WO2018023557A1

WO2018023557A1 - Method and device for storing and loading, including index, restore and display, data related to multiple pictures

Info

Publication number: WO2018023557A1
Application number: PCT/CN2016/093286
Authority: WO
Inventors: Han JING
Original assignee: ZTE Corp
Current assignee: ZTE Corp
Priority date: 2016-08-04
Filing date: 2016-08-04
Publication date: 2018-02-08
Anticipated expiration: 2019-02-04

Abstract

To improve the storing and loading efficiency of methods for storing and loading data related to multiple pictures, it is suggested, to store the data of a primary picture, to identify the differences between the data of the primary picture and a secondary picture, and to store this information as a first differential information.

Description

[Title established by the ISA under Rule 37.2] METHOD AND DEVICE FOR STORING AND LOADING, INCLUDING INDEX, RESTORE AND DISPLAY, DATA RELATED TO MULTIPLE PICTURES

The invention relates to methods for storing and loading data related to multiple pictures, comprising at least a primary picture and a secondary picture, wherein data of the primary picture is stored.

Further, the present invention relates to a device for storing and loading data related to multiple pictures.

Background

More and more people are using digital devices, such as electronic camera devices, mobile phones with camera function, smartphones and tablet computers, for taking pictures and for video recording. The user requirements regarding multimedia functions in this area are continuously increasing. Since the picture and video quality of such electronic devices becomes comparable to the photo and video quality of professional cameras, such as SLR-cameras, more and more pictures and videos with high resolution and large memory size are taken with electronic devices and stored internally on the electronic device or externally.

Picture management software, such as a picture gallery program, is commonly used for displaying and managing many picture and video files stored internally on electronic devices or on an external storage device. Such picture management programs may also include functions for editing and modifying pictures and videos. However, if too many pictures are stored on the internal storage of an electronic device, the loading and viewing of such pictures and videos becomes slower and slower. Furthermore, due to the large file size of pictures and videos loading such data from an external memory to the electronic device requires a lot of bandwidth and may become very slow.

Summary

The present invention relates to a method for storing data related to multiple pictures comprising at least a primary picture and a secondary picture, wherein data of the primary picture is stored. According to the inventive storing method it is suggested that information related to differences between the data of the primary picture and data of the secondary picture is determined and wherein this information is stored as a first differential information.

The data of the secondary picture can be fully restored based on the stored data of the primary picture and the first differential information. Therefore, the present invention also suggests a method for loading data of at least one of multiple pictures, the multiple pictures comprising at least a primary picture and a secondary picture, wherein the data of the primary picture is loaded. According to the inventive loading method, the first differential information related to the differences between the data of the primary picture and data of the secondary picture is loaded. The data of the secondary picture is restored using the data of the primary picture and the first differential information.

The present invention also proposes a device for storing data related to multiple pictures comprising at least a primary picture and a secondary picture, and/or for restoring data of at least one of the multiple pictures. The device maybe configured for storing and loading and restoring data applying a combined storing and loading method.

Brief description of the drawing

In the following, the present invention is being described based on preferred embodiments of the invention.

Figure 1: shows a block diagram with steps of a method for storing data related to multiple pictures；

Figure 2: shows a block diagram with steps for a method for loading data related to multiple pictures；

Figure 3: shows a device with a system comprising modules for storing and loading data related to multiple pictures；

Figures 4a and 4b: show methods steps for storing and loading data related to multiple pictures, based on an example of editing an original picture；

Figures 5a and 5b: show the method steps for storing and loading data related to multiple pictures, based on an example of a series of multiple pictures taken by burst shooting；

Figure 6: shows method steps related to another example of a group of multiple pictures；

Figures 7a and 7b: show different examples of storing and loading data related to multiple pictures； and

Figure 8: shows a device for storing and loading and restoring data related to multiple pictures.

