US5933137A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Method and system for acclerating a user interface of an image capture unit during play mode
Assignee: FlashPoint Technology Inc
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Filing: 1997-06-10
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Granted: 1999-08-03
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Expires: 2017-06-10
Abstract
Abstract A method and system for accelerating a user interface on a display of an image capture unit is disclosed. The image capture unit includes a plurality of image files for providing a plurality of images, the image capture unit further includes controls for allowing an image to be viewed on the display and for allowing navigation between the plurality of images. In a first aspect a method and system in accordance with the present invention comprises providing a low resolution image, medium resolution image and high resolution image within each image file and allowing the medium resolution image to be viewed on the display. In a second aspect a method for accelerating a user interface on a display of an image capture unit in accordance with the present invention includes a plurality of image files for providing a plurality of images, each image file includes a high resolution image therein. The image capture unit includes controls for allowing an image to be viewed on the display and for allowing navigation between the plurality of images. The method and system in accordance with the present invention comprises providing a low resolution image within each image file, the low resolution image being associated with the high resolution image within a particular image file, allowing the low resolution image to be viewed on the display and causing the high resolution image related to low resolution image to be displayed on top of the low resolution image dependent upon the quality of the low resolution image. The method and system also includes allowing for navigation between low resolution images based upon user interaction. Through the present invention the user interface allows a user to quickly review images in an image capture unit such as a digital camera or the like.
Inventors
- 👤 Eric C. Anderson
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-23 19:15
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N1/00; H04N1/32; H04N1/32101; H04N1/32128; G; G06; G06F; G06F16/00; G06F16/50; G06F16/54; G06T; G06T3/00; G06T3/04; G06T3/047; H04N1/00127; H04N1/00132; H04N1/00185; H04N1/00198; H04N1/0035; H04N1/00405; H04N1/00408; H04N1/0044; H04N1/00442; H04N1/00445; H04N1/00448; H04N1/00458; H04N1/00461; H04N1/21; H04N1/2104; H04N1/2112; H04N1/2137; H04N1/2141; H04N2101/00; H04N2201/00; H04N2201/32; H04N2201/3201; H04N2201/3225; H04N2201/3247; H04N2201/325; H04N2201/3261; H04N2201/3264; H04N2201/3274; H04N2201/3277
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 24
Claim 1
Independent Claim
177 words
A system for accelerating a user interface on a display of an image capture unit, the image capture unit including a plurality of image files for providing a plurality of images, each image file including a high resolution image therein, the image capture unit including controls for allowing an image to be viewed on the display and for allowing navigation between the plurality of images, the system comprising: means for providing a lower resolution image within each image file, the lower resolution image being associated with the high resolution image within a particular image file; means for allowing a lower resolution image to be viewed on the display; means for determining if a next lower resolution image is to be viewed on the display; means for providing a next lower resolution image on the display; and means for causing the high resolution image related to low resolution image to be displayed on top of the lower resolution image dependent upon the quality of the lower resolution image if the user has not scrolled to the next image.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
177 words
A system for accelerating a user interface on a display of an image capture unit, the image capture unit including a plurality of image files for providing a plurality of images, each image file including a high resolution image therein, the image capture unit including controls for allowing an image to be viewed on the display and for allowing navigation between the plurality of images, the system comprising: means for providing a lower resolution image within each image file, the lower resolution image being associated with the high resolution image within a particular image file; means for allowing a lower resolution image to be viewed on the display; means for determining if a next lower resolution image is to be viewed on the display; means for providing a next lower resolution image on the display; and means for causing the high resolution image related to low resolution image to be displayed on top of the lower resolution image dependent upon the quality of the lower resolution image if the user has not scrolled to the next image.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
28 words
The system of claim 1 in which each of the high resolution images comprises a JPEG image and each of the lower resolution images comprises a screennail image.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
31 words
The system of claim 2 in which causing the high resolution image to be displayed is dependent upon the resolution of the lower resolution image and the resolution of the display.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
35 words
The system of claim 1 in which allowing means further comprises: means for fetching the screennail image from the image file; means for decompressing the screennail image; and means for displaying the decompressed screennail image.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
40 words
The system of claim 1 in which causing means further comprises: means for fetching the JPEG image from the image file; means for decompressing the JPEG image; and means for replacing the decompressed screennail image with the decompressed JPEG image.
