Patent Grant
8799277
This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2008-6145, filed on Jan. 21, 2008 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to a portable device, a photography processing method, and a photography processing system using the same, and more particularly to a portable device to automatically tag a captured photo image and to transmit the tagged result, a photography processing method, and a photography processing system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a portable device is a terminal that is capable of being carried by a user and implementing a variety of operations using both wireless communication technologies and an application program. For example, the portable device may be a cellular phone, a Personal Digital Assistants (PDA), a smart phone, a Portable Multimedia Player (PMP), a digital camera, or a camcorder.
With the increasing development of communication technologies, the portable device has also begun to include a camera unit and a Near Field Communication (NFC) unit. Accordingly, the portable device provides a user with a variety of operations to easily capture and/or store desired moving images or still images, and transmits the stored images to another portable device.
If a photographer sets a mode of the portable device to an image capturing mode, the portable device displays a preview image received from the camera unit on a display screen. If the image-capturing key is entered, the images received from the camera unit are stored in a storage unit (such as a memory). During the image transmission, the user selects a photo-transmission item from among menus of the display screen using a navigation operation. The user searches for a target at which the photo will be received, and transmits the photo to the searched target using a wireless communication operation.
However, if the portable device captures a large number of photos during a short period of time and there are a variety of photos captured by another person, the user must change file names of the captured photos to a name of the photographer, resulting in greater inconvenience of use. Recently, a new technique capable of recognizing a user's face contained in the captured image using image recognition technology is being developed. However, the above-mentioned technique uses a high-performance processor and a long processing time, resulting in occurrences of incomplete recognition. The portable device including a limited processor cannot simultaneously perform the image-capturing operation and analyze the captured person in real time.
In order to transmit the captured image to another device, the portable device selects the photo-transmission item from among the menus of the display screen by the navigation operation, searches for a target person of the photo image to be transmitted, and performs a wireless communication operation. Accordingly, a large number of manual operations of the user are required, resulting in greater inconvenience of use and a long period of time.
Aspects of the invention to provide a portable device to capture a photo image, to automatically tag the captured photo image, and to transmit the tagged photo image to a target person, and a photography processing method, and a photography processing system having the same.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of processing a photo image in a portable device, the method including: capturing the photo image; displaying identification information of at least one neighboring item that is located in a vicinity of the portable device; and tagging identification information selected by a user, from among the displayed identification information, to the captured photo image, and storing a result of the tagging.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of processing a photo image in a portable device, the method including: capturing the photo image; collecting identification (ID) information from neighboring items; confirming ID information corresponding to the collected ID information; displaying a GUI element corresponding to the confirmed ID information; and tagging ID information selected by a user to the captured photo image, and storing a result of the tagging.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of processing a photo image in a portable device, the method including: capturing a photo image; collecting identification (ID) information from neighboring devices in response to a capturing of the photo image; confirming ID information corresponding to the collected ID information; displaying at least one GUI element corresponding to the confirmed identification (ID) information; and transmitting the captured photo image to a device having identification (ID) information corresponding to a GUI element selected by a user, from among the displayed at least one GUI element.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a portable device including: a display to display a GUI element; a camera unit to capture a photo image; a storage unit to store an address directory in which identification information is registered; and a controller to control a capturing of the photo image by the camera unit, to display identification information of neighboring items on the display, and to tag identification information selected by a user, from among the displayed identification information, to the captured photo image, and storing a result of the tagging.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a portable device including: a display to display a GUI element; a camera unit to capture a photo image; a near field communication unit to perform near field communication; and a controller to control a capturing of the photo image by the camera unit, to display identification information of neighboring items on the display, and to transmit the captured photo image to a device having an ID corresponding to identification information selected by a user, from among the displayed identification information, via the near field communication unit.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a photography processing system including: at least one first portable device to transmit respective identifiers (ID); and a second portable device including: a camera unit to capture a photo image, a near field communication unit to perform a near field communication, and a controller to control a capturing of the photo image by the camera, to control a collecting of each ID from the at least one second portable device by the near field communication unit, to confirm identification information corresponding to the collected IDs, to display a GUI element corresponding to the confirmed identification information, to perform tagging of identification information selected by a user to the captured photo image and to store the tagged result, and/or to transmit the captured photo image to a device having ID information corresponding to a GUI element selected by the user.
Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:
Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.
The portable device 10 includes a camera unit (not shown) and a near field communication (NFC) unit (not shown). The portable device 10 captures a target person contained in the captured area using the camera unit, generates the captured image of the target person, and collects IDs of the other (for example, peripheral) portable devices 20 and 21 using the NFC unit when the target person is captured.
The portable device displays at least one graphical user interface (GUI) element indicating the target person's information matched to an address directory on a display (such as a touch-screen) on the basis of the collected IDs, tags information of the GUI element selected by the photographer to the generated image, and stores the tagged result in the memory. Also, the portable device 10 transmits the generated image having an ID corresponding to the GUI element selected by the photographer using the NFC unit.