Detailed description

The differences between pictures, such as between the primary picture and the secondary picture, can be minimal. For example, the difference can only be a few bits or even only one singe bit. Therefore, the first differential information stored is minimal, which improves the storing and loading efficiency. The first differential information may be less than 25％of an entire data of the primary picture or the secondary picture. The first differential information may be even less than 15％or 10％of an entire data of the primary picture or the secondary picture.

The multiple pictures can be understood as a group or series of at least two pictures. The group or series can also comprise more than two pictures. These pictures may be independent from each other. Alternatively, these pictures maybe derived from each other.

In accordance with the present invention these pictures are called primary picture, secondary picture, tertiary picture, quaternary picture, and so forth. This naming of the pictures is not related to any order, in which these pictures have been originally taken or generated. Furthermore, this naming is not related to any classification of the pictures. In particular, this naming is not related to original or edited or modified pictures. In particular, the primary picture may be an original or an edited or a modified picture. In accordance with the present invention, the primary picture is always the one picture, which is being stored by the inventive storing method. The other pictures, such as the secondary picture, a tertiary picture or a quaternary picture are not being stored separately. Therefore, differential information between always two of the pictures is being stored instead.

The data of the primary picture and the first differential information may be stored to a non-volatile memory, such as a hard disk or a flash storage memory. Furthermore, the data of the primary picture and/or the first differential information may be stored internally on an electronic device or externally, for example on a server.

The data of a picture, for example the data of the primary picture can be the content of the picture. The differential information between two pictures, for example between the primary picture and the secondary picture, comprises the information related to the differences between the data of the two pictures. For example, an original picture is being converted into a black/white-version or into a greyscale-version. Then, the differential information between the original picture and the new picture is the information about this conversion. Another example might be the editing of a picture, e.g. cutting or extracting a part of the entire picture. In this case, the new and edited picture only contains the extracted parts. The differential information between the original and the new edited picture comprises in this case the parts removed from the original picture. Yet another example might be to add a drawing such as for example a frame to a picture. The new edited picture is in this case the original picture including the added part, such as for example the frame. The differential information between the original picture and the new edited picture is only the added part such as for example the frame. The differential information might be information that can be represented with a single bit or very few bits, for example the information may be that the secondary picture is flipped or mirrored vertically with respect to the primary picture. The information may also be a bit-wise difference, for example, the differential information may be the difference of RGB values or the like for every pixel or picture point of the secondary and the primary picture.

According to the present invention, the differential information always refers to information related to differences between the data of two different pictures. The first differential information refers to the information related to the differences between the data of the primary picture and the data of the secondary picture. A second differential information may relate to differences between the data of the secondary picture and data of a tertiary picture. A third differential information may relate to differences between the data of the tertiary picture and data of a quaternary picture.

According to the present invention, restoring can be understood as generating the data of a requested picture, for example a secondary picture, based on the loaded data of the primary picture and the differential information, for example the first differential information.

With the inventive storing and loading methods, the storage efficiency as well as the loading efficiency of data related to multiple pictures is being improved compared to methods used in the prior art. The inventive methods require less storage resources internally on an electronic device and/or externally. According to the inventive methods, only the data of one single picture of a group of multiple pictures is being stored. More particularly, only the primary picture of a group of multiple pictures is being stored. Depending on the degree of similarities or differences between the multiple pictures, in particular between the primary picture and the secondary picture, the differential information, in particular the first differential information, requires much less memory than storing the entire data of the secondary picture separately.

The entire data of the primary picture may be stored. For example, the entire data and information of the primary picture can be stored as a graphic file in a common format (e.g. jpeg) . In particular, the complete picture data of the primary picture is stored.

Regarding the secondary picture only the first differential information may be stored separately. Therefore, the entire data of the secondary picture may not be stored as a picture file contrary to the data of the primary picture. Only the differential information, including the information regarding the differences between the primary file and the secondary file, may be stored as information regarding the secondary picture. In particular, no other information regarding to the secondary picture is stored.

