Education and demonstration – Audio recording and visual means
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-04
2002-02-19
Rovnak, John Edmund (Department: 3713)
Education and demonstration
Audio recording and visual means
C434S309000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06349194
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to order receiving methods and apparatus for making sound-accompanying photographs with image information and audio information recorded thereon, the latter being in the form of optically readable code images.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
Images photographed with various image acquiring devices are printed on printing paper by the silver salt photographic method, or on paper or film by using an ink jet printer, thermal printer or the like. Thus, over long years, information on photographic objects has been transmitted in the form of still images relying on the sense of sight across wide areas and in a timeless way. Recently, with the advent of the multimedia age, vigorous attempts have been made to use the sense of hearing in the transmission of information, instead of relying solely on the sense of sight. Olympus Optical Co., Ltd., which is one of the joint applicants in this application, also has proposed new media for providing not only visible but audible information in Japanese Patent Laying-Open Publication H6-231466 and Japanese Patent Laying-Open Publication H7-181606, for example. According to this technique, recording media include sound converted into optically readable dot codes (audio code images) which are printed along with pictures, photographs or characters on the same paper, the dot codes being read with a special scanner.
By using these new media, what is known as sound-accompanying photographs may be made (the photographs, herein, being not limited to conventional photo images, but including images obtained with various image acquiring devices). Such a photograph has an image or images obtained by the conventional technique and an optically readable code image or images as noted above which are laid out on a sheet of paper.
A sound-accompanying photograph may be made, for example, by recording animal cries on animal photographs, or recording voices of a plurality of people on a snapshot of these people simultaneously with or after the photo taking. Such a photograph may have a layout of a plurality of image information (still images such as photographs) and a plurality of audio information. What is important here is to associate image information and audio information accurately and determine a layout as desired by the customer. Particularly at an order receiving station such as a processing agent's shop which is a point of contact between the customer and photo processing site, care must be taken in receiving an order for sound-accompanying photographs not to mislink image information and audio information.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of this invention is to provide a technique, i.e. an order receiving method and apparatus, for reliably registering, at an order receiving stage, information important in making sound-accompanying photographs each having a picture image or images and an optically readable audio code image or images laid out on a single sheet, the picture image or images being obtained with a silver salt type camera, a digital still camera for handling image data, an image reading scanner or the like.
The above object is fulfilled, according to this invention, by an order receiving method for making sound-accompanying photographs having, recorded thereon, image information, and audio information converted into code images to be optically readable, the method comprising the steps of receiving audio information and image information from a customer, designating recording regions on a sound-accompanying photograph to be made, for recording the image information and the audio information, and registering the image information and the audio information as order information and as linked to the recording regions designated.
In another aspect of the invention, an order receiving apparatus is provided for making sound-accompanying photographs having, recorded thereon, image information, and audio information converted into code images to be optically readable. This apparatus comprises a receiving unit for receiving audio information and image information from a customer, a recording region designating unit for designating recording regions on a sound-accompanying photograph to be made, for recording the image information and the audio information, and an order information registering unit for registering the image information and the audio information as order information and as linked to the recording regions designated.
In these techniques, audio information and image information received are linked to recording regions designated therefor, respectively, and are registered as order information. Thus, the audio information and image information may be checked anytime during the subsequent process of making sound-accompanying photographs. With the registered order information confirmed by the customer, there will occur no trouble between the customer and receptionist.
In a preferred embodiment of this invention, the recording regions are determined beforehand with recording region identification signs (e.g. ID codes or just names) applied thereto. Even when one sound-accompanying photograph has a plurality of audio recording regions and image recording regions, and even when a change is made in the positional relationship of these recording regions, a desired region may be identified among the plurality of recording regions with the help of the identification signs. An image identification sign and an audio identification sign may be applied also to the image information and the audio information received, respectively. Then, the designated recording regions may be related to the image information and audio information in a simple way with the identification signs serving as a key. Further, a customer identification sign may be applied to the image information and audio information. This will preclude the possibility of confusing the image information and audio information received from one customer with the information received from another. Even so, where the same customer orders a plurality of sound-accompanying photographs at the same time, image information and audio information intended for one photograph could inadvertently be used for another. This inconvenience is avoided by applying a print identification sign indicating each sound-accompanying photograph to be made to the image information and audio information received.
In another preferred embodiment of this invention, the order information is displayed on a monitor for checking whether the order information to be registered is correct. In this way, an allocation and layout of image information and audio information to/in the recording regions may be confirmed easily, which precludes an order-related trouble occurring between the customer and receptionist. For confirming such order information, not only the monitor screen but a hard copy of the order information such as a voucher printout may of course be used.
The order information may be recorded on the voucher in a form readable by an optical reader such as a card reader, bar-code reader, mark sheet reader or the like. It is then possible to display the order information or input it to a sound-accompanying photograph making apparatus at any time.
In an order receiving apparatus according to a further preferred embodiment of this invention, the recording region designating unit is operable to designate the recording regions based on a template selected from a template library. Instead of preparing a layout of the sound-accompanying photograph from scratch, a layout may be selected from a library storing numerous layout examples in the form of templates. This expedites an order receiving operation.
In a further embodiment, the recording region designating unit has a function to designate the recording regions based on position coordinates inputted. With this construction, shapes of the recording regions may determined and the regions may be arranged accurately when preparing the regions from scratch.
When a designated recording region has an area disagreeing with an area r
Hashimoto Yasuyuki
Imade Shinichi
Nozaki Iwao
Fulbright & Jaworski LLP
Noritsu Koki Co., Ltd.
Rovnak John Edmund
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