Patent Application
20050216283
The present invention is directed to image products that have related content associated therewith.
The present invention deals with the association of relevant content with respect to associated personal images that are to be provided on an image product in an unobtrusive and efficient manner. Relevant content may comprise additional information that adds to the pertinence or provides additional value to a consumer captured image. Relevant content may comprise other images, textual information, graphics or multi media content such as movies, audio or animations. The combining of pertinent relevant content with personal image results in a customized image product that is relevant to the owner of the image product. The relevant information may comprise information relating to an event or location at which the images were captured. The image products may comprise any desired product that includes images, for example, but not limited to, photographic albums, posters or books, and any digital representation of images such as interactive CDs, DVDs, digital image display or web based products.
A major problem that exists today with respect to the association of pertinent relevant content/information to custom personal images, is that a great deal of interaction is required by the customer to provide this additional relevant content. Quite often, the customer must engage in numerous steps to identify and associate the pertinent relevant content with respect to the images. For example, a customer must label the images to indicate key information, in either an analog or digital manner. While it has been suggested that a service provider can attempt to evaluate images provided to the service provider and add pertinent content, however, in many cases there is no way for the service provider to provide appropriate information that can be accessed by the service provider.
Thus, there is a need for making it easy to identify pertinent content and to automate the association of the pertinent content with the captured images.
The present invention provides a method and system whereby pertinent relevant content can be associated with captured images that are used to provide image products in an unobtrusive and easy to use manner.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for automatically generating a custom image product by a service provider for a customer, the custom image product having at least one image captured on image bearing medium by the customer and associated related content provided the service provider, the associated related content relating to an event or to a venue where the at least one image was captured, comprising the steps of:
These and other aspects, objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood and appreciated from a review of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and appended claims and by reference to the accompanying drawings.
In the detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention presented below, reference is made to the accompanying drawings in which:
a is a view of the front side of an order form for use in the method according to the present invention for ordering of the image product of
b is a view of the back side of the order form of
a and 5b respectively illustrate labels for placement on a single use camera that identify a particular theme in which images captured by the camera are to be associated on an image product;
a and 6b illustrate the front and rear views of a single use camera having placed thereon the labels of
a and 10b respectively illustrate the front and rear sides of a modified order form for associating pertinent relevant content with respect to images associated with said order form illustrating another theme;
a and 11b respectively illustrate the front and rear sides of another modified order form for associating pertinent relevant content with respect to images associated with said order form illustrating yet another theme;
a and 12b respectively illustrate the front and rear sides of yet another modified order form for associating pertinent relevant content with respect to images associated with said order form illustrating still yet another theme; and
Referring to
Referring to
Step 22 of the method is where the customer acquires form 21 that may be obtained by a variety of different ways. The form 21 may, for example, be obtained by the customer at an event or at a retail establishment. At next step 24 of the method, the customer determines whether or not the form 21 requires additional information. As previously noted, the form 21 in the embodiment illustrated allows for the providing of additional information 27 that can be used to identify additional relevant content to provide to the ordered image product. If the customer desires to provide this additional information, then at step 26 the customer provides the appropriate information on form 21. Otherwise, if there is no ability to provide additional information, or if the customer does not desire to provide such information, the customer proceeds to step 28 where the form 21 is placed in a processing envelope 29 (as illustrated in
The order envelope 29 includes all appropriate order information for processing of the image bearing media, as is typically provided in the prior art, for example, but not limited to, customer name, type of image bearing medium enclosed, and product being ordered. In the particular example illustrated, the envelope 29 allows the identification of 35 mm or Advance photo System photographic film. In addition, envelope 29 allows the indication that there is to be provided customer image product as indicated by the picture site information box.