Together with the primary picture an index may be stored. This index can indicate that the first differential information including the information related to differences between the data of the primary picture and the data of the secondary picture has been stored. This index therefore provides the information that the present primary and/or secondary picture belongs to a group or series of pictures including at least one additional picture, in particular the secondary picture. Furthermore, this index provides the information regarding an existing differential information with which the additional picture, for example the secondary picture, can be restored. Such an index may be stored within the picture file. In this case, the index is stored within the picture file including the data of the primary picture. Alternatively or additionally, such an index can be stored in a separate file and/or within the picture file referencing the secondary picture.

Furthermore, an index table maybe generated and stored, wherein the index table can include a list of multiple primary pictures and/or a list of multiple secondary pictures with stored indexes. Such a file including the index table can therefore comprise the information about multiple primary pictures. In particular, the table may include a list of primary pictures with indexes stored, meaning that the table includes the list of such primary and/or secondary pictures, for which differential information data exist. The table may also include other primary files, for which no index was stored. In this case, the table includes the particular information for each primary file, whether an according index (information regarding an existing differential information separately stored) exists. The table may also include a path or a link to a file including the according differential information for each particular primary and/or secondary picture. For example, the table may include the names of the files including the differential information and/or the location where the according differential information files are stored for each individual primary picture. The index can therefore also be regarded as a kind of label indicating, that differential information has been generated for a particular primary picture, wherein at least one other picture, e.g. a secondary picture, can be restored.

Additionally, to the primary picture and the secondary picture, the multiple pictures can comprise more pictures, for example a tertiary picture. In this case, the data of only one single picture out of these multiple pictures is stored completely, for example as a graphic file (e.g. jpeg) . This single picture, for which the complete data is stored is called the primary picture according to the present invention. For the other pictures, the secondary picture, the tertiary picture, and so forth, only the differential information between the according picture and another picture is stored as the first differential information, the second differential information, the third information, and so forth. For example, information related to differences between the data of the primary picture and data of the tertiary picture maybe determined and stored as the second differential information. Alternatively, information related to differences between the data of the secondary picture and data of the tertiary picture maybe determined and stored as the second differential information. Differential information for multiple more pictures maybe stored, enabling to restore multiple pictures based on only one single stored picture (the primary picture) and differential information for each individual other picture (secondary picture, tertiary picture, quaternary picture, and so forth) .

The differential information for all pictures can be stored separately to enable the possibility of restoring every single picture. Therefore, according to the present invention, the first differential information can include the information regarding the difference between the primary and the secondary picture. The second differential information can include the information regarding the difference between the secondary and the tertiary picture. The third differential information can include the information regarding the difference between the tertiary and the quaternary picture.

Additionally or alternatively, the first differential information can include the information regarding the difference between the primary and the secondary picture the second differential information may include the information regarding the difference between the primary and the tertiary picture. The third differential information may include the information regarding the difference between the primary and the quaternary picture.

Additionally or alternatively, a summed differential information may be stored for multiple pictures. Instead or in addition to storing the differential information for each individual additional picture (secondary picture, tertiary picture, quaternary picture, and so forth) a summed differential information regarding the difference between the first and the last picture, or any picture between, or always every second picture, can be stored. This summed differential information may be generated by adding or combining the individual separate differential information, in particular the first differential information, the second differential information, the third differential information, and so forth. This enables to restore data of a particular requested picture in one step, without the need of restoring every single picture data until a particular requested picture has been restored. For example, an original picture is being edited several times. For every single step, a differential information is stored. The latest edited picture version is regarded as a primary picture and the according data is stored. The previous picture can then be regarded as a secondary picture and the according first differential information is stored. The picture before the previous picture is regarded as a tertiary picture and the according information is stored as a second differential information. The original picture maybe regarded as a quaternary picture and the according information is stored as the third differential information. If a summed differential information between the original picture (in this case for example the quaternary picture) and the latest edited picture (the primary picture) has been stored, it is possible to restore the original picture in one step using the summed differential information instead of restoring the picture in three separate steps using the first differential information, the second differential information and finally the third differential information.