Each of the portable terminals 20 and 21 mounted to the portable device 10 includes a communication unit communicating with the NFC unit. Upon receiving the request from the portable device 10, the portable terminals 20 and 21 wirelessly transmit unique IDs of the portable terminals 20 and 21 to the portable device 10.
The portable device 10 and the portable terminals 20 and 21 are capable of implementing various operations using a wireless communication technology and an application program. For example, the terminals may include a cellular phone, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a smart phone, a Portable Multimedia Player (PMP), a digital camera, and/or a camcorder. The portable device 10 can support at least the camera operation and the NFC operation, and the portable terminals 20 and 21 can support at least the NFC operation.
The storage unit 12 stores computer codes and/or data for use in the portable device 10. For example, the storage unit 12 may store a scheduler, a phone book, and other storage data. The storage unit 12 may be a volatile memory (such as RAM) or a non-volatile memory (such as ROM, flash memory, or a hard disk drive).
The portable device 10 includes a camera unit 13 connected to the controller 11. The camera unit 13 captures moving images and photos. Furthermore, the camera unit 13 includes a lens equipped with a light-receiving unit and an image sensor to output an incident light beam of the lens as digital signals. The image sensor performs image processing on the analog signal incident on the lens, and outputs a digital image. The camera unit 13 can recognize tag information contained in the captured image. The tag information includes information indicating capturing conditions. For example, the tag information may include a file name, a file size, a file date, a device's manufacturing company, a device model name, a capturing date, a resolution, a flash use or unused status, a focal length, a shutter speed, an iris value, a distance to a target object (i.e., a target-object distance), an exposure correction, a light-measurement mode, etc.
The portable device 10 includes the NFC unit 14 connected to the controller 11. The NFC unit 14 performs a NFC operation between peripheral devices. For example, the NFC unit 14 allows two devices to perform a data exchange at a data transfer rate of 424 Kbps in a radio frequency (RF) band of 13.56 MHz. The NFC unit 14 can be wirelessly used in a near field of 10 m, though aspects of the present invention are not limited thereto. Furthermore, the NFC unit 14 can be compatible with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi/802.11, Ultra Wide Band (UWB), etc. The NFC unit 14 may be a low power unit, and may perform P2P data transmission. For example, the NFC unit 14 communicates with peripheral portable terminals, requests IDs from the peripheral portable devices, receives the requested IDs, and transmits the received IDs to the controller 11. Also, the NFC unit 14 receives a command from the controller 11, and transmits image data (e.g., photos) to the portable terminals of the target object.
The portable device 10 includes a display 15 connected to the controller 11. The display 15 may include a liquid crystal display (LCD). The display 15 displays a photographer interface (i.e., a GUI) providing a user interface between applications being executed on the operating system (OS). The GUI provides a program and file- and operation-options implemented with graphic images. The graphic images may include a window, a dialog box, a menu, an icon, a cursor, a tool bar, etc. Also, the graphic images may be arranged according to a predetermined layout. During the GUI operation, the photographer may select or activate the images in order to initiate operations associated with various graphic images. For example, a tagging button for image tagging, and a transmission button for photo transmission can be selected.
The portable device 10 also includes an input unit 16 connected to the controller 11. The input unit 16 enters data in the portable device 10. Specifically, the input unit 16 may be used to perform the selection associated with the GUI on the display 15. The input unit 16 may include a touch-sensing device that receives input data from a user's touching, and outputs the received data to the controller 11. For example, the touch-sensing device may correspond to a touch-pad or a touch-screen. The touch-sensing device recognizes the user's touch, and recognizes the touched position on the touch-sensing surface. Then, the touch-sensing device informs the controller of the touch, and the controller 11 analyzes the touch. For example, the controller 11 may begin a necessary action according to a specific touching of the user. The touch-sensing device may be based on a capacitive sensing, a resistive sensing, a surface-elastic-wave sensing, a pressure sensing, an optical sensing, etc. Also, the touch-sensing device may be based on a single-point sensing or a multi-point sensing. The single-point sensing may distinguish only a single touching from others, while the multi-point sensing may distinguish several touches that are simultaneously or successively performed. Thus, the input unit 16 may be a touch-screen that is arranged on the display 15 or is arranged ahead of the display. The touch-screen may be integrated with the display 15 or may be independent of the display 15. Furthermore, the touch-screen may be arranged in front of the display 15, such that the photographer may directly manipulate the GUI. However, it is understood that aspects of the present invention are not limited thereto. For example, the input unit 16 may use a voice recognition technology to receive inputs, may receive inputs through input devices such as a keypad or a dial, or may receive inputs through a touch device other than a user's finger. Accordingly, the input unit 16 may be a keypad arranged on the main body. The keypad may include number buttons of 0-9, a menu button, a confirm button, a transmission button, a call button, a DEL button, an END button, * and # buttons, navigation buttons (↑,↓,←,→), an image-capturing button, etc. Thus, the photographer manipulates the keypad such that a key input signal corresponding to a desired key is transmitted to the controller 11.
