Television – Camera – system and detail – With electronic viewfinder or display monitor
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-24
2004-03-02
Ho, Tuan (Department: 2612)
Television
Camera, system and detail
With electronic viewfinder or display monitor
C348S333050
Reexamination Certificate
active
06700612
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to displaying digital images and more particularly to reviewing and navigating among images using a thumbnail position memory bar.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Digital cameras are utilized for taking pictures of scenes and the like. Some digital cameras include a display screen to display images after the picture has been taken. Digital cameras which include a display screen oftentimes have the ability to display captured images in different display formats. For example, a digital camera may display a format of one image, a format of four images, and a format of nine images at the same time. Each of the display formats includes a plurality of pages where a page is the number of images on a display at one time (in this case 1, 4 or 9 images). In such a camera there is also the ability to navigate from one image or thumbnail to another or from one page of images of the display format to another page of images within that display format. There is oftentimes the ability in such digital cameras to move between display formats via a mode button. What is meant by this, for example, is that it is possible through such a mode button to move between a display format of a single image to a display format of four images to a display format of nine images. With conventional digital cameras, reviewing and navigating within a plurality of images via a particular display format (i.e. 1, 4 and 9) often has its disadvantages.
One disadvantage is that navigating between images and between the pages of images in conventional digital cameras via the mode button is complex and unnatural. In some situations, these types of cameras also require the input of a large number of keystrokes in order to view a selected image.
To more particularly describe some of the problems with previous displays in digital cameras, such as the display in a Casio QV
10
camera, refer now to the following discussion in conjunction with FIG.
1
.
FIG. 1
shows a conventional digital camera display which includes a zoom button
3
, a display button
5
, a mode button
7
, and a forward-reverse button
9
. In such a camera the display button
5
allows one to switch between page and image mode to look at a particular image (Image A). The zoom button
3
allows one to proceed from a small image to a full size of a selected image, the mode button allows one to select different display formats and the forward-reverse button
9
allows one to go from one image to an earlier image or a later image or earlier or later page.
FIG. 2
shows, the interaction between the different buttons to allow for the display of images in different formats. Initially, if in the display format one mode or one image per display, the forward and reverse button would allow one to go forward one image or back one image (block
11
). If the mode button is pressed one time, then, for example, four images, A, B, C and D are each displayed (block
13
). The forward and reverse buttons now provide for one page of four forward, one page of four back. If the mode button is pressed again, nine images are displayed (block
15
) (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I). The forward and reverse buttons now provide for one page of nine forward, one page of nine back. To go back to the first mode, the zoom button would be pressed to go back to image A as shown in block
23
only if the display button is pressed first. Otherwise the mode button is pressed. If the display of a particular image is desired, the display button would be pressed. Initially, an indication of a selected image is provided via underlining shown in blocks
13
and
17
(in this case A). The forward-reverse buttons are used to proceed to the next image within the display format highlighted by the underline. If, for example, a user wanted to display a selected image from the nine mode, then the zoom button would be pressed and the single image would be displayed.
However, as is seen, there is a complex interaction of zoom, display mode and forward-reverse to provide the appropriate images. This approach is not natural and requires many keystrokes in certain applications.
To more clearly illustrate this, referring now to
FIG. 3A
, what is shown is the selection of a fourteenth image from an image capture unit using the elements as described above. First, if the mode button would be pressed twice, as shown, to proceed to the mode where there are nine images being displayed at one time. Then the forward button is pressed to proceed to the next page. Then the display must be pressed. Then the forward button is then pressed four times to select the fourteenth image. Finally, the zoom button is pressed so that the desired image is now displayed. As is seen, this process requires nine keystrokes.
FIG. 3B
shows the selection of the twenty-sixth image of the display proceeding from the fourteenth image. To select the twenty-sixth image, first the mode button must be pressed to return to the four mode. As is seen, image (N)
14
is now in a first position in top row rather than its original middle position of the second row. The mode button is then pressed again. Next, the plus button is pressed to proceed to the page that has the twenty-sixth (Z) image. The display button is pressed to underline the first image of the page (image twenty-three). The plus button is then pressed three additional times to select the twenty-sixth image. Thereafter, the zoom button is pressed to display the image. As is seen, eight additional keystrokes are required to proceed to display the twenty-sixth image. This can become time consuming and tedious for a user of the image capture device. In addition the process for obtaining a particular image is not a natural one and requires learning a particular protocol.
Accordingly, the conventional systems not only require more keystrokes, they are also less natural because different buttons have different functions dependent upon where a user is within the process.
Another problem with conventional digital cameras is that although the user may choose a particular display format for image review and navigation, the user is not provided with any feedback as to the location of a currently displayed page in relation to other pages during navigation. For example, assume that the user wishes to find a particular image but cannot remember if the image is located near the front or the back of all the images stored on the camera. Given a displayed page, the user would have no clue as to which direction to scroll in order to find the desired image. The user would therefore be forced to take a best guess at which direction to scroll, which could waste a considerable amount of time in the case where there are hundreds of images stored on the camera. One possible solution to this problem is to provide the digital camera with a memory bar
276
.
FIG. 4
is a block diagram of a conventional digital camera memory bar
50
, which is displayed while the user navigates among images
60
in the digital camera. The length of the memory bar
50
typically represents the total memory capacity of the digital camera. A shaded area
52
within the memory bar
50
typically represents the total number of stored images in the camera in relation to the total memory capacity. As the user scrolls through the images
60
, a needle
54
slides along the shaded area
52
of the memory bar
50
to show the approximate location of the displayed images in relation to the total number of images stored in the camera.
Although displaying the memory bar
50
provides the user with some image location feedback, the memory bar
50
has drawbacks. One drawback is that the memory bar
50
is only capable of providing a vague, inaccurate indication of image location. As the number of stored images increases, the less the needle
54
will move across the display, further reducing the effectiveness of the memory bar
50
as a location indication. Another drawback is that the memory bar
50
may be marginally effective at providing location feedback when scrolling through indivi
Anderson Eric C.
Pavley John F.
FlashPoint Technology Inc.
Ho Tuan
Sawyer Law Group LLP
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