JP2006120076A - Image processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image processing method capable of easily creating a photo album. <P>SOLUTION: Images are selected on the basis of a rule called "degree of preference" about a large amount of image data when the images are used to create a photo album. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing method for performing automatic image arrangement processing when creating a photo album using digitized photographic images.

  Since photography was invented, a culture has been established in which individuals take photos and organize them as photo albums. In the past, it was common to develop a negative or positive film taken with a silver halide camera and select the one you liked from the photos that were baked on photographic paper, and then manually pasted it into the album. . In the following, this will be referred to as the “silver salt world”.

  On the other hand, with the spread of digital still cameras in recent years, it has become possible to take a large amount of photographs as digital data easily and to store and manage a large amount of photographed image data in a personal computer. It was. An image obtained by digitizing a conventional negative or positive film with a film scanner belongs to this category. In the following, this is referred to as the “digital world”.

  In addition, the price of inkjet printers that can output in photo quality has been reduced, and recently, so-called “borderless printing” has been realized that allows printing on the entire surface of paper, making it easy to enjoy home printing at home. These changes in the environment are being photographed as much as possible with a digital still camera, and new photo cultures are being established in which failed works are erased on the spot or only favorite photos are printed.

In the digital world, various album software are commercially available. These already have elements that can only be done digitally, and have functions such as freely changing the size, trimming, and adding comments.
JP 2002-49907 A

  However, in the digital world, too many images can be taken or managed using a personal computer, making it difficult to organize and making photo albums difficult.

  Also, if you use commercially available image management application software, you can view photos on a monitor using the “slide show function”, but this is the feeling that is required for conventional photo albums, that is, “Immerse yourself in memories.” I can't say that. Because we feel a kind of awe of psychology for something printed and bound in some way.

  In addition, things that couldn't be done easily in the silver salt world can be easily done in the digital world. For example, it has become very easy to freely change the size of a photo or trim a specific area. Moreover, in editing, not only can an image be arranged at a desired location in a page, but it is also a good thing to rotate it to an arbitrary angle or to apply a special effect to a sepia tone.

  In this way, despite the infinite possibilities in the digital world, the number of shots has become so large that it is incomparable to the world of silver salt, so the hurdle to image sorting becomes very high, In the end, creating a photo album required more patience than before.

  Considering the case of creating a photo album, it is natural to paste photos roughly in chronological order for some category (such as a child's growth record). However, simply arranging images in chronological order from a large number of images will include failed photos, and it is difficult to say that the advantages of the digital world are being utilized. Even so, it is a very laborious task to select images without any regularity while looking at a large number of images one by one.

  The present invention has been made paying attention to the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an image processing method capable of easily creating a photo album by reducing the psychological hurdle height. And

  Therefore, the present invention aims at creating a printed matter as a photo album rather than appreciating the photos on a monitor, and selecting a large amount of image data based on a rule of “favorite degree”. And a step of selecting a photo album page the user wants to create from a plurality of templates prepared in advance and setting the page of the photo album, and further, the number of images arranged in the set album On the other hand, based on the “favorite degree” added in the first step, there is a step of extracting an image and arranging it in an album. Further, priority is set in the photo arrangement area in the same page. The automatic placement is done based on the “favorite” from among the photos placed on the same page. To provide an image processing method according to symptoms.

  Further, the first invention of the present invention will be described as follows.

  (1) It has a first step for selecting a plurality of images belonging to the same category, and in the selecting step, a “favorite degree” of the sorter is added for each image as a key for sorting. And a second step of setting a photo album page. In the album setting step, an album can be set by using a plurality of photo album templates prepared in advance. A third step of creating an album, wherein the album creation step is arranged according to the album set in the second step, based on the “favorite degree” added in the first step. An image processing method characterized by extracting and arranging the number of photographs.

  Easy management of digital images stored in large quantities by centrally managing “favorites” as a key for image selection, reducing the workload of creating albums in the “digital world” A photo album can be created quickly and efficiently, and an optimal output as a “memory” can be obtained.

  Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings by way of examples. The present invention will be described in the form of application software that runs on a personal computer.

[First Embodiment]
The overall steps up to the creation of a photo album according to the present invention are shown in FIG. First, digital images taken in large quantities for the categories to be collected as a photo album are stored in the same folder in a hard disk of a personal computer, for example.

  For those images, “favorite” is set in order to select the images in S101.

  The “favorite degree” can be set, for example, according to a screen 200 as shown in FIG. First, the folder button 202 is used to designate the above-mentioned folder and display 201 the n-th image stored therein in time series. At this time, the button 203 can be used to advance to the next image or return to the previous image. Further, the enlarged button 204 may be used to display an enlarged image in another window so that the image can be confirmed in detail. Furthermore, it may be possible to specify that only the specific area 206 of the image is used as an image for the album by using a check box 205 for specifying trimming.