The second differential information may be less than 25％of an entire data of the primary picture or the secondary picture or the tertiary picture. The second differential information may be even less than 15％or 10％of an entire data of the primary picture or the secondary picture or the tertiary picture. The third differential information may be less than 25％of an entire data of the primary picture or the secondary picture or the tertiary picture or the quaternary picture. The third differential information may be even less than 15％or 10％of an entire data of the primary picture or the secondary picture or the tertiary picture or the quaternary picture.

In particular, data of an original picture maybe loaded and edited or modified, wherein the edited or modified data is stored as a data of the primary picture. The data of the original picture may than be replaced with the first differential information including the information regarding the differences between the primary picture (edited picture) and the original picture, which is according to the present invention considered as the secondary picture. An original picture can be a picture, as it was originally taken, for example with a camera. According to the present invention, an original picture can also be any picture as currently stored, and therefore be regarded as a current picture. Alternatively, the primary picture may also be regarded as the original picture. In this case, not the data of the edited picture is stored as a picture file, but the data of the original picture is stored as a picture file. Then, the differential information between the original picture and the edited picture can be stored as a first differential information, enabling the method to restore not the originally picture but the edited picture.

A series of multiple pictures may be generated by taking the pictures sequentially, wherein the data of only one of the picture is stored as a data of the primary picture. For each remaining picture, the differential information regarding differences to previous or following pictures is stored. For example, a series of multiple pictures can be taken by using a burst mode of a camera. Up to ten, 20 or even more pictures can be taken using such a burst mode of a camera. Alternatively, the series of multiple pictures can include any pictures sequentially taken. For example, the series of multiple pictures can comprise self-portraits taken after each other. In this case, the primary picture may be the first or last picture of the series of the multiple pictures. Again, only the data of the primary picture is stored completely, e.g. as a graphic file.

A group of multiple pictures may also be generated differently. Any group comprising multiple pictures can be chosen or generated, wherein the data of only one single picture, which is according to the present invention called the primary picture, is stored completely. Then, differential information for each individual other picture of the group of multiple pictures, always including the information regarding differences of two of such pictures, is generated and stored, instead of storing the data of the individual other pictures completely.

The group of multiple pictures may be generated by identifying pictures with a predefined minimum degree of similarities and/or by identifying pictures taken within a predefined time period. In particular, the method may comprise an additional step including an analysis algorithm to identify and generate a group of multiple pictures. A predefined minimum degree of similarities may be 20％or 50％or 60％. This means that pictures comprising at least 20％or 50％or 60％similarities would be identified and grouped. A predefined time period may be one second or one minute. This means that pictures taken within one second or one minute would be identified and grouped. The probability that pictures taken within a short time period comprise a high degree of similarities is relatively high.

The present invention also proposes a method for loading the data. The data of the primary picture is loaded. Additionally, the differential information, for example the first differential information, related to the difference between the data of the primary picture and the data of the secondary picture is loaded. Then, the data of the secondary picture can be restored using the data of the loaded primary picture and the first differential information. According to the present invention, more than just one other picture (e.g. the secondary picture) can be restored. The data of multiple more pictures, e.g. a tertiary picture and a quaternary picture, can be restored using the according differential information stored together with the complete data of the primary picture. For example, the data of the secondary picture may be restored using the first differential information. The data of the tertiary picture may be restored loading and using the second differential information. The data of the quaternary picture may be restored by loading and using the third differential information.

In particular, the inventive loading method is configured to restore data of multiple pictures (e.g. a secondary picture, a tertiary picture, a quaternary picture) using the data of the stored primary picture and the according differential information (e.g. the first differential information, the second differential information and the third differential information) stored based on a storing method described above.

Additionally, the present invention suggests a combined method for storing data related to multiple pictures and for loading data of at least one of the multiple pictures. Such a combined storing and loading method may comprise the steps for storing data and the steps for loading and restoring data as described above. Such a combined method for storing and loading data may be implemented in a program managing and organizing pictures. Such a program using a combined method would be able to view, edit and store pictures with an improved storing and loading efficiency.