The fulfillment provider, at step 32, after receiving the envelope and contents therein, determines if there is a form 21 present for ordering of a customized image product. If such a form is present, the fulfillment provider obtains the appropriate information for fulfilling of the order. At step 34, the fulfillment provider determines if there is additional information provided on form 21. Additional information is provided on form 21 as illustrated by numeral 27, the form 21 is scanned, by well known techniques (for example OCR, optical character recognition) at step 36 to obtain the appropriate information. This information is then used to identify relevant image content to be associated with the customer images with respect to the ordered image product. The scanning operation can also be used to identify indicium such as a bar code 31 that identifies the particular type of image product that is being ordered. It is of course understood that the form itself, without any bar code, may identity the particular image product being ordered, the theme and relevant content to be applied to the ordered image product. If there is no additional information, at next step 38 the fulfillment provider associates the order form 21 for the customized image product with the image bearing medium provided by the customer. If the image bearing medium has not been developed, such as in the case of photographic film, the image bearing medium is developed so as to obtain the images captured thereon. If the image bearing medium is film, the images developed are converted into a digital format. This is typically done by digitally scanning the developed film for obtaining a digital file of the images. The relevant content previously identified from step 40 is associated with the digital images that have been obtained. The relevant previously stored content is retrieved from stored digital memory. Then at step 42 the fulfillment provider produces the customized image product in accordance with order form 21. Since the order form 21 is directed to a specified type of image product having a particular theme, the output of the customized image product has already been determined. In the preferred embodiment, certain default stored digital images have already been pre-selected for placement in the image product 10. However, if additional information is provided, such as allowed by form 21, the default images or theme can be modified. For example, if the number of the favorite driver is provided at location 23 on form 21, a stored digital image related to the favorite driver may be placed on the cover 12 of the album in place of any default image that may be pre-selected for use in the image product designated by the form 21. Thereafter, the remaining album pages are provided in accordance with predetermined formats designated by the fulfillment provider for that particular image product at step 42. Once the image product 10 has been completed, it is delivered to the customer at step 44.
Referring to
Thus, it can be seen that there is provided a photo album that is automatically prepared for a customer that has a particular theme and incorporates customer images. The customer does very little other than supply the images and fill out minimal information on an order form. Alternatively, the customer may only need to select the appropriate order form if that order form has been fashioned to contain indicators only for the particular location or event where the forms are distributed, then the customer need not fill in any information on the form. The order form designates the type of output image product and theme that is to be associated with the image product. The providing of additional optional customer information is done in a manner that is quick and easy for the customer to use, preferably by checking appropriate selection on a form or providing additional information in the designated format. The selection format and additional information format is preferably provided in a format that can be machine read to allow minimal effort on behalf of the fulfillment provider in obtaining the information. Also, as previously described, the order form has machine-readable indicia that identify the image product and theme to be provided to the customer. Thus, there is provided an automated system that allows the ordering of customized image products by a customer that incorporates personal images and images of a particular theme.
It is of course understood that various other themes may be selected. Referring to
It is of course, understood that the fulfillment provider may do other acts to improve the quality of the custom image product. For example, but not limited to, the fulfillment provider may analyze the customer generated digital images to assure that they meet desired minimal quality considerations. The fulfillment provider may use algorithms for determining the suitability of images for use in the custom image product. Images that are either blank, low light or are otherwise not suitable for placement in the album can automatically be left out in a manner such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,535,636 by Savakis et. al. entitled Method For Automatically Detecting Digital Images That Are Undesirable For Placing In Albums. Thus, the quality of the album can be enhanced by the fulfillment provider using only images of an appropriate minimal quality. Alternatively, those images detected to be unsuitable may be placed in a viewing position such as at the end of a grouping or album so that they may be easily ignored. This section could be referred to as “out takes” to add a humorous aspect to the unsuitable images. Additionally, perforations or other means such as a binder with removable pages, may be provided on all images so that the unsuitable images as determined by the customer can be separated from the suitable images without the benefit of algorithmic analysis.
The form 92 is directed to a “new baby” form as illustrated by
In the previous embodiments, the form has been illustrated as being a separate form that is simply placed with the photographic image bearing medium in the order bag/envelope 29. However, it may be possible to provide the order form in different formats. For example, as illustrated in
Alternatively, the information for ordering may be provided directly on a sticker 100 that is applied to an image bearing medium cartridge 102 as illustrated in
Another alternative is to provide site or event specific processing bags or envelopes. Upon receiving the image bearing medium in the site or event specific envelope, the photofinisher automatically knows that the order is for event or site specific products.
In the previously described examples, photographic image bearing medium bearing customer images are provided to the fulfillment provider for producing of a customized image product. However, it is to be understood that the present invention may also be applied to digital images captured by a customer, for example, digital images provided on a customer computer or other device, in which case, appropriate software may be simply provided that provides the illustration of the order form, e.g. order form 21, on a display device. For example, the form 21, as illustrated in
The invention has been described in detail with particular reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention.