The captured image is displayed on the display 15 by the controller 11 in operation 101. As shown in
The portable device 10 displays the captured image, and collects unique IDs from other (for example, neighboring) portable terminals in operation 102. When the photo is captured and/or after the photo is captured (or in response to the capturing of the photo), the controller 11 requests IDs from the neighboring portable terminals of the portable device 10, and receives the requested IDs. As shown in
When collecting the IDs of the neighboring portable terminals 20, 21, 22, and 23 of the portable device 10, the portable device 10 measures a distance between the portable device 10 and each portable terminal 20, 21, 22, and 23 using, for example, a time gap between response signals of the individual portable terminals 20, 21, 22, and 23 upon receiving an ID request signal in operation 103. As shown in
As described above, when the captured image is displayed, a variety of buttons may be displayed on the LCD 30 (for example, the “DEL” button 31 to delete the captured image, the “SAVE” button 32 to store the captured image, and the “ID tagging” button 33 to perform ID tagging of the captured image). The DEL, SAVE, and ID tagging buttons 31, 32, and 33 may be located at a right upper part of the LCD 30. The above-mentioned buttons 31, 32, and 33 are displayed when the captured image is displayed. Although the above-mentioned buttons 31, 32, and 33 are illustrated as arranged at a right upper part of the captured image, it is understood that the above buttons 31, 32, and 33 may be freely arranged at any place.
If the photographer touches the DEL button 31 on the LCD, the controller 11 recognizes the DEL command such that a currently-captured image is deleted from a memory. If the photographer touches the SAVE button 32, the controller 11 recognizes the SAVE command such that the currently-captured image is stored in the storage unit 12.
If the photographer touches the ID tagging button 33 (as shown in
The controller 11 performs the mapping between the collected ID and the address directory, and displays one or more GUI elements indicating identification information corresponding to the ID in operation 105. As shown in
The GUI elements 50, 51, 52, and 53 may be associated with a specific mode. For example, the GUI elements 50, 51, 52, and 53 are displayed under the ID tagging mode. Furthermore, the GUI elements 50, 51, 52, and 53 may be displayed in various ways. For example, the GUI elements 50, 51, 52, and 53 may be located on the currently-displayed image, or may be formed of a semitransparent material having transparency of various levels, such that a current image arranged under the GUI elements 50, 51, 52, and 53 can be seen. Also, the GUI elements 50, 51, 52, and 53 are arranged at a predetermined position. For example, the GUI elements 50, 51, 52, and 53 may be arranged at a right upper part, a center part, a left upper part, a left lower part, or a left lower part of the LCD 30.
When the GUI elements 50, 51, 52, and 53 are displayed, individual GUI elements 50, 51, 52, and 53 may be arranged in the order of distance between the portable device 10 and each portable terminal, and the number of displayed GUI elements 50, 51, 52, and 53 may be limited. In this case, the GUI elements 50, 51, 52, and 53 are arranged in the order of distances from the GUI element 50, 51, 52, and 53 to the target-object distance of the captured image.
For example, assuming that the order of d1=d2>d3>d4 is established in association with the target-object distance of the captured image, the “PARK OO” button 50, the “JEONG OO” button 51, the “CHOI OO” button 52, and the “HONG OO” button 53 are sequentially arranged. Alternatively, the order of “JEONG OO” button 51, “PARK OO” button 50, “CHOI OO” button 52, and “HONG OO” button 53 may be established.
Referring to
After displaying the GUI elements 50, 51, 52, and 53, the photographer or user 40 selects a desired GUI element in operation 106. As shown in
As shown in
If the GUI element is selected (operation 106), the controller 10 determines whether the “Tagging” button is entered in operation 107. As shown in
If the “Transmission” command has been selected by the photographer or user 40 in operation 108, the captured image is transmitted to the portable terminal having an ID corresponding to the selected GUI element in operation 109. As a result, the screen image of
After the screen image of
In the meantime, if the photographer or user 40 has entered the “Tagging” button 60 of
After the tagging operation (operation 111) is performed, the captured image is stored in operation 112. Thereafter, the controller may inform the photographer or user 40 that the tagging operation has been completed on a screen 71 (as illustrated in
As is apparent from the above description, aspects of the present invention retrieve IDs of peripheral devices of a photographer when a photo image is captured, displays at least one GUI element indicating identification information on the basis of the collected IDs, transmits the captured image to a device having an ID corresponding to the GUI element selected by the photographer, tags identification information of the GUI element selected by the photographer to the captured image, stores the tagged image, performs a photo transmission operation and a tagging operation, improves user's convenience, data management, and search efficiency, and quickly transmits the photo image of a target person without using additional navigation operations.
Aspects of the present invention can also be embodied as computer-readable codes on a computer-readable recording medium. Also, codes and code segments to accomplish the present invention can be easily construed by programmers skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains. The computer-readable recording medium is any data storage device that can store data which can be thereafter read by a computer system or computer code processing apparatus. Examples of the computer-readable recording medium include read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), CD-ROMs, magnetic tapes, floppy disks, and optical data storage devices. The computer-readable recording medium can also be distributed over network-coupled computer systems so that the computer-readable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion. Aspects of the present invention may also be realized as a data signal embodied in a carrier wave and comprising a program readable by a computer and transmittable over the Internet.
Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.
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