In recent years, photography has been rapidly transformed by digital imaging technologies. Digital images can be captured by digital cameras or camera phones, stored in computers, and viewed on electronic display devices. Digital images can be uploaded from a user's computer device to a central sever provided by an image service provider such as Shutterfly, Inc. The user can store, organize, edit, enhance, and share digital images at the central network location using a web browser. A user can also design and order image-based products from the image service provider for the user herself or as photo gifts to others. A high degree of personalization can be achieved to make the image-based products memorable to the user and to the photo gift recipients.
The creation of personalized image products, however, can take considerable amount of time and effort. In addition, user interface for creating personalized image products are not available on small mobile devices on wireless camera phones. There is therefore a need for more convenient methods for creating personalized imaging products on camera phone and other digital imaging devices.
In one aspect, the present application relates to a computer-assisted method for automatically creating a picture strip at a user interface. The method includes displaying a template for a picture strip having two or more image receiving areas in a user interface on a display device; placing an image in one of the image receiving areas in the template in the user interface; displaying a circle around the image by the display device; displaying a handle in association with the circle by the display device; and allowing a user to drag the handle to rotate and to scale the image in the one of the image receiving areas.
Implementations of the system may include one or more of the following. The image can be rotated by dragging and moving the handle at least partially along the circular direction of the circle. The image can be scaled by dragging and moving the handle at least partially along the radial direction of the circle. The computer-assisted method can further include dragging and translating the image in the one of the image receiving areas to allow different portions of the image to be viewable in the one of image receiving areas. The computer-assisted method can further include displaying a delete button to allow a use to remove the image from the one of image receiving areas by touching the delete button. The computer-assisted method can further include determining the borders of the image at each orientation and position of the image; comparing the borders of the image to the borders of the one of image receiving areas; and selecting the size of the image to allow the one of image receiving areas to be fully occupied by a portion of the image. The size of the image can be selected at above a minimum size such that the one of image receiving areas is fully occupied by a portion of the image.
In another aspect, the present application relates to a computer-assisted method for automatically creating an image product at a user interface. The method includes displaying a template for an image product having an image receiving area in a user interface on a display device; placing an image in the image receiving area in the template in the user interface; displaying a circle around the image by the display device; displaying a handle in association with the circle by the display device; allowing a user to drag the handle at least partially along the circular direction of the circle to rotate the image in the image receiving area; and allowing a user to drag the handle at least partially along the radial direction of the circle to change the size of the image.
In another aspect, the present application relates to a computer device for automatically creating an image product at a user interface. The computer device includes a display device that can display a template for an image product having an image receiving area in a user interface on a display device; and a user-interface mechanism that can allow an image to be placed in the image receiving area in the template in the user interface, wherein the display device can display a circle around the image by the display device, a handle in association with the circle by the display device, wherein the display device and the user-interface mechanism allow a user to drag the handle at least partially along the circular direction of the circle to rotate the image in the image receiving area and to drag the handle at least partially along the radial direction of the circle to change the size of the image.
Implementations of the system may include one or more of the following. The display device and the user-interface mechanism can allow a user to drag and translate the image in the image receiving area to allow different portions of the image to be viewable in the image receiving area. The display device can display a delete button to allow a use to remove the image from the image receiving area by touching the delete button. The computer device can further include a computer processor that can determine the borders of the image at each orientation and position of the image, to compare the borders of the image to the borders of the image receiving area, and to select the size of the image to allow the image receiving area to be fully occupied by a portion of the image. The computer processor can select size of the image at above a minimum size such that the image receiving area is fully occupied by a portion of the image.
Embodiments may include one or more of the following advantages. The disclosed systems and methods provide a flexible system and user interface to allow a user to manipulate an image in an image template for creating an image-based product. A user can easily rotate and scale an image in the image template by controlling a single feature in the user interface. Specifically, a user can drag a single handle with a mouse or a touch sensitive screen to rotate the image as well as to change the size of the image. The rotation and size-changing functions can be assisted by a guideline such as a circle around the image.
In another aspect, the disclosed systems and methods provide a convenient way for a camera phone user to create and order image-based gifts for another wireless phone user without knowing the recipient's physical address.
The disclosed systems and methods can significantly reduce the time and effort for a user to create a personalized image product. The disclosed systems and methods also provide a novel imaging product format that can be easily carried and shared by users.
Although the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to multiple embodiments, it will be understood by persons skilled in the relevant art that various changes in form and details can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
The slender formats of the picture strip 100 make it easily carried around in a pocket, wallet, or inserted in a book or a note book. The format of the picture strip 100 is suitable for displaying a row of tiny images 111-115 in a group. These tiny pictures can display images captured by camera phones because some camera phones do not have large image sensors that can produce digital images at high enough resolutions for large image prints. Moreover, the users of camera phones with large image sensors may want to reduce the amount of the data wireless transferred by uploading a downsized version of the captured image to a network-based imaging system.
Referring to
When an image such as the image 212 is selected in the template 210, a handle 220 and a circle 230 appear in the user interface 200. The circle 230 surrounds the image 212. The handle 220 is positioned on the circle. A user can drag the handle 220 to move along the circular direction of the circle 230 to rotate the image 212. As a result, the image 212 at the center of the circle 230 is rotated from the orientation shown in
The directions for dragging the handle 220 are illustrated in more detail in
The user can also directly drag the image 212 to translate the image to move different portions of the image 212 into view in the template 210 (
When an image 211 or 212 is selected, the user interface 200 can also show a delete button 240 next to the selected image. A user can touch the delete button to remove the image 212 from the image receiving area 215.
In another novel aspect of the present invention, the blank gaps can be avoided in an image receiving area as an image is rotated in the image receiving area. As shown in
As shown in
The present invention claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/265,643, titled “Flexible user interface for image manipulation for an image product”, filed Dec. 1, 2009, by the same inventors, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/241,354, titled “Wireless imaging for personalized image product”, filed Sep. 10, 2009, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
61265643 | Dec 2009 | US | |
61241354 | Sep 2009 | US |