1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to photograph printing, in particularly to the system and method of the photograph printing service.
2. Description of Related Art
Photograph is an important media for recording and displaying the activities of living, traveling and working. After the digital camera was invented in recent decades, the photograph can be generated and stored in digital files, which widely expands the use of the photograph.
As the internet technology is developing, nowadays the transmission of the photograph on the internet becomes much easier. Beside that, as the semiconductor technology keeps evolving, the capacity of storage device is increasing and its cost is cheaper. That provide users with more convenient in storing and using the photograph.
Although it is very convenient for users to store digital photograph in a storage device, somehow the need of printing out the physical photograph from digital format still exists. However, in some situations, users will still need physical photograph for memorial purpose or the others.
Generally speaking, there are few steps to print out photograph from digital files as follows. First, the customer has to choose the digital photo files to be printed, and then bring the digital photo files to printing shop. The customer has to wait for certain time and then go the printing shop again for getting the printed photograph.
However, there are several disadvantages among the above steps. The customer needs to arrive at the printing shop twice, the first time is for delivering the digital photo files and the second time is for receiving the physical photograph. And the time duration between the delivering the digital photo files and the receiving the physical photograph will also eliminate the desire to obtain the physical photograph. Because of the above mentioned inconvenience, user usually will wait for a long time to collect enough digital photograph files and then print them out.
Therefore, there are some web portals offering printing services, which allow user to upload digital photograph files through computers and the internet. After printing out from the digital photograph files, the physical photograph will be sent to the user by post. User will no longer need to arrive at the printing shop to print out the physical photograph.
Such web portals will offer printing services after obtain users' registration information which may include real name, phone number, address or even the credit card number. Such that the physical photograph can be sent to the user according to the name and address information and charged the printing and shipping fees according to the credit card information.
However, many users are not willing to provide personal information for registration on internet, not only because the data filling procedures are tiresome, but also because the account, password and related data need to be memorized to access the web portals. Beside that, a computer is needed for performing the above mentioned files upload procedures, which limits the application timing of the printing services and also reduce the frequency of using the printing services.
The main objective of the present invention is to provide a system for real-time photograph printing service and method for the same, which can send the captured digital photograph file through internet for printing out, and then send the physical photograph to the user by post.
For achieving the above mentioned objective, the real-time photograph printing service system including a personal terminal, a telecom terminal and a printing service terminal. The personal terminal is for capturing and storing a digital photograph file. The personal terminal device has a service executing button. When the service executing button is pressed, the personal terminal device can transmit the digital photograph file and a telephone number. The telecom terminal is for receiving the telephone number and providing a communication address according to the telephone number. The printing service terminal receives the digital photograph file and prints out a physical photograph. The printing service terminal can receive the communication address from the telecom terminal and send the physical photograph to the communication address by post.
Comparing to the conventional printing service, the user can send the captured digital photograph file through internet for printing out, and does not need to arrive at the printing shop. The printing service terminal can receive the communication address of the user corresponding to the telephone number of the personal terminal from the telecom terminal and send the printed physical photograph to the user. The user does not need to arrive at the printing shop for obtaining the printed photograph, and does not need to waste energy and time for delivering the digital photo files and the receiving the physical photograph. Besides, since the printing fee can be listed in the same bill of the telecom terminal, the user does not need to provide personal information for registration on internet, which can improve the convenience of the printing service and thus increase the frequency of using the printing services
A detailed description of the present invention will be made with reference to the accompanying drawings.
User can use the camera module 11 for capturing images and storing them as digital photograph files 4. After the digital photograph files 4 are stored, a service executing button 12 can be pressed to perform the click-to-print printing service of the present invention. The service executing button 12 is a physical button or a graphic icon displayed on a touch panel screen 13 when capturing images or reviewing the digital photograph files 4.
It should be mentioned that if the personal terminal 1 is a mobile phone, the telephone number 5 is the phone number dedicated to the personal terminal 1, and the telecom terminal 2 is the communication provider of the telephone number 5. The telecom terminal 2 can fetch the personal information of the user including the name and the communication address 6 according to the telephone number 5 from the database system thereof. In practical use, the user needs to provide only his digital photograph file 4 and the telephone number 5. No registration procedure and no any further personal information are required, which makes the printing service more convenient.
Moreover, if the physical photograph 7 is not for the user himself but for someone assigned, the user can further input the telephone number of the assigned person while the service executing button 13 is pressed to perform the service of the present invention. In this embodiment, the telecom terminal 2 is the communication provider of the telephone number 5 of the assigned person by the user. Therefore the telecom provider 2 can fetch the personal information from the database system thereof according to the telephone number 5, and then send the physical photograph 7 to the assigned person.
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Then, the telecom terminal 2 receives the telephone number 5 and provides the communication address 6 from the database thereof according to the telephone number 5 (as step S46). The printing service terminal 3 receives the digital photograph file 4 and prints a physical photograph 7 from the digital photograph file 4 (as step S48). The physical photograph 7 is sent to the communication address 6 by post (as step S50).
The telecom terminal 2 receives the telephone number 5 and fetches the corresponding communication address 6. The printing service terminal 3 receives the digital photograph file 4 and prints out the physical photograph 7. The telecom terminal 2 can receive the telephone number 5 from the personal terminal 1 or the printing service terminal 3. The printing service terminal 3 can receive the digital photograph file 4 from the personal terminal 1 or the telecom terminal 2. The detailed description is provided below.
The telecom terminal 2 can fetch the communication address 6 from the database thereof according to the telephone number 5 (as the step S614), and transmit the communication address 6 to the printing service terminal 3 (as the step S616). Therefore, the printing service terminal 3 can print out the digital photograph file 4 from the physical photograph 7 and send the physical photograph 7 to the communication address 6 by post.
In conclusion, the user will not receive any additional bill list. In another aspect, the printing fee and the shipping fee of physical photograph 7 will be listed in the original bill list of the communication fee of the telephone number 5. Therefore, the convenience of the printing service is improved, which will be appreciated by the user. By the way, the service provider may send the physical photograph 7 with the bill list from the telecom terminal 2 and other advertising sheets. That means the shipping fee can be deducted. And the real-time printing service can be more attractive and lower cost.
Although the present invention has been described with reference to the foregoing preferred embodiments, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the details thereof. Various equivalent variations and modifications can still occur to those skilled in this art in view of the teachings of the present invention. Thus, all such variations and equivalent modifications are also embraced within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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099141454 | Nov 2010 | TW | national |