The methods described herein may be performed by software in machine readable form on a tangible storage medium e.g. in the form of a computer program comprising computer program code means adapted to perform all the steps of any of the methods described herein when the program is run on a computer and where the computer program may be embodied on a computer readable medium. Examples of tangible (or non-transitory) storage media include disks, thumb drives, memory cards etc. and do not include propagated signals. The software can be suitable for execution on a parallel processor or a serial processor such that the method steps may be carried out in any suitable order, or simultaneously.

The present invention therefore also relates to a computer storage medium storing a computer program configured to execute a storing method and/or a loading method described above. Such a computer storage medium may comprise a set of instructions. When the instructions are executed, at least one processor is caused to execute the storing and/or loading method described.

This acknowledges that firmware and software can be valuable, separately tradable commodities. It is intended to encompass software, which runs on or controls “dumb” or standard hardware, to carry out the desired functions. It is also intended to encompass software which “describes” or defines the configuration of hardware, such as HDL (hardware description language) software, as is used for designing silicon chips, or for configuring universal programmable chips, to carry out desired functions.

The device may be a portable electronic device comprising a processor in communication with a memory. The memory may comprise computer executable instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to execute the storing and/or loading method.

The device may further comprise a display screen and/or a camera, wherein the processor is in communication with the display screen and/or the camera.

The device may in particular be an electronic mobile device such as for example an electronic camera device, a mobile phone, a smartphone, or a tablet computer.

Any of the preferred features may be combined as appropriate, as would be apparent to a skilled person, and may be combined with any of the aspects of the invention.

Embodiments of the present invention are described below by way of example only. These examples represent the best ways of putting the invention into practice that are currently known to the Applicant although they are not the only ways in which this could be achieved. The description sets forth the functions of the example and the sequence of steps for constructing and operating the example. However, the same or equivalent functions and sequences may be accomplished by different examples.

Figure 1 shows a block diagram with basic method steps for storing data related to

multiple pictures

10a, 10b, 10c. Figure 1 shows the example based on a minimum of two pictures, namely a primary picture 10a and a secondary picture 10b. The method includes the step S201 of storing the data of the primary picture 10a. Furthermore, the method includes the step S202 of determining differences between the primary picture 10a and a secondary picture 10b. This difference delta 1 is stored as a first differential information 11 in step S203.

Figure 2 shows the basic steps of a loading method related to

multiple pictures

10a, 10b, 10c based on the minimum amount of two pictures. Figure 2 shows the example for restoring the secondary picture 10b based on the primary picture 10a and the first differential information 11, both stored by the method shown in figure 1.

The loading method comprises the step S211 of loading the data of the primary picture 10a. Furthermore, the loading method comprises a step of loading the first differential information 11 related to the differences between the data of the primary picture 10a and the data of the secondary picture 10b. After loading the data of the primary picture 10a and loading the first differential information 11, the data of the secondary picture 10b is restored in step S213.

Both figures 1 and 2 show the basic structure of the storing method and the loading method. Concrete example applications, where the storing and loading method can be applied, are described in figures 4, 5 and 6.

The picture, which is completely stored as a picture file is called the primary picture 10a. Further pictures, for which only

differential information

11, 12, 13 is being stored are called secondary picture 10b, tertiary picture 10c, quaternary picture, and so forth. The wording “primary” is not related to any classification of the picture, such as for example to an original picture, a first picture or a last picture of a series. Instead, according to the present invention, the primary picture 10a is always the picture for which the data is fully stored. The data of the other pictures, such as the secondary picture 10b, and the tertiary picture 10c, is not separately stored, instead only the

differential information

11, 12 is stored for those pictures.

Figure 3 shows a device 100 comprising a unit 110 with modules representing the storing and loading method. The example shown in figure 3 is an electronic mobile device with a camera 112 and a display 111. The unit 110 comprises a picture gallery module 120, a storage module 121, a displaying module 122 and an imaging processing module 123. The unit 110 is configured to manage and organize pictures. For example, pictures taken by the camera 112 of the device 100 can be stored with the storage module 121 and displayed with the displaying module 122. Furthermore, such pictures can be edited and processed by the image processing module 123. After editing and processing a picture, the edited picture will be stored by the storage module 121, wherein the data of the originally stored picture will be replaced by a first differential information 11 related to the differences between the data of the original picture and the edited picture. Therefore, the original picture is not separately stored, but may be restored any time by using the stored data of the edited picture and the first differential information 11. In such an example, the edited picture is considered as the primary picture 10a, wherein the original picture is considered as the secondary picture 10b.

Figures 4a and 4b show a first example application for the storing and loading method. This example relates to editing or modifying an original picture. Figure 4a shows method steps for viewing, editing a picture and storing the related data.

After a picture gallery of opened in step S301, the pictures stored internally on a device 100 (not shown in figures 4a and 4b) or externally, can be viewed in step S302. The method further comprises the step S303 of editing and processing one or

multiple pictures

10a, 10b, 10c. In step S304 the information related the differences between the data of two different pictures, such as between the data of the edited picture, namely the primary picture 10a, and the original picture, namely the secondary picture 10b, is determined in step S304. Next, the data of the edited picture, namely the primary picture 10a, is stored in step S305. Furthermore, in step S305 the information related the differences between the data of the primary picture 10a and the data of the secondary picture 10b is stored as a first differential information 11 and an index table is updated accordingly.

The index table comprises a list of primary pictures 10a and/or

secondary pictures

10b, 10c and an according index indicating, whether

differential information

11, 12, 13 is available for the individual primary picture 10a. In other words, the index indicates, whether

additional pictures

10b, 10c can be restored based on an according primary picture 10a and an according

differential information

11, 12, 13.

Figure 4b shows the step for loading and viewing

multiple pictures

10a, 10b, 10c, for which data has been stored based on a method shown in figure 4a.

After a picture gallery has been opened in step S401, the primary picture 10a can be loaded and viewed. It is then identified in step S402, whether the primary picture 10a has been edited and whether

differential information

11, 12, 13 is available for restoring

further pictures

10b, 10c. If the according index indicates for an individual primary picture 10a that this particular primary picture 10a is an edited picture, the original picture, for example secondary picture 10b, can be restored in step S403, by processing the data of the primary picture 10a and the first differential information 11.

In the other case, if the index indicates, that the particular primary picture 10a has not been edited, the method knows that currently the original picture is being viewed and no data for restoring any other picture is available.

Figures 5a and 5b show method steps for another example application based on a series of

multiple pictures

10a, 10b, 10c taken by burst shooting with a camera.

Figure 5a shows the method steps for generating and storing the data related to the

multiple pictures

10a, 10b, 10c. After starting a camera to perform a burst shooting in step S501,

multiple pictures

10y, 10b, 10c are shot sequentially at a time. For example, up to 20 pictures may be taken at once. In step S502 the

multiple pictures

10a, 10b, 10c are processed and a primary picture 10a is chosen. For example, the first picture might be chosen as a primary picture 10a. Then,

differential information

11, 12, 13 is determined related to the differences between always two sequentially following pictures. For example, a first differential information 11 relates to the differences between the data of the primary picture 10a and the data of the secondary picture 10b. The second differential information 12 relates to the differences between the data of the secondary picture 10b and the data of the tertiary picture 10c. The third differential information 13 relates to differences between the data of the tertiary picture 10c and the data of the quaternary picture, and so forth.

In step S503, the data of the primary picture 10a is stored. Furthermore, the first differential information 11, the second differential information 12, the third differential information 13, and so forth are stored.

In figure 5b method steps for loading, restoring and viewing pictures, for which the data has been stored by a method shown in figure 5a, are illustrated.

After opening a picture gallery in step S511, a folder comprising the data of pictures taken by a burst shoot is loaded. After loading the primary pictures 10a of different burst shootings together with the according

differential information

11, 12, 13 for each primary picture 10a, remaining pictures are restored in step S514. This means, that the first picture, namely the primary picture 10a of a burst shooting can be directly loaded since the data of this picture has been completely stored. The data of the remaining pictures, namely the secondary picture 10b, the tertiary picture 10c, and so forth, can be restored by using the according

differential information

11, 12, 13.

Figure 6 shows a block diagram with method steps based on another example for storing and loading data related to

multiple pictures

10a, 10b, 10c. The example shown in figure 6 as based on a group of

multiple pictures

10a, 10b, 10c, wherein this group is being generated or build based on any kind of similarity analysis technics. In other words, an existing group of various pictures, such as a photo album, can be analyzed by using different similarity analysis algorithms. Such similarity analysis algorithms can identify pictures with certain similarities and build a group of

multiple pictures

10a, 10b, 10c. For example, such algorithms can classify pictures that are similar and/or that are taken during a certain time period. Pictures taken during a certain, in particular short, time period, most likely comprise a certain degree of similarities. Additionally, such algorithms may identify pictures with a certain degree of similarities. For example, landscape pictures may comprise similar backgrounds. Furthermore, self- portraits may comprise various similarities. Even face recognition algorithms may be used to identify pictures with the same persons and therefore pictures with a certain degree of similarities.

After starting a picture management speedup program in step S601, individual similarity analysis algorithms can be performed in step S602. In step S603 different groups or picture sets can be generated by grouping

multiple pictures

10a, 10b, 10c with certain similarities identified based on the similarity analysis in step S602.

Furthermore, in step S603 a primary picture 10a is chosen from each picture set or group. The data of the primary picture 10a chosen is being stored as a separate graphic file. Additionally, the

differential information

11, 12, 13 between always two different pictures, such as a secondary picture 10b, a tertiary picture 10c, a quaternary picture, and so forth, is being determined and stored separately. Therefore, only the data of one complete picture, namely the primary picture 10a, has to be stored as a graphic file. For the remaining pictures, such as the secondary picture 10b and a tertiary picture 10c, only

differential information

11, 12, 13 need to be stored, rather than storing the complete data of the individual pictures.

In step S604, pictures of a group or a picture set can be viewed by loading the data of the primary picture 10a and loading the

differential information

11, 12, 13 regarding the differences between remaining pictures. Then, the remaining pictures, namely the secondary picture 10b, the tertiary picture 10c and so forth, can be restored.

Figure 7a shows one example, wherein

differential information

11, 12, 13 is generated for sequentially following

pictures

10a, 10b, 10c, 10d. In this example, the first differential information 11 includes the information regarding the difference between the primary picture 10a and the secondary picture 10b. The second differential information 12 includes the information regarding the difference between the secondary picture 10b and the tertiary picture 10c. The third differential information 13 includes the information regarding the difference between the tertiary picture 10c and the quaternary picture 10d.

Figure 7b shows another example of generating

differential information

11, 12, 13.In this example, the first differential information 11 includes the information regarding the difference between the primary picture 10a and the secondary picture 10b. The second differential information 12 includes the information regarding the difference between the primary picture 10a and the tertiary picture 10c. The third differential information 13 includes the information regarding the difference between the primary picture 10a and the quaternary picture 10d. Based on this example, it is possible to restore a particular picture, e.g. the quaternary picture 10d, in one instance based on the primary picture 10a and the third differential information 13 without the need of restoring and viewing other pictures.

Figure 8 shows a device 100 configured to be a portable electronic device comprising a processor 113 in communication with a memory 114. The memory 114 may comprise computer executable instructions that when executed by the processor 113 cause the processor 113 to execute the storing and loading method. The device 100 further comprises a display 111 and a camera 112, wherein the processor 113 is in communication with the display 111 and the camera 112.