Claim 7
Independent Claim
163 words
A method for accelerating a user interface on a display of an image capture unit, the image capture unit including a plurality of image files for providing a plurality of images, the image capture unit including controls for allowing an image to be viewed on the display and for allowing navigation between the plurality of images, the image capture unit operating in a plurality of modes, the method comprising the steps of: (a) providing a low resolution image, medium resolution image and high resolution image within each image file; (b) allowing the medium resolution image to be viewed on the display in a first mode; (c) providing a plurality of low resolution images on the display in a second mode; and (d) selecting one of the plurality of low resolution images to be displayed as a resized low resolution image on the display, the resized low resolution image being a larger version of the selected one of the plurality of low resolution images.
Claim 8
Independent Claim
163 words
A method for accelerating a user interface on a display of an image capture unit, the image capture unit including a plurality of image files for providing a plurality of images, the image capture unit including controls for allowing an image to be viewed on the display and for allowing navigation between the plurality of images, the image capture unit operating in a plurality of modes, the method comprising the steps of: (a) providing a low resolution image, medium resolution image and high resolution image within each image file; (b) allowing the medium resolution image to be viewed on the display in a first mode; (c) providing a plurality of low resolution images on the display in a second mode; and (d) selecting one of the plurality of low resolution images to be displayed as a resized low resolution image on the display, the resized low resolution image being a larger version of the selected one of the plurality of low resolution images.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
53 words
The method of claim 6 further includes the steps of (b1) causing the high resolution image within the same image file to be displayed on top of the medium resolution image dependent upon the quality of the medium resolution image; and (b2) allowing for navigation between medium resolution images based upon user interaction.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
31 words
The method of claim 7 in which causing the high resolution image to be displayed is dependent upon the resolution of the medium resolution image and the resolution of the display.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
41 words
The method of claim 7 in which causing step (b1) further comprises the steps of: (b1i) fetching the JPEG image from the image file; (b1ii) decompressing the JPEG image; and (b1iii) replacing the decompressed screennail image with the decompressed JPEG image.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
16 words
The method of claim 9 wherein the low resolution images comprises a plurality of thumbnail images.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
40 words
The method of claim 6 in which each of the high resolution images comprises a high resolution JPEG image, each of the medium resolution images comprises a screennail image, and each of the low resolution images comprises a thumbnail image.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method of claim 11 wherein the plurality of thumbnail images and the resized images are displayed using the thumbnail image data.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method of claim 12 wherein the resized image is generated by multiplying the one of the plurality of thumbnail image data by a multiplication factor.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
16 words
The method of claim 12 in which the plurality of thumbnail images are in landscape format.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method of claim 12 in which the plurality of thumbnail images are in true orientation and aspect ratio.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
17 words
The method of claim 15 wherein the image capture unit includes a working memory and input buffers.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
38 words
The method of claim 16 wherein the input buffers are partitioned into a draw buffer and a display buffer wherein the draw buffer contains information relating to a selected image and provides that information to the display buffer.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
37 words
The method of claim 12 wherein an enhanced image file comprises a compressed image data, a thumbnail image data associated with the compressed image and image tags associated with the compressed image data and the thumbnail image.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
15 words
The method of claim 18 wherein the thumbnail images are cached into the working memory.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
14 words
The method of claim 11 in which the plurality of thumbnail images are cropped.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method of claim 20 wherein the resized image is generated by expanding the one of the plurality of cropped thumbnail images.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
35 words
The method of claim 6 in which step (b) further comprises the steps of: (b1) fetching the screennail image from the image file; (b2) decompressing the screennail image; and (b3) displaying the decompressed screennail image.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2002-08-02 | 2003-02-01 | 2003-08-03 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2006-08-02 | 2007-02-01 | 2007-08-03 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2010-08-02 | 2011-02-01 | 2011-08-03 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |