus 7205 also connects to the input and output devices 7230 and 7235. The input devices enable the user to communicate information and select commands to the computer system. The input devices 7230 include alphanumeric keyboards and cursor-controllers. The output devices 7235 display images generated by the computer system. The output devices include printers and display devices, such as cathode ray tubes (CRT) or liquid crystal displays (LCD).
Finally, as shown in
While the invention has been described with reference to numerous specific details, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the invention can be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit of the invention. For instance, in the above description, numerous GUI operations (e.g., click, drag) are described while performing the above method. However, one skilled in the art will realize that other GUI operations may be performed to achieve the same results. Thus, one of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the invention is not to be limited by the foregoing illustrative details, but rather is to be defined by the appended claims.
This application is a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/032,322, filed Jan. 9, 2005, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,024,658. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/032,322, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,024,658 is incorporated herein by reference.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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Child | 13230818 | US |