  In this way, while viewing the image, subjective evaluation is set for the image by the favorite degree lever 207. For example, a score may be given with a maximum rating of 100, or a rung rating such as a five-level rating may be used. In this case, since it is difficult to make a comparison, it is desirable to make an absolute evaluation based on the subjectivity of the album creator for the image.

  In step S102, an album page is set using a plurality of templates prepared in advance. At this time, the user can design the page while considering how many albums he wants to create and how many photos he wants to collect. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, templates are prepared that can form pages with a desired number of pages. Moreover, it is only necessary to prepare a large number of variation-rich templates whose backgrounds are designed like design templates. When setting the page, if the number of images arranged in the album exceeds the number of images for which “favorite” is set in S101, a warning may be issued (however, the present invention does not shoot). It is assumed that the number of images is considerably larger).

  In addition, although a template is shown for each page, it is needless to say that when a book is printed on both sides as a photo album, it is more preferable that the template is a single spread.

  Next, in S103, images are extracted and arranged based on the “favorite degree” added in S101 with respect to the number of images required for the album set in S102. Basically considering the nature of a photo album, images extracted based on “favorite degree” may be arranged in time series. However, in the same page, or where the page becomes a spread page when bookbinding, a priority order may be set for the arranged frames. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, when four images are arranged on a certain page, priority ((1) to (4)) is added to the place where the image is further arranged. The images arranged on the page may be further arranged based on the “favorite degree”. Thereby, for example, a favorite image in the page can be stored in a large frame. Of course, the priority added to the frame in this page may be not only the size but also the design priority.

  Finally, in S104, hand tuning may be added to the album completed up to S103. Here, the vertical / horizontal arrangement and the final frame size may be finely adjusted, or the image may be further rotated with respect to the template. The template is merely an initial setting, and the template referred to in the present invention is not intended to limit these operations. A special effect may be applied to each image. For example, you can create a more interesting album by making specific images sepia or illustrations.

In other words, since the object of the present invention is to reduce the work load up to S104, in S104, a photo album with higher added value can be finished by using a conventional image processing technique.
The completed album can be saved as data, as with normal application software, and an original photo album can be completed by printing and binding with an output device such as an inkjet printer.

[Other embodiments]
The present invention provides a software program for realizing the functions of the embodiments in a computer in an apparatus or a system connected to the various devices so as to operate the various devices so as to realize the functions of the embodiments described above. Implementations by supplying a code and operating the various devices according to a program stored in a computer (CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus are also included in the scope of the present invention.

  In this case, the software program code itself realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the program code itself and means for supplying the program code to the computer, for example, the program code are stored. The storage medium constitutes the present invention.

  As a storage medium for storing the program code, for example, a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.

  Further, by executing the program code supplied by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also the OS (operating system) in which the program code is running on the computer, or other application software, etc. It goes without saying that the program code is also included in the embodiment of the present invention even when the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized in cooperation with the embodiment.

  Further, after the supplied program code is stored in the memory of the function expansion board of the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, the CPU of the function expansion board or function storage unit based on the instruction of the program code However, it is needless to say that the present invention also includes a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by performing part or all of the actual processing.

Flow to photo album creation in the embodiment The figure which shows the concrete example of the setting screen in order to sort the picture Diagram showing an example of a template provided by application software The figure which shows the example of the priority with respect to the frame in the page of a template

Explanation of symbols

201 Image “Favorite” setting screen 201 Image display window 202 Folder setting button 203 Image selection button 204 Enlarged display button 205 Trimming designation check box 206 Trimming designation area 207 “Favorite degree” setting lever

Claims (4)

A first step for selecting a plurality of images belonging to the same category;
In the sorting step, the “favorite” of the sorter is added to each image as a key for sorting,
Furthermore, it has a second step of setting a photo album page,
In the album setting step, the album can be set using a plurality of photo album templates prepared in advance,
And has a third step of creating an album,
In the album creating step, the number of photos arranged by the album set in the second step is extracted and arranged based on the “favorite degree” added in the first step. Image processing method.   The image processing method according to claim 1, wherein the “favorite degree” is a numerical evaluation based on a subjectivity of a sorter.   The template can be set for each page. Further, when a plurality of photos can be arranged in a page, priority is added to the positions of the photos. 3. The image processing method according to claim 1, wherein the arrangement is performed based on the “favorite degree” added in the first step.   4. The image processing method according to claim 1, wherein, in the album creating step, various image processing can be independently added for each image to the album created after extraction. .