IMAGE CAPTURE SYSTEMS AND METHODS

Abstract

An image capture system capable of a plurality of image capture processes is equipped with a button on its surface and a storage device storing a predetermined folder. When the button is activated, the system determines the active window thereof and automatically performs one of the capture processes based on the determination, thus an image shown on a display is captured and stored in the predetermined folder.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention can be more fully understood by reading the subsequent detailed description and examples with references made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of an image capture system;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing a button disposed on the image capture system;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an exemplary embodiment of an image capture method; and

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an active window and an image capture area.

Claims

1. An image capture system capable of a plurality of image capture processes, comprising: a button disposed on a surface of the image capture system;a display capable of showing at least one window of a program executed by the image capture system;a storage device coupled to the button and the display, storing a predetermined folder; anda capture unit, when the button is activated, determining an active window of the image capture system and automatically performing a corresponding process selected from the image capture processes based on the determination, thus to capture and store an image shown on the display in the predetermined folder.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the capture unit captures a desktop image shown on the display and stores the desktop image in the predetermined folder when the image capture system has no active window.

3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of a plurality of predetermined applications corresponds to one of the image capture processes.

4. The system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the capture unit captures a desktop image shown on the display and stores the desktop image in the predetermined folder when the active window does not belong to any of the predetermined applications.

5. The system as claimed in claim 3, wherein, when the active window belongs to a first predetermined application of the predetermined applications, the capture unit determines an image display area in the active window, captures and stores an image within the area in the predetermined folder.

6. The system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the capture unit captures and stores an image within the area in the predetermined folder utilizing the image capture function provided by the first predetermined application.

7. The system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the first predetermined application comprises an image media player application, a TV application, or a camera application for displaying realtime image data captured by a digital camera.

8. The system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the capture unit utilizes class name of the active window to retrieve the range of the image display area.

9. The system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: a user interface handler displaying a frame on the border of the image shown on the display when the button is activated.

10. An image capture system, comprising: an input device for triggering an image capture request;a display capable of showing at least one window of a program executed by the image capture system;a storage device coupled to the input device and the display, storing a predetermined folder; anda capture unit, when receiving the image capture request, determining whether an active window of the image capture system belongs to a first predetermined application of a plurality of predetermined applications, and, if so, utilizing an image capture function provided by the first predetermined application of the active window to capture and store an image shown on the display in the predetermined folder.

11. The system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the capture unit captures a desktop image shown on the display and stores the desktop image in the predetermined folder when the image capture system has no active window.

12. The system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the capture unit captures a desktop image shown on the display and stores the desktop image in the predetermined folder when the active window does not belong to any of the predetermined applications.

13. The system as claimed in claim 10, wherein, when the active window belongs to the first predetermined application, the capture unit determines an image display area in the active window, captures and stores an image within the area in the predetermined folder.

14. The system as claimed in claim 13, wherein the first predetermined application comprises an image media player application, a TV application, or a camera application for displaying realtime image data captured by a digital camera.

15. The system as claimed in claim 10, further comprising: a user interface handler displaying a frame on the border of the image shown on the display when receiving the image capture request.

16. An image capture method, comprising: storing a predetermined folder and a plurality of image capture processes in an image capture system;when the image capture system receiving an image capture request, determining an active window of the image capture system; andautomatically performing a corresponding process selected from the image capture processes based on the determination, thus an image shown on a display is captured and stored in the predetermined folder.

17. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein each of a plurality of predetermined applications corresponds to one of the image capture processes, further comprising when the active window does not belong to any of the predetermined applications, capturing a desktop image shown on the display and storing the desktop image in the predetermined folder.

18. The method as claimed in claim 17, further comprising: when the active window belongs to a first predetermined application of the predetermined applications, determining an image display area in the active window; andcapturing and storing an image within the area in the predetermined folder.

19. The method as claimed in claim 18, further comprising utilizing an image capture function provided by the first predetermined application to capture and store the image within the area in the predetermined folder.

20. The method as claimed in claim 18, further comprising utilizing class name of the active window to retrieve the range of the image display area.