Reference signs

100 Device

110 Unit

10a Primary picture

10b Secondary picture

10c Tertiary picture

10d Quaternary picture

11 First differential information

12 Second differential information

13 Third differential information

14 Index

15 Index table

18 Original picture

111 Display

112 Camera

113 Processor

114 Memory

120 Picture gallery module

121 Storage module

122 Displaying module

123 Image processing module

Claims

Method for storing data related to multiple pictures (10a, 10b, 10c) , comprising at least a primary picture (10a) and a secondary picture (10b) , wherein data of the primary picture (10a) is stored, wherein information related to differences between the data of the primary picture (10a) and data of the secondary picture (10b) is determined, and wherein this information is stored as a first differential information (11) .
Method according to claim 1,

wherein the entire data of the primary picture (10a) is stored.
Method according to claim 1 or 2,

wherein regarding the secondary picture (10b) only the first differential information (11) is stored separately.
Method according to one of the preceding claims,

wherein together with the primary picture (10a) an index (14) is stored, indicating that the first differential information (11) including information related to differences between the data of the primary picture (10a) and the data of the secondary picture (10b) has been stored.
Method according to one of the preceding claims,

wherein an index table (15) is generated and stored, wherein the index table (15) includes a list of multiple primary pictures (10a) and/or multiple secondary pictures (10b) with stored indexes and/or the first differential information (11) .
Method according to one of the preceding claims,

wherein information related to differences between the data of the primary picture (10a) and data of a tertiary picture (10c) and/or information related to differences between the data of the secondary picture (10b) and data of a tertiary picture (10c) is determined, and wherein this information is stored as second differential information (13) .
Method according to one of the preceding claims,

wherein data of an original picture (16) is loaded and edited or modified, wherein the edited or modified data is stored as the data of the primary picture (10a) , wherein the data of the original picture (16) is replaced with the first differential information (11) , wherein the original picture (16) is considered as the secondary picture (10b) .
Method according to one of the preceding claims,

wherein a series of multiple pictures (10a, 10b, 10c) is generated by taking the pictures (10a, 10b, 10c) sequentially, wherein the data of only one of the pictures (10a, 10b, 10c) is stored as the data of the primary picture (10a) , wherein for each remaining picture (10b, 10c) the differential information (11, 12, 13) regarding differences to its previous or following picture or to the primary picture (10a) is stored.
Method according to one of the preceding claims,

wherein a group of multiple pictures (10a, 10b, 10c) is generated by identifying pictures with a predefined minimum degree of similarities.
Method according to one of the preceding claims,

wherein a group of multiple pictures (10a, 10b, 10c) is generated by identifying pictures taken within a predefined time period.
Method according to one of the preceding claims,

wherein the first differential information (11) is less than 25％of an entire data of the primary picture (10a) or the secondary picture (10b) .
Method for loading data of at least one of multiple pictures (10a, 10b, 10c) , comprising at least a primary picture (10a) and a secondary picture (10b) , wherein data of the primary picture (10a) is loaded, wherein a first differential information (11) related to differences between the data of the primary picture (10a) and data of the secondary picture (10b) is loaded, wherein the data of the secondary picture (10b) is restored using the data of the primary picture (10a) and the first differential information (11) .
Method according to claim 12,

wherein the method is configured to restore data of the secondary picture (10b) using the data of the primary picture (10a) and the first differential information (11) stored based to a method according to one of claims 1 to 11.
Method for storing data related to multiple pictures (10a, 10b, 10c) , comprising at least a primary picture (10a) and a secondary picture (10b) , and for restoring data of at least one of the multiple pictures (10a, 10b, 10c) , characterized in that the method comprises steps for storing data according to one of claims 1 to 11, and the method further comprising steps for loading data according to claims 12 or 13.
Device (100) for storing data related to multiple pictures (10a, 10b, 10c) , comprising at least a primary picture (10a) and a secondary picture (10b) , and for restoring loading data of at least one of the multiple pictures (10a, 10b, 10c) , characterized in that the device is configured for storing and loading data applying a method according to claim 14.
Device (100) according to claim 15,

wherein the device (100) is an electronic mobile device.